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

But Jacen's "final act" was the killing of Nelani in Betrayal. That's when he becomes a Sith. This was about the transition from Sith to Dark Lord of the Sith.

Anakin may have carried the title of Dark Lord but he wasn't the Master of the Sith.

Jacen is. Anakin, despite himself, never got to the point of no return - Jacen, or Caedus, has.

At least, that is, unless they decide to redeem him. Hopefully they won't.

He's already a Sith.

It has made Jacen stronger... MUCH stronger in the dark side. I think you're underestimating just how much Ben means to Jacen. Whilst clearly not quite as much as Tenel Ka and Allana, Ben - and his relationship with him - is the most important thing to him after that.

I can't imagine Anakin sacrificing something he continued to love and then revelling in it. Can you?

That's because he was already a Sith and already thinking like a Sith. Now he's the UberSith.

Hmm, perhaps.

I don't think it's Hayden's portrayal, I think it's Lucas' dialog and direction. The novel does give us a much better picture though, yes.

 

Since we cant discuss spoilers outside of certain threads I figured Id post this here. Forgive me if this has been brought up before (up until a few days ago I hadnt been in Lit. for probably close to two months).

Anyway, with the revelation of Darth Krayt's identity seemingly approaching, most seem to think that there's no way that Jacen and Krayt could be one and the same. Assuming that is the case, though, could it be possible that Caedus is still alive in this timeline ? Could he be the true Master of the Sith Order, Krayt being his apprentice ? Maybe like Lumiya Caedus is presumed dead and has withdrawn from the galaxy as a whole yet is pulling the strings behind the scenes. To pull an analogy from Lost, perhaps he's kind of like Jacob to Krayt's Ben ?

Thoughts ? Theories ?

 

NEVERMIND

This is not the post you're looking for, move along.

 

No need to apologize, Jello, in fact Im glad that you cleared that up (you are our resident expert on all things Roman, after all). Definitely makes much more sense in context now.

 

Reviews, anyone?

 

Zannah is also the only Sith name to feature a Z. Tyranus is the only one to start with a T. Sidious is the only one with the vowel combo iou. What's your point?

 

That ae will always look very, very Latin to me - especially when following a "c". So I find it sticks out.

Sidious, for example, obviously comes from insidious - which is derived (I think) from "insidiae" (plural for: treachery, ambush, plot, conspiracy). Lucas chose to base the Sith name off the English word, however, rather than calling him "Darth Sidiaeus" or whathaveyou.

I have no problem with how it sounds: "KYE-dus" is fine. It's just that I find the ae to leap off the page.

When I start seeing a few more "ae"s however: a "Darth Maelis" here, a "Darth Kael" there, or whatever - then it won't seem so... I don't know. Odd.

Is it stupid/illogical that I think this way? Yeah, I guess it is.... but I don't think it's too difficult a viewpoint to understand.

It's not like I'm trying to get people to agree with me, or that I claimed to have made a good point.

 

A solid 9.5. I really liked this book. The Mara death was moving and I almost had a tear come out, not during the fight or right after, but when Luke and Ben were saying their goodbyes, if that's the way to explain that scene. I liked the Mando subplot a lot as well, and I can see how it's starting to fit in. I loved the way Lumiya bit it, and I'm glad that she's out of the picture, even though I liked her character. Only thing I can say is that I missed Han, Leia and Lando, and the others re-re-introduced in the previous books.

 

Average score: 261.7/36 = 7.27

 

My first post here was a semi-long review of Bloodlines and how it was possbily the worst star wars book ever written aside from Dark Journey. The good news is that Sacrifice is better, but still only slightly above average. I'll start off with the good:

-Unlike Bloodlines, this felt like Star Wars. No heavy handed handling subjects like terrorism.

-The handling of the sith ship,. it was used well in the story, and the "personality" of the ship as portrayed by Traviss was actually well done.

-The characters of Lumiya,Ben, and Niathal were handled very well (obviosuly along with the mandolorian elements).

-The non-mandolorian storyline was done well overall, with some weak spots.

The Bad:

-Something minor, but still annoying is the fact that I had to pay twice for the last few pages of Exile. Did we really need those pages nearly word for word at the beginning of this book?

-Jacen's take over of the government wasn't handled well. I mean who knew that all of these years, all any of the dark jedi/sith who wanted to take over really needed was one legal droid?

-More of a personal preference than anything else, the end of the Mara-jacen fight did not feel right. All big Jedi fights seem to end with a nice climatic lightsaber slash, wasn't a fan of the poison dart to the thigh.

The Really, Really Bad:

-The Mandolorian love affair that Traviss has needs to be confined to its own separate series of books. Bloodlines was dominated by a Boba Fett centric storyline that had little to do with the overall plot. People said well wait for later in the series. Well here we are at Sacrifice, and the Boba Fett/ Mandalorian storyline still takes up a good half of this book, having little effect on the storyline as a whole. One through two chapters at most could have covered the Mandolorians and the overall impact they have on the main storyline. This series is called LEGACY OF THE FORCE. Boba Fett isn't a Jedi, his daughter isn't a Jedi, we haven't seen any Mandalorian Jedi mentioned thus far in this series so really, why the large focus? It hurts the series overall that Del Rey let Traviss's pet project into the series. We get Legacy of The Force in Allston and Denning's novels with scant, if any, mention of the mandolorians. Then we get a Traviss entry thats a Mando extravaganza, condensing the main storyline. I'd rather read about Han and Leia's reactions in depth in Sacrifice, or perhaps get an idea of what the Jedi are doing outside of Luke and Mara; rather than reading Boba Fett's personal journey that is only loosely tied in with the other main story arc. Based on the pattern thus far, its going to be really annoying to go back to the focus on Jacen, Ben , Leia, Luke, etc in Denning and Allston's novels then be forced to see Traviss use up half or more of another book to wrap up the Mando part of the story before seeing it dropped in Denning's finale.

Overall this get's a 5.5/10. Better than Bloodlines, but still not a quality Star Wars book on its own or as an entry in the Legacy of the Force series.

 

Colour me highly entertained. But then I was waiting for Boba Fett and Mirta Gev to show up again, so maybe that coloured my impressions. The insight into Niathal and the others was something I really liked, though I also wondered when Cal Omas did get to be such a cold-blooded killer-politician.

7/10

Magnus

 

Like many people i think i was going to give a really high score then read yk's post with the continuity...so i don't feel its fair that i should now

what i liked:

Yuuzhan Vong - finally some coherent, decent admission that they did more than a modicum of damage to the galaxy
Vulpter/Phaeda/Murkhana/Roche/Osarians - planets and species weren't solely created for her use (you could say Kazan was but at least it gives another name for a Hapes Cluster world) and this gave the book that EU feel.
Verpine/Mandalorian/Economy/Senate - we get to see how the galaxy works, something Bloodlines tried to do but got bogged down by the terrorism rubbish
The Sith ship - awesome
Broke the mold a bit with species
Alema - after Bloodlines i didn't expect any of the other characters to be involved. Alema was a nice touch and we got some decent character material from her in the chapter she was in
Jaina's inclusion

Han and Leia - god we had Bloodlines about them, Tempest about them, Exile about them. And they weren't just cut out - they were given a reasonable cause for absence, and it was mentioned Han and Lando had been on jobs etc. Once again this gave the novel a feel like the Galaxy was still happening around it, and the Mandalorians and Mara weren't frozen in time

Luke vs Lumiya - could have been way more Denningesque in terms of action, but i thought the way Luke did it was perfect.
Cal Omas - brilliantly done, and his put down to Jacen was pretty mighty

"Good night, Aunt Mara" - got that tingling sense there

Mara wiping the floor with Jacen; popped knee joint, sabred collarbone, crushed by rocks. until that fatal moment of indecision

New ships - i can understand the fleet junkies if they've been disappointed with the level of innvoation. We had "egg-shaped" "Dreadnoughts" from Denning, Carrack cruisers from Allston. In Sacrifice we got the new Bothan frigate and a lengthy description of the Basilisk. Nicely done!

Not so good:

Hesperidium; i want to skim through Traitor and check that Hesperidium wasn't actually destroyed. But in my heart i know Traviss screwed up.
Aurra Sing - god can someone mention her! she'll just crop back up in Inferno and it'll look roooobesh
Lekauf - i hadn't established any sort of connection with Ben's "friend" so his death meant bugger all. In fact, the description of the sad little gel droid getting shot up in the practice range elicited more sympathy. the guy held a woman at gunpoint!

What i turned my nose up at:

The wisecrack about Admiral Ackbar - "some admiral once said". If that was meant to be funny i didn't get it. No-one speaks badly of Ackbar!
Some of the words were a bit off...i think that's been covered
The same-sex business. NOT because of any personal issues or beliefs, i'm very open-minded. But it felt forced in, like she'd read the stuff about there being no same-sex relationships in SW and decided to jam one in.
The DP - if they were going to include every minor Mandalorian, they could have done the same for the GA. Where was HM-3? Trooper Limm? The ambassador of Murkhana? The...director of P and R? Be consistent
Boots - WHAT A TERRIFYING DISCOVERY!

What i sneered at:

The opening. Worst...ever...opening. As someone commented, it read like fanfic, and the thoughts were so cheesy. It was only because i read the Exile excerpt that i knew not to give up there and then. Tbh Mara's dialogue didn't get much better. "Crazy Woman Number Two" - please.

Overall, i think excerpts shoulder be done away with. I took Sacrifice out, read an appalling opening, skipped a section i'd already read twice from Exile, then started reading the book proper.

Jedi abilities and their intensity cannot be forced (no pun intended) to the will of the author. You research the power, and work your story around it. Then stuff like resistance to poison, force-melds, force bonds and the such don't become inconstant. Star Wars is keystoned by The Force, so imo it must be more than a plot-advancer.


So i was happy with this book largely because from what i expected

 

The last few pages of Exile were a preview of Sacrifice. Do you complain about paying for a movie and seeing the same scenes you saw in it's preview at the beginning of a movie you watched a couple months ago? It's the same thing.

 

Maybe next time you should just rip the preview pages out before you buy the book.

 

1/10

I hated this book more than the other LOTF novels. Which is saying a lot.

 

Yea so the my clever ploy of posting that tiried before going to bed, was..to...er...sacrifice my credibility...to bring you over to the darkside of Internet forums...er yea thats it. (aka yea that was a really stupid part of the post that I just was too tired to catch). However now in the middle of the day, at least th erest of the post sounds reasonable.

 

I'm going to give it a 9.5/10 because I really enjoyed reading it, and, after all, that's the most important thing.

 

I'd surprisingly quite enjoyed Bloodlines, and looked forward to Sacrifice. I wasn't dissapointed, but I felt that it lacked something, especially when compared to the NJO's midpoint, Star by Star.

Firstly, continuity was vastly improved from Bloodlines. Multiple story lines were mentioned and expanded upon, especially from Exile. Good to see the tassles bought back as well.

Secondly, Traviss has a wonderful ability to create likeable characters that we haven't seen much of. Lekauf, Shevu and Niathal are wonderful characters, who come off as deep and meaningful. I felt especially bad for Lekauf, but he went out living up to his grandfather and protecting Ben, which was quite touching. Niathal really came into her own in this one. Her PoV established her, not as terribly evil or power hungry as she had been portrayed in the previous books, but as someone who seems to genuinely care about the fate of the Alliance. Omas was also portrayed quite well - Traviss can write politics, and politicians, exceptionally well.

The Mandos. I'm enjoying their subplot,and I can see how it's slowly entwining with the rest of the conflict between the Alliance and the Confederation. I would like it to get more involved, but (like the Daenary's plot in ASOIAF) I expect it will happen soon. I've never liked Fett, but Karen makes him enjoyable and three-dimensional.

I was surprised to find I didn't miss Han and Leia in this one. The plot didn't really call for their inclusion, and to shoehorn them in would have detracted from the book.

I love Karen's use of the Jedi Council. Kyp, Kyle, Corran, Saba and Cilghal all feel like previous incarnations, and Kyle's lines just keep getting better and better. I'd like to see a more active roll , whether it be in LotF or in their own books, for some of them though.

Ben continues to please. Despite all that goes on around him he still maintains his emotions and his morals - what makes him a god person. His interactions with his parents, especially his last ones with Luke and Mara, were wonderful, and showed how much he did care for his parents. His reaction to his mothers death and finding her body were absolutely heartbreaking.

Lumiya was slightly dissapointing. I would have liked to have seen more from her, her motivations and who she's working for. She went down to Luke pretty quickly, but that's to be expected.

Finally becoming a Sith Lord, I feel we're just beginning to see the worst from Jacen. Taking over the government was quite clever and we'll able to see how Palpatine like he becomes. His duel with Mara showed just how arrogant and conceited he's become.

Luke's ephinany's were interesting, and when he finally took action it paid off. Losing Mara is no doubt the worst thing that has ever happened to him, and I felt Traviss captured his reactions accordingly.

Finally, Mara. She was absolutely fabulous in this book. I can tell that Traviss is a fan of Mara's because she gave her a wonderful send off. I've never liked reading about Mara more than I have in Sacrifice. Never have we seen her portrayed in Hand mode better and she went out fighting her heart out to protect her family - very noble and heroic.

My main problem was that, because of the nature of the war, it lacked that sense of drama throughout that Star by Star had. That, however is my only real criticism of the novel.

I managed to get throught his in one sitting, and at no point wanted to stop.

Sacrifice 9/10



For Comparison
Betrayal 8.5
Bloodlines 8
Tempest 8.25
Exile - 8

Overall Series grade - 8.35

 

Now that I've calmed down, I would still like to say that the dialog between the characters was not in keeping with how the characters have been portrayed in other books.

Go back and read:
Mara and Jaina's dialog and compare it to any other book with them in it. Jaina especially, when did she ever act like a guy-chasing teenage girl? Pretty much every character was much less intelligent in this book, which makes the whole thing seem forced. It was like she dumbed down the characters so that she had more space for the Mandalorian worship.

How poorly Luke and Mara dealt with Ben as compared to other books. Protective in previous books to "once your 14 year old kills someone its like a switch. That kid is all of a sudden an adult and can reason like one." Thats the way the author explained it. And the things Ben said were not wise at all, but his parents thought they were? "I should stay in GAG because it is corrupt, so I can try to change that." This goes against the basic parenting idea of "Kids imitate those around them. Don't hang out with those kids, they are trouble." All of the logic and philosophy in this book was very wrong and dumbed down.

I never posted the rating I'd give it. After the many times that I stopped reading the book because I thought "the character wouldn't do or say that!" and "That would never happen" (Taking over the Govt. with a legal droid) I will give the book:

3.5

The majority of those points come from the fact that the book was easy to read and had some dead on stuff, like Mara and Jacen's fight (except for the illusion and poison dart).

 

8.9/10

I was able to get through this book pretty quickly, and was absorbed by it almost all the way. I thought it was pretty good for the most part, and didn't mind the fact Han and Leia weren't in it all that much. By not overloading on characters, a little bit of character development was able to take place, which can be a good thing.

There were some references to things that I had to chuckle at, such as when Niathal thought about how the next Third Republic might be proclaimed or something when she was thinking about Jacen and the galaxy. That had me thinking straight to comparisons with the rise of Nazi Germany. Third Republic = Third Reich? Maybe. GAG = SA/SS? Possibly.

The killing Mara was a slight shock to me to say the least, especially going into the last act of the book, probably right when Jacen and her started fighting. Granted, I should have seen it coming maybe a bit sooner, but I suppose I wasn't thinking it would be her and would maybe be Ben. How wrong I was. Her death scene was well written, but not as good as Chewie's or Anakin's as others said. Everytime she got closeto nearly killing Jacen, I just kept waiting for it to happen, because I wish he would get offed. But at the same time, there are still 3 or 4 more books, and I realized it really wouldn't be him today. But nice fight nevertheless.

I too am not sure how the Mandolorians fit into all this, but things are beginning to get interesting, especially since they're teaming up with the brainiac Verpines to create some sweet tech. Whoever says technology doesn't change or hasn't progressed since the Old Sith/Ancient Republic days, what we're seeing with all the new developments and creations and fusing of tech together is really interesting. Some things do actually change. I for one would love to see a picture of the new Mando Basilisk fighter. Sounds cool.

I am definitely sad to see Mara go, that's for sure. No one ever likes to see a popular character go (well, I like her anyway), but some things have to be done to progress the story. And Jacen's story got a whole lot more interesting to say the least. His looking into the bulkhead reflection and then the mirror - that was just a classic moment. I could literally picture himself looking into the mirror with his helmet on, then taking it off and saying his name outloud. Well done. I didn't expect for it to come at the very very very end of the book, especially the last line of the book. I'll have to be more careful next time not to flip to the back of the book.

Luke killing Lumiya like that...well, not sure if I agreed with it, but when he took her hand and said he wouldn't let her fall, I thought not this again. And then with one movement, she's the headless horseman. I hope Luke gets written just a bit more decent next time around. He's my favourite character, so hopefully things go a bit better. I'm just waiting for when he - and the rest of these clueless people - figure out it's Jacen, in every way, shape, form and possibility.

I also liked the part where Jacen was thinking there's still the possibility Ben can still become his apprentice or a Sith Lord/Dark Sider as well, since he may want revenge once he finds out who killed Mara. That kind of puts goosebumps on a person's arms just thinking how interesting that'll be if it comes true.

Darth Caedus. Nice name. Anyone know what it means?

 

Average score: 314.4/44 = 7.15

 

My thought on this are that she didn't have to tell us, but for every Star Wars fan that feels insulted...another wouldn't have "Gotten It". Frankly, when Jacen decided that Ben being angry at him could be good, because he may become angry enough to become a Sith...that was the big moment for me. In previous books, he did show some concern for Ben. In this one, he just killed the boys mom and decides that it is possible it could turn Ben into a tool down the line. That's cold.

 

the best book of the series so far!

Mara: the death was excellent and i was almost in tears! the most effective EU death ever i think. Chewie and Anakin were sad, but they were not actually murdered. it was very sad as Jacen killed her and he'd grown up with her in his life and everything. i could also really believe the grief of Luke, Ben, Jaina and even Han and Leia through their brief dialogue near the end. i also like the fact she owned Jacen in that fight and that if it hadn't been for trickery she'd have killed him. it shows he may not be quite as powerful as everyone thought.

Ben: great development. i've been waiting for him to open his eyes about Jacen for ages. i also like the way he and Mara became closer, though it made it obvious one of them would die. i like the way he and Luke will probably unite in inferno as a proper father and son.

Jaina: still no real development but it looks positive for inferno now that Jaina will be back into the main action with Luke and Ben.

Fett and Mandos: when i saw the dramatis personae, i thought the novel would be crap cos of all the mandos. i was so wrong. i actually liked the Mando development with Mandalore and the relationship between Boba and Mirta. it didn't effect the main plot so much but it was mentioned a lot and i do feel it will go somewhere, at least in revelation so i no longer think that Traviss was doing it purely for herself.

Shevu and Lekauf: felt the same when i saw these in the DP but their characters have really developed. i was sad to see Lekauf go. Shevu is a great character now, someone for Ben to look up to and maybe even confide in.

Luke Vs Lumiya: finally Luke does what he should have done a long time ago and it looks like he will no longer dither in a crisis.

Alema: nice to see se wasn't ignored. nice presentation i think. she now no longer seems like an annoying character to bring back but a character that we can understand. i can't see her dying now-i think she will find redemption eventually.

Han and Leia: not in it so much but it did not spoile the novel. i liked the scenes between Mara and Leia and it made it so realistic how Mara would feel guilty about killing Jacen.

Jacen: he can't go back now. i think he will die at the end of this series. i had my doubts whether he'd fully become a Sith Lord and not be redeemed but, he killed Mara. i thought he would cheat his sacrifice by claiming someone's death as his own kill, but no, he did it.

Darth Caedus: just one question on pronunciation: is it Saedus or Kaedus?

10/10 well done Traviss!