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realmrider 's review for:
Cataclysm
by Lydia Kang
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is probably the first High Republic book where I feel as though my thoughts on it are genuinely complex to a degree. While I understand this book really suffered from me having read Path of Vengeance beforehand, there’s still a lot else holding this one back from what should’ve been one of my favorite Star Wars novels.
Let me start off by saying Lydia Kang is not a bad writer! Her short story in Tales of Light and Life was one of my favorites of that bunch. She has some quirks in the way that she writes, but who doesn’t?
That being said, this novel suffers from the passing of the torch between authors as much of the key character traits portrayed in previous books have become much more wishy-washy here. Axel doesn’t seem as intelligent, Xiri doesn’t seem as confident, Gella isn’t as complex, Phan-Tu seems much more overbearing, and all of the other characters seem to have the depth of a cardboard cutout. Kang doesn’t seem to know what to do with these characters because she isn’t able to do much to make them *hers* in a way. Many moments of ‘growth’ and pain come across as undeserved as a result.
On top of that, we as readers are presented with so many fake outs that they start to lose their effect. Oh that character? They just died! Sike! Oh wait no they actually did! There’s so much back and forth here for the underdeveloped supporting characters that I ended up not really caring about the loss here.Two of the three Jedi deaths are just revealed casually as opposed to witnessed, and the third was an original character introduced in this novel (messy that they kill off a queer character not long after introducing them but that’s a whole other conversation). It seems that Kang, as well as other Star Wars writers/developers, were really afraid to kill off important players this phase which I found highly disappointing.
At the end of the day though, the largest problem lies in the fact that every single interesting development and villain is saved for Path of Vengeance, which left Kang very little to work with. There’s no information about the Levelers, very little with the Mother and the Path’s internal structure, and the set pieces are dull and unoriginal.
However! I really did grow to love Yaddle and Cippa’s dynamic which was a welcome surprise, I enjoyed seeing Orlen Mollo grow and take charge, and Kang wrote probably the best death scene I’ve read in a Star Wars novel forBinnot Ullo, though I didn’t care much for him .
Let me start off by saying Lydia Kang is not a bad writer! Her short story in Tales of Light and Life was one of my favorites of that bunch. She has some quirks in the way that she writes, but who doesn’t?
That being said, this novel suffers from the passing of the torch between authors as much of the key character traits portrayed in previous books have become much more wishy-washy here. Axel doesn’t seem as intelligent, Xiri doesn’t seem as confident, Gella isn’t as complex, Phan-Tu seems much more overbearing, and all of the other characters seem to have the depth of a cardboard cutout. Kang doesn’t seem to know what to do with these characters because she isn’t able to do much to make them *hers* in a way. Many moments of ‘growth’ and pain come across as undeserved as a result.
On top of that, we as readers are presented with so many fake outs that they start to lose their effect. Oh that character? They just died! Sike! Oh wait no they actually did! There’s so much back and forth here for the underdeveloped supporting characters that I ended up not really caring about the loss here.
At the end of the day though, the largest problem lies in the fact that every single interesting development and villain is saved for Path of Vengeance, which left Kang very little to work with. There’s no information about the Levelers, very little with the Mother and the Path’s internal structure, and the set pieces are dull and unoriginal.
However! I really did grow to love Yaddle and Cippa’s dynamic which was a welcome surprise, I enjoyed seeing Orlen Mollo grow and take charge, and Kang wrote probably the best death scene I’ve read in a Star Wars novel for