Customer Reviews

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

***Some Spoilers***

Fatal Alliance does offer quite a bit of adventure and epic battle scenes however, with all that is packed into its 450 pages there is little room for character development. The adventure begins with the reader being told the story of how an upcoming Jedi has failed his trials to become a Knight. Well I really shouldn't say "how he failed" because little is told as to how he actually failed the trials. But don't fret the book doesn't expand at all on how this failure effects the character anyways. This lack of character building becomes a theme with every character, sadly. As you read on you will be introduced to about twelve more characters that have little development.

A mother that has betrayed the Sith is given little as to why she did this and how that decision has changed her life. A Sith apprentice is faced with having to strike down the woman who gave birth to her but the author chooses to not expand on the characters emotions as she comes closer to the fatal swipe. A soldier that has fallen out of league with her former comrades for being a snitch is only given a few paragraphs as to how this event has formed who she has become. A character that could have been a focal point for all this lack of history should have been the Jedi Master, but she herself gives little in the way of wisdom and doesn't delve into the issues that should have played a bigger role with the characters.

Overall the books saving grace is the battle scenes that take up the vast majority of the book. To some this may be enough but to those who have tired of death star after death star this book should be lower on your to-read-list. In no way is the book horrible and in no way would I tell you not to read it but be warned, if you like books that are heavy on characters and lighter on space battles this will not be up your alley. Just my opinion.

ALL FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED. THANKS AND GOOD READING.

*** spoilers ahead***
Fatal Alliance has several flaws that could be fatal to certain readers' ability to like the book. There are a lot of new characters, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, but even at a page count over 400 pgs, characterization seems to have been sacrificed along the way. Stryver, Eldon Ax, Shigar, Master Saetle, Larin Moxla, Ula, Master Howl, Master Chatris, and Lema Xandret are names you will run across a lot if you read the story. Their stories weave in and out with nice cliff hangers, but for some reason, there's just not a lot to "connect" to as a reader. There's this huge conflict with pretty sweet new, dangerous technology that gets literally swept away in the end.

Of the recent Star Wars books, this one by far is the best, but the competition has been sadly lacking of late. I still enjoyed the read, though for me, there wasn't enough of a tie-in to the KOTOR games. This book is a teaser for the new The Old Republic game, but aside from name dropping the Treaty of Coruscant about 10 times, there's nothing to really tease us with.

Conclusion: It's a worthwhile read that will hopefully mean more as time passes and the Old Republic game releases. It's certainly set up for sequels. The author does a decent job with dialogue. (There were only a few times that I cringed at how cliche the lines sounded.) If you love Star Wars books, go for it.

I really liked the idea of a series of Star Wars novels set in the Old Republic. Unfortunately, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance just wasn't satisfying. The plot is basically that the Jedi and Sith need to join forces to defeat a bunch of spider-droids. Almost the entire book is filled with battle scenes, with the Jedi and Sith - and a Mandalorian - slashing and shooting their way against the droids. There were a few more plot twists that just made it all seem even more ridiculous - but I won't spoil the ending. It frankly all seems a bit silly, even for a Star Wars novel.

There are some interesting characters in Fatal Alliance, such as Jet Nebula and Ula Vii, but so much of the book is taken up with tiresome action scenes rather than character development. Instead, the Sith Darth Chratis and Eldon Ax sound like a bunch of mindless propaganda machines. I had to wince several times when they spoke just at the sheer inanity of the dialogue. Chratis seemed particularly dull-witted at times - not a trait I'd normally associate with Sith Lord.

The end of Fatal Alliance does leave room for a sequel, so I hope other authors take the interesting characters from this book and develop them further. For now, all I can say is that the next book in the series, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, looks to be a lot more exciting.

I would like to start off this review by stating I am not much of a reader. I've read very few books outside of required text books and novels in school. Some would believe this would make my Review less relevant, but others who don't read a whole lot may find it more helpful.

As someone who doesn't read - I went through this entire book in 2 days. The book is a little less than 500 pages, but the font is big and easy to read. The story flowed and kept my interest all the way to the end.

I will avoid giving away any spoilers but I will mention minor details about the book.

It takes place in the era of the old republic - thousands of years before the first appearance of Leia's metal bikini. The book follows several main characters, which all have a common interest - slowly they are all dragged to the center of the plot - which makes for a great read. The book has many mysterious plot points, and the Author uses each main character to fill in part of the story, so that the reader eventually grasps the entire plot.

There are only two negatives to the book... The ending seemed rushed and left something to be desired. And sometimes the story can get a little confusing trying to keep track of each character. Keep in mind with this many main characters you don't delve to deep into the characters themselves - but they do have believable emotions and can be easily related with.

Overall it was a terrific read that kept me interested throughout the entire novel. Even if you don't know much about Star Wars (which beyond the movies and video games, I don't) you can pick this book up and it will provide solid entertainment that doesn't use to much Geeky SW terminology.

Finally, this book is setup to build around the Old Republic era, for the latest MMO coming out by Bioware and Lucas. If you have any interest in the game, you should pick this up.

May the force be with you...

The Old Republic is easily my favorite part of the EU, almost everything that has been released in that era has been great. This book however is easily the weakest of the era, and one of the weaker Star Wars novels I've read. I had heard many good things about this novel and was looking forward to a look at the upcoming MMO, unfortunately I walked away disappointed.

Setting- Ask anyone who's played an MMO and they'll tell you that the setting is immensely important to the game. The history and lore is just as(and in some cases more) important as the game play. This novel (and the game its based on) are set in an unexplored part of the timeline, about 300 years after the KOTOR games and 2,500 years before the Darth Bane books. Logic would dictate that the novel would paint a picture of this time period, creating events that would later be referenced and expanded on in the game, Sadly this isn't the case, we don't learn anything about the universe. Sure a few tidbits like the treaty of Corucsant are mentioned, but they are never explained. All of this information is given in the short "timeline" videos on the MMO's site, the novel assumes you've already seen these and explains next to nothing. On top of this none of the factions are really explored, this is a big problem for the Sith Empire we never learn when it began or why it's in this cold war with the Republic. The novel also lack the distinct feel of the era, it could have just as easily been set at any other point of the timeline.

Characters- The eight main characters of the novel are supposed to represent the classes of the game. Unfortunately most the characters never really develop beyond their professions. Moxla is just a typical solider, Shigar is just a typical padawan, Chantis is a typical sith lord etc. These characters feel cookie cutter an uninteresting. Most of the characters have their own internal conflicts, a few of them are really interesting, Moxla ratted on her CO, Ax is discovering her past and dealing with the possibility of confronting her mother. Unfortunately none of these are really explored and few are really resolved well. The other characters mostly feel like copies of established characters, Jet is just an early Han Solo (complete with non human copilot who only he can fluently understand) Dao is Boba Fett mysterious and dangerous. Only Ula feels particularly original but in the end he doesn't really do anything.

Pacing- Now for the final nail in the coffin, the pacing. It's in a word awful, almost the first 1/4 of the book is just introducing the characters and getting them to the needed location. After that is a ridiculously long fight, its fairly well written but it just drags on and on until it becomes boring. This is then followed by another long build up to the final battle, which begins rather promisingly but just sort of fizzles out to a whole bunch of dialogue. None of it is really exciting, the plot is too simple and straightforward, and the characters to uninspired and one dimensional for it to really warrant the slow pace. The action is to infrequent and dragged out to be exciting.

Conclusion- Fans looking for info on the MMO should simply watch the publicity videos on the web, fans looking for star wars history should look elsewhere as this reveals little that is currently important, and those simply looking for a good action packed novel should avoid this due to its poor pace. All in all everything about this novel is sub-par and although it avoids being actually bad, it succeeds in being a poor and altogether forgettable and skip able entry to the EU.

I realize that this book was made to go with the game. I had trepidations about buying it because of that fact. I read the prologue and the dialogue was a bit cheesy. However, it wasn't sooooo bad that I got put off.

I'm now a few chapters into the book and boy am I glad I bought it. The way that Sean captures the Sith and the old Empire/Republic relations is great. I've tried to read some of the Star Wars books that take place post Episode VI, but other than the Zahn books (which were amazing) the others fell flat. This one has atmosphere, etc.

I'm thinking the writer was assisted by the contributors to the story of the game. Regardless, it's a great read so far.

If you're thinking, like me, "How good can a book based on a game be?" Don't worry. It's plenty good.

If you like well thought out Sith Characters, then this is a no brainer. Get it and enjoy it.

This book is based on the Old Republic video game, but you don't need to be a gamer to find the story accessible.

One reason for publishing a tie-in novel is to highlight the different character types one can play in the game. In addition to the requisite Force wielders, there are pirates, soldiers and secret agents. This story has eight main characters, and author Sean Williams does a pretty good job of fleshing out most of them.

It may be set 3,500 years before the events of the movies, but readers will find the landscape familiar. There are Jedi and Sith, a Republic and an Empire, Hutts and Mandalorians. Granted, this can be a bit confusing. For the first fifty pages, I had to keep reminding myself which time period I was reading about.

The basic plot revolves around a piece of wreckage salvaged from a mysterious ship that self-destructed. A powerful Hutt arranges for representatives from both the Republic and the Empire to bid for it. But before either side can purchase it, the artefact opens on its own, releasing a bunch of multi-legged droid that learn, adapt and proliferate. They are dubbed "hexes", but any fan of the Stargate franchise will instantly recognise them as a rip-off of the replicators.

Working independently, a Jedi Padawan and a Sith Apprentice track the hexes to their planet of origin. As the droids threaten to overrun the galaxy, Republic and Imperial forces must form an alliance. As the book's title suggests, for some it is a fatal one.

I enjoyed this book. It moved along at the steady speed, gradually building up to an epic battle with the hexes. I liked the characters, particularly Larin Moxla, a disgraced trooper, and Jet Nebula, a smuggler who plays both ends.

But I just couldn't get past the similarity between the hexes and the replicators. As I read, in the back of my mind, I kept expecting SG-1 to emerge from the Stargate and sort things out.

I have been an avid reader of the 'expanded universe' of Star Wars since Timothy Zahn first released "Heir to the Empire" way back when. While it has certainly become a more diverse universe thanks to contributions of writers like Zahn, Stackpole, Anderson, and Tarviss (to name a few) it's often difficult to figure out where to have new readers start reading. I often think that reading in the chronological order will help alleviate some of the confuion that comes with reading into the expanded universe but there are times when novels pop up that would have taken place even earlier in the continuity of the overall story. "Fatal Alliance" on the other hand starts before any of the other tales currently in print in the expanded universe so it is probably as close to having a fresh start in the universe as a reader is likely to have.

That being said, I would compare it to the original "Star Wars" in the sense that the story of the original movie started right in the middle. We didn't know exactly who was who and what the exact relationships were but as the story moved along so did our understanding. "Fatal Alliance" is much the same. Set in the universe of the forthcoming game, the story takes place thousands of years before any of the movies and builds on some of what we've seen in trailers for the new game. The Republic is at war with the Sith Empire and the Jedi are trying to do their part to help keep the temporary peace that has fallen on the universe.

There are plenty of new characters and a lot of action sequences. While Sean Williams certainly delves a little more into the relationship of the Sith and their followers in this story; there's not much more than what you can find out in some of the Darth Bane novels. That being said I wouldn't say that this book is bad, but if you aren't familiar with even a little bit of what happened prior to the movies in the "Star Wars" universe, you're likely to be a bit lost. I would say at least a familiarity with the history of the Sith from the Darth Bane novels and the understanding of Mandalorian society that I formed from reading Karen Traviss's books will help you understand a lot more of what's going on.

Not falling into the trap of many "Star Trek" novels, this book, while dealing with the past, isn't based off of Luke Skywalker or other characters from the mainstream "Star Wars" universe reading up on history or interjecting their thoughts from the future into the past. That certainly goes a long way towards proving that you don't necessarily need the usual cast of characters to have an interesting story. Sean Williams has done a decent job of introducing us to a part of the "Star Wars" universe that will certainly become more real once the video game associated with it comes out later this year but at the very least, this book should whet your appetites.

I'm a big fan of the Old Republic setting. I've played Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, and read Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi, Vol. 1 and Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi, Vol. 2 - and recently started reading the Bane Trilogy.

Naturally, I was excited when I saw this book in paperback as I'm anticipating the upcoming Old Republic game and this book is allegedly a tie-in. This book is, to be frank, a complete disappointement. It's slowpaced, repetetive, the characters are bland with no one to root for (or really hate), and the dialogue is poor.

The plot involves a half dozen characters searching for a MacGuffin - there's a mysterious ship and the renegade parents of a sith apprentice. Eventually (many, many pages later), the plot evolves so that characters are forced to make tenuous alliances and work together to survive in an unforgiving environment. The usual lightsaber duels follow.

Not a bad setup for this kind of thing. The problem is that first 71 pages of the book are JUST set up. And have every character (several of whom are virtually indistinguishable, aside from Darth Chratis and Ax, I kept having to flip back and check who everyone else was) discuss the same thing over again with their circle of acquaintances. It gets worse, another problem is the fact that the author is excessively wordy and employs far too much dialogue. The author actually manages to make lightsaber battles boring. It should be a pulp book - you write succinctly, you create memorable heroes and villains, and you throw in a few cliffhangers, one-liners and exciting fight scenes that keep people reading.

I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt - perhaps he was constrained by a game treatment and requirements that certain game characters had to be used and additionally there don't seem to be any problems with the setting itself, where many Star Wars novelists go wrong. However, regardless, the book is awful and reads like fanfiction. I've read thousands of books in my life, and this is one of the few I can't bring myself to finish.

Not Recommended.

For other Old Republic novels, I'd strongly recommend the first two books in the rather excellent Bane trilogy (I haven't read the third book at the moment, but I'm looking forward to it)Path of Destruction (Star Wars: Darth Bane, Book 1), Rule of Two (Star Wars: Darth Bane, Book 2). They tie in more closely with the KOTOR games and are well-written, enjoyable and fast reading. The graphic novels Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi, Vol. 1 and Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi, Vol. 2 are also rather good and are the source of much of the lore that influences the Old Republic era (from outside KOTOR, of course).

This book was something totally different than the normal star war books, but it kept you on the edge of your seat the entire time. It had alot of action scene, with fierce battle descriptions, but the plot was genuis. I guess at the end of the day we all are accountable for our actions, and think that is where we're going in this novel.