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68 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tragically anemic finale, May 27, 2008
What strikes you most about this final volume of the Legacy of the Force is how little there is to it. Weighing in at a slight 299 pages, Invincible consists largely of two long duels between Jaina and Jacen, interspersed with a pair of subplots involving Ben. The epilogue attempts to tie things up with a couple of quick stitches, a hastily tacked-on conclusion that leaves the nine-volume saga incomplete.
One is left with the impression that the manuscript was completed in a rush. It reads like an extended outline - all plot, no character, no theme. The major event of the book, and perhaps the series, is the death of a Sith. How does it feel when one of these Dark Lords leaves the force? How does it feel to a family member? How does it feel to the Sith himself? What happens to Jacen in the force? Was he redeemed by his last minute thought for his daughter? Does he become a ghost, like his grandfather? What's the reaction on Coruscant? On Corellia? On Korriban? Among the Jedi? How does Luke feel? How about Tenel Ka? Allana? Ben? Tahiri? We can only imagine. Denning doesn't tell us.
Nor does he suggest what it all means. We never knew what Jacen wanted, beyond bringing order to the galaxy. But as the disorder was instigated and exacerbated by the Sith, he dies playing a fool's game. How is one to regard this galactic tragedy? What do the other characters learn from this? How has the Star Wars universe changed?
The political end is given about as much thought as the beginning and concludes in just a couple of pages with a New Galactic Alliance. Once Jacen is gone, all appears to be forgiven and forgotten. One of the central characters of the series, Admiral Niathal, is completely missing from the story. The reigns of state are passed to a character who shows up at the last moment and whose appointment appears to be a set-up for the next series of Galactic Tyrant vs Jedi novels.
Where there was so much that could have been developed, we get instead material that should have been left on the editor's desk, such Jaina and Leia chasing a paddy wagon across Coruscant to rescue Ben. The sequence is made possible by the thinnest of contrivances, the Jedi mind trick, and concludes with no rescue and no discernible effect on the plot.
Equally inconsequential is the introduction of a new force power, one potent enough to stop Jacen with a figurative blink of any eye. Shatterpoint (from the novel of the same name) is an ability once attributed only to Mace Windu, to be able to exploit stress points in any given substance or phenomena. Jacen uses it to crack beskar, a metal impervious to even lightsabers. Jaina learns the power from Luke in a matter of days. But it's never used. If Luke, Jaina and Jacen all have this ability, why bother with space battles and lightsabers? Just burst your opponent's heart, or crack open their spaceship, and the game is over.
I usually enjoy Denning's writing, but he's absolutely flat here. The jokes at the beginning of each chapter was a silly idea. Not only because the jokes are bad, but because they make an obvious and trite point - everyone is innocent at some point in their life - and because they served as an excuse for Denning to not have to make an honest attempt at writing a tragic ending. Invincible has no sense of gravitas, no weight, no heft, no feeling that something worth nine novels has happened. It feels light, hurried, rushed, abrupt and empty.
If you would care for a Star Wars series that rewards reading, try these:
Republic Commando
Hard Contact
Triple Zero
True Colors
Order 66
Legacy
Broken (Vol. 1)
Shards (Vol. 2)
Knights of the Old Republic
Commencement (Vol. 1)
Flashpoint (Vol. 2)
Days of Fear, Nights of Anger (Vol. 3)
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing ending to a disappointing series..., May 29, 2008
Let's face it, if you're reading these reviews, you've seen the spoilers already, so while I won't go out of my way to reveal too much, I'm not going to hold back on much either.
Up front information about me: I read novels as a form of escapism. I read novels to escape my world and enter into a new one. I enjoy entering a world where the good guys always win, no matter the odds, and the only people that die are the bad guys. The only way a good guy dies is to allow for something INCREDIBLE. If Biggs were shot down by some random TIE pilot, that's not good. Biggs getting shot down while acting as a human shield so that Luke could destroy the Death Star? That's a good death. Sorry, that's just how I am. To this date, I've read every Star Wars novel ever written.
So now that you know a little about me, you may be able to decide just how much like you I am, and then see if my opinion on the book itself means anything to you.
And with that all being said, onto the book!
This book was very short and had a very disappointing ending to me. More deaths of major characters is simply unacceptable now. You'd think that the children of Han and Leia, plus Ben Skywalker, would have been the people to become the new generation of heroes for the series while all our old movie favorites finally retire... Well, they built up the children of the Solos quite well in the Young Jedi Knights series, but for some odd reason Tenal Ka has been pretty much pushed to the side, Lowbacca may as well not exist, and the characters of both Jacen and Jaina have been destroyed with only one hope of saving them (read on for that one hope). As for how they were destroyed, you can probably guess it, but I'm not going to come out and say it. Read the other reviews which make it quite obvious what has happened to them.
Plot holes galore... The last book already left the reader with about a million more questions than they had coming into it, the only logical expectation is that they'd be answered in this book... Didn't happen. The majority of the questions you had from the last book are still just that, questions. As a bonus, this book leaves us with even more questions and ludicrus events that just leave you feeling dumb struck. This person is now the leader of the Galatic Alliance?! And he took over Pellaeon's spot?! Sigh... give me a break. I felt like the wrap up for this book was more of a "OK, time to reset the chess board, oh but let's put these new faces on these pieces."
The emotion, or lack thereof - There is very little if any emotion involved. "I killed him... I feel nothing." Heartbreaking to say the least. That line (paraphrased) being uttered after the kill sent me for a loop. You can't just kill someone who has that kind of a relation with you and then feel nothing! Pretty much everything else in the book was the same way. I never felt emotionally engaged by the author.
The novel... or the first draft? - The writing is notoriously sloppy in my opinion. I've read Denning's other books, this is probably the worst piece of literature he has ever published (in the Star Wars universe, I've not read anything from him outside of Star Wars). I feel like when he sent the book in for the final publishing he sent in one of his early drafts by mistake. No story, very little development, nothing that drew me in and made me a part of the world.
If I could, I'd give the book a zero star rating. It's horribly disappointing.
My (short) review of the series as a whole - 1/5. The series had enough good points to warrent some points, but the bad far outweighed the good. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm a fan of escapist fiction and escapist fiction doesn't build up so many great characters just to throw them away or drastically change that character's alignment from good to exceptionally evil over night. Jacen was a good guy, and just suddenly, out of nowhere a switch flipped and he was working for the Sith cause. That combined with the deaths of SEVERAL major characters throughout the series is what brings it's score down so low.
Personally, this will probably be the last Star Wars book I spend any money on. Only thing that could possibly make me come back would be if the next series started out with Mara waking from a dream, nullifying the last half of the NJO series, the horrible bug series, and this series. Bring back the Vong, but let Mara recognize from the dream something she needed to do to stop Anakin Solo from getting killed and causing the nightmare she had to become a reality. I'd love to see all the movie characters retire like a lot of you have expressed, but they've pretty much killed off all the kids I cared to replace them with.
Anyway, that's my two cents on the novel, the series, and the Star Wars universe in general as of late. I hope it helps you make a wise purchase. Personally, I'd borrow this from a friend or from a public library.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Star Wars books need a new lease of life., May 15, 2008
I've always thought that most Star Wars books which take place long after Return of the Jedi have been quite weak. This final book is no exception.
If you read the inner jacket summary, it says this is it, the final climactic showdown between Jacen and Jaina, trying to build tension. But anyone who has read the previous eight books can see this is, a complete load of horsespittle. Jacen's ship, the Anakin Solo was boarded several times, and he could have been killed several times as well. Once by Luke, once by Ben, and once by a Mando (forgot his name) who was under orders from Boba Fett not to kill Jacen. So far from being invincible, Jacen has been one of the most vulnerable villains yet.
In fact, Luke is revealed to be fully capable of kicking his butt. And considering Jacen admits he would only just be able to just beat Master Saba, there's no reason why any of the other masters, like the powerful Kyp (I've always felt he was underutilised) couldn't take him out either.
So basically this a book which is light on suspense and quite short in length.
As a stand alone book, and as a final volume, Invincible is not good and it is only worth reading so you know what happens in the end.
I was quite disappointed.
As an aside, there is also a Legacy comic series set roughly 100 years from this book. In it, the Sith have once again vanquished the Jedi. I was wondering if the comic series was "canon" and whether or not Invincible was the prelude to the fall of the New Jedi Order. After all, there doesn't seem to be a strong succession plan after Luke.
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