Customer Reviews

Bloodlines (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 2)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This second installment in the new 9-volume Legacy of the Force series proves one thing - even a good writer can't make up for a silly plot.

Legacy started poorly in the first volume with a premise for which there is no evidence, namely that the Galactic Alliance (GA) is now more like the old Empire than the New Republic, running roughshod over member states, creating a general air of mistrust and indirectly fomenting ideas of rebellion and secession. When Corellia decides it's had enough, Luke Skywalker suddenly looses his good sense and sends a Jedi snatch-squad to kidnap Corellia's leaders so that they can then be bullied into not leaving the GA. How's that for implausible?

But it gets even worse in Bloodlines. Not only aren't we given any additional background information about why now everyone suddenly despises the GA, the characters start to act even more out of character, especially Luke and Mara, who despite the very obvious evidence that their nephew Jacen Solo is turning to the dark arts, do nothing to secure their son Ben Skywalker from training with the budding Sith Lord. They're also complicit in continuing to support the GA in bullying the Corellians. In the story's other major thread, Jacen is appointed colonel of an antiterrorist unit and spends his days rounding up and interrogating Corellians living on Coruscant. All the while he continues to explore his new powers, killing a "terrorist" while interrogating her and traveling through time to meet his grandfather, none other than Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader. Perhaps in the next volume he'll be able to visit Corellia by flying through space.

Fortunately, we've got Karen Traviss writing Boba Fett into the story and for a time at least diverting us from the improbable main plot.

Now 71-years old, the dying mercenary needs the help of the Kaminoan scientists to arrest a fatal condition. But the cloner who can help him has fled Kamino and if Boba is to ever to get help, he's going to have to first find him. Which is made all the more difficult when the new president of Corellia, Thrackan Sal-Solo, makes Boba an offer he can't refuse, a huge pile of cash to assassinate his cousin and chief political rival, Han Solo.

As regular readers of the Star Wars novels are aware, Traviss is the new authority on all things Mandalore, having written quite an extensive back history and even the rudiments of a language for her two Republic Commando novels and her Boba Fett novella. The former military journalist's command of detail in this world of clone warriors and mercenaries imparts a certain depth and confidence that makes these sections more compelling than the palsied main plot. They also have a sad charm about them, as Boba begins to reflect of his mortality and experience for the first time regret for having long ago abandoned his family.

Besides a well-drawn Fett, Traviss provides some clues as to what happened in the intervening years to some of the characters in her Republic Commando series, and she also gives us for the first time a partially developed Ben Skywalker. Until now he's been just a kid and mostly Luke Skywalker's kid. But Traviss here for the first time makes Ben into a young man with his own personality, who begins to come into his own as an apprentice in Jacen's antiterrorist unit, using his Force powers on raids to sniff out people and munitions. This is one character I'm now interested in seeing how Troy Denning will handle in the forthcoming volume, Tempest.

I don't expect, however, no matter how well he writes Ben, that Denning will be able to rescue us from a poorly developed premise. I think we're now too far in to see any hope of saving what has revealed itself as a thinly disguised and poorly conceived retelling of the film saga, a story about a boy of enormous talent, trained as a Jedi and lured to the dark side in the belief that only the power he can find there will prevent his loved ones from suffering.

I'm a big fan of Ms. Traviss' work, especially her clone commando novels and short stories. While I liked this book, I thought that it was the weakest of her Star Wars works.

Part of this was the decision to put Boba Fett in the book. I like Fett well enough although I've never been a huge fan. He's very good in this book but he simply feels out of place here. Had it been a Boba Fett novel, it would have been great. As it was, it felt like it was taking pages away from the core story.

The other problem is one that I hope will be rectified soon in the series. There will be some spoilers here, so be warned.




Apparently, everyone in the galaxy has gone stupid. Jacen is well on the way to the dark side and only Fett has figured it out. Luke knows that Jacen is going dark and yet doesn't pull his own son away from him. It seems that the authors want to keep Jacen "secret" for a bit longer but it is making the characters look absolutely blind.

OK, the complaining is over and if you've stuck with the review so far you're probably trying to figure out why I gave it four stars. The fact is, the book is really, really good. The portrayal of Jacen turning into a Sith Lord is simply outstanding. The reader is watching him turn evil and it's completely believable that in his arrogance he is capable of justifying evil as being for the greater good. What is especially nice is that there is an actual progression to his descent that is believable. What's more, he's turning into a villain who is believable yet one that the reader really wants to watch get his rear handed to him. After rather uninspiring villains like the Vong and insects we're finally getting a villain worthy of Star Wars.

In addition, the characters are written correctly, they FEEL like Luke and Han and Leia. Considering how often they have felt off in the various novels that's a welcome change.

So, overall it's a good, solid read and well worth picking up. Heaven knows it's a heck of a lot better than the NJO so far. It does make me long for a full-on Fett novel and the tantalizing hints about what happened to some of our clones from her other novels have got me itching for the next two clone commando novels.

Matt

The primary focus of this book is on character development. Traviss does a nice job of continuing Jacen's progression towards the dark side. The continuity with Betrayal is very good in this regard. Everything that Jacen does is believable, given his arrogance, and I like the way the author explores Jacen's continuous rationalizations for his behavior. Ben's character development is also excellent. He is beginning to think on his own, and I have no doubt that he will become a central player in the SW saga by the end of this series.
The book spends a lot of time focusing on Boba Fett. As with Jacen and Ben, Traviss does an excellent job of exploring the motivations of Fett, revealing him to be an almost pitiable characater. Personally, though, I have never found the Fett character especially interesting. Moreover, it isn't clear right now how Fett and the Mandalorians fit into the primary storyline. Fett seems more like a pet project of Traviss'. Hopefully, Fett will become a key actor at the conclusion of this series to justify the heavy attention given to him in this book.
The biggest downside of the book is that it is relatively low on the action scale. The action scenes are largely limited to Jacen and Ben rounding up the Correllians. The endless meetings and conversations slow down the pace considerably. Another HUGE point of objection for me is the incredible weakness of Luke's character. Instead of going with his gut and pulling Ben away from Jacen, he simply shies away from confrontation, even though he knows the direction that things are headed. For the Jedi Grandmaster, he sure seems impotent when he allows Jacen and even Ben to walk all over him. Luke is the wisest and most powerful man in the galaxy, and for him to appear so weak seems unbelievable. Hopefully, Luke will show some strength later in the series (the cover for Inferno seems to suggest as much).
Overall, this book deserves 3 stars. Despite the criticisms levelled at this series, I like the general direction of LoF. The first two installments are very polished; the level of prose is excellent for mass-market science fiction. I look forward to reading Tempest, which I hear has more action.

I don't usually write reviews, but after reading some for this book I feel compelled. First off, I just want to say that some of these long winded "reviews" seem more like some college essay. I personally want to know what somebody thinks of the book, I don't want a long summary of the plot line.
Okay, second, I loved this book! Like many people I've loved Boba Fett from the start. Karen Traviss is an awesome author and I love her work. The Boba Fett e-novella was great. I only wish it was a tad bit longer. For true Star Wars fans who've read nearly every book like me will love this book. Period. Boba has come full circle. He was a shadowy, mysterious man, and he's developed. He realizes he can no longer be a loner. He's missed out on some things in life.
Some last thoughts: History repeats itself! I think its fitting that Jacen is becoming a Sith Lord. Those who read the New Jedi Order series and the Dark Nest Trilogy will remember some of his behavior that has led him down the dark path. He believes he's doing the right thing for the right reasons, just like Anakin believed. However Jacen thinks he's better off because he's not following the same path as his Grandfather... yet. Yoda said it best, 'Hard to see the Dark side is.'
Humans in the Star Wars galaxy don't age like us. Two minor characters in The Truce of Bakura were over 130 years, and they were considered old! I believe in Bloodlines, Karen Traviss indicates with Boba's thoughts that he should be in his prime, but that fact that he's dying rapidly is the handicap here.
Now, I'm off to buy Tempest!

Bloodlines is an odd book.

It's not bad, and certainly brings in the angst and confrontation that have been simmering in the previous books, but that's not really the issue. I've not seen a book quite so focused on something obviously close to the author's heart.

Boba Fett, while the subject of much cult adoration, is not someone I would choose to be the main or even secondary character in a full length novel. Boba is admired because he's a cipher. Ciphers are best left with their mysteries uncovered, or referred to in ambiguous ways, not laid bare and dissected.Without revealing anything, I don't think I'll ever be able to watch Return of the Jedi again without thinking what a softie that Mandalorian is. Canderous is rolling in his grave!

Althogh this book is a nice change from the Denning automatonry that is The Dark Nest, Allston did it better, cleaner, and more nuanced- all while keeping that good ol' feeling of the Original Trilogy in the EU. Not an easy feat. Sometimes this book does manage it, but more often it clings to the new 'edgy' feel that they strove so hard for (and most often failed to reach) in the New Jedi Order series. Edgy is great, but trying for it just means that it isn't there organically, and I could feel the sweat pouring off the pages.

I for one cannot help but feel a little guilty in revelling in the endless internal dialogue and character-driven "third-person", but it gets old fast and feels out of place in a space opera where so many technological and political things are happening.

It's like watching the one camera on Anakin's face during the battle of Geonosis. What else is going on? This also becomes redundant when the dialogue proves what's just been said inside the characters's skull, something that happened rather a lot between many characters.

I'm sorry, Traviss, but it seems like adding Boba was a move to make the book feel more like the prequel books, which I and a lot of other NJO readers do not partake in (though that is of course not always the case). Between his intense shoe-gazing and Jacen's, I feel as if I were in Revenge of the Sith remastered for the EU, which I guess this is, but I wish it weren't so forced.

All in all, I really did enjoy this book, but its problems keep me from trusting it completely.

So I just finished reading Bloodlines, the new entry in the "Legacy of the Force" or something along those lines.

Normally I tend to stay away from Star Wars books because the whole New Jedi Order thing killed the enjoyment of the Expanded Universe for me. Too long and too many changes.

This book attempts to roll back the clock on all those changes and even further roll back to the older generations of Star wars. For example, the Jedi Temple rebuild on Croscant.

The book has a few things going on. The Alliance versus Corellion is one of the big ones. The fight is about the Corellion forces arming themselves. After the New Jedi Order, it should be apparent that almost all systems and planets should be arming themselves.

I'd like to say that the author has done some parallels to terroism in our own world but if so, the author has done a bad job on them. Things like focusing on certain racial groups, discrimination, round ups based on race, etc...

Next up is characters. I'm not a fan favorite follower of any characters from the EU, but I've read numerous books. If I said that I felt that many of the characters here were not who they were even remotely in previous books, I don't think I'd be off.

Luke's son Ben isn't portrayed too bad but not really a lot of development with him going on outside of what I'd call typical 'growing pains'.

The older characters in the series, Han and Luke, are well, old men who act easily as if they were still in their prime, their age only coming up when compared with their youth in terms of their physical fitness or appearance.

Boba Fett. This is the reason I picked up the book. Good old Boba right on the cover. Boba is a whiner. Never before had I seen Boba written with a near obsession about his dead father. I don't know if the writer just saw Attack of the Clones or what but every other line is, "I miss my daddy. Damn jedi take everything from me.". Where's the vomit smiley I tell you?

The pacing wasn't too bad and some things get resolved even as other things are set up for the next book and some of the action sequences aren't too bad and I'm kinda curious to see how they're continue to evolve the EU now that it's out of the "New Jedi Order" area but as a first book to read in a long while, consider me unimpressed.

Perhaps I'm just burnt out on things I remember being fairly upbeat being made into `realistic' versions of themselves?
Did I just miss the 'good' qualities of this book or ?

I love Karen's books. She is great, but not even she could make up for this silly story. On the one hand you have all the goofy behavior of the characters. Jacen Solo--it makes me laugh. He's playing the martyr roll to the silly extreme. "Oh woe is me, I know everyone will hate me if I do these things, but it is the right thing and has to be done, so I'll do it." Even when he tortures someone to death, it doesn't quite dawn on him that he's probably not one of the good guys anymore. Its just another rehashing of the old Anakin plot. There HAS to be order in the galaxy, and of course the ONLY person who can do that is Jacen? Give me a break.

What's even more silly is that suddenly the GA are the bad guys, yet nobody ever says why. Not to mention that Luke--has allowed the Jedi to get roped back into "protecting" the government, which is exactly what lead to their downfall the first time. It is as if all those decades of experience amounted to nothing. Continuing the sillyness is their 13 year old son that they simply let run around and do whatever he wants. Jedi or not, the kid is still a kid, and although I sympathize with him to some extent, I get tired of hearing about his whining inner dialogue about being viewed as just a kid, or just luke's kid. The little family problems just got so ridiculous that they detracted from the story completely.

The saving grace of the book is the Fett storyline, which is masterfully done. It is nice seeing the world from his perspective for once. Yes its cool viewing him as this mysterious bad-guy, but that's just not enough after this many years. Karen does a fabulous job of showing his humanity, or what little he can possess given his background.

Personally, I am not sure what to make of Bloodlines, the second installment of the 'Legacy of the Force' arc. In retrospect, I'd a actually rate this a 3.5 stars if possible. I always find it interesting that various authors take over a specified segment of an overall story, each invariably either adding something new or taking away from the central characters and core theme.

The same is true for author Traviss. While I really enjoyed her bringing depth and fleshing out a young Ben Skywalker into a teenage boy, and her maturing of Jacen towards the dark side, I think she missed the mark when it came to Luke and Mara.

My biggest conflict is Traviss's treatment of Boba Fett. Fett, now ailing in health, his body turning against him, a back story is filled in which Boba must come to terms with his own mortality and lineage and his legacy upon the galaxy in which he soon looks to leave. Enter the search for his daughter and discovery of another family member. On one side of the coin, it was great to re-address some of these dangling plot points from years past, and fill in some additional blanks on Mandalorian lore. It was also was interesting to get into the mind of Boba Fett, and almost sympathize with his look back at his own life, understanding where he developed such a mindset for being the most feared bounty hunter of the galaxy. Yet, on the flip side, I struggled to identify with a Fett who now has 'feelings' and a developing morality. While the summation of his own story towards the climax of the book was touching and Traviss clearly adds a more 'human' side to Boba, it tends to shatter his stoic and legendary iconic status of a man of few words.

Jacen's continuing drift to the dark side was well paced, and I liked the inner working of GA politics, and definitely direct parallels to the old Empire. But this can be dangerous as well. It is almost a re-imaging of the original Star Wars and I felt as if we are running out of ideas if Jacen's path has so many similarities to Anakin.

Luke and Mara struggle as parents on how to raise Ben as he's on the cusp of becoming a man, and at times I felt Luke was out of character.

Jaina, Zekk, Artoo and Threepio make cameo appearances as best as I think the author really made this a book to center around Fett, Jacen and Ben. I had the feeling that they were placed in the book only to appease die hard fans, but overall didn't contribute too much.

The Han, Leia and Thracken triangle was done nicely, and I enjoyed Han's role when it comes to dealing with Fett and Jacen. Perhaps a guy, I could more easily identify with the mental struggles with Han this time around, and think the authors take was correct.

The nice setups at the beginning of each chapter were also fresh...mostly sound bites from the HNE (SW universe version of CNN) as it depicted the overall progression of tensions of Corellia and the GA, but I do agree with some other reviewers here....that there isn't much 'logical' explanation on how all these events got set into motion from the first installment of the series. Its as if we as readers missed a whole prologue on how the state of the GA got to where it was at by the start of the series.

I wasn't really impressed by Betrayal (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 1), the first chapter in the new Star Wars: Legacy of the Force saga. I thought that the idea to set Jacen Solo down the path of the Sith was a poorly conceived - not to mention overused - idea that would ruin what has been until recently one of the best characters in the Star Wars Universe. Still, I decided to give book 2 - Bloodlines - a try, hoping that the series could still be salvaged.

Bloodlines focuses alternately on Jacen Solo's continuing embrace of the dark side of the force as well as the dying Boba Fett's search for something that will prolong his life, and perhaps give it meaning. The main reason I've been reading these post-movie novels is so that I can still get some enjoyment out of the Star Wars Universe without being reminded of those godawful prequels, but the story in Bloodlines draws heavily on the events of Episodes II and III, and that's just not a good thing. Jacen's story closely mirrors Anakin Skywalker's (though thankfully without the soap opera dialogue) and Boba Fett's character has been changed so much as a result of Star Wars - Episode II, Attack of the Clones (Widescreen Edition) that he's gone from being a cool, enigmatic character to a whining daddy's boy.

Well, you do the best with what you're given, and to her credit Karen Taviss manages to keep the story moving along pretty well. I couldn't really bring myself to care for Boba Fett, but Jacen's storyline, particularly the impact it has on the people around him, is worth following. I did find the author's use of current events quite interesting. If George Lucas made thinly veiled criticisms of the Bush administration in Star Wars - Episode III, Revenge of the Sith (Widescreen Edition), then Tavis rips the veil away completely here. The draconian tactics used by Jacen on his quest to become a Sith (translation: Evil), such as extraordinary rendition, "alternative interrogation methods", and just about everything he employs against "the terrorists" on his own home world are taken "Law & Order-style" from today's headlines.

I must be a glutton for punishment, because I think I'll stick with this series long enough to give Tempest (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 3) a shot. Maybe Troy Denning can turn the series around.

Karen Traviss brings the characters I loved as a kid to life as people that I can relate and reflect on as an adult. She elevates space opera to new heights as she continues to show how she can operate on two levels and tell a romping story of space opera intrigue and at the same time ask deeper questions. She continually asks the reader to think and does not give easy answers.
Boba Fett is given new life as a dying man who is looking back on a life of tragedy and blood without flinching. Jacen Solo is a metaphysical politician with a resemblance to far too many to whom power comes too easy. Ben Skywalker manages to be the stand-out. A boy born to privilage who becomes a teenager trying to be his own man but unsure of the path he has to follow.
This is the very best that Star Wars has to offer, and if anyone has any snobbery towards what is known as "tie-in" fiction, then this is the book to slap in their faces; a highly original and powerful piece of fiction that works on multiple levels and asks the reader to question both the preconceptions they and the the characters on the page have. A rare treat in a crowded universe. A must have for Fett fans and Star Wars fans.