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Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi Into the Void Book Review

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi Into the Void Book Review

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi – Into the Void

A Legends Expanded Universe Book Review


Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi – Into the Void, was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Tim Lebbon.

This novel is the first event on the Legends novel timeline. This tale begins the first era of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Before the Republic Era. It takes place 25,793 years before A New Hope.

SUMMARY: The Je’daii council on Tython has called upon Ranger Je’daii, Lanoree Brock, to take on a dangerous mission. She’s tasked with hunting down an individual who has intentions of following through on event that could possibly destroy the Tython system. It turns out that this individual is Dalien Brock, her own bother. It comes as a shock to her because, well… he’s supposed to be dead. Now it’s up to Lanoree to find her brother and put an end to his madness, even if she has to make his death a reality. CHARACTERS: The two characters I’d like to talk about are brother and sister, the protagonist and antagonist of the novel. Dalien Brock: He’s angry and irritated at the thought of the force. He’s a dreamer, a star gazer, always looking to the stars and wondering about his people’s past. When he was a child, those around him could see how distant he was from the force. With age brought madness, he wants to go beyond the Tython system, but in a way that puts all life… in danger. Lanoree Brock: She’s a Je’daii Ranger. She’s a bit of an odd one. She calls her ship home, it lacks comfort, which was pointed out by her “partner” on this mission. She loves her brother and doesn’t want to see him on such a dark and destructive path. She can’t help but constantly recall their childhood. OVERALL THOUGHTS: This book was ok. It wasn’t that good but it wasn’t that bad… just ok. I expected something completely different. With a title like Dawn of the Jedi, I was thinking this was going to be the discovery of the force or how the Jedi came to be. I was wrong. It’s just some random detective-like story with stakes that didn’t come across as legitimate. Heck, if the threat was potentially so devastating, why would the Je’daii only send one member to take out the threat? Oh, and take on this sidekick that can’t be trusted… what? So strange. This is ancient times is Star Wars and it didn’t really feel like it. How much had technology changed in the 25,000 years? Since the story is so old, shouldn’t this be more like a fantasy? Maybe like, some religious folk trekking across some planet, discovering the force, or even creating the Jedi order!? The chemistry between some of the characters was decent, like our antagonist and protagonist. But Tre Sana, Lanoree’s partner (for some reason) was strange and wasn’t very consistent with his personality. I enjoyed the flashbacks (there’s a lot… half the book), but the structure of the story can be confusing. Do I recommend you pick Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void? Not really. This novel took place 25,000+ years before A New Hope, but it does that ancient. RATING: Moving forward I have abandoned my previous rating scale of 1 to 5. Now, I’ll be rating by the old school grading scale, A through F. I give this book a D. It had some good things, but the stakes didn’t seem legit. Not a great novel to kick off the Legends timeline.

 

Star Wars: The Crystal Star Book Review

Star Wars: The Crystal Star Book Review

Star Wars: The Crystal Star Book Review

Star Wars: The Crystal Star, A New York Times Bestseller, written by Vonda N. McIntyre. This book… is not what I was wanting to come back to. You may vomit while reading this book. I thought the new canon book Aftermath was bad, this book takes bad to a whole new level.

SUMMARY

The children of Han and Leia have been kidnapped! Chewy was left for dead. While this was going on, Han was on “vacation” with Luke as he is on the search for more Jedi. There’s a character that pops up from the Han Solo trilogy… that was fun. Leia, the wounded Chewbacca, and R2 leave the planet called Munto Codru to track down the kidnappers. The antagonist, Hethrir has a plan to resurrect the Empire with himself being the all powerful leader. Occasionaly in the Expanded Universe, something drains the force from users. In this book, it’s a dying star… The Crystal Star.

I believe this may very well be the Star Wars book from hell. If you look at the picture from the back of the book, you’ll find hidden on the Falcon the number 666. Coincidence… I think not.

CHARACTERS

Character development is weak, C3PO couldn’t be more annoying and Luke less interesting. Luke is treated like a child, he’s not in his right mind really at all the entire book. He’s always confused or grabbing his light saber as a way to threaten Han. Han Solo, you want to punch his face in this book… because this, this isn’t the Han Solo we love.

Leia, comes off as a weak character, she seems desperate and not all there in the head, she’s like a crazy person. She’s always been cool and collected, but in The Crystal Star, she uses an alias,calling herself Lelila, a bounty hunter. Jaina Solo, I know she’s only a 5 year old, but my goodness she’s annoying.

Waru, a bloody blob with gold scales, with the power to hypnotize, heal, and even kill. Thats pretty much all that matters for the character of Waru. Hethrir is a crazy pedophile who creeps throughout the galaxy snatching up children. He finds out if they are force sensitive, so he may train them as his minions. If they don’t meet his requirements, he sells them to the highest bidding pedophile. How was Hethrir going to rule the galaxy with a bunch of kids? That’s possibly the dumbest plan ever.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Horrible detail and disappointing dialogue. In the 2nd chapter there’s what I thought was a cameo from Golem, “Has it got a coin in it’s pocketses for me?” The structure of each paragraph was odd, half the sentences in this book were nearly five words each! It reads very choppy, which makes the boring tale lag.

The climax matched the rest of the book, week. The family has an awkward reunion. There are about a hundred hugs happening. As the Solo family is reuniting and having a good time, some other side characters are having it out with emotions of anger and a bit of family love drama… very weird. The last line of the book was some kid asking, “Are we home yet?’ Thats not closure!

RATING

I give this book a 0 out of 5