The JC Lit Reviews Special: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: BLOODLINES (Spoilers)

I'll post a more detailed review later, Ex, when I have time.

For right now I'll just say that I think you'll hate it. Breezy superficial descriptions, little action, overuse of full names.

 

The Short Review:

Extremely good. The story works and its characters work even better. However, the Boba Fett plotline brings the book down.

The Long Review:

I didn't like Karen Traviss' last book "Triple Zero." It was plotless and had way too much to do with the Mandalorians when that wasn't important to the plot (what little there was). On the other hand I really enjoyed "Hard Contact." I thought the characters worked well and that the plot, slight it may be, worked well for the story.

Therefore I came to this book having no idea whether or not I'd enjoy it.

Suffice to say I did. That's not to say I didn't have some problems with it because I did.

First, the things that worked. Jacen Solo's character was not just pushed around making us wonder "Oh, will he go dark or not." Instead Karen Traviss pretty much tells us that Jacen isn't going to be one of the good guys any more. In a brutally effective scene Jacen uses the Force to smash a prisoner's head into a table again and again and eventually kills her. This would have been enough but we are then given a beautifully tragic scene where Leia and Han confront Jacen about his actions. Then results are not pretty and what I can only guess is permanent, a schism in the Solo family is formed.

What makes all of this work is that we are brought inside Jacen's head and shown what he is thinking. We see how he rationalizes his actions and its quite scary.

Luke Skywalker and Ben Skywalker are also used well in this story. I loved seeing Luke trying to decide whether or not Ben should stay with Jacen or if Luke needs to get him a new master. Luke eventually decides that Jacen needs to go. However, I don't think he's going to need to drag Ben away from Jacen as Ben kills two people before the novel's end. In another great scene Ben tries to decide whether or not he should talk to his father about what happened. I won't tell you how that plays out because it's best experienced.

What really made this novel work was how well Karen Traviss treated the characters and what she put them through. There were scenes where I was desperatly hoping Jacen would take another course of action even though I knew he wouldn't. At other times I cheered Luke on in my head, hoping he would confront Jacen.

That's not to say that there was no plot becaue the plot also moved in this book. Traviss lets us see the growing tension between Corellia and the Alliance wonderfully and shows us some truly evocative terrorist scenes (both sides resort to it, I certainly consider some of Jacen's actions to be those of a terrorist). By the end of the book the whole situation has changed for the worse.

Without saying his or her name I was also surprised at the character that was killed off.

There are a number of action scenes in this book, some work while some just feel intrusive. As a matter of fact this whole book could've gone with little to no action as the tension held the book. Nevertheless this didn't bother me too much.

The Boba Fett plotline did. There was no reason at all for it except to satisfy Ms. Traviss' love of Mandalorians. This plotline stopped all momentum when I was reading as it could have been taken out and very little would have to have been changed. At the least it could have been cut down a heck of a lot. Maybe the writers plan to go somewhere with this but I can't see how any of this was at all relevant. It was well written but totally out of place and it seemed very much like the author put Fett in just so she could write them. A bad move.

Another problem was the constant reference to Mandalorians in the book. Ben seems to often think about them and the references seem very out of place. No more of this please.

However, don't think I didn't enjoy the book because I most certainly did. I'd love to give it a perfect score even becauses there were many moving scenes and I couldn't stop reading. But the Fett plotline and out of place references bring it down.

9

 

First off, let me say that I absolutely hated Hard Contact. For a book under 300 pages, I struggled to finish it -- and it wasn't anything to do with the subject matter. I think the reason for the rough-going was that I find Karen Traviss's style to be ... well, laborious. Hard Contact is infested with sentences that could've each been written a hundred different ways that would've all been easier to read.

In fact, when I read Hard Contact, I found myself wondering if Traviss talks that way, or if she "hears" what she writes.

That being said, I think some editor took an interst in celaning up Bloodlines, because it was a much smoother read. Don't get me wrong ... there were still a bunch of Traviss-isms. This sentence on page 146 comes to mind: "Fett doubted that an ornamental river would be water enough for Taun We."

"Water enough ..."?! That would even leave Yoda shaking his head. And that's no typo. I could almost turn to any page (probably EVERY page in Hard Contact) and find an instance where Traviss bombards a sentence with unnecessary words -- and mixes up the tense with crazy syntax on top of that.

As if sentence structure isn't enough of a struggle for Traviss, story construction doesn't seem to come any easier to her: Boba Fett's investigation is completely monotonous, and the stakes aren't raised at all on each raid conducted by Jacen, Ben, and the commandoes. The story just keeps recycling itself over and over until it finally ends. But I guess that's a theme of the book, since it clearly owes a great debt to Revenge of the Sith.

And, hello ... Star Wars is an ACTION-oriented tale -- whether it's a novel, comic, video game, or anything. Even the most contemplative, abstract additions to Star Wars have a great deal of action: Traitor, Shatterpoint, and the Dark Nest Trilogy, which is very philosophical but always maintains a hard forward motion through adventure and escapism.

It would have also been nice for Traviss to flesh out the fact that Corellia is trying to be independent while enjoying aspects of being part of the Alliance -- that is after all the SOURCE of this conflict. If I recall, it's interjected somewhere near the middle as if she forgot about that point, and had to cover herself.

Also ... I may send a copy of STAR WARS: Myth and Magic to Traviss. It's the best way to describe Star Wars's use of visual metaphors to her. The book shows how for instance the Imperials reflect Nazi Germany, Han's costume is an homage to cowboys, and on and on. In short, Star Wars uses VISUAL references to evoke a sense -- it's not topical -- it doesn't take exact world events and plug them into the galaxy. As if Legacy hasn't ripped Star Wars of its grand sense of good and evil enough, it doesn't need to be a straight allegory to the war on terror. That with the lack of action, I didn't even know if I was reading Star Wars after a while.

I think Troy Denning is a spectacular author, so -- even though I'm not in love with the direction of Legacy of the Force -- I think Tempest will be good. Its sample alone had more of a Star Wars feel than did all of Traviss's book.

Don't even get me started on Jacen becoming a Sith. I just wish force ghosts could appear somehow so Anakin, Yoda, and Obi-Wan could add some perspective.

2/10. Traviss obviously cares about the Mandolorians more than the rest of the story -- and they are pretty cool. I just think she bit off more than she could chew.

 

First off in response to the "water enough" I have no issues with that sentence structure. I've read things like that in plenty of other novels and people talk like that, get over it.

Secondly, I absolutely loved Bloodlines. I've been with the people on here who have been asking for a book that doesn't center around the big three. This book mainly gets the reader further into Jacen's and Ben's heads. The character development was excellent and while I don't feel a 13 year old should have to deal with the things Ben's had to deal with, it is making him remind me of Anakin Solo in a way (that he is growing up and growing in the force fast). While before I've not liked the character I'm pleased to see him questioning Jacen and getting his own ideas. I like how the book addressed what we've all been thinking, how Jacen's fall is like Vaders, and I think it pretty much puts to rest that it isn't the same thing. I do believe that this makes Jacen's sithliness more dangerous.

I've never been a fan of Boba Fett, but it was refreshing to see him as a "human" in this book. I'm sure most people didn't like to see his cold exterior crack, but I loved it. His storyline was also tied to Jacen's and I believe this idea will come into play later. (Possibly after Boba finds out about Jacen's child.)

People on here who have wanted to see books with less action and more character development will like this book. I think its about time the authors spend more time on the characters and less time on the same lightsaber fight scenes, X-wing fight scenes, or capital ship fight scenes. To me those all read the same way and while its necessary for the story I don't believe they should be the main focus. I also believe its too early for these massive fight scenes. People got spoiled with NJO books and the total descruction of the galaxy. This is a different type of war from what we've seen (despite the new Empire references I don't buy it as Centerpoint is a threat).

My big complaint comes from the fact that there wasn't much time spent on Jaina's character, however I'd rather that than see her written poorly. Also the complete disappearance of Wedge and his daughter. My other complaint is that their reasoning for not taking Ben away from Jacen is that NO ONE else except for Luke will take him on as an apprentice? I don't believe this! It wasn't THAT long ago that Kyp felt close to the same way that Jacen did and he's had experience with helping people overcome things. Also been seems to be impressed with Jacen's bad*** attitude. I'm not familiar with Kyle Katarn's character, but from how y'all describe him it would kinda work, right? (I could be wrong so correct me if I am.)

Edit: I forgot to give it a number... 9

 

Average score 125.8/15 = 8.39

 

I forgot to mention that i really like the comparison of Jacen's and Luke's point of view on force.

 

Actually it should be 125.8/16 = 7.86

New box and whisker plot:

[image=http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/LtNOWIS/boxplot2.jpg]

 

I counted 16, too.

 

glad you huys saw that. It would've sucked if the next person who computed the average score went from my incorrect figure.

 

It's okay. We appreciate you keeping score in Mas' absence.

 

My first Lit review....

I'm going to be giving Bloodlines a 10 out of 10.

The best parts of the book were by far the parts about Boba, which didn't surprise me considering it was Karen Traviss authoring. As a fan of the two RC books, I had a fanboy giggle moment at the prospect of one of the Omega's or Nulls popping up in the future .

The Jedi/Han & Leia parts were the less interesting of the POV's, but still interesting, and while there wasn't much action, I was perfectly content. I like the Galactic Alliance Guard, and I hope they pop up in future books.

Ben's realization that Jacen wasn't perfect was great. Also, I could see Barit Saiy popping up in the future, considering there was no love lost between him and Ben. The Lekauf tie-in was great too, although I didn't realize his grandfather was an established character at first.

To sum it up, again I have to say a 10, amazing book.

 

It's not that no one else would take Ben. It's that Ben wouldn't let anyone else take him.

 

Average score: 135.8/17 = 7.99

 

Page 231 of Bloodlines

Luke "Maybe I'll have to do it for awhile"
Mara "Oh that'll work..."
And this was why they had come to this point: because there was nobody else who could handle Ben like Jacen could.

So that means that Ben can only be handled by people who he allows to handle him? Then why is it that Jacen can handle him? I can understand the whole Luke=father problem, but I still have a hard time understanding why Ben has a problem with EVERY other Jedi except for Jacen.

 

9.2

 

Ben closed himself off from the force, when he was little. Jacen was the only one who he was comfortable using it around.

 

So he is now comfortable using the force around non-jedi, and only Jacen as a jedi? Ok.

 

No, he's comfortable using it, but as Bloodlines says, he thinks jacen is perfect (up until the Ailyn incident) and wants him as a teacher. They're afraid if he's forced to have a new teacher he may flat out refuse and not want to learn.

 

No, but he's formed a parent like Bond with Jacen, and if Ben was forced to leave Jacen, he would be a complete pain in the ass to any new master out of spite because he's a kid. He would also heavily resent the choice being forced on him since he is having the age appropriate struggle between being a kid and being an adult.

 

Average score: 145/18 = 8.06

 

Well said, Sidious, and informative. Looking forward to yours, 000, honest impressions are what I'm fishing for, like Horsey's.

 

I give it a solid 8.

I was not a fan of the Republic Commando novels, mostly because it was hard for me to get into Clone Wars lit. (it had nothing to do with Ms. Traviss's style)

But, I loved Bloodlines. The politics were on spot. She did one of THE BEST JOBS with Cal Omas. You really, really feel for the man. Whenever he speaks in the book you can almost imagine the lines of concern and exhaustion on his face. His line to Jacen- "I lived under the Empire" gave me chills. I love how he is trying his best to maintain the peace while more agressive advisor push for all out war.

Niathal was fun- a new Mon Calamari Supreme Commander- who is nothing in temperment like Ackbar. She is definately not universally loved by the military like Ackbar, though I imagine she may have their respect.

Fleet actions- a little sparce on details, but overall good.

Jedi Council- this book gave Coruscant is pre-Vong feel back. We have the Jeid Council sitting in session, the Senate building revamped, and overall I can imagine the world like it used to be now.

Boba- not as much Boba/Mando stuff as some predicted. I commend Karen for showing her critics that she writes stuff other than Boba or Clones well.

--Adm. Nick

 

9.7/10 I may give more insight later when I have more time, but briefly:

Not a lot of action, but I still couldn't out it down.

Boba's scenes were excellent and I found I was looking forward to that the entire book.

I liked the tight 3rd person a lot, although every once in a while I was confused at the beginning of a chapter whose we were on.

Overally great book, and great series thus far. Also the Tempest excerpt seemed cool.

 

Thanks Ex, I try my best.

 

Prose alone, I give it an 8. Solid B-, but for one reason or another didn't engage me.

-1 for what I see as a failure to build off Betrayal, and what seems to be a lack of communication between authors. The "strings" of "Hey, this would be cool, it doesn't have to make sense" in the entire Legacy of the Force plotline are also extremely apparent. Hurts the book.

-.75 for screwing up the gratuitous prequel references. Have them, OK, but think about them. Taun We's "Oh, yeah, Dooku hired us" made me facepalm, because the Kamino/Sifo-Dyas/Dooku thing has been covered in the past, and to just pretend Taun We knows all the intricacies of Palpatine's plan when the Kaminoans have been stated as being pretty ignorant and Luke couldn't even figure out his own mom for decades is annoying. It could be made vaguely plausible with the right revalations, but skimming over those necessary revalations annoys me. And if Boba's on the cover, you pretty much have no excuse for not getting his age right.

Final score: 6.25