The Old Republic: Annihilation

I reviewed this book on my blog. Scroll past Old Republic #3: Fatal Alliance to read it:
The Real World According To Sam

This is one of the better Star Wars books in the original EU/Legends timeline.

After Fatal Alliance, I wasn't hopeful about my overall enjoyment of the Old Republic series. However, I did enjoy Revan, and since this book had the same author as the Revan Old Republic novel, I had a much better time.

The pacing is fast, the characters are intriguing with their own personal flaws and needs, and the story feels very much like it would occur in the Star Wars universe (unlike Fatal Alliance, which in my opinion, was going in a dozen different directions at a snails' pace). The story moves so quick that once I really got show more going with it, I practically breezed through it.

One of the things I enjoy most about Star Wars in general is the grandness of the adventures, but the detailed orientation that small actions have while adding up to something bigger. This novel took that aspect and really ran with it. Although Theron and Gnost-Dural run into several snags during their quest to bring down the Ascendant Spear (Sith ship), the ability to move past initial failure to find new pathways towards ultimate success kept me on the Star Wars high. Failure and conflict are wonderful, but only when they remain on a particular track with a solid pace. This was excellently executed. While there are also other minor subplots and conflicts going on for the different characters present within the novel, none of them overwhelm the story at its base or detract from the overall story, instead adding to understanding of character choices and desires. This shapes the story and characters for the better, rounding it out and adding depth.

This is one of the best books in the Old Republic "quartet" and I am very excited to be moving to the next part of the timeline, particularly since there will be more of Karpyshyn in Star Wars novels I will be coming up to soon. He is one of the better Star Wars writers I've read so far and I'm glad to see his name repeat (a high compliment since if I see Sean Williams' name on more I will cringe at least a little and the others I have read I am currently indifferent to).

This book renewed my interest in what is yet to come and if my to-read list were shorter I could see myself rereading this one, or even picking up a copy of it [and Revan] somewhere down the road to own. show less

This is probably one of the better Star Wars books by Drew Karpyshyn, which is quite a relief after the train wreck that I thought was Revan. It's amazing what a good writer he can be when he's not being rushed. Now that he has left BioWare, I'm glad he left us with this before moving on to his future endeavors.

For a while we've known that Satele Shan, the Grand Master of the Jedi Order during this time in the Old Republic, has a "secret son." Theron Shan first appeared in The Lost Suns comic and now he stars in his own novel, which aside from featuring his undercover agent/operative awesomeness also reveals a lot about his parents' history and his own mysterious past.

I could tell Drew K had a lot of fun writing Theron's story. From show more experience, I find that characters in books based on movies/TV shows/video games, etc. very often read like caricatures and hardly ever feel like real people. However, I thought Theron had a clear personality right away, and even smiled to myself a few times at his wit. I also enjoyed the supporting characters, Teff'ith the Twi'lek whose weak grasp of Galactic Basic was a nice touch, as well as Master Gnost-Dural who fans of the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO will recognize as the keeper of the Jedi archives.

The story is pretty much your run-of-the-mill fare, but very entertaining nonetheless. There were the usual space combat and lightsaber battle scenes, but I was surprised at how well done they were. Drew Karpyshyn is very good at writing action, but I was even more surprised to see how well he tackled some of the emotional issues in this book. Like I said, he can be very good when given enough time to develop his characters.

One last thing I should note: I listened to the audiobook of this. Though I'm confident to claim Annihilation as a solid entry to the world of Star Wars novels, I have to mention the possibility that the quality of the audio version may have influenced my opinion. For one thing, it was my first experience with a Star Wars audiobook, so I've only just discovered the talent of Marc Thompson, who is probably one of the best narrators I've ever come across. His voices are simply phenomenal, and together with the sound effects and music I was just blown away. show less

This was on par with Fatal Alliance in terms of overall enjoyment.

I was disappointed with how the Jedi leader, the Army commander and the main character all interacted. Trained professionals, all 3, but they acted like me when my blood sugar is dangerously low, ie, EXTREMELY STUPID. It just didn't fit.

I liked the whole super-bad-ship takedown part though."

Theron est sans doute un de mes personnages préférés de l'univers Star Wars et le livre de Karpyshyn lui rend bien honneur.

Theron est sans doute un de mes personnages préférés de l'univers Star Wars et le livre de Karpyshyn lui rend bien honneur.