Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: FATE OF THE JEDI: ALLIES (Spoilers)

Average score: 367.35/57 = 6.44

 

6 1/2

 

Average score: 373.85/58 = 6.45

 

I?ve been really slack with my reviews.

Well, I liked this one. It was nice, a very interesting book, with a lot of potential. And one point that infuriated me. So, I better get that out of the way: Callista. I liked Callista. The books with her in them are pretty much the only Bantam Era books I like. The way she was written out made sense, even if it was frustrating.

I?m not into shipping. I very much do not care who Luke ends up with (or ended up with), and I detest that a character like Callista is only judged on her merit to be his mate, and nothing else. But, that?s water under bridges. She?s been gone for a looooooong time, in universe and out. To find out she?s dead wasn?t very surprising. To find out she is dead because she let her desire to be powerful again draw her into the clutches of Cthulhu?s younger half sister? That is disgusting. She deserved better than that, better than being dredged up as puzzle pieces of a nightmare so Luke has to kill her. Yeah, I hated that.

Other than that, there was much to like in this book, from Tahiri, so shocked of what she had become, to Daala, wanting so very much to be better than she is? In fact, Daala was really shining here. She?s the head of a democratic ? what passes for democratic in the GFFA ? government, and wants to play by the rules. But she was raised in a dictatorship, on those rules, and that is how her social awareness and skills play. She can?t escape that and the solutions she turns to make clear that she isn?t past her socialisation as an Imperial soldier. Not by any means.

I also jumped with glee at Jaina breaking up with Jag. Hopefully, that is the end of IWoD. ONE Skywalker to finally make the right choice between personal and important. Take that, Ani.^^ The curse is broken. Maybe. *g* For the rest, I found the Sith and Luke plot surprisingly weak. It wasn?t bad or boring, just? not extremely memorable. Coruscant was the real drama.

As for Abeloth? *grins* No, we have not seen the last of her. Either she comes back, or we learn that she?s only the first of the Elder beings that will come back now. Or whatever. So no, I?m not disappointed or surprised at that plotthread seemingly ending so quickly. No way this is over. No way.

So, this book certainly drives the plot forward, and into an interesting new direction to end with everything poised on the brink where it can go any way.

So, 7.5/10.

 

Average score: 381.35/59 = 6.46

 

Oh no!

Realized I never posted a review for this book.

I have continued to like the series. I just enjoy the further adventures of Luke...and son.

My ratings for this series have seemed to dip some from the earlier books.

8.5

 

While I don't have time to do a full in-depth review, I will say this.

For a second-leg novel, this isn't bad. It does the best it can with a shaky premise. The prose is a bit wonky at times, but I do wonder if that's more due to the fact I'm not all that used to reading in third-person omniscient. Something I do enjoy about Golden is that she can write some rather compelling characters, which is something that has been lacking in the post RotJ EU lately from authors not named Aaron Allston.

In regards to the editorial issues, I guess I simply wasn't bothered by them as much as everyone else. Misspelling "Durron" isn't enough to warrant frothy rage from me.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was understated, which is a nice change of pace from the usual over-the-top action and angst for the sake of action and angst we've seen since Dark Nest. Allies is a flawed but ultimately compelling novel.

7.6/10

 

It looks like I didn't review Allies, and I thought I did. So I went back and re-read it.

I give this one a solid 9/10. Editing and grammar kept it from being a 10. Maybe it's because I re-read it after Vortex, or maybe it's because I was so refreshed by some decent characterization, but this book kept me interested in the characters from start to finish. Han, Leia and Allan were toned down, as were the other train wrecks from Vortex, although the trial is a fiasco in terms of planning, and re-reading this book only served to highlight that fact. I'm looking forward to reading more from Golden, although I don't think this ill-conceived series does her justice. Hopefully she'll get some one or two-off books in the SW galaxy.

 

Well, she is writing a short story about Vestara for Insider.

 

Average score: 406.45/62 = 6.56

 

Where to begin? The ridiculous plot? The obvious 'novel length requirements'? or the childish prose?

I guess I'll start with the Childish prose:

Ex. 1: Ben asks somebody a question (I forget exactly who, either Vestara or Luke or Kelkad or somebody similar), they reply with an answer. Immediately after the quotation mark we get: And Ben had his answer, but it wasn't the answer [he]/[she]/[it] gave him.

End chapter.

*sigh*

Ex. 2: Although the ysalimari blocked force usage near the patients, Cilghal used it now to calm herself.

It is then followed by how Cilghhal is working on the patients. So are we to assume that one sentence prior to the rest of the paragraph occured before she got near the ysalimari/patients or that Cilghal is just that bad***? The following paragraphs go on and on discussing her and her aide Vaal and how they've been working on the patients. Not a single mention of Tekli. Cilghal says they'll start with Saar (this is at the end when the patients are "healed")... so who does the tapping on the door? Tekli. Where TF did you come from Tekli? Were you just silently there being all Chadra-Fan until Cilghal needed some tapping? Then not to be mentioned again for the duration of this perspective?

Not childish prose - but bad prose/writing; the battle scenes/etc, are so bad. The Dyon Stad/Abeloth ending with Luke was about as completely mangled and not clear at all. Dyon is stabbed by Luke who recognizes that Dyon = Abeloth. So then Christie mentions how Dyon is breathing and Abeloth came off. But that Abeloth is dead, but Dyon is now at a different spot breathing hard but alive. So, how is Dyon/Abeloth in basically 3 different locations when they were "ontop of each other in a bad parody of lovers" ? So that would be 1(2?) location now 3 locations with 1 dead and 1 breathing hard and them somehow switching bodies basically.... *scratches head*

This just made me think of the scene immediately after it with Jaina vs. Ship and again bad childish prose. "Jaina didn't have breath to answer, taking the StealthX into a roll that brought it underneath the spherical vessel, where it didn't have suddenly sprouted cannons there, and launching a valley of torpedoes. [new paragraph] Except now it did have suddenly sprouted cannons there, and they were firing."

*face_palm*

There is a lot of this as well, as well as people knowing everything despite never mentioning it onscreen how they would, and the over usage of direct names. Dyon runs off, and Khai who knows basically nothing of him, says "We shall follow Dyon!" Not, "We will follow him" or "Let's follow him" or something to that affect.


Plot.
Well, we're basically admitting that Daala is trying to be Empire V2.0 and its stupid as all hell and completely incompetent. Say America had a force/branch of civilian military (look at those fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq) that was magical and used light swords... and had a large base (Temple let's call it, so it has religious overtones) ... and you as President, don't like what they are doing... so you decide to use another civilian military group to lay siege to this temple/base.... how will the people of America feel about this? Is it even legally allowed? Is there no senate or group (say a judicial group?) that can say/affect this in anyway? Or as President do you have complete control over your "Alliance" err Republic?

I both loathe and like the 'Sword of the Jedi' but its ridiculous how such a throw-away line from Destiny's Way gets such importance and that even Ship and Sith are fully aware of this moniker when despite the entirety of NJO (sans of course the line in Destiny's Way) and the first 7 novels of LOTF its never mentioned or utilized.

I also love how Luke and Ben and others (Jaina/Lando/Han & Leia) refer to the new Sith group as "The Lost Tribe" yet their not aware of their capabilities and are constantly overestimating them... 1) how do you know the "Lost" portion? 2) does that not give you some form of indicator?

The Klatooine mess. I both love/hate this portion of the novel. As

 

Average score: 408.45/63 = 6.48

 

Average score: 415.95/64 = 6.50

 

8/10

-1 for the numerous spelling errors that could have been fixed for the paperback.

-.5 for the whole Shul Vaal - Tekli mess-up

-.5 for the for some wonky dialogue and phrasing and minor other issues

Didn't really have a problem with the plot itself, and I continue to like how Golden handles the characters she created herself. She still has some trouble with some pre-existing characters. She got Kenth Hamner though. I continue to enjoy the Tahiri trial scenes, espically the acknowledgement that she is, in fact, guilty. And Lando = awesome as always.

 

Average score: 423.95/65 = 6.52

 

If the Fate of the Jedi series was merely bad, it wouldn't bother me nearly as much as it does. But it isn't merely bad. It's a disappointment. In the case of the Allston and Denning books, it's because both authors have written not only good books, but very good books. I know that they're better than this. In the case of the Golden books, it's because (in contrast to the constant throw-the-book-against-a-wall, KJA-style contempt for logic, plausibility, or internal consistency of the other books) her entries are marked by what should be compelling plot points, good continuity, and a few truly entertaining scenes ruined by bad presentation.

Execution is everything, and while Golden seems to be full of good ideas and good plots, her actual writing is incredibly shoddy. Maybe it's because her pace of writing leads her to rush through things (judging by her "Also by..." page, she churns out tie-in fiction like nobody's business), maybe it's because she has bad editors, or maybe she's just a good plotter but bad storyteller. Some of the blame almost certainly lies in the three-by-three series format. Whatever the reason, she managed to take an extremely promising story and produce melodramatic bad sci-fi.

*The effect was probably exacerbated by the fact that Backlash ended on a cliff-hanger that Allies picked up mid-scene, but Ben Skywalker went from being wary and distrustful of Vestara Khai to completely infatuated in about a second flat.

*This is the first example of a good idea ruined by bad execution in this book. Although it comes off as at least a slight retread of the Luke and Mara romance, it could have worked, given the "dark reflection" that Vestara presents of Ben. Both scions of powerful Force-users, both apprentices, both smart and competent. However, it gets zero development, but rather jumps straight from "no relationship" to "puppy love". It's jarring and it just doesn't work.

*Speaking of Ben's characterization, he remains a dumbass punk. I'm going to keep bitching about that every time he's characterized as a dumbass punk in one of these books.

*Golden actually manages to make Allana almost likeable.

*Likewise, characterization of Kenth Hamner is actually very good, and the tension between him and the rest of the council is presented in a way that feels natural and avoids making either party look like morons or jackasses.

*Daala's characterization is also much better than in previous books, with her motivations and plans presented in a way that feels both natural and intelligent. When it comes to strategic and tactical competence, however, she still remains in a league with Ezekyle Abaddon, so Golden is actually more consistent with Daala's original character than Denning or Allston.

*However, Daala in this book really appreciates no-nonsense advice from her subordinates, because she appreciates those willing to tell her the hard truths. After all, it's not as if she once sadistically executed one of her junior officers by spacing him in a vac suit to be burned alive on atmospheric entry, patching his suit comm into the PA system of her ship to terrorize the rest of her subordinates, just because the man had pointed out (truthfully) that she slept her way to her command.

*Oh, wait...

*Thanks for reminding me that Darkmeld existed. Since there was a big gap between the time I read Abyss and forced myself to continue this series, I'd totally forgotten about it. Therefore, I didn't notice when Allston totally forgot about it too.

*Wait, never mind. Darkmeld gets name-dropped once, then Golden forgets that it exists too.

*The parts of the book covering the reporters are another bad example of a good idea. The fact that there are different news programs giving conflicting spins on events gives a bit of veracity to the PR battles of the Coruscant plotline, and the developing political situation in the Galaxy. However, Golden presents these scenes in an annoyingly preachy way by having one set of reporters be perfect moral ex

 

Average score: 429.95/66 = 6.51