Star Wars: Fury

Fury (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 7)
by Aaron Allston

This is the seventh installment in the Legacy of the Force series. Things are all coming to a head as the Jedi under Luke Skywalker finally decide that they have to move aggressively against Jacen. At this point no one, not even Luke, believes that Jacen could be brought back to the light side. Jacen/Darth Caedus has passed the point of no return by torturing Ben Skywalker and killing Mara Jade Skywalker. However, no one suspects that Jacen/Darth Caedus is the one behind the murder of Mara. Everyone continues to think it is Alema Rar.

As the Jedi begin to search for a new place to move their academy, Jacen/Darth Caedus along with Admiral Niathal are looking for that one battle that would turn the tide and win the war. Ironically, Jacen/Darth Caedus is losing allies from within and without the Galactic Alliance as planets continue to claim their independence or join the Confederation under Corellia.

Jacen/Darth Caedus decides to kidnap his daughter Allana from the Hapes Consortium due to the betrayal of Tenel Ka. When he successfully accomplishes this, Tenel Ka approaches Luke Skywalker and comes clean about their child. The Jedi decide to get Allana back and confront Jacen/Darth Caedus.
Meanwhile Admiral Niathal begins to realize that Jacen has always been acting in his own interest. Jacen continues to overstep his boundaries and make decisions without consulting her. Admiral Niathal decides to wait awhile partly because she feels that the war would come to its climax soon.

The Confederation decides to approach Jacen to sue for peace. Jacen and Admiral Niathal quickly understand that it is a trap even though intelligence demonstrates that the Confederation fleet is in dire straits. Both joint Chiefs of Staff, set up a plan in case the trap is sprung. Jacen/Darth Caedus decides to keep Allana near him. The Jedi learn about the peace “summit” and make their plans. When Jacen/Darth Caedus arrives, the Confederation springs their trap and Jacens calls in his fleet from hyperspace. That is when the Corellians use Centerpoint Station to destroy the Galactic Alliance Fleet. At the same time, Leia, Han, and several others are successful in their attempt to rescue Allana.

Despite the defeat, Jacen/Darth Caedus and Admiral Niathal decide to counter attack the Corellians at Centerpoint Station. This idea was put together to let the Confederation believe that the Galactic Alliance is no where near defeat. Of course, the Jedi learn about this attack and make their move as well. They plan on sending a team to destroy the station from within. Meanwhile, the Corellian Confederation is slowly falling apart as factions begin to upset the balance of power.

To be honest, Fury is overwhelming. So many things happens but it makes sense. In this book, everyone even Admiral Niathal loses faith in Jacen/Darth Caedus. Being the seventh book, things will be moving pretty fast to wrap things up. Unfortunately, when everything is said in done the galaxy will probably return to its former position right after the Yuuzhan Vong war. This explains how the Empire takes over before the time of Cade Skywalker.

In this blog, we have covered the idea of how an Imperial government seems to “govern” a vast galaxy in a much more efficient manner. The lights stay on and folks get to eat. The Republic or the Galactic Alliance just never seems to do it right. As the action unfolds, we see the Galactic Alliance (GA) crumbling. Of course, Jacen and Niathal led the GA to it's breaking point even though both of their intentions were supposedly for the good of the galaxy.

Jacen (which is why I switch back and forth between Jacen and Jacen/Darth Caedus) still has not come out of the closet as a Sith. Ironically, none of the Jedi have admitted to this as well. A few suspect but overall, the feeling is that Jacen is nuts instead of a Sith lord. As a reader, we have the benefit of knowing the plot but Jacen is compared to Darth Vader so many times one would think that someone would say “hey, dude is a Sith.” Is this the same pattern from what happened in Ep III?