NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Jedi and Sith fight side by side against an even greater foe.
But how long can enemies remain allies?
And how high is the price of betrayal?
In a stunning turn of events, Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, joined forces with the Sith armada sent to kill them—and used their combined might against the monstrous being Abeloth. But when the wounded creature escapes, the fragile armistice crumbles, and hostilities resume with the attempted assassination of Luke.
On the hunt for Abeloth and on the run from the Sith, Luke and Ben find themselves trapped by a mob of angry Force adepts who care little for the difference between light side and dark side.
With the Jedi’s most famous father-and-son team outnumbered and outgunned, the countdown to galactic disaster has begun—and time is running out.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
About the Author
Troy Denning is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss; Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost; Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Star by Star; the Star Wars: Dark Nest trilogy: The Joiner King, The Unseen Queen, and The Swarm War; and Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Tempest, Inferno, and Invincible—as well as Pages of Pain, Beyond the High Road, The Summoning, and many other novels. A former game designer and editor, he lives in western Wisconsin with his wife, Andria.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One
Beyond the forward viewport hung the gossamer veil of Ashteri's Cloud, a vast drift of ionized tuderium gas floating along one edge of the Kessel sector. Speckled with the blue haloes of a thousand distant stars, its milky filaments were a sure sign that the Rockhound had finally escaped the sunless gloom of the Deep Maw. And after the jaw-clenching horror of jumping blind through a labyrinth of uncharted hyperspace lanes and hungry black holes, even that pale light was a welcome relief to Jaina Solo.
Or rather, it would have been, had the cloud been in the right place.
The Rockhound was bound for Coruscant, not Kessel, and that meant Ashteri's Cloud should have been forty degrees to port as they exited the Maw. It should have been a barely discernible smudge of light, shifted so far into the red that it looked like no more than a tiny flicker of flame, and Jaina could not quite grasp how they had gone astray.
She glanced over at the pilot's station--a mobile levchair surrounded by brass control panels and drop-down display screens--but found no answers in Lando Calrissian's furrowed brow. Dressed immaculately in a white shimmersilk tunic, lavender trousers, and a hip cape, he was perched on the edge of his huge nerf-leather seat, with his chin propped on his knuckles and his gaze fixed on the alabaster radiance outside.
In the three decades Jaina had known Lando, it was one of the rare moments when his life of long-odds gambles and all-or-nothing stakes actually seemed to have taken a toll on his con-artist good looks. It was also a testament to the strain and fear of the past few days--and, perhaps, to the hectic pace. Lando was as impeccably groomed as always, but even he had not found time to touch up the dye that kept his mustache and curly hair their usual deep, rich black.
After a few moments, he finally sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Go ahead, say it."
"Say what?" Jaina asked, wondering exactly what Lando expected her to say. After all, he was the one who had made the bad jump. "It's not my fault?"
A glimmer of irritation shot through Lando's weary eyes, but then he seemed to realize Jaina was only trying to lighten the mood. He chuckled and flashed her one of his nova-bright grins. "You're as bad as your old man. Can't you see this is no time to joke?"
Jaina cocked a brow. "So you didn't decide to swing past Kessel to say hello to the wife and son?"
"Good idea," Lando said, shaking his head. "But . . . no."
"Well, then . . ." Jaina activated the auxiliary pilot's station and waited as the long-range sensors spooled up. An old asteroid tug designed to be controlled by a single operator and a huge robotic crew, the Rockhound had no true co-pilot's station, and that meant the wait was going to be longer than Jaina would have liked. "What are we doing here?"
Lando's expression grew serious. "Good question." He turned toward the back of the Rockhound's spacious flight deck, where the vessel's ancient bridge droid stood in front of an equally ancient nav computer. A Cybot Galactica model RN8, the droid had a transparent head-globe, currently filled with the floating twinkles of a central processing unit running at high speed. Also inside the globe were three sapphire-blue photoreceptors, spaced at even intervals to give her full-perimeter vision. Her bronze body casing was etched with constellations, comets, and other celestial artwork. "I know I told Ornate to set a course for Coruscant."
RN8's head-globe spun just enough to fix one of her photoreceptors on Lando's face. "Yes, you did." Her voice was silky, deep, and chiding. "And then you countermanded that order with one directing us to our current destination."
Lando scowled. "You need to do a better job maintaining your auditory systems," he said. "You're hearing things."
The twinkles inside RN8's head-globe dimmed as she redirected power to her diagnostic systems. Jaina turned her own attention back to the auxiliary display and saw that the long-range sensors had finally come online. Unfortunately, they were no help. The only thing that had changed inside its bronze frame was the color of the screen and a single symbol denoting the Rockhound's own location in the exact center.
RN8's silky voice sounded from the back of the flight deck. "My auditory sensors are in optimum condition, Captain--as are my data storage and retrieval systems." Her words began to roll across the deck in a very familiar male baritone. "Redirect to destination Ashteri's Cloud, arrival time seventeen hours fifteen, Galactic Standard."
Lando's jaw dropped, and he sputtered, "Tha . . . that's not me!"
"Not quite," Jaina agreed. The emphasis was placed on the wrong syllable in several words; otherwise, the voice was identical. "But it's close enough to fool a droid."
Lando's eyes clouded with confusion. "Are you telling me what I think you're telling me?"
"Yes," Jaina said, glancing at her blank sensor display. "I don't quite know how, but someone impersonated you."
"Through the Force?"
Jaina shrugged and shot a meaningful glance toward a dark corner. While she knew of half a dozen Force powers that could have been used to defeat RN8's voice-recognition software, not one of those techniques had a range measured in light-years. She carefully began to expand her Force awareness, concentrating on the remote corners of the huge ship, and thirty standard seconds later was astonished to find nothing unusual. There were no lurking beings, no blank zones that might suggest an artificial void in the Force, not even any small vermin that might be a Force-wielder disguising his presence.
After a moment, she turned back to Lando. "They must be using the Force. There's no one aboard but us and the droids."
"I was afraid you'd say that." Lando paused for a moment, then asked, "Luke's friends?"
"I hate to jump to conclusions, but . . . who else?" Jaina replied. "First, Lost Tribe or not, they're Sith. Second, they already tried to double-cross us once."
"Which makes them as crazy as a rancor on the dancing deck," Lando said. "Abeloth was locked in a black-hole prison for twenty-five thousand years. What kind of maniacs would think it was a good idea to bust her out?"
"They're Sith," Jaina reminded him. "All that matters to them is power, and Abeloth had power like a nova has light--until Luke killed her."
Lando frowned in thought. "And if they're crazy enough to think they could take Abeloth home with them, they're probably crazy enough to think they could take the guy who killed her."
"Exactly," Jaina said. "Until a few weeks ago, no one even knew the Lost Tribe existed. That's changed, but they'll still want to keep what they can secret."
"So they'll try to take out Luke and Ben," Lando agreed. "And us, too. Contain the leak."
"That's my guess," Jaina said. "Sith like secrecy, and secrecy means stopping us now. Once we're out of the Maw, they'll expect us to access the HoloNet and report."
Lando looked up and exhaled in frustration. "I told Luke he couldn't trust anyone who puts High Lord before his name." He had been even more forceful than Jaina in trying to argue Luke out of a second bargain with the Lost Tribe--a bargain that had left the Skywalkers and three Sith behind to explore Abeloth's savage homeworld together. "Maybe we should go back."
Jaina thought for only an instant, then shook her head. "No, Luke knew the bargain wouldn't last when he agreed to it," she said. "Sarasu Taalon has already betrayed his word once."
Lando scowled. "That doesn't mean Luke and Ben are safe."
"No," Jaina agreed. "But it does mean he's risking their lives to increase our chances of reporting to the Jedi Council. That's our mission."
"Technically, Luke doesn't get to assign missions right now," Lando pressed. "You wouldn't be violating orders if we--"
"Luke Skywalker is still the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. I think we should assume he has a plan," Jaina said. A sudden tingle of danger sense raced down her spine, prompting her to hit the quick-release on her crash harness. "Besides, we need to start worrying about saving our own skins."
Lando began to look worried. "What are you saying?" he asked. "That you're sensing something?"
Jaina shook her head. "Not yet." She rose. "But I will be. Why do you suppose they sent us someplace easy to find?"
Lando scowled. "Oh . . ." He glanced up at a display, tapped some keys--no doubt trying to call up a tactical report--then slammed his fist against the edge of the brass console. "Are they jamming us?"
"That's difficult to know with the ship's sensor systems offline for degaussing," RN8 replied.
"Offline?" Lando shrieked. "Who authorized that?"
"You did, ninety-seven seconds ago," RN8 replied. "Would you like me to play it back?"
"No! Countermand it and bring all systems back up." Lando turned to Jaina and asked, "Any feel for how long we have until the shooting starts?"
Jaina closed her eyes and opened herself to the Force. She felt a mass of belligerent presences approaching from the direction of the Maw. She turned to RN8.
"How long until the sensor systems reboot?"
"Approximately three minutes and fifty-seven seconds," the droid reported. "I'm afraid Captain Calrissian also ordered a complete data consolidation."
Jaina winced and turned back to Lando. "In that case, I'd say we have less than three minutes and fifty-two seconds. There's someone hostile coming up behind us." She started toward the hatchway at the back of the cavernous bridge, her boots ringing on the old durasteel deck. "Why don't you see if you can put a stop to those false orders?"
"Sure, I'll just tell my crew to stop listening to me." Lando's voice was sarcastic. "Being droids, they'll know what I mean."
"You might try activating their standard verification routines," Jaina suggested.
"I might, if droid crews this old had standard verification routines...
Beyond the forward viewport hung the gossamer veil of Ashteri's Cloud, a vast drift of ionized tuderium gas floating along one edge of the Kessel sector. Speckled with the blue haloes of a thousand distant stars, its milky filaments were a sure sign that the Rockhound had finally escaped the sunless gloom of the Deep Maw. And after the jaw-clenching horror of jumping blind through a labyrinth of uncharted hyperspace lanes and hungry black holes, even that pale light was a welcome relief to Jaina Solo.
Or rather, it would have been, had the cloud been in the right place.
The Rockhound was bound for Coruscant, not Kessel, and that meant Ashteri's Cloud should have been forty degrees to port as they exited the Maw. It should have been a barely discernible smudge of light, shifted so far into the red that it looked like no more than a tiny flicker of flame, and Jaina could not quite grasp how they had gone astray.
She glanced over at the pilot's station--a mobile levchair surrounded by brass control panels and drop-down display screens--but found no answers in Lando Calrissian's furrowed brow. Dressed immaculately in a white shimmersilk tunic, lavender trousers, and a hip cape, he was perched on the edge of his huge nerf-leather seat, with his chin propped on his knuckles and his gaze fixed on the alabaster radiance outside.
In the three decades Jaina had known Lando, it was one of the rare moments when his life of long-odds gambles and all-or-nothing stakes actually seemed to have taken a toll on his con-artist good looks. It was also a testament to the strain and fear of the past few days--and, perhaps, to the hectic pace. Lando was as impeccably groomed as always, but even he had not found time to touch up the dye that kept his mustache and curly hair their usual deep, rich black.
After a few moments, he finally sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Go ahead, say it."
"Say what?" Jaina asked, wondering exactly what Lando expected her to say. After all, he was the one who had made the bad jump. "It's not my fault?"
A glimmer of irritation shot through Lando's weary eyes, but then he seemed to realize Jaina was only trying to lighten the mood. He chuckled and flashed her one of his nova-bright grins. "You're as bad as your old man. Can't you see this is no time to joke?"
Jaina cocked a brow. "So you didn't decide to swing past Kessel to say hello to the wife and son?"
"Good idea," Lando said, shaking his head. "But . . . no."
"Well, then . . ." Jaina activated the auxiliary pilot's station and waited as the long-range sensors spooled up. An old asteroid tug designed to be controlled by a single operator and a huge robotic crew, the Rockhound had no true co-pilot's station, and that meant the wait was going to be longer than Jaina would have liked. "What are we doing here?"
Lando's expression grew serious. "Good question." He turned toward the back of the Rockhound's spacious flight deck, where the vessel's ancient bridge droid stood in front of an equally ancient nav computer. A Cybot Galactica model RN8, the droid had a transparent head-globe, currently filled with the floating twinkles of a central processing unit running at high speed. Also inside the globe were three sapphire-blue photoreceptors, spaced at even intervals to give her full-perimeter vision. Her bronze body casing was etched with constellations, comets, and other celestial artwork. "I know I told Ornate to set a course for Coruscant."
RN8's head-globe spun just enough to fix one of her photoreceptors on Lando's face. "Yes, you did." Her voice was silky, deep, and chiding. "And then you countermanded that order with one directing us to our current destination."
Lando scowled. "You need to do a better job maintaining your auditory systems," he said. "You're hearing things."
The twinkles inside RN8's head-globe dimmed as she redirected power to her diagnostic systems. Jaina turned her own attention back to the auxiliary display and saw that the long-range sensors had finally come online. Unfortunately, they were no help. The only thing that had changed inside its bronze frame was the color of the screen and a single symbol denoting the Rockhound's own location in the exact center.
RN8's silky voice sounded from the back of the flight deck. "My auditory sensors are in optimum condition, Captain--as are my data storage and retrieval systems." Her words began to roll across the deck in a very familiar male baritone. "Redirect to destination Ashteri's Cloud, arrival time seventeen hours fifteen, Galactic Standard."
Lando's jaw dropped, and he sputtered, "Tha . . . that's not me!"
"Not quite," Jaina agreed. The emphasis was placed on the wrong syllable in several words; otherwise, the voice was identical. "But it's close enough to fool a droid."
Lando's eyes clouded with confusion. "Are you telling me what I think you're telling me?"
"Yes," Jaina said, glancing at her blank sensor display. "I don't quite know how, but someone impersonated you."
"Through the Force?"
Jaina shrugged and shot a meaningful glance toward a dark corner. While she knew of half a dozen Force powers that could have been used to defeat RN8's voice-recognition software, not one of those techniques had a range measured in light-years. She carefully began to expand her Force awareness, concentrating on the remote corners of the huge ship, and thirty standard seconds later was astonished to find nothing unusual. There were no lurking beings, no blank zones that might suggest an artificial void in the Force, not even any small vermin that might be a Force-wielder disguising his presence.
After a moment, she turned back to Lando. "They must be using the Force. There's no one aboard but us and the droids."
"I was afraid you'd say that." Lando paused for a moment, then asked, "Luke's friends?"
"I hate to jump to conclusions, but . . . who else?" Jaina replied. "First, Lost Tribe or not, they're Sith. Second, they already tried to double-cross us once."
"Which makes them as crazy as a rancor on the dancing deck," Lando said. "Abeloth was locked in a black-hole prison for twenty-five thousand years. What kind of maniacs would think it was a good idea to bust her out?"
"They're Sith," Jaina reminded him. "All that matters to them is power, and Abeloth had power like a nova has light--until Luke killed her."
Lando frowned in thought. "And if they're crazy enough to think they could take Abeloth home with them, they're probably crazy enough to think they could take the guy who killed her."
"Exactly," Jaina said. "Until a few weeks ago, no one even knew the Lost Tribe existed. That's changed, but they'll still want to keep what they can secret."
"So they'll try to take out Luke and Ben," Lando agreed. "And us, too. Contain the leak."
"That's my guess," Jaina said. "Sith like secrecy, and secrecy means stopping us now. Once we're out of the Maw, they'll expect us to access the HoloNet and report."
Lando looked up and exhaled in frustration. "I told Luke he couldn't trust anyone who puts High Lord before his name." He had been even more forceful than Jaina in trying to argue Luke out of a second bargain with the Lost Tribe--a bargain that had left the Skywalkers and three Sith behind to explore Abeloth's savage homeworld together. "Maybe we should go back."
Jaina thought for only an instant, then shook her head. "No, Luke knew the bargain wouldn't last when he agreed to it," she said. "Sarasu Taalon has already betrayed his word once."
Lando scowled. "That doesn't mean Luke and Ben are safe."
"No," Jaina agreed. "But it does mean he's risking their lives to increase our chances of reporting to the Jedi Council. That's our mission."
"Technically, Luke doesn't get to assign missions right now," Lando pressed. "You wouldn't be violating orders if we--"
"Luke Skywalker is still the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. I think we should assume he has a plan," Jaina said. A sudden tingle of danger sense raced down her spine, prompting her to hit the quick-release on her crash harness. "Besides, we need to start worrying about saving our own skins."
Lando began to look worried. "What are you saying?" he asked. "That you're sensing something?"
Jaina shook her head. "Not yet." She rose. "But I will be. Why do you suppose they sent us someplace easy to find?"
Lando scowled. "Oh . . ." He glanced up at a display, tapped some keys--no doubt trying to call up a tactical report--then slammed his fist against the edge of the brass console. "Are they jamming us?"
"That's difficult to know with the ship's sensor systems offline for degaussing," RN8 replied.
"Offline?" Lando shrieked. "Who authorized that?"
"You did, ninety-seven seconds ago," RN8 replied. "Would you like me to play it back?"
"No! Countermand it and bring all systems back up." Lando turned to Jaina and asked, "Any feel for how long we have until the shooting starts?"
Jaina closed her eyes and opened herself to the Force. She felt a mass of belligerent presences approaching from the direction of the Maw. She turned to RN8.
"How long until the sensor systems reboot?"
"Approximately three minutes and fifty-seven seconds," the droid reported. "I'm afraid Captain Calrissian also ordered a complete data consolidation."
Jaina winced and turned back to Lando. "In that case, I'd say we have less than three minutes and fifty-two seconds. There's someone hostile coming up behind us." She started toward the hatchway at the back of the cavernous bridge, her boots ringing on the old durasteel deck. "Why don't you see if you can put a stop to those false orders?"
"Sure, I'll just tell my crew to stop listening to me." Lando's voice was sarcastic. "Being droids, they'll know what I mean."
"You might try activating their standard verification routines," Jaina suggested.
"I might, if droid crews this old had standard verification routines...
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Keith Pears
Amazon Verified Purchase
Good first half of book. Used about half the pages and half the text so far. Expect the other half to have approximately the same amount of pages and the same amount of print. Good ratio of print to unprinted areas. Nice font. Cover comes in handy to keep pages covered. Good book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars
8 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lost in the whirlwind that is Vortex
Mar 7 2013
By Shane
- Published on Amazon.com
After the deviation of Backlash, Allies put the series back on track and reintroduced the reader to the larger picture that is to be the Fate of the Jedi series. Now Vortex takes the reins from Christie Golden and sets out to bring the reader even deeper into the series' story arc. However, for me at least, the book fails to really offer anything that we haven't seen before. This is especially disappointing for me since I liked Abyss and was looking forward to seeing Denning offer another great installment into the series.
Where Denning's last book offered an in depth view into a mysterious group of Force users known as the Mind Walkers, Vortex decides to leave behind such explorations and focus on the Jedi/Sith storyline. Even though Vortex offers quite a bit of action and even some compelling intrigue along the way, I never really got into the story as much as I hoped I would going in. Why? Well my biggest complaint of the book and the series so far is that there is little in the way of alternate perspective. We all know the big three, Luke-Han-Leia, and we have read a lot of their history through many, many novels over the years; so why do we never see any of the events that unfold in this series through other people's eyes? Why do we not see any of this story being told from the prospective of the Sith or even through Vestara's eyes? Being told the feelings of Luke and Ben Skywalker as they deal with the Sith, Han and Leia's perspective as they deal, once again with the Jedi order and the political side of the GA, and watching Jiana and Jag's story unfold through Jiana's eyes is getting very, very old and tiresome.
But beyond the perspective issues is the lack of plot progression or any concept of what the series endgame is supposed to be. After six books I have yet to figure out the point of the series? Is it that Abeloth feels the need to put the galaxy back on its original path after Jacen's actions led it astray? If so, why do we not see any of the story told from Abeloth's perspective. Why are we not pushed to become involved in her quest?
In my opinion this whole series has progressed into a nine book attempt to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. And even though some intriguing things happen along the way I have yet to really care about anything that happens in any of these books outside of what was told in Abyss.
In this installments nearly four hundred pages the plot takes a few steps forward and some of the storylines continue on to their own endgame. Most of the book is the same things we have seen before with a little bit of a new shine put on them, but in the end not much really happens to move the big picture along. I'm about as lost to the point of this series as the authors seem to be. Oh well, on to the next.
Based on Amazon's star scale:
1 star = I hated it
2 star = I didn't like it
3 star = It was okay
4 star = I LIKE IT
5 star = I loved it
I give it a soft 4 stars.
Where Denning's last book offered an in depth view into a mysterious group of Force users known as the Mind Walkers, Vortex decides to leave behind such explorations and focus on the Jedi/Sith storyline. Even though Vortex offers quite a bit of action and even some compelling intrigue along the way, I never really got into the story as much as I hoped I would going in. Why? Well my biggest complaint of the book and the series so far is that there is little in the way of alternate perspective. We all know the big three, Luke-Han-Leia, and we have read a lot of their history through many, many novels over the years; so why do we never see any of the events that unfold in this series through other people's eyes? Why do we not see any of this story being told from the prospective of the Sith or even through Vestara's eyes? Being told the feelings of Luke and Ben Skywalker as they deal with the Sith, Han and Leia's perspective as they deal, once again with the Jedi order and the political side of the GA, and watching Jiana and Jag's story unfold through Jiana's eyes is getting very, very old and tiresome.
But beyond the perspective issues is the lack of plot progression or any concept of what the series endgame is supposed to be. After six books I have yet to figure out the point of the series? Is it that Abeloth feels the need to put the galaxy back on its original path after Jacen's actions led it astray? If so, why do we not see any of the story told from Abeloth's perspective. Why are we not pushed to become involved in her quest?
In my opinion this whole series has progressed into a nine book attempt to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. And even though some intriguing things happen along the way I have yet to really care about anything that happens in any of these books outside of what was told in Abyss.
In this installments nearly four hundred pages the plot takes a few steps forward and some of the storylines continue on to their own endgame. Most of the book is the same things we have seen before with a little bit of a new shine put on them, but in the end not much really happens to move the big picture along. I'm about as lost to the point of this series as the authors seem to be. Oh well, on to the next.
Based on Amazon's star scale:
1 star = I hated it
2 star = I didn't like it
3 star = It was okay
4 star = I LIKE IT
5 star = I loved it
I give it a soft 4 stars.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fate of the Jedi stays on target
Mar 15 2013
By Andrew Pruette
- Published on Amazon.com
The fifth book in Fate of the Jedi, Christie Golden's Allies, left the Abeloth story seemingly resolved while the galactic political situation continued to be in flux. However, it's little shock that Troy Denning's Vortex quickly brings Abeloth back into the action. The mysteries surrounding this ancient entity deepen as she escapes the uneasily-combined forces of the Sith and Luke and Ben Skywalker. The situation on Coruscant remains unstable but the temporary defeat of Abeloth in Allies does have one key effect: the young mad Jedi are restored to sanity. However, Chief of State Daala refuses to release Valin and Jysella Horn from carbonite and so the tension between her and the Jedi Order is unabated.
The events early in Vortex on Abeloth's unnamed jungle planet are interesting: Luke does not trust the Lost Tribe of the Sith but he is forced to continue maintaining their alliance as best as he can, being both an honorable sort of fellow and severely outnumbered. Things go wrong at the Pool of Knowledge and a battle erupts. The Pool feels more drawn from a fantasy storyline than a sci-fi one, although I consider Star Wars galactic fantasy anyway. For that matter, much of the adventures and stories rotating around Abeloth share this fantastical bent: she feels like something from mythology rather than the "modern" galaxy far, far away, with her mysterious galaxy-spanning powers and vaguely named locales.
Later on we journey to Pydyr, a planet where the Fallanassi from the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy have taken up residence. Luke gets to reunite with another of his old girlfriends in the form of Akanah, previously a part of a three-book-long storyline where it seemed we'd meet Luke's mother. But in the end, we didn't. If that sounds anticlimactic, that's because it was. However, it's good to see the Fallanassi represented in Fate of the Jedi, which has done a nice job of highlighting many Force using cultures beyond the standard Jedi and Sith. The ending showdown is satisfying and Luke maintains a strong position in handling his on-again off-again Sith buddies.
Vestara continues to journey with the Skywalkers in Vortex. I recognize the authors are spending a lot of time developing her character and I respect that but there was a point where I tired of her continual betrayals. She does provide an entertaining foil for Ben and certainly enlivens the dialogue as the three of them jet around the galaxy but I was ready by Vortex for more progression in the Ben/Vestara relationship.
On Coruscant, the siege of the Jedi temple is lifted but Master Kenth Hamner's relationship to the rest of the Council runs off the rails as he plays a political game. His powerful military ally Nek Bwua'tu is in a coma and unable to assist: Nek had real promise as a strong character earlier in the series and he is missed here. Tahiri's trial continues and at this stage needed more progress forward: it is spanning quite a few books. What's here is quite interesting and I bemoan the length of time the authors are taking with it primarily because I find the trial scenes quite gripping.
One of my favorite of Mr. Denning's pet characters, Master Saba Sebatyne, has a strong part to play in Vortex and I was glad to see her well-utilized. In both this book and Abyss Mr. Denning has shown a strong ability to keep the story aligned to the overall plot and to not insert Killiks and Squibs all over the place. As in his prior Star Wars novels, he is adept at juggling action scenes with dialogue and keeps the story whisking along. After the nineteen book New Jedi Order and the nine book Legacy of the Force, I am quite weary of drawn-out Star Wars stories. However, six books into Fate of the Jedi, I give it high marks for consistency between the authors and a slowly escalating pace that has stayed steady with the exception of the side journey in Backlash.
The events early in Vortex on Abeloth's unnamed jungle planet are interesting: Luke does not trust the Lost Tribe of the Sith but he is forced to continue maintaining their alliance as best as he can, being both an honorable sort of fellow and severely outnumbered. Things go wrong at the Pool of Knowledge and a battle erupts. The Pool feels more drawn from a fantasy storyline than a sci-fi one, although I consider Star Wars galactic fantasy anyway. For that matter, much of the adventures and stories rotating around Abeloth share this fantastical bent: she feels like something from mythology rather than the "modern" galaxy far, far away, with her mysterious galaxy-spanning powers and vaguely named locales.
Later on we journey to Pydyr, a planet where the Fallanassi from the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy have taken up residence. Luke gets to reunite with another of his old girlfriends in the form of Akanah, previously a part of a three-book-long storyline where it seemed we'd meet Luke's mother. But in the end, we didn't. If that sounds anticlimactic, that's because it was. However, it's good to see the Fallanassi represented in Fate of the Jedi, which has done a nice job of highlighting many Force using cultures beyond the standard Jedi and Sith. The ending showdown is satisfying and Luke maintains a strong position in handling his on-again off-again Sith buddies.
Vestara continues to journey with the Skywalkers in Vortex. I recognize the authors are spending a lot of time developing her character and I respect that but there was a point where I tired of her continual betrayals. She does provide an entertaining foil for Ben and certainly enlivens the dialogue as the three of them jet around the galaxy but I was ready by Vortex for more progression in the Ben/Vestara relationship.
On Coruscant, the siege of the Jedi temple is lifted but Master Kenth Hamner's relationship to the rest of the Council runs off the rails as he plays a political game. His powerful military ally Nek Bwua'tu is in a coma and unable to assist: Nek had real promise as a strong character earlier in the series and he is missed here. Tahiri's trial continues and at this stage needed more progress forward: it is spanning quite a few books. What's here is quite interesting and I bemoan the length of time the authors are taking with it primarily because I find the trial scenes quite gripping.
One of my favorite of Mr. Denning's pet characters, Master Saba Sebatyne, has a strong part to play in Vortex and I was glad to see her well-utilized. In both this book and Abyss Mr. Denning has shown a strong ability to keep the story aligned to the overall plot and to not insert Killiks and Squibs all over the place. As in his prior Star Wars novels, he is adept at juggling action scenes with dialogue and keeps the story whisking along. After the nineteen book New Jedi Order and the nine book Legacy of the Force, I am quite weary of drawn-out Star Wars stories. However, six books into Fate of the Jedi, I give it high marks for consistency between the authors and a slowly escalating pace that has stayed steady with the exception of the side journey in Backlash.
3.0 out of 5 stars
building steam
Feb 25 2013
By Enjolras
- Published on Amazon.com
First, I should say that, unlike many people reading this book, I'd heard about the ending of the series before I even started reading. However, I think that spoiler is allowing me to enjoy the series more than I would have otherwise. Vortex builds the story very slowly. It's not even clear what the larger story arch is about. In retrospect, the Fate of the Jedi series probably takes too long to actually set up the larger threat.
On the one hand, we finally start to see the plot thicken. The political crisis on Coruscant comes to a head. Luke and the Sith are fully invested in the search for Abeloth. No more detours to other planets to help out the natives. We also get to see Abeloth be actually threatening as she consumes other people and spreads her evil.
Denning creates a great buildup to events. I loved how he uses the slavery issue to galvanize the Jedi. there's some really great drama. However, Denning isn't nearly as good at providing satisfactory resolutions. I don't want to spoil too much, but I'll just say I think he lost an opportunity to engage in interesting moral questions.
Also, I really detest how Denning treats Master Kenth Hamner. For the previous five books, we saw Kenth under immense pressure to resolve the political conflict between the Jedi and Daala. He seemed to be acting honorably and sincerely sought the best interests of the Jedi. Unfortunately, in Vortex, Kenth Hamner is depicted as completely wrong on the moral issues and degenerates into a desperate old man. As a reader, I just didn't follow the transformation. Where was the honor in the man? What a sad waste of a character.
There are a few other points that bugged me. Terrik Booster essentially acts like a terrorist. I'm fine with moral ambiguity, and even find it interesting, but Denning's narration doesn't allow for that. He presents us with characters behaving in morally questionable ways, but leaves no room for moral ambiguity. I found myself struggling to sympathize with the "heroes", even though the narrator kept telling me I ought to.
Overall, I do feel like the Fate of the Jedi series is still going too slow, without a clear focus. Should we be focused on Abeloth or slavery? Are the plots related? Why do we care so much about Abeloth? Overall, 3.5 stars.
On the one hand, we finally start to see the plot thicken. The political crisis on Coruscant comes to a head. Luke and the Sith are fully invested in the search for Abeloth. No more detours to other planets to help out the natives. We also get to see Abeloth be actually threatening as she consumes other people and spreads her evil.
Denning creates a great buildup to events. I loved how he uses the slavery issue to galvanize the Jedi. there's some really great drama. However, Denning isn't nearly as good at providing satisfactory resolutions. I don't want to spoil too much, but I'll just say I think he lost an opportunity to engage in interesting moral questions.
Also, I really detest how Denning treats Master Kenth Hamner. For the previous five books, we saw Kenth under immense pressure to resolve the political conflict between the Jedi and Daala. He seemed to be acting honorably and sincerely sought the best interests of the Jedi. Unfortunately, in Vortex, Kenth Hamner is depicted as completely wrong on the moral issues and degenerates into a desperate old man. As a reader, I just didn't follow the transformation. Where was the honor in the man? What a sad waste of a character.
There are a few other points that bugged me. Terrik Booster essentially acts like a terrorist. I'm fine with moral ambiguity, and even find it interesting, but Denning's narration doesn't allow for that. He presents us with characters behaving in morally questionable ways, but leaves no room for moral ambiguity. I found myself struggling to sympathize with the "heroes", even though the narrator kept telling me I ought to.
Overall, I do feel like the Fate of the Jedi series is still going too slow, without a clear focus. Should we be focused on Abeloth or slavery? Are the plots related? Why do we care so much about Abeloth? Overall, 3.5 stars.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
