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?

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Inferno

Inferno (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 6)
by Troy Denning

Book review by Dan Tres Omi

The kid gloves are off. Jacen Solo/Darth Caedeus has reached the point of no return. The Jedi are forced to make a decision that would change the face of the latest Galactic Civil War. Luke Skywalker has to make his move and Ben is the key to his sanity. Troy Denning's Inferno brings the pain as we near the climax of the Legacy of the Force miniseries.

Jacen/Caedeus has one final plan to crush the Correllian insurrection and the Confederate planets. It involves the cooperation of the Jedi Knights and the Hapes Consortium. Many planets have left the Galactic Alliance (GA). This has stretched the military forces of the GA thin. Yet Jacen/Caedeus feels that one strike will end it all. Using the force, Jacen/Caedeus finds no flaws in his end game. To ensure the cooperation of the Jedi Knights, he holds the Jedi Academy on Ossus hostage.

Of course, things do not go according to plan. Ben decides to take revenge on Jacen/Caedeus. Luke finally decides to take action against Jacen/Caedeu. This is something the Jedi have been itching to do. Jaina, Zekk, and Jagged Fel decide to free the hostages on Ossus. It is there that Jacen/Caedeus loses it. To make matters worse the Bothans get involved with the Wookies debating on whose side to take. Eventually, the Wookies side with the Jedi thanks in part to the intervention of Han and Leia.

Several characters meet their end. Finally, a confrontation between Luke and Jacen happens. Jacen is left with half a foot in the grave. Ben sees Jacen for who he is. At one point, Luke is thought to have been killed. Despite the heavy losses to the Fifth fleet, Jacen makes it back to Coruscant.

Overall, the plot went along very fast. Too many things happened at once. This makes sense. The previous books led up to this point in the story. Alema Rar is still alive and actually hunts down some Sith to get some answers from them. This adds another element to the story. However, I still find Alema Rar's character to be useless. I don't understand why she is still alive. If anything she creates more questions and problems then there needs to be.

Jacen/Caedeus was not as formidable as I assumed. If anything he is more of a nuisance. One would think that all the power that Jacen possesses that was discussed in the Dark Nest trilogy and the earlier Legacy of the Force novels would not allow people to get the drop on him but they do. I am not saying he should be as powerful as Palpatine was and he is not omnipotent but all this talk really makes me wonder. To be honest, Jacen comes off as a joke. My assumption was that he would beat Luke easily. Instead Luke seems to toy with him. Or is it that Luke has never had the opportunity to use his full Force powers. Then again, both Jacen and Luke come from the same bloodline.

I did expect another major character to die. Yet only quite a few minor characters were killed off. Killing one major character every thirty books is not realistic. Not everyone can escape death several times over (If Han and Leia do one more death defying escape on the Millenium Falcon, I swear I will slit my wrists). Denning however, pulls it off as things start to move fast.

The next book should be even better.