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A review by jaredkwheeler
Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories by John Jackson Miller
4.0
Star Wars Legends Project #30
Background: Lost Tribe of the Sith was originally released as a series of 8 eBook novellas from May 2009 to March 2012. A 9th, much longer final book was released along with the other 8 as "The Collected Stories" in July 2012. It was written by John Jackson Miller as a prequel to the "Fate of the Jedi" series of novels which was also being released during that time.
Lost Tribe of the Sith takes place across a period spanning over 2000 years. The first four books, the next two, and the final three form "mini-arcs" set during the same time. "Precipice" and "Skyborn" are both set 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. "Paragon" takes place 15 years later, and "Savior" 10 years after that. The characters in these stories are members of the Sith Empire under Naga Sadow, and there are frequent references to both Sadow and his arch-rival Ludo Kressh. "Purgatory" and "Sentinel" both take place 3960 years before the Battle of Yavin, and refer to characters and events from the "Knights of the Old Republic" comic series. "Pantheon" and "Secrets" are both set 3000 years before the Battle of Yavin, and "Pandemonium" begins 25 years later. The entire book is set on the planet Kesh.
Summary: The Omen, a mining ship of the ancient Sith Empire carrying a load of rare and valuable lightsaber crystals, is thrown off-course and crash lands on a primitive, unknown planet. Though their first thoughts are of a return to the stars, the planet proves utterly devoid of any natural resources that would be of use, and their captain knows that there will be no rescue. This tribe of Sith has come to stay, and over the long centuries they will feed their limitless appetites for intrigue and conquest by subjugating the planet and its people, and scheming relentlessly for personal power.
Review: This is utterly unlike any Star Wars book I have ever read, and that's definitely not a criticism. Aside from the lightsabers, the Force, and a few passing references to Jedi, this feels like a really good, stand-alone sci-fi novel. I liked some of the stories better than others, but the quality of the writing was consistent, and consistently good. I like Miller's style, and he is very good at planning individual stories full of their own surprising twists that also all fit into a much larger story. He did this consistently throughout the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, and he does it again here.
Miller also does a good job with the "rooting for a bad guy" problem by exploring more than the one-note side of Sith psychology that we are used to seeing everywhere else. Even though almost all of his protagonists are anti-heroes at best, lying, cheating, murdering, and enslaving, they are interesting characters, and there is more to them than the evil they do (often a great deal more). Most importantly, the main characters of his stories have vision, and that sets them apart from their fellow Sith. Captain Yaru Korsin and Caretaker Varner Hilts, in particular, embody this quality. Hilts reminds me of Isaac Asimov's "psychohistorian" Hari Seldon, from the classic Foundation series. I found the Keshiri characters much less interesting, particularly Quarra Thayn in "Pandemonium," but she grew on me a bit over the course of the story. Miller could have done a bit more to explore this alien race, but instead they were mostly just plot fodder.
In general, the biggest problem with the characters was that they kept changing. Once you were attached to one set of characters, the story jumped a thousand years and there was a whole new bunch. Then, once you got to like them pretty well, it happened again. I felt like that made the book drag a bit in the places where we were starting over with a whole new scenario yet again. But I really liked the epic scope of the whole thing. It was like watching Miller take on a game of "Civilization" with the Sith as a playable civilization.
My favorite stories were "Precipice," "Savior," "Purgatory," and "Secrets." My least favorites were "Skyborn," and "Pandemonium" (which was alright, just super-long in comparison to the others, and suffered from several factors that struck me as implausible). Not coincidentally, these were also the two stories with Keshiri protagonists. Overall, a fine read that I would recommend to fans and non-fans alike, as long as you like science fiction.
B+
Background: Lost Tribe of the Sith was originally released as a series of 8 eBook novellas from May 2009 to March 2012. A 9th, much longer final book was released along with the other 8 as "The Collected Stories" in July 2012. It was written by John Jackson Miller as a prequel to the "Fate of the Jedi" series of novels which was also being released during that time.
Lost Tribe of the Sith takes place across a period spanning over 2000 years. The first four books, the next two, and the final three form "mini-arcs" set during the same time. "Precipice" and "Skyborn" are both set 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. "Paragon" takes place 15 years later, and "Savior" 10 years after that. The characters in these stories are members of the Sith Empire under Naga Sadow, and there are frequent references to both Sadow and his arch-rival Ludo Kressh. "Purgatory" and "Sentinel" both take place 3960 years before the Battle of Yavin, and refer to characters and events from the "Knights of the Old Republic" comic series. "Pantheon" and "Secrets" are both set 3000 years before the Battle of Yavin, and "Pandemonium" begins 25 years later. The entire book is set on the planet Kesh.
Summary: The Omen, a mining ship of the ancient Sith Empire carrying a load of rare and valuable lightsaber crystals, is thrown off-course and crash lands on a primitive, unknown planet. Though their first thoughts are of a return to the stars, the planet proves utterly devoid of any natural resources that would be of use, and their captain knows that there will be no rescue. This tribe of Sith has come to stay, and over the long centuries they will feed their limitless appetites for intrigue and conquest by subjugating the planet and its people, and scheming relentlessly for personal power.
Review: This is utterly unlike any Star Wars book I have ever read, and that's definitely not a criticism. Aside from the lightsabers, the Force, and a few passing references to Jedi, this feels like a really good, stand-alone sci-fi novel. I liked some of the stories better than others, but the quality of the writing was consistent, and consistently good. I like Miller's style, and he is very good at planning individual stories full of their own surprising twists that also all fit into a much larger story. He did this consistently throughout the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, and he does it again here.
Miller also does a good job with the "rooting for a bad guy" problem by exploring more than the one-note side of Sith psychology that we are used to seeing everywhere else. Even though almost all of his protagonists are anti-heroes at best, lying, cheating, murdering, and enslaving, they are interesting characters, and there is more to them than the evil they do (often a great deal more). Most importantly, the main characters of his stories have vision, and that sets them apart from their fellow Sith. Captain Yaru Korsin and Caretaker Varner Hilts, in particular, embody this quality. Hilts reminds me of Isaac Asimov's "psychohistorian" Hari Seldon, from the classic Foundation series. I found the Keshiri characters much less interesting, particularly Quarra Thayn in "Pandemonium," but she grew on me a bit over the course of the story. Miller could have done a bit more to explore this alien race, but instead they were mostly just plot fodder.
In general, the biggest problem with the characters was that they kept changing. Once you were attached to one set of characters, the story jumped a thousand years and there was a whole new bunch. Then, once you got to like them pretty well, it happened again. I felt like that made the book drag a bit in the places where we were starting over with a whole new scenario yet again. But I really liked the epic scope of the whole thing. It was like watching Miller take on a game of "Civilization" with the Sith as a playable civilization.
My favorite stories were "Precipice," "Savior," "Purgatory," and "Secrets." My least favorites were "Skyborn," and "Pandemonium" (which was alright, just super-long in comparison to the others, and suffered from several factors that struck me as implausible). Not coincidentally, these were also the two stories with Keshiri protagonists. Overall, a fine read that I would recommend to fans and non-fans alike, as long as you like science fiction.
B+