Customer Reviews

Star Wars-Crimson Empire: Council of Blood, Volume 2

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

 

 

While the first Crimson Empire tale was very good and effective, this one fails in many areas.

The main problem with this issues is that they had so many subplots and characters, it was like they were trying to compress a thick novel into a comic book series. There was so much going on they couldn't focus enough on any one theme and develop it.

Also, as much as I didn't like Sinn, heroic rebel commander, being portrayed as a complete slut in the first one, I hate it even worse when they change how a character looks from one comic to another, in the same way that it annoys me when different actors play the same character in different movies.

This book did have pretty good renditions of ships, and it was cool how they introduced mysterious Nom Anor, one of the main baddies in the New Jedi Order series. Unfortunately, although the ship and landscape art was mostly very well done, the people were badly rendered and disproportianate. The Hutt was tiny sometimes, normal sized at others, Sinn's face was a complete disaster, none of the carry-overs from the first issue looked right, and most of the time the faces were just too thick and disgusting.

Another thing, the alien races on the Imp Council! Not only were several of those species known to be sided with the New Republic, plus the fact that the Empire is all anti-aliens, makes this not work. Plus several of those species are so obscure I'm not sure why'd they'd have a member on the council. Oh well.

Still, I am definitely looking forward to CE III, as it is going to tie in pretty heavily to NJO...

If you really love Star Wars, buy this one, but if you're just a moderate fan, I'd recommend skipping it over.

Crimson Empire was amazing, the sequel was anything but.

After finishing the original, I was anxious to pick up the sequel. As soon as I did, it looked like the writer, artist, everyone was different. That was my first clue that something was wrong. "Council of Blood" gets it all wrong. And I'm sad to say that this book, despite it's appearence, is indeed by the same writer/artist team of the first book! Kir Kanos, the anti-hero from the original is hardly even in the story. Sinn doesn't look or act like she did at all. You'll be flipping the pages looking for our two protagonists, wondering where the hell they are. Instead we get an annoying Hutt and even more annoying council filled with the least interesting characters every written. The Empire was filled with merciless and decisive Admirals and Generals. Now it's been magically replaced by stereotypical politicians who do nothing but argue. There's about 3 imperials actually on the Imperial Council! The end of the first book left us hanging, Kir Kanos leaving to assassinate the unseen ruling council. Now that I've see them, I couldn't care less about them. All the characters of power are supposed to be sinister plotters, but instead they come off as bumbling idiots. The art's pretty bad too, except for Dorman's covers, which are wonderful, practically the only redeeming aspect of the book. The only other good thing I can say about this is that it was easy to get through, as bad as it was.

The potential here was amazing, instead we got one of the worst Star Wars books ever written. Avoid it like the plague and pray they redo it properly.

I'm afraid the makers of CE botched their attempt to go from a simply, direct revenge-type story to a complex tale of woven intrigue. The art, while still somewhat cinematic in stlye, suffers from highly unstable character depictions and cartoony inconsistencies. The change of Sinn's character and appearance is equally as annoying. While she was quite a bother in the original, its even more bothersome when they switch character personalities and appearance.

As for the story, Mastadge's title puts it well. Way too much. Masters of intrigue and complex plots like Stackpole and Zahn should stake their claim as such, as other writers' attempts at such tales are consistently going astray. Carivus is an annoying, bloated dolt, and my interest in Nom Anor dropped about the same time NJO began coming out and butchering 'Star Wars'.

And the Council. While some of the talks seemed to be only well-done examples of intrigue in the whole bloody thing, I still found that it was overdone at times. And why the aliens? I can understand a move toward a more inclusive Empire, but why add Whiphids, Givin, Defel, and other such races that have no real status in the overall galactic community? If they were going to add alien reps they would have at least added ones from species that had actual power in galactic affairs.

Oh, well. If you want to learn a bit more about what happens after CE you can do so, but I can't say I reccomend the book.

I picked this book up at my local borders and have to say I highly enjoyed it . CE II picks up where the fantastic original left off and is just as awesome well-written and excellently illustrated as the first. The action is fast-paced and exciting and the storyline entertains with numerous twists and turns to keep you satisfied . overall I know many fellow reviewers dislike this book but personally I see this as a just as a good comic as the original .

Overall the story was good, even though the first one was better. But it is a nice edition if your like me and want to start criminal empire 3. Story is not bad, but the quality of the book was bad. The binding came right off. But overall if your a fan who wants to start reading crimson empire, it's a good edition and sets the stage for crimson empire 3.

The original Crimson Empire is hard to beat; however, this sequel was not that disappointing. The artwork was very well detailed and the colors were expertly used, evidence of a fine comic on the visual side of things. The plot may be much more complex than the CE #1, but who cares? In my opinion, the few subplots were not all that confusing and made the story a bit more interesting.

As for the characters, there were many new and intriguing humans and aliens alike. And the mysterious, cloaked figure who remains unmasked will definitely have to be in the third one (If it's in the works, I'm not sure). Sure, you may not see as much of Kanos in CE #2, but you get enough of him in my opinion. The other characters and their dealings do not diminish the read IMHO. To sum up this review, I really enjoyed the CE #2 despite the quibbles of others. Not to mention, the ending was quite noir-ish, gloomily fascinating leaving the reader wanting more.

Crimson Empire II continues the story of Kir Kanos, last of the Emperor's Crimson Guard out to avenge the Emperor by killing everyone responsible for his death.

The first book was fairly clear-cut, focusing on the battle between Kanos and a renegade Crimson Guardsman responsible for killing the Emperor's clone bodies. But this is one is all over the map. It introduces several new factions and players (including a Hutt gangster who could give Jabba a run for his money) but never has enough time to properly flesh them out. We see them plot and scheme but it really has no impact since we're never given a chance to care about them.

Kir Kanos it practially a supporting player in this story, since so much time is spent throwing in new aliens, new factions and new alliances.

This series desperately needed to be longer, or an editor needed to give it more focus. Most readers will leave disappointed.

This addition to the Crimson Empire may not be as good as the first, but it still packs a punch and delivers to Star Wars fans.