Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: SURVIVOR'S QUEST (spoilers)

Well, Kyle Katarn was blocking blaster bolts all over in Outcast, and I'd hardly define his fighting style as finesse.

 

Counting 24 reviews: 193.05/24 = 8.04

 

7.5/10

It was a nice read - but some parts in the middle got a bit dull, and Mara's nostagliac thoughts about the Empire really turned me off.

The starting sequence on the Errant Venture was a great way to start the book =)

Reecee

 

I think it's a requirement for all Zahn books. Start each beginning with a scene on a KDY bridge tower (though I wish Zahn had used the Chimaera in SQ)

 

7.5

Not Zahn's best, but still head and shoulders above most of the other non-Stackpole/Allston/Stover/Denning SW authors out there. Pacing dragged a little in the first half, the revalations were interesting, but like most of you, I'm hungering for the first half of this tale, I almost felt cheated that we didn't learn squat about any of the OFP Jedi beyond Lorana's family history and lightsaber.

I hope and pray that Zahn will make no Yuuzhan Vong references anywhere in his work. His first three remain the gold standard of EU for me, and even if that happens, it won't change that for me.

 

Counting 26 reviews: 208.05/26 = 8

 

I will give "Survivor's Quest" an 8.8 out of 10.

I thought that the first part of the book was a little slow, but that once the "heroes" entered Outbound Flight the story became VERY good, and the end of the book was awesome. Strangely enough, for me, the final act of the book (the assault of the Dreadnaught) felt a lot like how I envisioned the Clone Wars would be like, a long time ago...

My favorite parts of the book were Mara's introspections about the nature of the Empire and the Emperor, and Luke's introspections about he and Mara's relationship. Honestly, my favorite part of the book was the last 5 pages.

After reading about 3/4 of the book I was dissapointed that Mara and Luke never got a chance to face off against the Droideka in the beginning of the book. Thank you T. Zahn for giving me a chance to read this at the end of the book when the stakes were so much higher. This part of the book ROCKED!

The flaws that I had with were minor enough for me to easily get past. I found it difficult at times to visualize some of the action sequences (such as Mara's "flip" over the table in the beginning, and her series of jumps to investigate the cable that had almost hit Luke), and some of the technical descriptions of the environments (starboard bulkheads, and all that.) Again, minor stuff.


I anxiously await the Outbound Flight novel that is to come. Until then, the mystery about it's destruction remains, and that is fine with me.

Overall, I thought this was a GREAT book.

 

Counting 27 reviews: 216.85/27 = 8.03

 

I give it 8/10.

I know the all the mysteries surrounding the Outbound Flight Project will be revealed later, but I wanna find out about it now, damnit. I admit, I have no patience. Anyway, Zahn scores another great book again, but it not as good as his other SW novels. The mystery surrounding some of the events on Chaf were well done and I enjoyed a lot of the action scenes that Zahn had in the book. Now, I just can't wait until the prequel book.

 

I give the book an 8. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The beginning was a little slow. It took me a while to realize that the book was being layed out like a mystery. Once I realized this, then I began to enjoy the book more because I was looking for clues.

I enjoyed watching Luke and Mara working together as Jedi. I also enjoyed having a change from space battles to one-on-one battles between people. The droideka at the end was a very creative antagonist and the Vaagari were great enemies. Drask was a great character. I miss Thrawn's characterization as a genius tactician but Drask was close enough to that for me. So what if the possible references to the Vaagari being possible allies to the Vong are true? I think this adds to the EU's continuity.

I don't mind the unanswered questions because it will make me look forward to the sequel. I will probably have to reread this book right before the sequel is released. Thanks for the great read, Zahn.

 

Counting 29 reviews: 232.85/29 = 8.03

 

Firstly, the "unanswered questions" about Outbound Flight didn't really bother me at all in Survivor's Quest - gives us something to look forward to! The way I see it, Zahn is, in essence, giving us the "originals" and creating a "prequel" for next year.

Anyway, the first half of the book was slow, and fairly uninteresting. I mean, sure the potential was there - but I don't think it was used to the extent that it could have been. The story got a bit monotonous being centered around the one location, whereas with Zahn's previous works this was never a problem. I guess this was a problem arising from the story outline he was given.

Luke and Mara were great, as always, written with Zahn's knack for getting characters right. It was interesting to see a little more into the Empire of the Hand and pre-NJO Chiss culture - my opinion on what has happened between SQ and the NJO is that the Chiss and Empire of the Hand became allies of sorts. The up-and-coming diplomatic negotiations mentioned at the end undoubtedly give the Chiss the small contact with the NR that we see through Alpha Red in the New Jedi Order.

Decent action - the scenes with the droideka were nice, and a cool reference to prequel times. I still question the credibility of having Mara know that the Separatists started the Clone Wars on Geonosis and Luke knowing about the Naboo incident - another story, perhaps? ?

I think that it's very likely that the Vagaari are being set up as post-NJO villains. That could prove to be interesting. I also think it's very possible that a clone of Thrawn is running things in the Unknown Regions. Ah well, it's a notion well worth looking into, at any rate.

Oh, and nice foreshadowing at the end! Overall, Mr. Zahn - definitely not your best, but you've shown that you can still weave a good tale in the GFFA!

8.5 out of 10

 

9.5

I hadn't enjoyed a Star Wars book so much in a good while and it was nice to see some characters be 'back in character', after me giving up reading the NJO due to bad characterizations.

 

A return by Zahn was greatly appreciated. The battle with the droidekas was amazing. The actually survival of the colonists came as a quite a shock just as did their hostility towards the force-sensitive within the outbound flight population. The Empire of the Hand is a master creation and leaves much promise for any future works by Zahn in this area. Also, the book didnt touch to much on the actual events that led to the destruction of the outbound flight project but gave us enough to image the possible events (i.e., Thrawn vs Vaagari, then Jedi intervene, Jedi vs Vaagari then Thrawn intervenes and destroys both).

A great comeback, i give this a 7.6 out of 10

 

Just finished reading SQ today and I really enjoyed it, although different than his previous SW novles I enjoyed the mystery aspect of this, who was sabotaging the mission and why?

It was nice seeing Luke and Mara on their own adventure, and Zahn characterizes them well, esp how much of a couple they are. It was nice seeing Luke and Mara use their brains to try and figure out what was going on with the sabatoge stuff. Their fight with the drodeka near the end was sweet. I enjoyed all the Prequel Movie references, The Clone Wars, Drodekas, Trade Federation, Geonosis, Naboo and the Jedi Starfighter in the hanger like the one Obi Wan used in AOTC.

The Vagarri were cool villans, those wolvkills were pretty nasty, I hope they show up in Denning's post-NJO books.

My only problems were the slow start and the unanswered questions about what happened to the OF, although Booster and Karrde in the opening chapter was quite funny, but once they arrived at the Ountbound Flight wreckage and found the survivors, then things really kicked into high gear.

I was a bit miffed we didn't learn as much about the Outbound Flight as we had hoped, but were going to get the full story in Zahn's Outbound Flight Prequel Era book next year, I look foward to seeing what happend, why the suvivors hate the Jedi so much, what Thrawn did and why the Vagarri are so pissed at the OF/Jedi and the Chiss.

Overall, a nice return to the Star Wars EU from Zahn.

My score: 9.5 out of 10

 

9/10

Great book overall. Unresolved plot points were annoying, though they'll likely be explained in the upcoming Outbound Flight novel, so I cut Zahn a little slack.

 

I liked the book. I would give it a 8.5 out of 10. I think Zahn does a great job with character development. I actually cared about stormtroopers.

I really enjoyed the interaction between Mara and Luke. I agree it started out a bit slow, but it had a good finish.

 

Counting 35 reviews: 285.45/35 = 8.16

 

Finished it today.
I give it a 10. I'm a huge Zahn fan, and I think he's the best SW author out there. Loved the pacing, lvoed the fact there were no Vong. I felt like I was reading his original trilogy over again...

Elfie

 

Counting 36 reviews: 295.45/36 = 8.21

 

Eh. Took me forever to read, which is not a good sign. I actually enjoyed Mara in this one, which is really saying something. I also enjoyed the appearance of Droidekas, and it was cool to read about an alien stormtrooper -- though I am still somewhat mystified about the significance of the Empire of the Hand. On the whole, though, the book seemed more Star Trek than Star Wars to me.

6.5 out of 10

 

I give Survivor's Quest 9.25 out of 10. I found myself ensnared in the intrigue, and Zahn had me convinced that the saboteur was either Chak Fel or Dean Jinzler, both of which BTW are excellent additions to the EU cast. I never would have guessed who the real saboteurs were or even their actual species. The scenes with the droidekas, both the almost cartoonish scene in the bar and the battle on the ship, were really awesome. The biggest problem for me was not necessarily the unanswered questions because I figured Zahn might not want to spoil his next work, but that I have to wait a year and a half til the OFP novel and that Zahn did not make this part one of an unofficial duology. Other than that, an excellent book.

 

I give it a 9 cause of Jade and Luke I couldn't read the book if was justthem to talking Zahn Mara Jade is the best character in star wars

 

Counting 39 reviews: 320.2/39 = 8.21

 

I give SQ 9.5 out of 10. Enjoyed the book very much. I actually like more slow-paced books - gives you time to think over the text and analyze it a bit. Which is why I'm very fond of Tim Zahn's works, because his stories are the right mix of slow-paced scenes and fast-paced action. The only thing that didn't sit well with me was perhaps Mara's memories and retrospections. Overall, SQ is a great book. Can't wait for "prequel"