Book Reviews

Do you know of a book about what happened exactly after the episode 6 =S

I could not agree more about the Bane series. Ara owns all three. and i devoured them.

great books.

The Exile wrote:Do you know of a book about what happened exactly after the episode 6 =S

Go look yourself

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_books

I want to read the Bane trilogy. My friend told that they are indeed great. Still can't find the audiobooks of them I have no real time to read now but before I go to sleep only.

I think Exile's being sarcastic Red, my review of the Truce at Bakura had a bit of rage in it.

I'm glad one of my reviews got you into reading some SW books Viteaz, and audiobooks are hard to find in retail stores, your best bet would be to get a copy online, I think Amazon will get rid of the shipping charge if you buy all 3 at once but I'm not sure how much they demand you buy anymore.

Alright it's pretty quick after the last two Shorties, but I've still got some free time so I figure I'll tackle one of the harder eras, New Jedi Order. This Era is very difficult because it's two ebooks, a trilogy, and a NINETEEN book series, so in all honesty this will basically just be a review of the NJO series and a point out to some of the better books in it and it will be a LONG review for a Shorties, but remember I am summarizing 19 books at once in this. I'm doing this Era first because the New Republic Era is the longest and most varied of any Era and it will take me DAYS to fully write that up.



The New Jedi Order(series) - Authors: Various(these will be listed out throughout the review)

Alright, here we go. A quick overview, the New Jedi Order(NJO) series takes place over 20 years after the original trilogy, most of the characters you know are well established in this so there are a plethora of new characters to get used to. This is not a series I would recommend for everyone, a lot of the characters are continued on from the old Jedi Apprentice(preteen reading) and Jedi Knight(Teen reading) Readers so you will be completely lost at points as to what the characters are talking about. This series also plays off trilogies in the New Republic series, and by plays off trilogies I mean all of them, Jedi Academy, Thrawn, Corellian, Black Fleet, and the unofficially named Callista Trilogy as well as a host of single titles like the Truce at Bakura and the duology Hand of Thrawn. For those of you keeping track that means to get this series fully it requires you to have read 28 books before getting started, just think about that, it requires you to have read more books then are even in the series to get everything and several of those books are just plain BAD, no excuse. To make matters worse the series as a whole isn't that good, sure there are parts that are really good, I own some of those books, but you can't just read those certain books without getting completely lost. At the same time this series does effect a LOT of the series after it so if you want to read the Legacy series you'll need to at least have read the important books in the series. On a scale of one to ten, with one being a book worse than Cloak of Deception I have yet to review here and ten being Thrawn/Bane/X-wing good, this scores about a 6 as a whole. Some of these books I would rate 8 or 9 and others a 2 or 3, there's a huge gap in how well done the writing is so bear with me while I write this. I will Underline every book I list here, I will Bold every important book, out of those and I will color code the rest. Green is a Great book, Blue is a Good book, Yellow is a Mediocre book, and Red is a Bad book. These will serve as fast recommendations, but know that anything in Bold, like it or not, is pivotal to the series.

Vector Prime - Author: R. A. Salvatore Is where we start, the Yuuzhan Vong, a previously undiscovered extra-galactic species is discovered when they send a vanguard to prepare the way for their attack and we discover that the Yuuzhan Vong, are black spots in the Force and Jedi cannot sense them. This is actually a pretty good start it gets you emotionally invested in the characters and in the destruction of the Vong as one of the most beloved characters is killed off in the most heroic way. But it still suffers when you consider that the defenders really shouldn't have won this first round and it cheapens the threat despite all attempts to make them a serious enemy. Dark Tide(Duology) - Author: Micheal Stackpole Is where we start to get into the nitty gritty. Why are the Vong attacking? Can they be reasoned with? Do their weapons and lack of Force Presence make them invincible? How did they get the jump on us? It answers your questions and lets you know their philosophies, but the fights are a bore and it takes too long. It does what it has to do and nothing more. Agents of Chaos(Duology) - Author: James Luceno Has some good ideas, it deals mostly with the grief the characters are feeling at the death in Vector Prime and even brings in someone that helps them through their problems and eases the transition to absence. But that's about it, I believe the Vong invasion steps up a notch, but not much really happens. This does have an effect on the final book, but it's so minor I wouldn't list it as a MUST read to understand, the character brought in here never returns until the last book. Balance Point - Author: Kathy Tyers About the only thing I can say about this books is IT'S NOT IMPORTANT, you can skip it. This book is pure filler and nothing is accomplished, the Yuuzhan Vong don't advance, the New Republic doesn't strike back, the characters don't mature. Edge of Victory(Duology) - Author: Gregory Keyes OK, I love this duology, it plays right to what I love to watch because it's a behind enemy lines type of thing, but I also have to admit it's writing is good, but not great and why I love it is because of what it is, not necessarily what it does, though it's still good. This is about Anakin Solo and his childhood friend Tahiri Veila as they are caught on Yavin 4 as the Vong invade. There's a LOT of good character development in this and it's why I grew to love both characters, it pushes lines, exposes that the Vong are not as invincible as they may seem, and tugs at heart strings as the obvious love the two feel for each other is pulled apart only for them to overcome it, and at the age of 14 no less. It's a fun read and even if it wasn't important I would tell you to read it. Star By Star - Author: Troy Denning This is the best book in the NJO series period, and among the top ten best in SW period, maybe even the top 5. The Jedi finally strike back at the Vong and score a major blow just as the Vong solidify their invasion and capture Coruscant. It is emotional, action pack, has a fantastic setting, a huge cast of characters but you never get lost and they all have great development, the story is great and makes the Vong both a threat to be reckoned with and a hated enemy for the first time in the series, overcoming the cartoon villiany of the previous books. It's worth the huge backlog of reading just to read this one. Dark Journey - Author: Elaine Cunningham This book SUCKS. No point, like Balance point nothing is accomplished and the writing is nothing special because the plot sucks SOOO much ass. Enemy Lines - Author: Aaron Alston This is the other Great book in the NJO, it's all down hill from here. I debated this one, whether or not you needed to read it and while it does have some great action and characters in it, ultimately it's unnecessary. It deals entirely with the exodus from Coruscant and the regrouping of the shattered New Republic and ultimately their strike back as they leave to regroup with the rest of the scattered elements in the Galaxy. This is a fun read and fits my description of being a candy book. You don't need to read it, but this is some of the last real fun you'll have in NJO. Most of the rest of this is Mediocre. Traitor - Author: Matthew Stover I have trouble with this one. I can tell you it is vital, probably more vital then anything other than Star By Star to understand the series. It has good characters, a good settings, a great story, it's very philosophical and I usually love those, but I don't love this book. Don't get me wrong it's good and I know it, in all rights I should mark it like Star By Star as a Great book, but I just can't bring myself to say that and I don't know why. Read it, it's good though unlike some others I've never had an urge to reread it, it's not something you really do reread, it's philosophical you only need to read it once. Destiny's Way - Author: Walter Jon Williams This is another hard one. This is vital to the series, it describes how the New Republic reforms as the Galactic Alliance and furthers many characters as well as giving a mysterious reference that is brought up all through Legacy Era. But it's BORING, I'm serious when I say at least 200 pages in it are so mundane I seriously considered marking this as a bad book, but ultimately went with mediocre because it does fit a lot of story progress in and that's what it set out to do. You will have a hard time finishing this book though and that's annoying because you will need to know what happens in it. Force Heretic(Trilogy) - Authors: Sean Williams and Sean Dix This was another struggle in rating as I feel at times it is both good and mediocre. A lot happens in this book though and I'll give it's never really dull. The plot is wonky and time will jump from book to book in the Trilogy despite this being in a series, there's a lot of filler as the author struggles to make what should have been another duology into a trilogy, though most of the filler is at least fights done in a pretty good method. The biggest problem is that the plot stretches out scenarios to unrealistic proportions to get these fights out and it comes across as silly. The characters are pretty static, they don't develop really at all, there are some interesting revelations and settings though and it's important to the ending so it's a vital read. It's not really good though, but better than mediocre so I think it might just be my taste. The Final Prophecy - Author: Gregory Keyes This is another pointless filler book, no progress either way, but not as bad in plot as the other two fillers and it stares my favorite of the New Jedi, Corran Horn. I don;t know what it is about Star Wars, but the next to last book in a series always seems to be filler. It's got some decent action, that's about all I can say. The Unifying Force - Author: James Luceno The final book in the NJO series, this one ends on a flop in my opinion, though others think it's good. Suffice it to say the Galactic Alliance, specifically the Jedi, find some magic "tech" that helps them finish the fight. The actual fighting goes on too long in my opinion and it ends up feeling like the Transformers movies where you feel tired and exhausted from the constant action scenes. The final twist is a surprise if someone doesn't spoil it, so it's not predictable at least. The epilogue does drag on for a hundred pages though and it just feels like, instead of the story swelling in size until the end when it finally explodes in a satisfying conclusion, it swells to a good size with Star by Star, Enemy Lines, & Traitor, and then someone gives it a pin prick and it slowly deflates until it looks like pitiful shriveled husk you just want to get rid of and forget about as soon as possible, except your kid likes the little shriveled mass and keeps dragging it around for the next 6 months constantly reminding you of the disappointment until you just accept it.

Recommendation: For the series as a whole I cannot recommend it unless you want to read the Legacy Era and know what they're talking about. If you do read this then I suggest a library so you don't bust a week's check buying $152 worth of books. If you're library doesn't have them and you still want to read them go with the important ones in bold as that would cut the new price down to a max of $80 and you can find a lot of these for $4 or less in a used book store.


Dark Nest(Trilogy) - Author: Troy Denning

OK, this is an odd little tagline to the NJO Era, it's the only other thing in there before we move on to Legacy and actually one of the few good ones. It deals with the Killiks and ties up the loose ends left in the NJO series. Jedi encounter Killiks encroaching on Chiss Ascendancy territory and try to reach a peaceful solution, without realizing that just being in the presence of a Killik encourages a hive mind connection and a strong desire to help the Killiks with their goals. This leads to open conflict between the Killiks and the Chiss and many rogue Jedi turned into Joiners by the pheromones. It's a decent enough trilogy and actually turns Leia into a full Jedi after 30 years of Limbo for her. It tries to be philosophical and encourage the Potentium theory introduced in the NJO series, though authors would later disregard this entirely in Legacy. It's got decent action, good mystery, and actually lets Luke know how his father fell to the darkside.

Recommendation: Library as always is my suggestion. It's pretty good, but buying is only recommended if you can get it real cheap as it's not good enough to warrant purchase in my opinion. I have the trilogy, but I got all three for less than 5 dollars.

Aardvark wrote:I think Exile's being sarcastic Red, my review of the Truce at Bakura had a bit of rage in it.

wasn't

Ive never managed to read the whole way through a star wars book I find them very slow and hard to get into, I picked up a book a while back called crosscurrent as I noticed it had the character Jaden Korr I thought it might be interesting to read about his character as the SP in JKA doesnt go into much detail about him. I didnt get very far so I cant say if it was any good or not but maybe one of you might be interested in it, its called Crosscurrent by Paul Kemp

I've read it, it's not very good. If you find it too slow you should look more for the Bane series as it's pretty fast paced. Shadow Hunter is also a good one to go with, and Dark Lord the Rise of Darth Vader.

And Exile, my Truce at Bakura review literally says in it that it happens right after Episode 6.

OK I've avoided it until now, but Hj's posts revealed something to me and that's that there are still some fairly new books no one has reviewed in here. This is something I knew would show up at some point but wasn't sure how to deal with. You see I've read pretty much EVERY Star Wars book published, but not many within the time I put this thread up. So most books fall into one or two categories, the recent reads that I turn into long reviews because I remember them well still, and the old reads of books I last read YEARS ago, as long as ten in decent number of cases, and those I turn into Shorties because my mind has boiled them down to the essence of why I did or did not like them. But there's a third category books I've read more than sixth months ago, but less than the usual 3-5 years it takes to boil them down into what I did and did not like. The next three reviews I do(two single books and one series), will be such books and I will to make them into long reviews but I have forgotten details and some of what I remember is a jumble so the reviews might be a bit of a mess. Here goes number one:


Book: Millennium Falcon
Author: James Luceno

Biggest Pro: Right on the back, the story of the Millennium Falcon.
Biggest Con: Nothing but stories of the Millennium Falcon.

Recommendation: Not Recommended

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OK so this is... different. And yeah I'm not sure how else to describe it. Oh sure I can tell you that it leads you through the various owners of the Millennium Falcon until we get to a wholly underwhelming reveal, but that's the technical side, not the critique that tells you whether or not it would even be up your alley. Well I'll guess I'll start with the first thought that struck me when I finished reading this book, that it's good for what it is, but that it's not classified properly. I can't help but feel this is more a Junior Readers book, it is very cheesy and out of character for just about every established character it uses, but not so out of character that I feel the need to rant and rave. It just feels like how a child would portray Han and Leia, a very simplistic caricature of what they are, the entire book feels that way except in a few parts that feel ripped out of a much better story in the middle of the book that gives it an excuse to "prequel" the Fate of the Jedi series.

The characters, aside from Amelia/Allana, feel bland and cliche. The story's entire excuse is paper thin and leads up to an entirely unfulfilling pay-off, and... well damn I can't even remember the setting. Juceno is the author of this and as I've said before he's very hit and miss. Some of his books like Darth Lord: The Rise of Dark Vader, Labyrinth of Evil(save a comical Grievous scene), and Darth Pleguis are all well worth a read for one reason or another, but then he'll release a Cloak of Deception, a Unifying Force, or a Millennium Falcon. You never know what you're going to get when you pick up a book he's written and in this case it's a flop. This would be much more suited to the line of Jedi Apprentice or Jedi Knight readers where the silly and the simple thrive off episodic content and in those fields this book excels, but as an adult book prefacing a series that involves tragic love, political infighting, and paranoia literally becoming an infection it's completely out of place.

Overall Recommendation: Most of you who were interested in this book want to see how the Falcon's past will relate to the characters we all love from the movies, but there's none of that in here. If you want to know about Han and Lando's time with the ship go read the Adventures for each and Han's trilogy and you'll get the story. This book wastes your time with extra characters that have no personality, stories that are neither funny nor exciting, and a history that just feels like a betrayal of the ship's character. For those interested, you'll ignore me telling you not to read it, but please at least save some money and get it from a library or used.

Two of three, the second single title in this little experiment I'm doing and the one Hj should have had before he tried reading Star Wars books:

Book: Crosscurrent
Author: Paul S. Kemp

Biggest Pro: Jaden's debut in Star Wars novels.
Biggest Con: Character Development.

Overall Recommendation: Not Recommended.

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Here's what's going through your mind/ went through your mind when you saw this book was coming out: OHMYGODIT'SJADENTHISISGOINGTOBESOAWESOMEANDFULLOFWIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!1ONE! and then some of you had a mini seizure. For those of you who have subsequently read the book you are probably denying this ever happened and saying "Oh I knew this would suck, I just read it to see how much." And unless you happen to be a game storyboard designer, a media critic, or spend waaaaaaaay too much time with movies, you're lying. We were all excited to see this, none of us wanted the JK series to die and we saw more room for a fourth game and on, all of us secretly hope for one even now, but we've resigned ourselves to the harsh reality of no more JK. So we were all hoping, "maybe this book will spark interest in the series again," or "we'll still get to find out what happens, maybe this will be just as good" but it didn't and many of us want to hang Paul S. Kemp for the greatest sin of all when it comes to our JK, he made it AVERAGE!

Yes when it all comes down to it this book is average and suffers from a syndrome I have yet to name. The syndrome of having a very good premise, an interesting cast of characters from diverse backgrounds, and a... well OK the story itself sucks donkey ass, but it's JK when has the story ever been real stellar? And it failed to deliver. The characters are all very bland, and for a cast that includes a Jedi Knight who defeated the ghost of Marka Ragnos, a couple freighter jockeys one Force Sensitive and never trained in the NJO and the other an old man attached to his friend but unable to admit he needs someone around, and a Jedi Master from the Old Republic 4,000 years out of place trying to track down his apprentice turned Sith from the same Era.... that's a crime. Jaden is portrayed as a pussy who can't deal with his darkside problems from over TEN YEARS AGO. The two freighter jocks get shoved to the sideline and hardly grab any development and the Force Sensitive's development sucks what there is of it. The only two good characters are is the non-sensitive freighter jock who actually has a problem and won't face it even though he know it's there, and the Jedi Master out of time who, against EVERY SW convention EVER actually falls to the darkside to defeat his apprentice and doesn't redeem himself before both men perish.

The premise also fails to reach much of anything, instead ceding to the inferior story. This outright sucks, I would have loved to see what a 4,000 year old Jedi thinks of the New Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance, and the Fallen Apprentice serves as a much better drive for an investigation than Jaden's actual investigation does. Instead Jaden actually IGNORES the threat and goes after his own little investigation which turns out to be completely unoriginal, OH NOEZ CLONE JEDIZ! The entire plot just feels like the author didn't have enough for two books with hugely different ideas and instead of trying to flesh them out he just smashed them together and had the characters go about their business without a clue as to how they would truly react. I will give the setting's not bad, Kemp's pretty good with atmosphere even if he lacks a single original thought.

Now I admit I'm harder on this book then it deserves, in truth the story would work as a game story, it would even be considered a pretty good story if the characters were handled well, but they aren't and it suffers for it. We have no one to blame but ourselves, we wanted more JKA, but not enough of us did, we had enough to be noticeable, but not enough to force LucasArts to heed our demands so they gave us a book instead, and you know what? I don't blame them. When JK2 came out critics hated it and fans loved it, but when JK3 came out and critics liked it, the fans turned their backs and went back to JK2 because it "had a better story". And the fans were wrong, I'm sorry but the excuse that JK2 had a better story and is therefore the superior game is BULLSHIT and you all know it. I played JK3 first, then JK2 so I don't have the nostalgia fap a lot of people in the community have for JK2. JKA was a better game, you're right the story wasn't quite as good, but it's not as bad as the JKO diehards would have you believe, and JKA's gameplay was miles improved and far more accessible then JKO. So when Lucas was presented with the issue I'm not surprised he told them to go to books because so much time has passed that nothing will ever be "as good as" JKO, it never can because too many people with nostalgia goggles now. But that's a rant, I meant it to explain why the book is a crime by virtue of it not being bad enough for fans to demand better and not good enough to really satisfy us, but I feel that needed to be said so I'll leave it in.

Overall Recommendation: Not really worth a read or a buy unless you just HAVE to know what Jaden's been up to since the end of JKA, this may be subject to change though as the second book was decent and if the tend continues it might end on a high note. Until then librabry or used book store if you must, avoid otherwise.

And finally the third of three consecutive reviews after which I will have to either re-read Fate of the Jedi so I can post a rating for each book in that series, or move to doing the New Republic Shorties..... not sure which. This is a review of a series so this will be a bit like my New Jedi Order series review in that I will give you a broad overview of the book, keeping as many spoilers out of it as possible(though if you want spoiler free just go to the very bottom and read the Overall Recommendation), I will bold each important book, though these bolds will just be for 3 as they're all pretty important but you can get the jest from just those 3, and I will rate each book individually and then the series as a whole, though I will be modifying the color coding to be Green for Highly Recommended, Blue for Moderately Recommended, and Yellow for Lightly Recommended, none of the following books fall below a Light Recommendation. So without further ado:

Book: Legacy of the Force(Series)
Authors: Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss, & Troy Denning

Biggest Pro: Deep character development and conflict that has you both hating and siding with both antagonists and protagonists throughout.
Biggest Con: Too long, the series feels like it should have been closer to five books then 9, especially after you pass the half-way point.

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Betrayal - Author: Aaron Allston - This is a great book to kick off the series. A lot of mystery as we enter and find Luke has been having dreams of a dark man, sitting a throne that poses a threat to the Galaxy, and Jacen has been following up on leads of a very questionable nature himself with Ben Skywalker his official apprentice. As well we see that the Galactic Alliance is having growing pains and that Corellia is the cause of these problems as it insists on having all the benefits of being a GA member but is unwilling to return anything. We get a lot of good action and character development as well as a neat little revelation at the end. It's an exciting read and I would recommended it very highly to people looking to get interested in the series.... IF they didn't have to know about the events in the Dark Nest Trilogy and NJO series. Bloodlines - Author: Karen Traviss - This is a good follow-up to the first book as we see that Jacen has chosen to begin his long path towards becoming a Sith in order to make the Galaxy a safer place. You see how the government is becoming more dark in denying suspected terrorists any rights and making mass arrests when they have little evidence, all in the name of providing security. It's really at this point that the series feels more like a critique of the U.S. government and the Patriot Act which provided many of the abilities we see exercised in this series. We also get to see Fett and discover that the old bounty hunter is starting to feel some side effects of his clone origins and the beginning of his path to find a way to extend his life... and a reason for him to care about what Jacen is doing when.... you know what just read it if you're curious. Tempest - Author: Troy Denning - Again, a good continuance off the last book, the Corellian conflict has blown into what I consider open warfare as the Corellians begin to fire up Centerpoint Station and use it as a weapon, Centerpoint being a weapon capable of weaponizing gravity fields. The Hapans are drawn into the conflict and Jacen's reason for fighting becomes much more focal to both the reader and the character. And Luke begins to seriously feel something is wrong with his nephew. Exile - Author: Aaron Allston - This is one of the books I referred to before, it feels like excess baggage and you can't help but feel it could have been added into Bloodlines/Tempest. It mostly just continues the tension without bringing in any significant pieces and not furthering the conflict much at all. The only interesting thing is how it plays with Ben as the young apprentice is dumped on a Sith world and told to get off with no supplies save his lightsaber, a blaster, and the Force, a test designed to see if he's a worthwhile candidate for Sith training. I'll give the book that this is actually pretty interesting to watch as a child is forced to deal with VERY dark matters and manages to come out of it scarred, but still himself. This bit with Ben is the only reason this book gets a Light Recommendation. Sacrifice - Author: Karen Traviss - Second important book smack bad in the middle of the series. This book is important because it turns Jacen into a full Sith, completely his dark fall and also kills a character many fans came to love, and a character many fans came to hate, but I really can't describe more than that, this book is made of spoilers. Inferno - Author: Troy Denning - Read this, I know I said bolded books were the only vital ones, but read this. It's great and it's arguably as important as Sacrifice, save that it doesn't kill any characters off. This book deals with Luke's arrival to the conclusion that Jacen is a Sith and completely irredeemable, as well as Ben's revelation that the man he's taken so much training from, looked up to for so long, is a traitor and only interested in Ben as a tool. It has a LOT of good action and removes any doubts you might still be having that Jacen's no good. Fury - Author: Aaron Alston - Now we're entering another of those "this really should have been lumped in with other books" batch. Fury again just keeps the wheels moving, no real significant character development or growth and the only interesting thing is that a "bad guy" we saw in book 1 but hasn't come back significantly since then, ends up dying and leaving Jacen isolated as the sole threat in the Galaxy. The hunt for her is a little interesting, and the fight isn't... awful, but this book is very close to being a Not Recommended one due to it's lack of purpose. Revelation - Author: Karen Traviss - And this is the other "this really should have been lumped in with other books" book, though this plays more to my likes. It doesn't really advance the story, or characters save Jaina, who gets elected to lead the charge against her own brother. And that I will say is done well, I like Jaina's training with the Mandalorians and it could have made an interesting book, if there was anything but that and it didn't drag like hell in spots. Worse you can COMPLETELY skip this book as nothing in here is EVER brought up in the last book in the series, which is the only one left. Truthfully the only reason I give it a Light Recommendation is because.... well Mandalorian Jedi.... fuck yeah! Invincible - Author: Troy Denning - Ah Denning, you just do a great job of finishing things up. The final conflict, everything comes to a head, a second Galactic Civil War with Jacen's forces on one side, and what I call the GA command and the Jedi on the other, Jacen vs. Jaina. The freedom of the Galaxy, or the second coming of the Galactic Empire? The action's all there and all good, little character development though Jaina's agonizing of how she can actually kill her twin shows up, and a surprise twist at the end as Jacen's final act isn't as a Jedi or a Sith, a General or a Head of State, but of a father.

Overall Recommendation: Yeah, read it. It sucks that you'll need to know what happened in NJO, but you can use Wookieepedia if you don't want to read it, and this series is great. I give the series as a whole a Moderate Recommendation, ONLY because of the back-reading, were it not for that knowledge you need to know before the series it would have gotten a High Recommendation. It's emotional as you feel for each and every person on conflicting positions, it's sweeping in how easily you can forget this is fiction(or at least could for the time, it's very topical of the time it was written), the story plays out in realistic fashion(as in reactions, not technology or setting), and it feels BIG, you truly get a sense of what's at stake with the huge naval battles, the horrific acts of destruction, and fights that feel more like vendettas than science fiction. So I recommend you get it, you;d be doing yourself wrong if you bought just about anything else in SW and didn't give this a read.

It's time for my final installment of Shorties and boy will it be a big one. This time I'll be tackling the New Republic Era and I will be doing liberal summaries on even the summaries. This Era comprises, at the moment 34 books and 3 novellas. That would take forever to review individually and probably not fit in a single post. So all trilogies will be bunched together as well as all series as well, except for X-wing because of it's unique situation. So without further ado:


Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor - Author: Mathew Stover

I know, I know, the title sounds like a bad fan fiction from the 50s, but it's actually not a bad book to start on. It's another candy book, the plot is pretty much just an excuse for copious amounts of action and that's OK here. The book does exactly what it set out to do and even though it's obviously an action romp it actually manages to produce a no insignificant amount of insight into Luke's state of mind following Return of the Jedi.

Recommendation: I liked it, but its very much a mindless action book. I would recommend it to your collection because there are times when you just want fights, not political intrigue or mind-bending feats of logic, just violence and it's a good book for that.


X-wing(Series) - Authors: Micheal Stackpole( Books 1, 2, 3, 4, & 8 ) & Aaron Alston( Books 5, 6, 7, & 9 )

Now this will be a little more tricky because of the nature of the series. There are two distinct tones in the series that are miles apart, and while some overlap to make it cohesive there is a very visible line between the two authors. So I'll start by going over the tone before descending into the quirks of the two authors. First of all, I'll tell you this now, there are NO Jedi in this series, so if that really is a make-or-break factor and you're not willing to give any non-Jedi related books a try you should stop reading now. If you're still with me then good because this series is also AMAZING, better than Thrawn in my opinion and it feels just like the original trilogy. The series tells the tales of Starfighter command and specifically Rogue and Wraith squadrons as they fight to remove the Empire from power once and for all. There are a lot of good and diverse characters, a lot of good action that makes you feel like you're at the heart of a the conflict, and weaves together continuity inconsistencies with grace into a believable story. Having said that though, there are some problems, specifically the cut-off points when the authors switch and the tones shift jarringly from one setting to another, meaning you can't just pick up any book in this series, you HAVE to read them in order and based on your likes and dislikes you may decide to avoid one author entirely and the next part of this is to help guide that decision. First Micheal Stackpole, he focuses exclusively on Rogue squadron for all his books and they tend to be very serious in nature, you will never laugh at any point in his books. Now that's not to say they're bad, you don't laugh at the Godfather, doesn't make it a bad movie just very serious. Stackpole's books focus on the story and while they do develop characters, it's very obvious that these books are STORY driven focusing on good versus evil and prevailing against overwhelming odds. They all make a good read and none of them come across as bad, but this makes for a jarring experience when you eventually do decide to move onto our second author. Aaron Alston, if you know my taste in SW books at all you know I love this guy. Alston has a unique brand of story telling that manages to weave bouts of humor with dark matters of death and betrayal and the odd thing is this never feels out of place. In comparison to Stackpole, Alston's books deal with Wraith Squadron and tend to be more character pieces then story driven narrative. Each book he writes could be a self contained story, were it not to the repeated mentions to characters that have died in the series, a stark contrast to Stackpole's continuous plot. Wraith Squadron, in the series, is also not a traditional X-wing unit, they are a commando unit outfitted for undercover work and tactical planning rather than the straight up fly-and-fry book so they have a distinctively different direction when it comes to action. All of it is still good action, but very different and personally more in line with the type of action I prefer.

Recommendation: Very good series, a must read for anyone in my opinion and still the best series in SW. It never relies on the movie characters as a crutch and it makes the rest of the universe feel just as awesome as the Jedi, Sith, and Force. If you ever wanted to get into SW books, THIS is a very good starting point and honestly I would MAKE people at least read the first book in this if they told me they were interested in SW. Go buy it.... now..... this will still be here when you get back.... why are you still here? GO BUY IT NOW!!!!!!!


The Courtship of Princess Leia - Author: Dave Wolverton

This looks like a bad book at the start, even I didn't want to read it when I saw the title, but my nerd compulsion forced my hand and I'm glad it did. This is by no means a stellar book, but it is good and introduces a boat load of elements that are used throughout the NJO and Legacy Eras. It is a bit of a love story and sometimes the characters are a little out of it, but it is a good love story, and it features Rancors and Force Lightning. Seriously if you were ever going to read a love story can you think of a better way to intersperse the touchy-feely than with a rancor eating someone whole?

Recommendation: I recommend a read if you intend to get into the book universe as it provides a lot of background, and it's not boring so it's certainly worth a checkout at the library.


Tatooine Ghost - Author: Troy Denning

Honestly? Weird. Only word I can think of to describe this book. Not bad, pretty good actually with some good in character development for Han and Leia, but weird. For the life of me I still can't figure out the point to this book, it never really accomplished anything and it wasn't particularly full of action. Still it was kind of addicting to read.

Recommendation: There's no particular rush to grab this book unless you happen to be a Denning fan, but worth a look.


Thrawn(Trilogy) - Author: Timothy Zahn

Ah, finally here. This is the ultimate SW orgasm, or at least that's what every nerd is supposed to say. I know, that sounds like I'm being contradictory, but let me finish. First I'll say this is very well written, EVERYTHING is in character and you can visualize it all happening on the big screen while you're reading it. It has it all, great characters both old and new, great action and suspense, a perfect villain, and a plot that is pivotal to EVERYTHING in the Expanded Universe. By all means it is the most well written book in SW history and will probably remain that way forever. And yet I only found myself liking it, not loving it, points in the plot always seemed a little flat for me and the ending always felt a little anti-climactic. Nothing ever jumped out at me as being absolutely perfect except for how well written the characters are and I will hold that as a shining example of how well written characters can always survive a change in writers. Now having said those last two sentences I should probably check my car for bombs tomorrow so let me just reiterate, this is still among the three starting points I would suggest for anyone interested in SW and among my personal favorites, it's just not my absolute favorite.

Recommendation: Get it, if you want to get into SW there really isn't a better place to learn about the universe, I know people who hate the books, THEY'VE still read this trilogy. So go get it.... now.... I don't care that you just got back from the book store with the X-wing series, go back out and buy it.... DON'T ARGUE WITH ME!


Jedi Academy(Trilogy) - Author: Kevin J. Anderson

This is hard for me. When I first read this book I loved it, great plot, great action, memorable characters, but sadly time has not been kind to this trilogy. I recently tried to re-read this trilogy in my spare time and found myself unable to do so. The book is not well written and it shows once you've gotten some good books under your belt. The plot is still good, it follows Luke as he seeks to reform the Jedi Order and it certainly feels in keeping with the tone of SW. The plot and story are still good and the characters are still great and well thought out, but it is horribly written. It skips around too much, and it runs too fast for too much of the first book. In hindsight it feels like watching a movie with a friend, he's got the remote and he keeps skipping ahead to the "good scenes" without filling you in on what went on between then and now.

Recommendation: It is, very much like the Thrawn Trilogy, pivotal to the rest of the series, especially in NJO and Legacy and the bad writing doesn't diminish the very good story, but I'd recommend reading it early on so you don't get spoiled on more well paced writing.


I, Jedi - Author: Micheal Stackpole

This is another nostalgia goggles thing, like Jedi Academy. It's the only SW book told entirely in the first person and when I first read it I remember really liking it, but I recently started re-reading it and again it suffers from bad writing. A little backstory: Stackpole wrote this AFTER doing book 1-4 of the X-wing series which he did a stellar job on and it was his first foray into writing first person so he chose the character in the X-wing books he focused on most figuring that by combining something he knew he was good at with something he'd never tried before it would make the transition easier. Unfortunately it didn't work, the plot and story are still up there with his X-wing books, well a little less on the ending, and the characters are well done, but the writing is just bad. It feels like reading a prepubescent diary and no matter how good your material you just can't get past how stupid the writing is.

Recommendation: Six months ago I would have given in a strong recommendation, having re-read it I suggest reading it only if you're interested in learning more about Corran Horn after you finish the X-wing series.


Children of the Jedi - Author: Barbara Hambly

Ugh, now we get into the horrid writing of Star Wars. There are other books in SW that are pretty bad, but in the next block of books I review we'll be going over the heaviest concentration of them. At this point a lot of the review save the last two will be very short as I don't like spending a lot of time on this shit. So, this book... yeah, not as bad as many others I've read, the plot and story had a lot of potential but bad writing and out-of-character writing torpedoes this one.

Recommendation: I wouldn't....


Darksaber - Author: Kevin J. Anderson

Worse then the other, but only by virtue of having no promise in the first place.

Recommendation: Don't do it man, don't do it.


Planet of Twilight - Author: Barbara Hambly

I've been saving this for a special occasion: FUCK THIS BOOK, FUCK IT IN THE ASS! THIS IS THE MOST LONG-WINDED, STUPID AND POINTLESS PIECE OF SHIT IT HAS EVER BEEN MY DISPLEASURE TO VIEW! THE ONLY GOOD USE FOR THIS BOOK IS AS KINDLING OR TOILET PAPER, YOU BE BETTER OFF USING THIS AS A MURDER WEAPON THEN ACTUALLY READING IT! THIS THING HAS NO REDEEMING QUALITIES, THE WRITING SUCKS, THE PLOT SUCKS, THE CHARACTERS SUCK, EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SUCKS. I READ THIS AND MY IQ DROPPED. THERE'S A SCENE IN HERE WHERE PRINCESS LEIA HAS A LIGHTSABER FIGHT WITH A HUTT AND IT WASN'T FUNNY! I'D RATHER HAVE MY THUMBS RIPPED OUT ONE CENTIMETER AT A TIME THEN INFLICT THIS BOOK ON SOMEONE BECAUSE I'M PRETTY SURE IT WOULD LOBOTOMIZE THEM! FUCK IT, IF I COULD CRAM EVERY ISSUE OF THIS BOOK UP THE AUTHOR'S ASS I WOULD DO IT WITH GLEE!

Recommendation: KILL IT KILL IT WITH FIRE!


The Crystal Star - Author: Vonda N. McIntyre

Sucks, moving on.

Recommendation: Oh right.... how about NO!


Black Fleet Crisis(Trilogy) - Author: Michael P. Kube-McDowell

This series actually has a little bit of promise in the beginning, a little bit of mystery, but fails to deliver and spends too much time stretching the material.

Recommendation: It really is a shame I only have two middle fingers to give the author.


The New Rebellion - Author: Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Really REALLY stupid plot.

Recommendation: DO NOT WANT!


Corellian Trilogy(Trilogy) - Author: Roger MacBride Allen

The only good thing out of this was the invention of Centerpoint Station and what it did for the Legacy Era, otherwise.... It had promise it could have been a nice piece of exploration into a new environment and way of thinking and provided a lot of mystery. It actually does try to do these thing, problem is the author sucks as it.

Recommendation: Only, ONLY if you really want to learn more about Centerpoint.


The Hand of Thrawn(Duology) - Author: Timothy Zahn

In a way this is the successor to the Thrawn Trilogy, but it feels like a cheap knock-off in my opinion. An attempt to cash in on the popularity the original had and draw back reads driven away by the deluge of horrid books that came after it. It has a decent story, good characters, but the plot really doesn't seem to exist beyond a survival and love story and a mystery about an organization known as the Empire of the Hand. It's not a bad duology, just kinda pointless.

Recommendation: I would suggest getting your hands on it some way if you plan to read more into the universe because the events and organization are repeatedly referenced in later books.


Survivor's Quest - Author: Timothy Zahn

Well, final review of this Era in shorties and not a bad book to leave on. There are certainly better but it at least answers some minor questions brought up in the Thrawn Trilogy, i.e. what happened to Outbound Flight. It isn't badly written, it's a Zahn book they never are, but it has a pretty weak story and the characters used are either so well developed they don't need more or never make any impression or recur at all.

Recommendation: If you want to or have read Outbound Flight, then yes you should read this to know what happened afterward, but otherwise it's never mentioned again and in my opinion it's Zahn's worst work. But even Zahn's worst is better than half the SW universe's best.

I have a question... is there any book except the ones about Revan and Malgus or Bane from Old Republic era? If there is no such a book that would be rather sad. :-( or what would you recommend.

Viteaz wrote:I have a question... is there any book except the ones about Revan and Malgus or Bane from Old Republic era? If there is no such a book that would be rather sad. :-( or what would you recommend.

Just to give you a heads up, technically the Old Republic era is from Episode 3 and back. But if you truly want Old Republic style (TOR) besides the ones you said:

Lost Tribe of the Sith series (7-9 books)

Red Harvest

Fatal Alliance

Oh, thanks dude! :-)

Old Republic books are from Episode 1 to 1,000 before Episode 4. Sith Era books are those even older. Sith Era you could also look-up Knight Errant, but really aside from the Bane series most Sith Era books aren't any good.

Hmmmm I'll consider it. Thanks Aard.

Ara has the Bane books and i have read them all as well.

They are good reads, all of them.

Ptolemy wrote:Ara has the Bane books and i have read them all as well.

They are good reads, all of them.

There's a somewhat sequel to that called Darth Plagueis. I havn't got around to reading it though :|

Finished it a couple of days ago and it is really nice. I liked it, but not like i enjoyed Revan book.

Pleguis is more a story based book rather than an action book. It aims to inform the reader and close plot holes found in the prequels, not entertain them with Force and lightsaber battles.

I got your point.

Been a while since my last review, that's mostly due to a slow release schedule and I've yet to actually get my copy of Mercy Kill yet so I don't have anything to review, so I'll do a series review. We have several specific book reviews for the Fate of the Jedi series and I don't want to cut off further single book reviews, but the series IS finished so I'm going to review the series as a whole rather then the independent books. As such this review contains NO spoilers, I'll be speaking in broad strokes that doesn't reveal anything a teaser doesn't already reveal. So without further ado:

Book: Fate of the Jedi(Series)
Authors: Aaron Allston, Christie Golden, & Troy Denning

Biggest Pro: Very intense, there's almost always something going on so it doesn't suffer from the long lulls that plagued Legacy.
Biggest Con: Cheesy, very cheesy in parts. This can be good or bad depending on what you prefer and you will be into the story while you're reading it, but in hindsight it is VERY much a fantasy story.

Review: To preface the review a few broad strokes are required. This series follows the events in Legacy, two years after to be precise, and the adventures of Luke and Ben Skywalker as they seek to find out exactly what happened to the now infamous Darth Caedus and exactly what happened to turn him. Little do they realize that they will encounter dark forces beyond their wildest imaginations in the process. Meanwhile, back home, the Jedi Order is faced with a political nightmare as Jedi after Jedi falls to a mysterious psychosis that makes it's victims both paranoid and violent. All the time fighting a new Chief of State that seeks to force the Jedi into a more government prone position and the Council is forced to deal with the crisis of following the Force or the law.

Now the actual review. To be honest each batch of three books can be split into three categories which I'll call the Info, Mystery, & Conflict arcs. On the plus this system makes this series very interesting to read through, on the down side it means you can't skip a single book in the series without missing a LOT. I feel I should warn you now though, this series ties up a lot of loose threads in the New Republic era books and while portions are explained you may have a lot of questions unless you are a book fan. Just as an example, WITHOUT going over this with a fine toothed comb I can tell you it relates back to: Children of the Jedi, Dark Saber, Planet of Twilight, The Corellian Trilogy, The Courtship of Princess Leia, Jedi Academy Trilogy, Tatooine Ghost, and the entirety of the Legacy Series. So be aware of that before you go in, for the most part though the bad books in that(which you know if you read my Shorites for this era), are explained pretty well, but some are not so if you haven't read these keep Wookieepedia handy.

The Info arc is first and spans the first three books, this delves heavily into the Force on the Luke/Ben half and political grey areas in the Order half. This is my favorite arc because of the plethora of new techniques discovered and how torn the political tension at the temple make you feel. You honestly sympathize with BOTH sides, until you get to Denning, but he's never been good at seeing both sides of a conflict. This arc has the most thought put into it and is absolutely fascinating to read and is the most relateable by far, though the CoS(Chief of State)'s actions do get muddled in Abyss. There isn't much character exploration for the most part(though there's an exception I'll explain later), but the settings and the plot are VERY well done.

The Mystery arc is the one in the middle and deals heavily with what exactly the threats are in both the political side and the Force side of the series. By far this will have you asking the most questions of both how the characters are acting and what the motivation behind these actions are. This is also the most tedious part as they go a little too long without really answering any questions. This, by contrast to the first arc, is most character heavy part, notice I say character heavy, not the best character development, and the plot suffers for it as they really stretch things in this area. I would almost suggest skipping this entire arc, but there's too much actual information in there to really just jump over it entirely. I do warn you that this arc can almost be a chore to read because of how much it drags it's feet. There's just enough good in there to keep you going though with both character developments and action sequences.

The Conflict arc is the final and is pretty much all answering questions and mysteries established and bringing the tensions we've been feeling for the last six books to a full head. The revelations will surprise you and even give nods to dedicated fans of the series in both the books and the TV show. This arc falls in the middle for me,the ending is really good, but it drags it's feet too much in some areas while moving much too fast in others. This arc by stark contrast to the previous flies by to the point where you honestly wonder if there wasn't something cut from the books as you jump from one to another, but these are the books, everything comes to a head and if you really like action then this is the part that will seize your attention the most. This is actually the best arc for character development and those plot threads you thought they stretched so long they couldn't possibly deliver on the hype? Trust me, they fucking DELIVER. I won't say you can't see it coming, if you're a very adamant fan and pay close attention you could see it coming, I didn't, but the simple fact that those hints existed made the delivery very believable. The main problems with this arc is that the one of the plot threads, the Tribe thread I'll just say for those who HAVE read it and want to know what I'm talking about, is just too rushed for all the setup it received while the seventh books seems to take forever with trivialities. That's the only real complaint I can level at it, but it is a big issue with me because there's so much wasted opportunity.

Now for the non-story related things I still need to mention. The author that did this are all at least decent authors, but they all have stark differences in how they approach writing. Allston is more for the methodical approach that forces you to acknowledge the characters as PEOPLE, to know them and if not sympathize with them, at least understand their motivations and how they got there. He is very good at establishing a series, but further books from him can seem lack luster in comparison, yet if you consider what you know about the characters you'll find the motivation you ascribed to their actions when none was given, and the feelings those actions elicited within you came from exposition Allston gave. Troy Denning is about as opposite from Allston as you can get, Denning is VERY good at that gut feeling action, you aren't supposed to think about what the characters are doing, you're supposed to use your heart and KNOW what they do is right. As such he is better at closing a series or even continuing tensions, this makes his reads very good at the time mostly, and I do not blame him for this, because he cashes in on setups already given. The downside to Denning is that his material grows weaker when you question it and he does NOT work well without SOMEONE to work as an outright villain. This is why I felt betrayed when he wrote Abyss and made the CoS out to be such a vicious bitch when Allston had gone out of his way to make her actions reasonable and even the middle author, Christie Golden, had made her actions seem reasonable for someone without the Force. Then Denning swoops in and leave huge holes in her character that just never recover. Christie Golden herself isn't an author I like all too much, but I really liked her work here and she was the most balanced between them all. Whereas you can immediately tell a difference between Denning and Allston, Golden is much more subtle and provides a smoother transition in the later arcs. She excels the most in character development, not like Allston who makes them people or Denning who makes you feel like their badasses and villains, but in the most subtle of ways. Her characters breath life into the story, not just making them real, but making them friends and mentors so that when they concede a point or betray a character you feel it yourself. The joy, the heartbreak, and everything in between. In all honestly they are the perfect trio for a series, Allston to make it real, Christie to bring it home, and Denning to make it a sweeping epic. It's just a shame they can't seem to communicate and work together because if they could they would make one hell of a book.

Recommendation: For a casual reader I would give it an even higher recommendation then Legacy which I feel comes the closest to replicating the movies. For a more in-depth reader, or a fan of ONLY the original trilogy I would still say it's entertaining and has more of the swashbuckling feel of the old movies, but it uses a lot of the new material fans of the old movies and books hate so it's a hard call. I've always felt there were clear lines between the old and the new in the SW books, things like Jedi Academy, Thrawn, and Han Solo trilogies feel more like the original trilogy, while most of the rest either feels like a poor imitation or more in line with the feel of the prequels. This honestly falls in the middle, the feel I would give it is original trilogy, but it fully embraces the new ideas of the prequels without emphasizing them to the point of disgust. This series neither shies away nor avoids the new or old material. Simply put I would give this a Moderate Recommendation, but for completely different reasons then I gave Legacy. Legacy is art in the way the(and this is a broad generalization so don't kill me) Godfather is art, subtle, long, and involving that focuses less on the action and more on the intrigue and is far more likely to change the way you think. Fate is more art in the way the Lord of the Rings is art, a sweeping story that has a huge cast of characters and just feels right, make you go "FUCK YEAH!" but when you look at it as a story it's silly and there are a lot of plot holes in it unless you look way too hard at it. They're both good, but in entirely different ways, granted neither of them are anywhere near the quality of what I'm comparing them to, but I know most of the people reading this will have at least seen ONE of each.

Book: X-wing series(book 10): Mercy Kill
Author: Aaron Allston

Biggest Pro: Characterization
Biggest Con: Poorly thought-out story

Recommendation: Not Recommended

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Dammit, I hate it when I'm wrong.

I really looked forward to this book, I loved the old X-wing series and the Allston books in particular. So when I heard that after more than ten years we would be getting another Wraith Squadron book I was psyched. I loved Wraith squadron from the characters to the ships, the humor to the tragedy, and especially their modus operandi. They were a diverse group of screw-ups all with their own issues and personality. They operated outside traditional channels and scavenged whatever they could to accomplish their missions in creative and devious ways and their enemy was as conniving as they many times. Needless to say I had a lot of fun with the books, which is why Mercy Kill is all the more disappointing.

Now the wraiths themselves, for the most part, are done well and get good characterization, at least as much as you can give 12+ people in 370 pages.... Most of them are entirely new to this with only one truly familiar face in the group in the form of Piggy, or Voort saBinring. Though if you've read the NJO series and payed attention you'll recognize a couple more faces as late members and several as being related to the old Wraiths. So I'm inclined to forgive any characters that don't fully flesh out, given the time constraints, but that's not the problem this book has.

No the real problem is with the story. It starts out simply enough(for a Wraith book) with Face reforming the old unit after it's dissolution post-Second Galactic Civil War, but quickly spirals into complexity and outright confusion as the characters leap to conclusions about what should be done that just don't seem to be all that well thought out. I believe the author noticed it partway through as well as there comes a point where the old leader dies and they go through this conversation about how she was being stupid with her decisions and that's why she died, but this is immediately overridden when we jump into this immensely long and vague plan(until the very end) that makes astounding leaps in logic.

Many of the tricks just strike me as over-complicated, and the revelations tend to fall flat one way or another. Hell one of those revelations that was supposed to keep me guessing until the end I immediately saw through, and not just that it was a trick, but HOW the trick had been accomplished, while other "major revelations" were pointless and uninteresting in the long run. There was one, ONE revelation at the end I didn't see coming and actually mattered and that was because even a second grader could poke holes in it.

This book has a grand total of one redeeming quality and that even only applies if you liked two specific characters of the old Wraiths. They're a series of flashbacks by Piggy, showing how the roster changed from year to year and eventually what made him quit the unit and even that is mostly for his character development. Though the final transformation in the character falls back on a really old a cliche, but I can forgive that just for the sheer awesome of the people involved in the cliche.

In short(which you should know by now isn't really short at all) I hate this book. Not because it's a bad book, it is, but I've read far worse, no I hate this because it had so much more potential. We should have seen more of the flashbacks and the characters and a less complicated story. The villains in this are members of the Lucersen Conspiracy in the post-Caedus; post-Daala regime, we don't need the ifs and the whole trap scenario at the mid-point, we know they're guilty, we know they're smart. This is time better spent establishing the older characters by examining who stayed and who left the Wraiths and when in the flashbacks, or examining why THIS group is now Wraith Squadron and why they're here. To be honest I was hoping this book would either take place with most of the original cast still in place and being phased out, or with an entirely new cast to get to know with maybe Face or Piggy playing an advisory role. As it is Piggy's development takes too much attention away from the new characters, but not enough of the old cast remains to make it interesting or tie it in with any of the new cast.

Overall Recommendation: Only, ONLY for fans of the X-wing series at this point. I do hope they continue the series and improve it, but as it stands now I can't recommend it unless you were a big fan of the X-wing series to begin with in which case you're probably not even reading this. To everyone else, if you're going to read an X-wing book, go back and read the first nine, they're more entertaining. New readers will be lost in this mess and it's certainly not worth the effort to try and puzzle it out if you're not already invested in the series.