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depizan 's review for:
Annihilation
by Drew Karpyshyn
Edit: I reread it because some of my friends were reading it. I'm still not fond of the family parts, but the rest of it is reasonably fun.
It's a mess. Mostly an entertaining mess, but a mess nonetheless. If you can set your suspension of disbelief to maximum and ignore the problematic bits with Satele Shan, it's a good popcorn read. If implications that women, or at least mothers, are irrationally emotional about their children bother you (it could be read as just Satele being that way, I suppose, but it's kind of presented like that's just how it is), you're probably going plant the book in your wall if you try to read it.
Going into more detail will involve potential spoilers, so...
The book starts with Satele Shan, Jedi Knight giving birth in secret. In a cave. Because that is, apparently, the best plan two Jedi can come up with for her hiding her child. Never mind that there are probably many, many places in the galaxy (even with a war on) that she could've gone to give birth with actual medical care. She sends the baby off with the other Jedi (who isn't the father) to raise because she would kill people to protect the baby and that's why babies are no-nos for Jedi. (But apparently raising a kid totally won't cause someone to form an emotional attachment. Just being genetically related to them. One of the many things that might cause a reader to ninja star the book into the nearest wall.)
Skip ahead to the non-Force Sensitive kid, Theron Shan (because it's a super common name, honest!), now grown and working for the SIS (the Republic's spy agency). He's stalk-protecting Teff'ith, the Twi'lek from the horribly drawn comic book that introduced them both, for reasons that are never entirely made clear. This gets him in trouble with his boss, which gets him assigned to desk work, which he hates, and he finagles a way into being the spy for a mission to get rid of the Empire's latest ridiculous weapon - a super powerful ship that is run by a Sith actually cybernetically plugging herself into it. (This may have been explained and my eyes glazed over, or no particular explanation of how any of that worked may be in the book.)
He also causes his father (head of the Republic military) to find out he exists. This cues a lot of really annoying angst where Theron has about twelve emotions in two sentences (even though all that's happened is now he knows who his father is - he already knew all about his mom), Satele - head of the Jedi Order - manages to out emotion even him, and dad - despite having been lied to and all, is the only one who actually acts like a responsible adult about the whole thing. (So, again, you may find yourself wanting to throw the book at something.)
The spy shenanigans, despite being both more ridiculous and less competent than your average James Bond movie, are reasonably entertaining. A little too predictable, maybe, but I don't mind that too much in actiony stuff. (And the author could've made Theron seem a hell of a lot more competent. I don't know whether he's meant to come off has having a higher opinion of his abilities than reality (ala the Stainless Steel Rat) or whether the author didn't realize how he came off.)
And, as in his comic appearance, Theron is able to take out a powerful Sith under somewhat contrived circumstances. Unlike his comic appearance, however, he - mostly - comes off as likable enough to care what happens to him. Mostly. Sometimes he seems really childish, especially for someone who was raised as if he could become a Jedi. But I think the author was trying to underline just how badly the Jedi who raised him screwed him up. I think. (My doubt there is that everyone acts like that Jedi was a good Jedi and a good man and all that, despite him having raised a non-Force Sensitive kid as if that kid could become a Jedi, which seems like one hell of a mind screw.)
I nearly gave it only two stars because of the annoying and badly done family parts, but I decided that there wasn't quite enough of that to downgrade the whole book.
It's a mess. Mostly an entertaining mess, but a mess nonetheless. If you can set your suspension of disbelief to maximum and ignore the problematic bits with Satele Shan, it's a good popcorn read. If implications that women, or at least mothers, are irrationally emotional about their children bother you (it could be read as just Satele being that way, I suppose, but it's kind of presented like that's just how it is), you're probably going plant the book in your wall if you try to read it.
Going into more detail will involve potential spoilers, so...
The book starts with Satele Shan, Jedi Knight giving birth in secret. In a cave. Because that is, apparently, the best plan two Jedi can come up with for her hiding her child. Never mind that there are probably many, many places in the galaxy (even with a war on) that she could've gone to give birth with actual medical care. She sends the baby off with the other Jedi (who isn't the father) to raise because she would kill people to protect the baby and that's why babies are no-nos for Jedi. (But apparently raising a kid totally won't cause someone to form an emotional attachment. Just being genetically related to them. One of the many things that might cause a reader to ninja star the book into the nearest wall.)
Skip ahead to the non-Force Sensitive kid, Theron Shan (because it's a super common name, honest!), now grown and working for the SIS (the Republic's spy agency). He's stalk-protecting Teff'ith, the Twi'lek from the horribly drawn comic book that introduced them both, for reasons that are never entirely made clear. This gets him in trouble with his boss, which gets him assigned to desk work, which he hates, and he finagles a way into being the spy for a mission to get rid of the Empire's latest ridiculous weapon - a super powerful ship that is run by a Sith actually cybernetically plugging herself into it. (This may have been explained and my eyes glazed over, or no particular explanation of how any of that worked may be in the book.)
He also causes his father (head of the Republic military) to find out he exists. This cues a lot of really annoying angst where Theron has about twelve emotions in two sentences (even though all that's happened is now he knows who his father is - he already knew all about his mom), Satele - head of the Jedi Order - manages to out emotion even him, and dad - despite having been lied to and all, is the only one who actually acts like a responsible adult about the whole thing. (So, again, you may find yourself wanting to throw the book at something.)
The spy shenanigans, despite being both more ridiculous and less competent than your average James Bond movie, are reasonably entertaining. A little too predictable, maybe, but I don't mind that too much in actiony stuff. (And the author could've made Theron seem a hell of a lot more competent. I don't know whether he's meant to come off has having a higher opinion of his abilities than reality (ala the Stainless Steel Rat) or whether the author didn't realize how he came off.)
And, as in his comic appearance, Theron is able to take out a powerful Sith under somewhat contrived circumstances. Unlike his comic appearance, however, he - mostly - comes off as likable enough to care what happens to him. Mostly. Sometimes he seems really childish, especially for someone who was raised as if he could become a Jedi. But I think the author was trying to underline just how badly the Jedi who raised him screwed him up. I think. (My doubt there is that everyone acts like that Jedi was a good Jedi and a good man and all that, despite him having raised a non-Force Sensitive kid as if that kid could become a Jedi, which seems like one hell of a mind screw.)
I nearly gave it only two stars because of the annoying and badly done family parts, but I decided that there wasn't quite enough of that to downgrade the whole book.