Books The High Republic: Temptation of the Force by Tessa Gratton

Lol well depending how far you have gotten into the book you ain't seen nothing yet, lol. Lol you might want to get yourself a barf bag for the latter parts of the book if you aren't into their romance scenes.

Seriously though

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the Avar and Elzar romance has been building ever since the first book of this series so those that are into their characters those scenes are a nice payoff (unless people really don't like reading about sexy stuff in books).

Good book as.a whole but the main story was really the Avar and Elzar romance.

 

oh so the

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Drengir ARE free? That's neat I thought they were just visions.

Naboo was just a location, it makes sense given the galactic geography, but kinda odd they didn't do anything with it.

 

Finished it.

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Easily the best section was defanging the Stormwall, hitting both Lightning Crash station and Naboo.

But there's some weaknesses becoming more and more clear in the story and it's the villains. They are, each of them, a very clever reflection of the time they are created in. Each one has their bullcrap narrative of persecution, Viess and Starris especially.

Ro? He's a bad villain because he lacks flaws. Stormwall's down? He's got an instant replacement. There's a blight? Hey, the rod he uses on the Levellers works on it too. It's all too neat, too easy, too indulged.

Plus, at this point in the story, some of them should be disposable, yeah Viess, I'm looking at you, you're surplus to requirements.

Still, while Gratton felt the need to deny the Republic a bigger win, the Jedi do get that against the Nameless. Going by the title of the book alone, it might have been thought the Jedi would defeat the Nameless via the dark side, but that doesn't happen. They find another way. That way in turn also reflects a tentative, very initial understanding of the blight that is in stark contrast to Ro's coercive view of it.

There's also a rather neat Drengir versus Nameless fight.

One picture that is very clear by the end of this book - and one that works as an answer to a certain absence across the series - this is all going back to the Sith. The control rod, the levellers, the blight, all of it. But looming over all of that, how did the Mother know of the Sith artifacts the Jedi were holding and where?

For all that I would be happy for Boolan to feed Ghirra into a woodchipper, the scene between her and Avon was electric. Avon sees everything her mother either cannot or will not.

Overall, it suffers a little from being a continuation volume but is very good

 

This was a chore to get through. This feels less of a sequel to Eye of Darkness and more a sequel to Defy the Storm, which I disliked.

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Rather than focus on romance, I wished more time had been spent on the build up to the attack on Naboo and the Lightening Crash. The battles themselves also felt lacking and low stakes in some ways. I can't say there was any storyline I really enjoyed.

 

Yeah even though I really liked the book and felt it was a good payoff for the investment in the two protagonists of the series. At the same time though

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If people aren't into romance stuff in their books and aren't invested in the Avar and Elzar characters they might want to skip this one.

As there is a lot of romance bits and the book as a whole is about the relationship between Avar and Elzar.

 

Spoiler: chapter 13

Seems like a deliberate parallel with Barriss in TotE.

 

Can't say I liked this book very much, although it is good enough at assembling various storylines before the final wave.

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Avar and Elzar's romance was the most boring part of the novel (sorry, @AvarandElzarsittininatree), IMO, they were written much better in The Eye of Darkness. Although I liked that Kriss is once again actively using her unique skills.

Burryaga was great though, finally stepping up from being a supportive character. Since Soule is writing the last novel, hope that Burry and Bell are going to have equally major roles in there.

Regarding Vernestra - The Acolyte's influence is noticeable: she is more and more sceptical towards the Council. Also does not seem a coincidence that from all of the main Jedi characters she is the first one to meet Marchion in person. Maybe she will be the one who is going to kill him as well, cementing her status of hero of the Order.

Porter and Viess' conlict may be too repetitive, but it still has its charm, although this storyline is rather standalone compare to others.

Did not expect Ro to actually being half-naked during the final battle after this concept, in that regard Vernestra had an advantage that many other Jedi lack.


Marchion is at his best there, finally escaping boredom and being closer to happiness than ever before, while turning the game in an unexpected and radical way, a true space-drow Lelouch.

 

Lol true. Some of the dialogue during their scenes did get cringey.

But

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They had sex and sounds like they are going to have more in the future.

So. Bazillion out of 10, lol.

 

Can no one ride me of this annoying General?

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The fight between him and the Blade was a massive tease and honestly the ending just annoyed me "only one of us is going to leave here alive" "both leave alive". The fight was good otherwise that ending though, killed the whole thing for me.

Also I find the blight to be LESS interesting now, since they aren't from the nameless. I just don't care about ANOTHER unrelated evil/threat Ro will exploit. There are just too many things, to many plot threads, its just unfocused and I don't care. You have 3 ministers and the storm wall and the Namless that is enough to cover the books and comics, yet we have to ANOTHER thing unrelated of course, that Ro can also control, cause of corse he can. It's just feeling unfocused.

 

I'm beginning to think they are planning on intentionally leaving some plot threads open for more books to explore once the official series is done.

 

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Isn't there supposed to be be another Porter Engle comic? I figured this whole thing was a tease for that.

I enjoyed this book, but felt like it left a whole lot of plates spinning with little resolution. That's not exactly what I think of when I think of Empire Strikes Back, which is exactly what Tessa Gratton evoked in her afterword.

 

Charles Soulle wrote that comic and is writing the final adult novel as well. I suspect they may have decided to wrap up that story in his novel.

 

That's possible, I remember there was supposed to be a second comic. Schedules being what they are though...

 

Those plot threads are already there - the Kezerat Convoy, the Living Sea of Gazian, Ajax Sigma's droid revolution, etc. Soule's been planting HR story seeds in his ongoing comic for months now.

 

Makes you wonder if there are plans in the works to connect what the books are doing now to the Acolyte.

 

Wasn't Loden Greatstorm shown in Luke's visions of Ajax's droid rebellion? If that holds true, that story is pre-Nihil.

 

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It seems the opposite to me - all of threats are ultimately connected, even Drengir.

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More like a reverse TESB - heroes had important wins, but still the villain is the most hopeful in the end.

Agree, especially since this storyline is so prominent in both released adult novels of Phase III.

With The Acolyte episode 5 it is safe to assume that

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Sith can appear at the end of Phase 3.

 

I would be shocked it they don't appear in a "post credits scene" a la MCU on the last book of phase 3.


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I haven’t caught up on the latest High Republic stories yet, but I really hope any Sith cameo is just a cameo… that they’re not the Palpatinian masterminds setting up all these Xanatos Gambits.

If the Sith had an earlier Palpatine, they would have had an earlier victory.

Let any Sith here be lurkers in the shadows, inciting some of it, trying to take advantage of as much as they can, but sometimes there need to be conflicts that aren’t driven by the existence of the Sith.

We know the nature of people on Earth and mess we make just fine without any Sith. We know an order of two evil people aren’t behind every war and recession and pandemic and terrorist and dictator and school shooting over the last thousand years over here (even if some here do assign that role to the Illuminati Reptilians or something).

But it’s so over simplistic. It denies that foundational message of Star Wars that we all have a dark side we must confront and master, and that anyone can make a difference.

Have the Sith in this era make extra bucks on their stock market investments, war machine inventions, and in the underground black markets of smugglers, by profiteering off the violence.
Have them be in the right place at the right time to foil security and let the Nihil attack commence, but without any coordination.
Have them whisper some bad advice to a key decision maker at a key moment.

Even better, have them eating popcorn, watching this all unfold on the Holonet from the comfort of their home, and feel justified their way is right because this golden age of the Republic and Jedi are imploding all on their own.

 

@Foreign32567 How do you think they are?
Finished it, was alright

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I liked the Drengie fight kinda disappointed, they treated the plants like mindless(ish) monsters, Ram was able to talk with them and persuaded them in his kids book (race to crashpoint I think?) I hope it does come back and alliance between them COULD be interesting.

And so Ro unleashed the blight on Coruscant at the end right?

 

I wouldn't be entirely shocked if the Sith emerged to help end the Nameless threat. After all, they are just as much a threat to the Sith as the Jedi.

Kind of reminds me of Krayt emerging to help fight Abeloth.

 

Well, without the control rod yes, but who would have developed that in the first place?

 

An evil scientist thousands of years ago.

 

It feels strange not having any movement toward Planet X as a solve yet. With one more adult novel and our heroes still have no idea about that place. Vernestra, in particular, I have assumed the Path route Mari San Tekka gave her leads there. Just nothing yet though?

 

The last book will be longer than a George R R Martin book.