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

Very good, though I enjoyed Star By Star more. Best parts to me were the discussions between Luke & Vergere - that was excellent and would have loved to see more.

I liked the way he wrote Luke. I am sorry to see Vergere go. Great character. Jacen is one of my favorite characters too so it was good to see him.

brings up many issues that are intriguing. Why did Vergere say it was either her or Jaina to survive - because both are "playing" the Trickster - like Nom Anor - and Omini? Omini is very interesting - do we call these "pet" peeves? What about the whole issue of passion/ serenity/ action/ emotion and the Jedi? Has it been resolved? Can it ever be? What about the conflicts of family and duty and compassion and knowledge? WJW did this well when Mara is looking at holos of Ben, missing him so much, then finds a Vong spy infiltrator - thus proving to her that Ben really is much safer where he is.

Tsavong Lah's death scene was a bit disappointing. I didn't mind that Jaina did it, but it seemed a bit anti-climactic. TL was a great character too and have loved him since Balance Point. Great villain.

Perhaps Jacen will take on another biggie and Luke too - maybe Luke will get Nom Anor?? he did poison his wife after all.
the force lightning and stuff. the point is that anger in and of itself is not necessarily used on a dark path, if you understand what you are using it for.

So when Luke first came in to confront Vergere, he was angry, but he used that anger to better understand - he put it to use. This is what Jacen came to learn himself in Traitor, not Luke just telling him. So he uses finger lightning - this is not necessarily using the dark side. And even if it is, recognizing that the dark is an aspect of himself and maintaining balance is key, IMHO.

Palpatine in ROTJ was somewaht calm when he was flicking his fingers on our Lukie. He was not in a Vader-like rage. Even if he was angry, he was not out of control. Why is Force lightning necessarily a darkside weapon? What is the difference between that and a lightsaber? Jacen was following what Luke had said about aggression in the meeting. If someone is coming after you and it's self defense, what is wrong with using whatever you can to defeat them?

One thing seemed to be missing was more mention and allusion to Anakin, esp between Jacen and Jaina. When they see each other again for the first time, wouldn't they say something about their lost brother, their only other sibling? Ditto for Jacen-Tahiri scene. Remembering the closeness of the meld of the Myrkr team with the bittersweet memories, pain, etc?

Great to see Winter again! Nice use of humor and characterization. Overall a very good book.

 

Plus what about the big deal of Jacen lying to his fellow Jedi? Though he didn't lie to Luke's face or anything. But he did hide Vergere from them and stuff. So is Vergere's influence a good thing or bad thing on Jacen, esp when he's back in the "normal" world. However I don't think Vergere is a baddie.

It was interesting how she said to Jacen "I'm giving the Jedi 3 months to deal with it," meaning Alpha Red. Does that imply she thinks Jacen somewhat outside of the Jedi? If so, why does she say she is loyal to the Old Republic? She felt she was a Jedi only along the lines of the OR?

 

Plus what about the big deal of Jacen lying to his fellow Jedi? Though he didn't lie to Luke's face or anything. But he did hide Vergere from them and stuff.

You mean like him INTENTIONALLY not telling at least Luke about being able to telepathically communicate/control the World Brain at all times?

 

I was looking forward to the follow up to the magnificent "Traitor" book for about three reasons:

#1 - I wanted to see how Vergere and Luke interacted, and the fallout from their meeting.

#2 - I wanted to see how Jacen interacted with his family and friends. (espcecially Jaina)

#3 - I'm always looking forward to the next NJO book!

So, I finally got it on Friday evening and had finished it by Saturday morning. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this author's writing style. While it was entertainig in most parts, a couple of sequences didn't quite work for me. (I can't be real specific, since it's a general feeling, rather than having problems with a certain one) I don't like the way Jaina is being handled as a character since Dark Journey. and she was a fave of mine up till that point. Jacen kind of reminds me of Obi-Wan from the prequals for some reason right now. Luke and Mara are boring. Han and Leia are boring. I guess this book suffers from the same things that a lot of the hardcovers do - too many characters and storylines being covered at once. Characters, scenes, action - all "forced" into a book, simply because it's a hardcover... but, despite all of these issues, it was for the most part a fun and entertaining read. (the boring parts weren't long enough to slow the pace down too much, IMO) Things are looking up a bit for the heroes, but I have mixed feelings about it. My fear is that, the Vong will only be defeated after another "big" character has to be sacrificed for the sake of "reality" or whatever reasons they gave us for killing Chewie.

8.5/10

 

I, too, found Tsavong Lah's death a little anti-climatic considering his prominence in the NJO thus far, but his death had to occur because of one thing; future NJO books will now probably show Shimmra as THE ultimate bad guy.

Lah had to die to shift the focus to Shimmra, and to show that the Vong aren't invincible.

 

Counting 55 reviews.

JC Lit Average Rating of DW = 456.1/55 ~ 8.29/10

 

6 out of 10

The characterizations and battle scenes were ok, but it just seemed way too anti-climatic. If this is the course of the final year of the NJO then I'm going to be dissapointed.

 

ok. mea culpa. (that's Latin, not Jar-Jarspeak). The passage clearly states Jacen used "the murderous form of lighting was a dark side weapon" and he had succumbed to despair and anger, what he feared would hurt Jaina. Still he seemed not completely out of control and maybe understood his actions/emotions ?
What to make of this? I think Vergere's influence will still be felt in following NJO stories. What of Omini? is he related to Vergere?

>>You mean like him INTENTIONALLY not telling at least Luke about being
able to telepathically communicate/ control the World Brain at all times?<<

this doesn't bother me. It's an ability that only Jacen has. though Luke
might understand it, he might not. It's like Luke reuniting with his
friends after training with Yoda. How much does he say about his
newfound "powers"? Anyways I trust Jacen - and so does Luke regarding
the world brain & everything else. Luke did train him well.

Jaina is supposed to be the Trickster, but Jacen is now. Jaina is Yun Yummka or whatever - the War God. Jacen is Yun Harla the Trickster. He is playing tricks on the YV through the damutek.

 

More comments:

I was disappointed in Dark Journey.
In DW, I like her okay, but didn't get as much emotional depth as I
might have liked. Part of the reason for Jaina's reaction to anakin's death was guilt. Guilt that she hadn't seen how injured anakin was, or insisted that he
withdraw from the team, or tried to convince him to let her take over as
leader no matter how much he would hate her. or in believing he was
invincible, so great a jedi that he was immortal, and yet still believing in him. I related to Jaina more easily in SBS, she seemed more accessible somehow.

were Mara & Luke right to not want Vergere near Ben? if so, why? why did
she start hissing at baby Ben's holo? Will Ben survive and that Jacen will be his teacher? all in the family.

 

Overvall I thought DW was good, but a few things bothered me and kept it from being great. Aside from things that have already been mentioned by other people (Lah's death, character cameos, etc) I also had problems with:

Alpha Red - Why haven't the Vong just created their own version of this and been done conquering the galaxy a long time ago? (of course that would have made for a very short series of books)

Force Meld - This seems a little too much like the Yammosk, but I guess it's a nice parallel to show the war turning the other way.

Luke questioning Vergere - He could have asked her about so many cool things...

There was something (don't remember exactly)about building droids that build ships. Where are they getting all the supplies and planets to build this stuff?

Nom Anor - I can't believe this guy is still alive. For a species that is supposedly so violent and vengeful, they left him alive after he let Jacen and Vergere escape?

I give it a 6/10. To compare, I'd give Traitor a 7, RD and RS an 8 and the old wraith squadron books 9.5.

 

One of my biggest gripes about DW was that it seemed too disjointed to me. It didnt seem to flow well plot wise, and WJW seemed to be all over the place to me. This made the last fifty pages or so even more confusing and contrived, IMO.

 

Just regarding the Force-meld - of course, there's nothing new about that. Anakin came up with the idea in VP. It's been floating around relatively unused until SbS, then come to the fore in EL and now really hit maximum in DW... It's been there throughout the NJO, really!

 

Why is there no Vong Alpha Red?

Rule 1 of would-be conquerers: Don't kill your slave labour force.

Rule 2: Don't kill everyone in one go, sacrifice them to your gods over a long period of time.

Rule 1 + 2 = SW fans hating the Vong far more than if the Vong unleashed their Alpha Red!

Jedi Ben

 

I finished reading it over a week ago but have since reread most of it. While it was a decent book, I was disappointed. I was expecting a lot more after Traitor. In DW I liked Vergere although I don't like her gone, I hated Luke just because he wasn't the same Luke as in other books, he just acted different, and the plot line was just so-so. Really, this should have been another pb because if just wasn't of hardcover caliber. I like the council and Kyp a lot, and the Han/Leia parts but Luke stunk and it just wasn't enough for a hardcover.

I give it a 6.5

Others books got:
Traitor 10
SBS 10
EoV 1&2 9
DJ 9
VP 7.5

 

Am I the only person who sees it as unfair that some rate it comparing to Traitor? Surely you should rate on the books own merits.

 

I give DW a 8. Not perfect, but i liked it.

 

I give it a 5.

I hated half, liked half. Overall, I disliked it.

First, WJW writes some of the most engaging space battles I've ever read. I loved the first battle and the last battle.

That accounted for the five. (I place a high priority on space battles. )

The reason it lost so much was because there weren't enough of these battles. The middle was boring, with all the politics and Mara's pointless submarine battle, and the equally pointless and stupid Knighting ceremony (Yes, I'm one of the people who think the one in YJK should count enough).

Character consistency was atrocious (sp?). Did this guy even read DJ? Or Enemy Lines? or Traitor? For crying out loud Del Rey, if you want to make books with good continuity, then make sure the authors get to read what came before!

Jaina's character was butchered. I didn't even see Jacen talk to Tenel Ka, and Vergere was terrible compared to the work done by Matthew W. Stover.

And for the most annoying thing in the book that irked me to no end:

Jaina thought of Jag a grand total of TWICE. Both times, she recalled "the phantom taste of his lips". Both times! What kind of editors do they have over there anyway!

 

I give it an 8. I liked seeing the Solo-Skywalker family come back together. Vegere and Luke's disscusions were very interesting, and I liked seeing the new Jedi Council, and all the young Jedi being promoted to Knights.

 

The reviews on this one have defintiely been more intriguing and widespread than I thought they'd be. It'll be interesting to see the final analysis once more people have read it.



RF : Of course people are going to compare DW to Traitor. Its the best book in the NJO and is now the benchmark by which all future novels will be judged.

 

[sarcasm] Right. And Traitor being the most ambiguous and un-SW-like of any SW book to date makes it this way. [/sarcasm]

Traitor is not, nor should it be, the benchmark for any book, let alone SW. It exists as it is. It is a benchmark for nothing. It?s not the best book regarding Jacen?s characterization (BP still holds that title). It?s far from being the best SW book, considering that even JMA (the person MWS said ?I *LIKE* JMA -- he gave me the most complimentary single review I've ever gotten?) gives this book a 6 or a 7 out of 10 as a SW book.

It?s not the best philosophy book. Go out and get a philosophy book, if you what philosophy. It?s not the benchmark for integrating philosophy into a story. No one seems to entirely agree on what all the philosophies actually were.

It?s not the benchmark for the most thought provoking SW book. Go over to the NJOCC and you?ll find a bunch of people who term most of the stuff in the book as ?teen philosophy?, or something like that. This implies that the book was simply rehashing stuff that these people thought about in their teens, and they found it pretty boring for that reason. I can relate to an extent. I had gone through most of the philosophies in Traitor before reading it.

If Traitor is the benchmark for anything regarding SW, its benchmark is in the area of ambiguity. Traitor is the most ambiguous SW thing ever created.

 

Definitely, and that's okay if you dont like it. This is obviously the type of book that one either loves or hates. Of course from my post you can see where I stand on it. In fact I feel much the same way about DW that you do about Traitor. Besides the fact that its more SW like, I really didnt like this book all that much.

 

You compare character driven to epic. THat isnt fair. Review them on their own merits. All a benchmark does is bias your opinion.

 

I meant the comparison earlier top be strictly in jest. Sorry if that wasnt clear.



Anyway, basing the books on individual merit, I still didn't think that DW was anything special. It was fairly generic IMO, even for SW. That's my opinion, and last time I checked I was still entitled to it.

 

I didnt say you werent allowed your opinion, you drama-monger

 

Sorry, my friend. That was more in response to previous posts than to yours. Forgive me.