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Rating:  -
I think the whole legacy of the force series is just plain pathetic. While the idea had so much power to it - Jacen turning into a Sith Lord, the execution is pathetic. This is specially obvious for someone whose introduction to star wars was thru the New Jedi Order series which was a remarkable one, from idea to story line and its execution.
I have lots of issues with this book, specifically. Number 1, the english grammer is wrong. Just plain wrong! Lot of the sentences are grammatically incorrect. And yes, I do understand the difference between slang and king's english - but even slang is not usually incorrect grammatically. In her attempt to come up with some cool new terms, the author has made a mess of the text.
Then I hated the word caf, tapcaf and the likes! What is this? Thirdly, there is no flow-thru as to how the plot changes. One moment Luke has almost but killed Jacen, and then there is no more Luke for the rest of the battle. One moment Niathial is leading and everybody is on her side, and the next moement, she is finding herself ousted! The author apparentally has no clue how to put a story line together.
I think this was a very poorly written novel. Try reading the novel "Darth Bane - the path of destruction" and you find what a superbly powerful novel would read like.
Rating: -
I have been waiting a long time to review this one and I figured after finishing the Legacy of the Force series last week, it would finally be a good time to post my two cents. I "had a bad feeling about this" book before I read it but, before I get into any of the specifics, I would like to start off with what I dislike about the general direction the EU authors are taking, especially the author of this book. I have read just about all of the EU stuff that gets put out, but it is getting harder and harder to cope with the universe that these authors are painting. From the way it looks I think after a few more book series that present day Earth will have not only surpassed the Star Wars galaxy technologically, but also in have a greater population than the entire Star Wars galaxy. From watching the movies and reading the good EU material out there, I see a Star Wars universe full of grandeur and many technologically wonders. From my perspective the Star Wars universe is one that can be characterized by the following descriptions:
1. A very highly advanced civilization that can produce just about anything and one that is capable of conducting extra-galactic travel, and this level of technology that has been in existence for many millennia
2. A civilization that has the technology to destroy planets and stars with ease and has had the ability to do so for many millennia
3. A galactic civilization that is dominated by non-democratic forms of government in the forms of monarchies, aristocracies, oligarchies, corporate rule, military rule, and plutocracies for the most of its recorded history. (Pre-Republic Civilizations, Planetary Governments, the Old Republic, the Empire, the Hapes Consortium etc...)
4. With the populations, resources and technology available, local and galactic military forces should easily be able put up space navies with tens of thousands to millions of capital ships and armies with hundreds of billions to trillions of troops
5. A galaxy where planetary populations far exceed that of Earth, especially the ones that are city planets!!!! (Taris, Anaxes, Empress Teta and others which I am sure will one day will have terrible population number assigned to them)
6. A galactic culture and society that is not much different from Earth's history (capitalist and Imperial economics, Religion is important part of society, the types of governments mentioned above, etc...)
Instead of what I have listed above many EU authors give me pathetic galactic armies numbering in the millions, space navies of a few hundred/thousand ships, paltry planetary populations, instead of planet killing weaponry the featured military weaponry seem like they could barley match the destructive power of an United States Ohio-class submarine, and weak lefty democratic governments that are usually made to be the so called "good guys" of the story.
Well now that I have that out of the way on to more of the specific on this book. Now I don't really have a big problem with this author's obsession with Mandalorians, but this author in particular continues to lowball Star Wars technology like many of her other EU authors. She has definitely contributed to reducing the galactic population and military strength down to rather sparse levels. In this novel this pattern can be seen when saying that galactic navies are moving to a smaller and more maneuverable ships and fleets. Again from the Star Wars timeline that has been laid out, the technology on display, and with the resources of an entire galaxy, the militaries of the Star Wars Galaxy should be immense in size and should have the power to easily destroy planets and stars.
The next issue I have is that I think non-democratic conservative governments are essential elements any good science fiction/fantasy stories. Monarchies, aristocracies, oligarchies, plutocracies, military rule, and corporate rule make for a far more interesting read than the usual weak democratic governments or other forms of left leaning governments seen throughout this series. In this novel not only do I have to put up with the socialist looking Galactic Alliance, then I got whinny Jedi, and then the author has to give one of my favorite planets, Fondor, a President. A little thing, but it killed me. At the very least could the EU authors go back to having a system like the Old Republic where it is more of an alliance or union of planets rather than a functioning galactic government, thus leaving the sovereignty of individual planets intact.
Another thing that bothers me about this author is how religion is presented in her writings. Now one of the reasons I love Star Wars is that religion and the Force are key elements of the story, unlike a few other sci-fi universes like Star Trek. I would very much like to know more about the other religions of the normal humans in the Star Wars Galaxy, and I hope belief in "the Maker" is rampant. Well being a Mandalorians lover, the author does touch upon the religious belief of the Mandalorians frequently. However, the thing that is weird to me is that it seems whenever a new Mandalorian is introduced we usually get their personal views on the Mandalorians heaven of "manda" very quickly. Usually it is followed by the character thinking how they do not literally believe afterlife, but it's a nice idea. On the other side of things there is also part of the book where Ben Skywalker talks about how as a Jedi, life after death is a known fact and that the majority of Galaxy hold to some sort of religious belief. However, by the end of the book (Spoiler warning) she brings it back in the other direction when Grand Admiral Pellaeon is assassinated and all he sees is blackness as he dies. (End Spoilers) I don't know what the author's personnel beliefs are, but I get way too many hints of atheism in her writing. I mean if I wanted to read about that perspective I would be a Star Trek fan.
One other tiny thing that annoyed me was a statement that Boba Fett makes where he says that all of the wars, since the founding of the Republic, with the exception of the Vong invasion, have simply been a battle between the Sith and Jedi. Though I am not surprised, apparently the author has failed to do a little research to see that there have been other major wars during that time span that have not involved the Sith or Jedi. I know I would classify the Unification Wars, the 1,000 year Pius Dea Crusades, the Alsakan Conflicts, the Tionese War and many other inter-planetary wars as major conflicts. Also without knowing the entire history of the Star Wars galaxy any blanket statement like this should never any used by any EU author.
So all in all this author paints the Star Wars galaxy as a less advanced civilization than it should be, one that is being run by weak lefty democratic governments, she includes atheist overtones in her writing style, and by a having an obsession military oriented race much like the Klingons, it sounds as if this author would be a perfect fit for writing Star Trek novels. So to the company that makes Star Trek novels please take her off our hands.
In the end I give this novel one star only because it is Star Wars and I like the cover.
Rating:  -
Overall-The book lacks focus and while there are some cool parts most of it was not needed.
Things are boiling down to a showdown between the GA and the Jedi Order and their allies very slowly. Personally I was ready for the final confrontation 3 books ago.
The Macedonian subplot (or Klingons as they are known in the Star Trek universe) still feels like fanfiction and that is probably the most polite thing I can say about it. No I'll say one more thing I don't Fett unburdening himself to his family; its nice sweet and sentimental but that is not why I like the character. I mean seriously what's next is Calista going to show up as a reincarnated dark empress?
In fact other then a glorious last stand by Pellion almost nothing happens in this book. I got the feeling that the authors were as sick of writing it as we were of reading some of this stuff.
A million times I wanted to scream "get to the point already" never in a million years did I think Admiral Dalla of all people would be the redeeming feature of a Star Wars book.
Rating: -
Alright I had to say something because this entire series has been one stupid plot twists and blunders after another. The jedi are suppose to be awesome and the bad**ses of the galaxy but yet it takes them six books to finally decide to do something about jacen. What happened to all the smart jedi or at least the righteous ones? The great revelation at the end of this book is laughable not to mention it's idiotic that they never thought of it. During the whole series jedi go from being practically omnipotent to being dumb to the point that a five year old could pull the wool over their eyes. Not to mention that book to book the characters change and don't act how they did in the last one. Also the selfishness of the jedi goes against everything they should stand for. I mean come on luke keeps going on and on about being a jedi and during this series he puts his own selfish desires over the greater good. So what if their kid doesn't use the force I would think they wouldn't care. Not to mention jaina, I though she was 30 year old not a teenager with a lot of angst. Out of all the characters in this series the only characters that stay cool are han and leia they actually stick to their beliefs during the entire thing. Finally the whole tracker business I don't understand why they sacrificed all those jedi just to put a tracker on him instead of capturing him. Okay maybe that team couldn't have done it but something like this they could have sent like 10 masters I'm sure they could get him. This series gets me so mad I'm going to finish it because I already read so much but then I'm done with star wars books the NJO killed it for me.
Edit: Spoiler alert***
I got to say this last thing I disagree with what the dude said at the end. Quoting the friendly neighborhood spiderman "With great power comes great responsibility" to have the ability to change something for the better and not doing it is worse than committing the act. I mean that whole speech the x-jedi gave to jaina sounded like someone justifying their lifestyle. For the last quote "Evil wins when good men do nothing".
Rating: -
"Revelation", the 8th and penultimate entry in the "Legacy of the Force" series is a much better entry than the last, Fury, and is superior to Karen Traviss' previous novel "Sacrifice" in almost every way. It successfully sets up the final novel by moving the players into their places with efficiency and style, and pays off the Mandalorian/Boba Fett story arc that Traviss spent far too much time developing in her previous efforts. It's no surprise that the weakest parts of the book center on Fett and his dysfunctional family.
There are three main story arcs, with only one being developed and completeed in a truly interesting manner. The first deals with Ben Skywalkers attempts to prove Jacen Solo, now the Sith Lord Darth Cadeus, killed his mother, Mara Jade Skywalker. He takes this task on himself, and returns to Coruscant to enlist the help of his old friend Lon Shevu of the Galactic Alliance Guard(GAG). Shevu is an old local cop who was drafted into the GAG in the second book of the series and has been a mentor to Ben on correct police procedure. With Shevu's help, Ben begins to build an air-tight case against Jacen to present to his father and the Jedi Council.
The second arc involves the political manuverings of Jacen, the Old Empire, and Admiral Cha Niathal, Jacen's co-chief of state who has decided that Jacen's ambition and tyranny are too much for her to bear. Represnting the Empire is fan favorite Admiral Palleaon, former Commander of the Galactic Alliance Navy and now essentially the head of state for the Empire. This story arc is the most well-defined and Traviss demonstrates some skill in writing political intrigue. Palleon, Jacen and Niathal all have tricks up their sleaves, and Traviss does a superb job of unleashing the surprises on both the galaxy and the reader, and there are some very interesting cameo's in this section of the book.
Finally, there is the Jaina Solo/Boba Fett arc. Jaina believes that she alone can stop Jacen, but that since they know each other so well, she needs to learn things he doesn't. So she enlists Fett to train her in Mandalorain techniques to take down Jacen. Here is the real weekness in the story. Traviss seems intent on shoehorning her characters and threads from her "Republic Commando" series into the Madalorian scenes, and so the time spent on Mandalore focuses too little on who Jaina is learning and far too much on psychoanalyzing Fett and essentially holding up the Mandalorians as some sort of glorious ideal. Her writing shows a lot of contempt for the Jedi and while they certainly deserve some criticism, Traviss tries way too hard to point out how much better, morally and physically, the Mandalorians are, which gets tiresome fast. I think Fett's history is interesting, but it has not place in this series of novels. So these scenes drag down the pace of the book and push the Ben Skywalker angle to far out of the picture that he only makes one appearence in the last third of the book, though it's a very important moment and she writes it well.
Other problems with the story are that no one seems to know anything about the Sith in this novel. Considering everyone knows that Palpatine was a Sith and that Sith are supposed to be evil, most of the non-Jedi characters have a lot of convienient lapses in memory of what, exactly, the Sith represent. This is annoying to a long-time reader of the Star Wars series because the threat of the Sith came up a lot in previous novels. Not all of their history is well known in the Star Wars universe, you would think a galaxy that spent 20 years under the rule of one Sith, Palpatine, would retain some memory of them, especially Fett, who worked with and seemingly respected Vader.
Anyway, I think this stands in the way of making this a great book and brings the score down. The only positive is that Traviss successfuly sets up the final novel and also gives Fett some resoultion. She should ask LucasBooks to let her write a stand-alone novel on the Madalorians. She obviously loves the bloodthirsty mercenaries, and it would at least be addressed in the correct place. You can't skip this book if you want to enjoy the final book of the series, but it's not too great either.
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