Book Review: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith SPOILERS!

On 2nd April 2005, Matthew Stover and Del Rey published the best-selling novel tie-in to Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It delves more into the psychological aspects of the main characters as they deal with the coming close of the Clone Wars. Synopsis: The turning point for the entire Star Wars saga is at hand… After years of civil war, the Separatists have battered the already faltering Republic nearly to the point of collapse. On Coruscant, the Senate watches anxiously as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine aggressively strips away more and more constitutional liberties in the name of safeguarding the Republic. Yoda, Mace Windu, and their fellow Masters grapple with the Chancellor's disturbing move to assume control of the Jedi Council. And Anakin Skywalker, the prophesied Chosen One, destined to bring balance to the Force, is increasingly consumed by his fear that his secret love, Senator Padmé Amidala, will die. As the combat escalates across the galaxy, the stage is set for an explosive endgame: Obi-Wan undertakes a perilous mission to destroy the dreaded Separatist military leader General Grievous. Palpatine, eager to secure even greater control, subtly influences public opinion to turn against the Jedi. And a conflicted Anakin—tormented by unspeakable visions—edges dangerously closer to the brink of a galaxy-shaping decision. It remains only for Darth Sidious, whose shadow looms ever larger, to strike the final staggering blow against the Republic… and to ordain a fearsome new Sith Lord: Darth Vader.

The novel opens with an introduction that sets up how the (original[1]) Clone Wars was going on, how, because of Jedi such as Depa Billaba (Star Wars: Shatterpoint (A Clone Wars novel) and Sora Bulq (Star Wars: Clone Wars Volumes 1, 4, and 8), the galactic peoples don't trust Jedi anymore, plus a recap of James Luceno's climactic battle of Coruscant (Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil) and Palpatine's capture by General Grievous. The Battle for Coruscant is detailed heavily in Karen Traviss's Order 66: A Republic Commando novel. For the next hundred pages, Anakin and Obi-Wan battle their way to Grevious' flagship, Invisible Hand, and attempt to rescue Palpatine. Dooku, meanwhile, has a conversation about the future of the Republic with Darth Sidious and it's revealed there that Sidious is Palpatine (not that it was that well hidden in the first place). Anakin and Obi-Wan duel with Dooku; Obi-Wan's knocked out and Palpatine orders Anakin to kill Dooku. Dooku tries to plea for his life, but Palpatine retorts that since Dooku tried to kill Anakin and Obi-Wan he (Dooku) must die. Anakin kills Dooku. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Palpatine, and R2-D2 get captured by Grievous. Obi-Wan, Anakin, and R2-D2 take the bridge and Grievous flees. Commander Lorth Needa alerts Jedi Grand Master Yoda about Anakin crashing Invisible Hand onto Coruscant. Mace Windu greets them and sees through his special gift of shatterpoint that Anakin, Palpatine, and Obi-Wan are heavily tied together.

Palpatine assures the few senators that come to greet him (Tundra Dowema, Fang Zar, Terr Taneel, Chi Eekway, Mon Mothma, Malé-Dee) that everything is fine. Now, that ship that you see in the movie that's a YT-1300 CEC ship that's supposed to be Millennium Falcon, is in fact that ship; why it's there is detailed in James Luceno's Star Wars: Millennium Falcon. Anakin finds out that Padmé's pregnant and Anakin soon has visions of Padmé dying. Anakin seeks advice from Yoda, but finds the aged Jedi Grand Master very unhelpful. Obi-Wan remarks that Anakin's late to the report on the Outer Rim Sieges: Saleucami has fallen (Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume VIII: The Last Siege, The Final Truth by John Ostrander) and that Jedi Master Quinlan Vos has moved his troops to Boz Pity for a refit before joining Master Luminara Unduli on Kashyyyk after Delta Squad and Jedi Knight Etain Tur-Mukan wrap up sabotaging the CIS's stronghold to pave the way for the GAR to move in, which Delta Squad (Star Wars: Republic Commando) is currently wrapping up. Obi-Wan tells Anakin that Palpatine wants to see him. Palpatine orders the Jedi Council to appoint Anakin to the Council, which they do, but give Anakin no vote since he's a representative for Palpatine. Anakin fumes at this, but Obi-Wan tells him that the Council approved this for Anakin to find Darth Sidious, whom the Jedi tracked to 500 Republica when the Battle for Coruscant began (the events of Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil).

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and Mace bid Yoda farewell as he goes to join Vos, Unduli, and Tur-Mukan on Kashyyyk. Anakin meets with Palpatine in the Galaxies Opera, where (in the movie, anyway) you can see important figures such as Romeo Treblanc, Chi Eekway, Papanoidia, all watching Squid Lake, a Mon Calamari water ballet. Palpatine brings up that Republic Intelligence discovered General Grievous on Utapau (detailed in Star Wars: Order 66); he also brings up some Sith lore, especially about a Sith Lord named Darth Palgueis and how he could use the Force to create life and save people, but himself. Bail, Mon Mothma, Padmé, Chi Eekway, Terr Taneel, Fang Zar start the beginnings of what will become the Rebel Alliance. Anakin informs the Council and they assign Obi-Wan the task of taking out Grievous. Obi-Wan, after talking with port master Tion Medon, locates Greivous. They fight and Obi-Wan bests him, then chases him across the sinkholes until Obi-Wan finally kills Grievous with a gun, noting how uncivilized this was. The 212th Attack Battalion arrive to fight the CIS droids. Cody informs the Council that Grievous is dead and Mace sends Anakin to inform Palpatine. Palpatine tells Anakin that he's Darth Sidious; Anakin's too fragile to deal with this and, shakily, informs Mace of the fact. Mace gets Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar, and Kit Fisto to go and arrest Palpatine. Palpatine stages a fake recording, then kills Tiin and Kolar, before dueling Fisto and Mace. Anakin arrives to watch Mace and Palpatine battle it out; Anakin prevents Mace from killing Palpatine, and Sidious uses Force Lightning on Mace to kill the Jedi Master.

Sidious names Anakin Darth Vader, then sends him to kill every Jedi in the Temple; Anakin kills Gate Master Jurokk, Whie Malreaux, Bene then hunts down Shaak Ti, Cin "The Troll" Drallig, and others, even children. Order 66, a contingency order, is executed on the biggest battlefields: Mygeeto, where Ki-Adi-Mundi dies; Felucia, where Aalya Secura and Barriss Offee die; Kashyyyk, where Luminara Unduli dies and Quinlan Vos is rendered unconscious; Cato Neimoidia, where Plo Koon dies; Saleucami, where Stass Allie dies--just to name a few. Obi-Wan, after hours, manages to escape Utapau via Grievous's secondary hidden ship. Bail Organa, having managed to sneak off Coruscant after the Jedi Rebellion, finds Yoda in an escape pod and gathers both him and Obi-Wan to smuggle them back to Coruscant. Obi-Wan rewrites Emergency Code 913 to warn any surviving Jedi away from Coruscant; this was left in the movie to provide an excuse for the Expanded Universe where Vos, Jerec, Qu Rahn, Empatojayos Brand, Vima da-Boda, An'ya "Dark Woman" Kuro, K'Kruhk, Sian Jeisel, and dozens of others survived. Vader arrives on Mustafar and kills the Separatist leaders, saying to Nute Gunray that "The transmission was garbled. [Sidious] said you would be left in pieces." Palpatine, before the Galactic Senate, declares the Jedi enemies of the state and announces that the Galactic Republic will become the Galactic Empire that will last for 10,000 years; Padmé prevents Bail from trying to stop this because Fang Zar, Malé-Dee and the others were arrested for treason. Obi-Wan and Yoda learn that Anakin became Darth Vader and serves under Darth Sidious. Yoda goes to take on Sidious while Obi-Wan smuggles himself aboard Padmé's shuttle to Mustafar to confront Anakin.

Yoda gets his ass handed to him; Anakin Force Chokes Padmé, then duels Obi-Wan in a failing Techno Union facility. Obi-Wan lops off Anakin's remaining organic limbs, takes Anakin's lightsaber, then leaves him to burn on the lava bank. Sidious arrives and spirits Anakin back to the Emperor Palpatine Surgical Reconstruction Center on Coruscant to encase Anakin in a suit of armor; Anakin demands to know where Padmé is and Sidious says that Vader killed her. Vader rages at Palpatine but can't kill him as he's no longer strong enough. On Polis Massa, the medics help Padmé birth Luke, then Leia; before she dies, she tells Obi-Wan that there's still good in Anakin. They drop Padmé's body off at Naboo where she has a state funeral. Bail takes Leia to his wife, Queen Breha, on Alderaan to raise as his daughter. Yoda, in an escape pod, returns to Dagobah where he'd dueled a Bpfasshi Dark Jedi many years ago. Darth Vader joins Darth Sidious on a bridge of a Star Destroyer to observe the construction of the Death Star with a sector governor named Wilhuff Tarkin. On Tatooine, Obi-Wan rides an eopie to the Lars homestead and delivers Luke to Owen and Beru. Then, Obi-Wan rides off into the Judland Wastes to make a life as a small time moisture farmer (the events will be detailed in Star Wars: Kenobi by John Jackson Miller this 27th August 2013).

All in all, a decently paced novel that delves into Obi-Wan Kenobi's mind, as well as Anakin's, Padmé's, Mace Windu's, General Grievous', Count Dooku's, Bail Organa's, C-3PO's, and, abstractly, Darth Sidious/Palpatine. It is an inspired novel that branches out to connect the vast majority of the plot points left dangling, though some things aren't resolved, such as the surviving Jedi. The Expanded Universe wrapped up those with such works as Dark Force II: Jedi Knight, The Thrawn Trilogy, The Dark Empire Trilogy, Dark Times comic series, Last of the Jedi series, and others. Stover proved once again why many fans love him; both his previous works Star Wars: Traitor, and Star Wars: Shatterpoint are still acclaimed novels by the fans. Stover did what Lucas couldn't--produce the tragic downfall of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader and how his choices shattered the galaxy.

[1] The original multimedia project: the Clone Wars novels, games, and the 2002-2004 TV show (not the current CG animated show)

Book Review: Honor Harrington: War of Honor SPOILERS!

In 2002, David Weber published the tenth novel in the epic Honor Harrington saga. This time, peace is the word, but can it be maintained? Synopsis: No one wanted another war. Thomas Theisman didn't. After risking his life and a fresh round of civil war to overthrow the Committee of Public Safety's reign of terror and restore the Republic of Haven's ancient Constitution, an interstellar war was the last thing he wanted. Baron High Ridge didn't. The Prime Minister of Manticore was perfectly happy with the war he had. No one was shooting anyone else at the moment, and as long as he could spin out negotiations on the formal treaty of peace, his government could continue to milk all those "hostilities only" tax measures for their own partisan projects. His Imperial Majesty Gustav didn't. Now that the fighting between the Star Kingdom and the Havenites had ended, the Andermani Emperor had his own plans for Silesia, and he was confident he could achieve them without a war of his own. Protector Benjamin didn't. His people had made too deep a commitment to the Manticoran Alliance, in blood as well as treasure, for him to want to risk seeing it all thrown away. And Honor Harrington certainly didn't. The "Salamander" had seen the inside of too many furnaces already, knew too much about how much war cost. Unfortunately, what they wanted didn't matter....

The novel opens with several people in different places noting certain things (the Andermani note increased pirate activity in the Silesian Confederacy; Admiral Lester Tourville notes unusual merchantmen; the crew of Manticoran Space Station Hephaestus discovers a way to crack the Seventh Terminus). On Grayson, Lady Dame Steadholder Honor Harrington and Captain Michelle "Mike" Henke talk politics. On Nouveau Paris, President Eloise Pritchard complains about Manticore's High Ridge government dragging their feet about the peace terms to Admiral Thomas Theisman. Back at Saganami Island, Honor once again embraces the role of mentor and, during a shooting practice, meets up with Admiral Hamish Alexander (White Haven) and they talk politics over lunch. The Andermani point out the pirate activity in Silesea to the Manticorans. Reginald Houseman and Edward Janacek (the current First Lord of the Admiralty) talk about retiring naval ships; High Ridge continues to drag his feet with the peace talks and furthers his personal campaign to screw over the Star Kingdom of Manticore, the San Martino's, the Graysonites, the Republic of Erewhon and he and his cronies agree to slander both White Haven and Honor, by saying that Hamish is cheating on Lady Emily Alexander (Lady White Haven) with Honor.

Honor meets with Hamish and William "Willie" Alexander and discuss High Ridge's wrecking proposals; Willie tells them both about High Ridge's plan to eliminate them publicly will come from slander-journalist Soloman Hayes and that it will say that Honor and Hamish are having an affair. Despite their outrage, there seems to be nothing for them to do to counter the lies. Everyone in the House of Lords believes it. Janacek learns that the Andermani Empire is moving on Silesea. Admiral Theisman and Vice Admiral Shannon Foraker discuss the stalled peace talks and the possibility of war. Hamish tells Honor that Emily would like to meet her and help both of them through the political shit-storm; the treecat Samantha (Nimitz's wife) adopts Hamish. Upon meeting, Emily tells Honor that she knows how she (Honor) and Hamish feel toward each other; after a few hours, and with patience and planning, Emily helps them to fight back. At a party, Emily verbally kicks the journalists in their collective balls for daring to suggest that her good friend Honor and her (Emily's) husband are sleeping with each other. High Ridge, Countess New Keiv, Elaine Descroix, Earl Stefan Young (12th Earl of North Hollow), and Janacek--along with Lady North Hollow--agree to hot Honor on her emotional side and send her back to the Silesian Confederacy and hope she gets killed.

Honor gets the old team back together and goes to find out what Andermani Emperor Gustav XI wants with the Silesian Confederacy. Honor learns from Protector Benjamin IX that the Peeps have an operation called Bolthole and that the Erewhonese are considering jumping ships and allying with the Peeps. Theisman and Pritchard discuss Jason Giancola screwing her on what's really happening in the Silesian Confederacy. Francis Jurgensen spies on Bolthole and reports this. High Ridge and his cronies debate what to do and settle for calculations of how much money they can slowly siphon back into the military and naval budget. Negotiations continue spiraling to disaster as the High Ridge government refuses to move fast enough. Theisman puts Operation Thunderbolt into action. During a session of the Lords, the majority demand through White Haven to know what Pritchard's peace agreements were about and Countess New Keiv is pissed that she was forced to answer. New Keiv complains to High Ridge and cronies. After one disastrous battle in the Silesian Confederacy, and Andermani Admiral Grafschaft Sternhafen's denial of Honor's report, Admiral Herzogtum Rabenstrange berates Sternhafen for his (Sternhafen's) and Captain Gortz's stupidity. With tensions mounting all around, Giancola continues to sabotage the peace talks. Honor finds evidence of Peep infiltration in Silesea.

High Ridge and his cronies aren't pleased with Honor's report or Pritchard's final demand. White Haven visits Janacek under orders from Queen Elizabeth and demands to find out what the Royal Manticoran Navy plans to do about the Havenite presence in Silesea; Janacek tells him to "fuck off" and "go to Hell!" White Haven threatens to go to the media and Janacek tells him that reinforcements aren't possible; White Haven storms out. Current First Space Lord Admiral Simon Chakrabarti also demands that something happen at Sidemore Station which Janacek dismisses--even going so far as to insult the Grayson Space Navy. Chakrabarti resigns in protest to the refusal to do anything. Once more, High Ridge and company refuse Pritchard's terms rather provocatively. The Graysonites agree with White Haven on the politics as does Elizabeth. Giancola tries to talk Pritchard down from war, but she won't have it; Giancola suddenly realizes that he and Yves Grosclaude have royally fucked up. Anton Zilwicki and his wife Cathy Montaigne confront Lady Earl North Hollow--who is none other that Elaine Komandorski--and force her to flee the Star Kingdom of Manticore and give her a three day head start before they inform the local authorities and the Audubon Ballroom. Doing so requires that she destroy the North Hollow files.

Honor goes to meet Rabenstrange and tells him everything she's gathered. Rabenstrange passes the intelligence data to Emperor Gustav. The Graysonites charge through the Manticore Wormhole Junction to back up Trevor's Star's ships. High Ridge berates Janacek for stupidly rejecting Grayson help and admits that he can't tell how this will play out. War breaks out at Grendelsbane Station and the Second Havenite-Manticoran War starts. High Ridge informs Queen Elizabeth of this and she flatly refuses to back him in combining political forces. Tourville's forces are ambushed trying to destroy Honor's forces at Sidemore Station when the Protecter's Own jumps in and open fire. Tourville, after sustaining heavy losses, flees. After Silesea and Grendelsbane, Elaine Decroix, New Keiv, High Ridge, and North Hollow resign form their posts and from the government--Janacek commits suicide. White Haven's government takes over. In a surprising turn of events, the Erewhonese--thanks to the policies of High Ridge--break from the Star Kingdom of Manticore and join with the People's Republic of Haven and the Andermani Empire joins forces with the Star Kingdom. At the end, Emily--with help from Samantha--encourages Honor and White Haven to love each other and stop beating around the bush.

All in all, a great novel that really captures both sides trying to find peace while being retroactively screwed over by their own people. Wonderful prose, great characterizations, and nice acknowledgement of Crown of Slaves and a subtle nod to The Shadow of Saganami. David Weber continues to bring imagination to the series at large. Bravo.

Book Review: Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy Volume II: Dark Force Rising SPOILERS!

In June 1992, Timothy Zahn published the bestselling sequel to the New York Times Bestselling Star Wars: Heir to the Empire. The novel fully explores the Star Wars galaxy, adding many new species, people, and technology. Synopsis: The number-one New York Times bestselling Heir to the Empire was the publishing event of the year, the first novel to continue the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo, beyond the events of the most popular trilogy in movie history. Now comes Dark Force Rising, the second volume of a three-book cycle authorized by Lucasfilm Ltd. and written by Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn. Five years after the events of Return of the Jedi, the fragile Republic that was born with the defeat of Darth Vader, the Emperor, and the infamous Death Star stands threatened from within and without. The dying Empire's most cunning and ruthless warlord—Grand Admiral Thrawn—has taken command of the remnants of the Imperial fleet and launched a massive campaign aimed at the Republic's destruction. With the aid of unimaginable weapons long hidden away by the Emperor on a backwater planet, Thrawn plans to turn the tide of the battle, overwhelm the New Republic, and impose his iron rule throughout the galaxy. Meanwhile, dissension and personal ambition threaten to tear the Republic apart. As Princess Leia—pregnant with Jedi twins—risks her life to bring a proud and lethal alien race into alliance with the Republic, Han and Lando Calrissian race against time to find proof of treason inside the highest Republic Council—only to discover instead a ghostly fleet of warships that could bring doom to their friends and victory to their enemies. But most dangerous of all is a new Dark Jedi, risen from the ashes of a shrouded past, consumed by bitterness…and thoroughly, utterly insane. Now he schemes to use his awesome mastery of the Force to summon young Skywalker, allay his misgivings, cunningly enthrall him, and ultimately corrupt him to the Dark Side. A tale of brilliant spectacle, startling revelations, and tumultuous action, Dark Force Rising moves with the speed of light across a dazzling epic landscape of galactic proportions, from world to world, from adventure to adventure, as Good and Evil clash across the vastness of space "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...."


Because of how the Battle of Sluis Van went, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Captain Gilad Pellaeon search the planet Myrkr for smuggler Talon Karrde. Karrde, at the edge of the system, flees with his crew, including Mara Jade--a former Emperor's Hand. On Sluis Van, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, and Luke Skywalker try to find evidence of the mysterious Delta Source at the planet New Cov. At New Cov, it is believed that one of Senator Borsk Fey'lya's advisers is a traitor to the New Republic for Thrawn, and is thus a primary suspect for Delta Source. But before Han, Lando and Luke can find any real evidence to whether or not Fey'lya's adviser is a traitor, the three of them soon find out that Thrawn's forces have arrived on the planet. They manage to escape, and Han and Lando are saved by a third party, which takes them to an unknown location where they meet the legendary General Garm bel Iblis, one of the initial members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Bel Iblis disagrees to help the New Republic defeat Thrawn on account of personal problems with Chief of State Mon Mothma.

Luke heads to Jomark and meets the insane Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth--a clone of Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth--who beings to complete Luke's training. Luke notices that C'baoth's version of what a Jedi should be--C'baoth believes that all living beings are meant to serve Jedi and that the Jedi can impose their will on the people--differs vastly from what Obi-Wan and Yoda taught him. Meanwhile, Karrde gets captured by Thrawn and Mara, despite her longing to kill Luke, goes to Jomark to get Luke to help her rescue Karrde. C'baoth is furious that Luke is leaving and tries to attack. Thanks to an ysalamiri that she brought with her, Mara and Luke defeat C'baoth and they infiltrate Chimaera to rescue Karrde. Despite encountering armed stormtroopers, they manage to escape. Leia Solo, meanwhile, keeps her promise to Khabarakh and she, Khabarakh, Chewbacca, and C-3PO head to Honoghr. Once there, Leia manages to get the entire Noghri race to side with the New Republic against Thrawn by exposing the fact that it was the Empire that devastated Honoghr, not the Alliance. (In the actual timeline and chronology of events, it was General Grievous who did this atrocity during the Clone Wars.)

After a race against time, the New Republic finds out via Karrde that he exposed the secret of the legendary Katana fleet to Thrawn under torture. This fleet can supposedly grant Thrawn total infallible military power that will ultimately cripple the New Republic. Borsk and Leia take a New Republic task force whose crew members are loyal to Fey'la to the location of the Katana Fleet. Once they get there, they find Luke, Karrde, Lando, and Han trying to stave off Thrwan's forces form taking the last ten ships. Wedge Antilles leads Rogue Squadron to lend them a hand while the heroes secure the rest of the ships. Karrde tricks Fey'lya into admitting that he only agreed to come out here for political reasons and that "honor is outdated." The crew hears this and locks Fey'lya up; Mara brings in Karrde's forces and, after a battle, manage to destroy a couple of the ships Thrawn was taking, but ultimately, Thrawn ends up with the majority of the Katana fleet. Mara is rendered unconscious during the fight and the heroes take her to Coruscant where Karrde leaves her in the care of Leia; his best slicer, Zakarisz Ghent stays behind too.

All in all, a wonderful novel crafted by Timothy Zahn in the glory days of the Bantam Spectra decade. Timothy Zahn brought a sense of wonder and excitement back to Star Wars. Great pacing, wonderful characters, thrilling action scenes, this novel is must read for all fans of Star Wars.