Book Review: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance SPOILERS!

The first ever The Old Republic novel is penned by Sean Williams. Don't let the following synopsis fool you, though. It doesn't happen like that till half-way through the novel, much like a Kevin J. Anderson novel. It also contains one big discrepancy: Satele Shan is listed as the Grand Master when the events of the trailer Deceived take place weeks before—that's what the book leads one to believe, anyway—when she was a Jedi Padawan. Synopsis: From across the galaxy they've come: agents of both the Republic and the Sith Empire, an investigating Jedi Padawan, an ex-trooper drummed out of the Republic's elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian. An extraordinary auction has drawn them all together—in quest of a prize only one can claim. Each is prepared to do what he must to possess the treasure, whose value may be the wealth of a world itself. None intended to leave empty-handed. All have secrets, desires, and schemes. An nothing could ever unite them as allies—except the truth about the deadly danger of the object they covet. But can Sith and Jedi, Republic and Empire—enemies for millennia—join as one against the certain doom of the galaxy?

The novel opens in Wild Space, where Jet Nebula, in the Auriga Fire, has captured the Cinzia. After a failed attempt to board it, Jet pilots the Fire away as Cinzia explodes. They scan the wreckage and notice something. On Coruscant, Jedi Padawan Shigar Konshi storms through the skywalks on a mission for the Order, seething from his meeting with the Jedi Council on Tython where they passed over him for testing in the Trials to become a Knight. A violent confrontation takes place in a nearby warehouse where former Republic trooper Larin Moxla confronts the sole survivor, and instigator, of the conflict, Mandalorian warrior Dao Stryver. After a brief fight with each other, Shigar and Larin team up to find Styver and figure out what Cinzia and Lema Xandret mean. On Dromund Kaas, in Kaas City, Sith apprentice Eldon Ax, recently returned from failed a mission her master Sith Lord Darth Chratis sent her on, is asked by the Dark Council and Chratis about the mission. She reports failure but Darth Howl is lenient and demands that Chratis tell Eldon everything. Eldon is Cinzia nad her mother was Lema and all that was being blocked by Chratis. From Imperial Intelligence, they learn that the cargo of the Cinzia ended up on Nal Hutta, in an auction the Hutts are holding. A Sith spy within the Republic, Ula Vii, hears rumors about Lema and the Cinzia and passes it to his Imperial masters where Chratis and Eldon are about to depart for Hutt Space.

All four journeys are made: Shigar and Larin, Chratis and Eldon, Ula, and Stryver. They all meet in a violent clash of interests that ends up with a small group of hexagonal droids attacking them. Though they're destroyed, Stryver escapes with Cinzia's navicomputer. Eldon copies the memory hardware from one of the destroyed droids that might lead back to Cinzia's point of origin. Shigar and Larin deal with the primary Hutt auctioneer, Tassaa Bareesh, during the aftermath of the violence oer Cinzia's contents. They make a deal with the Hutt and are allowed to leave and continue with their journey.With a complemement of Bareesh's own guardds, Jet and Ula, Shigar is able to retrace the origin points via the Force. They leave for the origin planet, Sebaddon, located near a black hole on the very edge of the galaxy. The hexagonal droids seem too pwerful to stop, so the Republic and Empire fleets team up and destroy the droids, in spite of the problems between them. Plus Eldon and Satele accidentally kill a clone of Eldon who'd been unknowingly controlling the hex army. Eldon takes control of the hexes herself and commands them to kill Darth Chratis then orders the droids to destroy themselves in the lava of Sebaddon. The alliance breaks and the Republic and the Empire plunge back into war.The primary character's lives change for the better, including Eldon who is taken under the wing of Darth Howl.

All in all, a less than stellar Star Wars novel penned by one of the most mediocre authors for the franchise. The characters are stale and unmoving in their beliefs and literally are just one-dimensional characters that are cardboard cutouts. Other than the events, nothing really happens with the characters that makes the reader want to read this.

Book Review: Star Wars: The Clone Wars: No Prisoners SPOILERS!

Karen Traviss's second and last novel in the Clone Wars TV series spin-off novels, it holds some of the best work by Karen, if being a bit on the slim side. Published in May 2009, five months before she was fired from writing any more Star Wars novels, it was perhaps one of her best. Synopsis: The Clone Wars rage on. As insurgent Separatists fight furiously to wrest control of the galaxy from the Republic, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine cunningly manipulates both sides for his own sinister purposes. Torrent Company’s Captain Rex agrees to temporarily relieve Anakin Skywalker of Ahsoka, his ubiquitous—and insatiably curious—Padawan, by bringing her along on a routine three-day shakedown cruise aboard Captain Gilad Pellaeon’s newly refitted assault ship. But the training run becomes an active—and dangerous—rescue mission when Republic undercover agent Hallena Devis goes missing in the middle of a Separatist invasion. Dispatched to a distant world to aid a local dictator facing a revolution, Hallena finds herself surrounded by angry freedom fighters and questioning the Republic’s methods–and motives. Summoned to rescue the missing operative who is also his secret love, Pellaeon—sworn to protect the Republic over all—is torn between duty and desire. And Ahsoka, sent in with Rex and six untested clone troopers to extract Hallena, encounters a new and different Jedi philosophy, which shakes the foundation of her upbringing to the core. As danger and intrigue intensify, the loyalties and convictions of all involved will be tested....

The novel opens with a first person point of view of Captain Gilad Pellaeon as he prepares for Clone Captain Rex of the 501st Legion and Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who is on leave from Anakin Skywalker. On the planet JanFathal, Republic Intelligence agent Hallena Devis is assigned to help the fascist government keep its people from from siding with the Separatists. Pellaeon's taking his ship, the Acclamator-class assault ship Leveler out on a shakedown run in the Fath sector when Rex and Ahsoka arrive. Pelleaon tells Ahsoka to change into proper Republic uniform, since a teenager dressing like a slut is wrong in Pellaeon's eyes. In Athar, the capital of JanFathal, Hallena is given a job of sweeping and meets Merish Hath and Shil Kaval, the leaders of the pro-Separatist group, and is invited to join in their rebellion. On Coruscant, Anakin and Padme enjoy a couple of days with each other. On Leveler, Pelleaon and Rex are alerted to CIS forces jumping into the Fath system. On the planet, Merish and Shil announce that the revolution has arrived. In the cargo vessel Wookiee Gunner, Jedi Master Djinn Altis, Callista Ming, and Geith Eris and a few other members of Altis' Jedi sect, debating Yoda's "old school" philosophy.

The revolution of JanFathal has started and Republic Intelligence wants an update but Hallena's unable to respond and gets knocked unconscious by a passing hovertruck as the Separatists invade. On Coruscant, Anakin gets a call from Rex about the situation and Anakin feels uneasy. He departs Coruscant for the Fath system. Shil and Merish find out about Hallena being an operative and hold her hostage but she transmits an emergency message to any nearby ships, warning of the invasion. Altis, aboard Wookiee Gunner, shows up and docks with Leveler. Altis passes the message along and RepInt says that it's Hallena Devis on JanFathal. Pellaeon believes himself to be too close to this and asks Rex to handle the rescue operation and in the meantime, they're going to wait for Intel to catch up to them. Pellaeon gives Altis a pen he borrowed from Hallena so Altis can get a clear sense of her. Rex, Ahsoka, Callista and the 501st Torrent Company descend to JanFathal, Altis homing in on her life force. Callista and Ahsoka protect Torrent Company's flank while they charge into the regent's palace to rescue Hallena. During a philosophical talk, Ahsoka becomes upset when she learns that Altis' Jedi haven't fallen to the dark side nor have any of the other major Force groups: The Witches of Dathomir (not the Nightsisters and Nightbrothers), the Baran Do, the Jal Shey, the Zeison Sha, and dozens of others. Altis distracts Merish and Shil while Rex rolls in a stun grenade and extract Hallena.

Vere dies and the others try to pack it in to get off and manage to ex-filtrate JanFathal. Anakin arrives and escorts the shuttle to Leveler but a Separatist vessel give Leveler chase. Anakin breaks off and goes to stall the Seps while Leveler tries to get away. Before the shuttle gets close to Leveler, it jumps away. Sergeant Coric powers the shuttle down as it won't do Anakin any good in a fight. Anakin makes the choice to land back on JanFathal. Meanwhile, Pellaeon is swearing up a storm about how the nacomputers just fritzed out. Anakin and the others make a plan to steal a CR-20 troop carrier from the Seps and escape in case Leveler and Pellaeon can't make it back to the Fath system in time. Leveler jumps back in time to get the CR-20 docked before plotting a jump to Kemla but the Separatists are still on their tail. Callista falls deep into the Force and uses her skills with electronics to disable the Separatist ships while the Leveler gets away.  Hallena walks away from the Republic and joins Altis while Altis and Anakin talk about hypothetical and philosophical stuff. In the end, Altis and his Jedi are on Yarille, helping out the locals recovering from a battle.

All in all, a decent, fast paced novel from Karen Traviss that adds the necessary depth to the TV show. And it did so in a way that most anti-Traviss Star Wars fans didn't feel preached at. I'd recommend this for any fan of Star Wars.

Book Review: Star Wars: Red Harvest SPOILERS!

Okay, so it's not exactly a part of The Old Republic MMO tie-ins, but Red Harvest is set within that era. Horror author Joe Schrieber made his second debut in the Star Wars galaxy in 2010. This is a book about zombies, just like he did in Death Troopers. Yeah, A zombie novel. How pathetic and boring and unoriginal. This is the nth version of a zombie-like incident happening within this galaxy. Schrieber could've done better. Synopsis: The era of the Old Republic is a dark and dangerous time, as Jedi Knights valiantly battle the Sith Lords and their ruthless armies. But the Sith have disturbing plans—and none more so than the fulfillment of Darth Scabrous’s fanatical dream, which is about to become nightmarish reality. Unlike those other Jedi sidelined to the Agricultural Corps—young Jedi whose abilities have not proved up to snuff—Hestizo Trace possesses one extraordinary Force talent: a gift with plants. Suddenly her quiet existence among greenhouse and garden specimens is violently destroyed by the arrival of an emissary from Darth Scabrous. For the rare black orchid that she has nurtured and bonded with is the final ingredient in an ancient Sith formula that promises to grant Darth Scabrous his greatest desire. But at the heart of the formula is a never-before-seen virus that’s worse than fatal—it doesn’t just kill, it transforms. Now the rotting, ravenous dead are rising, driven by a bloodthirsty hunger for all things living—and commanded by a Sith Master with an insatiable lust for power and the ultimate prize: immortality . . . no matter the cost.

The novel opens 3,645 years before the Battle of Yavin (Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope) with one-dimensional zombie movie characters training in the ways of the Sith on a planet called Odacer-Faustin. One of the students, Nickter, gets wounded and goes missing. Apparently, he's the fourth to go missing this year. It's also apparent that the Sith temple's Sith Lord, Darth Scabrous, has kidnapped Nickter and uses him to experiment on, seeking a way to live forever. On Marfa, Hestizo Trace and the black Murakami orchid she's watching over are kidnapped and taken to Odacer-Faustin. Returning from Geonosis, Jedi Knight Rojo Trace arrives on Marfa to find his sister has been kidnapped and Joe Schrieber copies Liam Neeson's line from the movie Taken as he threatens the people who stole her and the orchid. Jura sneaks into Scabrous' lab and finds Nickter being pumped with liquid and die. Nickter's body then sits up and chases Jura and bites him. Lussk beats a fellow student and tosses him in a pit with Nickter and Jura's dead body and leaves the student to die. The student, Na'at, survived and heads to the infirmary. Meanwhile, another student, Scopique, sees the animated body of Jura charge and bite him. Thirty students arrive and both Jura and Scopique's bodies attack them.

Lussk traps more students in the dining hall and the zombies attack in a raving horde and Lussk becomes one of them. Scabrous learns of his error and has his ship prepped to leave after he kills Hestizo. Rojo has infiltrated the Sith academy and sees the Sith-zombies eat the trainers. Scabrous kills the academy's librarian to draw Hestizo and the Whipid bounty hunter to him. Ra'at becomes a zombie and Maggs puts him down with Force Lightning. Tulkh, the bounty hunter, finds Scabrous' HK assassin droid and together, they hold off the zombies and make their way to Tulkh's ship. Kindra betrays Maggs to the zombie-forms of the Sith trainer and Hartwig. Scabrous wants to kill Hestizo and eat her heart, performing the last bit of a ritual the ancient Sith Lord Darth Drear has discovered only too late to remain immortal. The zombies use Kindra to destroy a ship that had landed days ago and feast on her. Tulkh gets spittle from a zombie-tauntuan in his eye. Scabrous kills Rojo and Hestizo kills Scabrous. Tulkh, HK, and Frode rescue Hestizo and become trapped inside Tullkh's ship as the zombies activate the academy's defenses. HK sacrifices itself to destroy the defenses, taking all the zombies with it. Frode takes the ship out and Hestizo finds Tulkh beginning to transform. He orders her to space him and she does when Lussk jumps out of the shadows. Both Lussk and Tulkh are sucked into space. Frode and Hestizo head back to Mafra so she can say she's leaving to finish her Jedi training. The two of them leave for the Jedi Temple.

A rather overhyped novel (at the time) that readers quickly see has no plot (just like every zombie-related thing out there) and no character development. I know the majority of the cast is Sith, but come on. None of the rest of the Sith Lords act completely alike. A less than mediocre novel that has tied its bloody hands with the current MMO for Star Wars.