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

Troy Denning's first LOTF outing.

Some rules: rate Tempest 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 ahead and review.


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, by Drew Karpyshyn

 

7.5/10

Denning falls somewhere between Traviss and Allston in terms of his character viewpoints, and there are a few spots where he runs into some odd viewpoint shifts, but for the most part he maintains an interesting POV that isn't at the level of the tight third of Traviss but not at the remove of Allston.

The characters all sound like themselves although Ben seems prickly in a way he wasn't under Allston or Traviss that could be chalked up to him not having as defined a character or plot reasons.

The return of certain characters make for an interesting story, and decisions taken by Jacen muddy some waters.

As the book opens Jacen and Lumiya are not well tolerating each other, and the reason can be laid at the feet of BLOODLINES' ending where Jacen falls into a spiral of despair that he may have to murder those he loves, namely his lover and/or child. TEMPEST addresses the issue with Jacen basically wrestling with whether such a thing is possible and if he's misunderstood the prophecy and what is expected of him.

What I liked about this is that unlike his grandfather he's actually thinking through what falling means, and he's taking a measure of what he can and can not do, and he finally shows a bit of humanity in scenes with his daughter when he is bargining with himself over what he needs to do to gain his Sithhood.

In the meantime, we have the return of some characters and the deaths of others. Jaina's lovelife continues to bore. Jag is a heckuva lot more interesting since getting shot down. Alema is...annoying, and I spent most of the book praying for her death.

However, the fight between Luke and Lumiya was well done although sure to create some disagreements, and the final battle is nicely done with the exception of some...odd...behavior on Ben Skywalker's part. I'm really not 100% sold on his actions during that battle, but the rest of the story was a solid tale.

It doesn't have the intrigue or intensity that BLOODLINES had, but it has action that carries the plot along well enough, and it raises questions about the meta-plot and makes Jacen finally take a sharper look at himself and look at the road he is choosing to go down.

Luke and Mara finally take some decisive action in regards to Ben, but it doesn't quite feel right for some reason, although maybe it's because the action comes as a response to Lumiya manipulating the situation.

In closing; a solid read that's not quite as deep as BLOODLINES but is a bit stronger an entry than BETRAYAl.

 

The plot in Tempest is...amazingly good. It's not the least bit contrived, it's very plausible, and the internecine deceit of both the Galactic Alliance and Corellia, as well as the deadly (literally) politicking of the Hapans, makes for one helluva cool tangled web.

Dur Gejjen is only in the first chapter of the novel after making an interesting debut in Bloodlines, but right off the bat you can tell that he's someone not to be trifled with. While not inherently a "bad guy," he's definitely villainous in his plan to draw Hapes into the war effort. Deceiving Han, Leia, and to a lesser extent, Wedge, was pretty impressive. Nearly pulling it off and still saving face...even more so.

Aurra Sing's return made sense and for once, I'm glad Del Rey decided to bring back a character from the past. Her role in the novel makes absolute sense. That's one of the things that I have to applaud Del Rey for since they've taken over the license. They've successfully taken the Star Wars Universe and connected the dots on many, many levels. Granted, they've also left several gaping plot holes as well (The Insiders anyone?). But overall, I'm getting the impression with each passing novel, that Del Rey isn't so much "plugging holes," but rather "networking" them in a way that makes resolving them in the future easier instead of more difficult.

There aren't any continuity errors that I can think of (aside from Oovo IV, which is easily retconned). The writing is pure Troy Denning; entertaining and fluid.

The biggest complaint I have of Tempest is the return of Alema Rar. She was one of my favorite characters in the New Jedi Order series (when she was a "bad" good guy). Unfortunately, she's back from her near-digestion on Tenupe and to be honest, I'm not sure what role she has to play in the remainder of the series. And that's where my gripe lies---in her role. It's not that her being alive isn't plausible and her survival tale, given appropriately by Jagged Fel (another very cool return), is very intriguing. It's just that I hope her character arc doesn't just fizzle away.

And of course my biggest kudos goes to Jaina Solo. Man oh man, is she back. Everyone thought that after the Dark Nest Trilogy and her minor roles in both Betrayal and Bloodlines that Jaina Solo was permanently pidegeonholed into irrelevance.

Hardly. A decade after defeating the Yuuzhan Vong and four years after the resolution to the Swarm War and Jaina Solo is emerging through the fog. She's had it, arguably, the most difficult of all the Solos--losing her dear younger brother, believing Jacen to have been killed for nearly a year, slipping ever closer toward darkness, suffering failed romances, seemingly destined to a life of despair as the Sword of the Jedi, enmeshed in a hive mind, and suffering the body blow of enduring her twin brother's betrayal of her and the ideals they once shared.

And yet...she seems to have found peace with her best friend, Zekk. And to have regained her focus and most importantly of all--her hope. Denning gave us a glimpse of the Sword of the Jedi. And it's becoming more and more clear that that sword isn't relegated to the cockpit of an XJ X-wing.

You can definitely sense that the Yuuzhan Vong may finally get their duel after all. And after Tempest, I'm inclined to think that counting Jaina Solo out...is a bad idea.

8.5/10

 

After the horror that was Bloodlines, I was hoping Troy Denning would be able to put the series back on track where Allston started us at. I had very high expectations for this book based on what little I'd heard about it, even though I'm not always a big fan of Denning's writing. I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed. In fact, my expectations were actually surpassed

What worked: Almost everything. What could have been a boring filler-book was turned into a very exciting page-turner. The characterizations, for the most part, were done well. Jacen has continued to grow into the character we saw born in Traitor, who believes he's the Gardner and it's his job to kill the weeds of the galaxy. Alema was taken into a new and exciting direction (though it makes me sad to see the poor girl this way ), and perhaps even more shocking? Jagged Fel is now cool His appearance in the book was one of my favorite scenes. It was also good to see Jaina Solo back in good form and Allana is adorable.

But as usual with Denning's work, Han and Leia are the real standouts, so good you can almost hear Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher reading the lines.

Denning also continues his tradition of introducing quirky alien characters that almost steal the show when they appear on a page. Chal Tozr and Gwad Raatu aren't quite as much fun as the Squibs or Juun and Tarfang, but their brief time in the story is fairly memorable.

The plot itself seems very well-constructed. Characters are driven by the story without us seeing Denning's hand moving them. I've been critical of some of Denning's books in the past for having significant plot holes, but thankfully this novel seems free of them.

The story was so exciting that I really couldn't put it down and read it in one night (and I'm a slow reader). This brings me to Tempest's greatest strength? there isn't a dry spot in the book. Every scene draws you in and is written fluidly, moving the story along, bouncing you from one memorable sequence to another. Alema killing the World Brain, Luke dueling Ben, the assassination attempt on TK and Allana, Tresina Lobi's murder at the hands of Alema and Lumiya, Jaina setting things straight with Zekk, Jacen seeing Tenel Ka and Allana for the first time in the series, Han and Leia running into a new and improved Jag Fel, Luke and Mara investigating Lobi's murder and stumbling on to Lumiya's path, Luke coming to see Jacen about Lumiya and having his nephew ultimately set him up to be killed, Lumiya and Alema having one of the most revealing conversations in the series, Ben rescuing Jaina and Zekk, Jacen and Allana beating Aurra Sing, an uberific duel between Luke/Lumiya and Mara/Alema, Ben slicing Zekk open after trying to arrest Han, and an awesome space battle in which Jacen fires on the Falcon and nearly destroys it? there is no time to breathe!

The action in the story is top notch. Fleet battles, Jaina & Zekk fighting Tendrando Arms droids, and of course the many lightsaber duels throughout There is also plenty of humor in this book, which is nice to see after the very dry Bloodlines. Han and C-3PO have some great banter, and Tozr and Raatu provide some much appreciated laughs.

Denning's writing has really improved, with prose as good as his work in Tatooine Ghost. I think this is definitely his best book ever.


What didn't work: Not much. Unfortunately, Mara was once again characterized as stupid in her first scene. Thankfully she seemed to wise up after that, but the naïveté of what is perhaps the shrewdest character in the EU is more than a little annoying. I also didn't care for the way Luke made his son fight him? it seemed more like bullying,

The Skywalkers have actually managed to become worse parents than the Solos. Mara is willing to put her son's life at risk because she doesn't want him to resent her or the Force. That's pretty selfish, and not the reaction of a real parent, IMO.

I also found it really strange that Luke

 

I give it a 9.5

Great parts Luke's character is back on track. TD is always great with Han and Leia, they're his bread and butter I think. The duel with Tresina Lobi against Lumiya and Alema was very exciting, I was hoping Lobi would at least get to knock off Alema. Bounty Hunter Jagged Fel, how cool is that. Lumiya hinting at the plan in place should Luke defeat her has got to be Krayt, that little conversation between the Dark Lady and Alema was spine tingling. The body count was suprising for a paperback: The World Brain, Cahkmaim and Meewalh, and Tresina Lobi, all important people. Towards the end it was really nice to see Luke and Jacen swallow their pride and admit they've made mistakes and could have done things different, I ready for them to make ammends already. Allana was very cute in this, everytime she said Yedi it was like AAWWWWWW, I don't care who you are, that's cute right there, if you don't think that's cute you need to get the hell out of here LOL J/K

Good parts I really enjoy Jacen's character but he wasn't covered very much. Two times Jacen was ready to unleash on Alema and Aurra Sing but held back. I'm glad Jaina and Zekk worked out their issues, it looks like they will become a great team in the books to come. Ben was a cool little guy too but didn't have much "screen" time. I actually enjoyed Alema's charater very much


Not so good parts I think it's clear the Galactic Loyalty Act is a comparison to the US Patriot Act. One thing that's great about America is that people can express their opinions, but in this way it really tears you out of Star Wars. It's like Labyrinth of Evil and Luceno using the "Triad if Evil" and "Living Document" when Palpatine refers to the Republic constitution. There are other ways to express your opinion with blogs or someone can write a political book. SW EU fans are not simple, whether your a conservative or a liberal, I don't think it would sway anyone about how they feel about their politics, so just leave that stuff out. I guess Traviss did this a little too in Bloodlines. These authors are smart, can't they come up with an entirely different political background for this series. Just look what happened to hollywood when they tried to force their opinions on people, I really missed going to the movies the last few years because IMO most of the movies really stunk. I love SW and I don't want people turning away, I want to read SW novels until I go blind, lol then I'll but the audiobooks.

 

I'll give this book an 8.5

The story was great, in my opinion. I found I had to re-read some action scenes though to find where I was, and there were some continuity issues that kinda irked me (but which i may also be completely wrong about). The overuse of 'Salon' which I don't recall in any previous star wars book got on my nerves, but that's only cos it's unusual so therefore caught the attention more.

One question about the Jaina/Zekk escape, why didn't they use the Force to slam the YVH droids into stuff?

I loved the book overall though, and Jacen's fall is just infuriating, in a good way

 

Average score: 43.7/5 = 8.74

 

Meh.

4/10

This book is so full of continuity gaffes at the beginning, it isn´t even funny anymore. C´mon, these are *three* authors who are working on the series, it should be possible to coordinate things better. Ben is *so* much more disrespectful and resentful of his parents than in the two previous books, and he gulped down a whole package of stupid pills, too. Where is the smart insightful kid from the two earlier books? How did he get replaced by that bundle of idiotic impulse driven actions?

Also, early on a good lot of actions people were taking felt forced. It was more akin watching the characters acting so that the plot could go on, than from something I´d attribute to their own motivations.

Jacen and Lumiyas relationship also seemed off from the first two books, though that may be only me.

And why do I have the feeling that Denning really doesn´t like Jag? ^^

Compared to the first two books, this one had a distinctive lack of humour, pretty much grim stuff from end to end. Just the normal quipping from Han and Leia, some minor stuff from the other characters.

On the good side, the plot itself was interesting. Also, some distinctive minor characters ( the two inspectors ), who we´ll probably never see again, though.

Just to clarify one thing, if that had been a standalone, it would have gotten 7/10, but as a part of a larger series, the continuity stuff really irks me. Hence the 4/10.

And as a last point... the "Anakin Solo"???? WTF?!?!?! Denning really likes to rub it in, doesn´t he? My reaction wasn´t much better than the one from Han, believe me.

Magnus

 

Average score: 47.7/6 = 7.95

 

The Good

JAINA!!! Jacen may have kicked her hard with the court martial, but she's sure as heck not out, as Tempest illustrates.

JAINA & ZEKK!!! Once Zekk finally let go of his romantic aspirations, we also got the Jaina - Zekk friendship dynamic back, too! Rather than treat him like dirt, Jaina was finally free to show her care and concern for her oldest friend without giving him false hope. It was wonderful!

JAINA & HAN!!! For the first time in a looooong time we are shown the true depth of the bond between father and daugher.

JAINA & BEN!!! She certainly has no compunctions about telling her little cousin when he's dead wrong and being an idiot!

ALLANA!!! She's got all her ancestresses feistiness in spades!

The Bad

Denning backtracks on Han's disowning of Jacen at the end of Bloodlines. I suppose in the tiny space of time between books that Han's temper could have cooled off and Leia could have worked on him, but, well, it was something I liked. The only thing that would have been better was Leia saying both her sons died at Myrkr.

Tenel Ka has her shining moments, but she also falls into waffling and justification traps just like one other budding Sith Lord's lover a generation before. This will not end well, I fear, in later books.

I'm now officially confused about why Allana's appearance is being hidden with Denning's description of her. It doesn't seem to me that anyone could point to the little girl and identify Jacen Solo...

The Ugly

Nasty, nasty hit to the Falcon during the turbolaser assault by the Anakin Solo. One of many, but this one tore straight through the ship's vertical profile and took out both Nogri on board. No time to mourn as our heros are struggling with simple survival, but a great loss of loyal allies none the less.

8/10

 

i feel really bad for people like tenel ka, allana, ben and others that really still trust Jacen, as they will probably all end up getting hurt the most. At the end of this book Jacen leaves his family and for the most part is still a pretty good guy (obviously makes a few mistakes, but like Luke said hes falling because hes almost too good of a guy).....when he becomes sith he will have to renounce his past and announce to the galaxy his alligience to the dark side and take a new name??? I wonder how tenel ka and ben take that? Probably not the best. I still love Jacens character right now, but I am scared of what he will become (basically confirmed because of darthwho).....anyway i really liked this book

8.5

 

7.5

By and large an enjoyable read. I liked Lumiya's portrayal in this book and Allana was kind of cute but I hate it when authors write out words the way people would speak them. Just a few nit-picky things that bugged me.

I don't know what Denning was thinking when he was writing Ben's parts but he could have at least pretended like it was the same Ben of the previous two books. In Bloodlines and Betrayal Ben was inquisitive and smart and at the end of Bloodlines he was begining to question Jacen's methods. But by the begining of Tempest he's developed this fanatic Jacen hero-worship thing that I didn't feel followed from his two previous portrayals. He's turned into a big bag of dumb.

Han and Jacen pretty much had a parting of the ways at the end of Bloodlines but in Tempest Han basically says he'd never turn his back on his son. I wish the authors would pay better attention to what the others have done. If this keeps up I'm going to get really annoyed with this series really fast.

Aurra Sing..... what a random character to bring back after all those years. Not that I'm really complaining. I just found it weird.

Tenel Ka, it just felt like her character was kinda off. I felt she kept defending Jacen unnecessarily (and probably improperly) and that bugged me.

 

Average score: 71.7/9 = 7.97

 

Tempest is my favorite Troy Denning book, though I rank all five of his previous books at about the same quality level which is different then how most people view his books. He does a good job developing both the plot and characters from the previous two books and overall did a really good job with the characterizations. Denning doesn't get into the head of characters as much as other authors tend to and in this book we didn't see things from Jacen's point of view nearly as much as we did in Bloodlines. This is interesting because it presents the two sides of Jacen, the side that Tenal Ka, Ben, and some in the military see, and the side that Luke, Han, and nearly everyone else see. Denning has done a good job of planting Jacen right on the brink, right now he's just a very, very, misguided but still redeemable idealist, but he could easily slip and become a full blown evil warlord with no regard for life.

I think Denning writes the big three + Mara better then anyone. First of all he always has been great with Han and Leia and their relationship. But in this book I really liked how he developed them into working the middle not really serving the GA or the Corellians but instead serving their morals. I hope the other authors continue this. Luke and Mara are portrayed better in this book then in either of the first two, both are against Jacen now but not rashly condemning him, its a balance that I think really fits them and is better then Lukes adamant opposition and Mara's complete acceptance that we saw in Bloodlines. It's less black and white and it really works well in this book.

Ben and his realtionship with both his father and Jacen is developed better in this book. There is a great scene to open the book of Luke and Ben sparring and Luke really doesn't hold back. I love how the relationship is developing between the two, it feels real to me. Also Denning kept throwing Ben into situations where he was surrounded by people who are vehemently opposed to Jacen and it was nice to see his reactions to them. Sometimes it showed how far he was under Jacens sway and at others it showed that he still had his doubts about his master. It was nicely done.

Jaina had a decent sized role again which was nice. They kinda but not really settled the Zekk issue. Yeah he stopped pursuing her but now she seems to be coming around towards him so we'll see what happens. I can't wait for the inevitable Jacen/Jaina fight, I think I'm looking foward to it more then the inevitable Jacen/Luke fihgt.

I actually liked Alema in the book her obsession with the Balance is an interesting, though twisted, view of the force. I also like her relationship with Lumiya. The scene in the missile tube was really well done, as well as illuminating. We see that Lumiya really does believe in the Sith cause and isnt just twisting Jacen to get back at Luke. We also learn that there are more Sith or at least someone to ensure the mission succeeds should Lumiya die and on that note I'll say that personally I think she did die, they're just putting out the doubt incase they really need to bring her back in a latter book.

Once again Denning was really hit or miss on the action scenes. He still sucks at describing space battles in a way thats either interesting or easy to visualize. However he is good at Lightsaber fights, I really liked the Alema/Lumiya v. Tresina Lobi fight and I actually felt sad at Lobi's death even though we've never really seen her do anything. I also liked Jacen and Zekk's battle out of Villa for some reason. The Alema/Lumiya v. Luke/Mara fight was pretty good. It was tense to see Luke get so badly hurt and even though I knew it was highly unlikely that they'd kill him so early in the series.

While I thought he did some interesting things as Ben he didnt characterize him as well as Traviss or Allston. He acted kind of dumb in some situations, nothing that was too out of place but he wasn't the star of the book like he was in both of the previous ones. Partly I think this has do with Dennings style of showing not telling

 

ill give it a 7.5

i dunno i have mixed emotins about the book...though it was well written i stayed up till 6 this morning finishing it in one read.

most the characters in the series irk me as it is...jaina/zekk and han/leia i cant stand reading about them han and lei are a couple of rogue politicians with scattered good intentions in everybook for the past 15 books and jaina and zekk are just annoying.

mara/luke i have a love hate relationship...i can see where mara is comming from in a lot of ways but she is superbly naive and luke is just a flaming bag of duesch as of late. he is a complete dick formally challenging his son and relatively embarassing him along witht he fact that he is so pious id like to slap him sometimes. though i do like to read about the two because the authors have created a great chemistry between them (i had a great laugh out loud to myself with the comment made about mara not wanting him in the ex-girlfriends room and he replied with "nothing i havnt seen before)

i have always like jagged fel he is an official badass and now he has nothing to lose , i hope they develop that story arc more.

tenel ka/allana are also an extremely welcomed duo. tenel is so loving and so defensive of jacen its near heartbreaking to realize that she will probably be getting hurt. and allana is just plain and simple cute at the same time EVERYone (readers) knows whos daughter she is...she is jacens kid through and through. just picturing her in my mind walking up the the assassin with a determined look on her face is awesome.

i love lumiya she is sinister in her own right and selfless at the same time. i dont know if she is dead or not. its hard to say but i sincerely hope not. (i was also a fan of vergere and her ideals)

alema rar pissed me off for a long time ...she is officially redeemed in this book. well written and the tension between her and jacen is palpable near the end of the book.

Ben/jacen this is such a great pairing of characters its ridiculous. people have stated that ben is stupid and blindly fanatical about jacen in this book. he has always been defensive of jacen and seeing as how some time haspast between bloodlines and tempest it is simple to see he has had more time with jacen and jacen has taken advantage of that by manipulating ben to become a more reasonable candidate for his apprentice. its clear to see ben has been in a way brainwashed by jacen...though a bit over the top in some places i can understand (i hope im not mistaken) why the author has decided to portray him like this.

lastly the one thing that irked me most is i did not see jacen fall more to the dark side at all. at the end of each book so far he has done something relatively sinister and memorable...but in this book it seems he takes a sligth step towards the light in the end. then again he is lying big time abouthis involvement with lumiya which can be seen as a bad thing, especially since no one can sense he is lying.

(at the same time he did fire on his own parents which delighted me to tell the truth but that was shortlived when thenext paragraph had ben entering the MF...haha damnit ben wrong place wrong time...denning coulda wiped out all mt least favorite characters in a sing motion!)

anyways im done...MR. Denning thank you for the read

 

I give it a 7/10 it would get a 10 but there are to many things wrong with it. Well let's start off with the good Leia and Han Solo I mean it was a perfect rendition of at least how I see them acting. In the last two books though they were good they seem to be doing nothing but reminding themselves of how old they are and living in self pity. I love the part of how Zekk and Jaina FINALLY resolved the issue personally the dude just needed to back off a little anyone could have told him that. The fight witht the robots was good but I don't understand why they just don't rip the circuits from the inside or burn them out or something like that. The robots aren't sentient beings and it's not hard for someone like Jaina whose suppose to be great at mechanics to do that. Jag Fel seemed really awesome and Frankly the Solo's should feel guilty especially Jaina for what they did. Jacen's fall to the dark side is so evident and well done I like the way he does it but I can't see why some are so quick to defend him I mean the stuff he does screams dark side to me and it should to everyone else I think. The fact that he is going dark because of the opposite reasons that his grandfather make it an ironic twist since he is using his grandfather as a model to what not to become. Of course the fact that he was cutting off the persons air supply reminded me of the scene on the star destroyer with Darth Vader doing the same thing. Okay now on to what I really didn't like Ben's perfomance I mean at the end of bloodlines I thought he was coming around to good but everything he did I mean everything just made the kid look stupider and stupider. I mean come on trying to arrest someone while you are outmanned, outgunned, and outskilled while being shot at just seems really stupid to stupid for someone who is suppose to be so smart. The fact that Mara keeps putting family before everything gets me really irritated I mean come on Lady your husband is the grand master and Jacen's uncle so it's not like he wants to admit Jacen is evil but all she has done is defend Jacen over and over and over because he brought her son to accept the force I mean a real parent wouldn't care about that just as long as the kid was happy. The last thing I am going to comment on is the lightsaber fight I can't believe Luke got so injured and won because of he got lucky with a blaster I mean come on he is suppose to be the best of the best yet he gets almost killed by one sith lord.

 

Good stuff

Biggest page turner since TUF in my opinion - i was actually so nervous at the end for han and leia -the line 'and the stars stretched into lines one more time' had me sighing in relief. but the fact i wouldn't be massively surprised if they'd copped it goes to show how well Denning did it.
Im putting continuity in the good bit because i was expecting so much less after the poor Betrayal/Bloodlines correlation
Characterizations were as good as i've come to expect from ole Troy
Pretty intricate plot with everyone getting to Hapes for the endgame - the buildup was great
Awesome lightsaber and force battles again
Aurra Sing/Lumiya done really well
"Are you okay?" "Uh yeah" *blast* "Thanks for asking" - i burst out laughing
Wedge/Raynar/Lekauf/Gejjen - mentions that actually gave it a 'this has been planned y'know' feel.
jag/jaina/zekk
Hapes was fleshed out a lot i thought
no 'bloargh!s' - sounds more like someone vomiting than a swear word

Not so great

the way hapan battle dragons kept winking off the map made it sound like worse than fondor
what does mara do with alema after the bombs been diffused? did they really just run past her on their way
its been mentioned but the whole caks and meelwah lack of H&L reaction/luke not seeming to care
ship specs etc were lacking
entora zar and wergs (sp?) didn't seem necessary - more time on things that mattered (like jacen)
ben being a bellend

unsure

is lalu morwan completely new character? cos the way she was written made me keep expecting a prequel tie in etc
Reh'mwa was mentioned in DNT and here as well, as were Bothans - guess they didn't want a huge book about GAG again?
where was R2? maybe i missed him

so im going 9.1 - one of the better eu books in a while

 

I have to give it an 8.5. Other than SBS it is Denning's best work by far.

 

I had been becoming worried about LOTF after two mediocre novels by Allston and Traviss. And then here comes Denning, a hit-or-miss author in my opinion, who has written two impressive novels (Star By Star and Tatooine Ghost) and three novels full of suckage (the Dark Nest Trilogy). Because of this history, I was extremely skeptical of Tempest and had been expecting the worst. Is that what I got?

No. In fact, this is his strongest effort since SbS.

I was actually pleasantly surprised. Despite the continuity errors from Bloodlines (Jacen suddenly forgetting to go kill Tenel Ka and Allana baffled me but it was an error I'll take for now) Tempest lives up to its namesake. Number one, Denning has finally written a decent space battle. The battle between the Hapan insurgents and the Corellians against Bwua'tu and the Hapan loyalists was the most suspenseful battle Denning has written ever, more so because it took place from the POV a neutral party (Han, Leia, and the Noghri) who could be fired upon by everyone. When Han was ambushed by that Hapan traitor I was actually concerned for him, especially considering his injuries from the earlier barfight. And then the Noghri die, and the Falcon is nearly cut apart by the Anakin Solo, which has become another object to make Jacen even more reviled, and that plot point works. Oh, and Luke and Mara's fight with Lumiya and Alema was awesome, although I wish Mara had succumbed to the temptation to drive that blade through Alema's throat. And we all know that Lumiya will return . . .

The storyline was intense, politically driven (I have never seen a better description of Hapan politics) and action-packed. Tresina Lobi's cameo was unfortunately short-lived, but she wasn't an important character to begin with and I'll accept her death because of the need for cannon fodder. The Jedi definitely are starting to realize something is wrong with Jacen.

Characterization for once is completely spot on. It's nice to see Mara return to her old self after her lobotomy by Traviss. Luke seems to have received an IQ increase as well, and we all must applaud him for ripping Ben away from Jacen. Han and Leia sound like evolutions of their movie characters, and C-3PO sounds so accurate you can hear Anthony Daniels' voice speak to you. Jaina has finally taking a step to fulfill her massive potential and Zekk is actually tolerable this time. Denning's Lumiya also thoroughly outclasses Allston's and Traviss' in smarminess and silky seduction, making her actually feel like an EU villain rather than a bad Marvel transplant. And Jagged Fel's cameo as a bounty hunter was the icing on the cake. I hope to see more of him in the future. Allana's speech impediment also doesn't bother me too much, in fact, her stabbing Aurra Sing (a bad PT transplant that shouldn't have been approved) made me like her all the more. She remains a character with a lot of potential.

Denning's Jacen disturbs me more than Allston and Traviss' description. Jacen's adoration for Allana is borderline-obsessive and gives the next three books a lot of possibilities to work with. Jacen's remark about training Tahiri Veila and Luke's spat with Jacen also give the rest of LOTF the recipe for a potent six books.

All in all, the best LOTF read by far. The minor quips I have are the continuity errors, many of which are fairly severe and show that somebody among the LOTF team is not communicating with everyone else (yes, Traviss, I'm talking to you). But that doesn't bring my enjoyment down that much, especially since it's not Denning's fault in my eyes, at least not until we see how Tempest transitions to Exile. My confidence in Denning hasn't been completely restored yet, but if Inferno is this good . . . I will plug through the rest of LOTF just to reach Book Nine.

8/10

 

Average score: 119.7/15 = 7.98

 

8.5 / 10

To be honest, Tempest really doesn't reinvent the wheel; you get pretty much what you expect out of a post-RotJ novel nowadays, e.g. Han & Leia flying around in the Falcon and Prequel-style Jedi action. Sounds bad? At least Luke doesn't blow up stuff with his X-Wing.

The plot is far from being epic IMHO and the bunch of new minor characters are highly forgettable with the possible exception of the two detectives on Coruscant.

So, why 8.5 points?

I've read the book in a single session. The writing is fluid, the plot itself is well structured, and every chapter contributes essential elements to the story.

Denning still can't write any space action but his lightsaber (and lightwhip ) duels are the cream of the crop.

The characterisations are also well done. Luke is adamant! Denning made him Grandmaster and writes him as a Grandmaster. Mara acts as his equal counterpart and not like a crutch. Jaina is likeable again and Zekk isn't just her shadow. As for Han and Leia, well, another poster already said that they are Denning's bread and butter.
So, every character is great? Nah, not really. I liked Ben best in Betrayal. He was cocky, resourceful and acted like a smart kid. I don't want to say that he's completely annoying in Tempest, just that he's different. Which is, I'm sure, done on purpose. As Lumiya points out early in the book, Jacen has him pretty much under control.
Talking about Jacen, he's wonderfully ambiguous. One time, he acts as a loving and caring father, sometimes Luke thinks his nephew is only misguided and perfectly redeemable, then he (Jacen) orders his crew to fire upon his parents and Force chokes a Hapan officer without reason. He's unpredictable. I like that.
He's also conflicted about the revelation at the end of Bloodlines and that leads to some funny dialogues with Lumiya because there is some outright animosity between them (well, mostly from Jacen's side).
Lumiya is actually doing something this time, not just giving cryptic answers.

EDIT: And a side note to people who disliked the Dark Nest trilogy: No Squibs, no Force gods, no bugs.

Just Star Wars at its best!

 

Average score: 128.2/16 = 8.01

 

9/10

Great work. One of the best EU books out there (that aren't done by Stover, because he still blows Denning away)

There wasn't much bad to say about this book.

 

Average score: 137.2/17 = 8.07

 

I'm very happy with this book. I think Troy did a good job with Luke and Mara. It was good to see her coming to her senses. I think it was very true to Luke's character to think about redeeming Jacen and also very true to Mara's to think that they'll have to kill him. Jaina and Zek actualy worked for me in this book. I think Han was written as a little less intelligent than i think he is. I'm also not sure how i feel about Ben. Since he hasn't been around that long it's hard to get a beed on his character. I'm annoyed that there weren't any teser and saba didn't have larger parts. I also liked the hints of a larger sith empire.

9.5