World Famous Comics: Betrayal (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 1)
Betrayal (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 1)
By: Aaron Allston Publisher: Del Rey Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Del Rey Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 496 Publication Date: May 01, 2007 Release Date: May 01, 2007
Product Description: “[Betrayal] blasts off a new string of adventures starring beloved Star Wars familiars . . . this new installment should please Star Wars fans.” –Publishers Weekly
Honor and duty collide with friendship and blood ties as the Skywalker and Solo clans find themselves on opposing sides of an explosive conflict.
When a mission to uncover an illegal missile factory on the planet Adumar ends in a violent ambush–from which Jedi Knight Jacen Solo and his protégé and cousin, Ben Skywalker, narrowly escape with their lives–it’s the most alarming evidence yet that political unrest is threatening to ignite into total rebellion. The specter of full-scale war looms between a growing cadre of defiant planets and the Galactic Alliance that some fear is becoming a new Empire.
Determined to root out those behind the mayhem, Jacen follows a trail of cryptic clues to a rendezvous with the most shocking of revelations. Meanwhile Luke grapples with something even more troubling: dream visions of a shadowy figure whose Force power and ruthlessness remind him of Darth Vader. If Luke’s visions come to pass, they will bring untold pain to the Jedi Master . . . and to the galaxy.
So much potential, so little offered... I had not read a Star Wars novel in quite a while, which is exactly why I decided to pick up the first book in the Legacy of the Force series. However, this beginning seemed quite bland. If not for my big interest in the Star Wars universe, I probably would have put the book down as uninteresting. The problem with this book was that it did not seem to have a decent plot. Sure this is the kick-start to the series, but the two main story-lines that were explored did not seem to have much of a point to them. It seemed more like a history book than a novel. I found myself liking it in a couple places, but left very unsatisfied overall. I hope the rest of the series makes up for this one.
A rose by any other name ... And indeed, this does smell vaguely Star Wars. But the fact that this story is about as Star Warsy as an episode of Deep Space 9 is painfully driven home by the attempt to buy your belief with the liberal scattering of names from the films and more successful games. Sadly, the entities in the books connect to their previous incarnations almost solely by name.
The story ducks and weaves around the plot, flourishing the film-names like an 8 year old waving hasbro figurines every time his story hits a thin stretch. Luke may spout "force be with you" or Han might mention the Millenium Falcon, but otherwise the bevvy of familiars are attached to poorly handled mannequins that bear absolutely no resemblance to the characters of the same names.
It's hard to tell whether this is because the author was afraid of genuinely wielding Luke Skywalker or if he had the story written and decided to try and fit famous names to some of the cast to meet executive desires to increase the chance of sales.
That said, when I stopped connecting Luke, Leia, Han, Wedge, R2, C3PO, etc with those in the Lucas films, it became a decent enough time killing read.
I think the best praise I can give this book would be this: This could easily be the script for the cut-scenes in a StarWars game, and although you might not find yourself hurrying through a gameplay segment to reach the next cutscene, you would certainly sit through each of them and feel entertained.
Betrayal I think overall Betrayal was a good book. It was interesting to see some sith history. I also liked that they introduced Ben Skywalker. It was unusual to see Jacen kill a jedi. It also showed some of the extent of Jacens force powers. I also liked seing some new characters, such as Admiral Niathal. If you read the New Jedi Order and the Swarm Wars series, this is the book for you. I would reccomend this book to all star wars fans. John Grady Age:11
Nice Start To A New Series I thought this was a nice start of the new series. It's going to continue Jacen's exploration of the Force. I'm excited to see where and how this goes. Plus I want to see how he handles Luke's reactions. I thought that was one of the best parts of the New World Order series with the Vongs was Jacen's maturity and growth through the Force. I really liked this book and how it flipped around to different worlds to keep up with the characters. It wasn't a whole chapter about just one thing but it was flipping you around almost in real time, so you could keep up. I liked how it brought back Han, Leia, Mara and Luke but one of my favorite things was the introduction of a Padawan, Ben Skywalker. I enjoyed how Luke was forced to make choices about where to send him. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to see how both sides of the Force could play out in one person.
Awesome book! If you are a Star Wars fan, this is a must-read novel. It's very engaging. I read this book (and could hardly put it down) in 2 days. You will not be sorry. It's not boring or over-filled with technical specs like some SW books are and it's got a great story that you want to see through to the end. As soon as I finished this book I went out and bought the next 3 in the series (from a book store because I didn't want to wait another minute to get them in the mail). It's that good.
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