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Traviss does a fine job at making the son of Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, former unofficial apprentice of Jacen Solo, and Jedi protégé seem more human and relatable with his reactions to the events that unfold around him. I appreciated that Traviss gave the reader an idea of how difficult Jacen's relationship with his family is and the pain that being away from them causes. As of now, the things that tie the Mandalorians with the rest of the plot are small and haven't played a huge role. I fear that the events will eventually become stale. I feel that the other authors of the Legacy of the Force series don't fully capture Jacen's relationship with his daughter and wife.they seem to make him rather cold and uncaring towards them, which I find to be a bit unrealistic. This is the comeback the series needed after the disappointment the last book was.
Yes, a main character died, but the "sacrifice" ended up being something that ran deeper than that character, something that was far more important to Jacen. Again, I was struck by how easy this all seemed and was surprised, once again, that the Galactic Alliance allowed Jacen's act to pass. While it was great to see something big and unexpected happen, the manner in which it happened seemed very off. However, it almost feels like they're stealing the spotlight from Jacen, Ben, the Jedi, and the plot that really matters.
Despite the stupidity of how Jacen was able to seize control, I'm interested to see how this will affect the rest of the series, as it is an interesting little twist. Overall, this is probably one of the best books of the series so far. As for the Legacy of the Force series so far, my interest in it has been renewed. As someone else mentioned, the Solo kids have practically been butchered in the AU so far (Anakin was killed, Jacen was turned, and Jaina has been written into obscurity), so it's nice to see that attempts are being made to give Ben a solid character. I enjoyed the fact that Traviss took the time to develop Ben's character a bit more, making him mature too fast and attempt to deal with all he's seen. One such example is his decision to visit Tenel Ka and Allana.
It would be great to see the two stories mesh at some point, if only so the Mandalorian plot can really become relevant. He succeeds (as is to be expected), but leaves the experience emotionally scarred, which is made worse when he overhears Jacen talking to Lumiya. There wasn't a lot of action, but the build up and the few action scenes at the end were fantastic. Overall, I was satisfied with the book's outcome and the various conclusions reached, but it was very slow in spots; not necessarily bad, just very slow. So, while the death of Mara was satisfying and a great asset to the plot, the death of Lumiya just didn't feel right. It is affirmed by the ship that Ben does not have the potential to be a Sith and can, therefore, not be Jacen's apprentice. Somehow, Jacen manages to finagle a political act that more or less allows him to do whatever he wants, including legally overthrowing the current government and inserting his own with him at the top.
I began to doubt it after Exile, but the events in this book were surprising and significant enough to rekindle my hope in the series. It also felt like it happened too fast given the significance of the event. Seeing as I read this book a couple of years after it came out, I already knew the overall outcome and which main, good character died. From there, a lot of Jacen's inner turmoil is based around his assumption that he must kill Ben as his ultimate sacrifice to becoming a Sith Lord. Spoilers follow. Traviss certainly knows the culture well and writes it convincingly enough to intrigue the character, and since Boba Fett and his people have largely been left out of the more recent Star Wars novels, I'm always pleased to read about them. And of course, while all this is going on, Boba Fett and the Mandalorians are doing their thing.
Jacen's sacrifice ended up being a twist that I certainly didn't see coming. While there isn't a lot of action and parts of the novel are slow (but not necessarily bad), the character moments are great, some highly significant events and deaths take place, and we get to see our favourite Mandalorians once again. Vader's beginnings, fall, and redemption all fit into six movies.does Jacen honestly need nine full-length novels. Ben is sent on his own special, emotionally challenging mission: specifically, assassinating Gejjen. Her eventual demise was inevitable, but I don't know that now (and by Luke's hand.especially by an out of character Luke) was the right time for it to happen. Boba Fett finally comes into contact with Jaing Skirata and eventually receives the cure to his aging problems.
I only hope something more happens to bring the two plots together. As with Bloodlines (Traviss's first book in the Legacy of the Force series), the focus is primarily split between two groups: Jacen, Ben, the GAG, and the Galactic Alliance (with brief appearances made by Luke, Mara, Leia, and-barely-Jaina) and Boba Fett and the Mandalorians (who end up getting a lot of screen-time.maybe a little too much). Jacen continues with his evil plot, eventually ousting Omas and seating himself and Niathal in the command seat of the Galactic Alliance, made legal by his political act. However, I didn't know how that death was reached, what other events were taking places, which of the other characters (if any) met their end, and, since this is a Karen Traviss book, what Boba Fett and the Mandalorians were up to. It just didn't feel right that Luke would let himself go like that, regardless of the situation. Not long after this, the first major quirk of the novel (to me, at any rate) came into play. Perhaps it is because I don't fully understand politics and frankly find them to be a bit boring, but this didn't really make sense to me. The moments leading up to her death were well written and gripping, making her final moment all the more satisfying.
I know that Mara is a favourite character to some readers, but I've personally felt that she was a mistake that needed to be rubbed out from her introduction to the Star Wars universe. The story flowed nicely from one plot element to the next. However, I do feel that they might be dragging it out a little too much. The second death, however, was a bit more unsatisfactory.
I enjoyed the Mandalorian story.both in this book and Bloodlines. It seemed like Traviss was trying to tie the Mandalorian plot line into the grand scheme of things by creating the alliance between the Mandalorians and Roche, which, while I was glad for the attempt, felt like a weak tie-in. I was pleased with the turn of events. Regarding who actually died, I was glad to see her go. Sacrifice picks up right where Exile left off, with Ben returning to Jacen in the Sith ship. His decision to visit them during the political turmoil he has caused was, to say the least, rash, but I found to be realistic given his recent mental state. I mean, do we really need nine books to cover Jacen's turn to the Dark Side (more if you count the Dark Nest Trilogy and the later NJO books). Much of Sacrifice is devoted to character building and really getting into the characters' heads to see how everything is affecting them and how they're being changed by their experiences, which is always a nice little break from the typical action-packed plots of Star Wars novels.
The Mandalorians find a large amount of beskar, which they use to their advantage by making a super-ship and forming an alliance with a nearby planet. It was refreshing to see something not turn out as fully expected. It just seemed ridiculous that the Galactic Alliance would be stupid enough to pass the act without seeing the possible outcomes.the whole thing practically screamed "danger." Has the Galactic Alliance really become so stupid. In a sense, Jacen is humanized by his various inner battles and decisions made because of his internal struggles.
Elsewhere, author Karen Traviss continues her love affair mission of re-establishing the Mandalores and Boba Fett to a feared power in the SW universe. The tension between Jacen and Niathal, the co-Chief of States now, begins to show cracking points. The secrets behind the scenes begin to break as Ben finally realizes what Jacen is willingly becoming and Lumiya figures out Jacen's parenting of Tenel Ka's daughter.
Overall, this whole book was a bit slow until Jacen heads for Hapes Cluster, then all the action takes off. The Boba Fett secondary story was actually rather useless and seems to be here just because Traviss has to include her favorite subject, Boba Fett and the Mandalorians. Prior to the trip, there was much more internal struggles as Ben must debate why he personally was needed to pull off the assassination of Corellia's Prime Minister and how he must deal with the sacrifice of one of his friends.
Reaching the midway point in this storyarc, GAG Colonel Jacen Solo and Admiral Niathal set into motion their 'legal' takeover of the Galactic Alliance by having the Corellian Prime Minister assassinated by Ben, and through sneaky legislation, Cal Omas is deposed as Chief of State of the GA. By the end of the book, the Skywalkers and Solos, sans Jacen, seem to be re-uniting which may make Jacen's prophesized sacrifice the biggest gamble of his journeys.Also included in this book is the eBook, A Practical Man, Karen Traviss' pre Yuuzhan Vong e-novella about Boba Fett. Mediocre for the most part but could be the big turn around point for this storyarc.
By the end of the book, a member of the current Jedi Council is slain and Jacen takes his biggest step to becoming a Sith and brandishes his new title of Darth Cadeus. We see little of Han and Leia and just a tiny smidgeon of Jaina, which is refreshing as we don't have to force every character into the story.
All the books in this seris are exeptional. This book is writen by Karen Traviss showing Jasen's inner strugle with himself and his outer strugle with the wrest of the jedi including Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker and his sister Jaina.
Showing Jasen's tranformation to the dark side and his sacrifice sealing Jasen's fate as darth Caedus. This book briges the first part of the seris to the second part of the seris very well.
This is a exelent book. This seris is writen by three diffrent authors: Troy Denning, Aaron Allston, and Karen Traviss.
A must read for any star wars fan.The force is strong in this one.P.s: Don't listen to the bad reviews. One of the best in a nine book seris: legasy of the force.
The whole seris is a exelent description of the events occouring after the Yuuzhan-vong wars.
Revenge, murder, and complete family and relational dysfuntion seems to be what's on tap. The Skywalker and Solo children come across as muderous brats who seem to have no knowledge or respect for any of the original Star Wars characters, not even their parents. I'm not sure I'll be reading any future books as this series and this book have just about killed my interest in any future Star Wars books. Out of all the books in the series, I found this one the most unrealistic and distasteful.
The Legacy of the Force series seems to be written by authors who want to do little but sHoW how far the main characters including the Solo and Skywalker clans and their children can justify murder and killing. It's like turning Star Wars into a soap opera. I see no attempt to follow what Lucas showed the dark and light side of the Force to be. There's hardly aNY likeable characters in the series.
I've read all the prequels, movie books, and all of the series of the Star Wars universe. What don't they just have all of the Solo and Skywalker family members betray and murder each other and finish all of the Star Wars universe. Luke seems full of doubt and then ends up taking vengeance completely out of his character. It's as if the writers wish Darth Vader was alive, but make his spirit alive in Ben, Jacen, Luke, and even Han who tries to kill his own brother.
JACEN: Jacen seems half-asleep the whole time, compared to his usual way of doing things and even thinking. Soap opera style: "Hey, i have something REALLY IMPORTANT to tell you." "Not now, I have to uh. He was a little boring this time though. For the book, in which Jacen becomes a "Dart Someone" i find it a little disappointing and weak. Some new mandos came to the picture as well (same Irish accent) - pretty cool."THE SHIP": Cool s**t. This is something that has been really pissing me off in the last 3-4 books from the series. I want one.Overall - it's not a bad book.
Actually I blame Ben for absolutely everything that has happen to Jacen, Mara, Luke and everyone else because of Jacen. All scam in my opinion.BOBA FETT: I like Boba Fett. And I still doubt that it worked. If Ben wasn't THAT much obsessed of keeping secrets things would've been totally different. ok."THE SACRIFICE (don't worry, no spoilers) - I could not believe what it was.
It's still an interesting one, but it lacks strong moments and rememberble quotes. like eat or something.Somewhere else." "Oh. with each other things wouldn't have gone that bad, but for some reason they insist to not inform absolutely anyone about absolutely anything. BEN: Ben is finally starting to act old enough (14) and the puberty does not completely blind him, but nothing major - he's still plain dumb. There were again many moments, where if people shared even a little info (duh.).
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