Del Rey employee, and Twitter user, Tom (@DarthInternous) once described this book as “Storage Wars gone very, very wrong.” As The Old Republic tie-in series continues, we meet a cast of Sith, Jedi, bounty hunters…and literally everybody else in-between. Join our Legendary Adventure as we find out the secret behind Tassaa Bareesh’s auction…
Returning to Tom’s comparison of this novel to Storage Wars, the novel’s main plot is focused on a Hutt led sale of a treasure recently stolen from a ship destroyed in Wild Space. As the Republic learns about the prize, they send an envoy to retrieve it. Similarly, the Sith Empire is interested in the prize, sending a Sith apprentice to return it. Finally, Mandalorian and Hutt interests intersect with both major government’s desires. It seems like a lot of the most famous crews and factions are pitted against each other in the book. In the end, the prize turns out to be another superweapon: this time, a formidable army of hexagonal droids. These droids are insanely hard to destroy, first due to their design and second due to their ability to learn from their enemies and adapt to their fighting styles.
Update: It is important to remember why, exactly, the different factions are so interesting in getting a hold of this superweapon. The Sith Empire is in trouble: they have been losing system after system to Republic invasion and wars of attrition. In-fighting within the Sith Dark Council, and other renegade Sith Lords, have challenged the reign of Emperor Darth Vitiate fairly directly, causing more losses on the battlefield. They also recently lost an entire Sith Academy when a virus broke out, killing (and reviving) hundreds of Sith students. The Republic is also struggling: the Sith Empire launched a direct attack on the Jedi Temple during (what turned out to be) sham peace talks, crippling the Jedi Order and causing huge losses of life. The Jedi Knights called into battle are losing themselves in the war, let alone the battles.
There are a huge number of characters in this novel. Thankfully, most of the plot lines follow only a few of the characters at a time. (This does, however, mean that there are more than a few concurrent plot lines.) One of the more interesting characters, a disgruntled Jedi named Shigar Konshi is teamed with Republic trooper Larin Moxla. Both are beset by insecurities and conflicts within themselves and with their superiors. Shigar struggles with his abilities as a Jedi, and his abilities are called even further into question when the Jedi won’t let him take the Trials. He has the power of psychometry, which is the ability to “read” objects and “hear” their history. For example, if you were to touch a mug of caf, you would be able to sense who last drank from it or made that caf. Unfortunately, Shingar is unable to call upon this ability at will, which leads his Master to doubt Shigar’s abilities. Moxla is similarly given grief by current Republic troopers for a hard decision she had to make years ago before leaving the force. Both of the characters being out of sync with organizations we usually know to be the good guys was an interesting take. Where the characters never felt fully formed on their own, it was the context which really drove them out of forgettable status.
Another pairing features Sith warrior Eldon Ax, who recently failed a mission for her Master, Darth Chratis. She fights Mandalorian Dao Stryver, who is able to learn about the shipment from Eldon. Eldon seeks to redeem herself in the eyes of her Master and the Sith Council by going out to retrieve the shipment. Unbeknownst to her, her history is tightly wound into the very fabric of the mission: the ship was named after her birth name, seemingly designed by her mother. Chratis labels Eldon’s mother as an enemy of the Sith. Because of this, Chratis charges Eldon to find her mother. This leads to an interesting dynamic, where both mother and daughter are in a position to change the galaxy drastically. In a galaxy where most stories focus on the father and the son, it is refreshing to finally have a mother-daughter story, even if the mother was dead from the start of the story. Instead, we find out that her mother mapped Eldon’s mind onto hexagonal droids hell-bent on getting revenge on the Sith for taking her daughter.
The Republic envoy, Ula Vii, is sent to retrieve the prize for the Republic. The Republic fears that the Sith could use the weapon, if that’s what it is, to balance the power between the two factions and turn the tide of the war. Unfortunately for them, Ula is a Sith spy, working within the Republic to learn its secrets. Working for the Sith, he has to play a dangerous double game as he moves between interactions with Shigar and Eldon. Ula’s character doesn’t really come out until the climax, where he interacts with Dao Stryver. Dao brings out a lot of the rogue in Ula, making him question where he is coming from and why he does what he does. Unfortunately, as before, it takes hundreds of pages to get to this point.
The climax of the novel, in space and on the ground of Sebaddon, features a massive Sith Empire and Republic union. The droids turn out to be too much for a single fleet or army, so the two opposing forces are left no choice but to team up. The hexagonal droids are too strong to fight for both Jedi and Sith alone: it would take the entire fleet to prevent them from destroying the galaxy. Thankfully, Satele Shan leads the charge and kills Eldon’s clone. Though Satele is the Grand Master of the Order, her appearance here is a bit of a bummer. It seems to rob the victory from one of the main characters, the ones we have been following throughout the novel. Thankfully, it is Eldon who eventually wins: she controls the droid army, and commands them to both kill Chratis and then destroy themselves.
300 pages in, you’ll find an excellent book full of characters who have to make exceptionally hard choices, if you are willing to put in a bit of work. Some highlights of the novel include the question of allegiance and destiny. While Eldon is dealing with her family line, and her devotion to the Sith, Shigar battles Darth Chratis and is tempted by the dark side. Ula questions his allegiances as both of his bosses team up to fight a greater threat.
I do mention that the book may be hard work because I feel that readers who aren’t fans of The Old Republic will find themselves far too lost to enjoy the book entirely. It also starts slowly and there aren’t many handholds to grasp on to, so you have to push through the novel to feel fully connected. Ultimately, I say you won’t miss a lot by passing. If you are willing to hold out, I think the climax itself is worth at least checking out at the library.
I usually think I finish every novel far too quickly. Between my two jobs, I get at least two hours of lunches/down time/breaks that help me read a bit more than the usual person (Well, that, and extreme antisocial tendencies more often that not.) This way, I usually end up finishing a Legends novel in about three or four days. Fatal Alliance changed this tendency in a few ways. This novel took me well over a week to finish. The prose is fine, not as dry as Zahn can be, nor is it a big info dump like Luceno. The real reason this book took me so long to read was because it had so much going on. I had to keep a handwritten dramatis personae on my person while reading this to keep track of all of it. I was simply exhausted!
Now, if you have trouble remembering a few character names, you’ll have a really tough time with this book. Usually, even when I can’t remember names, I can remember relationships. Unfortunately, so much happens in this novel that it takes almost 300 pages for me to connect with most of the characters. Most characters remain rather flat until the climax, where a new, unexpected context forces them into new territories and new ways of interacting with each other. On top of that, I had difficulty following the book because a lot of The Old Republic‘s context was not explained in this novel, nor any previous ones. Whether or not you’ve played the MMO, or read the Visual Guide, the learning curve for any of The Old Republic novels would be tough, but this one stands out especially.
You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisWerms, and of course, you can follow the Manor on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor!
Essential Legends Collection: Revan | Deceived | Darth Bane: Path of Destruction | Darth Bane: Rule of Two | Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil | Darth Plagueis | Shatterpoint | Kenobi | Rogue Squadron | Rogue Squadron: Wedge’s Gamble | Rogue Squadron: The Bacta War | Heir to the Empire | Dark Force Rising | The Last Command | Yoda: Dark Rendezvous | Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void | Republic Commando: Hard Contact | Republic Commando: Triple Zero | Survivor’s Quest | Outbound Flight
Click Here For More Legendary Adventures!