Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: THE OLD REPUBLIC: REVAN (spoilers)

Good to know Revan is a man and has a happy family.

Felt Meetra Surik died too easily. She deserved better.

Not convinced with the Emperor.

Scourge is intriguing character.

The Triumvirate should have had a mention.

Why did Revan not send a warning/message through T3 regarding the Emperor's plan etc?

6/1o

 

Average score: 180.75/31 = 5.83

 

Average score: 189.15/32 = 5.91

 

Looking at that average score, I guess I'm going to break the mold a little bit here. Overall, I liked it. After years of getting little from Revan's actual perspective other than what I could project myself when playing the game, I loved getting to see a story told from his perspective. It wasn't a groundbreaking POV and may have actually still been a blank enough canvas (which is to say, Karpyshyn might have written him blandly enough) that I could still project some of the characterization I made in the game onto the character even as I read about him. Whatever the case may be, getting some of Kreia's pet theories about Revan confirmed or denied and seeing exactly what happened to him after the events of KOTOR was a treat and something I never thought I would be able to see. Glad they finally just let it happen.

This novel reminded me of Revenge of the Sith in many ways. There's that inevitability and dread that you feel throughout because you know how things will ultimately play out. We know Revan and Meetra aren't going to kill the Emperor because the game happens. We know that Revan ultimately fails in the goal to single-handedly end the Sith Empire's plan of invading the Republic and we also know it's not happening for another "300 years" as Darth Malgus likes to remind us. As a result we're treated to quite a downer ending for all three of our main POV characters, but there's also that undercurrent of hope for the future. Yeah, the heroes lost now, which we already knew would happen, but the future has a chance. And in the meantime, Bastila and the descendants she lives to see at least get to live peaceful lives. It's a dark ending but at the same time there's optimism there.

I think I just like getting back into this era and seeing all of the nods to the first game. I can be easy to please at times, so just mentioning the activities of Mission, Zaalbar, and HK-47 are nice. I like seeing Atris and getting to see the actual mission that got Canderous the mask of Mandalore. Seeing Bastila and Revan happily married is actually kind of sweet.

That said, I was a little put off by the fact that after her introduction halfway through the novel, Meetra really gets the short shrift. Maybe Karpyshyn is jealous that Avellone made the more complex and interesting storyline for the game he wrote, I don't know, but what was up with that? Kreia gets a mention, but other than a vague mention of a New Jedi Council, what about the rest of her companions? How is it a planet devoid of the Force and an Emperor described as having a "hunger" to "devour" all life in the galaxy and leave it dead not at all remind her of Nihilus? Not even a mention? Seriously?

I loved getting Meetra as a main character, but it also seemed like her abilities were downplayed quite a bit. She has no chance against Nyriss even though she fairly recently bested three Sith Lords in single combat? Other than enlisting Scourge's help, she hardly seems to be a factor in the section of the book she's actually a part of. It's frustrating.

One thing I did find interesting, even if it is so blatant, was the echo of both Bastila and Meetra being envious of the connection the other woman has with Revan. Yeah, it's a little awkward and silly, but I still liked that parallel with the twinge of jealousy and the self awareness in both cases.

I did find Scourge fairly interesting, though. Sith Lords are evil, yeah, but most do want something to dominate and rule over, so his decision to oppose the Emperor and being impatient and hotheaded enough to actually do something about it worked for me. His decision to betray the Jedi because he realized it wasn't their destiny to win the battle actually worked for me as well, both as an act of self preservation and the idea of destroying something that threatens all life. We saw a certain Sith Lord make a similar decision when it came to Abeloth and if speculation is correct, Palpatine may have been going through a similar plan to face the Vong. These guys want the freedom to rule and be cruel and a threat that could wipe out the very realm they want to dominate is something that should be opposed. The enemy of my enemy and all that, so Scourge's decision works for me and never feels like it falls into altruism.

And Rohlan was right! Glad that was confirmed.

Read on its own with no knowledge of either the old games or the new MMO, it's hard for me to think this book would stand alone very well. It's really here to answer previous questions and set up events for the future game. It's part of the larger story and by itself probably suffers. But as a sequel and lead-in to the larger MMO story, I think it works. It's fairly simple and most of the characters are little more than plot driving cliches, but still enjoyable enough as it is.

7/10

 

Average score: 196.15/33 = 5.94

 

Oh gosh, where do I begin? Words cannot express the ire I feel for this novel.

The reason why I hate it so much? I was playing KOTOR 2 at the time I got it. Ant then I got to the end and the one character I cared about was killed. i almost threw the book across the room.

Good points:

Better than no KOTOR 3 at all.

Bad points:

EXILE AND T3 DIE!!!

Revan is male, has no personality, and is married to Bastila.

Exile is light side, has no personality, ands is named Meetra Surik.

Bastila is out of character.

KOTOR 2 not mentioned much.

I'm still hoping that all this is just a bad dream and they made a real KOTOR 3 somewhere.

-1000/10

 

Letting Drew Karpyshyn base a story around preexisting material is always a two-edged sword. On the one hand, without someone else's superior material to graft his story onto, his utterly bland storytelling abilities lead to generic, boring disasters like Dynasty of Evil. With good material to work off, there's at least a core of good ideas there that he can build on to give the story some value. On the other hand, his generic, weak storytelling tends to drag the preexisting material down, and takes good things and makes them bad.

Revan finds him working with preexisting material. It makes a strong case for letting him come up with his own disasters all by himself.

It's true that the story is elevated some by the preexisting material of KOTOR, TOR, and less so KOTOR II. It's always fun seeing Canderous, some aspects of the TOR backstory Karpyshyn explores are quite interesting, and Revan's quest certainly has potential. But the problem is that much more is lost than is gained by Karpyshyn's treatment of the material. Revan, previously such a compelling, mysterious character, is in Karpyshyn's hands a bland, boring dweeb with no ambition to do anything. His quest lacks the grand stature of a mysterious figure disappearing back into the unknown on a quest to stop an evil he can barely recall. Instead, he's just a boring unemployed doofus who has some bad dreams and wanders off to figure out what the deal is. There's some claptrap about giving his son a better galaxy, and Karpyshyn tries to turn up the EPIX once Revan gets captured (in a particularly lousy sequence) by the Sith, but it's entirely bland. And everything after Revan sees his mask again is unremittingly awful, a child's idea of awesomeness.

Bastila is given the same lack of ambition and activity as Revan, turned into a boring, mopey, jealous housewife who doesn't care if Revan goes to the dark side so long as her man comes back to her. It's just stupendously tone-deaf characterization. And then the Exile is revealed to be a Revan-worshiping lady whose role is to wander off to Revan, help him escape, and then die the blandest death of all time. Everybody from the games comes off worse here, except Canderous, and even he gets a stupid scene where he kills his shrill, hostile estranged wife and then lies on the floor for a little bit. Karpyshyn also botches the connection to KOTOR II, perhaps due to his apparent inability to either read or care about other people's subtext. His readings of KOTOR II appear implausible (Atris is Bastila's age, Kreia started a separate rebellion with a bunch of Jedi after KOTOR and that's the source of KOTOR II's Sith), and his connectivity is crap. He writes HK-47 out of the story for some reason, forcing him to work out an incredibly awkward and contrived way to get HK back on the Ebon Hawk for the start of KOTOR II. His treatment of HK in general is really weird, part of the awkward, contrived writing-out of everybody from the story so that Revan can go off alone (rather than, you know, organically devise a reason he wants to head off alone that plays to Revan's mystique), having everyone treat him as a maniac homicidal death bomb who can never be used ever. Which, yeah, he's bloodthirsty, but he's also a droid who follows his programming and obeys his master. He doesn't just run around murdering people on his own initiative.

The stuff that isn't making Revan's quest to stop the Sith incredibly dull, the Scourge stuff, is a little more interesting. The interplay of Sith politics has some interest, and Scourge is actually a bit of an interesting character, trying to feel his way out in this world he doesn't understand. Karpyshyn's abilities aren't quite up to the task, but there are some reasonably interesting sequences and it's at its page-turning best in that plotline.

The biggest problem is that ultimately, Karpyshyn doesn't have many tools as an author. He's not good at writing characters; they tend to be thin and bland. He's not good at writing plots; they tend to be awkwardly justified, unorganic, and simplistic. He's not good at writing prose; it tends to be simplistic and clunky. He's sometimes good at writing action. He's not good at creativity or storytelling in general; his plots and characters are cliche-riddled and generic, and seem to consistently lack the imaginative power of someone who really grasps the storytelling art. He's pretty much a secondhand recycler of pop culture storytelling, someone who doesn't really know how to create his own stories but has seen enough stories that he knows what he's supposed to do and can kind of fake his way to a derivative product that has the illusion of creativity and ideas without the talent or skill to actually execute them on an artistic level. Perhaps he has a future in Hollywood, but like his Bane books, Revan shows that he shouldn't have one in novels, especially not in the EU.

Revan is a profoundly disappointing work that not only fails to understand the material that it's working with and present it compellingly, but fails even to tell a compelling story on its own terms. Karpyshyn is just too generic a writer to develop a genuinely satisfying book. 2/10, because there were a few solid bits here and there and two jokes that actually worked for me. It's not totally without value, just mostly.

 

Average score: 198.15/34 = 5.83

 

This sounds awesome.

I think after reading Path of Destruction and Rule of Two I knew who Karpyshyn was as a writer, and I never really felt a desire to read anything he wrote again. Despite that, I did pick up Dynasty of Evil, but never finished it.

 

I loved this book. A perfect way to bridge the KOTOR games with SWTOR. I felt it did justice to all characters involved.

10/10

 

Average score: 208.15/35 = 5.95

 

I was horrified after I red the end of that novel. Not that I'm always glad with a happy end but letting Revan at the "mercy" of the emperor for 50 years or longer like Venamis did under Plagueis is just horrible. If the emperor doesn't grant Revan the same gift of immortality as he gave to his stooge Scourge, how long will he probable nutrite himself from Revan's body and soul that long? And I'm still not sure if the sacrifice of Meetra Surik by Scourge is justified or not. But I was amused by the rumor that all the thunder and lightning over Dromund Kaas was made by the emperor himself. I hope he has a good insurance for the casualties caused by that home-made weather at (t)his planet.

But that end cries for second Revan-novel. And then I want to see the emperor dead and the sun shining over Dromund Kas after almost 1000 standard-years. Do you think that Drew Karpynshyn will have that insight too.

 

Sudooku Revan's story is continued in the SWTOR MMO game. Here are the relevant links:

The Republic side.

Then the Empire side which happens some time after.

And the of course the latest stuff before the next big update to the game.

Oh the trailer for the upcoming stuff.

 

Just started this novel, having just played through KOTOR and KOTOR2 and very much enjoying them and their stories. I just began reading Star Wars novels again in the last few months, and all of those have been by Luceno, Stover, and JJM.

With that being the case, one of the first things I noticed is that, wow, Karpyshyn's prose seriously lacks in subtlety. I think I've been spoiled.

 

Thank you, Darth Garak,

for, I'm not familiar with any games, I take resort to the clips I see in the web. Or wait for the next Karpynshin-novel about this. I like his novels very much. I just take, what I can take from. Subtlety or not - he has just the focus on the Sith- and other developement of characters. I like his panoramas and scenes. If it would be more subtle - I guess the novels may be as twice as long

 

Enjoyed learning what happened to Revan between KotOR I, II, and TOR. Wasn't a fan of the prose. I think if I had been aware of Karpyshyn's reputation and style before hand, it would have been less jarring to me. To paraphrase Shrek, Karpyshan's prose isn't exactly an Onion. Or a Parfait. There ain't layers.

I think there's good evidence that Karpyshyn has some very interesting ideas, but his abilities at prose probably don't always put those ideas in their best light. This isn't to speak poorly of Karpyshyn as a Star Wars storyteller at all - his work on Knights of the Old Republic is excellent and fully appropriate for that medium, and established some important and fascinating Star Wars lore. I enjoy his VG work much more than his prose work. Glad I know the story of Revan, but wonder how his ideas could have been expressed by someone with more experience and skill at prose storytelling.

I do plan to reading his Bane novels at some point, and I think that going into them with an understanding of his limits and strengths will be helpful in adjusting my expectations of the book going forward.

 

I was really looking forward to this novel. I enjoyed the beginning a lot. But the final 1/3 of the book did not live up to my expectations. The ending was not what I had hoped for at all with this great character.
6/10

 

Hi there, i apologize if this classifies as Sith Thread Necromancy™ but i've recently read this book, after years of hearing about it from either the internet discourse or recounting of the events in the Old Republic game itself, and right after a light Side KOTOR playthrough, so i naturally have a few things to say about it, so here is my review of it.

For starters, the writing style is not as good as other great authors like Allston, Stackpole, Stover, or Luceno, it's far more simplistic and to the point, but i don't find it lacking, i would call it direct and effective, action is perfectly understandable, gripping, and creative, exposition feels interesting and naturally delivered, dialogue feels natural and on-character, it even has some very subtle details that enhance the story, overall there was no point where i felt it was poorly written, and in many scenes, especially the ones in Nathema or when the Sith Emperor was around, Karpyshyn knew how to build the atmosphere, overall, it's not brilliant, but really good, it honesty felt like a breeze, i finished it in just 2 days, so it definetly hooked me.

Now, probably the most important and controversial aspect of the novel, the character of Revan, i feel he was handled perfectly in this, considering how difficult it must have been to get him right as he is a player character, Karpyshyn followed up from Revan's original character arc form KOTOR seamlessly.

In KOTOR, he embarks in defeating Malak for the good of the galaxy, is an alturistic person who freed the Wookiees, made peace with the Sand People, Redeemed Ajunta Pall, etc. but slowly uncovers the Star Maps, showing him signs of his old life as Revan, when the reveal hits, at first, if it's a Light Side player, he denies this, we get the whole "I'm not Revan anymore, now i am (player name)", he rejects his old life as completely separate, but that doesn't stop him from feeling curiosity of what he was like before, he asks HK-47 how his past self was, he is multiple times stated to be "different" than how he was before in many fundamental ways, but at the same time still retain some of his original characteristics.

By the time he reaches Rakata Prime, he learns more about his past dealings, meets the Ancients, who claim that they were betrayed by Revan who was doing the same promise of destroying the Star Forge he is doing how, over time, he stops going "i'm not Revan" and starts to say "i'm going to make amends for my past crimes" slowly making Revan's identity his own even if he's not the manipulative tactical genius he was as a Dark Lord, he slowly starts to remember things, important things, that build his identity, overall, KOTOR's story is about identity, and this novel follows that narrative with Revan.

In the book, Revan is slowly gaining more and more flashes of memory that forewarn him/remind him of the threat in Dromund Kaas, and he is naturally drawn to discover more of his past self and what exactly happened to him and Malak, he is still different from what he was before, he is no longer "Revan the butcher", one of the most interesting parts is when he reviews the situation of the Mass Shadow Generator, i find it interesting how post-memory wipe Revan interprets the situation as something that was a "last resort", a "sacrifice", but Kreia and HK-47 during KOTOR II interpret it as Revan purposefully making everyone fall to the Dark Side and join him or die, shows how different the perspective on his past self is from people who actually knew the old Revan, that showcases his differences with his past self, because he operates very differently, but his disillusionment with the Jedi Council shows an echo of who he once was during the Mandalorian Wars, at the same time, we are shown how different he is, again, when he deals with the Mandalorians on Rekkiad, where he tries to reunite the Mandos after his past self broke them.

It all comes down to the moment where Meetra gives him his signature mask, which Bastila hid in fear that giving it to him would turn him back to his old self, and for a moment, after that awesome scene in which he kills a Dark Council member in one attack, it looks like he really is turning back to the Dark Lord, he seemingly becomes engulfed by the legend, by the icon, by the myth that is Revan, and it is only through the hologram of Bastila and Vaner that Revan takes out his mask, symbolically implying that it was Bastila's love that anchored this new, merged Revan to his present self, returned his humanity, avoided him to turn back into Darth Revan completely, and allowed for his past to be fully embraced, the two identities merged into one, and this is presented in how he fights against the Sith Emperor, where he lets the Force flow through him in it's raw state, the arc surrounding Revan's two identities was really enjoyable and cathartic especially right after playing KOTOR.

That is one of the things i appreciated about the novel the most, actually, it solidified something i was thinking about Shadow of Revan, the 2014 expansion for SWTOR, in which we fight the "Dark" Revan who is separate from a "Light" Revan force ghost, before, i always despised that plot element, because i felt the whole "dividing Revan in Light and Dark halves" was really dumb, but lately, i've come to interpret it in a different way: those two Revans don't represent his Light and Dark sides, they are the two of Revan's personalities, the original Revan, the Dark Lord, whom we hear about in KOTOR and KOTOR II, is the "Dark Revan", and the new Revan, the Prodigal Knight, the compassionate hero whom we play as in KOTOR and who is the main hero from most of this book is the "Light Revan", i don't know how i never saw this, because the Dark version still goes on about "saving the galaxy", something that a pure Dark Side being (such as the Son of Mortis) would never say with total honesty.

So overall, not only does Revan's story in this book serve as a great culmination of his arc during KOTOR, but it actually makes some of the material from later on better.

It also has some other details about the character that i find really enjoyable, such as how they kept his sense of humour (which is completely absent in the SWTOR game, for obvious reasons) but also his views on love, a good tribute to what happens in the game, where Jolee teaches you that "love will save you, not condemn you", and how it affects the outcome of the fight against Bastila, also how he views redemption, the Light and Dark Sides, he has experienced many turns in his life, himself, Malak, Bastila, Juhani, etc. he understands that no one is beyond redemption, and the Light and Dark sides aren't as separate as many think, and a person can go from one side to the other throughout his life, he doesn't see people as good vs evil, but as shades of grey where people go from one side of the spectrum to the other.

I have seen many people raise criticisms about Revan's character in this, some say he is bland, for the most part people who have not played the games or invested much in the character, so in that sense i can concede that it is a point against the book if it struggles to stand on it's own if it was intended to do so, however, i feel like this book in particular is meant for bridging the KOTOR series with the MMO, to serve as an epilogue to one era and as prologue to the story of SWTOR, it's about those characters, this setting, all is linked with the games, so i'm not sure criticizing the book for not being able to stand on it's own in certain ways is really fair, as it could not be the intention of the writers for it to do so, that said, i am considering that aspect in regards to accessibility when considering the score of the book, as in, if one wants to know more about Revan and just picks up this book without prior knowledge, they could potentially come out of it feeling the character is boring because, that said, i have a friend who bought this book a couple years ago, without having played either of the KOTOR duology or SWTOR, and still liked it, so i'm gonna say that this book doesn't necessarily require knowledge to enjoy it, but from my experience i feel it greatly enhanced it (in other ways it hurt it, but we'll get to that).

The other criticisms i see thrown at the book's potrayal of Revan is that he's either out of character or too weak/unimpressive compared to how he's hyped up in the novel, for the former i'll say that the people who claim such a thing, for the most part, are talking about the idea of Revan that we're told about during KOTOR II, the old Revan, not the Revan we play as in KOTOR if we are Light Sided, however, they seem to completely miss the point that they are two different persons according to KOTOR's dialogue and the narrative of this book, Revan is not out of character at all in this book, as he acts exactly as he would in KOTOR, we even see Revan become more "badass" as his memory is fully restored and acquires more wisdom.

As for the latter, i feel people misread the "hype" from the book, whenever the novel mentions Revan's legendary status, it always does so from an in-universe perspective, it never outright says to the reader "yeah Revan is awesome you guys" it is to show contrast between the legend, the idea of Revan, and the man himself as he is now, the book makes a specific point of making him seem like an ordinary guy behind all the in-universe folklore surrounding him, he is a vulnerable guy, but at the same time, while the book only calls upon Revan's hype to contrast it with his grounded nature, it does a good job in making Revan impressive with actions and attitudes, not hype, we are shown all the qualities that make him beloved in-universe to begin with, we are shown his kind and heroic nature, his ability to manipulate enemies, his ability to lead, and his power, killing a Dark Councilor in one attack and hurting the Sith Emperor himself are no small feats, the book clearly shows why Revan got such a mythical status around the people in the Galaxy in the first place.

But enough about Revan's character, regarding Canderous' story, i enjoyed how they expanded his character with his relationship with Veela, i liked his dynamic with Revan, he's always great fun, and it was kind of heartwarming to see him reunite with his people, just as it was cool to see the story of how he became Mandalore, some say it's a shame the other companions weren't involved, and while i would have appreciated HK-47 in this or Mission, i feel it was for the best to keep the cast smaller to maintain the focus on what's important, if there were too many characters then the story would have felt crowded just for the sake of featuring all the KOTOR companions for fanservice.

That said, this mission to Rekkiad subplot has one of the novel's major problems, the depiction of how the Sith convinced the Mandalorians to make war with the Republic is completely different than what Canderous himself tells us in KOTOR, as well as the fact that Canderous doesn't know about the Sith's involvement in starting the war in this, which obviously contradicts what he says in KOTOR where he claims Sith diplomats of some sort came over to the Mandos and offered them a challenge in the Republic, and then retreated, something Canderous assumes is that those Sith are the same Sith he's fighting now with Malak, but in KOTOR II it is implied they were the True Sith, meaning the Sith Empire as we know it that has been in hiding since the Great Hyperspace War, however, here it is treated as something neither Revan or Canderous imagined was the reason, even Revan says something along the lines of "isn't it strange that Mandalore decided to fight us out of nowhere?" and Canderous can do little more than shrug, i think that this could be perfectly avoided had the Sith dignataries been mentioned at the very least when they found the mask and datacron, as it stands, it is a jarring continuity mistake that i can't believe they let it slide, especially considering Karpyshyn is the one that wrote both stories.

The plotline regarding Lord Scourge was really gripping, i like how Scourge is characterized here, as he is relatively young and unexperienced, he is just getting into the political landscape of Dromund Kaas so he has to work his way to the top, he's cruel, powerful, cunning, doesn't trust anybody but he's also a bit too direct in some instances and too quick to jump to conclusions, here we get a Scourge that feels the full scope of emotions, he relishes on the hate, the fear and the anguish of his opponents, far from his emotionless, cold and calculating persona from 300 years later, i appreciate the contrast, and his rivalry with Sechel (another great character), i like how he's clearly just as evil as any Sith, but recognizes that the Emperor is a theat to his own existence, so out of self-preservation he begins to conspire against him and then it escalates from there.

Another detail i found quite interesting is how Scourge fights, in the book Scourge rarely deflects blaster shots with the Lightsaber, if at all, and relies mostly on his armor and endurance for defense, i found that rather unique, as it makes him more of a tank but less nimble, as well as showing that he is arrogant.

The author did a good job of showing us how the society of the Sith Empire functions, what roles each caste plays, how Sith Politics work, slowly unveiling the conspiracy behind Darth Nyriss' assassination attempts and revealing The Sith Emperor's secrets, i was puzzled however, of how did Nyriss learn about this information about her Emperor's past, as it should be top secret, the book doesn't bother to explain how the Dark Council conspirators managed to learn about Nathema and what the Emperor did there, so as a reader i am left scratching my head trying to rationalize it, maybe, considering Nyriss says it's just a legend, it was something that was whispered amongst the original post-Hyperspace War populace of the Empire, right after the ritual happened, perhaps someone heard it from a close aide to the Emperor or a Hand, but it seems unlikely.

Regardless of that detail, i did enjoy how the mystery surrounding the Emperor was developed across the first part of the book, with both Revan and Scourge coming to the discoveries from different viewpoints roughly at the same time, with both plotlines leading to Nathema, i find it weird how Nathema here is potrayed as an empty but mostly intact planet, with the worst effects being metaphysical, but in KOTET it is presented as a barren wasteland, perhaps this is simply an area that was further from where the ritual was made? Other than that the way the feeling of being in the planet is written is certainly effective, it truly feels like a dreadful place, where not even the color escapes the Emperor's hunger, the voices feel hollow, i especially like the part where Meetra hurries to run from the planet, it paints a clear picture of how it is to be somewhere where the Force was ripped apart, and it makes the Emperor much more menacing.

Speaking of which, the Sith Emperor, Vitiate, was one of the highlights for me, everything about him in this book is eerie, menacing, uncanny, he feels truly horrific, this is probably the best potrayal of Vitiate i've seen, how his voice has a subtle echo of the countless voices he devoured, i like to think that's how he went from the higher pitched, raspy Tenebrae voice to the Doug Bradley voice lol, one of the things i find interesting is how this Vitiate seems far more hasty in invading the Republic, get rid of the Dark Council and just take control to enact his plan, the book makes it clear it was thanks to Revan being connected to his mind that the invasion was held back for another 300 years, which feels like a bittersweet yet appropiate ending.

I do wonder, however, how Revan's interferance affected Vitiate's mindset in the long term, we know that it was after this point in time where he changed his main body a couple of times, ultimately staying in Valkorion's body to oversee Zakuul and the Iokath superweapons he found, i wonder, was this shift in focus to a more hands-off approach to his plans, more busy entertaining himself with his "godly" designs, this rejection of Sith tradition, a byproduct of Revan planting seeds of thought in Vitiate's mind that didin't affect him the way Revan intended? We know Revan came out of that exchange deranged, more dominated by his original self's personality, to the point where he compared his end to Malak's, dying a villain, in the darkness, alone, but was Revan's influence the one one that made Vitiate "abandon his past" as he puts it in KOTFE, allowing him to experience new things?

The book makes a couple of claims about the Emperor's motives: power, retain power, fear of dying due to losing the power, however, when Revan is liberated in SWTOR, he doesn't mention fear of death as the primary motivation, but will to live, from Vitiate's own speech during the Jedi Knight storyline finale, he seeks to experience life as he sees fit for eternity, he wants to endlessly experiment with life and what it can offer, he's willing to become "a simple man" and enjoy "peace" when there's no more life in the universe, to me that doesn't sound like someone that wants to rule forever, perhaps Revan's influence changed the Emperor, made him view the value of life in a slightly different way, perhaps those impulses were always there, hence why Vitiate was a scholar and not a warrior when he ruled Nathema, or perhaps in reality all he wished was power and blood, hence his violent tendencies as a kid and his desire to overthrow Dramath I, and he slowly changed, or maybe he's truly insane, after all we do get some glimpses of him still trying to rule in KOTFE/KOTET as Valkorion, some, like myself, like to subscribe to the theory that the Zakuul thing was a backup plan to prepare a new ritual to consume the galaxy, but what if Vitiate's mind, much like Revan's, is divided? What if there's a part of him that wants to rule forever, to have control over everything, and another that loves life, loves chaos, and wants to end all life just for the sake of chaos and his own life? Maybe Nyriss' claims about the Emperor's madness were true, perhaps the original ritual fractured his mind beyond recognition, and he barely makes sense to himself.

I know the primary reason that plot point is there is to justify Vitiate taking 300 more years to attack instead of just after the Dark Wars when the Republic is almost collapsed, and the subsequent Peace Treaty, but it's something that camet to my mind when reading the ending, of the deeper implications for Vitiate's character, it got me thinking, so i suppose it is a good thing.

Regarding the Jedi Exile, i was afraid this book would mishandle her, particularly because of what Scourge says during the Jedi Knight storyline, that, when Revan returned, "she was her student again", i felt like this would make Meetra overly reliant or subserviant to Revan, i am glad to say that i was wrong, this book handles Meetra's character really well, she is independent, strong-willed, with a powerful sense of justice and an ability to see through other people, i particularly liked the detail of her being a master at bargaining, because i ALWAYS bargain every single price i find when i'm playing a KOTOR game this was 100% accurate to how the characters actually are lol, now, if only Revan mentioned his good friend Suvan Tam...

In all seriousness, though, she never felt like she was "Revan's student" again, Revan was very fond of her and she admired him, but in this book they are potrayed as partners, not master and student, Meetra in this feels like she knows how to blend with people better than Revan, which makes sense, that said the author gets pretty much the entirety of KOTOR II's plot wrong when he summarizes it, which i find it to be another of the big flaws of this novel, because, sure, you could use the excuse that they didin't want to spoil the game by claiming the Sith the Exile fought were "rouge Jedi" that split after Malak was defeated and that Darth Traya was their leader and thus her enemy, but in the very same sentence he is spoiling that Kreia and Darth Traya are one and the same, therefore spoiling that one of your first companions from KOTOR II is indeed the final villain (even if you guessed she had bad intentions i'm sure i wasn't alone in thinking Nihilus was going to be the main antagonist), this was a dumb mistake, but honestly it's such a minor thing in the overall scope of the book, and an important plot point doesn't depend on this contradiction to exist, so i can ignore it no problem as it being a mistake on the writer's part for not informing themselves correctly, and it's honestly just a paragraph, easily ignored when comparing it to how good the Exile's characterization was overall.

I have seen some people say that the Exile was too weak, given Darth Nyriss was beating her and Revan beat her in one hit, but i don't think it's unreasonable to say Revan was this much more powerful than the Exile, because he has now regained his memories, all of his Force mastery from two lifetimes are combined into one, his power as when he was a Sith Lord and when he faced Malak converged, any being that can stagger Vitiate is definetly leagues above the Dark Councilors, also her being comparable to Scourge at this time isn't too bad, because it's been 4 years since Scourge's earlier fights, so he could have grown in power during that time and be much more formidable, shown in how he defeated many of the Emperor's Guards (and Meetra was still more impressive than Scourge during that fight anyway).

Regarding the whole Bastila/Exile jealousy thing, on one hand it feels rather silly for Bastila to be like that but it felt like it was put in there so we could see the other side of the whole "Jedi can't love" thing, it was to show how the darker emotions that come from love can come even to those who are normally calm and collected, just to show us that the Jedi Council's stance on the matter does have merit, they don't make those rules without reason, and in spite of being on the Jolee camp on this, i recognize that the idea of the rule makes logical sense, even if it backfires more often than not.

The plot really speeds up when Scourge joins forces with her, finally disposes of Sechel, decieves Vitiate, the Royal Guard storms in, and then Revan and Scourge talk about the Force, their relationship in this book overall is really interesting, how at first it's the usual torturer/tortured routine, but over time, Scourge tries to learn new things from Revan, and Revan tries to convince him to free him in subtle ways, i like how it potrays Revan's manipulative nature and how it's not entirely gone, just toned down significantly.

The most interesting aspect is Scourge learning from him, about visions, and comparing their stances in sacrificing themselves for a greater good, while Revan sacrifices himself to delay the Emperor 300 years, Scourge decides to sacrifice others for permanent victory and his own life, however, in the end, poetically, he gets to pay a price much higher, the price of immortality, for his decision, i feel this is what made Scourge even more decided to take down the Emperor from there on, Scourge's story in this book was really well written, he feels real, all of his doubts, reactions, insecurities about his fate, they encapsulate perfectly how any Sith would react to a Jedi's selflessness, and the moment where he faces the countless possible futures he can take and gets a clear vision of what must be done, and simply... does it, is great, probably my favorite scene from the book.

The final flaw i want to point out in the book is that i feel Malak's importance to Revan's life is kind of minimized, i feel like he cares too much for the Exile but never even recalls Alek before going to face Vitiate once more, i feel like after recovering his memories he should have at least mentioned him in a positive or regretful tone once, but no, nothing, i feel Alek should be important, after all, (this) Revan dedicated his final words to him, so he definetly felt something for his former friend and pupil, i was expecting more on that regard.

I really enjoyed the epilogue, seeing old Bastila with her son and grandkids gave a sense of accomplishment and purpose to the sacrifice Revan had to pay.

Overall, i had a good time with this book, while the prose is not high art, it is highly effective, the book does have a couple of noticeable issues, but the characterization (especially for Revan), the world building of the Sith Empire, the payoff for the story set up in the KOTOR games and build up to SWTOR are so well done overall that those issues just aren't enough to put the book in a negative light for me.

It was a good read, although i feel this would only be truly appreciated to it's full capacity if one has played the KOTOR games beforehand, it certainly enhanced my experience.

I would give it a 7/10, it works really well as an epilogue to the KOTOR series.

I look forward to checking out Karpyshyn's Bane Trilogy even more now.