Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: KNIGHT ERRANT (spoilers)

Knight Errant, the hotly-anticipated debut of John Jackson Miller, is out, the first direct connection with a comics storyline!

Some rules: rate Knight Errant on a scale of 1 to 10, supplementing your rating with a review, if you want to (It's not necessary but is highly encouraged). However, please do not rate or review the book until after you've read the whole thing. Thanks.

Go for it.


Some previous review threads:

Republic Commando: Hard Contact, by Karen Traviss
Shatterpoint, by Matthew Stover
The Cestus Deception, by Steven Barnes
Medstar I: Battle Surgeons, by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
Medstar II: Jedi Healer, by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
Jedi Trial, by David Sherman and Dan Cragg
Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, by Sean Stewart
Labyrinth of Evil, by James Luceno
Revenge of the Sith, by Matthew Stover
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno
Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine, by Veronica Whitney-Robinson
Tatooine Ghost, by Troy Denning
Survivor's Quest, by Timothy Zahn
Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream, by Aaron Allston
Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand, by Aaron Allston
Traitor, by Matthew Stover
Destiny's Way, by Walter Jon Williams
Force Heretic I: Remnant, by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
Force Heretic II: Refugee, by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
Force Heretic III: Reunion, by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
The Final Prophecy, by Greg Keyes
The Unifying Force, by James Luceno
Dark Nest I: The Joiner King, by Troy Denning
Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen, by Troy Denning
Dark Nest III: The Swarm War, by Troy Denning
Outbound Flight, by Timothy Zahn
Republic Commando: Triple Zero, by Karen Traviss
Legacy of the Force: Betrayal, by Aaron Allston
Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines, by Karen Traviss
Darth Bane: Path of Destruction,

 

(You can delete this post after reading this Havoc)
Anyway of getting the Jedi Trial review thread unlocked? I just finished reading it and would like to throw my 2 cents in.

 

No one? Really? I'm so curious about this book!

 

Knight Errant was absolutely fantastic. I really don't think that there was anything wrong with it at all. I'm not good with very detailed reviews, so I'll just say a few quick things: awesome new characters, exciting battles and lightsaber duels, and a really cool twist on why the Sith are at war, which reminded me a bit of European royalty before and during WWI. Also the number of species JJM used was impressive. I had to look several of them up on the Wook, which was cool to get a look at some obscure species I had never heard of. The Herglic especially. The four or five different Sith philosophies presented in the novel were also really cool and unique. I don't think there has ever been a Sith Lord's quite like Arkadia Calimondra. 10/10

 

I'm probably going to go on and on, so sorry for the length of my post, but I just love this book, it has a magnificent story, an era with a ton of potential and plenty of great characters. Probably my favorite book of 2011 (partially because I like most of what John Jackson Miller writes, and partially because I don't have that many high hopes for the rest of the novels that could come out this year). And as this is the review thread, I won't bother blacking out spoilers, I don't think I need to, I hope.

First of all, all of the fantastic characters. Kerra is a great character, well fleshed out, young, a bit hot-headed but not stupid and very good at innovating (but also a very different brand of improvising than Zayne Carrick's, in that she's a reasonably powerful Jedi Knight so can accomplish a great deal facing problems head-on). And as a reader of the comic series, I can also see the change from how she was right after Vannar died to how she was in #4, realizing her purpose is to help people, rather than just killing the closest Sith Lord (and probably dying in the process), and its reflected in the novel. While she starts out trying to kill Daiman, she presumes that even if Daiman died, all of his lackeys would cover it up and just keep all the hologram statues running, but without a crazy Sith lord at the head anymore. In most other circumstances, if she killed the local Sith, then all the surrounding Sith lords would just swoop in and fight for the territory. She's not super powerful, but a few explosives at the right moment at the right place can easily save thousands of lives. And how at first she's just trying to find a tolerable planet to leave the refugees on, but realizes by the end that nowhere in Sith space is really safe for them.

Jarrow Rusher is another excellent character, and I do hope to see him pop up in the comic someday. As a student of military history he refers to plenty of things from KotOR and older, and as a KotOR comic fan I like references to things like Telettoh, Morvis, the Crucible, etc. While a mercenary, he also came up with a system for maintaining a decree of independence from all the random Sith running around, and yet he isn't just a scoundrel with a heart of gold who will help out even under pressure, as things are just that bad in Sith space. He also had the guts to speak up against Daiman at one point and then convince him to not kill him. He's still a likable character though as he did end up saving thousands of refugees, I'd love to see him as a recurring character in the comic.

And while I normally don't like clumsy characters, Beadle Lubboon actually turns out quite well. At first he just seems incompetent and clumsy, then he somehow manages to drag Rusher's second in command out of a battlefield, and the whole time he's earnest and he does succeed at his last task, and he's clumsy, but at least he never screws up anything really important.

And Daiman, oh crazy, crazy Daiman. He's both hilarious and scary, seriously that scene in that tent with his aid is one of the creepiest scenes I've read in Star Wars. There's plenty of great world-building, like how he's got people adding an extra stroke to certain letters, and that those strokes were supposedly always there, just that no one else could ever see them, but now he wants them "revealed" to others. Even the way people are supposed to address him reflect his worldview. Odion doesn't appear that much in comparison, but he's still crazy and powerful. I so wish we could have an illustration of when that Death Spiral lands, the Battle of Gazari read like quite an epic battle.

And then there's the new Sith lords introduced and their own unique twists are just another example of how crazy this era is. The twins Quillan and Dromika aren't actually evil (I think), but because of their natural talents end up mind controlling everyone around them. Arkadia seems nice at first... but she is a Sith Lord of course, and while she doesn't open oppress her people, she has her own unique way of keeping them on their

 

Really, I don't know where to start. There were so many great things about this novel. Guess I'll just write about the thing that appealed to me the most about this book: the villains. You see, I'm a great fan of the Sith--especially the ancient variety. I like them when they're mysterious, strange, and simply over-the-top (KotOR II has some of these). And I was not really sure what to expect from Knight Errant - Lost Tribe of the Sith is great, but the Sith there are more of the we're-like-the-Jedi-but-use-the-dark-side variety. I like them, but they're not over-the-top.

Then we get the "creator of the universe", Lord Daiman, the "destroyed of the universe", Lord Odion, the twins who controls the minds of his people, Lords Quillan and Dromika, the woman who brings order through chaos, Lady Arkadia. They are ancient, mysterious, strange, over-the-top and all-around completely kriffing awesome. And we haven't even touched upon the twist toward the end.

If a story is defined by its villains, then Knight Errant is the best we've gotten in years. 9/10.

 

Heh, give people time to read the book Mas!

 

Average score: 29/3 = 9.67

 

Loved it.

First, I love JJM's ability to bring comedy, very subtly, into a very dark era. The comedy was a strength in KOTOR, and so was the complex plotting, and the plotting is equally great here. Too often, one-off novels restrict themselves to one plotline -- go to one world, deal with one event -- and stretch out the plot to make that one idea fill the whole book. JJM, though, gets back to the epic, planet-hopping adventure of the Star Wars saga at its best. The story is constantly in motion, taking us from one event to the next, and it's never predictable as Kerra lurches from one situation to the next in almost picaresque fashion. You can never know quite where it's going, but the direction changes strengthen the story rather than weakening it or leaving it unfocused. The plot reversals, twists, and direction changes are refreshingly complex and breathe some sense of mystery back into a franchise that has lately been all too dully familiar.

The constant moving about also gives a chance to show off multiple locations, all of which are interesting, fresh worlds and very visual. In fact, all JJM's prose shows his comic-author's eye for visual detail too often missing in FOTJ and the like, with rich descriptions of places, people, and designs that have been clearly visually conceptualized. In many books, we get vague descriptions of fairly generic places, or people simply introduced as people. Here, we get a statue-ridden dystopia; a jagged, ash-raining, soggy volcanic crater; a terraced waterfall city; an ice city riddled with luminescent pipes; a character who's redheaded, bearded, graying slightly, fortyish, wears a trenchcoat and a chest full of medals, carries a cane; a clearly described beast of a rigged-together starship . . . it's very visually strong, and understands the importance of evoking visuals to go along with the action.

The best part of the fast-moving plot, though, is getting through the variety of villains. JJM seems to very clearly understand the opportunity here to show off a huge, varied cast of villains with different takes on Sithness, and he's exploiting it to the hilt. Every villain is a different conceptualization of evil. Daiman and Odion are already familiar; Bactra is great as a neutralist, corporatist schemer and arms dealer; the Dyarchy is profoundly creepy, sort of a collection of horror and dystopia tropes stuck into a paradisaical setting, yet a lowball enough regime to let Kerra make a real difference; Arkadia is a great break from the flamboyant Sith to a more low-key, and maybe more dangerous, evil. I really liked trying to figure out exactly what her angle was and where her plot was going to go. And Vilia, well . . . best archvillain in a long time. I'm really looking forward to more about her, as her revelation put a clear direction for the comics in play, and the revelation of the connections between the various Sith has years of delicious plotlines written all over it.

Not that the villains are the only good characters; I liked Kerra as the hard-charging Jedi. She's a pretty unique character who manages to avoid most of the tropes associated with Jedi leads. She's young, but she's competent and confident. She's not overpowered, though, and is working on the right level in avoiding epic clashes with Sith Lords and working on a relatively small scale. She reminds me a bit of the Solo kids during the NJO. I do wish JJM had taken greater advantage of the novel format to get deeper into her head, though; I never felt like we completely got at what makes her tick. And while the beginning made some good use of her qualities, I'd have liked to have seen a bit more emphasis on her uncomfortableness with undercover work, as that strikes me as a powerful hook. Zayne was unskilled at combat and big Force-use, making him seem initially overmatched, but he (and the people he gathered around him) were good at con games, plotting, sneaking, making friends -- which were ultimately the skills he needed on the run. Kerra, though, is on the run, but if her strength is in combat and planning

 

Average score: 47.25/5 = 9.45

 

I really loved it, liked the big reveal of them all being relatives, probably best novel of 2011. 10/10

 

Average score: 57.25/6 = 9.54

 

I think it's important to do a thorough review of this novel because it was such a fantastic effort by JJM. After finishing the book today, I couldn't help but feel both satisfaction and hunger--the former because of the grand slam of a story Mr. Miller has delivered and the latter because I just want more.

I should begin by saying I haven't read the comic book series. In fact, I don't read Star Wars comics at all. My EU is limited strictly to KOTOR games, X-wing games, novels, and the television series. Needless to say, I sincerely hope Mr. Miller is able to return to this format to tell his stories. From what I've heard, the KOTOR comics were fantastic. After reading this, I certainly find that believable.

The story has all the essential ingredients: vibrant setting, three dimensional characters, solid pacing, action, humor, suspense, and measurable character growth. Simply put, JJM is the master of visual storytelling. I have never been so joyfully overwhelmed in a Star Wars novel reading the descriptions of people, places, and things. As Havac stated, you can really tell Mr. Miller has a keen eye for painting pictures. This comes from his experience in comic book formats, but I think it also comes from skill as well. While I think it's a bit unfair to compare authors, one of my favorite EU writers is Troy Denning. But one of my gripes is that I sometimes have trouble picturing the setting in his novels. Reading Knight Errant, I felt like I was actually there. I could see the dystopia of Darkknell. I could smell the seas on Byllura. And I could hear the noisy rancor of Arkadia's icy redoubt on Syned.

And man, was the plot alive! You have to love the wheels at work of the various Sith Lords. I couldn't believe how detailed and truly unique each Sith Lord was. And while I thought that there was no greater mystery concerning their connections, Mr. Miller delivered a fantastic revelation: they're related. And they're all playing the game of their twisted (but perhaps frighteningly sane) grandmother, who is the real Sith mastermind.

The Star Wars epic being told in a space fantasy equivalent of the Dark Ages is a truly thrilling prospect. And the characters presented in Knight Errant were as diverse as they were real.

I really can't say enough about this book. I suppose I might have to start buying the comics. But I really hope another Knight Errant novel is on the horizon!

Well done!

10/10

 

Average score: 67.25/7 = 9.61

 

Courtesy of a stomach bug wrecking last night and rendering me unfit for work today, I've ploughed through tis today and what a ride!

This is easily one of the best SW books I've read in ages, probably the best since Mindor, not that Death Troopers wasn't light fun and Crosscurrent wasn't god, but KE is just in a different class!

I think the novel's crowning achievement is that all the characers act in logical and coherent ways, nothing is forced - oh there's Sith craziness, Jedi heroics, scoundrel pragmatism and ordinary beings just doing their damndedest to survie in various hells of Sith creation - but all of it feels correct and that is very hard to do well.

And then there's an increduble sense of heroism, balance and humour that levels out the darkness of the era. This could so easily have been a doom-laden book, focused on how screwed the Sith are and "how all hope is lost!"(TM), but JJM seems to know that that has not only been done, it's been done so much it's gotten really, really boring. So what does he do instead? He throws a curveball by having heroies as active as their adversaries, dubious characters that intrigue enough that you want to find out more about, some killer one-liners like Rusher's quip about Arkadia being a good way to go and all of that adds up to a wonderfuylly engagng and fun read. Sure the era is pitch-black darkness but ANH was pretty dark it just didn't spend all its time going on about it and neither does KE!

For this and other towering achievements it gets a very rare accolade from me:

10/10

Yeah, you read right!

 

lol typo.

So Knight Errant is in a differant class from god eh? Might have to buy it then.

 

Knight Errant is a thoroughly fantastic debut novel from John Jackson Miller.

I was intrigued by the concept when it was first announced, and I've enjoyed the comics so far.

But the book, in my opinion, is much better. JJM does a great job at setting up the different Sith fiefdoms, giving each one of them a unique feel. Arkadia is a really well written and interesting antagonist for the final third of the novel, and JJM creates other great villains throughout. In fact, nearly all of the characters are great. Kerra is intelligently written, Rusher is cool and break's the tropes, and Trask was an interesting character, too.

I really enjoyed nearly everything in this book. There were a couple little things that I'm sure JJM will improve upon when (presumably) he writes another novel, but a great debut.


9.5/10

 

Average score: 86.75/9 = 9.64

 

Oh I didn't did I? Heh, yes, I did - quite the typo!

I now expect the next KE book to have the blurb on the back "Better than God!"

 

Probably the best SW novel I've read since Shadows of Mindor. The characters, ships, and descriptions were all spot on. The only problem I had was a pacing issue, in that the first two parts were action heavy, but it slowed down considerably for the third part. Still, an excellent read overall. 9.5/10

 

Average score: 96.25/10 = 9.63

 

Can I just give this a 10/10 and be done with it? Because seriously, this is one of the best books I've read in a long time. There was enough description in the beginning to get me hooked, but not too much to where I was bored. The characters were unique and interesting, and their differing points of view were nice changes of pace as the novel went on. I really liked the division of the novel too. There were definitely noticeable differences in each Sith Lord's realm and it was really interesting to read all about them.

Of course the best parts, in my opinion, are the Sith. We get such drastically different characters and yet once the reveal is made at the end it makes perfect sense. Daiman and Odion make perfect balances to each other and it will be interesting to see in the future how that power struggle turns out. I really enjoyed the part with the twins. I'm going out on a limb and assuming that Quillan (and maybe Dromika to an extent) is autistic. Whatever it is though, it was a really interesting take on Force users. And Arkadia was my favorite. I definitely got a Narnian White Witch feel from her, and it was really cool to see a Sith that from outward appearances seemed almost normal. Of course it wasn't as it appeared, but it was definitely cool.

As for the non-Sith, Kerra Holt is just great. It's nice to see a Jedi actually acting like a Jedi for once, because too many times we get these Jedi that do things that Jedi wouldn't normally do. I won't go into too much detail but basically she makes a great character and I look forward to seeing her again. Rusher is another great character. It's really nice to see so much ground battle, and to actually see these artillery battalions. Too often Star Wars just focuses on space battles (well, it is in the name) and just glosses over the ground stuff, so it was nice to see how their battalions worked. And finally, Narsk was probably my favorite character. I loved the mystery behind who he really worked for and loved seeing his point of view of everything.

So yeah, I think I'm justified in my score of 10/10. I simply loved this book and hope many more follow.

Oh yeah, and am I the only one to picture Vilia as Betty White?

 

I?ve waited a long time for JJM to make his novel debut, as his KotOR comics are my favorite comic series and the Lost Tribe stories are fantastic. To tell the truth, I was worried that I might be setting myself up for disappointment. I?ve read the first three issues of the Knight Errant comics, and while there was potential, I thought it was a rather slow start.

I shouldn?t have worried.

This is without a doubt the best EU novel since Shadows of Mindor, maybe even better than that. Some people have criticized the first portion of the book, but in my opinion chapter 1 had the best spy scene since the days of the Hand of Thrawn duology. This is also the first time that I am aware of that a Bothan was actually portrayed doing the role the species was introduced as in Return of the Jedi.

Kerra was great as a main character, which is a relief. When she debuted in the comics, I was worried that she would be another cliché young Jedi with arrogance and anger issues (ie, a female Anakin Skywalker). While JJM did show us this side of her, he didn?t overdo it, and at the same time gave her other dimensions: her desperation to get home, her sorrow over the loss of Treece and the other Jedi, her impressive combat skills, but most importantly her compassion for people and the indomitable will to help them against all odds. What?s more, she didn?t instantly resort to violence when she didn?t have to, even when forced to deal with Sith Lords she knows will stab her in the back. This is the kind of Jedi I want to see, Del Rey!

JJM assembled an astounding variety of unique villains; I would be glad to get just one villain this deep and self-consistent for an entire series. Narsk, Daiman, Odion, Bactra, Quillan, Dromika, Calician, Arkadia, and Vilia. Not a single one generic or forgettable. If Kerra?s quest is the impetus for the story, their plots and schemes are what drives it. Kerra is forced to deal with situations that she has a quickly decreasing amount of control over, which in turn serves to illuminate her character even further. Of course, the final revelation was awesome, and a fitting climax for such a well-written book. With this much material, JJM could write 500 issues instead of the Dark Horse ceiling of 50. Furthermore, the way that the author uses the environment and subjects of each Sith fief to show, not just tell us about them, completes the masterpiece of immersion into the Grumani Sector.

Jarrow Rusher is my favorite character, by far. There have been few military characters in the entire EU as well done as he is. And he?s not another fighter jockey, aristocratic admiral, or trooper in white armor. He?s army, and of a branch that is hardly acknowledged in most EU works: artillery. He is also a lover of military history, and since I am too, he stands out even more to me. Rusher is not a prepackaged ?scoundrel with a heart of gold,? either, as each of his threats to bail on Kerra seems quite plausible. To me, Rusher feels almost like a character from The Killer Angels, which is the best military novel I?ve ever read.

There were a few things that troubled me, chiefly that the section on the Dyarchy was too short. However, 372 pages is more than we normally get in a novel, and the Arkadianate section more than made up for the brevity of the Dyarchy arc. I really wish that this wasn?t a standalone: I?d pay for a 9-hardcover series of this quality!
10/10

 

Average score: 116.25/12 = 9.69