Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARK NEST III: THE SWARM WAR (spoilers)

I'll give it an 8.

Like a lot of people are saying, it just didn't quite seem to deliver on its promises. I feel like the climax to TJK was more exciting than this one.

I actually did like Luke's final showdown, taken on its own; it wasn't gratuitiously dramatic, which I think a longer battle might have been. I like dramatic, don't get me wrong, but I think another TUF-esque ending might have seemed tacked on. I like that it ended rather suddenly, which I feel is more "realistic" for a fight. I do agree, though, that taken in the context of his other encounters with Lomi - and Raynar - it felt almost too sudden. Especially Raynar. He succumbed too quickly, I think, to "the truth," when before he'd been so set on twisting the truth until he accepted it. Maybe that's just supposed to say something about Luke, though; the fact that he's so earnest and so clear and powerful might have had something to do with it, but I don't know.

Leia's fight with Alema wasn't bad. I like that she had to work for it.

I second everyone who was iffy about Jaina's sections. I was glad Zekk wasn't too involved, but she did seem rather bland this time around. What I did like in those parts were Jag's appearances; I'm rooting for this guy, always have - whether his "winning" means getting back together with Jaina or not. In fact, while I was starting to like Jaina in parts of the NJO, I hope she ends up going on a big guilt trip for everything.

Jacen was the highlight for me. That first scene with his palm deflections was neat from Jaina's POV, and I like that Denning seems to be the first since Stover to really continue that particular characterization; after Traitor he seemed to revert a little to his SBS self, but if DN has done one thing right, it's Jacen. His arguments with Luke were interesting, his sympathizing with Anakin slightly worrying, I admit, but up to a point (the same point that even Jacen was distressed about), I sympathize with Anakin too. From outside it's easier to condemn him, but trying to put oneself in Anakin's place makes that more difficult. And yes, of course I agree that what he did to Padme was crossing the line. I'm not sure what Lucas intended, but I think Anakin's path can be read in a way as showing that the Jedi's divorce from personal feelings and choices isn't necessarily a good thing, and that while Anakin went too far, he might have had the right idea. I like to hope that Jacen will be the "next step" in that progression, stepping back from the abyss where Anakin wasn't able to do so.

I really wasn't sure what to think about his Ewoks-being-attacked story. I don't have TJK with me at college so I don't remember his memory-erasing scene very well - is there any possibility at all that he was telling the truth? If not and Mara finds out, she's gonna be really, really mad. Speaking of which, Mara's frequent admiration for him was a little odd. Made sense, I guess, considering that she's placing all her hopes for Ben on Jacen, but from Mara I expect not necessarily higher standards, but at least a more tempered reaction to power and skill. I did like that Jacen made her feel guilty and stupid during their surprise attack, though - not because I dislike Mara, because I really don't, but because I do think Jacen is right. The Verpine "You are very fast" message was amusing.

I, too, wish the torch would pass. I know, I know, 60 is the new 40, and Luke is of course the most powerful guy in the galaxy at this point, but that doesn't mean we have to watch him all the time. And maybe, just maybe, a compelling story can be written that doesn't involve the fate of the entire galaxy. I think Traitor was great because it was a focused character story, even if it was part of a larger epic. Hard Contact did involve a larger war effort, but the real conflict - and the real growth - was inside the characters. I think the characters can be pushed to their limits without universe-shattering circumstances, and t

 

I'd have to say 8.5 it was a solid finish to a Trilogy I enjoyed a great deal and did an excellent job of getting me anxious to see where LOTF takes things in the future.

 

we saw luke shown some human emotions, we saw him loose a fight to lomi.
Very interesting the way she used the dark-side against him.

Niw in the njoa nd bantam era- luke gets his butt kicked in the first fight with a dark-sider and liekwise in the rematch- the new rebellion, the courship of princess leia, the last command etc...


He FRICKIN ACTUALLY WON THE REMATCH THIS TIME..
nice to finally see a book where luke is a little more firmer and take charge.

sure he is being manipulated by jacen (but come on javen's his nephew- so he would have that blindspot)

Though I did feel the book was a tad rushed, especially the end.
I wish some plots would be wrapped up- as in perhaps jaina being reprimanded by luke akin to the dagobah 3 etc.

The book after the final battel lacked closure.

Though I am not going to complain- atleast for once luke did not wimp out in a lightsaber duel.

8/10 for me

 

My favourite of the series so far - not as bug-thumpingly baroque as Star by Star, or the previous two Dark Nest books; tasty writing, elegant characterization notes, and a restrained and clean-lined structure...

And a lot of depth and truffles underneath!!

9.5/10

- The Imperial Ewok

 

But why do these types of star wars books always have to end so quickly? I swear some parts are so slow and drawn out and then bamm, after a short epilogue it's over. I want to know more about Jacen and his daughter!, among other things.

The only other slight rant I have about this trilogy of books is that the characters seem (atleast to me) to have lost all of that experience they should have from the huge freakin war they went through in the NJO series. To me that's like going through ww2 and then fighting in korea and act like a fresh recruit.

Ohhh and btw did anyone else feel like the chiss were in the right? There were a few times I was pissed at jaina or luke, because I personally felt the chiss had (almost) every right to react how they were reacting.

Despite above, still a great read.

I'll give it a 7/10

*EDIT*
btw can anyone tell me a little about the upcoming LOTF? How long after the DN trilogy will it take place?

 

5/10

i enjoyed TJK, thought TUQ was okay, and really wanted this one to explode.
it just kind of simmered for me.

 

Since TUQ took place about a year after TJK and there didn't seem to be a significant time gap between TUQ and TSW, I'd put LOTF about 4 years after TSW, so 10 years post-NJO, 40 years post-ANH.

 

Well besides the shock of actually getting a book early for once, Swarm War was a good read.

Luke finally put his foot down on the Jedi and basically told them: If your loyalty is to the order, then it was time to start putting the order first and foremost, if you can?t, there?s the door.

The message didn?t get through to Tesar, Tahiri and Lowbacca ? and that?s proved by the fact that they failed to realize that the heads of the colony had to be removed to actually save the Killik?s. It got the Three of them sent on a Dagobah vacation ? Tesar and Lowbacca for going behind Luke?s back, and Tahiri for being stupid enough to defend them (sorry, but she should have known that defending them was a bad idea), and then also trying to get out trouble by putting Jacen into the hot water, to no success (it only ticked off Luke all the more).

Jacen?s living in a house of card?s held up only by the secret of his daughter ? Allana (that makes two things that I was right about for this series ? that the baby was going to be a girl and that the name was going to start with the letter ?A?) - which led to an interesting scene, of Han, Leia, Luke and Mara trying to work out what the big secret was.

While Swarm War was a good read, the ending fell a bit flat from the fact that there were too many unanswered question?s, while a lot of them will most likely be answered in Legacy, it would have been nice if it had a more rounded of a ending, like in Joiner King.

7/10 for Swarm War, and 7/10 for the whole Dark Nest series.

 

I'll be honest - this book challenges The Crystal Star and Star by Star(long story) as the worst EU I've ever read. It was pathetic on so many levels it blows my mind. The Luke/Mara/Jacen parts were terrible. I really don't like where they're going with that. Jacen is still clearly on the path to the Dark Side, and yet Luke, this supposedly all powerful Grand Master of the Jedi(Luke's idea to unite the order by taking control of it was pretty stupid in it's own right) is completely unaware, and seems to just agree with Jacen at every turn. So they(Del Rey) are painting Luke as this all powerful Jedi, and yet he's basically Jacen's pawn. How Del Rey thinks that's a good plot idea is beyond me. The Han/Leia scenes were alright, but the excessive and sudden use of "rodder" and especially "bloah" as opposed to words that are usually used in SW EU bothered me alot. The battle scenes with Jaina in the forest on Tenupe and Leia's duel with Alema Rar were the few parts of this book that I actually thought were well written. The one thing that I liked least of all about this book, and this series in particular is the character of Admiral B'wuatu. He's basically this guy who's better than Thrawn at predicting battles(how many times did Admiral B'wuatu predict something would happen in that last space battle?) that it was just ridiculous. The guy comes off more like a spoof on Admiral Thrawn than he does as the military genius that I think Del Rey was trying to make him. All in all, this book was terrible beyond my ability to convey here. I literally had to force myself through this book, and I'm definitely not looking forward to LOTF, though I probably will read out of pure curiousity.


I give this book a 2/10.

 

For some reason I kept mentally replacing the word "rodder" with "bugger," which still looks weird, but is far more topical...

 

I will give it a 1/10, echoing sentiments about it's vast shortcomings earlier expressed, but also to bring an average that the book hasn't earned, down to reality.

The Jedi really piss me off in this; there's no canonical basis for the majority of the acts Denning has written them doing. Well there is if you accept the Jedi here are vastly better force users than Anakin Skywalker/Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda. It's like he scrapped the films, had a fangasm watching the Clone Wars cartoon and tried to replicate it's hyperbolic force use in his book.

The whole idiotic "Luke seeing holos of his parents thing" was so poorly written it defies explanation; but most of you loved it. Hello, I'm reason, I've been hitherto excluded from debate. I'd like to ask how it is Luke isn't asking HOW R2 has holos of his parents? I can tell you why; the author forgot that he and the audience have seen ROTS when Luke et al haven't.

Over the history of post-ROTJ EU, there's been some interesting secondary characters developed; the Squibs from Tatooine Ghost will never make even the most generous of those lists. Rather than use any of, say, the sorely underused Talon Karrde group, we get the inexplicable return of these characters to the continuity. Not to mention they weren't that memorable in the first place

And thankfully, the 18,082,872 variants of YVH droids were limited here, though I suspect the variants which have designations like YVH-ML (YVH-Mean Looking), YVH-L (YVH Librarian) and YVH-JCM (JC Mod) etc will pop up in his next book.

Basically this author has far too much respect for his own works and far too little for the Universe as a whole; and relies on the Force as a crutch too often for the Jedi, making them utterly uninteresting. If he could craft a compelling tale around it, the way someone like Zahn or Stackpole would (who are guilty of the same crimes), it wouldn't be a big deal but this really isn't a good book. I really enjoyed Star By Star; it made me buy the NJO Sourcebook and run some campaigns in my RPG in that era. But it seems he's either a one-trick pony or just lucky.

Hugely disappointed,

E_S

 

I'm sorry to say this, but I was very disappointed. Its the first time (& I hope the last) that I have felt disappointed with a SW novel. I didn't feel that the story developed any further from UQ. In fact, it would have been better to have it as a duology rather than a trilogy. TSW was unnecessary & mostly filled out with battle scences that were pretty much all the same. I just feel that this book never got going.

My biggest problem: I hated the fact that some trumped up little girl who had elected to deform herself with bug appendage additions was able to so easily beat up the best Jedi in the universe. Luke would not be scared of her, he is stronger & more powerful than her. He's fought greater adversaries in the past. I also thought it was completely out of character for Luke to freeze during a battle when his wife's head was about to be sliced in two.

In addition, howis it that Jacen managed to survive being sliced through with a lightsaber, when no other Jedi has survived this kind of wound & in fact, has died immediately from said wound?

I also disliked that Jedi are suddenly able to move entire fighter jets that are flying through space using the force!

I disliked that the joiner situation was not sorted out, Jaina's character is still in limbo, as is Jag's. I also found Artoo's sudden conversational upgrade very weird! Another thing that has started to get on my nerves a lot recently is all the "flyboys", "princess" & "farm boy". No-one calls their loved one by a pet name EVERY time they speak with them!

I found it odd that Jag was unable to predict Jaina's flying technique & avoid her shots. He flew with her for what? 5 years or so? He was able to confirm that Jaina was part of the strike squad which attacked the Chiss in UQ just by the way she was flying, so why could he not evade Jaina's shots more effectively? Another thing: Why were both Jaina & Leia were willing to kill Jag, rather than merely disable his craft with an accurately placed shot?

Why was Luke willing to spare Raynar's life? The guy obviously had it in for Luke & actually came across as more evil than Lomi. I was disappointed with this battle. Where was the glorious display of swordsmanship that was promised in the story outline on the back cover? Leia had more pages than Luke did.

As for the descriptions of locations & scenes - I found it difficult to build a picture in my head. It was very confusing. (much like the first 10 chapters of TJK).

Wow, sorry for the rant. I guess I was just looking forward to this book so much that I built it up & didn't enjoy it because of that. My grade: I'm very sad to say, a very poor 5/10.

 

1/10.

Anakin didn't toss Padme, and half the so called scnees R2 recorded couldn't have been and weren't canon anyway. It was really lousy. If they were just going to make up stuff, why didn't they make up some good NEW stuff?

 

Finally some people agreeing with me. I had left this thread for a week as it spiraled into irrational levels of love, but now I see it has returned to reason.

 

and half the so called scnees R2 recorded couldn't have been and weren't canon anyway.

I have no idea as to what you're talking about. Please provide evidence.

 

half the so called scnees R2 recorded couldn't have been and weren't canon anyway.

I don't recall anything of that nature. Please post some evidence.

 

I don't believe it, a series which is causing even MORE of a schism than the New Jedi Order!

Fantastic.

 

I can't really say much beyond the fact that I agree 100% with Amos' review. This trilogy has taken away my normally optimistic view of the future of the EU. God do I hope the Legacy series is better. A LOT better.

My grade? A 1.5 out of 10.

 

Not good enough Mr. Denning.
The Swarm war is an unworthy ending to an otherwise promising trilogy, all the way through the book I felt like I was reading a piece of fan fiction, not that the plot was bad it just seemed incomplete and not fully thought through.
In my opinion the book was heavily marked by a publishing company that has some very specific ideas about in what direction it wants the universe to move, but fails to execute them properly. For instance, its obvious that the imperial remnant was removed because they are clearing the way for new villains (this is most likely also the reason the empire of the hand has suddenly disappeared), but at the same time they are afraid of alienating old fans to much, so they make Pellaeon supreme commander. I mean Pellaeon, a man who spent half his career fighting the rebellion and the NR, who captured wookies for slavery, who worked with Thrawn to keep the noghri enslaved, who was a key person in the mount tantiss cloning program and later worked closely together with the war criminal Daala. This man is now the supreme commander of alliance forces. He might have been a valuable ally, but if I were the senate I wouldn?t let him anywhere near the star fleet let alone leave him in charge of it. Why not use bel Iblis or Dif Scaur (who by the way would have been a better choice for a hard line Chief of state) ?
But then again the alliance does so many strange things. I for one never figured out what the jedi/defense forces were thinking. Were they actually going to try to help the killiks infiltrate a chiss command facility to teach them a lesson. For crying out loud, that would equal France helping bin Laden infiltrate NORAD, not really the kind of thing you would do if you wanted to diffuse a situation. On top of this the Killiks were the ENEMY of the alliance. They had already killed alliance personnel at Utegetu, they had attacked governments of several alliance worlds, and started a purge against the non-insect (read human) population of Thyffera. If anything it should be the a priority for the alliance to help the Chiss defeat the Chiss. So what if the killiks are wiped out, they?re not individuals, they are nothing more than insects, I don?t feel bad about poisoning the ants that continuously try to make their way into my house, why should the alliance feel bad about the Chiss wiping out the killiks, who posed a danger to the security of both nations? It doesn?t make sense.

Then there is all the plot holes. Like: Why did the killiks steal a Destroyer with gravity well projectors if they weren?t planning on using the interdictor capacity? And since the stealth X?s are supposed to be invisible to sensors, how can Luke follow their position on his tactical display (page 227-228), and at the end of Unseen queen two nest ships got through the blockade, but when the jedi hit the nest ships in the Utegetu nebula all thirteen are there, and we are never told what the purpose of the nest ships actually is.

Now the book has some highlights. Luke finally realizes that he needs to get the order back in line, and it becomes obvious that vergere?s teachings are a slippery slope towards the dark side.
Cal Omas was also convincing as the president who ha to handle both an intergalactic crises and a rogue jedi order, actually Omas was the first to see that the jedi order needed a clear leadership structure if it wasn?t to become a destabilizing factor.
Han and Leia were also good, and it was nice to have the ?master spies? Tarfang and Juun for some comic relief (they promised we could eat your brains=priceless). Also it was a good idea to use the nano-things for keeping the killik population down (although I fail to see why it is more than marginally better to kill the majority, than wiping out the race, they?re equally dead)
All in all the book was okay, but it was too rushed. I think it could have been far far better if the author had had the time to wrap up things properly.
I?ll give it 4 out of 10, because the potential is there, and in spite of everything it is an en

 

Sorry to say I was disapointed.
After thoroughly enjoying TJK, then being slightly disapointed with TUQ, TSW was quite a drop.

The characterisation of many characters was quite off - Corran acting like a spoilt kid and so on. Obviously the Force powers were far too strong - especially Jaina who shouldn't be one of the most powerful, but these powers were even too overblown for the masters.

The paltry use of Kyle Katarn makes me sick. He's been relegated to a fan boy non-character, if they're going to use him let's see him actually established as a character in the books in his own right, rather than just another generic council member. And I was so pleased when he first appeared in the NJO! Now I can't help anticipating what useless 'insightfull' one-liner he's going to come up with this time. Why couldn't he have been left as a preserve only of Lucasarts if this is all he'll be used for?

The R2 PT story was contrived, unnessecary, unbelievable and boring. Luke and co doing to Artoo what basicaly amounts to mind raping him - and for what? So Luke who's known his Father was an evil git for about 40 years and has been a Jedi 'Master' for about 30 can master his own fears and doubts. What a load of nonsense!

The book opens with Luke, the most gormless, ineffective leader in the entire history of the Jedi Order (WHY is that exactly?) once again trying to unite the Jedi Order, who can't seem to order breakfast without blowing up a planet with their combined animosity. Then we've about a third of the book before anything seems to happen.

All this said (is anybody still reading?) There were some things I liked - the saber fights and how Luke dealt with Raynar were generally well done Juun and Tarfang were great again and there were other things I liked belive me. I don't like to focus on just the bad things, but it's been a hard time lately and I really wanted this to be a great book.

After being a big fan of Denning and anticipating this book for so long I was quite disapointed, let's hope this is just a one off and that the problems are just down to the nature of the trilogy - a bridge, setting up LOTF. But who knows? we'll just have to wait and see...

4.5/10

 

That's it? No more reviews?

 

Come on, Mas -- get calculating!

 

2 out of 10

I'd post a review, but I'm afraid I don't have much experience with being raped so I can't say I'd do it justice.