Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: DESTINY'S WAY (DW spoilers)

I'd give Destiny's Way a 9.5. In my opinion, it is the second best NJO book, just behind SbS.

My top five(including DW)
1. Star by Star
2. Destiny's Way
3. Rebel Stand
4. Traitor
5. Rebel Dream

 

Since when is real life lightning green? Isn't it useally white or yellow?

Ok, when and looked up green lightning, I guess it can happen but it's generally a rare occurance, apparently blue lightning is possible to, but also rare.

 

Good choices Ultima! That's my top five, only in a different order

1 Destiny's Way
2 Star By Star
3 Rebel Dream
4 Rebel Stand
5 Traitor

 

Im going to have to give it a 7/10. Why? Becuase I thought the last big space battle was poorly written. It was written by Jaina's point of view alot. Yawn. Why cant they write about the big ships blowing the crap out of each other more? I am going to re-read the space battle, and If I understand it(no Im not stupid, I just read that part at like 1 in the morning)Ill just give my ratin better. Sorry for all the explaination/bashing!

 

I give DW a 7.5/10.

If it weren't for the itch scene and Kyp's reaction to Luke in the Jedi council meeting (if one could call it that) then I would not have kept reading it. Those (type of) scenes kept the book alive and moving for me. The last battle would have been better if Tsavong Lah's and Jaina's fight lasted a little longer. IMO DW is not the best NJO book, but it is far from the worst. It's just about average.

top 5 NJO books:

Traitor- 9
SBS- 9
Conquest- 9
Rebirth- 8
DW- 7

All the other NJO books are a 7 or below.

 

8/10


For the most part, DW was decent but...there was couple of things I hated.

1. Tsavong Lah's death.

Jaina, someone who hasn't even spent that much time fighting the Vong with her lightersaber, takes Lah out with ease. Why couldn't have Leia killed him in BP? She probably could have done it too...and Kathy Tyers would have probably made it look better....

2. Luke's sudden change of heart.

All the sudden, Luke does a complete 180 about the Dark Side because of a couple of conversations. Am I the only who found this a bit quick?

 

All the sudden, Luke does a complete 180 about the Dark Side because of a couple of conversations. Am I the only who found this a bit quick?

He doesn't do a complete 180 about the Dark Side. What he does is gain a better understanding of how the Vong relate to the Force at all, which identifies them in such a way that he doesn't have to fear to attack them for fear of the Dark Side. His understanding of the Force didn't change much at all -- his understanding of the Yuuzhan Vong did.

 

My Destiny's Way Review

Rating: 5/10

{ For comparison:
Vector Prime 8
DT I: Onslaught 3
DT II: Ruin 7
AoC I: Hero's Trial 10
AoC II: Jedi Eclipse 7
Balance Point 9
EoV I: Conquest 8
EoV II: Rebirth 5
Star by Star 9
Dark Journey 4
Rebel Dream 7
Rebel Stand 6
Traitor 10 }

The most interesting parts in this novel belonged to Vergere. Vergere's entire character represents an anomaly from the traditional Star Wars way of thinking. Vergere challenges Luke to reconsider some of his beliefs. She's very fun and easily one of the most engaging characters Star Wars has had to offer.

I also found Destiny's Way one of the most consistent novels in the NJO. As the NJO nears its end, the later novels will have to pick up on previous storylines more and more without sounding so disjoint in the series.

DW certainly isn't disjoint. Jaina once again makes use of gravitic signatures which causes the Yuuzhan Vong fleet to fire upon each other. Danni Quee's yammosk-jamming devices works beautifully as well. Jaina's cold and indifferent personality (a product of the war) continues her characterization from DJ and EL as well. WJW continues Jacen and Vergere's characterizations from TR without losing a step. You can tell MWS provided very detailed outlines for WJW simply from reading DW.

Can't say enough about Vergere's character though. She breeds new life into a series stagnating as it nears its end. Such a shame she had to die. From the reader's perspective, she definitely spices things up.

For one reason or another, the rest of the novel isn't on par. A personal fault I suppose.

It falls short of the epic standards set by Star by Star and offers little in terms of an individual character journey. The plotting lacked a certain urgency, a certain drive.

The space battles start to become redundant and impersonal. They're trying to find new and exciting ways to relay interesting space battles and frankly, I grew tired of it. EU Space Battle ver 11.0 in the finale of this book just didn't cut it for me. Nor did I find ensuing battle on Ebaq any better.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm YEARNING for an intense, personal ground battle with lightsabers. Jaina's duel with Tsavong Lah fails miserably in this respect. Jaina conveniently disposes of Tsavong Lah while stuck to the ground. This is supposedly one of the greatest warriors the Yuuzhan Vong have to throw at the NR.

They're making room for Shimrra and scratching one of the only Yuuzhan Vong that's appeared for an extended period of time in this series.

Vergere meets her end in a blaze of glory and in the process, saves both Jacen and Jaina. She defends her honorable actions here in a very Vergere-esqe manner: she's protecting her own interests (Jacen). Although Vergere's end was nice, it was too soon for a character we were just starting to know and understand. Over the course of TWO novels, she mystifies, contradicts herself, explains herself and dies. Nice.

Despite the continuity in this novel, I found two glaring inconsistencies. They did not help at all.

Jacen's reunion with his parents deserved more time than it received (especially considering Leia's faith and love for Jacen). Moreover, it seemed like Jacen met with *everyone* before his parents.

Secondly, Tenel Ka revealed some fairly strong feelings for Jacen in DJ. It's completely glanced over here as if it never occurred. The most bizarre part of it was that Jaina's POV in DJ revealed that she believed Jacen loved Tenel Ka in his own unknowing, doofus kind of way. But here, Jaina asks Jacen if he and Danni are an item. No comment about Tenel Ka whatsoever. At the Jedi reception, Tenel Ka doesn't even meet with Jacen. Before, Tenel Ka mentioned how she lost the only guy she's ever LOVED. Hrmmm, something doesn't follow here...

Overall, I found the book disappointing.

 

Counting 34 reviews.

JC Lit Average Rating of DW = 280.6/34 ~ 8.25/10

 

I find that these boards influence me more than I would like about certain books. Especially if I like/love a book and then find here that my sentiment is not shared. I start second guessing myself. I've just realised that this is a stupid thing to do. If I like a book, I like it. If I love it I love it. It's only entertainment and I have no need to justify how I feel. So this lead me to think, what are these boards for then if not for justifying how you feel about an EU book to someone else. If I don't like doing that, why am I here?HMM. I think I'm going to take a break from the boards for a while.

 

I would give this book an 8 out of 10.

The Bad:

I thought that most of this book lacked the "edge of your seat" suspense and drama that was common in the other NJO books.

I was very disappointed in how Tsavong Lah was killed. The battle was too short and anticlimatic. Besides I wanted him to fight Jacen.

The Good:

I liked Jon William's writing style.

The scenes with Shimrra and Omini were very interesting. Probably the best part of the book besides the last page was when Shimrra bitterly critcizes Tsavong Lah for the unacceptable losses among warriors.

Nom Anor was very well written in this book and his charater is now at a crossroads.

This book was clearly a turning point in the fortunes of the NR. The YV are now losing the war. They are overextened and lack the reserves for any kind of major offensive.

I liked seeing Ackbar and his scenes were very well written.

 

Where on earth are some of you getting the idea that the dark and light sides are equal? Doesn't this fly in the face of ESB:

Is the dark side stronger? No, easier, more seductive.

Nor does it seem that the dark side is merely natural. It is not, it is a dark manifestation of the Force that is able to persuade and seduce sentient beings to its will. Non-sentients don't matter and can't touch it.

Why? State of nature. A predator hunts to feed itself, sometimes its young but that's all, it doesn't run its food into extinction. Similarly prey have abilities to elude the predator but none ever get to develope this to the degree that the predators die completely. The natural system has its own chcks and balances, humans may perceive nature through a paradigm of good and evil morality, but without sentience and free will, it's a pointless exercise.

Sentients are of use to the aberration that is the dark side, nonsentients are not. As for why the light side is not an aberration, nor natural: the light side allows sentients to live freely, without being dominated by others or by fear, which are of the dark side. SW is freedom versus control, that is what the sides of the Force are. Why is the light not running the galaxy? Because the sentients are free to choose the dark, as well as the light! The dark side should not exist, it is the summation of all that is ill, but for all to be free, it has to!

Jedi Ben

 

Caine, you are totally, 100% right about the lightsaber battles! We need lots more Jedi action! Jedi are the main reason that I like Star Wars, so it is kind of annoying to see them flying about in starfighters and rigging political elections instead of getting out there and doing some kick butt with the famous lightsabers.

I'll be posting a review soon, if I can find a copy of Destiny's Way today (which I see as a very low possibility, given the fact that Star Wars books always come out so late here in Australia ).

 

No Jedi rigged an election

 

Valentino,

It probably changes color depending on what you eat. Like if Jason goes and gets a snowcone, it will come out in that color. Jason probably ate a lot of vegetables before the fight.

Also, I think this what happened to Shimra's eyes.

 

Well, at least we know that Jacen is eating right. I was worried that he?d go right for the sweets after his imprisonment.

 

Did somebody in here say my name?

 

No Jedi rigged an election

IIRC, Leia did in EL?

 

I'm truly sorry, really I am, but I have to say this.

Firstly, Jedi Outcast, which I'm completing steadily, is a kick of a game!

Back to the topic . . . I can't read Destiny's Way for a whole year until the paperback comes out which isn't $45, so I can't really argue this properly. So, I hear the great Warmaster Tsavong Lah was beaten by a character he really had nothing personal against, like Jacen, and to add salt to sore for readers, way too quickly if I understand the boards' reaction.

Doesn't that mean I was right about what the NJO has become? A "fast food series", as was once described to me. I don't know why Walter would have done such an error, and I really can't see how Del Rey would have imposed such a thing.

The question we should be asking is, "WHY on Chandrila would that have happened?" Why would Lah have been killed by a girl who has barely lit a lightsaber in the series, and not by those he should have been? Like Luke, as one leader to another leader, or even Leia and Jacen, who have personal debts to him.

This should be discussed.

 

I'm going to give it an 8. I thought the book was pretty good. The one thing that bothered me was Lah. I don't think he was very well written. He seemed to be nothing more than a bumbling, fanatical idiot in this novel. And Corran Horn should have been on the council.

 

If Stackpole wrote this book, he would have.

 

DW gets a seven from me. It was nice to finally have something positive in the NJO. Up until now everything has just been depressing. It was a good and quick read but I was sorely disappointed with the death of TL. There should have been three or four pages dedicated to the fight between Jaina and TL alone...and Jacen should have been there too. Alas...

Plus, it was nice to have the character of Ackbar back. He's such a steady force for the NR and hopefully he will be used some more in future storylines.

I also liked the line by Vergere about how she was a REAL Jedi Knight, not an imposter that TL had been fighting up until now. Makes you realize how much father the Jedi Order has to go before the Unifying Force. My opinion, by that time the Jedi will be back to the same level of Force awareness that the old Jedi Order had...if not exceeding it.

Good book but SBS is by far the best one of the series thus far with Traitor a close second.

 

Counting 37 reviews.

JC Lit Average Rating of DW = 303.6/37 ~ 8.21/10

 

Not much to complain about, all in all a good hardcover.

Character development seemed a little lacking. Shimmra's sense of humor is "cute"

Cal Omas was a bit too happy for his role? Sort of reminds me of Clinton.

Yuuzhan Vong Hunting Mouse droids were cool. I enjoyed the submarine fight.

Um...oh yeah.

My eyes got sort of wet when Luke gave Tahiri the pep talk at the Knighting ceremony. It's sad that Anakin died, but it's sadder for Tahiri that Anakin did die. That was probably the best part of the book (however insignificant). "never forget that you are loved." I dunno...it was very poignant.

It's a good thing WJW noticed details. Por Ejemple, Jacen buying new clothes and adjusting back to NR life. Vergere stuffing her face with candy.

Uber Vergere? I'll wait for the other authors to use and abuse before I make any judgements.

Tenel Ka and Jacen? Nothing? Grrr...but then I thought about it, and it's been months since DJ...

He is dead to her.

I think it will take her a while to picture him alive and back into her life. A bit longer than Jaina...in some ways Tenel Ka is more pragmatic than Jaina is...she's the queen of hapes, she has no time for lovin'

Oh, blah. I cna't complain too much, can I?

8.5/10

 

9/10

Not the best. Exactly what I expected from it. Good stuff.