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

I enjoyed this book a lot, but not as much as Allston's Outcast. Being her first Star Wars book, Golden has done a terrific job, especially with the characters. But it is far too short, and I agree with those who say that it seems like Outcast II, more than a second installment for a 9 book series. All the lost tribe parts, as good as they are, could have perfecly gone to Oucast, for they were nothing more than an introduction. Ans as for everything else, I didn't think a lot happened. Ok, more jedi going nuts, Tahiri getting arrested (which is the best part) and Ben learning something important about Jacen would be all the important stuff... I think that if the book had been longer, we wouldn't have this feeling. To sumarize it all:

What I liked:
-The Unit.
-Han and Leia going to the zoo. Yeah, I totally loved it In fact I could read a whole book with the chatacters doing the most common things. After all, Union is my favourite star wars story.
-Allana and her future nexu pet.
-Seeing a good Jacen again, even if for a brief scene.
-The Lost Tribe. They didn't feel that bad. None of them, including the so called Lords of the Sith.

What I didn't like:
-The aing tii were interesting to read, but I didn't find them as well fleshed out as the Baran Do sages. Not even close.
-It is painfully short, even if it had been a paperback. It would at least made it up for the price, but still... Too short.
-Again, the feeling that not a lot happened.

All in all, I give it a 6.5/10.

 

This is a prelude novel. Everything smacks of prelude.

Golden writes well and convincingly, gives character to Hamner and tips a lot of hats to continuity, especially the Kathol Rift stories. She deserves great credit for that.

Unfortunately, only two really exciting things for me happened in this book. Jaina was proposed to (which is only exciting due to its historical repercussions, I couldn't care less about their romance...) and we saw Jacen on his journey. The monks fizzled out, Daala fizzled out, Allana fizzled out. Plot-wise, this felt like "the same, but with monks, jysella and journalists". I feel for Golden if that's what she was asked to write about. The stuff she wrote about, she wrote about well...but nothing happened. This is best epitomized by the Tahiri set-up at the end. This was a filler episode.

I can deal with prelude to Abyss. I'm really looking forward to Abyss, because I feel Denning will take the reins and take us somewhere. But however much I may admire Golden for her research and "diving in" approach, Omen suffers for its role as a placeholder. It can't be Empire Strikes Back because it's a 9 book series...so it's just a bit aimless.

I did like the tension between Luke and Ben over flow-walking though.

5.8/10

Addendum. I would have had a full blown Aing-Tii civil war while the Skywalkers desperately tried to resolve the situation in time...but that's just me. Hopefully we'll come back to the monks.

 

Average score: 292.95/44 = 6.66

 

OMEN!

 

Average score: 301.95/45 = 6.71

 

Overall, I really liked Omen. Although short, I thought it did a great job continuing some themes started in Outcast while introducing more of what I assume (or hope) will be themes continuing further into the series.

I enjoyed the Sith, the characterisation being very consistent with Outcast, the detail used in describing locations, and the Aing Tii. I thought Luke and Ben were much more interesting and had a much better dynamic than they did in LOTF and so far in this series I?ve liked Ben, something I didn?t in LOTF, with the exception of perhaps Invincible. I thought adding the media into the mix was also an interesting aspect, as they got mentioned a few times in other novels, but were never really involved. The ending was also great, and works well given how soon Abyss is being released relative to Omen.

My main complaint about this novel was the length, although I feel a novel like this with no big event in it needs to be short, the book could have been a bit longer, with a bit more of Luke and Ben in the cave near the end, more of the Sith tribe's expansion being shown and not just explained and maybe a bit more use of darkmeld before it was wrapped up.

In conclusion, I liked Golden?s first entry to the Star Wars series, and I think her styles works much better as part of a series than Traviss? did. While the novel could have used a few more scenes, it was an excellent sequel to Outcast. Final score: 9.0/10

 

Average score: 310.95/46 = 6.76

 

I enjoyed the book while reading it, but in retrospect it was a bit "meh".

Firstly, I think Golden did a wonderful job of researching continuity and putting things in the right place, this really flowed well with Outcast and that's something I think is very important in a multi-author series.

The first half of the book was a bit unspectacular. I was unimpressed by the Coruscant bits of the book, specifically Jysella and her "friends", it felt like too much of a teenage fanfic with all the hugging and crying and "honey"'s. Things started to get better though, I absolutely loved the Lost Tribe bits and I genuinely believe Golden felt very comfortable writing Vestara. The insight into the society of the Lost Tribe was very intriguing and I was surprised to see a Sith society that wasn't so...Sithy. I also liked Ben and Luke's Aing-Tii adventure, especially in the second half of the book. I thought it was great that Golden incorporated info from the DarkStryder Campaign and Vision of the Future, especially Car'das and the Aing-Tii's "rainbow" philosophy of the Force. However I also think there was a lot of lost potential. I expected to see more of Luke and Ben's adventures through the Rift, going from world to world and collecting artifacts. Instead this was all simply mentioned in a few sentences and we skipped straight to the Embrace. The Aing-Tii, and the Kathol Rift in general, have been some of the most interesting parts of the EU and I think a lot of story was lost in skipping over all of it.

I didn't mind Jaina and Jag's "date", but I gotta say I loathed both Tyrr and Daala. Golden apparently has no love for reporters. And then we have the Livestock scene, which to me was a waste of time. Han and Leia haven't been interesting since, well, the NJO. I just never liked reading anything from there perspectives because it was always such a borefest. And now that they're will Allana all the time, they seem more like overly eccentric grandparents than galactic heroes. It's kind of sad that the livestock exchange section was the main action-packed part of the book, because it just wasn't interesting at all. If that whole section was cut out and replaced with more scenes of Ben and Luke and the Lost Tribe, I would have been extremely pleased. I could also have done without the whole "save the animals!" message the book gave.

Yes this book was very short, I got through it in a couple of days (I'm a fairly slow reader) and definitely think a few things could have been dragged out. Luckily I got the book 30% off at Borders so I only ended up paying $20.

I wasn't a huge fan of some of the prose and dialogue, and I really didn't like constant mention of various foodstuffs. It subsided a bit towards the second half of the book but I generally roll my eyes whenever I hear "nerf steak" or "sweetcakes". I mean come on guys, are you serious?

Overall the Lost Tribe and Aing-Tii parts were written well, even though the latter could have been fleshed out more. Most of the rest of the book ranged from mediocre to groan-inducing, but I think Golden did a wonderful job referencing past EU and incorporating it into the book. It read like a true EU novel and don't think we should have any problems with flow in the series (unlike her predecessor). The book was pretty short but enjoyable enough, though nothing Earth-shattering really happened and it's clear this is a set-up novel.

7/10

 

Average score: 317.95/47 = 6.76

 

Well, the book's been out for a while, but might as well add my two cents. Would've added a review earlier, but was out of town when it came out, had to catch up on Star Wars comics first when I got back, and then I kept losing interest while reading (not because I was stunned at how bad it was, unlike with parts of LotF, but just got bored often) so took a while to read through the book .

Hm, well, as a book, its not that bad (nowhere near as bad as Bloodlines was), but it also isn't that good either. First of all, pretty good writing, although some parts were a bit... wordy, although that might just be because the entire book was somewhat boring. I do have to give Golden a lot of credit for being able to match Allston's style pretty well. During LotF, Allston and Denning's books didn't clash too much, but the other third of LotF was really jarring. The opening scene with Dician really matched hos Allston had written Dician's character. At least with FotJ, it'll probably read like one continuous series instead of the three separate trilogies of LotF.

Most of the characters are written decently. I like that Ben's a bit less flippant in this book than in an Allston book. I understand Ben's a teeanger, but meh, I just don't like almost every conversation being partially funny, this isn't a Wraith Squadron series (as awesome as taht would be). Then again, most of the time I just don't care for teenage characters, which is probably why I still don't care about Luke's journey. Its nice to get some more insight into the Aing-Tii and nice to see Car'das referenced, but just learning about the Aing-Tii seems kind of boring. On the one hand, I'm not sure if I'm glad they avoided the stereotype of Luke and Ben solving the locals' problems quickly, or if I'm annoyed that after all that, Luke comes back and tells the Aing-Tii he doesn't have any clues either. Still followed the typical quest structure, a place has a problem, heroes (sorta) solve the problem, and then they get their clue on where to go next. And after that, its onto the Maw.

The highlight of the book was probably the Lost Tribe though. Haven't read the e-books yet, but the Legacy era Lost Tribe were pretty interesting, especially Vestara of course. They're apparently mostly stable, having lasted for millenia, but still quite a few darksider tendencies. Although they don't really seem Sith to me, but then, the Tribe's origins predate Bane and Revan and all that too. Although, as a long time reader, I'm still slightly reminded of the Jensaarai, a splinter sect that doesn't seem so bad. Although its still a bit hard to take them as a threat, since they're don't have much current technology. Another good thing about their segments was that things happened. Ship arrived, they found out the Sith were nearly extinct, and then they decide to go hunt down Luke Skywalker. Compared to the rest of the book, it was really fast. Not sure if the Tribe will just cause more trouble for the Jedi (not like the Jedi aren't already busy dealing with Knights going insane and a very mean Chief of State, but I'm never sure how much pain the authors want to pile on the Jedi), or if they'll play some other role. With how many Jedi the NJO stashed in the Maw during the YV War, its probably not going to end well.

One of the odd parts of the book was how much food was mentioned. It was all IU food, like nerf steaks or sweetcakes or whatever, but... just odd how much it was mentioned. Then again, considering most of the book was just characters talking while sharing a meal, I guess food would be mentioned a lot. And I don't really agree with describing Luke as a bachelor, considering his wife just died a few years ago, but that's just a minor wording thing.

Jaina's and Jag's romance was pretty boring, even with his proposal, mainly because its... well, there's not really any surprises. While Dark Horse's Legacy comic has written the ending to their romance, sorta, by saying there's a Fel dynasty, they're kind of whacking us over the head with the idea that Jaina's

 

I always come in to these review threads late, after pretty much everything that needs to be said about a book has been said. Therefore, I'm just going to give it a score of 7/10. I enjoyed Omen, but just like everyone else the length bugged me. Not simply because it was short, but because like others have said there was no reason for it to have been that short. My other nitpick is Golden's dialogue. Some of it was good, but much of it was so clunky that I literally groaned when I read it. Come on Christine, you can do better than that.

 

Average score: 329.95/49 = 6.73

 

One of the best i've read since SBS. I admit I was alittle miffed by the shortness of the novel though.



10.0/10

 

The highlight of the book was probably the Lost Tribe though. Haven't read the e-books yet, but the Legacy era Lost Tribe were pretty interesting, especially Vestara of course. They're apparently mostly stable, having lasted for millenia, but still quite a few darksider tendencies. Although they don't really seem Sith to me, but then, the Tribe's origins predate Bane and Revan and all that too. Although, as a long time reader, I'm still slightly reminded of the Jensaarai, a splinter sect that doesn't seem so bad. Although its still a bit hard to take them as a threat, since they're don't have much current technology. Another good thing about their segments was that things happened. Ship arrived, they found out the Sith were nearly extinct, and then they decide to go hunt down Luke Skywalker. Compared to the rest of the book, it was really fast. Not sure if the Tribe will just cause more trouble for the Jedi (not like the Jedi aren't already busy dealing with Knights going insane and a very mean Chief of State, but I'm never sure how much pain the authors want to pile on the Jedi), or if they'll play some other role. With how many Jedi the NJO stashed in the Maw during the YV War, its probably not going to end well.

What sets them apart from real Sith is their caring and pride in themselves and each other. There's a lot of love there. It's an evolution.
Palpatine, because of his political might, perverted what a Sith is. Most are loners. For a thousand years this was true. I don' think there will ever be another Palpatine. Few have that much genius, cunning, street smarts, connections, and raw force power as he did. Few people ever do. He was a class by himself. Repulsive and compelling.

The Lost Tribe are their own unique society, and that society really can't be carried forth if they involve too many others. Their mingling with others will destroy their culture. Are they willing to do that? They say yes, but a thought and an action are two different things. The Jedi Order is also not as haughty and monastic as they were. The Lost Tribe will be puzzled by the new more aggressive, individualistic Jedi.

All in all I agree with your post. I give the book about a 7.5.

It could have been fleshed out more. It seemed like a summary of Luke and Ben's adventures, rather than an actual event, and this series is about them, so that's not great. I'd rather hear more of where they actually are rather than Luke and Ben: Eat and Banter Tales..

 

Well, YodaKenobi's review said pretty much everything I would have, and a few more things that I'm going to pretend I came up with on my own. Overall the whole book felt like a fanfic. An above-average fanfic, but a fanfic nonetheless. Like Outcast, there were a lot of moments that made absolutely no sense, like Daala showing up on-location, ready to make a speech within minutes of Jysella going nuts, the usual one planet being able to threaten the whole galaxy thing, the dangerous animals display with emergency exits on the far side of the pens and accessible only via retractable boardwalks, and the whole Jaina/Jag date.

As a little side note, was I the only one who thought of Laurie Juspeczyk/the Silk Spectre going on a date with Dan Dreiburg/Nite Owl from Watchmen during that scene?

Anyway, my other main gripe about this book is that the "villains" (Daala and the reporter) have perfectly reasonable concerns and motivations, and yet the book gives the impression that readers are supposed to find them cacklingly evil. I mean, the reporter is just doing his job, and even makes a point of only approaching people in public places. Daala, despite her psycho-crone past, is using entirely legal methods to curtail the Jedi, which is a perfectly reasonable goal from her position. As the readers, we know that the Jedi get supernatural guidance because a big part of the books is from their POV, but to the average person in the GFFA, they're just a bunch of people with superpowers who police everyone, everywhere with no jurisdictional limitations, who can only give their own say-so that they have any ability to make better judgment calls than anyone else. Superpowered people who also occasionally go nuts and try to enslave and/or destroy all sentient life.

The main thing I liked about the book, on the other hand, was the introduction of the Sith on Kesh. For her numerous authorial faults, Golden seems to be very good at world-building.

4/10

 

4. Wish I could wait for the PB. *sigh*

 

Average score: 355.45/53 = 6.71

 

I?m going to start this by saying that this book was not bad. Short? Heck yes. Way too short. I mean 236 pages? Does anyone have a word count on this? As far as page count goes, have we ever had an adult Star Wars number with fewer pages than this? I have to believe that if I?d actually shelled out the $27 for this handful of hours read, I might be a little unnerved. As it is, getting to read it for free, I didn?t mind it too much.

It?s rather short, of course, and part of it doesn?t quite seem to make a complete story. Now, it is the second book of a nine book series, so much of it will feel like transition and set up, like another chapter in an ongoing story. I had similar thoughts when I read Bloodlines, feeling that much of that book felt like a whole bunch of build up with little payoff. And this happens here to an extent, as it?s more of a continuing story than an independent entry that might stand on its own. And really, I?m okay with that. Like our late, lamented LOTF, these books aren?t really meant to be read by themselves. And while I thought that many of the LOTF books were able to be read without the knowledge of the others and still be enjoyable themselves, maybe that?s part of the reason the continuity was somewhat scattershot between them. Here, it?s much less its own story, but it still feels, to me at least, that it?s really a continuation of what occurred in Outcast even if it is to the extent that it can?t be read without the first book. I think it?s too early for me to judge Christie Golden on this effort, just because the length may not have given me a strong impression either way. Then again, maybe that shouldn?t matter. Conquest is one of the shortest Star Wars books out there and it gave me a huge impression of Greg Keyes (who, if possible, should be brought back yesterday). Here, though, I?m not quite sure how I feel about Golden?s efforts.

In spite of the short book, the middle seemed to drag a bit, particularly the Coruscant story, quite the contrast from Outcast, which I thought to be the best part of the book. Luke and Ben have a more interesting time with the Aing-Tii than they did with the Kel Dor. As much as I like Plo Koon and the Kel Dor and the idea of the Baran Do, especially any alternate Force group who has one of their member become a Jedi, they didn?t grab my attention the way the Aing-Tii did here. And no, maybe there wasn?t any grand revelation with this particular Force group, but I?m not sure what exactly I?d been expecting. We?ve had similar encounters with other Force groups in the past, where our Jedi heroes learn something new from some isolated group, whether it be a Dathomiri witch, a Jensaarai, a White Current, or what have you. And really, those encounters never amounted to much more than we have here, with our heroes maybe learning something new and mysterious. So maybe that?s what we?ll get, with Luke and Ben meeting a new group, learning something useful, solving their problem, and moving on. And perhaps that?ll help Luke come back and do the same with the Jedi. We can only hope, I suppose. I do like how this thread ended, though. They?re headed for the Maw, for a region near Kessel, and probably for that mysterious voice. It definitely made me look forward to the next part of that particular story, much more than the threads of the Coruscant story did, with more crazy Jedi and old-fashioned Moffs.

I was most intrigued by the Lost Tribe story and the prominent return of Ship to the story. Interesting, though given its history unsurprising, that Ship would pick the Tribe over the One in this instance. It makes sense, seeing considering the Tribe?s origins and direct ties with the ancient Sith. I?ll certainly have to get into Skyborn now, in spite of my disappointment with Precipice. Gotta see how this all came together. I do have to say, though, that the culture of the Tribe is good to see, since it comes across as something a little different and fresh while still containing that fundamental Sith ideal and demeanor.

 

Average score: 362.35/54 = 6.71

 

Golden is a strong writer and a welcome addition to the EU. She nails the characters (could have used more R2 and 3P0, though and offers some great action and mystery. This book was really similar to Outcast in terms of plot, but the Aing-Tii stuff was much tighter and more interesting than the Plo Koon race in Outcast. Ben and Luke were great together and I enjoyed that the plots all tied together and we didn't have the Han/Leia random Kessel mine type stuff we had in Allston's book. Golden is a much tighter plotter and storyteller than Allston so far in this series.

Omen slowed down a bit toward the middle but then picked up at the zoo. At first I was like "oh come on we're at the zoo!" this is so not SW, but then it got exciting and I didn't care.

The Sith are pretty exciting here, I mean for being not the most original villains of course. Golden does a good job developing them in limited space. And I really want to see more of Vestara's development during the two year gap where she goes from new apprentice to a semi-ruthless killer. For someone who is clearly set-up as a foil for Ben Golden made me really like and care about her. She's begging to be redeemed by Ben and for a love story with him. That's clearly the goal with her being the same age, but I can't decie if I ant them to follow this path or do something different and unexpected.

I wish it was clearer how Many Sith there were versus how many Jedi. Maybe she mentioned it and I missed it??

Also, the two year gap was a great idea to bring the Sith and the reader up to present time and let us get to know them.

Jag and Jaina getting married... they are so boring, but I hope it gives Jaina some spice. Ben is better here than he was in Allston's book. Really coming into his own. I want strong hero Ben, not conflicted Ben.

Anyway, I wish this series would move a little faster, but with Denning on deck and likely looking to redeem himself for Invincible I hope he brings the thunder and kicks this series into overdrive.

Like I said Golden is a solid writer here and gels naturally, especially for a first time. She's not too controversial and doesn't try to make waves or set her own voice too strongly (like Traviss and Allston) and I really, really appreciated that.

Tadar'ro was my second new favorite character. The "Unit" wasn't realy anything special. The journalist was okay, but I don't need to see him again. I'm not even sure what happened to him, to be honest. Once the action ehats up with this series, I just don't need it slowing down with the journalist plot. He served his point, so i hope Golden doesn't bring him back in future novels.

6.5

 

Just finished the book. Liked it better than Outcast. The most interesting parts of the book were of course the Lost Tribe. They are something new and very different from the other Sith we already know. Also loved the various parts with Allana. that kid is growing on me. The scene were she tells her grand parents that she wants one of baby nexus is so cute. i've also enjoyed very much the Luke and Ben scenes. The two are strengthening their bond with each passing book. A solid book and great first entry for Christie Golden.

8.0/10

EDIT: one thing i forgot to mention: i hope they make Jaina a more interesting character in the next novels, because in this one (and in outcast too) she a complete and uter bore. her love life belong more in a soap opera than in a star wars novel...

 

Average score: 376.85/56 = 6.73

 

Pro: Didn't fall apart when I opened it.

Con: Everything else.
Seriously this book was $30? Almost nothing happens. They could have written a 50 page ebook novella and all the major plot points in this could have been easily covered. While whole swaths of the novel were totally pointless. Pet shopping, secret date operations, some lackey's pocket pet. And once again there's even MORE Sith just sitting around waiting to cause trouble. Apparently 'only two' was a massive miscalculation. Probably wasn't the absolute worst SW book I've read but at least those books didn't cost three times the price of this thing.

0.1/10

 

Average score: 376.95/57 = 6.61