Book Reviews

So I'm gonna make a topic for Star Wars book reviews. If you're a fan of the books(like Red, Thing, and myself) then post a review for one or more books you've read. Give us your opinion on it so we know if it's worth a look, and if it's already been posted by someone else don't be afraid, the more opinions the better. I will ask that each review comprises two parts, a first which is strictly a short no spoiler review of a quick pros and cons and then your recommendation for reading. The second can be the full review, all your opinions but need to be clearly marked as being a full review. You can do with by changing font color, hiding it in spoiler(remember to make text color black if you do!) or separating it with dashes and underscores to make a clear line.

This first post will work as an Index should this grow to be multiple pages where the books are listed alphabetically by title if they are stand alone, or should it be a series it will be listed as a series(so like Conviction would be listed as Fate of the Jedi and then be in order of release because you need to read a series in order for the full effect). After the book will be listed the reviewer(s) and what page and post number of the page it is on. So say I reviewed Shadows of the Empire, my review would look like this: "Shadows of the Empire" - Aardvark, Thing - Page 2 Post 4 & Page 3 Post 2.

Scale of recommendation:
Keep your money - Pretty much what it sounds like, the worst kind of book that you would rather sell then have it tainting your book collection.
Not Recommended - Basically don't bother unless you just HAVE to know, and even then get it from a library.
Lightly Recommended - Not bad, if it's cheap and you feel like you've got money to burn than give it a look.
Moderately Recommended - It's good, it's got some flaws, maybe some dull parts, maybe great except for a really disappointing part, wait for the paperback.
Highly Recommended - Great book you wouldn't mind rereading, worth the Hardback price.

"Choices of One" - Aardvark - Page 1 Post 2
"Fate of the Jedi: Ascension"( Book 8 ) - Aardvark - Page 1 Post 4
"Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse"(Book 9[Final]) - Aardvark - Page 5 Post 6
"The Old Republic: Deceived" - Red-X - Page 2 Post 2
"The Old Republic: Revan" - Aardvark - Page 2 Post 5
"Shadow Games" - Aardvark - Page 3 Post 5
"Darth Plegueis" - Aardvark - Page 4 Post 5
"Riptide" - Aardvark - Page 5 Post 2
"Scourge" - Aardvark - Page 5 Post 8
"Millennium Falcon" - Aardvark - Page 6 Post 10
"Crosscurrent" - Aardvark - Page 7 Post 1
"X-wing: Mercy Kill" - Aardvark - Page 8 Post 5
"The Old Republic: Annihilation" - Aardvark - Page 8 Post 6
"The Last Jedi" - Aardvark - Page 8 Post 8
"Scoundrels" - Aardvark - Page 9 Post 1
"Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void" - Aardvark - Page 9 Post 2
"Kenobi" - Aardvark - Page 9 Post 3
"Crucible" - Aardvark - Page 9 Post 6
"Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge" - Aardvark - Page 9 Post 7

Series(Legacy of the Force) - Aardvark - Page 7 Post 2
Series(Fate of the Jedi) - Aardvark - Page 8 Post 4

Shorties(Republic Era) - Page 5 Post 3
Shorties(Sith Era) - Page 5 Post 10
Shorties(Empire Era) - Page 5 Post 10
Shorties(New Jedi Order Era) - Page 6 Post 6
Shorties(New Republic Era) - Page 7 Post 3

Book: Choices of One
Author: Timothy Zahn


Biggest Pro: Great character development. Luke in particular is handled spectacularly.
Biggest Con: The Ending. Simply put it's a let down, most of the climax happens without being told.

Recommendation: Moderate.

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So let's get straight to it shall we? The story follows three main lines as so many Star Wars books do and takes places shortly after the events of Allegiance and brings back one of my favorite group of storm troopers, but for now we'll look at where the book begins, with the Rebellion. You have Luke, Han, and the Rebellion as they struggle to find a safe base of operations in a relatively obscure sector of the Empire. Han and Luke are done well with Luke's handling being phenomenally well done. Han is troubled that he's still considered unreliable and kept out of the loop on most of the Alliance's plans, it explores why he decided to become an officer in the Rebellion. Playing a much more minor role, but still the one that stands out the most to me is Luke, it's reveiled that unlike some other stories I could mention *cough* Empire comic *cough* Luke is NOT a fully realized Jedi and still has a long way to go before he can even begin to use his lightsaber the way it's meant to be used. It actually takes the time to explain his realization that he can fight and shows that despite not having a master he is still slowly developing his skills. This part of the story line provides a neat continuing transition from Allegiance in an attempt to explain the changes in character between A New Hope & The Empire Strikes Back for Luke and Han and even takes some time to show Leia's reluctant feelings for the lovable rogue. A notable character is the appearance of Vestin Axlon who leads negotiation for a time and is very well done for a minor character.

The second part of the story takes place with Pellaeon on board the Chimera and the odd orders he has to play escort to an intelligent, but mysterious Lord who has orders from the Emperor directly. Most of this is spent as a guessing game with Pellaeon constantly trying to get information out of him and a rather obvious attempt by the author to fool you into thinking you know who it is. It's not badly done, but I saw the major twist coming over 100 pages before the reveal, a second surprise caught me completely off guard though and though it's minor in the long run it was cleverly concealed. Pellaeon's development isn't as easy to see as Luke's and Han's but it still plays into the long term development of the character. I wouldn't be surprised to see another story continuing this development and bringing everyone up to date with the Empire Strikes Back.

The third part of the story has to do with Mara Jade and the Hand of Judgment(the bestest group of stormies ever!) and their mission to bring a traitor to the Empire to justice. The plan doesn't go according to plan and they actually end up helping the man they were sent to kill, leading Mara to the same doubt the Hand Of Judgment faced in Allegiance: are your orders always right? The Hand plays second fiddle to Mara, but they still manage to be more memorable than the Emperor's Hand due to the fact that they are just normal people playing catch up with a highly trained Sith assassin. They don't get much development character wise, but their situation(s) prove to be some of the most exciting so I can forgive the lack of character development. There's a twist at the end for the group though that I cannot wait to see followed up on. As far as Mara goes, she gets shocked out of her comfort zone and forced to make decision not about how to do her job but whether or not to do it at all, and I do have to admit I love the touch at the climax where she and Luke are practically in the same room and Luke still manages to miss the fact that he's less than 100 feet away from the strongest Force user in the sector.

Overall the story is very well done over the majority of the book. The characters are interesting, the action is well-paced, and it gives key insight into how the situation developed between the first two movies. The ending though deserves my most scathing criticism, I've seen maybe 4(out of over 120) other SW books that were that disappointing an ending. There's this huge build-up like a Rollercoaster going up this huge hill, you expect this great thrilling drop at the end and a nice coasting into the station. What you get is a two foot drop, and a slow gentle curve down. It's not the worst way to go about it, but there's just so much lost potential.

My overall recommendation: Get it from your library. If it was in paperback form I would suggest a buy just for character development, but as a Hardback I simply cannot ignore the horrible ending.

This was a great idea aard

Book: Fate of the Jedi: Ascension
Author: Christie Golden

Biggest Pro: Vestara's Development. The character finally comes fully into herself, and while I can't get specific without spoiling it it is very well done and makes you sympathize with her.
Biggest Con: Lost Tribe's Handling. It came off as rushed and a little too convenient, I'm not sure if it was just badly written or if the author was forced to parse it down due to length as the book clocks in at 392 pages.

Recommendation: Moderate.

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The book starts out with Abeloth's arrival at Kesh and the political situation there. This takes up the first 56 pages of the book which honestly pissed me off because the title characters, you know the ones plastered on the cover? Yeah they don't show up until page 72. There's quite a few areas like that and it's obvious Christie Golden has yet to master pacing with multiple points of view. But I digress, back to the Lost Tribe, after a little political slight of hand Abeloth makes her descent to Kesh and starts to integrate into the Lost Tribe, you see Gavar's uncertainty as to where her daughter's loyalty truly lies and there's some nice foreshadowing in there that is completely negated in the next chapter when the Grand Lord and Abeloth get into a mental fight that results in a Force Wave that kills almost everyone on Kesh save the Grand Lord. Gavar escapes this by virtue of having gone back to his ship in orbit before it happens, despite being basically oblivious to what actually happens he jumps to the conclusion that the Grand Lord lost to Abeloth and therefore they must side with Abeloth, obey her, and destroy any remaining Lost Tribe members who rebel.... Yeah, I was surprised too, the Grand Lord's confrontation through Gavar's sudden siding takes place over less than 20 pages and you have absolutely NO hints that he was even considering betraying his people.

At this point we actually get some meshing as we see how the interim government is working as they handle new submissions for the Senate. I won't bore you with the details and I don't want to ruin everything that happens so I'll just leave it there and say the conspirators led by Leceren has a similar meeting about who to bring into their group and that amongst these events the Solos get a mysterious message from old friends claiming they know where Daala is. This plays out to a less than amazing revelation that they are the Squibs... Yeah you remember the Squibs, from Tatooine Ghost? Neither did I, well rather I remembered 3 very annoying characters from the book that I was glad never appeared again. I can't really do too much more with this without revealing some rather amazing details you should read for yourself. Suffice it to say they're being chased by henchmen and have to escape with the Solos. Oh and it turns out they do know where Daala is, but that I'll leave for later because now we've finally come to the duo you really want to know about.

Now we are joined by Luke, Ben, Jaina, & Vestara aboard the Jade Shadow. The group is trying to find either the Lost Tribe or Abeloth and have decided to search dark side worlds for her. Their first stop is Korriban, but as you can guess this is less than 25% of the way through this so what do they find? Bubkes. But we do find out that Vestara can communicate with tukata and other creatures steeped in the dark side, can anyone else see how this may come back? Anyway they leave, they go through several planets without expanding it which is just fine with me, and end up on Dromund Kaas, the planet where even Jedi Masters have fallen to the massive dark side nexus. Now I'm going to put the next part in spoiler because it contains major spoilers, for the sake of the review though since I know I won't catch them all, the end result of this trip is that Ben and Vestara get romantic:

Spoiler:

After her ordeal Vestara decides to become a Jedi much to Luke's surprise and she and Ben grow closer. Not much important happens for a while as the conspirators recruit new people and Han and Leia figure out a way to deal with the information they've been given. The next significant step comes when Luke decides to take the Jedi off Coruscant and out of GA politics completely which is followed by a surprising nomination of Padnel Ovin to fill in as interim Chief of State, if this name sounds familiar it's because Ovin is a Klatooinian terrorist become Senator from Alston's previous book Conviction. All the while Leia and Han are giving Jagged Fel the information about Daala's location, but with a twist, they have Tahiri, recently escaped from a GA prison, go with him to act as a body guard until she can be tried in an Imperial Court arguing that since her crime was that of killing Gilad Pellaeon, the Chief of State of the Empire, she should be tried by the Empire rather than the Alliance. The next morning they get the announcement that Ovin has been given the office of Chief of State and Leia is then taken into custody by a new subcommittee the Senate has put in place based on trumped up charges. At some point after the group goes to Koriban but before Ovin is elected we learn that Admiral Bwua'tau has come out of his coma and is forming a little "club" with Dorvan, the Solos, and eventually Ovin as well because they suspect a pair of conspiracies may be afoot. This is the only time where we get even a hint of where the Lost Tribe has been.

At this point we learn that the Lost Tribe has actually been on Coruscant for a while and have at least one Senate seat and have been using the Force and their own politics to rally support to their causes. If this baffles you and comes as a sudden twist you're not alone. This has no foreshadowing, and no PoV from the Lost Tribe, it just happens with no warning whatsoever, and shortly after this IS revealed we learn that a new Senator from an obscure planets who's popularity is way out of proportion compared to her standing is actually Abeloth who is managing to hide her presence in the Force while simultaneously using it to influence countless people into adoring her and that her goal is to become first the Chief of State, then the "Beloved Queen of the Stars", and eventually a goddess. Workan, the High Sith Lord who's been posing as a GA Senator doesn't like her plans or popularity, expresses this to the Grand Lord and both decide she needs to go, but of course they don't know it's Abeloth as they can't feel her. So Abeloth and the Grand Lord have a fight off page(which ticks me off), and you can guess who wins. At this point Abeloth tells Workan he can either help her in her goals or his head can be part of a matched pair of Lost Tribe bookends.

Now we flip to the Jedi and Natua, the person who's been researching Sith worlds for them to investigate and they believe that they've found Ship and possibly Abeloth with it on an obscure Sith world called Upekzar. A world the Sith used as a sort of trial world because of bugs that emit a pheromone that causes anyone who inhales it to have vivid waking nightmares, but is otherwise harmless. So they head out and split up with the majority of the Jedi heading to this citadel while Luke, Natua, and Vestara explore the cave where the trials took place. Luke and the group come across a little surprise and have to retreat, I'll leave the surprise intact because it's not a major point but it's still awesome. Meanwhile the other three come across one of the bugs, the small little bugs that can't hurt anyone, and quickly find out that after a couple millenia of pure Dark side exposure things never remain harmless. It kicks off Ben's mask, taking him out of the fight leaving just a weak Jedi Knight and Vestara.

I'll leave this off here because it's an interesting segment and hell you have to have some reason to read the book. The parts I've left out are just final bits I think you'll find entertaining or intriguing. Is that potentially lazy? Yes. Is it a bit of a middle finger? Yep. Do you want to now go read and find out exactly how much I've left out considering I consider this huge review only a skimming of the most vital bits? I certainly hope so.

My final thoughts on the book are that it is a good book, but rushed and not spaced out properly. I suspect(and hope) the author was simply forced to cut down a much larger script that would have shirked off the criticisms I gave. I'm not a big fan of this author, but she's getting better. I do have to say this sets Denning up for one hell of a conclusion, and if he can pull it off it'll be the best book series I've read in Star Wars, beating out even the Thrawn Trilogy and it's preceding Legacy series which I still consider movie worthy. Oh and if you really want to whet your appetite for the next book, read the Apocalypse excerpt.

Overall recommendation: Read it. It's not quite worth the hardback price, but paperback is a definite and if you can find any library or bum it off a friend then do so it's got it's problems and like I said it's rushed, but it will keep you riveted until the end and leave you thirsting for more.

Aard = The Chris Gore of Books. Very good reviews lol.

I finally finished the book a few minutes ago. And im sure as hell not gonna do a review on this, yours was just 'damn'. I'll do one on Revan or apocalypse probably. But hell, after finishing, my attitude towards Vestara just got thrown into fuggin space.........

But i do agree the next book is just going to be absolutely chaotic. Im not even gonna read the first chapter in the back of the book.

Ah come on, post a review it helps to have more than one point of view. And yeah I couldn't restrain myself from reading the excerpt. My recommendation for the excerpt in Ascension: DON'T READ IT. Seriously I read the huge bomb it drops and nearly punched my screen when I learned Apocalypse isn't due out until APRIL!

lololol

i'll try tomorow. Idea just came, could I bring the review i did on Deceived over? or you think i put in to many spoilers? And since we have awhile till revan or Apocalypse comes, im gonna try to re-read Fatal Alliance and put that on here.

Like I said put a long and short in the short is the no spoiler zone, the long you can do what you like. I hid parts in my full zone because even for someone who wants a comprehensive review it was a huge spoiler to say exactly what I liked about it. But yeah bring over whatever you've done, I'll post the location of it in this thread up in the first post so it's easy to find.

Can we have a thread for General Subject (or w/e) book reviews???

Should ask for that in Galaxy Opera House

Didn't quite go as i thought, but i still considered it good. It was basically 3 stories in one: Malgus, a rogue jedi, and a smuggler. As you slowly progressed (there was a small *i dont need to read this...* spot) they met. The whole book takes place within two days.

Without spoiling tooo much...

They made Malgus sound like an out of control sith that was obsessed with his lover (the blue twi lek) and an idiot that only knew how to fight and nothing else. His ultimate seeing the galaxy in flames. Which thankfully, going through the book he comes out of that stage and becomes smarter/confident and ends up doing something soooo unexpected that caused me to drop an F bomb in class out loud by accident...Also, if you look back in the trailer, you'll notice a sith leaping into the air and landing with a powerful force slam. He's an actual character in the book and turns out to be a bastard . Lets just say Malgus has the last laugh with this jackass.

The rogue Jedi. Aryn Leneer was the padawan of Master Zallow, the last jedi to be killed in the Decieved trailer at the end. She becomes extremely pained (and i mean 'pained') by the death of her master; she practically quits the Order to hunt down Malgus out of revenge. Which ends in a pretty good fight, then FINALLY she comes to her damn senses and does something bold, even though it almost got her killed. And then we get the happy ending (she drops out of the Order entirely) where she goes to dantooine to live her life in solitude with someone....

That someone is the Smuggler, Zeerid. Meh, he didnt really feel like he shouldve been in this book. But eh, his actions did somewhat control what the other two (^) characters did. Hell, he was like the yoda/obi to Aryn...just with a daughter and sister-in-law. He pretty much works for the Black Sun of that time, "The Exchange". And gets in deep trouble which ends up with him meeting with Aryn and they do their thing. In the end he hooks up with Aryn on Dantooine to live a farmers life.

Out of the three though, Malgus was the most interesting. How he saw the Empire, his beliefs on what it means to be a sith, a warriors/sith code, his (wasnt even expecting) pretty damn intimate relationship with his lover. Oh and last thing....We learn Darth Malgus's actual birth name. Also, his side of the story told more about the Empire and some of things i was curious about. If any of you read Threat of Peace, a webcomic at swtor.com, it'll help you understand some of the events that were going on.

Im gonna redo this review to make it better. Wrote this out of pure excitement at the time and this pretty much looks like crap =_=. I'll put the reccomendation thing after i redo this. But for now, here it is

This is a Star Wars forum so in here you can only review SW books. If you want to post reviews in the Cantina that's up to you, Atlas.

K that's nice.



Damn, I got a lot o' shit to type O.O

Book: The Old Republic: Revan
Author: Drew Karpyshyn

Biggest Pro: Answers many questions about what happened to both Revan and the Exile after the KotOR games.
Biggest Con: Too rushed and scatter-brained in areas.

Recommendation: Light.

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OK so even though this is the long review, it's still going to be short because almost all the fun in this is finding out about the path the story takes and the Revelations it brings. It follows Revan at first, and we find out the Jedi's still having problems with his memory. He doesn't understand why he turned and even though he knows he's essentially a different person now it still haunts him that he doesn't know why, that his memory is still(to borrow a term from Quantum Leap) swiss-cheesed so he decides to go on a quest to rebuild what he's lost. Eventually he stumbles onto the Sith Empire who, despite what the Jedi think, did not die at the end of the Great Hyperspace War a millenia ago(this isn't a spoiler as it's the same Empire you fight in TOR), and gets captured. Throughout the Revan segments we've been getting bits and pieces from another character, Scourge, who's a Sith(species and Force-wise) living in the Empire. He serves mostly as a way to show you what life is like in the Empire and as a complete party pooper at the end(if you want to know read the book, just don't have anything breakable nearby at the final chapter). After Revan gets captured we go to Meetra Surik, and as some may realize that's the Exile. Yes they give her a name and look now, although they are very careful to avoid mention of any characters or actions in TSL beyond the broadest most inescapable plot point(s)(I think they mention all of 2 or 3). To my disappointment she completely lacks that badass quality you feel in the game and comes across as being the girlfriend that was shot down but still clings to you like glue. That could just be me, I mean when I pictured the Exile I always imagined someone very blunt and powerful, not willing to take shit but still kind. I mean they manage to catch Revan as I imagined him but.... I'm getting off-track, suffice to say she was a disappointment to me aside from the very early chapters with her, but I'm probably looking too far into it. I can't say much about her beyond the fact that she helps Revan escape(and I mean help, I'm pretty sure he could have done it alone), and at that point what little character she has disappears entirely.

Aside from a few chapters with Canderous and Bastila, and T3's ever presence, little of the other characters are even mentioned. They tell you Juhani and Jolee are in the order, but they make no mention of what might have happened to them when the Exile showed up, and all we get of Mission and Zaalbar is that they started a business. HK is shrugged off by both Revan and the Exile, though the last whereabouts they gave could make for an interesting book all on its own from HK's perspective. Carth is never mentioned, and aside from a quick confirmation that Traya is in fact dead(NO FUCKING SHIT!) and Canderous is in fact Mandalore(Again, who does this surprise?) all the TSL characters are ignored. So if you're hoping for some great cameos from some of the only funny characters in SW then you'll be sorely disappointed.

As for overall pacing, I really did like the first third to half of the book, it sucked you in and you even get to see Revan fight(as well as a neat reveal you should read), but as soon as you hit the second half things happen way too fast and I suspect this is because the TSL writers(of which Karpyshyn is one) weren't sure they actually wanted to confirm the events of the game as canon. Who knows maybe he's just ashamed of the rushed product, but it would explain why Meetra has basically no character. And like I explained only three characters are actually explored and Revan and Scourge have been thoroughly explained by this point aside from the last few touches. The last chapter will piss you off though, it's anti-climactic, contrived and probably only exists so they can have some TOR exclusive surprises.

Overall Recommendation: If you're a diehard KotOR fan and plan on playing TOR regardless of what they charge for it, then I recommend reading it as it's nice teaser and explanation for the MMO. If you're just mildly curious, then either get it from your library, borrow it from a friend, or wait for the paperback, because as well as being a sloppy finish it clocks in at only 289 pages.

I probably wont have time to read that book till January

I'm gonna read it either way.

wish lucas would close up the universe once and for all...

only way he could do that is if he revealed luke's death

nope. just fuckin close the canon. you cant go around writting in LOTR lore can you? just do the same shit with SW. move on nerds....

because the creator of LOTR died a long ass time ago lolz no one to ask permission.

soran wrote:because the creator of LOTR died a long ass time ago lolz no one to ask permission.

a simple no suffices.

and theres the fact that George still wants to put out more video game canon. now thats a assumption, because lucasarts stated(the new director after they the one that made TFU 1& 2 quit or got fired) that there will be more game put forth. some examples, but not for sure, were a sparking up of the jedi knight series, and he named others.

No reason to close the universe. Closing a story makes sense, every story needs an end, but there's really no problem making different stories at different times.

Book: Shadow Games
Authors: Micheal Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnkoff

Biggest Pro: Neat to see Dash Rendar have a serious role? Sorry there's little good to this one.
Biggest Con: The story, it gets to a point where you just don't care.

Recommendation: Not Recommended

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OK, I like Micheal Reaves, he's a good author and I like how his books show the other side of Star Wars, the events of his books don't pay a huge part in the history of Star Wars, they never star mainstream characters so you never have to worry about your favorite character acting like a moron, and you don't have to know much to dive in. I will admit his books tend towards the mystery style rather than action fare, so if that's not your thing then it's best to stay away from them, but if it is he has some interesting takes on mystery in SW. I'd even go so far as to recommend Shadow Hunter to anyone, it's not mystery based at all, the only SW book of his that isn't, but it's very fast paced and you actually get to see how much of a badass Maul could have been. BUT, having said all that I'm very disappointed in this most recent book.

OK so the story is pretty simple Dash Rendar and Eaden Vrill are a pair of smugglers trying to beat Han's Kessel run time when they end up yanked out by an Imperial Interdictor and in the course of escaping end up frying their engines. Forced to put down, and with virtually no money on hand they're forced to try and find some way to pay for the repairs. Without much luck they stumble into a body guard job for Juval Charn, a holostar who believes she's got a stalker. From there you have various mishaps, some sad moments, and an eventual unveiling most people(or at least me) saw coming a hundred pages back.

Now since this is a mystery novel and this is just a review I can't go into much detail without spoiling it, but I can tell you why I didn't like it. I could go into a five paragraph tirade about why I don't like it, but I'll keep it simple. The reason I don't like it is because there's no vested interest in the characters. In the course of the whole book there was one character I thought worth remembering, and of course they kill him. Dash Rendar(the main character) is incompetent beyond measure, he's stupid, slow, weak, and is almost dead weight in a fight, which is shocking because if you played X-wing Alliance you'll remember he was actually pretty cool. Juval Charn could have been a deep character you loved and cared about, but she lies so often and about everything that when you finally do get the truth your reaction is "whatever" because she's lied so often you won't be surprised if she was a psychic Hutt controlling her by ramming a Jawa up her cunt. The antagonist, while his reasons are good, never shows up in person, you never see any of this mess through his eyes and that complete lack of characterization takes all suspense out of the scenes. Put all that together and it makes for a pretty pointless read. Don't get me wrong the idea has merit, but it's so predictable and so poorly executed that once the one character I liked was dead I found it a chore to finish the book.

My overall recommendation: Don't bother, it's bad. I didn't give it the lowest rating of "Keep your money" because I reserve that for books that are not only bad but deal serious damage to the whole of the series. This doesn't affect anything really and the idea itself wasn't bad, but it just doesn't work the way it is. Don't buy it, don't get it from your library, don't borrow it from a friend. The book just has no point.