Reflection's Edge

Book Review: Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal, by Aaron Allston

Reviewer: Romie Stott

Summary: Thirty years after the victory at Endor, Han and Leia have entered middle-aged semi-retirement, while Luke presides over a resurrected Jedi order - one which includes all the Skywalker and Solo children, accomplished Jedi in their own right. However, they find their loyalties divided by a diplomatic - then military - conflict between Corellia and Coruscant, masterminded by two old enemies. Soon parents and children are fighting on different sides of a war nobody wants…and Luke senses a new evil on the horizon.

Sequel to: Although Betrayal is the first in a new series, it draws upon dozens of licensed Star Wars books and comics, along with the movies themselves.

Length: 387 pages, hardback. The reviewer finished it in a day, while stuck in bed with a chest cold.

From the cover, you might think this book is about: Jacen Solo turns evil, and maybe tries to kill some people!

But it's actually about: Jacen Solo is broody and arrogant and kills some innocent people in an attempt to minimize the overall killing of people. Is that evil?

If this book were a food, it would be: Astronaut ice cream.

Most Awkward Use of Flavor Text: "As she reached the doorway, she dropped the speed burst and stopped with the abruptness of a Toydarian junk merchant flying over a credit." (p. 206)

Number of Extraneous References to Banthas: Eight.

Mainstream appeal: Low - yet Betrayal will almost certainly be a bestseller. Star Wars still exerts a powerful pull on our consciousness (and our wallets), but the licensed universe is as convoluted as the X-Men's. Only six of the original characters are still around, and there have been any number of wars, villains, and governments between the movies and now. Although a reader can follow the story without knowing the intervening steps, much of the emotional pull relies on recognition of names like Thrakan Sal-Solo, Tycho Celchu, and Zekk, or knowledge of the Yuuzhan Vong War. Allston focuses on the action aspects of Star Wars to the exclusion of almost everything else; the spiritual and archetypal facets are particularly lacking. Most characters are combat Jedi with espionage experience and flying skills. Allston's Luke is good, his Leia is passable, and his Han is atrocious. 3PO is similarly terrible, and Wedge is fun but overpowered. Lando and R2 are absent, but referenced; Chewbacca is dead.

Fringy-ness : None. Reading Star Wars books gets you no cred with geeks or with non-geeks. However, since most people like Star Wars, you are likely to get approached by talkative strangers.

People are saying: With the spiritual issues missing, Betrayal feels less like Star Wars than a Star Trek movie, and the pacing reads more like a comic book than a novel. It's often hard to like (or distinguish) the characters; Allston relies on pre-existing emotional connections to carry the reader's interest. The prose is clunky, and the story contains way too many twists - it was just a dream, it was just a simulation, they were just joking, it's actually one of the main characters in disguise. There is a short but excellent early scene with a droid which believes it is human, and the book does a nice job of presenting complicated ethical situations.

The author is: on tour promoting the new series. This month, he'll be in Indianapolis, St. Louis, Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, and the San Diego Comic-Con International. His website at www.AaronAllston.com includes a FAQ and interviews.

To buy a copy of this book, click: here.

If you liked this book, check out:

"On the Implausibility of the Death Star's Trash Compactor," by Joshua Tyree (www.mcsweeneys.net)

"George Lucas in Love," directed by Joe Nussbaum (VHS)

Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zahn

Truce at Bakura, by Kathy Tyers



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