A book with a cover that cool, albiet, not as cool as the one for Temptest, deserves to have it's own chattin' place.

Mine's in the mail, or sitting at home, far away from me, but as soon as I get my hands on it, I'm devouring it with my eyes.

Can't wait. Meanwhile, post your reviews or good/bad reactions to this book.

Betrayal left me a little queasy; let's hope this one's better.

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http://www.starwars.com/eu/lit/novel...829/index.html

here;s a link to a q and a session with the author of Bloodlines
had to suffice to sooth me during this intolerable time I'm away from my copy of the book.

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Writing and teaching are fun; learning is life.

Finished it in a day and a half. Wow....
as usu, there're a few nits, but far far fewer than with the last book



Warning: may contain spoilers
Overview:
Karen Traviss delivers a novel that’s humorous, gripping, thought-provoking, and altogether excellent. One could sum up Legacy of the Force (thus far) as Jacen Solo’s dance with the dark side, but there’s so much more. Deep characters have always been a key strength of the Star Wars expanded universe. Bloodlines carries on that tradition and even raises the bar. Simultaneously written series or not, Troy Denning and Aaron Allston have one tough act to follow.
Betrayal was great, but at times, truly believing in the story required a large suspension of disbelief. The sudden return of the Dark Lady of the Sith, Han and Wedge’s willingness to take on the Galactic Alliance on Corellia’s behalf (and fly against their own daughters), Luke Skywalker’s sitting the sidelines sick at heart of the shadows he feels constantly closing around, and Jacen Solo’s unconscionable end act are just a few of the things that just don’t fit quite right. Bloodlines possessed all that made Betrayal wonderful and gently eased the reader from scene to scene. Traviss took great pains to explore the motivation behind each action.
Synopsis:
Boba Fett’s dying. Such a thing naturally makes a man think hard about many things, including family, legacies, and how to cheat death. Fett’s whole career centers around hunting, so now he’s hunting that which will allow him to defy death. The quest leads him to Taun We, the closest thing he ever had to a mother, and to Mirta Gev, a kid bounty hunter, who holds the answers to many questions, the most important of which is how to find Fett’s daughter, Ailyn.
Meanwhile, the Galactic Alliance slips ever-closer to open war with Corellia. Terrorism rocks Coruscant. The Jedi council, the senate, and the GA Chief of State, Cal Omas, hesitate to take decisive action, fearing to push more systems to Corellia’s independence cause. Jacen Solo takes on two roles, that of head of the Galactic Alliance Guard and spearhead of the blockade around Corellia. His overtly aggressive views and actions are quickly alienating his family. He knows this must happen, feels acute pain from the facts, and dutifully puts his personal feelings aside.
Fett catches up with the Han Solo because he knows Ailyn took the contract on the Solo family. Fett, Han, and Mirta actually work together on a mission before getting news that shocks, grieves, and terrifies the Solos.
Luke Skywalker’s force visions are as dark as ever, but he’s also got family issues to deal with. In short, his thirteen-year-old son’s growing into a man under the tutelage of Jacen Solo. Mara sees only what good Jacen’s done with Ben, turning him into a polite, grown-up young man, but Luke senses something darker. Jaina Solo senses it too, especially when she flatly refuses to break a moral code on her brother’s orders.
Jacen Solo walks the path he does fully aware of the image he’s casting. His new master whispers that this is only the beginning. To bring order, he must strike and strike hard. He’s sacrificed his self-image and pride now he must learn to kill that which he loves most in order to be true Sith.
Reflections:
Thank the Force for Karen Traviss. She tells us character’s ages so we’re not guessing. She skillfully conveys Jacen’s thoughts and actions so that they not only make sense but they also seem right from a certain point of view. Also, it’s exceedingly refreshing to have Luke and Jaina realize what’s happening to Jacen, even if they can’t do anything about it yet.
Both Aaron Allston and Karen Traviss have done a lovely job bringing Ben Skywalker to life as a unique character, one who suffers from the glory-shadow cast by his parents.
The foreshadowing and the known titles of the coming books: Tempest, Exile, and Sacrifice bode ill for the Skywalker and Solo families and the galaxy at large.

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Writing and teaching are fun; learning is life.

Hey, Julie!

I had to force myself not to read you posts; I'm not done with the book yet. I've been reading it and E.E. Knight's latest Vampire Earth book (One of the best series I've seen in a long time, by the way). The switching back and forth is kind of slowing me down.

I've only gotten to around page 100 or so; the part where Jacen tests Lumia by taking her to the Jedi Temple. So far, this book is great! I like the fact that we see that Luke is having some serious misgivings about putting Ben with Jacen; I was kind of afraid that Luke and Mara's reaction to Jacen's growing darkness would be glossed over. So far, I'm glad to say that this is not the case.

I also like Karen Travis' depiction of Ben Skywalker. I'm starting to like this character.

I find that I'm also pleasantly surprised to find that I'm enjoying the Boba Fett arc of the story; I haven't read any earlier books that did his character any justice.

Question- At one point, it is mentioned that Boba Fett's daughter encountered the Solo Kids before. What book was that in? I don't remember reading it anywhere.

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I don't remember the Solo kids running across his daughter, like you, I'm not very well versed in the books that dealt with Fett.

However, there was a Young Jedi Knights book called Shards of Alderaan where the Solo twins run across Boba Fett himself.

I truly don't even remember Fett ever having a kid. It could have been the Bounty Hunter Wars, as I've never read that series. I believe that's one of the few series I didn't get to yet. I'll prob read them one day.

I agree, this book is awesome. Bloodlines, has all that made betrayal good and then some!

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Writing and teaching are fun; learning is life.

I just finished reading Bloodlines so I thought a bump would be appropiate.

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. Its taken me way to long to finish reading it, but I've had to juggle classes, homework, etc. as well.

I really like how the Legacy series is realistic to a certain extent. People die, family members don't always get along, and decisions are made for good and ill.

Karen Traviss did a great job with including Boba Fett in this book, and I look forward to seeing more of him in future Legacy book(s), though I don't expect to see any more of him until Traviss' next one.

Jacen is the best thing that's happened to the Star Wars EU. The parallels between himself and Anakin Skywalker are cool and all, but I think Traviss went a little overboard with them this time. I eagerly look forward to what will happen with Jacen in Tempest later on this year.

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Jacen's all set to be the great antihero. Interesting way this is going. I liked that Jacen got to walk some in Anakin's shoes....get a feel for what blinded his grandfather, and still be equally as blind to his own faults.

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Writing and teaching are fun; learning is life.

Agreed. The whole time-walking thing was pretty cool, but was overdone I think. It reminded me of hacking into R2-D2 in the Dark Nest books.

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Ick, don't mention those awful pieces of fire fuel
WEll, it happened twice...so I guess you could say it was one time too many, but overall the story still flowed.

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Writing and teaching are fun; learning is life.

Kind of off topic, but not quite-

The Legacy of the Force books have renewed my interest in the New Jedi Order series.

I've been re-reading them in bits and pieces over the last few months. Right now, I'm finishing up Traitor. Anyone else find it interesting how the plot threads from this (and other earlier Star Wars novels) are coming together in Legacy of the Force? Makes me wonder if the publishers had some kind of character bible way back then that outlined the arcs for each character over the next few series.

Of course, I guess it is possible that the writers just read the crap out of every previously published book to put the current series together.

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