Star Wars: Darksaber [Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

 

 

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Darksaber is the second book in the so-called Callista Trilogy. Kevin Anderson writes a decent if unoriginal story, using many of the same characters from his Jedi Academy Trilogy. First the good: having the Hutts try to costruct a Death Star type weapon was a decent idea, the areas introducing some of the back story to Lemeslick, Tarkin and Ackbar were equally good and fun to read. It was nice to see Leia as the Chief of State if only for a short time. Unlike some other books, where Han and Leia are running around all over the place without guards, escorts or anything else essential to a chief of state, Anderson writes Leia as a leader of the Galactic Senate at some points. At others, he reverts to form. The death of Madine is handled very well, as is the return to Hoth and the one-armed Wampa. The bad: Continuing a tradition of useless Star Wars characters, Anderson brings back Qui Xu as Wedge Antilles main squeeze, Admiral Daala, the most inept Imperial commander to grace the expanded universe also returns, and of course everyone's favorite dead Jedi inhabiting the body of one of Luke's former students also returns. To think that Admiral Pelleon would at any point defer to Daala is outrageous. She's a totally inept officer, but at least she is able to kill off the annoying Moffs. Qui just does not need to be anywhere near the military. She's a scientist with no memory, get rid of her. Callista just never fit into the Star Wars universe. Somewhere along the line, someone decided Luke needed a girlfriend and so she was invented. Her only being able to use the Dark Side of the force is stupid, as is her continuing whining about her fate. Luke Skywalker clone Kyp Durron also returns, now a full Jedi Knight. Wow, he went from mass murderer to full Jedi in about a year, Luke needed to spend more time with him to move that fast. Overall, Darksaber is an ok read. There are many better Star Wars books out there and several that are worse. There are some key elements needed to understand the SW universe better such as the background of the Death Star, Tarkin etc., but there is just too much recycled material to make this a good story.

This book was a complete letdown. I haven't read that many Star Wars books yet, in fact, "Darksaber" and "Shadow of the Empire" are the only two that I have read thus far, but these were so terrible that I must warn those who are just beginning to read Star Wars literature NOT to begin with these two.
I will admit that "Darksaber" had a few redeeming aspects of it that makes it worth reading though, even if it is an embarrassing failure.
For instance, scattered throughout the book are flashbacks to past events that took place during the time of the movies and plot developments never explained in the movies such as: who designed the Death Star, who worked on it, and the Hitlerian philosophy of the Imperials. I also liked how Anderson depicted the Imperials, giving them a greater depth than I had previously encountered. I also liked how Anderson made reference to and revisited well known locations in the Star Wars universe, although at times it felt as if he was attempting to cram as much of it as possible into a short book of 300 or so pages, making Luke and Callista's journeys to those locations seem more an excuse for Anderson to write about them in his book rather than having a pertinent reason for going there. I also thought the inclusion of the Hutts had potential and would have been a noble idea had it been done by a better author.
Although these were all laudable aspects of "Darksaber," they just weren't good enough or written well enough to save the rest of the novel from a state of ludicriously bad writing.
Most of the plot scenes were irrelevant, inpertinent, and pointless. The characters were wooden, shallow, and lacking in personality. Even the ones who had potential such as Pellaeon and Daala fell far short of the author's aspirations.
Durga the Hutt seemed more like a character used for tasteless comic relief than a notorious crime lord.
Also, given the fact that the Empire considers females and nonhuman species inferior it seems highly unlikely that the Emperorless Imperials would have so readily followed a woman, especially when Daala went against all the principles of the Empire to give aliens and females equal opportunities.
Bevel Lemelisk, although being a character that had potential, became one of the worst characters ever created under Anderson's amateur guidance.
The destruction of the Death Star was horribly anticlimatic, making it one of the most hyped up and pointless events in the book.
One event that irritated me, although it didn't have much relevance to the rest of the story's plot, but is a perfect example of one of the main things that makes this book so horrible, is when Han and Luke travel with a group of Tusken Raiders on Tatooine. Anderson only vaguely and inadequately explains why they would do such a thing and, again, only seems to be another weak excuse to mention a well known Star Wars ingredient in his badly written book.
The entire scene on Hoth with Luke and Callista (who I might add is one dimensional, annoyingly whiny, and frustratingly weak) was another lame excuse to mention a trademark Star Wars location.
I could go on at length as to why this book fails, but that would probably be a book in itself, so I'll just leave you with what I have written and hope that was enough to convince you to avoid this book.

This is quite possibly one of the worst Sci-Fi books I have ever read. I REALLY love Star Wars, and I read this in 2 days, but not because it was great.

The story is just fine, though the lack of imagination of the author cuts the book short. I basically like any story that involves Star Wars. The story was not the problem. It was fairly imaginative. Some things were stupid, as in how the Darksaber was destroyed, because the author was not smart enough to think of a better way to destroy it (I'm not gonna tell how it was destroyed, read the book).

The writing is just plain horrible. I don't see how this man can live with himself and being such a grotesque writer. Seriously, a three year old could write better. I laughed several times during the book because several parts were funny, then I realized he just copied some lines straight out of the movie! There is almost no dialogue. He just puts all thoughts and stuff into paragraphs. The sentences lack depth, and so do the characters.

I constantly was rooting for the Imperials, because I was so tired of the dumb Rebels. I like the Jedi as much as the next guy, but whilst reading this book, I just wanted them to stop. If all the Jedis had to die for the book to end, so be it! Maybe the Imperials would not allow a stupid book like this to be published! Screw freedom of speech!

I haven't read a great deal of Star Wars books (I am mostly into fantasy at the moment), but this has got to be one of the worst. I've read Timothy Zahn and he is light years ahead of Kevin Anderson. I would be much happier if Anderson never wrote a book again in his life. Well, at least not a Star Wars book.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Worse then Jedi Acadmey Trilogy
When I first started reading this book, I thought that the plot was pretty solid, having Daala team up with the Hutts, giving Luke a girlfriend, give Leia, Han, Chewie, R2, and... Read more

Published on Jun 8 2004 by exar_kun_2

2.0 out of 5 stars avoid Kevin J Anderson like a plague
Kevin J Anderson is probably the worst author to ever grace the NYT's best seller lists. He's the worst author in the entire Star Wars franchise, and that's allowing for alot of... Read more

Published on April 25 2004 by animmal

4.0 out of 5 stars Wampas, Death Star plans, and Hutts, oh my!
Darksaber, written by Kevin J. Anderson (The Jedi Academy Trilogy), is the middle book in a loose trilogy which chronicles the eventful yet destined-to-fail romance between Luke... Read more

Published on April 7 2004 by Alex Diaz-Granados

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative and fun
This is a book that would be better if you read Children of the Jedi first. I didn't, but it helps. Plot: a couple of Hutts get together and try to build a death star, with the... Read more

Published on Jun 3 2003 by Matt

4.0 out of 5 stars Star Wars
While this book does not stick out in my mind as one of my favorite Star Wars books, it is an important part of the expanded Star Wars Universe. It is a good read.

Published on Jan 14 2003 by A.J.W.

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick, Fast, and Action-Packed
Kevin J. Anderson is probably the most controversial writer in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. On one hand, he has been instrumental in mapping out the early course of the... Read more

Published on Sep 25 2002 by Simon

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible
Anderson treads a well-worn path here, with yet another superweapon that must be destroyed. Can no-one think of a more original plot? Read more

Published on May 31 2002 by kallan

4.0 out of 5 stars Ok so now Luke has a lovelife
As mentioned in other reviews you can ignore that part. The action sceans both on with the Hutts and the Imperials are very good. I recommend this book.

Published on May 26 2002 by General Pete

5.0 out of 5 stars A pretty bad book
As a reader before said the Callista/Luke thing is pretty sick. Why should Luke fall for Callista when there are plenty of other women out there? He shouldn't thats why. Read more

Published on May 20 2002

3.0 out of 5 stars Darksaber is okay, but could have been a lot better.
This will probably be the last book I read written by Kevin J. Anderson. The title emphasizes a great superweapon built by the Hutts, and when you get into reading it, eventually... Read more

Published on May 12 2002 by Bryan

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