Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse

For eight books, the "Fate of the Jedi" series has told of the battles between the Sith and Jedi. Now, in "Apocalypse", the series has reached its thrilling conclusion. This time, Coruscant is the battlefield. Abeloth, the destructive force being who has menaced Luke Skywalker for most of the series, has entrenched herself in the Jedi temple. Now, the Jedi must fight their way though thousands of Sith to reclaim their temple.

But, victory is not guaranteed, for Abeloth has the ability to take on more than one persona at a time. Therefore, in order to completely kill her, Luke and the other Jedi must kill every manifestation of Abeloth. Plus, Abeloth has her sights set on Ben and Vestara, hoping to lure them in to restore balance to the Force. But is Vestara really over her Sith background, or will she betray Ben and Luke and return to her former ways? And what of Luke? will he be able to kill Abeloth before it's too late?

I've been a fan of this series since the beginning, and I have been eagerly awaiting the release of "Apocalypse". It was worth the wait. Troy Denning has written perhaps the best book of the series. The action is fast-paced right from the beginning, and he does an excellent job of bringing all of the outstanding story lines together. I've been particularly interested in Ben and Vestara's story from the beginning, and Denning does a good job of bringing their story to a conclusion. Suffice it to say that sometimes love isn't enough.

I enjoyed this book very much and I'm sad to see this series come to an end. However, I believe that there could be a future series with the same characters that expands on the ending of this one. I certainly hope so. Highly recommended.

Is it worth reading? Absolutely! However the beginning and middle were much better than what appeared to be a slightly expedient ending. Some loose plot-lines I'm sure are leading to more novels (see spoilers below).

SPOILER ALERT:

Darth Krayt (A'Sharad Hett) appears to have made his first (timeline wise) canonical appearance in a Star Wars expanded universe novel (at least based on the description of a mysterious Sith with black tattoos like a burst from his eyes). It seems a mite convenient a powerful and mysterious non-aligned Sith showing up in the middle of the Jedi/Lost Tribe feud and eventually teaming with Luke, it sets the stage for two warring Sith factions which I'm sure will be in an upcoming series of books. The various incarnations of Aboloth seem to be less formidable than the previous novels have led us to believe her to be. Nice cameo by Boba Fett for fans, and things ending on a happy note is somewhat to be expected. Somewhat convoluted when the conversation leads to 'magical' force-imbued daggers and legends of immortal force-users, but provided needed context.

Was I super impressed? No. But it was a competent addition to the series and a ending I think we can respect.

[warning! will contain spoilers!]

This book, like the whole series, suffered from trying to move too many plot lines at the same time. This schizophrenia left me feeling like I was forced to watch commercials during a good movie. "We'll be right back, but first, let's see what Boba Fett's doing, and how about those zany Killiks?" And to make it worse, those side-stories never got the closure they deserved after the build-up during the entire series (or past series).

Also as a result, the main thread didn't get the time it needed to properly close either. The last chapter felt so rushed as to almost be an afterthought. After nine books, I felt like I had deserved (and purchased) more substance than received.

I have to say, however, that I liked Denning's use of the Clone Wars' Mortis story as a way of explaining Abeloth. I personally think the Mortis story was the peak of the Clone Wars series, shining a bright light on what Anakin's destiny was meant to be, and it was wonderfully written. It's use in this novel was a nice touch.

Finally, I'm disappointed that threads started by Denning and others from prior series never got closure. If this is supposed to be the last book of the "future" then it left many great questions unanswered. A real shame for us. The truth is that many of the ideas that came up in this final book should have been raised 3 books ago so that this book could have been more expansive.

Hey, at least he fought-off the urge to kill a major character....

As other reviewers have said, "planet of sith", "the ones", "abeloth"....it's just ridiculous. It ruins what Star Wars is about. Flow walking, talking to dead jedi as they live in some swamp...ugh, it's generic sci-fi that has it's hooks in the Star Wars universe. Why can't the "sith" just be "dark force users"? Sith has a connotation and they don't live up to it in this series at all. There are so many things that are just "off" in this series it's ridiculous.

Plus, there are so many little things in these books that bug me...like Ben Skywalker always saying things like, he "hates" this or that..and Luke says nothing. Yoda talked about fear, hate and anger being paths to the dark side. Apparently, this doesn't matter anymore in these new books.

I could literally right 50 pages about everything wrong with this crap, but I'm just going to say while I love being able to read about characters I really enjoy and am glad they are still brought to life in these books, it would help if they had a single fan to proof these and give the authors a clue of what is killing the books.

I read a few reader reviews that were left unsatisfied by Apocalypse for reasons I found a bit ridiculous and truly I couldn't disagree more. I expect a lot of slam bang in my climaxes, surprising twists, satisfying closure for our heroes and a little bit of door opening for that promising future. I believe Apocalypse: Star Wars (Fate of The Jedi) delivers on all cylinders. I'm being very sparse partly to preserve your reader experience and partly because I crash read half the book while intoxicated and only remember the spoilers, like when HAN SOLO killed BEN SKYWALKER!!!... No, seriously... That junk happened... Jk. I did just mention I was drunk. Anyway, Apocalypse was a tightly wrapped bundle exciting enough to keep me guessing and remained focused on it's target goal: keeping us locked in the Jedi world. In this case, I read insatiably every free moment, but I tend to get that way with books I enjoy. Hopefully, this book force choked you to climax as well. And if it didn't, well then I guess you weren't reading hard enough.

Ok, so most people know that this series has been a mixed bag and its been uncomfortable to read due to its disjointed feel in places, but overall it hasn't been bad. This is another example of "Eh, its ok".

Abeloth, the major villain of the series, is given a backstory in this novel in addition to the main plot. The story is deeply embedded in the 'Mortis Trilogy' from TCW television series. My only problem with this is that this show constantly overwrites established canon and then the EU authors go clean it up. This, however, was Denning recognizing an amazing plot device and making use of it. Too bad it felt tacked on. This could have been perfect and a believable tie-in to the show, but because it was only put in this final novel it feels rushed. This, actually, is the main problem that lies in this novel.

The ending is rushed. The backstory for Abeloth also ties into the major momentous plot ender. Its exciting, its quick and its...well...over. That's the issue. This book has to things tossed in and then its all a rush to the finish line. Its the biggest book in this series, but it feels shortest because of the sprint. Personally it didn't work for me. The first half of the novel is a fantastic action scene, but right around the moment of a noble sacrifice it all falls apart and resumes the disjointed feel the series has been plagued with.

I would also like to address the appearance of Darth Krayt and Vestara's assumed allegiance with him in the end. There are several problems in this. First off, in the Legacy story the Jedi have no idea that Krayt exists until his attack. The Sith have remained perfectly hidden, and the public has no idea they still exist. Now, because of this threat to the galaxy, Krayt exposes himself. Then we're to assume he's just...left alone? Ah, but that can't happen either, because Vestara is with them now (its hinted at anyway) and Ben has sworn to find her and bring her to justice. They still love one another so that makes this an interesting plot point, but nonetheless she'll have to die to protect the One Sith's secret, and Luke will now somehow have to forget that he saw Krayt on the Throne. Denning said in an interview the day this came out that Del Rey had been plotting way into the future story-wise and it has been suggested that the Legacy story be treated as just the possible future, but that they might overwrite it. This is kind of the problem. The story-writers have been working to force the current stories in with that future instead of working to make it about the journey and not the destination. Now they're considering deleting years of writing, art, and investment because its difficult.

This book is not without positives though, and the first half of the novel is some of the best Star Wars I've read in awhile. The Jedi get series, Abeloth is insane, and Ben and Vestara are adorable. The action is heavy and well written (pure Denning) and culminates in one of the sadder moments in this series despite it involving a character that was invented ONLY for this series. The first half is absolutely perfect, and though the scenes with the Killiks are where it begins to fall apart Raynar Thul is still especially well written.

To sum up, if you enjoyed the series you'll enjoy this. If you like the show, you should try this series. If you just want to know how it ends, maybe wait for the paperback.

excellent book using all the original crew. book was a fast read, do too the flow of all the loose ends that the book needed. I hope that as a purest of the orignial cast, that a new story line will continue

This book (the 9th) is the culmanation of the Fate of the Jedi series with twists and turns through the series (who's light and who's dark and who's grey?) Though the book finalizes the main story line, there are at least two future story lines that have been set up quite well. I'm eager to see which is developed first and how the two story lines will twist around each other. The original characters are dieing out or slowing down but there are new Jedi/Sith rising ....

Denning writes a novel that keeps a person reading sitting to finish that next chapter. I would love to start seeing the tie in to the Cade era from the Jaina/Ben generation on. No need to hit the deaths of the originals except maybe Luke. Denning should take a series on during this time.

.... I really dont write. I read though and these last couple series have left me wondering if Im going to keep buying starwars books. Really I mean Please ! what a horrible way to finish this series ...... The absolute worst book is the last. Oh god if I never read a starwars novel by Troy denning again it will be to soon... Great premise loved the characters but the running line was just bad .....

I absolutely loved this book! From the action packed beginning to the awesome ending, it was a great read and I recommend it for any Star Wars fan! I loved it so much I am re-reading the entire Fate of the Jedi series so I can get it all in one shot!

The beginning of "Apocalypse" started off with an action packed, amazing bang. The bad part about this is the conclusion. I kind of feel like Troy Denning did not put a lot of effort into the conclusion. The ending is very unexpected and sudden. Also, all the suspense that was built up for this book by the last few "Fate of the Jedi" titles go to waste. Sure, Abeloth is killed but there is no epic "last battle" between Abeloth and the jedi. Just as sort of stalemate where the jedi win by attrition. Also, another few things that made me disgruntled is Admiral Daala (did I spell it right?) the past few books focused a lot on Daala but then all of a sudden, the author sidelines her in the middle of the book. Another point: The relationship between Vestara Khai and Ben Skywalker. The ending for the two lovers are flat, unexpected, and unsatisfying. Their relationship pretty much ends when Ben realizes that Vestara attempted to kill Allana Solo. Vestara also realizes that their relationship is broken and so decides to frolic around the galaxy with Ship in search of more sith. All the effort made in the last eight books to build up the story is pretty much ruined by "Apocalypse"....

This is Denning's best [Star Wars] novel since <i>Star by Star</i>. Shoot, it's the best in the FOTJ series. It's a wonderful, if bittersweet, end to not only the subseries but also to the pre-Disney purchase.
I waver between 4 and 5 stars. The 4 is due to how heavily political it is, with the GA, Imperials, and Sith. Yet it's interesting enough and desperately needed given the state of the galaxy. Also, in just 9 books, things have gone topsy-turvy-- even more than in the NJO. Denning write the politics so very well, as well as Luceno. It's unlike his other SW novels, which is actually great.

He also overuses the word "mugwump." Highly annoying.

But for the good:
- Tenel Ka and Allana together. Allana commanding Han to go to Coruscant was adorable and yet perfect for an heir.
- Jaina in action - multiple times. The fight scenes are exquisite. Jaina talks reason to Ben, which is great to see after Ben was under Jacen's wing for so long.
- While I hate what Vestara does, it's very Sith and very her. It works for her character.
- Sith vs. Jedi: those battles in the Temple are fantastic.
- We learn more of Abeloth's terrifying past, through the Killiks (another drop in rating) and through other lore involving the Celestials. It's interesting and ties into TCW, which I can't stand, but it WORKS for this crazed subseries.
Which leaves me questioning why/how it's better than LOTF, considering Golden's characterizations are not good at all and there is a fixation on Luke's exes.
It's because we actually see some of the effects of Yuzzhan Vong on Coruscant. We get the next generation. We get heartbreak without a lot of abuse.
Well, sans anything regarding the Sith and Ben vs. Vestara.
- There is a Ryn Jedi!
- Barv bloody wins at life
- It's heartbreakingly devastating to see how this war changes Allana. At 9, she is forced to be a warrior, to fight for her friends and family. This is under 'good' though because it makes sense given her lineage, and Denning doesn't sugarcoat the burden.
- I feel terrible for the Squibs' treatment by Abeloth. Them and Dorvan. Same reason as above for being in this category.
- Jag is pleasantly devious.
- Even more fantastic parallels to Satan's temptations in Eden (Tree/Pool of Knowledge and Font of Power) and in the desert (Jesus' thirst vs. Ben & Vestara's).

The bad:
- Mentioned above - "mugwump," Killiks, some dragging of the politics
- Luke's exes. For about 2/3 of the book, we seemed to be moving away from Luke's love life, but it all came crashing down.
- Boba Fett. I love him, but he keeps being thrown in at random for the hell of it.

So 4 stars, but really a 4.7-star book.

This novel brings the nine-volume "Fate of the Jedi" arc to its conclusion; at least, that's the anticipated goal of the narrative. With so many plot threads waiting for resolution, there's a reason why this is the thickest Star Wars novel in quite some time.

Unlike the "Legacy of the Force" arc, which was hobbled by an inexplicable decision to retread the prequels with the rise and fall of Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus, this series was all about dealing with the consequences of the Second Galactic Civil War and setting the stage for what the Jedi Order must become in the wake of so much turmoil and personal loss.

The main villain is Abeloth, a creature that is so powerful and overwhelming that she doesn't quite seem to fit in the Star Wars universe. There's also the Lost Tribe of the Sith, which at this point has chosen to follow Abeloth and wrest control of the Alliance and its capital planet Coruscant. The Sith are maneuvered into concentrating themselves within the confines of the Jedi Temple, and so a large part of the book is dedicated to the grueling battle to deal with Abeloth and the Sith, once and for all.

Denning has shown a capacity for delivering truly brutal ground combat scenes, and that hasn't changed. When it comes to the personal cost of a physical contest, it doesn't get much more graphic or honest than this. Denning does a nice job of pushing the reader right to the edge, where you almost can't bear to see the characters suffer much more. Yet you keep turning the page, because he's also shown the ability to kill established characters without pause.

This novel also brings the relationship between Ben and Vestara to a somewhat logical breaking point, leaving both of them to pursue future paths that will certainly intersect. Denning has to work overtime to correct the egregious mistakes made in the previous volume, where Vestara's supposed conversion to the Jedi was so heavy-handed and ham-fisted that it never felt remotely plausible.

Even so, one problematic element of the story is Vestara's supposed "betrayal". Even though we get insight into her thought process, I found it difficult to believe that Vestara wouldn't consider other options when the moment comes. Several of them came to mind immediately. In the end, it's hard to believe that Vestara is the one that reveals to the Sith the identity of the "Jedi Queen", because so many people know about Allana's true lineage by this point that Abeloth should have been able to discern it, and inform the Sith to fuel the conflict she desires, well before this point.

The other problematic element to the novel is that it really isn't much of a conclusion. It simply brings the story to a relative transition point. Abeloth's defeat is immediately branded as temporary, the revision of the Sith from the Rule of Two silliness to a much larger threat merely transforms from the Lost Tribe to something else, and the Jedi Order is really no more conclusively established within the realm of the Alliance than before. Beyond the cataclysmic destruction on Coruscant, which recalls the end of the New Jedi Order saga, it's little more than rearrangement of the same pieces on the same board.

Neither problem is necessarily Denning's doing. He is constrained by the larger goals of the novels and the established continuity. The applicability of the "Legacy" comics, for example, has never been entirely clear to me, since they show a rather dark future, but it seems that the novels since the end of the New Jedi Order have been designed to lead to that general continuity. As a result, anyone not familiar with that material may find it a bit of a cheat when elements through the past two novel "events" turn out to be a prelude to what happens in those comics, right down to Vestara's eventual fate.

What isn't clear is whether or not it was always intended that Abeloth's origin story would tie into something from the "Clone Wars" animated series. Insertion of "Clone Wars" continuity has been problematic throughout this saga, because the writers tend to run roughshod over what has been previously established, forcing the writers of the EU to change course. The "Mortis Trilogy" episodes, which factor heavily into this novel, didn't air until 2011, well after the "Fate of the Jedi" books began. Unless there was a significant effort to communicate and align story elements, that suggests a change in the intentions for the novels in mid-stream, which may explain why all of this feels like a somewhat inconsistent fit.

It also doesn't help that the future of the novels is somewhat murky at this point. Without a clear sense of direction on how or when the open plot elements from this saga will be addressed, or perhaps further linked to the "Legacy" material, it's hard not to feel like this leaves things relatively incomplete. Granted, that may always be the case, given the nature of the beast, but I think a more definitive conclusion was in order for the culmination of a nine-novel epic.

It bears repeating that much of this may be outside of Denning's control, and regardless of all of that problematic context, it must be said that this is a solid entry in the Star Wars novel sequence. Recommendations are unnecessary for those who are already rabid fans of the EU and eager to devour each new volume, but it should be noted that Denning manages to make the best of the position he finds himself in, delivering a solid and enjoyable read.

SPOILERS, NEBULOUS BUT VERY PRESENT:
Very nice! I love Troy Denning's Knock out- drag out blood and guts battle scenes. Every one that I remember vividly in the EU novels have been Troy's style. Jaina vs. Jacen, Luke vs. Abeloth II and III in Vortex, Luke vs. Lady Rhea in Abyss. If I'm not mistaken, he's also the on that gave us the nauseating imagery of Taalon getting shanked by Vestara as he nurses on a greasy tentacle. Denning is not bashful. Now we have multiple Jedi 'hits" on the Sith infiltrators, Corran Horn's super long attitude adjusting saber, Abeloth's orifice invading tentacles, and don't forget Saba the huntress cracking C-spines with her bare teeth! Who could ask for anything more? I do have the audio book but I may not sit down and listen to it with the kids this time. You may want to get the Audible version yourself. The joint cracking, skull smashing sound effects really add to the carnage.

I was jazzed to hear the inclusion of the Mortis plot line and I think it fits in great. I don't understand all the whining out there about it. Everything was set up earlier in the EU history. Denning planted the seeds of the Killik plot in the "Swarm War" and the reaped the fruit here. I thought it went great together. Even using Raynar the way he did made sense. The "Stranger wasn't thrown in at the end, he was present in the beginning of the book too mysteriously appearing a couple of times and for that matter, in Jacen's visions in novels past. Really I had no idea they were describing Hett in the beginning, but the absence of an arm and an eye in the force was a dead giveaway in the "Beyond Shadows' stuff at the end. Krayt had the tendency to go into long periods of "stasis" while being guarded by Wryylock, this may have been one of those times (read Riptide featuring Jaden Korr). The Jedi have not read the "Legacy" comics so they don't know who he is yet, don't worry, they still think he is the sith "Stranger", or the dark man sitting on the throne of Balance. But geeks like me and you know that Krayt so far is only seen sitting on the Imperial throne when he deposes Roan Fel. However, if you showed his picture to Master K'kruhk and that tree chick, where ever they are during this time, they would know what Hett looked like and may have I.D.'d him. There is still 70-80 years of novels for them to write before the One Sith emerge, so I think Krayt's secret is safe.

I think Abeloth's motivation was believable ... that she wanted to get the family back together again except her way. Luke remembering the Mortis tidbit from his training with Yoda was a great Idea I thought. There's so many nooks and corners of the original movies to pull from like this that you'd be a fool not to. Maybe we'll get to read about "The Ones" or the "Celestials" in the "Dawn of the Jedi" series from Darkhorse. Who knows?

I gave it four stars for selfish reasons. The name of the book is Apocalypse. To me that means a radical upheaval of the status quo as well as a endpoint in history. But this apocalypse was more of a transition. It seems like they want to have another 9 novel series where Raynar starts another war with the Chiss, Tahiri is a fugitive from the Empire now, More people try to assassinate Allana, Ableoth resurges and causes more volcanoes, Fett and Han get in a wheelchair battle at the retirement home. They're obviously saving Vestara for more internally conflicted "but I love him" moments opposite Ben's goody two shoes. I may be interested in a One-sith-wipes-out-Lost-Tribe story though.

Well, us SWG's know that at some point Ben has to have a kid or grandkid named Kol. Some Fel family (possibly Jaina and Jag) has to have a force sensitive kid named Roan. The Hapes consortum is not even mentioned as a factor in the future timeline and we still don't know how Luke, Han and Leia die (I wouldn't want to be that author). I was playing catch up in the EU timeline until this book came out. In under a year I went from the end of the Vong war, through the Swarm war, Through LOTF, and plowed through the Fate series. This was the first one I had to wait for. Now I guess I'm going to have to be a loser "waiting for the next Star Wars book to come out". So, no, it wasn't enough of an ending for me, the saga will go on and on and book sales will be successful and after I'm 60 I may be writing Star Wars fiction and getting death threats too. I guess at some point we all have to take a deep breath and say "Hey, it's Star Wars".

Some of the problems with Apocalypse can be traced back to the problems with the Fate of the Jedi series generally. The plot meandered, the Sith were more clumsy than comical, and Alana is far too experienced d for a 9-year-old kid. The series left far too many plot threads open until this moment, so Denning had to rush to resolve all of them. This means that, where in the previous book the Sith were only just beginning to infiltrate Coruscant, in Apocalypse we already see the Jedi confronting and defeating them. There's no lead up to the threat

However, the book suffers from other problems. Denning's solutions to wrapping up the plot threads is fairly unimaginative. Basically, the Jedi just fight the Sith with brute force. No plans, no plots. And the Sith are so incompetent none of them seems to pose much of a challenge. The Sith only become a threat when Vestara Khai turns coat and helps them.

Which brings me brings me to Vestara. She's easily become my favorite character in the Fate of the Jedi series. I think her resolution was interesting. It wasn't amazing, but at least she didn't become just another Sith-turned-Jedi. However, I felt her relationships with the other Jedi really suffered. I know the other Jedi were suspicious of her, but at times their treatment of her was too unforgiving. Gone was the Luke Skywalker who at the end of Return of the Jedi appealed to his father's sense of compassion. Jaina is the worst as she mercilessly assails Vestara. This might not be Denning's fault, but I wish the Jedi could have been portrayed with a bit more nuance and compassion.

The ending of the book also seems fairly unimaginative. The Jedi find out that Abeloth can copy herself, and so hence they go out and kill some copies. It's a pretty forgettable resolution. There's hardly any denouement after the death of the final Abeloth, except for a corny wedding scene with Jaina.

I did like that Denning managed to connect Abeloth to the Clone Wars cartoon characters The Ones. It was an interesting twist to find out that she was the Mother of that family. However, it does feel a bit tacked on, especially since the Jedi say they need the Dagger of Mortis but it really never comes into play in the story.

Overall, Troy Denning was easily my least favorite of the three authors in the Fate of the Jedi series. While the series had some promise, the lackluster ending would make me hesitate to recommend it to anybody else.

Book was in really good condition, came quickly. In the last 8 books I thought it was pathetic that mostly just luke and Ben were fighting a whole tribe of with, sometimes an occasional knight joins them, and yet pretty much everyone slices and dices through all the with in their way yet come out mostly unharmed. It was portrayed as if the whole tribe were a bunch of lackies and pushovers. That felt very unjustified, not to mention annoying. The whole story though made up for this bit of stupidity by other twists and turns and surprises. This book, the 9th and last in the series, has had some really good moments so far. However, the plot is slow going about a third way through the story, but picks back up. Things really got interesting halfway through and I found myself smiling a good bit as I continued to read on. Not super great, but still good. I will be reading this series again in the future

in the final novel of the rather blah fotj series we the readers are given an astounding book. this book had everything a good star wars novel needs deep characterization,well formed plot, and finally the certain magic which the movies captivated. recently as many other loyal star wars fans will tell you the star wars eu has been really lackluster and downright bad. however this novel has revigorized my hope because of the star wars feel it brought back. was it perfect no was it the best sw book no but it did captivate me as a lifelong sw fan who has read enough sw fiction yes. if you are looking into reading the fotj series i would give you half my recomendation. for books 2 and 7 8 i would recommend using wookieepedia simply because of the bad writing. mr denning is certainly not one of many fan favorite sw authors based on what he has done in the past,this has nothing to do with his writing but read njo to see what i mean but i do give him credit for bringing back the sw feel and i havent read a book which has done that in a long while. read and enjoy.

When the last novel left off I was very disappointed with how this series ended up. Another Sith plot to take over the Senate and rule the galaxy as Emperor. I thought here we go again it will be like in the 90's when the Solo children got kidnapped every other book. But as I picked up this final novel in this series it was not what I expected. I really like how not all things are explained in the novel each chapter jumps a couple of hours, days, or months and lets you the reader use your own imagination to fill in the blanks. I guess what I am trying to say is where most books bog themselves down by explaining every single small detail this one moves at hyper speed. Picks up with Jedi assaulting their own temple, and ends with a new direction and multiple plot and story points that writers can tap for years. I am a huge fan of the Star Wars Dark Horse comics and this novel foreshadows the Legacy series and goes back and ties in the Joiner trilogy from the novels. There are lots of characters and action nonstop throughout the entire novel so it is hard to put down. As this novel ends it reminded me a lot of the ending of A New Hope and as you read the last sentence you can almost hear the closing credits roll with the music. A very excellent ending to this series that has had its ups and downs. Highlights in this novel for me include: Lowbacca, Boba Fett, Darth Krayt, romance and outcome of Ben and Vestara, all future possibilities, all the fight scenes, especially Bazel Warv's scene, and all the hints of Legacy!

Abeloth - Force entity with mass power and ability to take over bodies. Abeloth feeds on the fear given off by others. Whereever she goes, carnivorous plants appear.

Ones - The embodiment of the force, Light, Dark, Balane, and Chaos. Abeloth is Chaos and Mother, Father is Balance, Son is Dark, and Daughter is Light. As the embodiements of the force, if they die, which they can't, then then the Force weakens. They can be defeated, nut they will always come back.

Mortis Monolith - Strong force object that contans immense power.

Ceterpoint Station - The one thing that could keep Abeloth imprisoned. Made by Thuruht.

Thuruht - The oldest Killik hive. Holds history of Abeloth, or Bringer of Chaos. Speaks in one voice, as kall Killiks do. Chiss is greatest enemy, other than Abeloth.

Question - Can you please show some more about Vestara, like a whole book or series around her? She is my favorite character, and you left us in suspense. What happens to her? I would definitely buy that book, even if it was 20 bucks.

Abeloth - Force entity with mass power and ability to take over bodies. Abeloth feeds on the fear given off by others. Whereever she goes, carnivorous plants appear.

Ones - The embodiment of the force, Light, Dark, Balane, and Chaos. Abeloth is Chaos and Mother, Father is Balance, Son is Dark, and Daughter is Light. As the embodiements of the force, if they die, which they can't, then then the Force weakens. They can be defeated, nut they will always come back.

Mortis Monolith - Strong force object that contans immense power.

Ceterpoint Station - The one thing that could keep Abeloth imprisoned. Made by Thuruht.

Thuruht - The oldest Killik hive. Holds history of Abeloth, or Bringer of Chaos. Speaks in one voice, as kall Killiks do. Chiss is greatest enemy, other than Abeloth.

Question - Can you please show some more about Vestara, like a whole book or series around her? She is my favorite character, and you left us in suspense. What happens to her? I would definitely buy that book, even if it was 20 bucks.

Continuously weaving 4-5 story lines at once, each with key characters of the Star Wars Universe, author Troy Demming developes each, to face grave challenges, fight overwhelming odds and emerge changed, stronger, and looking onto the future of protecting, or controlling the Galaxy.
Demming crafted a novel that was cover-to-cover filled with action, surprises, and many twists in the story liines, making for a read I could not keep from picking up in every little scrap of free time I had!
Riveting action-thriller that was simply among the 2 or 3 best books of the recent series of the Star Wars story.
What's next? I can't wait! Excellent.

Finally abeloth gets what's coming to her! The only thing that bothers me is that this was not the epic conclusion I was hoping for. The story is like a new beginig with stronger family ties with each trial conquered. I suggest that those readers intreasted in this book make sure you read at least 2 books before it or you shall be oblivious to all the latter references from prior books. Troy Dennings: invincible is more of an on edge book I was expecting.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

I think I'm at a disadvantage because I actually haven't read the other books in the Fate of the Jedi series. I love Star Wars and I've read a few of the books, but not enough to feel I'm any sort of expert on the Expanded Universe. A few good points about this book from that standpoint - 1) If you do love Star Wars and haven't been fully involved in the books, this book is good enough to make you want to read more, 2) The author did a good job of explaining enough backstory here to keep the reader following along. I believe I probably would have rated this book a 4 instead of 3 if I'd been reading the series all along.

There is a lot going on here, and sometimes it is hard to keep up. At least 4 major storylines contribute to the overall plot and every few chapters you swing between them. Knowing the characters, or at least keeping up with them in your head once they've been introduced in this book, is key to understanding what is happening and why it matters to you, the reader, as well as to the Star Wars Universe. Sometimes the details provided in the battles are overwhelming and a bit dry. Still, I was sufficiently interested in the plot, the characters and the outcome of the battle to stay with it for the nearly 450 pages that it consumes. There were quite a few inspiring Jedi moments that made me want to leap into battle with a lightsaber of my own.

So, I started with Outcast. Then, I worked my way up to this. It is really good, but it could be better.

I mean, geez, how could you not like this? All of the previous FOTJ novels until Ascension SUCKED off. The description was detailed, and the plot was the most interesting plot since the NJO novels. Like when Saba just beheaded Abeloth with her teeth. Also, the Mission to Hagamoor 3 was interesting.

But, my only problem is when Ship takes Vestara to... Korriban?? Where the heck is Ship going?

But, all in all, this was great. I recommend that you start at Vortex.

Veteran Star Wars scribe Troy Denning is back for his third book in the nine book Fate of the Jedi series with Apocalypse. This book also marks the third Star Wars series in a row that Denning has wrapped up, he wrot all three of the Dark Nest Trilogy books, he wrote the third, sixth, and ninth books in the Legacy of the Force series, and now in Fate of the Jedi, he has written the third, sixth and ninth books as well.

Apcalypse is a massive, massive Star Wars novel. While not nearly as long as Denning's monumental New Jedi Order novel, Star by Star which weighed in at 606 pages, Apocalypse comes in at 445 pages and Denning needs every bit of that to wrap up the various threads of the series and to set up potential story lines for future Expanded Universe novels to build upon.

Apocalypse gives us some very interesting character developments and resolutions and really gives you the feel of a book with an ensemble cast. There are tons of characters in this book and most get their moments to shine. What I liked most about this novel is the range that it displayed, from the height of heroic self-sacrifice to the depths of self-interested betrayal. There are a number of tie ins to other Expanded Universe works including a very awesome tie in to some work done by Dark Horse Comics.

Apocalypse will create some controversy. George Lucas' work on Star Wars: The Clone Wars has sent shock waves through continuity and the Expanded Universe. What we have seen in recent EU releases is an attempt to in an overt way weave in the new reality of the Star Wars universe into the books. One of the key plot points in this book involves The Clone Wars animated series and fans are either going to hate or love what the creative team behind Fate of the Jedi did. Personally I enjoyed what Denning did with this plot point, though I am still not sure what it means in the big picture. I also wonder just how much of what Mr. Lucas has in his mind regarding certain elements of Star Wars that he has shared with the licensees, because they are treading in areas that seem to be very perilous regarding Lucas' potential to invalidate entire sections of continuity.

One of the biggest critiques that I have seen with Denning is his use of his pet characters. Some of this criticism may not be the fact that he has pet characters, after all, all authors do this. Some times author's have favorites because they are characters they created and sometimes they just have fun writing that particular film or EU character. I think the biggest issue with Denning is that some of his favorite characters can be a bit annoying to the readers. As much as we may think the Barabels are a cool species, I don't think too many of us enjoy reading lots of dialogue from Saba Sebatyne. Frankly most people are a bit creeped out by bugs, so the whole idea of the Killiks and becoming a Joiner gets weird. In Apocalypse I thought Denning did a nice job of sprinkling in his recurring characters without feeling like they were forced in or dominating the scenes. There is one particular Barabel scene that I absolutely loved. I was very upset by one characters particular choice and presumed fate.

Denning had a number of very well crafted lines in this novel, these one liners provided some dark humor as well as insight into characters. One of my favorite lines comes at the end of Chapter one in a scene between Luke and Vestara;

"Luke frowned. 'Then you used his own shikkar because...' 'Because I didn't have mine, and we have a war to win.' Vestara rose onto her tiptoes and whispered into his ear. ' I did it for the Jedi cause, Master Skywalker.' "
This last page of chapter one does a magnificent job of "showing" instead of "telling" the reader about the inner workings of Vestara Khai's mind and heart. It just leaps off the page that Luke and Vestara have very different ideas about the "Jedi cause."

Apocalypse opens with a Godfather like settling of Jedi Order scores as the Jedi launch their strike against the Sith in an attempt to retake Coruscant. But unlike some Star Wars novels that it seems like contract as they develop, i.e. action takes place in various locations and eventually events conspire to bring all the characters and events to one central location, this book feels like it keeps expanding exponentially, spinning off in different and exciting directions. Some of the decisions that characters make in this novel won't be fully understood unless you have read much of the previous Expanded Universe works, especially the earlier books in this series. I will say that I was very impressed with the amount of times Denning took the story in a different direction then I thought he was going to go.

The latter third of Fate of the Jedi has really redeemed the series' main villain, Abeloth. To be frank when we first began reading about Abeloth, I loathed the character. It was weird and didn't feel like it fit in the Star Wars universe, it felt more like Waru than the traditional Star Wars villain. While I still don't love the character of Abeloth, I can appreciate her more in these later books as we get more revelations about her nature and abilities. Of course I began to wonder if the authors had read Harry Potter when they began plotting out the series finale.

One issue that is becoming larger and larger as we move forward on the in-universe timeline, is just how long , Luke, Han, Leia and other characters from their generation can be the center of the story. When is the proper time for them to transition into more supporting roles. It seems like between deaths, characters being discarded, or characters not advancing, we are almost stuck treading water. I was happy that we saw some movement in this regard in Apocalypse. Killing off the "Big Three" isn't really something I am interested in reading about at this point, but I also am not sure if I want to read about Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker having to remember to put in his dentures before he slays the big bad in the next series. I was very happy with Ben Skywalker's development in this series. While Ben is still young, he has proven that he is character that can carry a novel and is an interesting mixture of characterization from his more idealistic father and his more pragmatic mother.

I am also impressed with how well the authors wrote the character of Allana Solo, given the characters age, they gave us a character that is most definitely in the upper percentiles in terms of intelligence and maturity for her age group, but one that was still believable.

The biggest downside of these large series is the issue of accessibility. It is a real commitment to read a nine book series and takes a great deal of time to catch up if you have not been reading from the beginning. That being said, if you started Fate of the Jedi and stopped after the first few books, or didn't start at all, pick up the paperbacks now or e-books and work your way to this novel. Like it or not Denning has once again ended one series and set some courses for future Expaned Universe novels to follow, so this book will be pivotal to future Expanded Universe works in the Legacy era. The good news for new readers is that in the immediate future the Star Wars franchise will be shifting back to the more accessible format of stand-alone novels, duologies and trilogies. With a mild Expanded Universe refresher it's much easier to jump into these kind of stories and I hope it brings more readers into reading Star Wars novels.

Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse may not enter the pantheon of greatest Expanded Universe novels, but it is an exceptionally well written and entertaining novel that sets up the Expanded Universe for it's next cycle. Stay tuned to LightsaberRattling.com after the Apocalypse's release as we dig into some of the unanswered questions and unresolved fates in the galaxy far, far away.

Ugh! another disappointing book, and very anticlimactic. This story doesn't "feel" Star Wars and in fact feels very contradictory to already established Star Wars lore.

The Jedi are supposed to be servants of life, justice and the "light". Yet the callus and cowardly way they dispatched some of their enemies, doesn't seem very Jedi like at all.

The on again off again loyalty of Vestara wore out it's welcome two books ago, and yet the author persists on forcing us to rehash this tired "doomed lovers" storyline.

There are literally dozens of established characters in this series, so why did the author feel the need to shoe horn in a -deus ex machina- of a mysterious Sith stranger to team up to help kill Abeloth. And the fight itself seemed like a dull rehashing of fights described earlier in the series.

As for the sith, Storytellers should know that your hero is only as heroic as your bad guy is tough. So the sad and weak way this story portrays the Sith really makes their threat seem only moderately serious. They die by the dozens, as easily as house-flies. I mean, at one point in the book they have a tiny 9 year old girl easily kill several trained Sith warriors with an oversized blaster pistol.

A few more plot holes: How do you organize a first time ever election, spanning hundreds of worlds, with billions of voters in a matter of a few days or weeks? Why would anyone even vote for someone as their leader, who was only months ago the leader of an opposing government? Why spend so much time telling us how tragic and sacrificial it is for Raynar Thul to remain behind with the Killiks, only to have him retrieved, like a lost child in the last few pages of the book. The tenuous connection that Tahiri Veila uses to find out were Abaloth is hiding seems extremely unlikely.

A few good points in this book: The way character dialog is written, is leaps and bounds better then the cringe inducing dialog of the last book. I will admit I thought the the authors attempt to connect Clone Wars, New Jedi Order era, and Legacy (comic book) era storylines was kind of ambitious. I like that the author didn't feel the need to kill off a bunch of characters to be "shocking".

All in all, this isn't The Star Wars I was looking for.

Well, if nothing else, I want to assure the reader that this book IS indeed vastly superior to other books in this series, particularly Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Ascension which in my opinion was an unmitigated disaster.

First, I wish to note that there will be plot spoilers in this review. I generally try not to spoil the plot, but some of my review is going to deal with direct criticism of the plot.

First, the plot moves. Thank heavens, the last book, and things definitely happen. Denning does a laudable job of making things happen. Characters (namely Abeloth) are FINALLY explained. Your mileage may vary on this. Personally, I found the explanation of what Abeloth was to be profoundly cheesy. It links in to a Clone Wars animated TV series that I think is just terrible, but apparently it is very popular for some so that is just my taste, perhaps... Regardless, though, I think the detail it went into warped her character. By the end, I couldn't really shake the impression that rather than Space Cthulhu, Abeloth was just some weird depressed stalker who had family issues.

Characterization is much better in Apocalypse. The things characters do actually make sense. And in the case of some, it isn't all good. Characters who are traumatized react appropriately. I really appreciated this from Denning, it is something often not found in sci-fi/fantasy.

Allana. There are significant spoilers here

The other reviewers who mentioned her are right. Her characterization has to be some sort of joke by Denning. It blasts way beyond the bounds of any sane credulity or suspension of belief into complete farce. I can't for the life of me imagine how this ever got past an editor's desk.

1. Allana is 8, but she is debating force philosophy, galactic politics and ethics with her grandparents as if she were a jaded adult.
2. Leia literally thinks this about her: "Her nine-year-old granddaughter was already a veteran of several assassination attempts and practically an old hand at close-quarters combat". This is absurd. She is 9, and Denning gives us lovingly described scene after scene of this little girl going Rambo on Sith and butchering them.
3. She gets on her pet in the middle of battle, breaks cover, and makes her pet charge the enemy while she shoots at them. This tactic works.

I'm sorry, but this is easily the worst characterization I've read in any book ever. However you choose to write your 9-year old girl characters, an adult thinking and speaking, Sith-butchering combat expert is the least believable I can think of.

The ending also is confusing. It involves a "dark man" who isn't identified by name, but described in some detail as if I should recognize him. I don't understand. I wonder if this is some tie-in to that comic series I haven't read, but have heard is set in the Star Wars universe far future. This strikes me as lazy writing. If you are going to include a character that makes no sense unless you read some obscure comic series, it shouldn't be playing such a significant role. I'm not a writer, but even I know that a basic maxim is that books should internally coherent and tell a story in themselves. This book fails that test by constantly throwing out references that forced me to resort to Google to understand.

The resolution of Ben and Vestara is annoying. Vestara, is basically treated as an utter pariah, literally sent into battle unarmed, and the Jedi have the audacity to act outraged when she gets fed up with them? Honestly, I feel like it was billed as a "big betrayal", but not really. She chose not to do a stupidly noble suicide, and half-heartedly led a Sith attack in a battlezone on Allanna... Who Vestara thought would be on the other side of galaxy, safe, as the heir to a wealthy, powerful interstellar kingdom.

In summary, while the events of this book moved rapidly to a conclusion, wrapping up multiple plot points, so much of what happened is nothing more than the result of sheer stupidity from the protagonists. Vestara's betrayal is definitely the result of her being systemically treated like scum. Allana is either a complete freak of developmental psychology or a joke by Denning, either way, reading her makes me grit my teeth, the ending with Abeloth is unsatisfying, links the story to what I consider some of the cheesiest canon material in the entire EU.

Finally, and astonishingly enough, the publisher is trying to pull a fast one on buyers yet again: the last ~20% of the book is promotional material. That's right, a good fifth of the pages in your book are length advertisements and excerpts for upcoming Star Wars books. I consider this a highly negative point, deceptive on the part of the publisher, and would highly recommend not purchasing this book on the basis of that. To clarify, looking at the Kindle edition. The book ends at 78%. That means 22% of the book (nearly a QUARTER) is taken up by appendix fillers and reams of advertisements.

In the end, Apocalypse is only good to wrap up the complete disappointment and disaster that was the Fate of the Jedi series. It resolves a few plot-lines at long last, and unfortunately has nothing going for it outside of plot resolution. You can easily get what matters from a brief plot synopsis on a blog, and if you really want to read this book, I would recommend getting it from the library, so as to avoid buyer's regret.

in the final novel of the rather blah fotj series we the readers are given an astounding book. this book had everything a good star wars novel needs deep characterization,well formed plot, and finally the certain magic which the movies captivated. recently as many other loyal star wars fans will tell you the star wars eu has been really lackluster and downright bad. however this novel has revigorized my hope because of the star wars feel it brought back. was it perfect no was it the best sw book no but it did captivate me as a lifelong sw fan who has read enough sw fiction yes. if you are looking into reading the fotj series i would give you half my recomendation. for books 2 and 7 8 i would recommend using wookieepedia simply because of the bad writing. mr denning is certainly not one of many fan favorite sw authors based on what he has done in the past,this has nothing to do with his writing but read njo to see what i mean but i do give him credit for bringing back the sw feel and i havent read a book which has done that in a long while. read and enjoy.

I need mindless fiction at times. I used to check out 10 books, from the library, and read them all in a weekend. This is a good book for that- you can get lost in the Star Wars universe. I really enjoy the Star Wars universe, which seems to always be on the brink, and only the Jedi can save it. I won't repeat what other reviewers have said. Stories like this woke up a desire to study this stuff. So I found: Urban Shaman,Secrets of Shamanism: Tapping the Spirit Power Within You,Amazing Secrets of Psychic Healing,You the Healer: The World-Famous Silva Method on How to Heal Yourself and Others,Shadow Strategies of an American Ninja Master,The Art of Chi Kung: Making the Most of Your Vital Energy,The Key to The Secret: How to Manifest from the Heart,The Future Is Yours: Do Something About It!Matrix Energetics: The Science and Art of Transformation, and Theta Healing: Introducing an Extraordinary Energy Healing Modality. Why do I mention all these books? Because each has a piece of the pie, to following the characters' abilities. I'd mention more, except the store has a limit of 10. I mention books like this to see what other people will cite; I have found some real gems, by seeing what books people compare a book to. This is a good book, with what I thought was a fun story. I need escapist stuff like this every now and then. Other reviewers cover content pretty well, I thought. These stories don't always follow Joseph Campbell's monomyth, but they are still interesting. Let's face it, we all imagine ourselves as the hero, and walking inside the lead character is fun. The world is well thought out, and the turns of plot interesting.

This entire series has been the greatest departure from Star Wars so far and this book is no exception. "Force-Beings", "The Ones", thousands of Sith, it is all too far of a separation from what makes Star Wars such an amazing science fiction epic. In the movies, even episodes 1, 2 and 3, Star Wars was a mixed bag of fun, amazement and a relate-able reality. Sure there is the force, but all of it was grounded in a sense of scale within the confines of believable-ability. This series, especially this book, strays so far from what we found to be so amazing that I cannot ever endorse this series. What happened to the fun and engaging stories of X-wing, Thrawn, even silliness like "We Don't do Weddings"? Those tales all had a commonality with things that we can identify and know, even if they are based on movies.
This book, as representative of the series as a whole is too much of a writers departure. If this same story had a different title and different character names, it would have been universally panned and remain unread. Since the name "Star Wars" is on the jacket though, we are doomed to read through some inane drivel that pays no homage to the series that started it all.
This is not a Star Wars book and this is not something for a Star Wars fan. There is no merriment and fun, just a combination of overblown ideas that cannot reign themselves in. Way too much happening at once with way too many premises. Give me one villain, or one group of villains, that I can somehow relate to. Not some force spirit-energy-being-fake. Palpatine was an amazing antagonist, cunning and devious his character was derived from the evil that we can all see and interact with in our lives today. Abeloth was ... silly and she belongs in a book without the name "Star Wars".
A dismal book to gratefully end a dismal series.

For those who have been following the FOTJ series and have been enjoying it, Apocalypse packs a lot of goodies for you to enjoy. There is tons of action, a lengthy exploration of Abeloth's backstory, and lots of fun character moments. Denning not only wraps up the series satisfactorily, but opens up the future with tantalizing possibilities and snippets for future authors to work with. I really enjoyed reading Apocalypse and hope Denning will be a round for some more Star Wars novels.

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . . or rather, an era that many of us have a hard time imagining in this day and age called the 70s, George Lucas created the most lucrative franchise in entertainment history, and has been cashing in on it ever since. I need not go into the ridiculous amount of toys, T-shirts, posters, video games, etc. that followed, as anyone that has not spent the last 35 years living in a cave has likely seen them, whether they are a fan or not. The better part of a decade after the final film in the trilogy was released, millions of fans cried out for a sequel, but George Lucas remained silent. Enter Timothy Zahn and Bantam books. They cut a deal with Lucas to produce a trilogy of books that came 5 years after the events of Return of the Jedi. These books are most commonly known, amongst fans, as the Thrawn Trilogy, though the trilogy itself has no official name. And so the Expanded Universe was born, a series of books that numbers now in the hundreds.

I was four years old the day my parents rented Star Wars for the first time. It was back in 1983, another time that people these days might have a hard time imagining, and Return of the Jedi had just come out in theaters. I was riveted from the first moment when the fanfare began playing. I couldn't read yet, but the words floating through space were AWESOME. Then came the opening scene of a smaller ship being chased by that massive behemoth that just kept going as it flew by over the camera. I was hooked. My baptism into Nerdom had come. And when these books started coming out while I was in Junior High School I pounced on them, buying and reading every single one of them as they came out. At first, respected Sci-fi, Fantasy, and even comic book authors took to writing Star Wars novels, continuing the adventures of the characters that so many people knew and loved, and expanding on the universe in new and creative ways. Some of them were actually not bad. These authors include Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, Barbara Hambly, Alan Dean Foster, Michael A. Stackpole, and several others. For those looking for recommendations amongst all the titles to choose from I would suggest starting with Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, or the Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson. Both are good starting points and mark points in the timeline where large and important events occur, and were written before a lot of the novels sandwiched between them and the more objectionable retcons that authors tried to introduce to the series with them. They also mark turning points in how the story is told. This is hard to explain, so check the books out and see for yourself if you're interested. They can be found at most public libraries and are well worth the time for any Star Wars fan that's looking to find a bit of the old magic.

By the late 90s Lucas had realized what a cash cow these Star Wars novels had become, and so created a new division of Lucasfilm called Lucasbooks. And so began the slow and painful degradation into utter mediocrity that followed, beginning with The New Jedi Order in 1999. There's a metaphor in there somewhere... The respected authors, rightly, turned tail and fled as quickly as they could from this soulless abomination, and Lucasbooks contracted a few lesser known, and frankly not very good authors to take the helm. Several of these have basically become the pets of Lucasbooks and do nothing but churn out garbage with the Star Wars logo on it because it sells whether the story or the writing is any good. Each successive series that takes place after The New Jedi Order has been worse. The characters we all knew and loved are replaced with soulless stereotypes that repeat catch phrases and unimaginative one-liners. The words Damn and Hell, spoken in the movies and the earlier books, are replaced with completely ridiculous made-up curses that sound so incredibly awkward. The stories are repetitive and boring. The writing is just plain awful and lazy. And the entire premise falls apart, because how many dark lords can POSSIBLY rise up to take over the universe in a single man's lifetime, SERIOUSLY!

Anyway, being cursed from that first moment when the Star Wars logo appeared on the screen to read any and all books Star Wars, I have come to the conclusion of the latest Star Wars book series: Fate of the Jedi and GOOD GOD was it horrible. The only thing that makes these books even remotely readable is not reading them at all. I instead got the audiobooks off of Audible.com for a pretty reasonable price. The producers of the Audiobooks just try so hard to recapture the magic of those first movies by adding sound effects, music, and finding narrators that can mimic the voices of the original actors remarkably well. They basically take material that is complete and utter garbage and make it at least superficially entertaining. I can't imagine actually trying to read my way through these books, because each is remarkably worse than the last, both in the quality of the writing and characterization, and in the quality of the story.

And now, on with the review. I'm going to look at the Fate of the Jedi series as a whole here rather than just the final book, because a lot of the problems in this book are rooted in the previous eight books.

The Galactic Alliance is in the hands of the Sith, and the Jedi have fled Coruscant, whilst Abeloth, the powerful Dark Side entity has taken control of the Galactic Senate. That SOUNDS like a setup for one of the most epic books ever written, doesn't it? Yeah, get ready for a whole lot of disappointment. In fact, that's the word the best sums up every single Star Wars novel to be released since Lucasbooks was formed. Disappointment.

As much as I would like to give a detailed summary of the plot of this book, there really isn't a plot of which to speak, so that is rather impossible. This book is made up of fight scene after fight scene as the Jedi, the Sith, and Abeloth duke it out for Coruscant, and NOTHING is resolved. And quite frankly, I found it to be rather boring. The Expanded Universe books have degraded to the point of the prequel movies in quality. There's no story, no characterization, just ball-numbing action that goes on, and on, and on, and on, and there's no tension at all because all of the characters are so god-like in power and ability that nothing can actually threaten them. Even the IMMORTAL Abeloth, and all of her power barely does much to any of them, and dies rather easily.

The Good? Um... No comment.

The Bad? Series that run as long as this one usually all have a common problem. They've already done everything, and they have to stretch to come up with anything new. All of the characters have stopped developing because the authors writing them seem to think there's no need because previous authors have already done all of the character development possible. When you don't care about and empathize with the characters, and watch them learn, grow, and strive to overcome adversity, action scenes become pointless. There's no tension because the reader just really couldn't care less what the outcome is because the characters are so bland. Tension, drama, and excitement come from caring about the characters and having a genuine interest in how they will overcome the obstacles standing in their path.

The writers responsible for these books, Aaron Alliston, Troy Denning, and Christie Golden seem to have decided amongst themselves that all of the characters have already developed as far as possible and no further development will ever be needed. Therefore, none of the characters developed a single bit in this series. Luke endlessly spews vacant platitudes, whilst everyone else cracks one-liners and catch phrases that are supposed to make us see them as human, rather than cardboard cutouts. They seem to have forgotten that you need an emotional connection with a character to be able to give a damn about them. This connection is made by seeing them rise above what faces them through epic internal and external struggle and personal realization. When you skip past that, anything that happens is meaningless. Whether your book is the first in a series or the two-hundredth, your main characters MUST develop as characters during the course of the story. If your main characters are old, worn out, and tired and you can't see a way to develop them further, either choose a different character to write about or introduce a new one. If your characters don't develop the reader has no reason to care about them, or any story that revolves around them.

The ugly? I typically hate made up curse worse in stories. Most of the time they sound stupid and the author forgets to tell you WHY that word is a curse. Here's an example of cursing done well in a book. Take a look at Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. The word Storm is used as a curse. The characters live in a world in which every couple of weeks there's a ten-day storm so violent that stones and boulders are thrown about by the wind and the rain is driven so hard that it can actually cut flesh. Anyone outside during one of these storms dies. We know the reason that the word Storm is used as a curse because we are given the context for which it makes sense as a curse. We know the gravity of the word when it is used as a curse. When there's no context given for a curse word, we have no reason to feel that this word is a curse word, and it just sounds silly. Like Blowa... what the hell (see what I did thar) does that mean? In what context is this word a curse word? Fierfeck? What's that? Why should I be shocked that a character screams this? Because it's in Italics with a bunch of exclamation points behind it? Criff? Is that supposed to be the analog of Christ in the Star Wars universe? I don't know, BECAUSE IT'S NEVER EXPLAINED OR GIVEN A CONTEXT!!! When you don't give us a context and a meaning for a curse word, we don't know what it means and are not shocked by a character saying it, which is, by the way, THE ENTIRE POINT OF HAVING A CHARACTER CURSE!!! They just sound silly and nonsensical.

The made up curses in this series are doubly bad, they make no sense because they have no context, and it has already been established in the movies that Damn and Hell are curses that are used by the people in this universe. SO why in the hell (see what I did thar) are the characters making up new curses that sound silly and are completely meaningless to the reader when it's already been established that these are NOT the curses of the people using them?

There are WAY too many characters in this series. And quite a few of them are included in it for no reason at all except for fan service. They serve no purpose to the plot, add extraneous plotlines that go nowhere, and basically just add padding to a series that already had more than enough padding without them. I don't care if Tesar has fans. Why was he in these books? His side story was completely unimportant and distracting from anything important. I can say the same for a great many other characters as well. If you have more characters than things to do, CUT OUT SOME FREAKING CHARACTERS!!! Don't make up something unimportant for them to do on the side.

This series suffers from a lot of the same problems as The Phantom Menace. Namely that the events are confusing, the multiple plot lines have little or nothing to do with one another, there are FAR too many characters, too much emphasis on action and too little emphasis on anything else, and most importantly THERE IS NO FREAKING PROTAGONIST!!! That's right, there are plenty of characters in Fate of the Jedi, and a lot of them do things... but the story isn't ABOUT any of them. The story does not center around anyone.

Now, I'm going to do something that I rarely do in a review. I'm going to break this bitch down and tell you how it SHOULD have been written to make it a real, readable story. Skip the next six paragraphs if you don't care.

First of all, there needs to be a main protagonist, someone at the center of events, whom we follow as he or she develops and rises up to defeat the antagonist. The older characters are out, because they've become old, stale, and stereotypical. Let's take Ben Skywalker and call him our protagonist, because he is at the center of everything. It is he whom Abeloth wants above all others, and this nugget of crucial information was completely ignored until the VERY LAST CHAPTER OF A NINE BOOK SERIES!!! Ben will discover that, as other Jedi his age are going insane all around him, he is special in some way, because he has remained untouched. There will be no waiting eight books for Abeloth to take control of the Lost Tribe of the Sith. She will, for convenience of plot, already be their leader, sending them out in search of the boy whom she can't touch, because she's waited for him for so very long. There, we have a clear protagonist, and a clear antagonist with real, tangible motives RIGHT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.

Second, there are dozens of characters in this series that are completely pointless to this series and crammed in where they don't belong because the writers seem to think that EVERYONE needs to be included somehow or else the fans will revolt. They clutter the story with plotlines that go nowhere, and subplots that are abandoned without resolution. Let me give you a couple of examples from nerdom. This would be like if all previous incarnations of Doctor Who kept popping up and getting in the way by doing things that were completely unimportant to the problems that the current Doctor was dealing with just to show the fans that they still exist somewhere out there. OR if all of the characters from the original Star Trek suddenly showed up and took over the Enterprise D from The Next Generation cast, while the TNG cast tries to keep on doing what their doing. You do not need to include every single character that has ever appeared in a Star Wars novel to tell a good story. 90% of these characters were pointless and should not have been put into the books.

You can keep a few of the subplots about galactic strife, Luke and Ben being exiled, the Galactic Alliance turning against the Jedi, HOWEVER, every plot line needs to have a satisfying conclusion, none of them can be abandoned halfway through.

So, Ben is the one Abeloth is after, and his exiled father and he set out into the great unknown to find the reason that the Jedi are going insane. There's none of this following Jacen's back trail BS because that's not important to the plot and ended up to be ultimately pointless in the end anyway. They discover the Sith, led by Abeloth and are chased all over creation by them, because, you know, they're just two guys against an entire planet full of people. There's no completely unbelievable two guys fighting off hundreds and winning because... the Force and stuff... because that's just stupid and unrealistic. Tensions rise between the GA and the Jedi Order. The Sith infiltrate the GA government and outlaw all Jedi, and the whole temple siege thing with the Mandalorins can go on, but with the addition of Sith, with the Jedi holding out hope that their leader will return to help them in their hour of need. Seeing the situation on Coruscant, and knowing that running all over the galaxy chased by the Sith is not getting anyone anywhere, Luke breaks his exile and heads home as fast as he can.

Through all of this Ben is having visions of Abeloth, and she continually tempts him to come to her, join with her, and the Sith will be destroyed, the Jedi saved, and no one else will have to go insane or die. He can save everyone and surpass his father as the greatest Jedi that ever lived, if he would only but come to her. And Ben, being the son of the most famous Jedi ever, is desperately seeking for a way to live up to his father's reputation instead of forever standing in his shadow, because, you know, he's a HUMAN BEING and has EMOTIONS and MOTIVATIONS that cardboard doesn't typically tend to possess. He wants to be a hero in his own rights so he can stop being known as that famous guy's kid. He is somewhat skeptical of his father's teachings and doesn't really get what the big deal is behind all of the philosophy of the Jedi Order. He doesn't really see the point to it all. He will give in to temptation, and be turned against the Jedi, attacking and almost killing his father who tries to stop him. Once he becomes Abeloth's puppet he'll realize, through seeing firsthand the horrors of what it means to be Sith, that his father was right, deny Abeloth what she wants, and defeat her with his newfound revelations giving him power and understanding of the Force that was previously unavailable to him. With Abeloth defeated, the Jedi are able to rise up against the Sith, with Ben leading the way to victory in place of his father, proving that he's his father's son, and a Jedi Knight in his own rights.

This will, of course, be a single book in length, because all of that irrelevant crap and characters will be cut out, and written by a single author, because trading off every novel to another author muddles the story, characters, and side stories horribly.

This series, and especially this last book in it, is completely awful. It's badly written, confusing, clogged with needless characters, subplots that go nowhere, and lacks anything resembling character development. The quality of the story and the quality of the writing just aren't there. There are some superficially exciting scenes, but I attribute the excitement I got from them to the nostalgia of having the original music and sound effects played over them in the audiobook versions. The excitement is very hollow because there's no tension at all due to the fact that there are no real characters in this story. Just a bunch of emotionless pieces of wood dancing on the strings of Lucasbooks. There is no clear protagonist, no clear antagonist, and a whole lot of irrelevant crap shoved in to showcase characters that have nothing to do with the story because they just happen to be fan favorites. Lucasbooks needs to fire their current staff of writers and hire some people with real talent, fresh ideas, a new perspective on an old and, frankly, worn out series, and the balls to leave characters out when they are irrelevant to the story.

In conclusion, if I could give this series negative stars I would. The rating, unfortunately, does not show up with less than one on goodreads. Fate of the Jedi was a complete mess, churned out by untalented authors because they were the only ones willing to work for the pittance that Lucasbooks tosses to its writers. If you, like me, absolutely have to read these books for the sake of completion, unable to break the shackles of your fandom no matter how god-awful the storytelling becomes, I suggest the audiobook versions of this series. I was able to find them for quite cheap on audible.com with a membership, and I also saw them at my local library as well in CD format. While they do not fix the problems of the books themselves, the addition of music and sound effects from the original Star Wars films makes for a more enjoyable experience.

This was the perfect opportunity to kill off some of the old familiar characters and move on into the greater expanded universe. I would bet money that Lucas made the decision not to. Over all it was a decent book I was just disappointed with the ending.

This book could not have ended better. I absolutley loved the part where the origin of Abeloth is revealed and how it tied with the Mortis arc in the Clone Wars series, though it would've been nice to include Ahsoka's fate. I loved the wedding of Jag and Jaina at the end. They are the Will and Kate of the Star Wars saga. I can't wait to see what happens next. I assume Jaina will have a bun in the oven and make her scruffy looking father feel old. Again it may not happen, but is a fuuny thought. Loved the book and I hope a new series follows thnis one...

This book broke everyone`s hearts because of Troy Denning. He killed off Anakin Solo in Star by Star with Chewie, set off the worse possible Star Wars death sentence by killing Jacen in the heart with Jaina, and for now messing up the Legacy timeline by making Ben and Vestara break up. I think Troy should NEVER write a tiny, nanometer word that even concerns Lucas. Produtions.

Just what the title says. For about the first 400 pages the book was great. It was constant action mixed with intelligent philosophy. However, right after the final battle ended and you thought you were going to get 150 pages of closure for various loose ends, the book ends abruptly. No closure on anything, none. The final 150 pages are excerpts from other books used specifically as filler material. Here I was looking forward to 545 pages of finality. Really, the rushed ending with no explanations for the loose ends turned this book from 4-5 stars to 1, and kept the trend of mediocrity from the LOTF series to this one. Just awful.

This book utterly and completely devastated me. I feel nothing but contempt for Troy Dennings as an author for the Star Wars Saga. He combined an appalling lack of sympathy for his characters with bad plot turns and an inability to come up with original ideas.

The novel started off well with plenty of Jedi vs. Sith action on Coruscant. The first scenes involving Abeloth were also very well done giving us insights into her character. The romance between Ben and Vestara was also well depicted, if only she hadn't killed Natua Wan (sigh). I also loved how little Allana has grown both in maturity and in her force prowess. Raynar heading back to Killik space despite the danger also showed the dedication of the Jedi to defeat Abeloth once and for all, however this was probably the last original and hopeful scene.

The book began to go down hill when it was revealed that Abeloth was the "Mother" of the Father, Son, and Daughter trio featured in the Mortis trilogy in Star Wars The Clone Wars Season Three which I felt was a ridiculous and completely unoriginal idea. Next Vestara had a complete 180 and led a Sith attack whose objective was killing Allana whom Vestara had discovered. Another idea I loathed was that Abeloth could be in more than one place at the same time.

The last straws for me were at the end. First was Luke flashback to Dagobah where Yoda told Luke about the Mission to Mortis (the only things I remember about Dagobah are Luke hitting his head on Yoda's ceiling, Luke running through a swamp, and Luke cutting his own head off with a lightsaber). And Vestara abandoning Ben to fly off with a piece of self-important circutry with delusions of granduer (Ship). What made me wonder what the heck was happenning was an election in the EMPIRE.

In the end the only positive things I could think of are no major good characters died (save poor Barv), Abeloth was kill (Ding. Dong. The witch is dead), and Jag and Jania finally got married.

But because of the tragedies infused throughout this despicable novel I have developed an even harsher dislike of Troy Dennings. Three times has this man ruined Star Wars for me: killing Anakin in Star by Star, sentencing Jacen to a fate worse then death in Legacy of the Force, and breaking the hearts of Ben and Vestara.
P.S. When will that Imperial hag (Daala) die?
P.S.S. How are any Skywalkers from Legacy going to be born if Ben's romantic life gets shot as soon as it begins?

The Force flows strongly through father and son Luke and Ben Skywalker as well as female teenage Sith Vestara Khai. Ben and Vestara are attracted to each other though she hates these weak feelings that go against her nature. Still she has saved their lives several times which also goes against her Sith DNA.

The Skywalker pair completed their mission so they return to the Jedi stronghold on Coruscant. However the Sith have infiltrated the Galactic Alliance in a bold plan to destroy their enemy from within and Abeloth has begun her quest to take over the galaxy by controlling the Galactic Alliance. Some of the Alliance members are aware of the twin threats, a bold plan is deployed to force the Sith out into the open while the targets employ a counterplot; meanwhile Abeloth continues to feed on the fear that the adversaries bring to her.

The ninth and final Fate of the Jedi (three authors - Aaron Allston, Christie Golden and Troy Denning) is a terrific ending to a strong post New Hope saga. The two overarching prime plots (and much more) converge on Coruscant with the Skywalker pair ready to take the fight to Abeloth while the Jedi and Sith face off in a Force Armageddon. This is a must read.

Harriet Klausner