Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Allies

Spoilers

“Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi – Allies” takes the story in a new direction, connecting Luke Skywalker, his son Ben, and their prisoner Vestara Khai with her father and the Lost Tribe of the Sith. The alliance of the Jedi and the Sith allows for a new dynamic that is dangerous and full of opportunity. Ben is tempted by Vestara, and Luke has to be cautious to protect his son from both his past connection to the dark side (through Jacen Solo) and the obvious sexual flirtation with Vestara.

C-3PO is given an important, if small, role in this story, translating the Keshiri language and giving Luke pivotal information for his alliance with the Sith. As one of my favorite characters, I love to see the fussy protocol droid take a step forward.

“Allies” begins a series of battles with Abeloth, the mysterious being Luke witnessed beyond shadows in “Abyss”, the third part of this series. Absent from the previous novel, Abeloth appears here and does battle with Luke. It’s intense and epic, and Christie Golden is up to the task.

“Allies” adds to this storyline by introducing new ideas, as well as working with other aspects of the series that have been building. Character development is strong in this novel, and fans of “Fate of the Jedi” will love it.

I haven’t finished the entire series yet, but so far Christie Golden’s books are my favorites. I love the way she weaves in politics and the media in a way that ring true for our rapid fire modern media culture audience. She finds a way to keep these subplots interesting for a Star Wars novel, relevant to our real world, and even gripping with anticipation. Don’t worry, her books still have everything else a Star Wars fan want, plenty of action, fun characters, and all the drama you would expect in this universe. Other authors might have a quicker pace with more action, but I enjoy her subtlety much more. As with all the books in this series, don’t expect any Nebula awards. Nothing groundbreaking, but plenty of fun for a casual pop culture sci-fi fan.

WARNING: SPOILERS

Trying to think of worse novels than this, only one other Star Wars novel comes to mind.. Millenium Falcon. Which I’m not sure I can really count as a novel as it didn’t go.. well, anywhere.

It’s not so much that the story was bad, it definitely had potential. The Ben/Vestara interactions were interesting, but needed a LOT more focus as it was the only thing that really kept me turning the pages.

The author seems to have little to no understanding of the Star Wars EU. At times she even seems to break several norms for Star Wars novels such as the author never talking directly to the reader, instead talking through the characters. This felt quite awkward. Several times in EACH chapter I found myself completely confused by misspellings and incorrectly used words. A speeder and a speederbike are NOT the same thing. Did the Chevin or the Chev enslave the Chev or the Chevin? The author seems to use these terms interchangeably, at points within a page of one another (possibly on the same page for hard copy books).

Other inconsistencies abound as well. Vestara’s lightsaber is taken from her when she is captured. However, when they jump on the speeder (er, bike.. as is explained a page later) she is somehow capable of deflecting blaster bolts (from.. something, it’s not really explained if it’s from other speederbikes, ships, or handheld weapons..). She then participates in hand to blaster combat, showing she indeed has no lightsaber. Near the end of the book, her lightsaber is returned to her.. once again proving she didn’t have it.

The overall ending is disappointing to say the least. The fight with Abeloth was barely described. I have no idea what happened. How was she deflecting or countering all those lightsabers? Nobody knows. Where they even attacking her? Well, they managed to hit each other. That was described. What attacks was she using? Did she even attack aside from the single force knockback? We just don’t know. Which is very, very, bad in a book.

Finally, “Fate of the Jedi” takes off. There’s a story, and it’s not the same story as the books before it. Luke and Ben make a discovery. Okay, aaack. I can’t believe it. She was bad enough the first time around. How dare they bring her back. Still, it’s a story. It unfolds. There were times I wanted to keep reading. And there’s a small cliff to fall off but somewhat of an ending, which I think all books in a series should have. There’s hope that the rest of the series will follow. I’ll now happily download the next book.

If you’re a fan of the SW Expanded Universe (in chronology, this series is no longer in the “Canon”, but relegated to “Legends”, due to the new films), these books are worth a try. They continue the adventures of the characters from the original movies as well as those from the New Jedi Order Series, Legacy of the Force, and the books intervening to those. Light easy read, nothing graphic or grotesque.