Reviews Books THE JC Lit Reviews Special: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: EXILE (Spoilers)

I give this book an 8 out of 10.


Not as good as Betrayal, but IMO next best out of the LOTF books so far.

The good:

- Luke, Leia, Han and Mara reunion. I am happy that they put the family back together. I didn't mind them having a big disagreement like they did, as all families do. But, I didnt want this disagreement to divide the family forever. The reunion was nice and well handled.

- The major background characters, such as Wedge, Corran and Kyp all having good sized roles in the story. I always love to see them, as it is a nice break from the S&S clans. Plus, seeing Myri was nice as we get the next generation Antilles.

- The flow of the story. I just felt that everything flowed well together, and the story never seemed slow.

- Jacen, Jacen, Jacen. What can I say. Abandoning his parents, Luke and Mara like that after they come to save him, even after all he has done. At least he is taking his Sithness seriously. Too bad noone realizes that. And as for his Sacrifice, who will it be? Going by the end it doesn't look too good for Mom and Dad. Though I still doubt it will be either of them.

The bad:

- Ben. I just couldn't get into his little story. I actually like the indecision about Kiara. It shows that even though the Sith to be is training him, he still has some moral values. But then the thinking about eating her? I think that was a bit overboard. It's fine you want to complete your mission, but not at the expense of a 6 year old girl. Luckily the droid was able to get him angry enough to knock sense into him.

 

9/10

You know why I rate it so high?
Because Lando was freakin' awesome in this book. He really stole the show.

 

The Good

Events from Betrayal mentioned? Check!

Events from Bloodlines mentioned? Check!

Events from Tempest mentioned? Yeah, check!



Lubed!

Aaron Allston is, well, awesome!

Exile seems to be the book for the continuity defenders.

The story isn't bad and the characterizations are IMHO awesome!

Kyp Durron. I haven't seen a better Kyp since Enemy Lines. And that speaks volumes!

Lando! Looooooooove Commander!!! No, that wasn't ridiculous

Myri Antilles. I want DR to make Tales of the Galactic Alliance. And I want Allston to write a story about Syal and Myri. In fact, I demand it.

.
.
.

Well, I hope for it.

Ben Skywalker. "Hey, pretty Jedi girl. I could look at you for days."

Jacen Solo. "I congratulate myself, while all my other plans go downhill."

* Bah, I feel the need to comment on Jacen, because he's always been my favourite character. If Jacen is to be the main villain of LotF, then Sacrifice has to offer something. Tempest had him acting like a player who moves the pawns, but that was all basic stuff IMHO. He pales in comparison to Lumiya. She needs to go down! And it pains me to say this. I rely on the Sith trradition. *

The Bad

Troy Denning showed us how a hard-fought duel looks like. I appreciate the take of Luke vs. Lumiya 2.0; but Leia vs. Alema -- with all the history between them -- should have been written different. IMHO.

Overall, the end of the book lacked a bit of substance.

Ah, well, I was more than entertained. I didn't even mentioned Jag & Jaina Why?

Allston has managed the impossible! After 50 pages I started to like Jagged Fel!

8 / 10

For comparison:
----------------

Betrayal 8 / 10
Bloodlines 7 / 10
Tempest 8.5/ 10

 

Average score: 122.15/15 = 8.14

 

I think Allston did a fantastic job tying in the first three LOTF books and many of the previous storylines and characters. Overall the book flowed nicely and nothing was confusing. The characters all rang true for me though some were a little underutilized (I?ll get to that in a minute).

Exile once again had a misleading title and cover (following a fifteen year tradition?why change now). Major important things: The plot was definitely advanced when the Bothans and the other planets became involved and broke the blockade. Jacen?s advance to Sithdom continues to be too slow for my taste. Ben continues to grow as a teen exploring his place in the universe. (I loved Ben?s section of the story!!!)

Characters: Well I?ve never been an overt Lando fan, but when he showed up I was all excited! I think because Allston returned many characters we miss and want to still hear about. Allston included some minor players we all enjoy with just a slight dash of backstory and fun to remind us that the LOTF storyline doesn?t have to be all dark and gloomy.

I was in ecstasy to read Kyp?s part as witty and very supportive of the Grandmaster. Kyp seems to have developed into this truly wise master Jedi. It?s a little strange, but I like it.

Luke continues to seems spunky and not whimpy like in NJO. This is good!

But ummm how?d Jaina make DP? She barely had more lines than Kyp! If Jaina?s suppose to mature and do something big in this series where is the set up? I did love Jag?s appraisal of her ?Sword of the Jedi? name. And Jag was written a little quick to forgive Jaina, but otherwise with plenty of wit, strength and a little bitterness, very well rounded.

And missing Mara! Where was she? She didn?t seem to have all that many lines either, but usually she seemed likeable though gullible over that whole ?Lumiya has a daughter thing.

It was refreshing to see less Han and Leia and get to see other important characters do important things! H/L had been too dominating prior to Exile (ironic they are on the cover).

Really not a lot of set up for Sacrifice. That story could go in a multitude of directions.

My rating: 8.5

 

Just a quick question before I read the book, was the whole Ben lightsaber "accident" addressed at all or did they bypass it.

 

It was addressed.

 

Average score: 130.65/16 = 8.17

 

I think my favorite part of the book so far is Allston's retconning of Ben's padawan braid. Take that, Traviss! Go learn about what's happened since the fall of the Old Republic. Things are different now.

 

Jacen's interminable Gosh, going evil is so painful - I can't decide who to kill process continues its' wandering way through another book. Time to fish or cut bait, pal.
At this point he could become Darth Indicisivus as he meanders to the Dark Side.

The cover made me wonder why Han's been using the same (type of) blaster for 40 years. Upgrade already!

6.5/10

 

Hey, he's been using the same type of ship for just as long. When you find something that fits, you keep it as long as you can.

 

I found most of this book confusing and dry. The last little bit was exciting. After waiting so long for this book, it was very anti-climatic. I'm not as excited about the whole series after this one.

3/10

 

Average score: 140.15/18 = 7.79

 

I thought Tempest was terrific and I love Betrayal, so I went into this with rather high expectations. For the most part, my expectations were met


What worked: The characterizations were all very solid. Han is Han, Leia is Leia, and Mara sees Jacen as the threat he is and isn't addressing her husband as "honey" The best thing about Exile though, is that it's just a well put together story with most everything working together. The setup for the Corellian/Bothan/Commenoran assault was really well crafted, and different storylines seemed to fit together in a nice package.

Seeing Lando was a surprising high-point. Seems like it's been forever since we've seen him and Allston did a terrific job with him, adding a lot of humor and goofy smiles to the reading experience. I was particularly fond of the Looove Commander

Luke and Mara's investigation of Lumiya's activities was great. I would have liked to have seen more of it.

Seeing Kyp Durron again was also a lot of fun, and the "taras-chi" scene was cool.

Jacen getting pwned by just about everyone in this novel (Wedge, Uran, Luke, Lumiya, Phennir) was a joy to see. After watching him get away with everything, it seemed like a long time coming. Was also a relief to see Luke and Mara finally asking questions about Nelani's death and Bimmel. I really hope at some point they find out what Jacen really did there.

I was relieved to find that Lumiya was not motivated by revenge against Luke, or at least if she is, she's in total denial about it. It makes her a much more interesting villain as this fanatic who simply believes in an imperial Sith order, and is even willing to die to put Jacen on a path towards these goals.

Is Seha Dorvald Lumiya's daughter? And possibly Luke's as well? We know Luke is lying to Mara about something. A good mystery at least.

Seha Dorvald = A She Lord Vad Think about it.

The GFFA is just full of pretty redheads, I guess.

I also was very pleased to see the conversation between Jag and Jaina about the "Sword of the Jedi" prophecy. Ultimately, I would like to see a face-off between the twins (fitting in with the Twin Sacrifice duel that was hinted at in SBS and their fight as children at the Shadow Academy) because I think it has more emotional resonance than the other possibilities, and until Exile, most of the rest of LotF has pointed towards a Luke/Jacen duel (most likely after Mara is killed in Sacrifice). This discussion between Jag and Jaina has rekindled my hopes. Was a really nice touch, and I'm glad Allston added it.

Having a character named "Uran":

I really liked the character too

My favorite part of this book though, was Ben's time on Ziost. While it reveals some disturbing things about Ben, and maybe offers some hope as well, it was extremely interesting. We still don't know a lot about the Sith worlds, so any chance to explore them further is exciting. Ben's trials there are frightening, sometimes even horrifying, and having him find the Sith Meditation Sphere was brilliant. The exchange between he and Shaker (who I loved) when Ben decides to leave Kiara was by far my favorite scene in the entire novel.

Jacen's "revelation" at the end that he would have to kill his parents no matter what seemed like the perfect way to end things.

The last 130 or so pages were really exciting making the book a real page-turner.



What didn't work: Not a lot, but there were certainly some weaknesses. Midway through there is a 100 page span that seemed pretty boring. Ben's scenes on Almania largely seemed useless? not that important things weren't revealed about his character, just that it wasn't done in interesting ways. Going through every little detail of what he did largely felt like padding just to get to him remembering things his mother said or reasoning that it was okay to steal. There were a lot more effective ways to do this, IMHO.

While not a mistake, I'm also s

 

want a nerd complaint: Allston wrote "police" rather than security force, and he also described Zekk with a ponytail! No it's a tail 'cause they don't have ponies!!! But otherwise, quite a good story!..

 

Makes since...she was hitting on Ben.
And we all know that it's not Star Wars without incest.

 

Except that she's like 20 years too young.

 

Lumiya appeared at least 20 years younger several times in the book as well.

 

Average score: 148.55/19 = 7.82

 

Hmmmm...disappointing.

Of the 4 LotF novels published to date this is the weakest.

Ultimately I felt that it was just downright boring. *sigh*

Jaina/Jag/Zekk was interesting enough...as a set-up to something else happening later on in the series.

Luke, Leia, Han and Mara. Meh. Nothing great here and there could have been. At the least their reunion deserved an extended look and had an opportunity to be something special. Instead, like most of the rest of the book, it falls short.

Lando and the Loooove Commander was good for a giggle, but that's about it.

Lumiya and Alema both add some spice to an otherwise bland dish.

Ben on Ziost is the highlight of Exile and Allston does a nice job with it.

The book moves the plot along, although it seems rushed at the end and too long in the middle and the action throughout is mostly stiff. Usually I immediately re-read a book I have just finished but I feel no such compulsion with this one. Maybe I'll revisit the pertinent portions of the novel as a prologue to Sacrifice.

Heck, Exile even makes Bloodlines look good.

Thus far this LotF series (while enjoyable enough as a whole) is shaping up to be consistently inconsistent from book to book. Hopefully Sacrifice will "rip the lid off it!" and the rest of the series will really get cooking!

Arbitrary score: 4

On the flipside I was able to read this book in 2 days! For me, that's unheard of! Weird!

 

Yes! I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. There was also a transparisteel chandelier.

 

Okay . . . here we go.

Tempest managed to restore my confidence in LOTF with a strong, if too self-contained, story and a lot of sweet action. But now Denning hands the reins over to Aaron Allston, who wrote the mediocre Betrayal. Coupled with the continuty mistakes and inconsistent characterizations that marred the three opening books so far, Exile was still worth some worrying.

But this time Allston didn't disappoint us. Exile is Allston's most serious effort so far, and is also the shortest LOTF book by far (it clocks in at 337 pages). It makes for a quick, easy read while we wait for Karen Traviss' Sacrifice, which undoubtedly spark flame wars on the level of Vector Prime, considering the apprehension of many of the fanboys and girls here.

But enough introduction. Let's get to the review:

As Good as Whyren's Reserve:

Ben Skywalker gets to venture solo. For the kid's entire life on the pages, he has always been followed or chaperoned by somebody else. It's about time to see if Ben can carry a book, and Allston giving Ben a little adventure to Ziost seems to be a test of that. Allaying some fans' fears, Ben does not venture to Ziost directly, but follows a man there, when he steals the item Ben sought. And on Ziost he must grapple with logic and humanity, especially over little Kiara, who becomes his companion during this undoubtedly life-altering experience. And then there's the Sith spirits, who are a bit more conniving than people give them credit for, they initially tell Ben to 'protect girl' so he would listen to them before telling him to 'eat girl, grow strong'. And Ben nearly falls for it, but thankfully he shakes off Jacen's logical training and manages to maintain his humanity.

EU characters! Corran Horn, Mirax, Booster, Jagged Fel, Iella, Matric Klauskin, Fyor Rodan (yep, he's back!) and a new character in Myri Antilles all play significant roles in this novel, and freshens up a increasingly-stale cast of the Skywalkers/Solos/Lumiya/Zekk that populated previous novels. Plus, Aaron carrying Alema into this story removes some of her 'Denning's pet' stigma, and definitely lends credence to the possibility of a Lumiya/Alema alliance near the end. Lumiya seems more sly and intelligent in this novel too, after Denning's slightly crazy treatment of her, it's nice to see her being a villain capable of standing up to Luke Skywalker. Luke hasn't faced an opponent at his level since the Yuuzhan Vong war, it's nice to see someone match him step-for-step.

Lando! Ah yup, he's back, and he zaps Alema good. Nice name for a ship, too. His banter with Han and Leia was top-notch, and brings a forgotten character back into the fold.

And Wedge doesn't feel as tacked on upon this time either.

The Big Three + Mara's portrayals all seem to be standard, although Mara says 'farmboy' a bit more than usual (maybe because of fans' complaints about her saying 'honey' in Bloodlines?)

Ziost was well-described and given a ecosystem of its own, different than Korriban, yet evil in its own way.

And lastly, Exile carries over quite nicely from Tempest, for the first time ever in LOTF I did not see an obvious inconsistency. No major typos this time either (other than Kiara's classification as a 'Chud').

The Wookiee's Armpit:

Jacen was portrayed well early, but he became obnoxiously stupid near the end, especially when falling for the Confederation trap. C'mon, a budding Sith Lord has to be more intelligent than that.

Jaina/Zekk/Jagged didn't receive as much page time than they should have.

'Eat girl, grow strong'. Eh? I thought dark side spirits were more evil and less bestial.

Blurred Transparisteel:

Speaking of transparisteel, that popped up in the book waaaaaay too much.

Everybody's on the same side again. I feel that DR has missed out on a colossal opportunity by doing this, the heroes were on different sides really lent a power to the

 

he also described Zekk with a ponytail! No it's a tail 'cause they don't have ponies!!!

Oh yes they do.

 

I have to say that Betrayal has been my favorite with Exile being second. I felt it....touched on a lot of problems I had with the prior two books. (If interested in examples see my thread "Hey Jacen, What happened with the Tassels and have you seen Nelani?") I give it a solid 8.75/10. I loved it. Great stuff. I would comment more but I feel the need to start a different thread about Exile in a day or two that will have my rundown of the book and some questions for others.

Carnage

 

8.5

I actually liked this book pretty well. The main highlight for me would be seeing Lumiya manipulating different sides in the war to get them to do what she wants. Sweet

I thought the characterizations were spot on. The action was great. Ben's side quest and what he does after being set up was well done. He even brought back Lando and that makes Zebra3 very happy indeed