Customer Reviews

Order 66 (Star Wars: Republic Commando)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Several years ago first-time Star Wars author Karen Traviss was tapped to pen a spinoff novel based on the videogame Republic Commando. Although there are an increasing number of games available featuring significantly strong storylines (Knights of the Old Republic comes to mind), Republic Commando was a fairly straightforward first-person shooter: a lot of fun to play, but not necessarily a deep source for a quality book. Defying my expectations, Traviss produced a gripping and distinctive tale with her book Hard Contact. By not adhering to the storyline of the game, she gave herself room to develop a compelling set of new characters, breathing life into the concept of clone soldiers.

Reactions to the first book, despite some fan concerns about its pro-Mandalorian, anti-Jedi overtones, were quite positive, and the sequel Triple Zero appeared not long thereafter. Triple Zero took its time in developing a richly detailed ensemble cast of mercenaries, soldiers, and disillusioned Jedi, and it became clear that Traviss was laying foundations for a bigger story. It turned out there were two more books coming, a third paperback named True Colors and the hardcover series finale, succinctly titled Order 66.

My anticipation for this climactic fourth novel was extremely high and overall I was not disappointed. As expected, Traviss takes all of the disparate threads and characters she has been developing and weaves together an action-packed portrait of the chaos surrounding Order 66 itself and the rise of the fledgling Empire. One element I did not expect is how much time is spent months earlier in the first half of the book. This makes sense, though: the war was three years long and there was a significant gap of roughly a year between the end of True Colors and Order 66.

I confess a bit of surprise on my part regarding the climactic events of Order 66. I had a picture in my head of the decisions Omega and Delta squads would be forced to make regarding their Jedi allies (primarily Etain Tur-Mukan and Bardan Jusik) but the actual story was quite different. I'm not going to spoil anything specific here, but I will say events weren't nearly as conclusive as I pictured, with the exception of one particular character's death (a very moving one). It has recently turned out that Traviss will be penning a sequel series, the aptly dubbed Imperial Commando, which sheds new light on her choice here to leave questions unanswered and even some new storylines barely addressed (such as the intriguing introduction of Callista, a Jedi character some readers may be familiar with from the Bantam novel era).

The viewpoint of this novel, much like the prior three but more amplified, has a very Mandalorian slant to it. The dialogue is liberally sprinkled with Mando terms, and the mercenaries are placed in heroic roles, those of noble warriors looking after their families and loved ones while doing what they "have to do" for a living. While I disagree with the vilification of the Jedi the book veers toward, I greatly appreciate the different point of view Traviss explores. Not everyone in the Star Wars galaxy should feel the same about things, and just looking briefly at any political discussion today ably depicts how completely differently people can view a particular subject or person. I've never seen clones the same way after reading this series, and it's interesting to examine the cues the new Clone Wars cartoon has picked up in humanizing the troops.

I'm reluctant to delve any further into the plot of this one. If you've read the first three books and enjoyed them, you'll certainly want to read this one, and if you haven't and you are interested, start with Hard Contact and see what you think. I highly recommend all four of these books for the fresh viewpoints and strong characterizations they present, and I look forward to reading Imperial Commando: 501st next.

"An order was an order. And orders had to be followed, or else society fell apart."

The last book in the Republic Commando series! There was no way you could keep it from me. How would the clones that Karen Traviss has spent the last three books developing deal with this time altering order?

The clones from the last three books gear up in the final days of the war. Kal Skirata, den father, as it were, delves deeper into finding if the age acceleration can be reversed. Drama occurs between Ordo and Besany, Atin and Laseema, Darman and Etain, and Fi and Parja as they all deal with the "relationship" question. And pressure from the outside might force our courageous commandos to go into hiding far before the end of the war.

I Liked:
I tend to get a bit rambling here, so I want to streamline it for the ease of the reader and for the ease of the writer:
Writing
1.Karen Traviss pulls no punches. Right off the bat, not a page into the book, she has one of Jusik Bardan, who left the Jedi Order because of the hypocrisy of it, face another Jedi. Through his eyes, we see how desperate the Republic is to use a Jedi commander of such a young age, how, to the citizens of Coruscant (much like the citizens of America), life goes on as if there was no war, how maybe not everyone thinks the Jedi are peaches and cream, like so many Star Wars authors paint them, and how the Jedi are no better than the Separatists, if they are willing to resort to slave labor to fight their war. And this is only 4 pages into the book! Traviss continues this line into the book, showing the gray to the Jedi that most authors refuse to do, and revealing the errors, arrogance, and hypocrisy of the Jedi Order.
2.The Republic Commando books are thinking books. I love my brain candy, don't get me wrong, but sometimes, I think Star Wars authors try to hard to make brain candy and don't really sit to think through the situation. I would have loved to see Traviss write a book set in the New Republic era, when all the Empire attacks were occurring. Would she show how silly the New Republic was? How little better they were to the Empire that they were so against
Plot:
1.Why do the clone troopers have no problem turning on their Jedi commanding officers? This has been a question that has plagued me ever since I saw it on screen. Why? Was there no devotion, no growing attachment? Here we learn A) that Jedi aren't the all-loved beings that every other Star Wars novel paints them, B) many (I refuse to believe only Jusik and Etain treated their clone troopers like human beings) Jedi treated the clones like property, sub-beings, and C) the troopers are drilled to obey orders. So when the order comes through, they truly believe the Jedi are traitors to the Republic (which they were bred to serve). And because they are always told to follow orders, they do. I appreciate how KT solves this conundrum.
2.Etain realizes why the Jedi disapprove of attachment. In the previous books, Etain kept wondering why and then barrelling headlong into a relationship with Darman. Here, she learns, through relations with her son, why the Jedi don't like it. I appreciate Traviss even mentioning it (it would be very easy for her to have her characters refuse to admit there was a problem at all).
3.Trying to fit in other Star Wars Expanded Universe lore. Traviss brings up the horrid creation, Callista, from the horrid books by Barbara Hambly. I liked her thoughts, but would have enjoyed even more. I liked the foreshadowing of Order 66 with the revelation of 150 contingency orders. And learning why Jango sided with the Jedi, his mortal enemies, was very insightful indeed.
4.Once the words "Execute Order 66" appear on the page, the novel really goes into high gear. The pace picks up, the tension is high...who will come out alive and who will die?
5.Karen Traviss isn't afraid of killing off her own characters. After Michael Reaves copped out of having Darth Vader kill Jax in Coruscant Knights (sorry if I spoiled that for you), I was relieved to see KT wasn't like that. I won't say who or how many die, but she is realistic.
Characters:
1.Walon Vau. Man, this guy gets some of the best quotes, one of them being very similar to the one I used for the title of this review. I can really understand his mind, how he thinks. He may be apparently cold and emotionless, even the Jedi who feel him out think he is, but Walon Vau doesn't just do something because it feels right. He uses his mind. He calculates. And that is why I find him so fascinating!
2.Mandalorian culture. Again, Traviss imbues her novels with Mandalorian culture. I rather liked the marriage "ceremony" (though the frequency with which it occurred, I must disagree with), how is is a line said between the man and the woman together. And that is it. It fits with their culture well. Also, I like the warrior/family angle. It's nice not to have yet another pacifistic culture in the Star Wars universe. I know Star Wars is a big universe, but you have Alderaan and Camaas. You don't need Mandalorians too.
3.Favorite characters: Scorch (perhaps because he too holds himself, but isn't afraid to speak up about the injustices), Mij Gilamar (because it's too cool to have a Mando doctor, particularly one that reminds me of Dr. McCoy from Star Trek), Niner (whom I liked from HC, but can't get enough of), and Maze (because he is dedicated, he reads, and he endeavors to do his best at his job, doesn't want to desert at the drop of a hat).

I Didn't Like:
While I have a lot to admire about this book, I also have some complaints:
1.Unclear sense of morality. I love how so many characters (Kal, Besany) are considered "moral" when they still commit crimes. Espionage, treason, embezzlement, breaking and entering, impersonating Republic officials...those are crimes. Those are against the laws. Those are "wrong". Those are immoral. So, I would love for Traviss to be a bit more clear when she says Kal and Besany and whomever are so "moral". Does she mean that the characters want justice? What sort of justice? Who dictates what this justice is?
2."Let's get everyone married" mentality. Last book, it was "let's get everyone a girlfriend". Well, today's trend is marriage. Tomorrow's will probably be children. Nonetheless, while I enjoyed the marriage ceremony, I think doing it three...four...a billion times in the book (or mentioning it that many times) really deadens its impact. Make the ceremony special. Don't have everyone rushing out to get married to his/her significant other just before everyone dies. Some people will die without ever being married to his or her partner. Showing otherwise, in such a realistic book anyway, is fantastical.
3.Besany. I so don't like her, she gets her own bullet point. I am sick to death of her "so beautiful, it's a curse" characterization, so sick of hearing how quickly she helped out the Mandos, and how easily she can handle the fact her boyfriend/husband murders. She isn't that smart, clever, or anything. All she is is a girlfriend for one of the many clones. And her sudden attachment to Jilka and not wanting her to be blamed for Besany's treason? Where did that come from? When did she turn out to be a person who cared about someone who wasn't Mando?
4.Mandos are good, Jedi are bad. I do have a deeper appreciation for this, and am beginning to see the other side (and see that that view is often pushed by characters like Kal Skirata), but nonetheless, I wish that Traviss would tone down the Mando God complex. There is nothing the Mando's can't do. They are moral, they are strong, they are thoughtful, they are great warriors, they are great husbands, lovers, boyfriends, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, and second-cousins twice removed, they are honorable, they are God incarnate. On the other hand, the Jedi are arrogant, demeaning, hypocrites, and oblivious. They all are glory-seekers, they all act like they know better, and they all treat clones like sub-humans. Again, I realize that many of the most guilty sections were written by Mandos, but still, I wish the virtues of General Zey and his actions were held in higher regard. Remember, Mandos are willing to be bought to fight someone's war. I do note that the Jedi fight the war to "save" the Republic, because they are arrogant enough to think they know what's best for it.
5.Etain and Jusik don't feel any sorrow for knowing many of their friends died in Order 66. Etain is too busy trying to leave and get to Darman and her son (understandable, but still, does she not have any pain or sympathy to her fellow Jedi?), and Jusik is too busy rallying the forces to care about Order 66. Even if they both disagree with the Jedi and their tenets, I have a hard time believing they would feel no sorrow, no loss, no tremors in the force as the people they loved and cared about died. What happened to the Obi-Wan feeling from "A New Hope", of a thousand voices crying out in terror being suddenly silenced? Jusik and Etain still use the Force, but can't feel the Jedi die through the Force? SPOILER: Jusik ought to feel something when Maze kills Zey, but no, nothing is ever mentioned. Because Zey was a good(ish) Jedi, not a Mando, and thus, not worthy of remembrance. END OF SPOILER.
6.The book is engaging enough, but the first part is pretty darn slow. I didn't realize it until the "Execute Order 66" line, but I wish KT could infuse a bit more action into her books, like she did with Hard Contact. Also, the Order came late into the book, and while I know the first part sets up for the second, I wish that the book focused more on the actual execution of Order 66 and not the prep.

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
As always, the language is mad-up Star Wars (in this case, Mando) language. In some cases, it is pretty obvious what the "English" term would be.
Ordo is Besany's lover; Etain and Darman had a baby together. Laseema is oogled. Rather tame, on the whole.
The book is about commandos, so expect some gunplay, explosions, serious injuries, and character deaths.

Overall:
People have called these books many a thing, from the best thing to happen to Star Wars Expanded Universe to complete and utter heresy. But one thing remains: people talk about them endlessly. And how could you not? These books aren't like most of the Star Wars "dreck": they make you think. They force you to find your opinion and defend it. They bring to light parts of the Jedi that many don't like to see, but that are obvious, even if you only watch the movies.
So, in this final chapter of the Republic Commandos, I think I've finally gotten an idea of what the proponents of Karen Traviss' divisive books are talking about. Life is messy. The Jedi are messy. There is no easy answer. And anyone who says otherwise is lying to him or herself. For Triple Zero and True Colors, I voted three stars because of the slow story, huge cast of characters, and the Mandos are better than Jedi mentality. But in Order 66, I feel these problems are not so great. For not failing to point out the faults, for lighting the unlit, and for, above all, being entertaining, I give Order 66 a four stars.

Brought to you by:
*C.S. Light*

I've been an avid reader of this series, and have been waiting eagerly for Order 66 since finishing True Colo(u)rs. It lived up admirably to my expectations! Your favourite characters are back, and be warned: there are some heart-rending moments....now, go buy the book :)

For me, the Star Wars universe has gotten much more interesting with the addition of the now four-volume Republic Commando series. The ethical questions that my mind raised with the Attack of the Clones movie are addressed and play a large part in shaping events in the series (principally, how the Jedi could preach compassion while using cloned soldiers to fight a war). Karen Traviss's military savvy makes each novel extremely readable, and sci-fi jargon aside, the clones could be the squaddies in any army, in any era: the pawns who bleed and die thanklessly in other peoples's wars. From Hard Contact all the way through to Order 66 and hopefully beyond, we get a clone's eye view of the war, and it's not pretty.

Vor entye, Karen!

JM

I read this after enjoying the first 3 books in the series. This one is not worth the read. The overall story was weak, the Mandalorian home world plot unexciting, and the handling of Order 66 was a mess. I found it odd that Etain and Jusik, the Jedi involved with our Republic Commandos, had little response to their fellow Jedi being eliminated. Would they have had THAT much contempt for the Jedi? The title should not be called Order 66, for how little focus it has in the overall story. Also, it barely affects the Republic Commandos, who already have their plane tickets to Mandalore at that point. Yawn.

I got this book hoping it would give a little more of the back story of order 66 and how it was carried out, since you don't see all that much of it from the movies. The Jedi's extermination, how their trusted allies turned on them and eliminated them. How could you go wrong?

First off, there were so many pages of worthless drek about how what's-his-face loved his boys that I thought I was reading the NAMBLA newsletter. Yeah lady, I got it after the first twenty references to how he was doing it all to see they had a good life. That's about 90% of the story right there.

Most of the characters were cardboard cutouts, one dimensional super solders who could hack any secured network with a spoon and a piece of wire, with entire departments of the police and military in on their schemes, but nobody in this huge group ever makes a mistake or gets caught. In the end there were maybe ten or twenty pages or so that were actually dedicated to the order and the only Jedi killings described involve nameless random characters you've never seen before describe with pathetic detail such as "young girl" or "a jedi". That's it? WTF is up with that? It's the title of your bloody book for goodness sake!

This is the most disappointed I've ever been with a Star Wars book. About the only interesting part was where it sort of followed along with the plot of the game Star Wars Republic Commando (cool game!), but even then it was short, pointless, and went back to their emotional turmoil and personal problems.

While the book touches on a lot of really interesting overall themes, like the Jedi not being completely pure and the reasons the clones had no love of them, I found the execution lacking.

The bloody Clone Wars seem nearing the pivotal moment with the two enemies poised for victory as much as defeat. Still, neither Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) nor the Separatists have gained a major advantage in the hostilities, but Chancellor Palpatine's forces are overextended and in seemingly deeper trouble than the Seps.

However, the Republic's elite unit Advance Recon Commando (Null ARCs) fighting against overwhelming odds is stunned when rumors spread that Palpatine has held back clone units that he plans to sacrifice for his cause. Outraged Sergeant Mandalorian Kal Skirata, who trained many clone commandos, plans to rescue them from the Chancellor's nefarious expendable plan although he knows to truly save their lives he must slow down their incredible aging process. At the same time the Jedi have deployed Order 66 putting the loyal Omega and Delta commando units caught between loyalty to the Chancellor and their admiration of the Jedi.

Karen Traviss shows why she is so popular amongst Star War fans as readers know the future yet are hooked by a terrific story line filled with action that ties together the threads from the previous Traviss tales and a great moralistic character. Obviously the Clone Wars is the prime player, which means for newcomers it would help to read the previous Republic Commando events (see HARD CONTACT, TRIPLE ZERO AND TRUE COLOURS) that has led to ORDER 66: Star Wars Republic Commando. Skirata is the key to the plot as he puts a face to the war in this great entry.

Harriet Klausner

I feel that Traviss, while a solid writer, has gone too far with her personal feelings in this book. If anything, I am really surprised Lucas Licensing didn't demand a rewrite considering her frankly hostile handling of one of the most iconic institutions in the Star Wars universe. She has a pretty twisted impression of George Lucas's World, to be honest, and Order 66 really runs that home.

As I read further and further into Order 66 I began to get the impression that the writer did not like Jedi. I don't mean that the characters in it don't like Jedi. I mean that Traviss personally does not like Jedi and it was bleeding through the characters and events. It oozes off the pages like a deeply ingrained prejudice. That prejudice slips out all over the book, from comments about Obi-Wan Kenobi being an arrogant glory seeker, to political ramblings about the moral corruption and overall impotence of the Jedi Order that is never refuted by a single character in her book. It wasn't just that the Clone troopers and mercenaries don't like Jedi, even HER Jedi don't like Jedi, and spend most of their time regretting or being ashamed of the Jedi order.

The book is filled with criticism against the Jedi order and goes out of its way to show that the things that lead to the Dark Side, as shown to us in the films, are not really dangerous. In fact, they lead to a better life. She has her two Jedi characters essentially follow in the footsteps of Anakin and Count Duku (Intimate personal attachment and strong emotions like anger for the former and leaving the order for political/ideological reasons for the latter) and it is shown that not only does this not lead to the dark side, but it makes them better people. When Order 66 goes down, it isn't a tragedy in the sense that the Jedi Order are betrayed, because none of her characters actually care that the Jedi have been betrayed. It's more of a nuisance than anything else, and is only important in so much as it complicates the various plans of her cast of characters.

The Jedi prejudice runs so deep that one of Jedi characters actually races to the rescue of clone troopers (unknown clone troopers to her, mind you) when several young Jedi are caught at a check point and the troops try to gun them down. The entire scene is just bizarre, as these poor betrayed Jedi who are trying to defend themselves are shown killing civilians with deflected blaster bolts. The reader gets the impression that the Jedi are responsible for this senseless loss of life. The bizarre feeling just builds as her Jedi character recognizes these young Jedi before it turns into a fire fight, but her thoughts are centered on the coming violence and the possibility that one of the clones might get hurt, rather than any real concern for these poor kids that just had their temple burned to the ground and their fellow Jedi slaughtered unmercifully by their own soldiers. The Jedi are almost seen as dangerous animals at this point. There is an overall sense of "too bad, but they had it coming," and the only tragedy in the whole affair is that innocent people and honest clone troopers are killed in the messy clean up.

I mentioned these impressions to a friend and he sent me a link to an interview she did

[...]

"But then I see Vader as a tragic character who's been betrayed by everyone, and I can't help thinking of the Jedi as self-serving unelected elitist spoon-benders making whoopee on Republic taxpayers' credits. It's an iconoclastic journo world-view. Believe me, Order 66 was long overdue. I have a couple of Jedi that I don't want to shoot on sight, but they're my own creations, so I could make them a little humbler and more aware of the consequences they create for others."
............
"Getting into Jedi heads was that much harder. But I swore I could get into the most repellent characters' heads and see them as they see themselves, so I had to. I still wouldn't trust the Jedi Council with my wallet, let alone with running my country, but you won't spot that in the books. I keep my spoonbenderist views to myself."

Well, it does show and you CAN spot it in her books. I saw it clear as day, long before I read her personal feeling about them, and it left a very bad taste in my mouth. I was that much more disappointed, because I really had enjoyed the first RC novel. The second and third were good, but I was already starting to feel uneasy with the way she handled the Jedi by that time: Jedi having love affairs and babies, Jedi wanting to be Mandalorians rather than Jedi Knights because Mandalorians were more honorable and more moral (?!?!), it was all skewing into a Bizzaro-World version of Star Wars. Order 66 simply confirmed my fears that she would continue down this Jedi hating path with her RC books.

I actually really enjoyed her take on Mandalorians and have been a big fan of Boba Fett ever since I received an action figure prior to Empire's release and wondered along with my friends who he was and what role he would play in the movie. I have never been a Jedi kind of guy, and was always more interested (from an aesthetic standpoint) in the armored guys (which happened to mostly be imperials and bounty hunters until the prequels came out) which makes it all the more telling when someone like myself stops and says "hang on a minute!" Jedi knights are a pivotal part of Star Wars. They are pivotally heroic and harken back to a kind of lost Camelot, when an order of peace loving knights would roam the world guarding the innocent and fighting evil. To portray them as morally impotent, incompetent, and politically dangerous is just not Star Wars. Take it to another universe if you want to moralize and rail against the possibility of Camelot and claim that Mordred was actually doing us all a favor by doing away with that old relic Arthur, or if you want to squeeze 21st century western political ideology into a fantasy world that is supposed to be different from our own. The Jedi Knights are guardians of peace and justice in the Star Wars universe, a universe whose politics and ideology are similar to ours in some ways, but quite different in others. I don't really appreciate someone with a large chip on their shoulder demonizing them because she has political and ideological differences with their order. Save it for the real world.

I give it a 2, simply because this is not very good Star Wars. It's not a bad book in and of itself, but it feels very "anti-Jedi" which is essentially "anti-Star Wars."

This was a really tough read--especially at 430 pages. Normally I can blow through Star Wars novels in a weekend or a little longer, but this one took me awhile. The problem? The story was just soooo stagnant and ultimately ended without ANY of the problems being solved or any meaningful insight revealed. This kind of storytelling makes it very hard to want to keep picking the book up enough times to finish it. The only exception was the section toward the end that took place during the battle of Coruscant, but even that eventually gave way to more plodding narrative. I also was extremely disappointed by the fact that Order 66 was totally incidental to the plot, which came as a surprise given that it's the name of the freakin' book. Granted, I fully appreciate that the book wasn't meant just to be the blow-by-blow account of O66, but c'mon, I would have expected more than this! And, as other reviewers have pointed out, the treatment of the Jedi was really harsh. Again, I appreciate that the story is told from the POV of the clones who don't necessarily like the Jedi--which is original and creative--but it would have been nice for the other side of that argument to have had a least some small voice...but no. Instead we're left with a longwinded portrayal of Jedi basically as the bad guys and Mandos/ARC clones as the heroes of the galaxy, which is hard to take even when trying to keep in mind that the author is just trying to tell the story from a different point of view...as Obi Wan might have said.

In the end, I suppose it's largely my fault for jumping into this series not having read the first three books thinking the story would cover different ground than it did, but I do think the misleading title does bear some responsibility here too. I'm sure that fans of the rest of the series will like this latest offering far better than I, but even so, I think they will still be left unsatisfied at the end when you realize the story really went nowhere.

Given the weak correlation between the title of this book and the actual plot, I have a feeling that the next in the series, The 501st, will also focus on the continued storyline of the main characters rather than the exploits of Vader's favorite unit disappointing another group of readers hoping for the latter.

When you take into account the in the SW universe, the Jedi Order is about as close to organized religion as you're likely to get, this series all comes into perspective as one long "religulous" rant. Granted, I'll admit that the thrust of episode three was that the Jedi had fallen to some form of corruption and hypocrisy and a change was needed, but KT totally oversells her case here.

Every other paragraph in every other chapter is another diatribe on how morally bankrupt the Jedi had become. We're expected to nearly sign with relief when the Order to execute is finally given (ahem...on page 347 no less!).

If the Jedi are the stiff backward religious types, then the Mandos are the free spirited "do-your-own-thing-but-know-there's-a-consequence-for-your-action-types", which real life has proven is no alternative at all. If you can get past the bloated, overdone Mando'ad in nearly every sentence (fierfek, nervod, shabuir, it never ends....), you'd see her "final solution to the Jedi problem" is no better than the Sith's.

The last straw for me was Etain. I'd call this a spoiler, but if you've so much as made it through half this novel, you wont care either way. I picked this series up b/c I was intrigued by the idea of a Jedi getting with a clone. I thought it opened up some interesting possibilities, especially when you throw a child into the mix. However, I couldn't stand the path her character arc takes her.

I'm all for disillusionment and the like, but Etain just goes from being a pawn of one faction to the next. She never questioned whether the Mandolorian way was any better than the Jedi, despite the fact that they were blantant criminals, while the Jedi were subtler ones.

Her death (defending a clone against a jedi) just fell flat for me, and I felt like I'd wasted my investment in the character. sigh, it was kinda like watching Prison Break again.

There were a few decent spots in the book, like when it ran alongside the Republic Commando game and the Labrynth of Evil and Episode Three novels, but that was more nostalgia than anything else. I'd recommend this only if you want to see how it all ends. Then keep it moving....

What I didn't like about this book is that the author trashes the jedi at every chance while she glorifies Mandalorians as being very nice, honorable people and not the glory seekers-world conquerors and mass murderers depicted in other sources.
Heck, she makes it seem jedi are afraid of clones and mandalorians. And there's the thing about the clones knowing everything from grievous location, way before anybody else, to glimpses of Palps's plans. And poor stupid jedi were oblivious to everything that was going on. In short, it turns out clones were way better warriors than jedi (I don't understand how come Jango was offed so easily being as great a warrior as the author tries to make mandalorians seem) Also, she depicts clones as being 1.80 meters and if my memory serves me well, Jango wasn't anywhere around that height. I also agree with the guys who gave this book 2 stars in that it develop on the events of order 66, but no, it's just the conclusion of the series.
So basically, I don't like the way she puts jedi down and tries to make us believe clones and mados rock.