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A review by jaredkwheeler
Deceived by Paul S. Kemp
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #24
Background: The Old Republic: Deceived was released in March of 2011. It was written by [author:Paul S. Kemp|32912]. Kemp has also authored a duology of Star Wars novels, [book:Crosscurrent|6526328] and [book:Riptide|9711628], with connections in both the Legacy and Old Republic eras. Kemp is better known for his dozen or so "Forgotten Realms" novels. I've actually read two of the seven novels about his character Erevis Cale, an assassin-turned-butler-turned-divine-agent.
Deceived takes place during the events immediately preceding the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant, 3,653 years before the Battle of Yavin. This major event marks the end of the multi-decade Great Galactic War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, and the beginning of a period of Cold War between the two powers. Various major characters from The Old Republic video game and other related media show up, including Satele Shan (descendant of Revan and Bastila, brief appearance) and Darth Malgus (the novel's main villain). In addition to the Republic and the Empire, a major subplot involves the criminal organization the "Exchange." Most of the novel takes place on the familiar worlds of Alderaan and Coruscant, with a few chapters on a new planet, Vulta.
Summary: With the Republic distracted by peace talks on Alderaan, the Sith undertake a treacherous attack on Coruscant. Darth Angral murders the Supreme Chancellor, and Darth Malgus leads an attack on the Jedi Temple, leveling it. Devastated, the Republic will be forced to acquiesce to whatever treaty demands the Sith wish to make. But one Jedi isn't going to take it lying down. Aryn Leneer, a young Knight who is part of the Jedi peace delegation, senses the death of her beloved master on Coruscant, and sets out on a vengeful quest to find his killer and strike him down. To get to Coruscant, she'll need the help of Zeerid Korr, an old war buddy turned smuggler. Zeerid has an important delivery of his own to make, on one last, incredibly risky job that he hopes will finally allow him to retire and move his young daughter to safety, out from under the thumb of his crime lord bosses. For both Jedi and smuggler, the stakes are high, the chances of success are slim, and their only allies in the galaxy are each other.
Review: At its best, Deceived is a pretty decent read, though it lags in spots. Now that I'm done reading it, I'm not sure that it will stick out very prominently in my memory as either particularly good or particularly bad. The characters and their struggles and the way they develop are the best things about this book, and when that aspect is driving the novel, it is quite compelling indeed. Darth Malgus is a fine, complex villain, particularly for a Sith. And Aryn and Zeerid and their journey, both separately and together, makes a very fine story. It just . . . isn't always the focus.
Kemp is a pretty good writer, certainly, though I caught him repeating himself a couple of times. He is extremely, vividly descriptive, and that quality serves him well aside from the few occasions when it bogs him down. I'm also a big fan of his action sequences, which are thrilling and kinetic, with one exception: He goes pretty far overboard in describing lightsaber duels. There's too much blow-by-blow listing of each combatants' individual moves, and I found them difficult to visualize. His characters, both good and evil, are also a bit hardier than they ought to be, but I'm largely willing to overlook that because it made for some very exciting moments unlike any that I've seen before. My only real question about his writing is what possessed him to nickname one of his main characters "Z-man" . . . I rolled my eyes everytime someone said it. Super dumb.
Ultimately, this is a very emotionally-driven story told against the backdrop of a hugely-significant galactic event. It's one of those "little people caught up in great events" stories, but it doesn't always strike an effective balance between the little people and the great events. It took me awhile to read it, but that was mostly because I was busy. The story moves along at a fair little clip, but I didn't feel a lot of urgency to pick it up and keep reading whenever I had put it down. And that's about all I have to say about that.
B-
Background: The Old Republic: Deceived was released in March of 2011. It was written by [author:Paul S. Kemp|32912]. Kemp has also authored a duology of Star Wars novels, [book:Crosscurrent|6526328] and [book:Riptide|9711628], with connections in both the Legacy and Old Republic eras. Kemp is better known for his dozen or so "Forgotten Realms" novels. I've actually read two of the seven novels about his character Erevis Cale, an assassin-turned-butler-turned-divine-agent.
Deceived takes place during the events immediately preceding the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant, 3,653 years before the Battle of Yavin. This major event marks the end of the multi-decade Great Galactic War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, and the beginning of a period of Cold War between the two powers. Various major characters from The Old Republic video game and other related media show up, including Satele Shan (descendant of Revan and Bastila, brief appearance) and Darth Malgus (the novel's main villain). In addition to the Republic and the Empire, a major subplot involves the criminal organization the "Exchange." Most of the novel takes place on the familiar worlds of Alderaan and Coruscant, with a few chapters on a new planet, Vulta.
Summary: With the Republic distracted by peace talks on Alderaan, the Sith undertake a treacherous attack on Coruscant. Darth Angral murders the Supreme Chancellor, and Darth Malgus leads an attack on the Jedi Temple, leveling it. Devastated, the Republic will be forced to acquiesce to whatever treaty demands the Sith wish to make. But one Jedi isn't going to take it lying down. Aryn Leneer, a young Knight who is part of the Jedi peace delegation, senses the death of her beloved master on Coruscant, and sets out on a vengeful quest to find his killer and strike him down. To get to Coruscant, she'll need the help of Zeerid Korr, an old war buddy turned smuggler. Zeerid has an important delivery of his own to make, on one last, incredibly risky job that he hopes will finally allow him to retire and move his young daughter to safety, out from under the thumb of his crime lord bosses. For both Jedi and smuggler, the stakes are high, the chances of success are slim, and their only allies in the galaxy are each other.
Review: At its best, Deceived is a pretty decent read, though it lags in spots. Now that I'm done reading it, I'm not sure that it will stick out very prominently in my memory as either particularly good or particularly bad. The characters and their struggles and the way they develop are the best things about this book, and when that aspect is driving the novel, it is quite compelling indeed. Darth Malgus is a fine, complex villain, particularly for a Sith. And Aryn and Zeerid and their journey, both separately and together, makes a very fine story. It just . . . isn't always the focus.
Kemp is a pretty good writer, certainly, though I caught him repeating himself a couple of times. He is extremely, vividly descriptive, and that quality serves him well aside from the few occasions when it bogs him down. I'm also a big fan of his action sequences, which are thrilling and kinetic, with one exception: He goes pretty far overboard in describing lightsaber duels. There's too much blow-by-blow listing of each combatants' individual moves, and I found them difficult to visualize. His characters, both good and evil, are also a bit hardier than they ought to be, but I'm largely willing to overlook that because it made for some very exciting moments unlike any that I've seen before. My only real question about his writing is what possessed him to nickname one of his main characters "Z-man" . . . I rolled my eyes everytime someone said it. Super dumb.
Ultimately, this is a very emotionally-driven story told against the backdrop of a hugely-significant galactic event. It's one of those "little people caught up in great events" stories, but it doesn't always strike an effective balance between the little people and the great events. It took me awhile to read it, but that was mostly because I was busy. The story moves along at a fair little clip, but I didn't feel a lot of urgency to pick it up and keep reading whenever I had put it down. And that's about all I have to say about that.
B-