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35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read but not a great one, June 6, 2006
I'm a bit ambivalent about this book. It's a very promising start to what will undoubtedly prove to be an interesting new series. It has a really good plot too. The challenge is that the writing simply isn't at Allston's usually high level. What should be a thrilling ambush at the beginning of the book, for example, reads more like a ho-hum sequence of events. It never feels like the Jedi are truly in any danger. Similarly, the way in which Ben deals with the Anakin robot reads like a Scholastic series adventure rather than something written for adults. Thankfully it gets better as the book progresses. The various conflicts and loyalties that Wedge needs to deal with is very well written. Okay, so here's the plot: Luke Skywalker and the Jedi just can't get a break. The Joiner war is over and just when it looks like the galaxy is going to be at peace, various planetary interests threaten to unleash a new wave of violence. And, Luke is plagued with visions of an approaching darkness, an enemy that does not exist... yet. At the same time, the Galactic Alliance is becoming more and more bureaucratic and dictatorial, pushing member worlds away from its strict, Empire-like regulations. When Jedi's Jacen Solo and Ben Skywalker discover an illegal missile plant on Adumar their evidence sparks more political unrest. Fearing the worst, the Alliance readies a preemptive military exercise to bring the potentially rogue worlds in line before things get worse. Not a bad strategy at face value yet the challenge is that they've picked Corellia for their show of force, launching a secret mission to disable Centerpoint Station. Jacen feels honor-bound to stick with his uncle, the leader of the Jedi Order, who takes direction from the Alliance, yet when the Corellians launch a counterstrike, escalating conflict places the Skywalkers and Solos on opposing sides... Sooo, the bottom line is that I really liked the plot and the promise this new series brings. I wasn't so thrilled about the quality of the writing, however, which was spotty throughout, more miss than hit. All in all I'm glad I read it and will almost certainly pick up the next book in the series though I may wait for it to come out in paperback. Good book but unfortunately nothing exceptional.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too much for one novel, a weak beginning to a new 9-book series, August 6, 2006
Member worlds chafe under heavy taxation, bridle at providing materiel and conscripts, and make noise of open rebellion. The central government blusters, threatening isolation, economic stagnation and military retaliation, but secretly fears secession and the eventual withering away of its power and influence. So opens Betrayal, the first in a planned nine-book series following the characters of the Star Wars universe 36 years after events in Revenge of the Jedi and 10 years after the events of the Yuzhong Vong invasion, chronicled in the last extended novel cycle, New Jedi Order (19 volumes published 1999-2003). To prevent the dissolution of the Galactic Alliance, Chief of State Cal Omas and his government devise a plan in which the Jedi will abduct the leadership of the GA's most openly antagonistic member, Corellia, so that the GA might then brow beat Corellia's leaders into quietly paying their taxes and end all talk of independence. It's one of the most ridiculous plans you're likely to encounter in a Star Wars novel. At least the most ridiculous I've read to date. How much more belligerent - short of dropping bombs or shooting people - can you get than kidnapping a government's leaders? It's as if the Germans decided to kidnap the leaders of the French government for threatening to leave the EU. Even more ridiculous, this plan is approved by Luke Skywalker, a guy normally depicted as levelheaded, who prefers talking to fighting (and who later in the book turns down a second snatch plan on the grounds that the GA doesn't want to set a precedent of kidnapping leaders of hostile governments!). Word of the plan leaks out and the Jedi come up empty handed in their kidnapping caper. To salvage what little he can from the operation, the GA's leading Admiral over Corellia seizes and occupies a small leisure planet within the Corellian system. Now the Corellians are spitting mad and things quickly move from bad to worse. Along the way, the characters are put into situations where they must make difficult choices. While the story itself is often confusing when it isn't implausible, author Aaron Allston should be given some credit for trying to beef up this hodgepodge of a novel with some thematic muscle. Betrayal is a story about choice and conscience, about weighing consequences and realizing that sometimes the best action is also the most painful. Han must choose where his allegiance lays, with the GA or his homeworld of Corellia, while Leia, a newly minted Jedi, must choose between her husband, the GA and the order. Ben must choose whether to terminate a computer simulation of his lost cousin Anakin Solo in order to shut down the Corellian's superweapon, Centerpoint Station. In Betrayal's other main plot, Han and Leia's son Jacen must choose to take a life in order to save the lives of many more, and further whether to extend his knowledge of the Force by studying the dark arts of the Sith. Overall, there's far too much happening in Betrayal for it to be anything but rushed. The first third covers the initial attack on Corellia (including a laughable scene in which 13-year old Ben Skywalker sneaks into and eliminates the threat from Centerpoint Station by tricking the computer, a la James Kirk, into believing that it isn't a real person after all), the middle part the political maneuvering to get the combatants unstuck, including a subplot of political assassination leading into the last third of the book, Jacen's discovery of the Sith (this particular branch having descended from a sentient species of Mynok, a flying rodent and pest of pilots in the SW universe). Anyone of these parts could have been a novel itself, but mashed together here the stories suffer as a result of having to constantly advance the plot so that we can get to the end of the book - and start the next one. And there's the rub. These extended series involve a number of editors and writers working together to make a coherent and consistent story. It also involves working on a tight deadline to make sure the books are delivered at regular intervals. With so many cooks stirring the pot, with the added pressure of having to write to deadline, its not surprising that we end up with half-baked books. Still, I'm looking forward to the next one, especially as Karen Travis will be writing a 71 year old Boba Fett who has to work together with his old bounty, Han Solo. Stay tuned.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The beginning of a very mediocre un-Star Wars series, February 14, 2007
*Some minor spoilers* A review of Betrayal (with a little bit of a review of Bloodlines as well thrown in.) There is nothing wrong with the book itself, it is well written, engaging, and interesting. Plot lines from previous books are intertwined throughout and there aren't any blaringly obvious inconsistencies with previous books or movies. One very interesting and kind of fun part about this book is the fact that now that all 6 movies are completed, sections of this series really help tie everything together. Instead of kind of forgetting about the entire period of Darth Vader's demise, this book confronts it and engages the back story. Overall though, this book, and furthermore this series are a HUGE dissapointment. Easily the most unbelievable plot for any Star Wars series I have read. The whole time you read this book (and the second one as well) you keep thinking to yourself: "Oh come on, this is ridiculous." Jacen can't honestly be this stupid. His motivation for beginning to turn to the dark side is absolutely ridiculous. As seen in Bloodlines (the second book in the series,) Jacen can "Time Walk" back in time and see how his grandfather Darth Vader made his decisions that led him to the dark side. Jacen thinks that he can avoid the same mistakes his grandfather did when he just keeps making the same ones and it just feels dumb. Reading this book (and the second, which is as far as I've gotten in the series) feels like watching the prequel trilogy all over again, just with different characters. But the same dumb mistakes and stupid decisions throughout the story. The story is also incredibly predictable, as a reader, you know exactly where it's going (because you've seen it all before in the movies.) It's obvious that at some point Lumiya is going to find out about Tenel Ka and her daughter and Jacen is going to have to confront them. (I assume this happens in the third book as it's about the Hapes Consortium.) It's just not very interesting. Another complaint is the relation between Han and Leia and Luke and Mara. Honestly, would a Jedi leader be dumb enough to ruin his relation ship with his siblings over some ridiculous Corellian dispute. And why are Han and Leia even supporting Corellia, their involvement seems really out of place and awkward. Can't Star Wars authors come up with more creative and original stories than this? Instead of rehashing the similar plots to previous series (e.g. the Prequel Trilogy) why can't writers come up with something original? At least the New Jedi Order was a new, unique idea. The worst thing about this series is that it is ruining the Star Wars universe that's been created so far in the New Jedi Order and stuff. All this conflic is just getting ridiculous and books that take place after this seem like they will just be dumb. We'll see I guess. Overall, I would not suggest this series for a Star Wars fan. It is ruining the story, bringing back the same old plot that we've already seen, and ruining the well-developed Star Wars universe we already have.
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