Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: ALLEGIANCE (Spoilers)

Average: 106.15/17 = 6.24

 

Allegiance: 8.8

Here's the rambling review:

This book is a fun read. A joyride romp disguised as a caper film. There were moments within where I heard in my mind various John Williams SW tunes but also at times I was hearing the Benny Hill theme. And I liked it! There were even moments while I was reading that I couldn't keep track of what the heck was going on but ultimately it doesn't really matter, which is exactly what Zahn was going for.

Zahn pokes fun at his own Zahn-isms (and occasionaly SW fandom as well) throughout and I, for one, really enjoyed the carefree vibe I got while reading it.

It's understood going in to this that no major deaths were gonna go down. Luke, Leia and Han are gonna survive relatively unscathed. Mara, Vader and Palpatine are gonna survive relatively unscathed. Like other standalone novels set earlier on the timeline the element of danger is removed from this book except for the author's newly-introduced characters. In this case the Hand of Judgement. A name, not necessarily meant to be taken seriously. Truly these characters are so thinly developed that I didn't even care about their welfare. Appropriate for stormtroopers I think. And even then, after a fairly cliched ending, if and when Zahn brings the HoJ back in the future I'd still check it out. (Although probably in paperback form.)

But back to the A-list characters...

Han is featured prominently enough in this novel, and again even though this nearly Rebellion era version of him was only thinly explored, what exploration of him there was was interesting to read about.

Leia as the experienced and passionate rebel and fugitive was also interesting to read.

Luke is just a pup in this one and Han has a line about that cracked me up. Ben even sounded exasperated with him. I fear the S.O.S. bunch aren't gonna be happy. Still though, this young, headstrong version of Luke hasn't been to Dagobah yet.

The Emperor does his thing. Not a big part of the book and that's ok.

Vader freaks out now and then which was kinda humorous, and I didn't mind not being reminded that he was once a man named Anakin. He's just Vader. And yet he's caught the Luke Skywalker fever.

Which basically brings us to Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand. She's, in essence, Palpatine's Jedi Knight, and by golly, she kicks @$$ all throughout. The red-gold hair, the snobbery, the sleeveless skintight bodysuit, it's all in here. Zahn even (possibly) gives her the lightsaber from one of the BtEH covers. It may even have been Mace Windu's! IMO Allegiance is Tim Zahn's Mara Jade fetish party and I'm darn glad to have been invited.

All in all, to me, Allegiance is a flavor that I didn't expect from Zahn, even though he uses the basic recipe that he uses for most of his other SW books. The texture is familar enough, it's just that the spices are different. (Which I believe is deliberate.) Mayhaps Tim has been hitting the ambrostine more than usual lately.

Forget about Splinter this should be considered the definitive ANH/ESB bridge novel, one which also fits nicely into the Zahn-verse Tim has created for himself in GL's sandbox.

 

Average score: 114.95/18 = 6.39

 

I've never been a Zhan fan, though I consider him one of the best authors the EU has. Is is not as if I expected something like OF, his best work IMHO, either... But I've been generally disapointed by this one, which doesn't mean I didn't like it.

For one, I really enjoyed the Hand of Judgment's parts, I even think they're the book offers, though I'd have apreciated some phisical description, and more characterization, specially for Quiller, Grave and Brighwater; and just a bit more for LaRone and Marcross. Moreover, I liked, and was surprised, by Mara's characterization. Now I'd really like to read about what exactly happens to her to become the woman we read in TTT. Few more thing I liked are Obi Wan's appearances, as well as Ozzel's and Disra's.

What I didn't like was the big four's role. They were well written, but I found them to be there only for comercial aclaim, rather than because the story needed them. I'd have cut their roles, and given more pages for their character's in-depth. Another point against it is Vader. He remembered me more of AOTC's Anakin than ANH's. Point three against is its total intranscendence. Not many things really changes by the end of the book, and this is why I think this book would work better as the first of a trilogy than a stand alone novel, and was it necessary to be a hardcover? It is the first time I regret having bought a hardcover...

My final score is: 7'5.

 

Allegiance was a nice departure from recent Star Wars fare. The Hand Of Judgment was an intersting creation, and I enjoyed the appearance of the ISB, an organization sadly neglected in the Literature. Mara didn't annoy me as much as usual, which adds more points. My only real problem with her charecterization is that she seemed to act more like an Inquisitor than a covert operatve. Carrying a lightsaber and spouting out command directives like candy doesn't seem to keep with the Emperor's hand mythos.

The "Big Three"'s appearance, I agree, could have easily been removed but I thought it was nice to see them still getting on their feet. I like the insight into Hand's relationship with the Alliance, but more depth would have been nice.

Overall, its one of the better Star Wars books I've read lately, but doesn't reach the mythical excellence of Zahn's Thrawnverse works.

7 out of 10

 

Average score: 129.45/20 = 6.47

 

Finally finished the book a few days ago and I enjoyed it. Not Zahn's best SW work but it was still a fun read. It was nice reading about a not-so-uber Mara, a fairly green agent still somewhat unsure in her abilities. The Hand of Judgment was ok but they were pretty unmemorable after meeting Traviss' clones, you know ? The Big Three were surprisingly marginalized and probably didnt even need to be in the book for the amount of actual screen time they got, especially near the last quarter of the book or so. That isnt necassarily a bad thing, though, as Zahn made what was pretty much an all Imperial book pretty intriuging, and something Id definitely want to read more of in the future, by him or any other author.

7.5 / 10

 

Average score: 136.95/21 = 6.52

 

Whoa. That confuses me. So you don't like him but think he's one of the best authors....and you were disappointed in Allegiance but liked it?

Carnage

 

Well, I meant that despite the fact I consider him a really good author, he is not a favourite of mine, like Denning or Stover. And I was dissapointed because I expected a lot more from him, considering what he has written so far, but I still liked it. Not as much as his others book, that is what I meant. I hope his doesn't sound too contradictory again :n

 

How does Allegiance compare to the other Zahn stand-alone novels?

 

Book reviwed: Allegiance by T. Zahn

I enjoyed this novel, happy to see the 'big three' back in their earlier years. The story of the rogue stormtroopers was serviceable, although I would not be interested in a novel wholly devoted to them. The characterizations of Luke, Han, and Leia felt right given when the story is set and their actions were well within the scope of what we know is to come. As a fan of the character of Mara Jade I was looking forward to reading some of her earlier adventures, but was a bit put off by the fact that the author seems at times to have forgotten he was writing about her *before* his original works and her first appearance. I did like the naive perspective on the Empire with which she is working, which would make sense given her sheltered training existence. Also I found the portrayal of Darth Vader and the Emperor to be consistent, with Anakin not completely possessed with the idea of his son's survival as a means to undo the loss of Padme. Even to the extent of killing the Emperor's Hand if he believed her interest in Luke was the reason for her investigations, or attempting to supplant him as Palpatine's apprentice. I found Leia's story interesting but a bit underdeveloped, almost a convenient device to bring the other character's together rather than an actual exploration of the character. I like the depth given to Han (coincidentally the scenes where Leia also shines) and the hints of the ghostly mentor relationship of Obi-Wan and Luke. Apparently one can be exasperated with a Padawan even when one with the Force. The stormtrooper characters seemed a bit thin, even the rather bland LaRone. But not enough not to want to continue reading.

I hope that Zahn is given another chance to come back to this time period. I would love a book centered around the movie characters, but without some of the extraneous pieces like the HoJ. Or a Mara Jade book where we can begin to see the innocence eroding as the EH discovers what much of the Empire is really like. Perhaps even some more interaction between the Executor and the Hand, which would be good.

Story: 7 out of 10
Characterization: 8 out of 10
Continuity with source material: 7.5 out of 10
Fun factor: 7.75 out of 10

Total Rating: 8 out of 10

 

Average score: 144.95/22 = 6.59

 

8/10. Good, but not great. Even for an in-between book in the classic era, it felt somewhat by-the-numbers; still, I enjoyed it as I read it.

I want to ding it a point or three for the poorer-quality paper that Del Rey used on this and Path of Destruction; not only is that crappy on its own terms, but it also means that these books are half the size of the rest of the Bantam/Del Rey novels, and thus stick out like sore thumbs on my bookshelf.

 

I'm freaking out. I enjoyed Bloodlines more than this. I need a shot...of something.

Readable, enjoyable, but not quite good enough romp by Zahn. I'm the first in line to mock concession of points and vowelless names, but with out them...it's just not Zahn. I'm not in the mood for a long review, so I'll just leave it at 7/10.

 

Average score: 159.95/24 = 6.66

 

Like fourdot, I'm not inclined to long reviews, so I'll give this a 7.5 and be done with it. I liked the renegade Stormie subplot, and the inclusion of Obi-Wan's voice from beyond the grave was awesome, but I couldn't understand why there was so much hype over the ISB; I believe it's already been mentioned on the boards that it's barely appeared outside of WEG. If it had been Imperial Intelligence, or COMPNOR, on the other hand, that would have been understandable.
7.5. A good novel, but nothing groundbreaking.

 

Average score: 167.45/25 = 6.70

 

Allegiance: 4

The good:
Han Solo: I really liked the characterization.
Chewie: also great.
Stormie storyline: it was boring for me but at least it was moderately well written.

The bad:
Zahn managed to prove that Mara IS a Mary Sue. I for the character. This time it was a textbook example.
Skywalker family: Luke was only there to become a Kenobi Marionette to prove that matured and idependent Mara is so much better than him. Leia was only there to be rescued - compare it to Mara who beat everyone, escaped anything, solved everything WITHOUT HELP! If you don't know what to do with certain characters do not write them into your novel!

The ugly:
Pissed of Vader chasing Mary Sue with a lightsaber. It's not funny. It's funny in Tom and Jerry but not in SW. Zahn is clever guy: he knows every SW story should start with a Star Destroyer for example. He may also know that the line "I have a bad feeling about this" should be included somewhere. BUT, Mr. Zahn there is another SW rule: you do not want to make a Sith (or Sith-wanna-be) be angry with you: see the Tuskens, Dooku's head, Luke's arm, Kenobi's cape or the falling body of the Emperor, and these are just examples.
In GFFA - not in the dreamworld of Zahn - Vader would smash Mary Sue to the wall, and if she is lucky with her last breath she would manage to explain the situation and survive somehow, then she could go and see the medics and spend a week in bacta.

 

Average score: 171.45/26 = 6.59

 

QFFT.

 

Honestly I was sad it didn't revert to classic Zahn with Thrawn causing Thrawnish trouble.
Outbound Flight was my favorate SW novel so far. Followed up with this was depressing. The only thing that saved it was Zahns writting. Still the only one to get the original characters right. The plot would have been better if it focused on a few things insted of just about everyone.

Emperor/Mara, Stormies/Empire, Big 3, or my ideal, Thrawn/empire of the hand/emperor would have all been better...

6 out of 10 cause Zahn can save even the lamest plot

 

Average score: 177.45/27 = 6.57

 

Out of Specter of the Past, Vision of the Future, Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Outbound Flight, and Survivors Quest I have to say this is probably my least favorite of Zahn's books. It's still worthwhile though.

Carnage

 

I wandered in here after seeing your posts on Resource. I heart you. I totally heart you.

Edit: typos.