A review in a new format!
So, for this review I wanted to try actually writing complete paragraphs instead of resorting to bullet points. I wrote entirely too much and I'm sorry.
A funny and rather unexpected thing happened while trudging through the latest entry in a series of Star Wars Expanded Universe novels that I really have not enjoyed. Somewhere in the middle of reading through Aaron Allston's Conviction (the seventh entry in the much maligned Fate of the Jedi series), I realized I was feeling a strange sensation. It was the opposite of apathy and disgust.
Dare I say, I was actually enjoying this book?
Those who know me are aware that I've been pretty nonplussed with the state of the Star Wars EU since the end of the New Jedi Order series. The latest arc of plots, which I dub the Troy Denning era, has left me pretty apathetic about the state of Star Wars as a whole. Rarely have I been able to muster up any feelings beyond overwhelming apathy. Granted, Vortex made me want to rage and shatter my iPad into a thousand tiny little pieces, but for the most part I just haven't read anything during this stretch of time that gives me much in the way of thoughts and feelings. Plots have been questionable, characterization derailed to shoehorn into said questionable plots, and you get the feeling that Troy and Del Rey are gunning hard for the gritty, dark realism that supposedly sells.
In other words, the Star Wars novels of the Troy Denning era really have not felt like Star Wars. From the Dark Nest trilogy onward, something has gotten lost and the authors have strayed away too far from the original source materials in the films. Remember that, the movies? The movies that were genuinely fun to watch?
Well, good news, everyone (if you read that in the voice of Professor Farnsworth, you are a geek and should be right at home on this blog). Aaron Allston hasn't forgotten!
If you haven't read an Allston novel before, you should probably be aware that he plays the humor card as well as any writer in the EU. Conviction packs the humor in, but it doesn't stop there. There's action, there's drama. Speaking strictly in terms of tone, this is probably the most well balanced novel of the last seven or eight years. You're going to get a bit of everything in this book. But enough with the setup and me padding this review's word count. Let's get on with it.
Plot
Like the other entries into Fate of the Jedi, there's three distinct plots going on. First up, we've got the continuing adventures of Luke, Ben, and Vestara. In this installment, they're heading to Nam Chorios. Now, if you're like me and have gone through the horrors of the Kevin J. Anderson novels, your first thought at hearing this was "Oh crap no." And then you may have thrown up at being forced to recall the lovely critters known as the drochs.
The second plot centers on Coruscant, Tahiri Veila's trial and the Jedi Council's battle with Chief of State Daala. We don't see much of the judicial proceedings itself in this novel, with Allston instead choosing to focus on getting into Tahiri's head before and after the verdict are given. A bit more page time is focused on the feud between the Council and Daala, ultimately resulting in the latter's ouster from office.
The final plot focuses on the slavery plotline that's been running in the background throughout this series. Here's where Allston focuses on Han, Leia, and Allana. Without giving too much up, the Solo clan is dispatched to work out a treaty on Klatooine. One thing leads to another, and as a result, Tenel Ka makes an appearance.
The strongest of these plots is the Luke/Ben/Ves adventure. Allston clearly is comfortable writing the three of them and it really comes off in the dialogue in particular. Likewise, the subplot on Klatooine also is a joy to read simply because of the characters involved and Allston's grasp on them. In these areas, you get the feeling that he's letting the characters dictate the plot rather than forcing the characters to fit a pre-designed story. These parts of the book were genuinely fun to read.
Of course, that isn't to say the book is flawless. Like the rest of the series, the Coruscant plotlines drag what would otherwise be a great book down to merely being a very good one (which I will gladly take after the last seven years of novels). Allston still has to contend with some plot setups that were broken to begin with. The feud between Daala and the Jedi seems to be having the opposite effect on the reader. It's a bit of a case of Strawman Has A Point. Daala not giving the Council exactly what they want? Well instead of diplomacy (because that's haaaaaaaaaaaard), we'll just coup the Chief of State! Now that's the sort of level-headed thing the Jedi are known for.
I'm hoping that Luke returns one day and rips the Council to shreds for their behavior, but I'm not holding my breath. Denning is closing out the series and he's proven that he's pretty heavy-handed with regard to the Council's actions.
The Tahiri trial came off surprisingly well in this book. Perhaps Allston realized that this had been one of the weakest portions of the series to this point, so he took a rather interesting approach. He had most of it take place off-stage and chose instead to deal with the consequences. This was a great decision on his part. No over-the-top drama, just some character introspection. In typical Allston fashion, he took a bad plot device and made something workable out of it.
In all, the good outweighed the bad. Allston did the best he could with some very, very bad setup and knocked the rest out of the park.
Characterization
This is where Conviction really shines.
Throughout the Denning era, characterization has been extremely sketchy. We've had everything from Morally Ambiguous Luke Skywalker to Politically Inept Leia. If you found yourself shaking your head as many times as I have since Dark Nest, Conviction is going to be a real treat for you.
Let's start off by looking at the Big Three. For the first time all series and in years, Luke Skywalker felt right. There was a bit of the old farmboy swagger in him and he was back to his "I'm going to find the good in you whether you like it or not" persona. Leia's back playing the role of crafty, cunning politician, and Han is once more the witty and daring smuggler. These three characters finally resembled the characters we saw in the original trilogy. For that, Allston deserves a lot of credit. Other writers haven't stayed true to the source, but he did.
Ben and Vestara come off quite well in this novel to boot. Whereas we've seen them played off as part of the wangsty Twilight crowd, they've actually got some depth in this book. Ben is smart and genuinely funny. Ves takes some big steps forward in this book to being a more complete character.
Something that has flown under the sensors of other reviewers but I want to take a moment to highlight is Allston's work in introducing new characters that the EU can use moving forward. One particularly noteworthy example is Seha Dorvald. In Conviction, she's been elevated to the rank of Jedi Knight and is serving under Octa Ramis. What's rather enjoyable is that in her brief time on-page, Allston shows off a good amount of her personality. She's smart, she's snarky. She's (and this seems to be a general theme of this review) fun.
For those of you still keeping score on the Jaina Solo Love Polygon of Doom, she's back together with Jag and the two appear to have come to an understanding. There wasn't too much between them in this book, but was there was adorable.
Was Fate of the Jedi: Conviction a perfect book? No, it was still weighted down by some bad decisions by the creative team as a whole. I could have done without the Jedi Council plot and the further Mary Sue-ing of Saba. That said, this was a book that was genuinely fun and enjoyable to read. It's been a long time since I picked up a book from the primary series that I've had a hard time putting down. The good elements of this book trumped the bad.
For Aaron Allston, he leaves the strange and ineffective 9/3 format on a high note. This was his best novel since the Enemy Lines duology and a clear demonstration that he's still got the spark that made him one of the most beloved writers in all of the EU. Conviction should leave readers incredibly hopeful for his 2012 Wraith Squadron novel.
While I fear that the conclusion of this series is all downhill from here, I think it's best to just pause and enjoy what we had in this book. On its own merits, Conviction was a thoroughly enjoyable book that was an absolute delight for this post NJO skeptic to read. If the slog this series has been thus far turned you off to this book, I implore you to give it a shot. To echo what I've been saying this entire review, Conviction was fun.
Frankly, we haven't had enough fun in the EU lately.
Score: A very respectable 4/5.
A funny and rather unexpected thing happened while trudging through the latest entry in a series of Star Wars Expanded Universe novels that I really have not enjoyed. Somewhere in the middle of reading through Aaron Allston's Conviction (the seventh entry in the much maligned Fate of the Jedi series), I realized I was feeling a strange sensation. It was the opposite of apathy and disgust.
Dare I say, I was actually enjoying this book?
Those who know me are aware that I've been pretty nonplussed with the state of the Star Wars EU since the end of the New Jedi Order series. The latest arc of plots, which I dub the Troy Denning era, has left me pretty apathetic about the state of Star Wars as a whole. Rarely have I been able to muster up any feelings beyond overwhelming apathy. Granted, Vortex made me want to rage and shatter my iPad into a thousand tiny little pieces, but for the most part I just haven't read anything during this stretch of time that gives me much in the way of thoughts and feelings. Plots have been questionable, characterization derailed to shoehorn into said questionable plots, and you get the feeling that Troy and Del Rey are gunning hard for the gritty, dark realism that supposedly sells.
In other words, the Star Wars novels of the Troy Denning era really have not felt like Star Wars. From the Dark Nest trilogy onward, something has gotten lost and the authors have strayed away too far from the original source materials in the films. Remember that, the movies? The movies that were genuinely fun to watch?
Well, good news, everyone (if you read that in the voice of Professor Farnsworth, you are a geek and should be right at home on this blog). Aaron Allston hasn't forgotten!
If you haven't read an Allston novel before, you should probably be aware that he plays the humor card as well as any writer in the EU. Conviction packs the humor in, but it doesn't stop there. There's action, there's drama. Speaking strictly in terms of tone, this is probably the most well balanced novel of the last seven or eight years. You're going to get a bit of everything in this book. But enough with the setup and me padding this review's word count. Let's get on with it.
Plot
Like the other entries into Fate of the Jedi, there's three distinct plots going on. First up, we've got the continuing adventures of Luke, Ben, and Vestara. In this installment, they're heading to Nam Chorios. Now, if you're like me and have gone through the horrors of the Kevin J. Anderson novels, your first thought at hearing this was "Oh crap no." And then you may have thrown up at being forced to recall the lovely critters known as the drochs.
The second plot centers on Coruscant, Tahiri Veila's trial and the Jedi Council's battle with Chief of State Daala. We don't see much of the judicial proceedings itself in this novel, with Allston instead choosing to focus on getting into Tahiri's head before and after the verdict are given. A bit more page time is focused on the feud between the Council and Daala, ultimately resulting in the latter's ouster from office.
The final plot focuses on the slavery plotline that's been running in the background throughout this series. Here's where Allston focuses on Han, Leia, and Allana. Without giving too much up, the Solo clan is dispatched to work out a treaty on Klatooine. One thing leads to another, and as a result, Tenel Ka makes an appearance.
The strongest of these plots is the Luke/Ben/Ves adventure. Allston clearly is comfortable writing the three of them and it really comes off in the dialogue in particular. Likewise, the subplot on Klatooine also is a joy to read simply because of the characters involved and Allston's grasp on them. In these areas, you get the feeling that he's letting the characters dictate the plot rather than forcing the characters to fit a pre-designed story. These parts of the book were genuinely fun to read.
Of course, that isn't to say the book is flawless. Like the rest of the series, the Coruscant plotlines drag what would otherwise be a great book down to merely being a very good one (which I will gladly take after the last seven years of novels). Allston still has to contend with some plot setups that were broken to begin with. The feud between Daala and the Jedi seems to be having the opposite effect on the reader. It's a bit of a case of Strawman Has A Point. Daala not giving the Council exactly what they want? Well instead of diplomacy (because that's haaaaaaaaaaaard), we'll just coup the Chief of State! Now that's the sort of level-headed thing the Jedi are known for.
I'm hoping that Luke returns one day and rips the Council to shreds for their behavior, but I'm not holding my breath. Denning is closing out the series and he's proven that he's pretty heavy-handed with regard to the Council's actions.
The Tahiri trial came off surprisingly well in this book. Perhaps Allston realized that this had been one of the weakest portions of the series to this point, so he took a rather interesting approach. He had most of it take place off-stage and chose instead to deal with the consequences. This was a great decision on his part. No over-the-top drama, just some character introspection. In typical Allston fashion, he took a bad plot device and made something workable out of it.
In all, the good outweighed the bad. Allston did the best he could with some very, very bad setup and knocked the rest out of the park.
Characterization
This is where Conviction really shines.
Throughout the Denning era, characterization has been extremely sketchy. We've had everything from Morally Ambiguous Luke Skywalker to Politically Inept Leia. If you found yourself shaking your head as many times as I have since Dark Nest, Conviction is going to be a real treat for you.
Let's start off by looking at the Big Three. For the first time all series and in years, Luke Skywalker felt right. There was a bit of the old farmboy swagger in him and he was back to his "I'm going to find the good in you whether you like it or not" persona. Leia's back playing the role of crafty, cunning politician, and Han is once more the witty and daring smuggler. These three characters finally resembled the characters we saw in the original trilogy. For that, Allston deserves a lot of credit. Other writers haven't stayed true to the source, but he did.
Ben and Vestara come off quite well in this novel to boot. Whereas we've seen them played off as part of the wangsty Twilight crowd, they've actually got some depth in this book. Ben is smart and genuinely funny. Ves takes some big steps forward in this book to being a more complete character.
Something that has flown under the sensors of other reviewers but I want to take a moment to highlight is Allston's work in introducing new characters that the EU can use moving forward. One particularly noteworthy example is Seha Dorvald. In Conviction, she's been elevated to the rank of Jedi Knight and is serving under Octa Ramis. What's rather enjoyable is that in her brief time on-page, Allston shows off a good amount of her personality. She's smart, she's snarky. She's (and this seems to be a general theme of this review) fun.
For those of you still keeping score on the Jaina Solo Love Polygon of Doom, she's back together with Jag and the two appear to have come to an understanding. There wasn't too much between them in this book, but was there was adorable.
Was Fate of the Jedi: Conviction a perfect book? No, it was still weighted down by some bad decisions by the creative team as a whole. I could have done without the Jedi Council plot and the further Mary Sue-ing of Saba. That said, this was a book that was genuinely fun and enjoyable to read. It's been a long time since I picked up a book from the primary series that I've had a hard time putting down. The good elements of this book trumped the bad.
For Aaron Allston, he leaves the strange and ineffective 9/3 format on a high note. This was his best novel since the Enemy Lines duology and a clear demonstration that he's still got the spark that made him one of the most beloved writers in all of the EU. Conviction should leave readers incredibly hopeful for his 2012 Wraith Squadron novel.
While I fear that the conclusion of this series is all downhill from here, I think it's best to just pause and enjoy what we had in this book. On its own merits, Conviction was a thoroughly enjoyable book that was an absolute delight for this post NJO skeptic to read. If the slog this series has been thus far turned you off to this book, I implore you to give it a shot. To echo what I've been saying this entire review, Conviction was fun.
Frankly, we haven't had enough fun in the EU lately.
Score: A very respectable 4/5.
*waves her Jaina/Jag pompoms*
I will agree that tone-wise it's a huge improvement. But then Denning will, of course, screw that up. And probably kill someone "minor" like Iella or something just because he's not allowed to kill the Big Three (and presumably Jaina or Ben, but you never know). But I don't think "lighter but more boring" is too much of an improvement.
Thankfully for the Antilles family, Allston hasn't introduced them in any of his FotJ novels after Outcast. If they're not running around, I doubt Denning will dredge them up to kill them. He's too busy Mary Sue-ing Saba.
I never underestimate Denning's ability and willingness to inflict character horror after what he did to Jag. What did Jag ever do to him, to have him break Jaina up with him for bugs and Zekk, and then maroon him on hellworld for two years? I mean, really?
And then we got Sacrifice and Invincible.
To be fair, he also loves...surprise surprise...the works and characters of Kevin J. Anderson.
In sum: Denning = bad for Star Wars.
"Troy Denning makes it possible for us to rationalize the crap Kevin J. Anderson put us through."