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A review by blam
Annihilation by Drew Karpyshyn
5.0
So it is difficult for me to be unbiaised in this book review, considering that I started reading the book already loving the character of Theron Shan. I play the video game Star Wars The Old Republic a lot (like, a lot) and Theron is one of my favourite NPCs of all time. Everything about him is great, from being the son of a legacy of Jedis without having the Force himself, to being both an excellent agent while being a mess in his personnal life, to of course being one of the best romance of the game.
I was a little concerned though, when picking up the book, that Theron would be treated like some sort of James Bond character. Just by looking at the cover, he looks nothing like in the game! I didn’t want Theron to be turned into some square-jawed manly man. To me, the fact that he can be both the best spy AND kind of a disaster at the same time is part of the appeal of the character.
Fortunately, I had nothing to worry about! The Theron in the book is funny, improvises plans a lot, and ends up being ambushed by unwanted family drama just as much as he does in the video game. Which is great.
The plot of the book revolves around three interconnected plotlines. In the first one, Theron is still hung up over the death of the jedi who raised him. The man gave his life to save a Twilek criminal named Teff’ith. Theron feels like he should keep an eye on her and protect her, despiteTeff’ith vehemently dissagreeing. The second plot line that come in is the main story of the book, namely that Theron gets assigned to a mission to take down the most powerful ship in the Empire. Which gets complicated by the third and final plot line in the book, which is Theron’s sudden meeting with his father, the chief of the Republic’s military. (If you played the game, this is not a spoiler.) Neither of them knew until that point that they were related, which causes a lot of tension, especially since Theron isn’t coping as well as he’d like to pretend about the entire « being the son of a jedi » thing.
All three of these things end up being relevant, as Theron gets sent on the mission with Teff’ith and a jedi master on the orders of his father. Naturally, nothing goes according to plan. But our boy isn’t the best agent for nothing!
The book is a pretty entertaining ride through imperial space, cover missions, hacking battles and firefights. There’s not a dull moment, and all of the characters are pretty interesting. Of course, like I said, I already love most of these characters, so I’m a poor judge. But I loved seeing the references to the game and getting to know more about the universe of Star Wars The Old Republic, especially covering a period between the end of the main storyline and the beginning of the expensions. So many details, at the beginning of the book, delighted me because if you’ve played through what the fans call the « vanilla » game, you’ll read references to stuff that you, personnally, did through your player character! How fun is that!
In conclusion, Theron Shan is the best, 10/10
I was a little concerned though, when picking up the book, that Theron would be treated like some sort of James Bond character. Just by looking at the cover, he looks nothing like in the game! I didn’t want Theron to be turned into some square-jawed manly man. To me, the fact that he can be both the best spy AND kind of a disaster at the same time is part of the appeal of the character.
Fortunately, I had nothing to worry about! The Theron in the book is funny, improvises plans a lot, and ends up being ambushed by unwanted family drama just as much as he does in the video game. Which is great.
The plot of the book revolves around three interconnected plotlines. In the first one, Theron is still hung up over the death of the jedi who raised him. The man gave his life to save a Twilek criminal named Teff’ith. Theron feels like he should keep an eye on her and protect her, despiteTeff’ith vehemently dissagreeing. The second plot line that come in is the main story of the book, namely that Theron gets assigned to a mission to take down the most powerful ship in the Empire. Which gets complicated by the third and final plot line in the book, which is Theron’s sudden meeting with his father, the chief of the Republic’s military. (If you played the game, this is not a spoiler.) Neither of them knew until that point that they were related, which causes a lot of tension, especially since Theron isn’t coping as well as he’d like to pretend about the entire « being the son of a jedi » thing.
All three of these things end up being relevant, as Theron gets sent on the mission with Teff’ith and a jedi master on the orders of his father. Naturally, nothing goes according to plan. But our boy isn’t the best agent for nothing!
The book is a pretty entertaining ride through imperial space, cover missions, hacking battles and firefights. There’s not a dull moment, and all of the characters are pretty interesting. Of course, like I said, I already love most of these characters, so I’m a poor judge. But I loved seeing the references to the game and getting to know more about the universe of Star Wars The Old Republic, especially covering a period between the end of the main storyline and the beginning of the expensions. So many details, at the beginning of the book, delighted me because if you’ve played through what the fans call the « vanilla » game, you’ll read references to stuff that you, personnally, did through your player character! How fun is that!
In conclusion, Theron Shan is the best, 10/10