Customer Reviews

Star Wars: The Corellian Trilogy: Showdown at Centerpoint (Book 3)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Thus concludes a fairly solid Star Wars Trilogy. Showdown at Centerpoint is the concluding volume in the Corellian Trilogy. The story we have so far is that Leia and Han, along with their children, a Wookiee, and a couple of droids went on a diplomatic mission to Han's homeworld of Corellia and became entangled in the civil unrest where the main faction is led by Thracken Sal-Solo, Han's cousin and a general bad guy. Thracken claims to have a Starbuster, a weapon which nobody has seen but that has already destroyed two planets. Yes, another Super Weapon. The civil unrest encompasses the entire Corellian system and through kidnapping and hiding, the Organa-Solo family, along with Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, and Mara Jade, are working separately to stop the Starbuster from destroying the next planet on a list of targets and to restore stability to the region.

Joining together and splitting apart our heroes will travel to the strange Centerpoint Station, which may have everything to do the troubles. They will join with Selonians and the Drall, two non-human races in the Corellian system, and there is love and loss, lots of action, the rising importance of the Solo children, and the chance to save the Republic once again. The ending of Showdown at Centerpoint is a bit rushed, but taken as part of a trilogy this book and the trilogy is a satisfying Star Wars experience. While these books would not stand up with the best of Matthew Stover or Karen Traviss, this trilogy rises above the majority of Star Wars novels. It contains all of the action and fun of the movies and had George Lucas decided to use the stories of Roger MacBride Allen, this Star Wars trilogy would be just as successful as what was already filmed.

-Joe Sherry

The conclusion to the Corellian Trilogy is the best of the trilogy. The story really takes off and the action keeps the reader moving through the story at a good pace. All our heroes are in their prime ready to once again defeat the galaxy's evil. The biggest problem with this book is the ambiguity of the bod guys. Han Solo's cousin is just a front, and tis Triad are the real baddies but not much is really known or said about them. The author just kind of leaves them hangin so to speak. My other criticism deals with Anaking who is way to babyish in the beginnin gof the book and simply too sophisticated in the conclusion. OVerall however, this is a above average trilogy in the Star Wars universe.

I just had to review this one because for one thing I've reviewed the first two and, for another, this is the best of the trilogy. It's not Hugo material or anything, but hey, it's Star Wars! We read them because the films entertained us and we hope the books will too. Well, this one delivers on that.

The action picked up in the second book, and really comes to a head in this one. What seemed to start as a small potatoes bid for independence (or non-interference, as is more the case here) now takes on higher stakes when millions of lives are threatened by the Starbuster superweapon. The superweapon is always a tried and true element in Star Wars, even if a bit overdone, but it's still fun. You get to see some really good scenes with Mara Jade and Leia having to work together, and there's more of the Bakurans in this one, too (enjoy it while you can, it's the last book to date that they show up in). But the best part of the book is that the major conflict is resolved in an epic space battle, something we really do see far too little of in Star Wars, especially ones written as well as this one was.

If you felt you had to plod through the first two books (which was almost undoubtedly the case for the first book if not the second) then you'll be glad you make it this far to see the payoff. Roger MacBride Allen actually gave us a decent trilogy. The best part of it was that there was NO EMPIRE. I get tired of the Comeback Kings popping up all the time. My regards to the author for giving us a break.

Once again the lust for more easy profit from Star wars fans rears its ugly head. With this trilogy we get a somewhat tired tale where yet again the New Republic faces "Probably it's greatest threat ever." I am astounded that with all the threats the New Republic has overcome it is not yet strong enough to deal with a petty crook in less than three books. Why is it that the further away we get from Zahn and Andersson's books, the more backwards Luke and Leia's Jedi abilities seem to become. Surely this whole tale could have been shortened into one novel with a touch more ingenuity in the way the bad guys try to ruin/control the galaxy. Basically, this is not the worst Star Wars book you could read; but it almost is. Isn't it about time that Luke and Mara get it sorted and give us the patter of tiny Jedi?

I really liked this book. It wrapped everything up well. Since I had ready the NJO books already I knew who would make and not, but overall it was good series and did explain some background for events in the NJO. It is definetly worth you time.

The secret of the mysterious installation the Solo children found on Corellia in the first book of this trilogy is out. It is a planetary repulsor, and their is one just like it on each of the other planets of the Corellian System. The planetary repulsors are an ancient system, used to bring the five planets of the system to their present location, most likely even before the Old Republic came to be. The repulsors can also be used as weapons of mass destruction - and all the various rebel groups in Corellia want to get a hold of them. The Solo children are in hiding with their Drall tutor Ebrihim, his aunt, Ebrihim's droid, and Chewbacca in the repulsor on Drall, where Anakin activates the repulsor, inadvertently letting their evil cousin Thracken know of their location, and the group is promptly captured. Lando and Luke are with the ships from Bakura, and Leia, Han, and Mara are desperately negotiating for the repulsor on Selonia, for it is the only thing that can stop another star from being forced to go nova by Centerpoint Station's mysterious technology. This was a thrilling conclusion to the Corellian Trilogy that I highly reccomend to Star Wars fans who enjoyed the other two books in the trilogy.

Showdown at Centerpoint is the final book in Roger Macbride Allen's Corellian Trilogy. In the first two books we followed Han, Leia, and their kids along with Chewie, Lando, Luke, and our two favorite droids as they all took various paths to end up in the middle of what appeared to be a rebellion in the Corellian sector. In this book, Luke and Lando uncover the Starbuster that is part of Centerpoint Station and that is programmed to explode the star Bovo Yagen and destroy millions of people. The Sacorrian Triad started rebellions on each of the five planets in the Corellian system and gained control of Centerpoint Station as part of a master plan to force the New Republic to acknowledge the Corellian sector as an independent state.

Centerpoint Station is an enormous gray-white space station in the Corellian system located at the balance point between the twin worlds of Talus and Tralus. Approximately 350 kilometers long, it is even larger than the original Death Star and can fire a tractor-repulsor hyperspace burst. The Sacorrian Triad discovered that the station could destroy stars, but it had been stable for thousands of years until suddenly two stars were destroyed. The Triad activated massive interdiction and jamming fields over the entire Corellian system and had a fleet of ships ready to do battle with New Republic and Bakuran forces.

All of our heroes were involved with foiling the Triad's plan with different ones of them coming at the problem from entirely different approaches. They were assisted in their efforts by Gaerial Captison, who had been an Imperial Senator from Bakura during the final years of the rebellion and led her planet to freedom. Admiral Hotel Ossilege commanded the Bakuran fleet. Mara Jade also offered valuable assistance.

Some of the most interesting roles in the tale are played by the Solo kids - Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin. We find that, even at their young ages, they are skilled enough to fly the Millennium Falcon, at least well enough to escape from the clutches of Han's evil cousin Thracken Sal-Solo on the planet Drall. Plus, Anakin's force powers enable him to control the planetary repulsor that is on Drall. Pretty impressive kids.

Showdown at Centerpoint is the best book in the trilogy and tells a tale that moves right along. My only real quibble with the book is that I felt it could have been severely edited in a few places.

Roger MacBride Allen's Showdown at Centerpoint completes the Corellian Trilogy and neatly ties up the storylines laid out in the first two novels. It continues the accelerated pace found in Assault at Selonia and includes a handy synopsis at the beginning for anyone who hasn't read or doesn't remember the prior books (Star Wars novels rarely contain a synopsis of what's gone before, making it worthy of note). Events in the Corellian system have turned into a race against time, as our heroes struggle to discern the truth behind the murky maneuverings of the Human League and other splinter groups. If they can't solve the plot quickly enough, they will fail to stop the annihilation of millions of sentients whose sun is targeted for destruction by the mysterious starbuster device.

The most intriguing portion of this book deals with the massive Centerpoint station, a facility of unknown origin and purpose sitting in space between Corellia's Double Moons. It doesn't take too much effort for the reader to connect Centerpoint with the destroyed stars and this hunch is quickly confirmed. The only significant new character introduced in this final volume appears on Centerpoint: Jenica Sonsen. She serves primarily as a guide to the station, which has developed a strange little culture unto itself in the isolation of space. The introduction of Centerpoint and the mysteries that still surround it at the end of the book make a lovely little hook for future authors to build upon.

A key storyline of Showdown at Centerpoint (actually started in the prior book) revolves around the three Solo children and their efforts to locate a planetary repulsor on Drall. Once it is located, Anakin Solo cannot resist delving further into the machine's secrets, leading to a great action sequence when it is turned on. Unfortunately, this also leads to one of the nastier events for the kids, when their malicious uncle Thracken Sal-Solo shows up to kidnap them and take control of the repulsor. Thracken doesn't get to do much in this book beyond chew some scenery and show a cold-blooded willingness to harm his own flesh and blood. The notion of Thracken as a sort of "shadow" Han Solo has plenty of promise, but overall the trilogy doesn't take this as far as I'd like. The most interesting interaction between the two is in their shared scenes in Assault at Selonia.

The trilogy delivers a substantial amount of information about the three native Corellian species and their unusual system of five worlds. I enjoyed the exploration of the Selonian culture in particular. They pretend to conform to human societal standards but in reality have a whole separate social system working just under the surface (literally). Their travel by underground tunnels seems rather impractical but it does make for some good entertainment. Also, their reliance on negotiation, especially when contrasted with their impressive physical skills, makes for some unexpected dynamics when they try to come to terms with Leia, Han, and Mara Jade.

Some other good points: the Tendra Risant storyline which originated in Lando's ridiculous search for a rich wife comes to a satisfactory conclusion. There's a terrific escape sequence with the Solo children featuring a nifty little display of a seldom-used Force ability. One character I hadn't mentioned in my prior reviews of the trilogy is Q9-X2, a modified astromech that speaks Basic and exhibits a rather marked streak of paranoia. Q9 continues to entertain here just as in the prior novels, and one pairing I would love to see would be him with I5 of Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Medstar, and Coruscant Nights fame.

The Corellian Trilogy is not an earth-shaking piece of Star Wars literature, but it is a fun ride and quite enjoyable while it lasts. The books got progressively better and Centerpoint itself is truly an interesting place. The series is worth reading for anyone who is a fan of the Original Trilogy heroes and wants a fairly light and adventurous romp.

Yet again, the galaxy is faced with it's biggest threat ever. This super-weapon threat thing is starting to get on my nerves. Despite this, the plot and the characterisations are good, even thouhgh this child genius thing is getting a little hard to take. Why oh why can't the Solo kids just be normal? The writing is mediocre, nothing more. A book for die-hard Star Wars fans only.

I just finished this book and it mostly disappoints. Rushed ending, an original idea but the enemies were vague and somewhat unsinister; just like a mediocre movie, I kept thinking how the characters and ideas were wasted. Oh, and someone gets married (or at least it's implied) and another character dies. Won't tell you who but it wasn't done well. I wasn't emotionally involved. By the way, when is someone going to write a book that is less sci-fi and has more of the Force? THAT is Star Wars, not space battles and firefights. The Star Wars fans love the Force. It's the original thrust behind the whole storyline. Luke and Han are boring, unspecial characters in most of the books. Including here.