Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: THE OLD REPUBLIC: DECEIVED (Spoilers)

I really liked this one - a fine example how even a game trailer tie-in can be a satisfying read if the story is good. There's a perfect balance between using established continuity, tien-ins to Threat of Piece webcomic and the book's own story. One of the complaint would be the fact that of all characters from "Dramatic Personae" only about half are actual character within the book, with the their own POV and character arc - there rest there are basically plot elements. Nevertheless, the arcs of all main characters are interesting and intriguing by themselves, with both satisfying endings and "sequel hooks" that will probably be explored in-game. A good read.

8.5/10

 

Average score: 126.4/16 = 7.90

 

Kemp continues to really impress me. Crosscurrent is among my top five SW books of all time, and I really enjoyed Deceived.

Great characters and a great, tight story.

Well done.

Hope he sticks around for a while.

This one has sequel potential too. And I wanted to keep reading about these characters (unlike TFU II, which I recently finished).

9.5/10

 

Average score: 135.9/17 = 7.99

 

For the brief length this novel has, it's an interesting, tight story that actually delves more into its characters than I'd expect. The length is probably the novel's biggest weakness, as by the time I finished it hadn't really felt like I'd seen much more than an extended short story or one of Zahn's novellas. Because of that, the plot is uncomplicated and straightforward, with little time for depth. On the other hand, I think that helps this particular story as it keeps things focused and doesn't get bogged down in stagnant, pointless asides, something that's practically sunk the nine book behemoth that is FOTJ. The story seems to work most of all as its intended purpose, an expansion of that first cinematic trailer to that game, giving us a wider explanation of the players involved, and setting up storylines for the game.

Like many of the Star Wars books I've read in the past couple of years, where there are shortcomings in the plot, they are greatly compensated by the depth and development of the characters. Here, there are three mains greatly involved, each getting a POV that helps flesh out their motivations and perceptions of the shifting situation around them, dealing with the aftermath of the Empire's sudden attack on Coruscant and the fallout from it. Aryn gets a fairly typical story, losing someone she loved in the attack and vowing revenge against his killer. Through her interactions with Zeerid and Malgus, though, we get a better understanding of what she's going through and get to witness her development every step of the way. Her back and forth with her (conveniently) old friend Zeerid humanize her, giving her something more than just the two dimensional vengeance quest and at the same time gives a little bit of character to the slain Master and his droid that we saw in the trailer. By the end of the book, I was rooting for her survival someway, somehow and I think a big part of that was due to her scenes with Zeerid.

Thinking back on him, Zeerid has a lot in common with other characters we've seen. A former trooper like Larin in Fatal Alliance, and a spacer with tendencies that reminded me of so many we've seen in Star Wars material, but most recently like Jet in Fatal Alliance and Khedryn in Kemp's own Crosscurrent. Like them, he's a decent man trying to make it in a cutthroat, chaotic galaxy at war. In many ways, he's a grounding for Aryn, the greatest reason she doesn't fall to the dark side and die at Malgus' hands, at least once completely inadvertently. Doing what he must for his family is nothing new and takes him to a dark place in the end, but he's probably even more likeable that Aryn for most of the book. Plus, I don't know if it was mentioned early, but noting Zeerid's last name was Korr toward the end of the book caught me by surprise. I forgot whether or not it was established early, but I thought that was a cool nugget to throw in there. The only downside I thought at the time was that seeing as this was Kemp, Zeerid is likely meant to be Jaden's ancestor and since Zeerid was apparently not Force Sensitive, that meant he would likely have to have a kid with one, and seeing as Aryn's fate was still unknown at that point, it seemed like a major hint that she would survive.

What I liked most about the interplay between Zeerid and Aryn was that in 250 pages, is that Kemp keeps it professional at first, but slowly lets them grow closer in the few days they're working together, so that when it finally culminates in Zeerid's dramatic, goodbye kiss, it doesn't feel sudden or unnatural, but like something that makes sense. While one might argue he might have dropped a few too many "I'm glad you're here with me" statements, it never felt overdone to me.

Which brings me to our final lead, the man with speaking lines in two trailers (and a roar in the third), the face of this Sith Empire Darth Malgus. Malgus at time felt like a combination of Sith we've seen before, with the obvious physical similarities to Vader and Malak, the conflicting emotions of at

 

Average score: 144.3/18 = 8.02

 

Enter the mind of a psychopath.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, which is a mouthful, is a story expanding on the first of the Old Republic trailers. If you think that's perhaps a little much, that they should have waited for the actual game to come out before trying to do a novel set in the period, you might have a point.

Bluntly, Deceived is a very short novel and a substantial portion of it is expanding on the events of the Deceived trailer. The rest of the novel primarily deals with the characters of Darth Malgus, Zeerid Korr, and Aryn Leneer.

The character of Darth Malgus was described, when he first appeared, as an exceptional Sith. He wasn't depicted as nice, per say, but it was a chief part of his characterization that he showed mercy as well as possessed a "slave" he treated as a wife. I was looking forward to seeing what sort of relationship Eleena and Darth Malgus had, expecting a pair of psychos in love.

Sadly, the character of Eleena is a complete cipher. Despite the fact we see her help in the assault of the Jedi Temple, which requires an iron will right there, she is given almost no characterization whatsoever. Where did she develop her fighting skill? Why did she fall in love with Darth Malgus, of all people? What does she in him? Is she envisioning herself as an Empress?

I had a huge number of questions regarding the character of Eleena and none of them were answered. The sum total of her characterization amounted to, "I really like Darth Malgus! He's the greatest!" If you really want me to damn the relationship, I'm going to say it reminds me of the AOTC relationship between Padme and Anakin. The characters have fallen in love because the plot demands them too.

Still, don't think this ruined my enjoyment completely. The story isn't about what I wanted to read, but that doesn't mean that the character portrayed in the book is a poor one. Contrary to the depiction of Darth Malgus as a "lighter shade of black" he's probably the biggest psychopath in the Star Wars universe.

The other characters in the story are a mixed bag as well. They have their upsides, being both engaging and easy to read about. However, the characters also have some qualities that I didn't enjoy as well. For one, they are the biggest collection of whiners and hypocrites I've found in the Star Wars universe.

Take Aryn Leneer. She is a Jedi Knight out to avenge her master. This, by itself, is problematic. A Jedi seeks not revenge and all that. Which, unfortunately, is the problem of her story arc. It depends on us realizing that she's going against the Jedi Path by attempting to kill the man who killed her master.

The problem is the man who killed her master is an absolute monster and justice would be served by bringing him down for the right reasons. Unfortunately, like Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, the conclusion of the book is preordained. Darth Malgus will appear in the video game, The Old Republic, so there's no sense over whether she'll succeed in her quest or not.

Frankly, I think her character development in the story was unbelievable anyway. I can believe a Jedi would abandon their commitment to the Jedi code and galactic peace for personal revenge, the Star Wars sexology is filled with members of the order having inappropriate relationships.

What I find unbelievable is that she thinks that if she abandons her quest for revenge, she has to abandon her quest for justice. Darth Malgus is a threat to the entire galaxy and so are the Sith, yet she considers fighting them to be something she has to do solely because of a venedetta.

That's just silly.

Also problematic is the other major hero, Zeerid Korr, who is a smuggler because of his crippled daughter. I confess, this caused me to roll my eyes since "only a criminal because of a sick relative" thing was cliche in the 1930s. Zeerid really can't keep his disgust at his profession from his thoughts and he lets us know how much he loathes smuggling a lot.

Given Han Solo was noticeably angst free about running guns, spice, and other materials - I can't say

 

An excellent short read.
Never played the game so went into it without and preconcieved ideas.
Excellent characters with strong emotions! Not much Fluff, and it was Sith Fluff so it was passable.

9.5/10

 

Average score: 159.8/20 = 7.99

 

Oops...I didn't realize I already reviewed this novel on the 1st page. Kemp is just that damn good!!

 

Well reviewed, a-man. Or a-woman. This book would make me read more of Kemp's stuff, maybe later this year. A big plus was the upbeat ending, a lesser plus the waffling that both Zeerid and Aryn went through during their life-changing crises. There were no minuses. This made me wonder, as a side point, if the Lost 20 includes Laneer, or if the 'lost' only applies to Masters, which she was not. There may be a statue of her someplace in the pre-ROTS Temple.

Not a gamer, but enjoyed the book anyway, therefore,

8/10

 

Sadly, though I hoped that this novel would provide an exception to the murdering sociopathic Sith characterization, Malgus is just a slightly more focused murderer. There are some good descriptive passages, and a lot of potential, but in the end, it felt like a tie-in novel rather than something connected to another property but telling its own, important story. The characters too easily fell into the "Fatal Alliance" trap of fitting into the class stereotypes, the story offered no twists (especially if, like me, you were hoping for some new behavior from the Sith), and the characters were just flat.

Additionally, the first third of the novel was pretty much a prose version of the first game trailer, which did absolutely nothing for me. Unlike Stover, who I'm not a huge fan of but does have some serious ideas when it comes to approaching tie-in work, Kemp doesn't really do anything but rewrite what we've already seen.

Disappointing. 3 out of 10.

 

Average score: 180.05/23 = 7.83

 

I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

 

Average score: 187.55/24 = 7.81

 

Deceived is a novel that skates along the edge of greatness. Rather than give us another smartass-scoundrel smuggler, Kemp avoids trying for the poor man's Han Solo and instead does something different, giving us a reluctant, moralistic family-man smuggler. Fresh, good. The Jedi-out-for-revenge thing is pretty conventional, but Kemp spices it up with a certain ambiguity and a sense of justification in the Jedi Order's willingness to reward Sith treachery. Malgus could be a stock Sith, but he's given this romantic entanglement that gives us a new look at the Sith. This could all be great. But the problem is, the execution doesn't quite get there. The personalities aren't developed enough to make these characters really arresting. "Z-man" rolleyes and Aryn never quite rise to the point of being distinctive or involving characters. Aryn especially falls into the "generic Jedi" trap, and her struggle with vengeance, which has a lot of potential for nuance, doesn't end up using that potential. Rather than feeling like a Sith torn by his weakness, Malgus just feels kind of schizophrenic, a hardassed war-loving Sith one minute and then all of a sudden weak-kneed over his sex slave, without a feeling for how these two aspects created a whole. It wasn't helped either by the weak development of Eleena herself, who's just kind of there being a plot device, and her sappy sentimentality over Malgus feels ridiculous. She didn't just drop into this story now; she's been in his life for years and years now. How does she not understand how the Sith work? That doesn't really work. Yet, the book does get like a million points for the scene where Malgus kills her. That was a ballsy and perfectly Sith move; too bad everything around that decision wasn't at the same level.

The plot is what it is, I guess -- it's serviceable, but it never gets beyond the very basic "A wants X, B wants Y, they go to Z and fight C." There's no real imaginative flair at any point. It works, but it doesn't really make the case for being a story that needs to be told. If they're going to tie into the destruction of the Jedi Temple, it seems like it ought to be a bigger-picture story, rather than just using it as a random excuse for a revenge plot with a smuggler tacked on.

It's pretty typical of Kemp -- characters who are interestingly premised, but not fleshed out well enough; a bare-bones plot; and a random assassin stalking the heroes and being barely relevant. There's stuff to like about it (Zeerid up until he got stuck in Aryn's plot, dealing with the Exchange and trying to have a relationship with his family, had an interestingly workaday-fringe-everyman feel that could have worked if the Jedi-and-Sith foofaraw got stripped out), and it ultimately does an okay job, but overall it ends up feeling like it missed a lot of opportunities, and that's what sticks. 7/10

 

Average score: 194.55/25 = 7.78