I started out thinking I would just do a review for every book in this series. The problem was that as I went along, that prospect seemed to make less and less sense. This series really is just one long story covering many perspectives, characters, and locations, so breaking a review into many pieces wouldn’t do justice to what the authors have accomplished.

I’ll start right there. This series has 3 authors, Troy Denning, Aaron Allston, and Karen Traviss. Some might say that, with multiple authors, the overall arc of the story must fall at certain points. I disagree. Obviously, these three must have worked closely together because there is little difference in characterization and tone between books. There are some some formatting and stylistic differences. For instance, both Traviss and Allston transition their settings by including the name of the setting, such as, GAG HQ LOCKERROOOMS, CORUSCANT: 2100 HOURS, or CORUSCANT JEDI TEMPLE, COUNCIL CHAMBER. It’s a good way to change setting without too much break in narrative. It’s not unlike a director using a wipe or scene change and putting the new location in font at the bottom of the screen. I was bothered by the fact that Denning did not do the same thing with his books. I really think that they should have been more consistent in that respect in order to create the idea of one story with many authors. Also, Traviss includes quotes at the beginnings of her chapters which help to frame what’s going on, things like Mandalorian proverbs or news sound bytes. These help to give a little insight into characters, the greater universe, etc. Since she was the only one who did this it didn’t bother me as much as Denning’s stylistic departure. In case you hadn’t noticed, I thought the Traviss novels were a little better than the other authors.

Let’s get into the story. I know it’s been a while but I did post a state of the expanded universe article (click the link so I don’t have to retype it all) that summed up where all the characters are at.

As the name “star wars” denotes, war is brewing in the newly established Galactic Alliance. Corellia has decided that it doesn’t have to contribute to the combined armed forces of the central government and the government disagrees. Here is the central conflict in a nut shell, everything else that happens stems from this one issue. As you might expect, this causes trouble in our first family of heroes. Luke, as grandmaster of the Jedi, must side with the government and Han, as a Corellian, must side with Corellia. That is the first thing that makes this series great, a conflict that splits the pillars of the star wars universe, and pits family against family. On some level, that’s what this series is all about, Family. Different groups all trying to keep their families together through extraordinary circumstances. The reader is experiencing events that that rock the universe as a whole but, in the end, it’s the choices that the characters make for the sake of their families and clans that really impact the storytelling. The story has many of the classic confrontations in any civil war, father vs daughter, sister vs brother, friend vs friend, etc.

The other thing this series did was give me respect for a character I never cared about, Boba Fett. I’ve never been one of those fans who thought that Boba Fett was “super awesome.” In fact, I called foul on them bringing him back from the “dead” by letting him escape the sarlacc pit. I have to eat my words after seeing what Traviss did with him in this series. Earlier, I said that I enjoyed Karen Traviss’s novels better than the others. This is one of the reasons. She put Boba Fett in a whole new light for me. Rather than being just a cold-blooded killing machine, we see the man under the mask. A man starting to get past his prime and struggling to stay on top. There are some issues with the fact that he is a clone, his search for a cure, and discovery of his family (both actually and “clone-aly”). All this while reluctantly being the leader of all Mandalorians across the galaxy. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea though. Boba Fett is not castrated or softened in any way. He is just as cold and ruthless, but in a way that is somehow more rounded. As a sidenote, his series is chock full of mandos. If you like Mandalorians (Tengu, I’m looking at you), this series is for you. You get to see them in their native environment and their culture (including a mandalorian wedding). They’re not just a culture of warriors and mercenaries.

This series really has everything. You have the coming of age story of Ben Skywalker. At the start he wants nothing to do with his legendary parents and so clings to his cousin, Jacen Solo. As the story progresses, he comes to terms with being a Skywalker and a Jedi. You have the fall of a hero, from savior to dictator to Sith lord. You have the death of a major expanded universe character. You have the return of some fan favorites, Admirals Pellaeon and Daala from the Thrawn trilogy. Wedge proving he can still fly circles around everyone even though he’s now in his 60’s. The list goes on.

If, like me, you haven’t read a lot of star wars for a while, Legacy of the Force is a good place to jump back in. Lastly, here is the listing of the books in the series:

Betrayal

Bloodlines

Tempest

Exile

Sacrifice

Inferno

Fury

Revelation

Invincible

Print This Post Print This Post