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

A definite 8/10 for this one.

There was some bad, mainly Allston's writing. He's merely a little above average, and that can be an annoyance at times. Ben's side-quest started out a little slow and boring, but that was just the start. I didn't care much for Jag & Zekk's rivalry, either.

There was far more good, though. Allston once again proves to me that he's one of the greatest SW authors at creating memorable and likable characters, and his characterizations of existing characters is very well done. Furthermore, he shows that you can write a six-year-old little girl without making her have speech impediments nor making her an awful annoyance(I'm looking at you, Denning!). I really hope we see more of Kiara, particularly because she's force-sensitive.

There was a decent amount of plot progression for a paperback, and Ben, at the least, had a fair bit of character development. A good job done by Allston, definitely. It takes second place for me, after Betrayal.

The rest of my problems were probably not Allston's fault. There is an overabundance of LukeandMara and LeiaandHan. Why do they not do anything apart anymore? Or EVER, for LukeandMara. It's like they're connected at the hip! Worse than Jaina and Zekk, who at least had the bug thing to justify it. I know they're married, but LukeandMara are both Jedi Masters, and Mara at least should be training somebody, or doing something else than just being Luke's appendage. LeiaandHan are a little more understandable, because Han's getting much less useful, and seeing as they're both known as Traitors to both governments, they have a reason to stick together.

The other main problem is the Darth Who? contest. There is never a moment when I can really let myself think "Will Jacen start coming to his senses?" because I know it's not a matter of if he becomes a Sith, but when. Bad idea, Del Rey, because it kills the suspense.

And last... was I the only one that went through the entire book thinking the Myri was Syal?

P.S.: What the kriff is a 'Chud'?

 

Allson nailed it. After the first three, everything is getting tied together. Characters and characterizations were great. The war is moving forward after a detour in Tempest. Things are coming together where they felt like they were stalling before. I'm extremely impressed. Extremely.

Also, for the first time ever, I read it, and I totally saw the characters at their ages. It was Lando's first scene that did it. It hit me that this guy is almost 80 years old, and he feels it. From there, Wedge, Iella, Booster, Han, Leia, Luke, Mara -- it really hit me just where they are in their lives. It was wonderful. Jacen and his generation finally clicked as thirty years old, too. It all clicked.

9.8

 

Average score: 195.6/25 = 7.82

 

10 out of 10


Lando Calrissian and the Looooooooove Commander!!!!!!

Automaticly gave this book 10 of 10

He had a pimp cane!!!!!!! Allston is my hero. Screw Jacen! Just have the rest of the series be Lando picking up Chicks with his magical sexy powers!!!

First scene: Lando walks up to the bridge of the Anakin Solo and beats Jacen down with his pimp cane. Then he lets his girls take turns slapping him as Lando holds him up. Then Jacen Takes a spill out the Airlock.

Im just waiting for him asking Han for some credits for his "Give Lando Calrissian a massage" Program.
(Someone has had to have seen that Mad TV)

 

Average score: 205.6/26 = 7.91

 

I absolutely loved this book for most of the same reasons that others on here have already discussed. Corran/Wedge/Mirax/Iella all working together and in their classic personas. Leia/Han/Lando back together again. The interactions there were spectacular right down to Lando asking Leia to run away with him. We also got a Wes Janson quote "The real sign that someone has become a fanatic is that he completely loses his sense of humor about some important facet of his life. When humor is gone, it means he's lost his perspective." This sums up Jacen incredibly well.

Luke/Mara seem to be getting smarter which is a plus and closer to where they should actually be. I loved seeing Kyp have a small role and adding humor to a tense scene. The Jedi Counsel meeting was nice to see as well.

Allston gave us an X-wing style book within LotF and we needed one. I'm a big fan of humor in my SW books (and it was rampant in the movies as well), but largely feel that its not in most books. Allson delivers that humor.

Allston also does a good job of giving Ben's character a way out of the path he's been set on for the past several books. His actions and thoughts in Exile were largely attributed to being on the Sith planet so that makes me feel better about his character. He showed compassion, he acted like a Jedi, he saved the girl.

Jacen is even more despicable in this book, leaving Leia/Han/Luke/Mara and even Lumiya/Alema to their deaths.

The sith ship sounds very interesting. I'm quite curious about it.

Small complaint:
During the Alema scene where they try to catch her on the Errant Venture Allston describes Leia and Jaina radiating with anger. They shouldn't be doing this. Its not the Jedi way.

I'd say this book is going to be hard to beat!

9.9/10

 

Average score: 215.5/27 = 7.98

 

9/10 for me. better than betrayal. i feel jaina and mara were more like their characters in this one although Allston still didn't use Jaina that much at least she wasn't a cardboard cutout like she was in betrayal. i also liked Allston's use of Alema Rar which was actually better than Denning's use of his own creation in Tempest. i seemed like Denning jus couldn't let go of Alema and brought her back for no reason but Allston used her properly.

 

Average score: 224.5/28 = 8.02

 

Lando! Sweet!

This book was fairly stream lined, and it did advance the plot, which is good. I think the characterisations were good. I can't really put my finger on it, but i just wanted more from it. I'll give it a 7.9.

 

During the Alema scene where they try to catch her on the Errant Venture Allston describes Leia and Jaina radiating with anger. They shouldn't be doing this. Its not the Jedi way.


No, there is nothing wrong with being angrey, it's acting on that anger.

 

Average score: 242.4/30 = 8.08

 

Liked Ziost (even though I was under the impression that it was shelled into lava back in the day), Alema (who's pathetically but hilariously insane), and... that's about it.

Yuck.

2/10

 

Average score: 244.4/31 = 7.88

 

I haven't finished to book yet, but I agree with this. It's been a pet peeve of mine when people give the Sith far too much credit; Palpatine didn't create the corruption in the Old Republic, he didn't create the desire for Separatism, and Lumiya didn't create this conflict. They both just used what was already there and pushed the situation to the breaking point.

It reminds of a Calvin and Hobbes strip:
Calvin: Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?
Hobbes: I'm not sure that man needs the help.

 

9/10

Overall, it was great. I felt a lot of loose ends or questions were answered, as others have mentioned. The story progression was pretty good, although, I think they need to pick it up a little bit, or make these books longer or something. The reunion(s) in this book made me smile, and while I liked the friction in the family before, I think it's good plotwise that they are starting to drift together. It just makes sense. I really liked the trap for Alema, I thought for sure she was done for, and I'm not quite sure how she escaped. Before I thought Alema was annoying and out of place, but now she's turning into an integral part of the story, at least IMO. The ending fight was pretty cool. Lumiya still confuses me, should be interesting how everything progresses. Only bad things were the over-use of certain things, like glow rods and transparisteel, even though I didn't bother me that bad. Also, while the Ben-Ziost side things was cool, I always looked forward to that the least, especially his time spent on Almania. Also, there were a few mistakes I noticed, nothing too bad though (Astromeck in the dramatis, and wth is a Chud?) Also, I think these excerpts are getting lengthy. While I like the sneak peak, I think 3-4 pages would be better the what we are getting lol. Overall, great book, as usual.


EDIT: Oops, how could I forget. Lando and Loooooove Commander = love

 

Average score: 253.4/32 = 7.92

 

Loved it.

The tie-ins.

Lando's back and pimpin.

Kyp being the man. Helping poor ole Luke.

Nice hand shake between Lumiya & Luke. Lumiya (in her head) "Gotcha SUCKA!"

Ben @ Ziost in the makings of a Jedi without being coddled by his parents.

9.5/10

Can't wait for Sacrifice!

 

Just finished it.

Not as good as Bloodlines, but light years better than Tempest.

Lando's pimp stick: good.

Feral nek battle dogs: good.

Ship names like Love Commander and Breathe My Jets: bad.

Ben Skywalker finding it way too easy to rationalize eating a six year old girl: extra good.

A solid 7/10.

 

I don't have much time, so I'll be short. This series hasn't resonated with me, and I don't think it will; I just don't feel the ambiguity and grayness of the story is conducive to Star Wars. However, being a big fan of Troy Denning, I thought Tempest represented the best Legacy of the Force could be.

After finishing Aaron Allston's Exile, I was slammed back down to reality. This man's prose is simply amateurish: Everything is "like" something else. Using such heavy similes is the first sign of a low-level writer. In the spirit of Allston's writing, I'll say that I'm starting to sound like a broken record in these reviews.

I'm also sick of his sentence fragments!! You'll be reading along, and all of the sudden find that that isn't a complete sentence! It completely throws off the rythm -- I always have to go back and read it. There's other mechanisms that can be used to conver pauses in time -- you don't have to break the rules of grammar to do it.

Denning doesn't do any of those things -- he's an excellent craftsman ... unlike his Legacy of the Force counterparts.

All of that being said, Allston's construction isn't bad. Even though this is a very fatty book, it does have a nice forward energy to it.

Characterization also isn't bad. That's good for me because the characters are really the only reason I'm reading post-ROTJ EU -- that and it's now serving as background to the smashing Legacy comic series. Allston's sense of the characters survives even though his dialogue-writing skills are weak. Characters shouldn't speak exactly the way the narration is written. There's so many ways to make characters unique through what they say -- it's just a shame Allston chooses to make them speak like he does.

I liked Ben's quest -- even though most of it played out like a bad video game. And the last 80 or so pages were pretty cool.

4.5/10

 

As with Tempest, I really enjoyed the majority of Exile.

Positives

- All three Kyp scenes sparkled. Give that character his own book already!
- Taras-chi! Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
- Loooove Commander!
- Lando!
- Luke's dismissal of physical relations with Lumiya not being quite as convincing as I was originally led to believe...
- Ben coming closer to taking off his "WWJD?" bracelet.
- More that I'm too lazy to write about.

Negatives
- A few descrepencies with Tempest. How can Lumiya believably claim that her previous attack on Luke wasn't personal after all the stuff she spewed about bringing Luke's family legacy full circle? Likewise, despite what was said between them, I got the impression in Tempest that Jaina and Zekk had taken a considerable step in eventually getting together. They took two steps back in this book.
- Where was that awesome exchange between Luke and Lumiya that I was "spoiled" about? Seems to me that someone didn't read it properly...
- Kyle Katarn being described as "lightly bearded".
- Not much else.

8/10

 

Decent . . . acceptable . . . too many quick cuts, which hurt internal continuity . . . fun at times, a bit tedious at others . . . overall, a little from Column A and a little from Column B.

7.5/10

 

Average score: 289.9/37 = 7.84

 

Wow. You know, based on what I'm hearing, Exile may be the first LotF book I actually read. Out of the three LotF authors, Allston is the one I trust the most, continuity-wise, story-wise, and character-wise. And it sounds like he doesn't disappoint.