Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Ascension

1. Wait for the paperback or you might be wishing you had spent your money somewhere else. It is a good little read, but eternally boring at times. It is as though the author finished the book and realized it was too short. Then he went back, added tons of scenery, mundane descriptions of useless unimportant details and tried to add enough filler to make it a book. I found myself simply glancing over pages and pages of description just to get back to the story.

2. If you have not read the fatally flawed third book of the Callista series: Planet of Twilight, you will be lost for awhile whenever the author discusses events from that book. This occurs pretty much whenever he talks about Luke and Ben. Why he would choose to bring back that horrible story I don't know, but before you go out and buy the Callista trilogy, know that it is one of the poorer star wars trilogies.

3. The characters in this book make decisions that most decent human beings would never make, but of course if they made rational decisions I suppose the story would be over.

Just another Star Wars rehash. When will the book stores move these things to the romance section where they belong. I enjoy a fantasy story as much as the next person but Science Fiction this isn't. The operative word being Science. Science Fiction is an extension of known science, theoretical, fanciful, not magic.

Conviction took off from the momentum of Vortex, and on the surface, it was a lot like Backlash. In both books Allston followed up on Denning's efforts of a Lovecraftian portrayal of the mysterious, uber-powerful Abeloth. Like Backlash, Abeloth took more of a back seat as the other parties stepped forward, especially the teaming of Han-Leia-Allana and Luke-Ben-Vestara. However, Allston did a lot more than write another Backlash. Conviction soared above and beyond its predecessors as easily the most fun book in the series and with possibly the funniest Star Wars jokes in years. The book is simply jam packed with humor, fun, an excellent characterization.

Over all it is an enjoyable and viable addition to the FOTJ series. With the "yes and" method Allston successfully manages to advance events from the previous books while presenting Golden and Denning with plenty to work with in their next two novels. He wraps this all up in a thorough EU package for the enjoyment of the reader, with no false notes in any of his characterizations. And although this is not an Abyss or Vortex, packed with mysterious Abeloth action, Allston really topped himself with his best book yet in this series, and in my opinion his best book since the Enemy Lines duology. The story mimics the fun, action-adventure aspect of the Original Trilogy, and, in a way, the joy that early Bantam stories like the Thrawn Trilogy and the X-wing books did so well. By leaving the Tribe to Christie Golden, and Abeloth to Troy Denning, Allston managed to hit a home run by focusing on the Big 3, classic Star Wars characters, and the new generation of Jedi. Conviction is Allston doing what he does best.

Christie Golden has written an excellent book and has set everything up nicely for the final book of the series. In this installment, Ben, Luke, and Vestara are still hunting Abeloth and Ship. Vestara's former group, the Lost Tribe, have joined forces with Abeloth and are now intent on destroying the Jedi once and for all. Vestara, having conflicting emotions of her own, has solidly allied herself with Ben and Luke, but her new alliegance will force her to face her father, Gavar Khai in a duel to the death.

Meanwhile on Coruscant, the uneasy alliance put in place after the overthrow of Daala is facing new challenges, as multiple factions, including the Lost Tribe and Daala herself, strive to gain control of the Galactic Alliance. Several Senators and Moffs have conspired against the Jedi and are set on claiming the Galactic Alliance for themselves. But Luke has set a trap for the members of the Lost Tribe and is waiting to spring it. However, an entity of pure evil awaits. In Imperial Space, Head of State Jagged Fel has engaged Daala's star fleet in a battle to the death, but only one side will survive.

Luke's pursuit of Ship has led them to several planets throughout the galaxy, and now, He and his fellow Jedi are up against their biggest challenge so far, while Vestara, who has fallen for Ben, makes a life and death decision of her own.

The "Fate of the Jedi" series is nearing its dramatic conclusion, and Christie Golden has done a very good job of setting the stage for the final installment. The characters that have been around since the beginning continue to grow, and its easy to feel their triumphs and setbacks. I've been following the relationship between Ben and Vestara, and this book really sets the stage for what could be either a happy or tragic ending for them. All of the others, Luke, Leia, Han, Jaina, and Daala have maintained their strong personalities throughout, and they continue to do so here.

I highly recommend "Ascension". The stage has been set, now all we have to do is wait for the final installment.

I've been reading Star Wars Books since 1995, and they just seem to keep getting better. The series has definitely taking a lot of ups and downs with the characters while keeping each story completely fresh. Over 15 years of reading these and i feel like each book stands on it own and yet connects completely with each other book in the series. I like how the authors are rotated throughout an era to keep the writing from dragging on in one style. Each author seems to focus on important moments but keep the characters consistent no matter what happens. Great Job!!!

Fate of the Jedi Ascension is a great book, possibly the best in the FOTJ series so far. I couldn't put it down. It's a great story with some surprising twists, many of which I didn't expect. If you like Star Wars books, you should enjoy Ascension.

The only downside is that you'll have to wait until April to find out what happens in Apocalypse, the conclusion to Fate of the Jedi.

This book is an awesome addition to the star wars series!! I have absolutely loved the fate of the jedi series and this book has raised the bar for those coming after. If you love scifi you will love this series!

Short Review:
The problems with this book are two-fold. First, the story has so many plot introductions and conclusions that you're left feeling like not enough time was dedicated to any one part. Second, the author's work with established characters is simplistic at best. All characters are transparent, bland, and unmotivated. Few of the characters live up to past expositions.

In short, the whole book felt very much like the Episode 1 movie. A story was told, but it was unmotivated and boring. The characters were extremely predictable (though untrue to character precedent), lacked emotion and seemed like meaningless pieces in a game.

Full review:

Quick preface - when an author is brought into a Star Wars series like this, they're given input at the beginning to help shape where the series goes (which characters are created/involved, where the story arc proceeds, etc). That said, the whole arc has to be approved by the powers that be (Lucas himself? not sure).

To me, this indicates a SEVERE lack of foresight and/or planning when it came to this book. I assume if you want to read this book, you've been following the Fate of the Jedi series. You know all those great storylines that have been meticulously set up and established over the course of the whole series arc? Yeah, no less than 3 of those storylines are concluded in the space of *one page*. No joke. You spent several books reading the motivations and feelings of certain characters, only to see their storylines concluded in the span of *one page*. Ugh.

Part of the problems can be attributed to the sheer amount of stuff they put in this book. They wanted to put in so many plots and sub-plots that none of them get the time duly necessary for their exposition. Not that any of the plots are particularly inspired or groundbreaking, but that doesn't mean they should be immediately concluded and forgotten.

The other part of this can be attributed to the author simply misusing characters. I don't know if this is because she was told to write them in a certain way, or if she didn't understand them fully:

Luke: At this point in the series, Luke has such an absurd grasp over the force it's comical. The author seems to have forgotten this. In the past, he's had the ability to freeze master-level Jedis with only the force, the strength to grasp black holes and move them with willpower, the ability to "teleport" himself and other objects some distances, the ability to see into the future (both immediate and hazy distant), the ability to create duplicates of himself which can interact physically with the real world and project them over the distance of half the galaxy, the ability to create realistic duplicates of inanimate objects even of starship size, and the uncanny ability in every situation to "turn himself over to the force" while performing [insert activity here] so as to completely master and perfect the art of fighting/starship flying/saving peoples lives/protecting someone.

AND YET, he utterly fails to do ANY of this in this book. It's as if he's forgotten he's the galaxy's biggest badass. He misjudges several main characters' true nature completely, and he bumbles around in fights and action scenes like he's an amateur. He's moody and emotional(!). He lets several unnamed red-shirt jedis die on multiple occasions. What happened to the future-seeing, ass-kicking jedi grand master we saw dealing with Jacen? He was unstoppable, but apparently no more.

Vestara: We spent the last few books seeing how Vestara has had her life turned upside down several times in her scant few years. She's established as worldly, prescient, and has a sour but realistic look on life well beyond her years. Now along comes this book, and she acts like a 16 year old girl. We get it, she *is* a 16 year old girl. But why then did we spend the last half dozen books establishing that she does not *act* like a 16 year old girl? In this book, she's flaky and transparent. Her life choices disappoint, but even if you agreed with the direction the character took/had to take for the story, it should have been PAINFULLY obvious to someone as "masterful" as Luke to spot her true tendencies. But no, he's a moron in this book. Whoops.

Ben: There are 2 dozen books dedicated to making him a war-hardened and confused child dark assassin-turned lightest of the light jedi. He was taught by the two most powerful Jedi in recent history. He's arguably more developed than most of the other characters in this series. Along comes this book, and he too is a complete moron teenager. All of his actions show that he lacks foresight or analytical thinking of any type, but time and time again the author says something like "Ben was now using his analyst voice which he learned to use in his time with the military". What?? It's like she wrote his character to be this stupid 16 year old kid who acts however she wants him to act (naive, overtrusting, unthinking), and then throws in some key marketing sentences from other authors in direct contradiction to how he just acted. She's essentially saying "hey, I want Ben to act like a dumb teenager, so I'm going to make him do that. But then I'll say something about how he was actually thinking *realllllly* hard about being smart".

The Lost Tribe: WOW. These guys all act like a bunch of unthinking buffoons. They are comedic in their stupidity, and unimpressive in every way. They are the ultimate plot device in this book, and are only used as such. Established lost tribe members are killed and thrown away with nary a thought. They were truly the biggest let-down for Ascension.

Jaina: Completely underutilized. While technically semi-true to her character, she's unimpressive in her abilities and boring. "Sword of the Jedi"? C'mon now.

Daala: Is just crazy in this book. To be honest, she's always shown herself to be kinda wacko, which does make me doubt why she was ever introduced to her roles in this series. She's a wild card; while she's definitely an interesting character, it doesn't make sense why any of the other characters would *EVER* trust her in any capacity.

Natua, Dorvan, Amelia, Jag, The Squibs, The Solos: Actually, reasonably decent job with these characters. Particularly decent considering the small amount of time given to them. Although Jag could've been a bit smarter.

In short: 2 stars. Boo!

Aaron Allston returns for his third and final Fate of the Jedi entry with its seventh book, Conviction. Since there had been a small gap in time since I read Vortex, I skimmed Conviction's front jacket blurb and was shocked to find it recapping a hugely significant event in the struggle for political dominance in the Galactic Alliance. I looked back at Vortex and confirmed that this event had not yet taken place: it in fact is almost halfway through Conviction. So don't read the blurb when you're starting this book: just plunge right in!

The event itself deals with the inevitable consequences of Saba Sebatyne taking over the Council and the concurrent launch of the Jedi starfighters at the end of Vortex. It's a great storyline, an absolute page turner as some of the major players in Fate of the Jedi finally start moving more around the metaphysical game board. There was no doubt in the last book that the Jedi were done with government negotiations: Mr. Allston picks up the story baton and sprints with it. This is the type of plot that the New Jedi Order struggled with, since so many authors rotated writing duties and each had their own pet storylines and characters. Legacy of the Force was more consistent but the three creators still presented dramatic tonal shifts from book to book. In this series, we finally have three authors working closely enough that something like the struggle of control of the Galactic Alliance has real weight to it when it comes to a head.

I was alarmed to discover Mr. Allston was going to revisit Nam Chorios, the bug-ridden planet of Barbara Hambly's rather woeful Planet of Twilight. The drochs were highly unpleasant to read about and my fear was high that Mr. Allston would also treat us to folks stuffed full of giant mind-controlling roaches. Fortunately, his focus is on the unusual Force effects of the planet more than the drochs and the scenes on Nam Chorios aren't particularly loathsome, even if they do slow down the more interesting events occurring on Coruscant. Sith Vestara Khai's reaction to the power of the planet is intriguing and the delicate balance of using the Force there makes for a deeply-etched contrast between her direct methods and the Skywalkers' more circumspect approach to situations.

The third significant focus of Conviction is on Tenel Ka along with her still-secret daughter Allana. Klatooine continues to be of galactic importance and is another solid element of continuity between this book and its predecessor. Allana is growing up quite fast in Fate of the Jedi and here she goes into action to save her mother from the Sith. I find myself fretting over Allana as she gets into one violent situation after another: she's terribly young to be exposed to all the violence and death she is being immersed in. Beyond that, the Solo family has been put through the wringer already and I cringe at the possibility of Allana being harmed for their sake as well as hers.

The Sith/Abeloth/Jedi struggle continues in Conviction but does not radically change. At this point the political storylines have exploded with action and it's time to see the Abeloth story move forward more quickly. Fate of the Jedi has presented an admirably consistent tone and remarkably fluid storylines for the most part but the nine-book pacing is still slow. It's easy to guess that Abeloth won't be dealt with until the final volume and that sucks most of the tension out of the confrontation with her in the earlier books: there's not any hope that the Jedi will be victorious until the end. That said, Conviction carries the series along nicely and is spiked with several highly exciting sequences.

Having followed the journey from the very beginning when one looked at the world through the eyes of Anakin Skywalker and his master Obi Wan Kenobi, and learning the ways of the Jedi, this is now a turning point within the STAR WARS history. This is an additional nine-book story ARC for fans of the original series, the Dark Lords of the Sith, and which includes some of the most cherished and recognizable characters such as; Luke, Han and Leila. Full of twists & turns, fast-paced action and exiting encounters within those of many different and conflicting galaxies this enthralling and totally captivating read will leave you breathless!

This is the penultimate novel in the Fate of the Jedi series, where Luke Skywalker and his son Ben, together with the Sith girl Vestara are in the midst of a hot pursuit of the dread power called Abeloth. This great, almighty power has joined forces with the Sith in a bid to take over the galaxy, whilst unknowingly the Sith are harboring a terrible and astonishing secret. As the leadership of the government is uncertain, torn and fervently ripped apart by infiltrators and power struggles, this great secret threatens to shake the Jedi order to its very core...

Having already read the previous seven books within this series with Outcast, Abyss and Allies as ones that really stood out for me as being so fantastic, I was naturally interested to read on and find out where the story would take me. Exceeding all expectations, Ascension is a remarkable and astonishing read which delves even deeper into those wars and significant battles that raged through the galaxies in the time of the Old Religion and when the FORCE was something to be recognized, as Jedi's were ruling the Empire. Luke continues to try and defeat Abeloth whose power is growing as too is her desire for supremacy and dominance over all, with his ambitions taking the lead as Luke continues to track her down and destroy this terrible dark power. Many of the major subplots within this series come together in this one volume, for example such as Ben and Vestara's relationship and Moff Lecerson's planned coup. This book will leave you wanting more and desperate to read the final book `Apocalypse' as once again Christine Golden leaves you hanging on a cliffhanger, sitting in suspense and wanting to know more! This is a solid, penultimate volume within an outstanding, wonderful series that goes into detail about how the Jedi order try to restore political stability in the midst of Lecerson's conspiracy and Abeloth's quest to become a Goddess. Ending quite darkly unlike the other books there is a reason as to why this is called the `fate of the Jedi' and gives one a hint of what is to come, for those who can wield the power of the FORCE and those opposed to the dark side.

It is such a powerfully moving, dramatic read that sends shivers down your spine, and fills you with excitement as you grip the pages tightly. Written on such an epic and magnificent scale this book stands above the rest within this series, for we get to know more about the characters and their personal aims and goals as well as seeing the bigger picture of the galaxies ruling; in a political sense. The uprising between the Republic and the Empire is just so tense as those with the FORCE are tested to their limits, and Luke Skywalker's mission to finally defeat Abeloth comes nearer to its dramatic, ultimate conclusion. AMAZING!

I came into reading this book begrudgingly after waiting till shortly before the final book would come out due to previous experience and all of the reviews of Golden as an author. Perhaps I am just less critical than some, or perhaps I just had such low expectations that I wasn't as disappointed.

For one thing, the shear amount of end of ebook content for other stories made me think I was only 2/3 of the way done with this book. Seriously, a chapter at the end to tease sure. 30% of the pages? Too much and even if the rest of the book was normal length, it's a detraction.
There were errors through much of the book, things contradicting the previous paragraph even, but mostly these were minor and didn't really ruin it.

You write what you know, and it is apparent that space combat is less known by the author than conspiratorial intrigue and politics. The focus on this side of things with overlapping conspiracies and betrayals may have been central to the plot, but it says something when spend more time reading about the glass decorations from Kesh than THE space battle for the future of the Empire. At least the Ben/Ves interactions seem believable instead of a book-by-book switch of personalities during the first 6 books.

All in all, after coming expecting the worst, I was surprised by something that at least begins to approach the level I expect in the Star Wars Universe.
However, and I mean no disrespect or malice toward the author when I say this, but please DO NOT continue writing Star Wars content just because you loved it growing up (or maybe leave it because you love it?). Your titles show an effort to meet the expectations of readers, but the lack of continuity checking facts as well as the focus on trivial leaves us hungry readers with a dry bread sandwich.

I have enjoyed Allston's contributions to SW in the past. Considering how this is his last effort in the series, I was expecting a lot more than we got. I expected wrapped-up loose-ends and more importantly the entry point into the finale.

Instead what we got is a book where very little changes from page 1 to page 400. Except for moments of fan service throughout, the plot hardly moves at all. In fact, you could skip this book entirely and infer what happened in this book by reading the next.

Don't get me wrong, I like fan service. But I like entire chapters of it, not a-page-here-a-page-there. Every character was treated with hit-and-run tactics. Just enough to let you know that they were still alive and part of the galaxy, which isn't nearly enough. And when one of my favorite characters returns to the series (finally) and hardly has any dialog whatsoever I begin to wonder if there's anyone at the helm of this project at all.

Oh, and seriously -- if you're gonna put Fett in a novel, you can't do it in drive-by fashion like that! I know some authors just have to write about their favorite characters even if it's for three pages, but you CAN'T do that with a character like Fett. Do right by him or don't put him in the book, man! And I don't even like Fett!

In all, another twenty-something dollars down the drain. I cringe when I think about how awful the final book will be, and who Troy the Destroyer will kill off....

*Warning Spoilers*
I usually enjoy Allston's entries in the Star Wars universe, but since the legacy series I've been having trouble finding ways not to complain about them. Not that I didn't enjoy this book, but I was a bit annoyed by certain continuing themes, the price, and the story isn't anywhere as interesting as NJO and pre-NJO books.

The Jedi insanity plot was annoying from the beginning and now has gotten even worse. At least in the beginning the cause was mysterious, but now we know it is caused by a villain straight out of a made-for-tv horror movie. Seriously wtf is up with the Abeloth. When I first read the description of her I didn't know whether to laugh at the ridiculousness of it or weep for the lack of creativity in finding a new enemy for the jedi. She now has more than one body and is a cannibalistic doppelganger with mega force powers?

This book continues the new tradition of post NJO EU books by ignoring common sense for the sake of trying to push towards the goal of the author. So many of the decisions characters make in the book go against common sense and the characters' personalities. for example: there is one part in Conviction where Corran Horn makes a statement about not going after his kids when they run off because when he was in CorSec they taught him not to get too involved in cases where family was involved or something and that he would let others handle it.... now correct me if I'm wrong but...wasn't there a whole, very awesome, book called I, Jedi where he began his Jedi training and went through a huge ordeal to save Mirax when she was captured... seemed a bit personal and dealt with family then....

They did finally overthrow Daala.... I still can't figure out how they would come to the decision to put her in charge. what with the whole trying to destroy the Alliance every year of her life, trying to use giant super weapons to kill everything that went against the empire, still expressing support for the Palpatine way of rule, and the whole trying to commit genocide against all force users thingy. But yeah she seems a bit impartial and level headed. Put her in charge.

There is just so much uselessness to this book and the other books in this series. Less than half the books advance the plot. This whole series should have been finished after a few books. I wish they'd just go back to writing trilogies and short series. They can't all be a success like the NJO. There was more content in the Thrawn trilogy than all of the Fate of the Jedi books combined.

Positive notes: They do developed Ben's character a bit more, and seem to maintain some consistencies in his personality between authors. Vestara's character is also being developed pretty well throughout the book(the rest of the sith seem to be getting less intimidating though). There was a funny scene when Daala was being led into her cell where Tahiri got to wave at her from across the hall and laugh. Leia gets a good fight scene. oh and Artoo makes a few good puns at C3PO's expense.

Having read reviews written by other readers, I was initially apprehensive...feeling story quality may have been compromised by Golden's writing style. That simply wasn't the case, in my opinion. I didn't encounter any of the issues identified by others, and found the book to faithfully chronicle those before it. Simply put, I gave my imagination full rein, unlike others who seem bent on criticizing in order to spoil the fruit for everyone else. Well, they have their opinions and I have mine, and I'm glad I didn't permit such negatism to affect my enjoyment of this book.

My first and only mistake was to foolishly get involved with an ongong and quite expensive 'series.' The commercial aspect of taking an interesting story and breaking it into pieces to milk the 'reader' marketplace is obvious, and frankly, I don't like it. But, the only saving grace to that aspect is to donate the books to charity once I've done reading them (five or six times each!). One can't do that with an E-book.

Whatever. I liked the book. You will too...buy it. Don't let lack of imagination by others deter you. Knightsix

Ascension does start out fairly well. Nearly the first third of the book is entertaining if not a little predictable. But it's okay. There is quite a bit of Lost Tribe stuff. And we're centering on Luke and company as they stalk Abeloth...more. But at least it's action.

Then we get to Coruscant. Things deteriorate from there. Not only did I find detail of the political machinations from earlier books boring but I eventually found it just plain confusing. Characters in this book not only deviate from the characters we've known, they often deviate from common sense. The fiendish hand wringing political villains were a chore and ultimately pointless. As for the Big 3 and Ben? Golden doesn't nail characters like some authors can. She does an approximation or bad clone of characters we know are smarter than she's telling us they are.

Golden throws plenty of sub-plots at us in the nearly 400 pages. She THROWS them at us. Ascension actually has a lot of events and many plots. It has that going for it. But there isn't enough time to draw out many of the events properly. And ultimately it's just not satisfying anyway. Ascension doesn't quite feel very Star Warsy. A lot of Golden's dialogue falls flat. Jokes feel out of place and often plain babyish (*Cough*Squibs). Moments feel truncated. The timing is off. Both Omen and Allies satisfied me much more and I wasn't thrilled with either of those.

I'm giving it two stars because I gave Vortex three. This is not nearly as good as Vortex.

As someone who loves reading Star Wars book, and unilaterally LOVES each and every one of them, this book was a disaster. Here is why:

1. Why does this book start off so weird compared to the others? The opening and subsequent first couple chapters seemed downright out of place. Normally in a series where authors change frequently, it takes me a few dozen pages to get used to the different writing styles. However, Golden really made a beginners mistake of not giving a familiar feel to the beginning of the book, one that I had for the previous 6 titles (save the first book in the series).

2. What the heck is with Vestara? It's like the old illustration of a lover pulling the pedals of a flower, however, she is instead saying "To be a Jedi," "To be a Sith." You can't just crossover from Sith to Jedi to Sith like she did. Especially when Luke Freaking Skywalker realized her true intents to become a Jedi!

3. Am I the only one that got lost reading the book? Granted, I put the book down for several months, then picked it back up, re-read several chapters, then continued from where I left off...but never got into the swing of it. Especially when faced with plot lines that were absolutely never foreshadowed or hinted at. Workan being a Senator? For real?! Where the deuce did that come from? Gentelles unleashing the nanovirus, and the whole Squibb backstory...horribly woven into the main story.

4. Rokari Kem? As soon as she talked to Workan the first time, I figured it was Abeloth. Should've shut the book and ended it right then.

5. And why focus on so many minor plots? The minor characters got more time in the story than Luke and Ben and the Jedi searching for Ship/Abeloth.

Overall, this book was very disappointing. This is the first time that I have ever written a negative review for a Star Wars book. I have read about 3 dozen Star Wars novels, including The Legacy of the Force Series, many interm Episode 1/Episode 2 Clone War novels (not the animated series), older books, and so many more. By far, this book was the most disappointing and confusing of them all.

Non Spoiler review!
Finally got around to reading this novel and it was a pleasant walk down memory lane. You will find out the fate of Tahiri, Callista, and what the Jedi plan on doing with the paranoid Head of State Daala. A return to Nam Chorios feels like a "where are they now?" episode but it is a fun one. Revisiting old characters and places can be refreshing and is great for long time fans like me who wish there were more novels that bring back older characters for a cameo. The Sith to me feel weak in this series for some reason. They seem to not be as threatening as they have been in the past. The court sections are short and to the point with Tahiri's character. The Jedi go on an undercover mission to reclaim order while Luke and Ben continue to fight Abeloth with Vestara who is a Sith by their side. Some great characters that show up that they just aren't using these days enough is Tenel Ka, and our favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett!

Fans of the previous books in the series will love this one for its excess of action, political intrigue, descriptions of the ever-expanding SW universe, and yes, romance. This book finally moves things along (though it might not seem like it in the beginning) and readers/listeners who felt that the pacing was becoming stagnant will joyfully find massive revelations and decisions taking place (even if they don't like the events themselves). The story drops a lot of bombs that are both eye-opening and world-shattering, all of which leave you grasping for more at the end, where it waits to wrap things up in the next installment for the epic conclusion of the series.

The sound effects are all top-notch and Mark Thompson, as always, does a fantastic job of portraying all the different voices, particularly in Abeloth and Grand Lord Vol, who sounds just like the Emperor from the movies.

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Conviction was the book that best highlights the problems with this series. While all of the books had there rough parts, this book was nothing but rough parts. I feel that the series is too long and this is brought to bear with the fact that the plot doesn't really move forward in Conviction at all. The slow pace of the book cut into the enjoyment and didn't make much sense to me. For instance, the teaser summary on the front cover mentions that Daala has been overthrown and speaks as if it has already happened. The actual coup to overthrow her doesn't occur until around Chapter 25! Also, Luke, Ben and Vestara spend most the the book on Nam Chorios and do a lot of stuff without doing all that much. In the end, it doesn't feel like we know any more about Abeloth (in fact, she is barely in the story).

The parts that I did like: Vestara, the Jedi taking over the GA (it's about time), Ben Skywalker, and Ship (the Sith meditation sphere, just plain cool).

All in all, Conviction was a mixed bag with some fun moments but overall it leaves you feeling like you read 300+ pages of nothing. Here's hoping the series finishes strong.

In many ways the penultimate book in a large series is the most difficult to write. The author must begin the process of weaving the various plot threads together, wrapping up some of the minor ones, introducing still new characters and subplots and positioning the characters for the concluding book. In the Fate of the Jedi series this task falls to relative Star Wars newcomer Christie Golden. Ms. Golden and the editorial team received a fair bit of criticism over her first book in the series Omen, both for its brevity and for its errors. Her second book Allies showed improvement and her third and final book she will be writing in the series Ascension shows marked improvement in capturing the modern Star Wars expanded universe. At 392 pages Ascension is a substantial tome, much larger then Golden's first FOTJ novel that was a measly 236 pages.

One of the early scenes in the book features a Masquerade ball hosted by the Lost Tribe. This idea of a masquerade is at the core of Ascension. While many of the main characters are not at the ball, nearly everyone is presenting a false face of one sort or another. Characters reveal their true nature only to the reader or to a limited audience in the book itself. The drama in the book occurs when these masks slip and the characters true natures are revealed.

Keeping in recent Star Wars publishing tradition, we have a one word subtitle that has multiple meanings throughout the book. In Ascension, we have the rise of power and rank as well as the abortive rise and ultimate fall of some characters.

The relationship between Vestara and Ben and the machinations of the Lost Tribe and Abeloth serve as the backbone of Ascension's story. The former is handled very well in my opinion, if you approach it from the perspective that anyone raised from birth as a Sith will be psychologically damaged. The issue of Vestara's redemption and her relationship with Ben play a major role in Ascension and Golden sets up the relationship to go in some pretty dramatic directions in Apocalypse. The latter story involving the Lost Tribe and Abeloth is extremely well done. Chapter 4 of Ascension is the best chapter involving the Lost Tribe in the entire series and one of my favorite chapters in all of the recent Star Wars releases. Golden absolutely nailed the tone, the characters and the action.

Golden also did something in Ascension that I didn't think was possible, she made me enjoy and buy into Abeloth as a Star Wars villain. If you have read my previous reviews of the Fate of the Jedi series, you will know that I am not a big fan of the Abeloth character. Abeloth is a character that I found unbelievably bizarre and too powerful. The slow reveal of more and more of the character was also frustrating, in a nine book series, I would like to know the nature and motivation of the main villain before the next to last book. I understand they are trying to build suspense with a slow reveal of Abeloth and her nature, but until this book Abeloth seemed about as cool as Waru (from The Crystal Star) to me. There is one particular scene aboard Ship involving Abeloth that I really liked in a twisted kind of way. While Ascension does not answer all the questions regarding Abeloth, it gives me enough to embrace a character that until now I wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

I also enjoyed the return to some Bantam era storytelling, in which we see Imperial Moffs who are just competent enough to cause trouble, but not competent enough to take over the galaxy. We get what as far as I can tell is an entirely new Sith related planet and life-form, which was pretty interesting. We even get an inclusion of the phrase that this blog is named after, where one of the characters is called out for saber rattling.

There will be those who criticize some of Ms. Golden's characterization; there are two characters in particular that seem a little too pure of heart. I don't necessarily think this is out of character for the two individuals, but in a real world sort of way, they seem a little too selfless. This is of course balanced out by the fact that some of the villains are of the mustache twirling pure evil variety. This I think is in keeping with the story telling tradition from the original trilogy and something that the EU has gotten away from with its move towards more anti-heroes and conflicted characters. That being said I believe Ms. Golden did a great job in her portrayals of Ben, Vestara, Jag, and Han.

Ascension is also loaded with some rather interesting foreshadowing that connects the Del Rey publishing line with the future of the Expanded Universe as told by Dark Horse Comics in its Legacy series. I think we have a very good idea where at least one of the coolest elements of Legacy came from and whose legacy it is.

Ms. Golden throws a skifter into the Fate of the Jedi series, but even with all the changes she introduces, she manages to move all the players into position for Troy Denning to wrap up the story in Apocalypse, only then will we learn what the fate of the Jedi will be. Ascension will be released Tuesday August 9th in hardcover, if you haven't already pre-ordered it, don't forget to set aside time on Tuesday to run to your local book store or download it to your e-reading device.

Author's Note: Special Thanks to the folks at Del Rey/Random House for providing us with an advance copy for this review. Also check back after Ascension is released for a spoiler filled discussion regarding the book and some speculation about where I think the story will go in Apocalypse.

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The absolute most riviting and pivotal book of the series! Before this book Allston was great - he's now elevated to amazing! There were some completely unexpected plot twists, fantastic flow, and great continued development of Vestara as she continues her journey to the Light Side (wow - so similar to Mara Jade's journey!) and transitions from being a prisoner under suspicion to a trusted ally. Great job Mr. Allston!

Father and son Jedi Knights Luke and Ben Skywalker and Sith apprentice Vestara Khai search the galaxy for Aboleth, the most powerful practitioner of the dark force ever. The trio hunt the deadly dark force user amongst the haunting deserted planets that were once homes to the Lost Tribe of the Sith several millennia ago. What they find left behind leaves Vestara shaken while deciding her future.

On Coruscant, the removal of despotic Natasi Daala (see Vortex) has left a fight for control in which the Order of the Knights of Jedi take charge, but other forces of the Galactic Alliance distrust them due to their power grabbing misue of the Force (see Conviction). At a time when treachery and betrayal split the Galactic Alliance further while Sith undercover operatives work the schism and Daala remains a force, the Jedi try to maintain order.

The eighth Fate of the Jedi moves forward the two prime series overarching but related themes in exhilarating ways while also setting up the finish. The story line is fast-paced whether readers explore the eerie Lost Tribe of the Sith's ghost-planets or the political intrigue on Coruscant. This is a super entry with a great twist that will shake the Force forty-three years after A New Hope Return of the Jedi.

Harriet Klausner

Great series, and this book adds to my positive feeling about it. While I personally like Aarron's writing a bit more, Christie Golden handles the material well.

If you are reading this and somehow have not read Fate of The Jedi: Outcast then stop reading this now, read that book and the 6 that follow before you dig into this one.

The sickness that has overcome many Jedi seems to be cured, or has it? The Jedi seem to be in control of the Alliance temporarily and overturn the exile of Luke Skywalker. But the strange force of Abeloth still looms great over everything. And Luke must confront someone from his past---who should be dead!!

To start with, the book starts kinda slow, then gets much better. It was almost like reading a Lost Tribe Of The Sith book. A few questions are answered, then made fuzzy.

My big problem is that almost a 1/3 of the book (at the end) is a preview of the next book, and short histories and previews of other books. I feel like I was cheated on the price.

This book was well written and well thought out. The slow transition of thought for Vestara is really revealing. My favorite part is all things connected to Allana. Her father sacrificed everything for her and seeing his sacrifice pay off is awesome!

This long, long, long dull series of books is finally beginning to look as though it will come to a merciful close---but of course we have to wait until April, 2012 for that to happen. The publisher has dragged the story out over 3 painful years----and said story has actually not been worth the devotion of fans. All they've managed to give us are 2 teenagers with overactive hormones (Ben and Vestara), probably in an effort to interest younger readers. Unfortunately they are two of the most predictable youngsters going. Only a reader with no imagination what-so-ever couldn't figure out that eventual storyline. Running around the galaxy chasing a frightening monster is typical Star Wars but a least most of the other books in the pantheon have not taken 3 years to develop a story. Also, telling parts of the story from the point of view of a child (Allana/Amelia) is not a great way to interest adults. The Star Wars folks really missed the boat with this series, and personally, I will not be purchasing any more until things start getting better. Winding down the "old folks" storylines & lives should be done with far more class than this mess. After all, it did begin with them.

As a hardcore fan since 1977, this series is best left for 'library' pickup only if you have NOTHING else to read.

Have tried to stay positive on every book in this series but simply cannot do it. Feels like they are pushing these out simply to fill a production line order.

NEXT SERIES PLEASE

First off, there are lots of spoilers, so beware.

This book is just a continuation of everything that's wrong with the entire Fate of the Jedi series. They have so many plots going on throughout, that everything is random and disjointed. For the most part common sense has been thrown out of the window, and characters make decisions not based on their sound logic, but instead to propel the proposterous plots. The "crazed Jedi" was a dead give away that this series was going to be crummy. These Jedi who are being mentally affected by an ancient and purely evil being known as Abeloth, conveniently think that everyone else in the world is an impostor. They don't know how they know, but they do. Of course, by the time Conviction comes around, they can somehow differentiate between real people and "impostors", based solely off of which is convenient to keep the story going. But what's that? The Sith are back? Oh boy. Of course, that's not enough for a story line of it's own (sarcasm), so we'll just toss it into the many themes of the FOTJ series. On top of that, since Ben Skywalker is now a teenager who needs a love interest, let's make one of the Sith a teenage girl who happens to get stuck with him and his father on their quest to rid the galaxy of Abeloth. Hmmm, what else can we throw in to this whole pot of "WTF Stew"? Oooh, I know. How about two separate coups against Chief of State Daala (one by the Jedi, and one by pro-Imperial conspirators) and things will surely be fun. Also, the annoying ramblings of Tenel Ka's daughter, an incredibly in depth trial of Tahiri Veila (complete with prison antics), Mandalorian war crimes, the life and times of HoloNews journalists, the love and drama of Jaina and Jag plus Zekk and his new girl, and dozens of other obscure and random themes from the Star Wars galaxy can all be found, crammed into this one series. In all, it is all used to fill up the pages of the books so that by the end of every one, you've really made very little progress and are left scratching your head, wondering how on Earth you got so far off course, and accomplished so very little.

This book had the potential to shock and awe, but only left the reader with a bitter taste of disappointment. There were some compelling elements, but not enough to account for the shear lack of continuity and compassion. After reading this book, it would seem that anything can be published, regardless of quality or concern for the reader's intelligence.

The manner in which some issues were resolved would work in a child's novel, but any level of questioning attitude instantly discredits this novel. For example:

- The cliched appearance of Lando when a quick-fix is needed. He is a character too, please show some respect before randomly including him every time you need to fill holes in your under developed plot line.

- Vestara having a change of heart, only to call mulligan in the final chapter.

- The Chief of State office conveniently having instant access to every inch of the planet. This was demeaning to experience as a reader. Especially the portion where the entire underworld of Coruscant is now 'evil', then having the jedi that live there not 'know' until they see it after they get out of the magic tunnel. I think they might have 'felt' something a little sooner.

- Turning the Lost Tribe into a bunch of incompetents and sissies, unable to command any of the presence or ability that they exhibited in previous novels when dealing with jedi or Abeloth. AND THEN allow them to infiltrate the standing government AFTER traveling the length of the galaxy, all while no one but Luke has any clue?

- Making Abeloth ridiculously powerful when it is most convenient to suit the plot (or lack thereof).

- Lacking a basic understanding of the main characters traits and mannerisms. This was most painful and the most frequent.

The writer tried... I think? But only produced a half-assed attempt that was hard to follow and even harder to like. I fear that this collection of mad ramblings may have doomed the final book's author and rendered the series unrecoverable.