You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
blancwene 's review for:
Dark Tide I: Onslaught
by Michael A. Stackpole
For 2021, I decided to reread Del Rey’s first attempt at a multi-author book series in the Star Wars universe: The New Jedi Order, which was published between 1999 and 2003. This shakes out to 19 novels, two eBook novellas, three short stories, and a tangentially-related prequel era novel.
This week’s focus: the first book in the Dark Tide duology, Dark Tide: Onslaught by Michael A. Stackpole.
SOME HISTORY:
Michael A. Stackpole originally planned to write the Dark Tide trilogy, not duology, but the middle volume Siege was cancelled and its plot points mostly redistributed to [b:Dark Tide II: Ruin|320371|Dark Tide II Ruin|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522538l/320371._SY75_.jpg|1134103]. This move allowed Del Rey to stretch James Luceno’s [b:Agents of Chaos|6550263|Agents of Chaos (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, 4 & 5)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1245107418l/6550263._SX50_.jpg|6742786] from one book to two. Dark Tide: Onslaught made it to number fourteen on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for two straight weeks--from the week of February 20 to the week of February 27, 2000, and was on the NYT list for three weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I remembered around half of this book. Parts of this story--Anakin’s time with Mara on Dantooine and Jacen’s misadventures on Belkadan--felt very familiar to me, but other aspects (like Jaina joining the Rogues) didn’t trigger that déjà vu feeling.
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME COUNT:
I stopped tallying up costumes in the second half of the Bantam era books, because it became too sad when there were no notable outfits in a book. But Stackpole delivered for me! Leia wears a warrior-like ensemble of a cerulean tunic, black pants and boots, and an updo when she speaks before the Senate, and robes embroidered with waves when she appears before the council on Agamar. Corran Horn wears traditional Corellian Jedi clothes (his grandfathers would be proud), and even Ganner Rhysode sports spiffy Jedi robes. Thumbs up on the costume count!
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
As refugees from Dubrillion flee from the incoming Yuuzhan Vong forces, our Jedi heroes find themselves tested by a relentless foe determined to forever smother the light of the New Republic…
THE CHARACTERS:
Since Stackpole breaks the characters up into various teams, I thought I’d tackle them group by group. First up was Luke Skywalker and his nephew Jacen Solo. I actually like Jacen’s philosophical questioning and searching, as it feels very apropos for a sixteen year old Jedi. Jacen’s trying to reconcile his view of the Force and his role within the Jedi Order, and this book shakes his confidence in his viewpoint a little.
Luke is still attempting to unite his Jedi Order and instate a supervisory Jedi Council, so in Dark Tide: Onslaught he recalls all the Jedi back to Yavin IV and sends them off on fact-finding missions. He assigns Jacen and himself perhaps the most difficult one: returning to Belkadan to discover why the Yuuzhan Vong terraformed the world, and for what purpose. As soon as they arrive, it becomes obvious that the Vong are using the planet as a biotech factory for their coralskippers and dovin basals, and that the Vong are also using slave labor. Jacen wants to save the slaves; Luke argues for caution; and after having a vision of himself freeing the slaves, Jacen heads out to handle everything solo. Except his vision doesn’t come true, and he ends up captured by the Vong and facing the same fate as the slaves.
Luke gets two very good action scenes in this book, and the first is his rescue of Jacen. He uses two lightsabers (I love that!!), it’s an amazing sequence, but he’s completely drained afterwards. The downside to Luke’s realizations about the Force in the Hand of Thrawn duology is that while he receives more guidance from the Force if he forgoes the overuse of brute force feats, those great outlays of power completely wipe him out. Likewise, he’s able to destroy a Vong craft during the Battle of Dantooine by using the Force to manipulate the dovin basals, but he passes out afterwards. There’s definite limitations to his Force abilities now.
Mara Jade is paired off with her nephew Anakin Solo. Mara and Anakin go to Dantooine in hopes that she can recuperate from her mysterious illness, and (rather like Luke in [b:Vision of the Future|77786|Vision of the Future (Star Wars The Hand of Thrawn Duology, #2)|Timothy Zahn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328289436l/77786._SY75_.jpg|209567]) Anakin comes to some revelations about how and when to use the Force. Mara is a patient teacher, and Anakin learns that some things (like setting up tents and chopping firewood) are better to do yourself. I found it a little strange that after struggling physically for so much of the book, Mara was able to help Leia hunt Vong saboteurs in the refugee camp, but I can excuse that as a plot necessity.
And Stackpole reintroduces one of his most popular characters, Corran Horn. After the Hand of Thrawn duology, he has quit Rogue Squadron and become a Jedi full-time; I found him unbelievably obnoxious in [b:Rogue Squadron|513176|Rogue Squadron (Star Wars X-Wing, #1)|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327860341l/513176._SY75_.jpg|987443], but he’s mellowed out in the intervening years and books. I actually like him at this point! He’s paired off with Ganner Rhysode, one of Kyp Durron’s proteges. Ganner uses the Force for everything and thinks that he knows better than anyone else, so Corran (gently) tries to point out the errors of that. They’re dispatched to check on some archaeologists, discover the Yuuzhan Vong, and barely get out alive.
Leia appears before Borsk Fey’lya and the Senate to ask for support against the Yuuzhan Vong, and is pretty much turned away. Instead, she heads off with Elegos A’Kla (the Caamasi Senator), her daughter Jaina, and the scientist Danni Quee to request aid from Agamar and then check in on Lando’s operation on Dubrillion. The Vong have decimated Lando’s world, and he decides to abandon Dubrillion; fortunately Rogue Squadron and Admiral Kre’fey appear in the nick of time to assist with the evacuation. Elegos sees the destruction caused by the Vong, Leia helps with the refugees, Jaina joins Rogue Squadron, and Danni starts to develop her Force skills.
While I loved Leia’s scene in the Senate--she’s frustrated and angry, but she stays calm and composed--I was not as pleased with how she guilt-tripped Gavin Darklighter into adding Jaina to Rogue Squadron. I felt like she was a little too combative, and should have instead focused on Jaina’s own merits. But I was so glad for Jaina, because she’s an amazing pilot and she’s already contributed a lot to the squadron. I had forgotten she joined in this book, and instead thought it happened in [b:Dark Tide II: Ruin|320371|Dark Tide II Ruin|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522538l/320371._SY75_.jpg|1134103].
I’m happy to see that Gavin is happy and thriving after his sad ending in [b:Isard's Revenge|422569|Isard's Revenge (Star Wars X-Wing, #8)|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1424084400l/422569._SY75_.jpg|2696915]. He was so serious about being a father that he adopted two orphans! He married the social worker who helped him with the adoption! He has five kids now and he’s the commander of Rogue Squadron after the old guard retired! Good for you, Gavin. (I also strongly suspect that Admiral Kre’fey’s unorthodox teacher at the Bothan Martial Academy was Asyr Sei’lar under her new identity, but that’s just speculation.)
We don’t get anything from the Yuuzhan Vong perspective until the epilogue, so while they remain a huge threat, their designs and desires are unknown. The main opposition to an active, effective war effort against the Vong comes in the form of Borsk Fey’lya and the Senate. Borsk is leery of committing to any action, distrusts the Jedi, and suspects Leia of trying to retake power. It’s frustrating to see this ineffective response on the part of the New Republic, but it also contributes to the feeling of “scrappy fighters, lacking resources, against an impossible foe”--Rebels vs. the evil Empire in essence if not in name.
ISSUES:
I felt like we missed out on some battle scenes, either for suspense purposes or to keep the book to a manageable length. Leia, Jaina, and Danni arrive on Dubrillion only to find that the Vong have been continuously attacking it and Lando is evacuating his people. They engage the Vong so the refugee ships can escape, but we don’t see much of it. Likewise, we see a lot of what Luke and Jacen and Anakin are facing during the Battle of Dantooine, but we only find out after the fact about Rogue Squadron losing half their pilots and the uglies' squadrons being decimated.
Luke & Jacen and Corran & Ganner’s plots were initially too similar for me. They both discover that the Vong are using slaves, Jacen/Ganner argue that they should free them while Luke/Corran say that they’re unprepared. No slaves are freed! Fortunately they diverged later on, but it left me wondering why both pairing needed to cover the same ground--it was a little too repetitive.
I wish we could have seen some of the other Jedi missions, but I understand why Stackpole chose to omit them. (Not every book needs to be 600+ pages like [b:Star by Star|35448|Star by Star (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #9)|Troy Denning|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331005005l/35448._SY75_.jpg|349891]!) I also questioned why no one has tried to parley with the Vong (sure, our heroes were attacked first, but Leia and Elegos are diplomats), but I know that will play more of a role in book 2.
I also feel like Onslaught’s lack of a Vong POV (until the epilogue) made the villains feel more distant than in [b:Vector Prime|192214|Vector Prime (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #1)|R.A. Salvatore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412181316l/192214._SX50_.jpg|2799032]. Yomin Carr and Nom Anor were our introduction to the Vong, incomplete as that was, so it’s strange that in Onslaught we’re left completely in the dark about what they’re thinking and planning. Their society is entirely foreign to our heroes, and while we learned a little more about their culture--their callous use of slaves and their obsession with pain--we’re not any closer to understanding them.
IN CONCLUSION:
I thought Dark Tide: Onslaught was a good follow-up to [b:Vector Prime|192214|Vector Prime (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #1)|R.A. Salvatore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412181316l/192214._SX50_.jpg|2799032], and I enjoyed following along with our different Jedi teams. It felt a little short, though, and I missed the presence of a Yuuzhan Vong perspective. (I'm hopeful in the end that my issues will be addressed in book 2!)
Next up: a tangentially-related prequel era novel! [b:Star Wars: Rogue Planet|758614|Star Wars Rogue Planet|Greg Bear|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320467624l/758614._SY75_.jpg|2510169] by Greg Bear.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/9mhjwVI68Ao
This week’s focus: the first book in the Dark Tide duology, Dark Tide: Onslaught by Michael A. Stackpole.
SOME HISTORY:
Michael A. Stackpole originally planned to write the Dark Tide trilogy, not duology, but the middle volume Siege was cancelled and its plot points mostly redistributed to [b:Dark Tide II: Ruin|320371|Dark Tide II Ruin|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522538l/320371._SY75_.jpg|1134103]. This move allowed Del Rey to stretch James Luceno’s [b:Agents of Chaos|6550263|Agents of Chaos (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, 4 & 5)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1245107418l/6550263._SX50_.jpg|6742786] from one book to two. Dark Tide: Onslaught made it to number fourteen on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for two straight weeks--from the week of February 20 to the week of February 27, 2000, and was on the NYT list for three weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I remembered around half of this book. Parts of this story--Anakin’s time with Mara on Dantooine and Jacen’s misadventures on Belkadan--felt very familiar to me, but other aspects (like Jaina joining the Rogues) didn’t trigger that déjà vu feeling.
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME COUNT:
I stopped tallying up costumes in the second half of the Bantam era books, because it became too sad when there were no notable outfits in a book. But Stackpole delivered for me! Leia wears a warrior-like ensemble of a cerulean tunic, black pants and boots, and an updo when she speaks before the Senate, and robes embroidered with waves when she appears before the council on Agamar. Corran Horn wears traditional Corellian Jedi clothes (his grandfathers would be proud), and even Ganner Rhysode sports spiffy Jedi robes. Thumbs up on the costume count!
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
As refugees from Dubrillion flee from the incoming Yuuzhan Vong forces, our Jedi heroes find themselves tested by a relentless foe determined to forever smother the light of the New Republic…
THE CHARACTERS:
Since Stackpole breaks the characters up into various teams, I thought I’d tackle them group by group. First up was Luke Skywalker and his nephew Jacen Solo. I actually like Jacen’s philosophical questioning and searching, as it feels very apropos for a sixteen year old Jedi. Jacen’s trying to reconcile his view of the Force and his role within the Jedi Order, and this book shakes his confidence in his viewpoint a little.
Luke is still attempting to unite his Jedi Order and instate a supervisory Jedi Council, so in Dark Tide: Onslaught he recalls all the Jedi back to Yavin IV and sends them off on fact-finding missions. He assigns Jacen and himself perhaps the most difficult one: returning to Belkadan to discover why the Yuuzhan Vong terraformed the world, and for what purpose. As soon as they arrive, it becomes obvious that the Vong are using the planet as a biotech factory for their coralskippers and dovin basals, and that the Vong are also using slave labor. Jacen wants to save the slaves; Luke argues for caution; and after having a vision of himself freeing the slaves, Jacen heads out to handle everything solo. Except his vision doesn’t come true, and he ends up captured by the Vong and facing the same fate as the slaves.
Luke gets two very good action scenes in this book, and the first is his rescue of Jacen. He uses two lightsabers (I love that!!), it’s an amazing sequence, but he’s completely drained afterwards. The downside to Luke’s realizations about the Force in the Hand of Thrawn duology is that while he receives more guidance from the Force if he forgoes the overuse of brute force feats, those great outlays of power completely wipe him out. Likewise, he’s able to destroy a Vong craft during the Battle of Dantooine by using the Force to manipulate the dovin basals, but he passes out afterwards. There’s definite limitations to his Force abilities now.
Mara Jade is paired off with her nephew Anakin Solo. Mara and Anakin go to Dantooine in hopes that she can recuperate from her mysterious illness, and (rather like Luke in [b:Vision of the Future|77786|Vision of the Future (Star Wars The Hand of Thrawn Duology, #2)|Timothy Zahn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328289436l/77786._SY75_.jpg|209567]) Anakin comes to some revelations about how and when to use the Force. Mara is a patient teacher, and Anakin learns that some things (like setting up tents and chopping firewood) are better to do yourself. I found it a little strange that after struggling physically for so much of the book, Mara was able to help Leia hunt Vong saboteurs in the refugee camp, but I can excuse that as a plot necessity.
And Stackpole reintroduces one of his most popular characters, Corran Horn. After the Hand of Thrawn duology, he has quit Rogue Squadron and become a Jedi full-time; I found him unbelievably obnoxious in [b:Rogue Squadron|513176|Rogue Squadron (Star Wars X-Wing, #1)|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327860341l/513176._SY75_.jpg|987443], but he’s mellowed out in the intervening years and books. I actually like him at this point! He’s paired off with Ganner Rhysode, one of Kyp Durron’s proteges. Ganner uses the Force for everything and thinks that he knows better than anyone else, so Corran (gently) tries to point out the errors of that. They’re dispatched to check on some archaeologists, discover the Yuuzhan Vong, and barely get out alive.
Leia appears before Borsk Fey’lya and the Senate to ask for support against the Yuuzhan Vong, and is pretty much turned away. Instead, she heads off with Elegos A’Kla (the Caamasi Senator), her daughter Jaina, and the scientist Danni Quee to request aid from Agamar and then check in on Lando’s operation on Dubrillion. The Vong have decimated Lando’s world, and he decides to abandon Dubrillion; fortunately Rogue Squadron and Admiral Kre’fey appear in the nick of time to assist with the evacuation. Elegos sees the destruction caused by the Vong, Leia helps with the refugees, Jaina joins Rogue Squadron, and Danni starts to develop her Force skills.
While I loved Leia’s scene in the Senate--she’s frustrated and angry, but she stays calm and composed--I was not as pleased with how she guilt-tripped Gavin Darklighter into adding Jaina to Rogue Squadron. I felt like she was a little too combative, and should have instead focused on Jaina’s own merits. But I was so glad for Jaina, because she’s an amazing pilot and she’s already contributed a lot to the squadron. I had forgotten she joined in this book, and instead thought it happened in [b:Dark Tide II: Ruin|320371|Dark Tide II Ruin|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522538l/320371._SY75_.jpg|1134103].
I’m happy to see that Gavin is happy and thriving after his sad ending in [b:Isard's Revenge|422569|Isard's Revenge (Star Wars X-Wing, #8)|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1424084400l/422569._SY75_.jpg|2696915]. He was so serious about being a father that he adopted two orphans! He married the social worker who helped him with the adoption! He has five kids now and he’s the commander of Rogue Squadron after the old guard retired! Good for you, Gavin. (I also strongly suspect that Admiral Kre’fey’s unorthodox teacher at the Bothan Martial Academy was Asyr Sei’lar under her new identity, but that’s just speculation.)
We don’t get anything from the Yuuzhan Vong perspective until the epilogue, so while they remain a huge threat, their designs and desires are unknown. The main opposition to an active, effective war effort against the Vong comes in the form of Borsk Fey’lya and the Senate. Borsk is leery of committing to any action, distrusts the Jedi, and suspects Leia of trying to retake power. It’s frustrating to see this ineffective response on the part of the New Republic, but it also contributes to the feeling of “scrappy fighters, lacking resources, against an impossible foe”--Rebels vs. the evil Empire in essence if not in name.
ISSUES:
I felt like we missed out on some battle scenes, either for suspense purposes or to keep the book to a manageable length. Leia, Jaina, and Danni arrive on Dubrillion only to find that the Vong have been continuously attacking it and Lando is evacuating his people. They engage the Vong so the refugee ships can escape, but we don’t see much of it. Likewise, we see a lot of what Luke and Jacen and Anakin are facing during the Battle of Dantooine, but we only find out after the fact about Rogue Squadron losing half their pilots and the uglies' squadrons being decimated.
Luke & Jacen and Corran & Ganner’s plots were initially too similar for me. They both discover that the Vong are using slaves, Jacen/Ganner argue that they should free them while Luke/Corran say that they’re unprepared. No slaves are freed! Fortunately they diverged later on, but it left me wondering why both pairing needed to cover the same ground--it was a little too repetitive.
I wish we could have seen some of the other Jedi missions, but I understand why Stackpole chose to omit them. (Not every book needs to be 600+ pages like [b:Star by Star|35448|Star by Star (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #9)|Troy Denning|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331005005l/35448._SY75_.jpg|349891]!) I also questioned why no one has tried to parley with the Vong (sure, our heroes were attacked first, but Leia and Elegos are diplomats), but I know that will play more of a role in book 2.
I also feel like Onslaught’s lack of a Vong POV (until the epilogue) made the villains feel more distant than in [b:Vector Prime|192214|Vector Prime (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #1)|R.A. Salvatore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412181316l/192214._SX50_.jpg|2799032]. Yomin Carr and Nom Anor were our introduction to the Vong, incomplete as that was, so it’s strange that in Onslaught we’re left completely in the dark about what they’re thinking and planning. Their society is entirely foreign to our heroes, and while we learned a little more about their culture--their callous use of slaves and their obsession with pain--we’re not any closer to understanding them.
IN CONCLUSION:
I thought Dark Tide: Onslaught was a good follow-up to [b:Vector Prime|192214|Vector Prime (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #1)|R.A. Salvatore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412181316l/192214._SX50_.jpg|2799032], and I enjoyed following along with our different Jedi teams. It felt a little short, though, and I missed the presence of a Yuuzhan Vong perspective. (I'm hopeful in the end that my issues will be addressed in book 2!)
Next up: a tangentially-related prequel era novel! [b:Star Wars: Rogue Planet|758614|Star Wars Rogue Planet|Greg Bear|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320467624l/758614._SY75_.jpg|2510169] by Greg Bear.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/9mhjwVI68Ao