Ascension

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi #8

by Christie Golden

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
THE GALAXY STANDS LEADERLESS. CAN THE JEDI SAVE IT—OR WILL THEIR ENEMIES ENSLAVE IT?

The toppling of ruthless Natasi Daala has left a political vacuum on Coruscant and ignited a power struggle between opposing factions racing to claim control of the Galactic Alliance. Surrounded by hidden agendas, treacherous conspiracies, and covert Sith agents, the Jedi Order must keep the government from collapsing into anarchy—while facing the combined threats of the resurgent Lost Sith Tribe, a deposed dictator bent on vengeance, and the enduring menace of Abeloth, the profoundly evil entity hungry to become a god.
 
“[Christie] Golden’s excellent storytelling captures the essence of the beloved space opera and should leave series followers eagerly anticipating the story’s conclusion.”—Library Journal

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Award-winning author Christie Golden has written over thirty novels and several short stories in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror. She has over a million books in print.

2009 will see no fewer than three novels published. First out in late April will be a World of Warcraft novel, Athas: Rise of the Lich King. This is the first Warcraft novel to appear in hardcover. Fans of the young paladin who fell so far from grace will get to read his definitive story.

In June, Golden’s first Star Wars novel, also a hardcover, sees print. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi—Omen is the second in a nine-book series she is co-authoring with Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. Also in June comes the conclusion of Golden’s StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga with the release of Twlight, the third book in the series. The first two are Firstborn and Shadow Hunters.

2004 saw the launch of an original fantasy series called The Final Dance, from LUNA Books. The first novel in the series, On Fire's Wings, was published in July of that year. The second, In Stone’s Clasp , came out in September of 2005. With In Stone’s Clasp, Golden won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel for the second time. The third book, Under Sea’s Shadow, is available only as an e-book

Golden is also the author of two original fantasy novels from Ace Books, King's Man and Thief and Instrument of Fate, which made the 1996 Nebula Preliminary Ballot. Under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, she wrote a historical fantasy thriller entitled A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999.

Golden launched the TSR Ravenloft line in 1991 with her first novel, the highly successful Vampire of the Mists , which introduced elven vampire Jander Sunstar. Golden followed up Vampire with Dance of the Dead and The Enemy Within . In September of 2006, fifteen years to the month, The Ravenloft Covenant: Vampire of the Mists enabled Jander Sunstar to reach a whole new audience.

Other projects include a slew of Star Trek novels, among them The Murdered Sun , Marooned , and Seven of Nine , and "The Dark Matters Trilogy," Cloak and Dagger , Ghost Dance and Shadow of Heaven .

The Voyager novel relaunch, which includes Homecoming and The Farther Shore , were bestsellers and were the fastest-selling Trek novels of 2003. Golden continued writing VOYAGER novels even though the show went off the air, and enjoyed exploring the creative freedom that gave her in the two-parter called Spirit Walk, which includes Old Wounds and Enemy of my Enemy .

Golden has also written the novelization of Steven Spielberg's Invasion America and an original "prequel," On The Run , both of which received high praise from producer Harve Bennett. On The Run, a combination medical thriller and science fiction adventure, even prompted Bennett to invite Golden to assist in crafting the second season of the show, if it was renewed.

Golden lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her artist husband and their two cats.

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fate of the Jedi is a great series. This book was my least favourite of the series though. The pace of the book is a hyperspace speed. Usually this would be great but it felt like the book was a rushed to cram in as many revelations and secretes and conspires as possible. Christie Golden was the first to really push the boundaries of Ben and Vestara's attraction; she continues this in this book.

There are little touches I did like in this book. Like the characters eating food that are more recognisable then just making up new names for things. This is good. I even liked that fact that some of the conspirators who were around from the time of Palpetine still have the speiciesist attitude. The prefer humans to all other species. Small touches like this do add to the believability.

The story. Riding the wave of their huge victories form the last 2 book, Luke leads the Jedi on a mission to destroy the ancient Dark Side being called Abeloth. Using this high risk stagey of taking all available Jedi could leave open to a counter attack. The lost Tribe of the Sith have become his second priority, could he have underestimated them. Luke's character seem to alternate between a naive doting father, to a ruthless (Sith like) strategist willing to sacrifice his own family.

I have to disagree with Master Saba. I think the Sith are stupid. Really who else could the mystery senator be? I don't think there is anybody anywhere who would not have guessed this from the first meeting between them and the Sith. That was a bit of a waste of a big reveal for the last page.

Vestara has a really hard time in this book. She has to make hard choices about who she was, who she is and most of all who she want to become, then if that is even possible. She also faces the same sacrifice play Jason has to face in his was to become a true Sith.

All in all a good book, but because it was so rushed it felt more like a set up for the next book rather than book strong enough to stand alone. Maybe if so much of the book was not wasted on the Lost Tribe's ceremony of accepting Aboloth, or if the book had another 100 pages then the book was not have need a new revelation or conspiracy every chapter. There are a number of secret groups formed and disbanded. However an important book pertaining to the series. Can't wait for the finale in Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse.

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 5 out of 5]

And with this entry, Christie Golden levels up in her position among Star Wars authors. This book blows all of the other Fate of the Jedi books out of the water. It is by far the BEST book in the series, and cashes in on the potential of the series.

Every plotline in this book was terrific, and they're all balanced really well with each other. There are also more twists and turns in this book than all of the others. Really terrific stuff!

I really liked the Ben and Vestara subplot of this book. Their dynamic has been Lukewarm thusfar, and I think that the authors were afraid to give them the full Romeo and Juliet treatment. But their relationship in this book was fantastic, and Vestara had the best character arc in this book.

The political action in this book was stellar, and kept twisting and turning throughout. I had no idea it would be so shocking. And Abeloth's machinations were horrifying. There is one scene that just had me shaking afterwards.

Speaking of Abeloth, the book opens with a 60 page story about the Lost Tribe bringing Abeloth to Kesh. This was a bold move to have so much of the opening not feature main characters (or at least movie characters), but it pays off, because it is a brilliant sequence.

This book also has one of my favorite space battle sequences that reminded me of the Clone Wars space battles, which I really enjoyed!

Honestly, its so hard to not spoil everything, but this is in my top favorite Star Wars books now. Just fantastic stuff. 9.7 out of 10!

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh wow, Christie Golden is the worst.

To be clear, the “Fate of the Jedi” series has a lot of inherent flaws, so not everything can be laid at her feet, but Golden’s entire approach to writing exacerbates the problems to the point of making her three entries BY FAR the worst Star Wars EU novels ever published. The best thing you can say about Ascension is that when you finish it, you’ll probably never have to read another Christie Golden book ever again.

A lot of my issues with her writing can be found also in my reviews for her two previous “Fate” entries, but for the sake of completeness, I’ll cover it all again here, albeit with fresher examples to support my claims of her being the Worst Star Wars Author Ever.

1) DISNEY CHANNEL
Christie Golden has a maddening tendency to filter every moment through the lens of a Disney Channel sitcom, so characters tend to get pigeonholed into a few types. Any scene involving Luke Skywalker, Vestara and Ben are particularly prone to being stretched into this dynamic. In such scenes, Vestara is the plucky but misunderstood heroine, Ben is the wiseacre boy whose jokes cause everyone to groan and is obsessed with eating, and Luke is the quick-to-judgment adult who only seems to become sensible once you’ve reached the end of the episode, where he helpfully becomes earnest and wise so he can share the lesson of the day. And you can almost hear the pauses after their ‘witty’ banter where Golden assumes the canned laughter will be edited in later.

This is rather disheartening, particularly for Luke and Ben, whose histories in the EU demonstrate much more rounded personalities. At one point in the story, after Luke engages in ANOTHER round of sniping at Vestara and telling how much of a sneak and a liar she probably is, the plucky heroine reminds him that he is the same man who fought for the redemption of Mara Jade and Kyp Durron and Darth Vader!! (Actually, Vestara doesn’t mention Vader, but I didn’t forget about him!!) It seems Golden drops these reminders as a way for the plucky heroine to score some points off the unfairly judgmental authority figure. Again, one can almost hear the Disney Tween audience cheering her on! The problem is, these references to Luke’s history serve only to highlight how incredibly out-of-character Luke is acting. He is literally being mind controlled by Christie Golden! “Unhand him!” I shouted! “Stop making him act like that!!” Alas, my shouting was in vain.

Ben also is rather poorly treated, with all the subtle character building from the “Legacy of the Force” being casually tossed out so that Golden can make every scene he is in more melodramatic. At one point, Luke somberly notes how mature Ben is. Twice as mature as most boys his age! The problem is, he says this a chapter or so after Ben has started a lightsabre battle with his ‘girlfriend’ and beaten her up and pinned her to her own bed because she won’t let him read her personal diary. This is a far cry from the Ben Skywalker personally groomed by Jacen Solo to become a security and strategy expert, who actually did reach a degree of hard-won maturity. More on that below.

2) VILLAINS
This entire series has had terrible villains, but Golden goes out of her way to make them even more ridiculous in Ascension. Abeloth remains as arbitrary as ever, with everyone acting like she is the worst threat the galaxy has ever seen despite her never actually doing anything. Although to be fair, Golden does actually have her do some very bad things in this novel, but at this point in the story, it feels more like cheating, then an actual justification for the way everyone reacts to her. For seven books, the worst thing she has done is make a handful of Jedi go crazy and have a few battles with Luke Skywalker. Yet the Jedi have deemed it necessary to deploy EVERY JEDI to go fight her and even found her threat as sufficient justification for killing their own sitting Grand Master. So finally, Sue Rostoni and the gang decided she should do something worthy of all the ruckus, so Abeloth kicks off this book by getting angry and blowing up a city. There was no previous indication that Abeloth could do this before, but in fairness, neither was there an indication that she couldn’t do this, so there.

Oh, and another wacky Abeloth sidenote: at one point, she is mentally attacking a powerful Sith Lord on Kesh. He escapes by calling her ugly and telling her nobody loves her. True story (page 41). And the galaxy quaked in fear!!!

Another group of villains are an ill-conceived conspiracy of Imperials and Imperial sympathizers. Like the mischaracterizations of Ben and Luke, this whole Imperial angle is a bit depressing as well. The “Legacy of the Force” series did a phenomenal job of humanizing the Empire and making them seen like a legitimate social structure when divorced from the evil machinations of Palpatine. Characters like Gilad Pellaeon and Admiral Daala (who resembles the Daala in the “Fate” novels in name only) were shown to be philosophically opposed to the Jedi and the Galactic Alliance, but respectable opponents and capable leaders. Poor Daala has since been turned into a bipolar sociopath, Pellaeon died in what should have been the climax to the “Legacy” series, and we’re now left with a much of mustache-twirling Moffs and super-secret Imperial sympathizers. Their plans, we’re told, are utterly nefarious and clever, and we know they’re evil because every chance they get, they casually discuss how inferior non-humans are. Because, you know, that’s basically like being Real-Life racist! There is actually a scene where the cabal is deciding whether to admit a new GA senator into their conspiracy. They test him my inviting him to a restaurant with non-human waiters. When he says he’s never really liked non-humans, he passes their test, and they let him join their club! True story (page 157). Nefarious!!! This, by the way, is about the most nefarious scheme of theirs to ever come to fruition.

And finally, we have a third group of villains, the Lost Tribe of the Sith, who spend every waking moment being petulant to one another, and giving evil monologues in which they list off all the petards on which they will likely soon hoist themselves. The moment you hear a Sith explaining how they will confront and outwit and destroy any given enemy, you can rest assured that within five pages, that Sith will probably get his ass beat down or his head ripped off by said enemy. In a previous “Fate” review, I compared the Lost Tribe to an entire civilization of Lucious Malfoys. As the years have passed, there is now a more current comparison, so if it please you, think of the Lost Tribe as a civilization of wannebe Tywin Lannisters. They are cultivated and arrogant and they talk about themselves and have internal monologues demonstrating how scheming and nefarious they are.

But like every other villain in the “Fate of the Jedi” novels, we are told how evil they are much more than we’re ever actually shown it.

3. FOOD
Christie Golden spends A LOT of time describing what everyone is eating. She seems obsessed with almost every scene taking place over a meal or while this or that character is having a snack. It’s very weird and very distracting.

4. CHUCKLING
Like their strange penchants for always eating, I’m pretty sure every character in this novel ‘chuckled’ at least three times. If there was a contest to guess Christie Golden’s favorite word, I’d put by money on ‘chuckle’. You’d also have good odds if you chose ‘smile’, ‘grin’, or ‘quirked’ (which is apparently a verb, as in “She quirked her mouth into a grin” or “He quirked his finger in the air”). The point is, there is a shit-ton of chuckling, grinning, smiling, and quirking.

5. BIG EVENTS HAPPEN FAST
A fascinating aspect of the “Legacy of the Force” series was Jacen Solo’s incremental maneuvering to place himself into the seat of Galactic Alliance power. It was so drawn out and gradual, that when he finally made his checkmate move, you were kind of impressed by how subtle and sneaky the guy had been. You could look back at the story and retroactively see all the steps he’d taken, and even though he was practically the bad guy at that point, it was a satisfying moment simply because you suddenly realized it was an inevitable result of a long gestating plan.

In Ascension, Christie Golden ain’t got time for no subtlety!! The nefarious cabal, for example, are somehow able to get new Chiefs-of-State elected and fired on a whim, and do so twice within what seems like a few weeks at the most. Forget the fact that the Galactic Senate has always been characterized by its cumbersome procedures and inability to ever get anything done. Nope, these cats get that shit done in under 24 hours. One of these stunning political maneuvers is done off-camera (as it were). When it is announced, I think it's supposed to be a big plot twist, but since nothing about it makes any sense, it's just a jarring reminder that Christie Golden is far more interested in moving the plot forward and manufacturing melodrama than having anything happen for good reasons. And [spoiler], the entire event is rendered completely pointless a few chapters later when...

...a group of conspirators decide they'd prefer a different Chief-of-State, so they call for a vote that is enacted almost immediately. This second go-round happens so fast, the outgoing Chief has to get up and filibuster just to slow things down a bit! It all plays out like some kind of High School Class Government that Christie Golden saw on an episode of “Saved By The Bell”.

Another very hasty turn around was the public opinion about the Jedi. I’ve lost track of how many times in this series public opinion of the Jedi has careened from positive to negative to positive again. It’s basically whatever serves the flimsy structure the writers have been calling a plot. Anyway, in the previous novel, Saba Sebatyne led the Jedi in a coup against Psycho-Pseudo-Daala, and was so beloved, was allowed to join a triumvirate of leaders chosen to rule the Alliance in her place. Everyone loved the Jedi! In this novel, Luke decides the Jedi should stop meddling in politics, and EVERY JEDI up and blasts off in pursuit of Abeloth. Before they’ve jumped to hyperspace, there are suddenly waves of anti-Jedi sentiment, such that Leia (who stays behind to lend her diplomatic skills to the new government) is arrested and thrown in jail on trumped-up spice-smuggling charges. Oh and also, there is a new news network that sprang up overnight, which EVERYONE watches that hates Jedi and is constantly spewing evil-government propaganda. The day before, the Jedi were beloved, and literally as they are leaving, there is now an entire news network who hates them.

And don't get me started on the Sith's miraculous infiltration of the Alliance government. Remember in this summer's blockbuster movie "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" when it was revealed that Hydra had been scheming for 70 years to infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.? Well the Sith ain't got no 70 years! They can pull that off in...well, the series has covered about three years thus far, and it took a while for the Lost Tribe to manage to get off the planet where they've been trapped for 5,000 YEARS! And the slave insurrections from the last few books seem to be the impetus for allowing them to sneak their people into positions of power. So we'll say a year. In one year, the Sith infiltrated the government to the point that they control EVERYTHING!! And keep in mind, this is all conjecture, because prior to this book, there has never been any indication that the Sith were planning to do any of this. Oh, and also, a lynchpin of the Jedi strategy to try and defeat them later is that because they've been isolated from galactic culture for 5,000 YEARS!! one of their weaknesses will be their ignorance about galactic politics and modern technology. So yeah, complete infiltration in one year.

Again, like all the evil deeds of all the bad guys in the "Fate" series, it's out of the blue, makes little sense, and is a cheater-cheater shortcut by the author to retroactively prove how nefarious the villains are. For more on this, see below.

6. TERRIBLE SEARCH STRATEGIES
Luke and Ben are dead set on finding Ship and Abeloth! But where to start? Their plan? Pick famous Sith planets, then go visit them one at a time. And when you get to those planets, chose a single location (maybe an evil cave or and evil castle), investigate it on foot with four people, then gnash your teeth that you didn’t find anything and that your search is hopeless!

Ex: There is an evil person on Earth! We must find them! Look for them an hour in the Empire State Building. Look for them for an hour in the Taj Mahal. Look for them for an hour at the Sydney Opera House! Proclaim: Drat! We’ll never find them!!!

This scene plays out three times, with minor variations. The second time, we get the obnoxiously anti-climactic death of Gavar Khai, father of our plucky heroine, and the third time we get what I stupidly thought was going to be a big battle-royal with EVERY JEDI versus Abeloth and her minions. It turned out that while EVERY JEDI was allegedly there, only about four of them got name checked, and they all ran away when a volcano erupted. EPIC!!!!

Neither Ship nor Abeloth were ever found.

7. CHEATING
a) Characters in Christie Golden books never do anything clever or nefarious and very little in the way of actual dramatic import occurs. But you’d never know that if you read the characters’ inner-monologues or listened to their exasperated dialogue!

When Golden wants you to know a character is clever, she has them say something obvious, and another character respond with, “I never thought of that!” When Golden wants you to know a character is nefarious, she has them listen to two other characters talking about nothing in particular, and have the ‘nefarious’ character have an internal monologue: “I should kill both of them right now, but I think I shall let them live, for if I allow them to live, they will play directly into my nefarious scheme…Muahahaha!” If she wants you to think a character is plucky and goin’ rogue (!), she has them suggest an obvious idea, and another character exclaim, “What??!! That’s crazy!” It seems every character in this book is in a constant state of exasperation about very banal things.

b) The Villains never do anything, except when out of the blue they do something really terrible to prove that, “Uh-huh, they are too evil!” After seven novels of banal inaction and hollow-bragging about being so bad, their isolated and over-the-top evil deeds in Ascension are cheap and unearned. Oh how I long for the creepy contemplativeness of Thrawn and the unstoppable brute force of the Yuuzhan Vong. Those bad guys were proactive and consistent from day one. The villains of “Fates” have been very boring, and I’m kind of insulted at every last-ditch ploy to make them seem retroactively threatening.

c) EVERY JEDI ends up on a new planet called Upekzar. A volcano blows up there. A very big deal is made of how this the most evil nexus of the dark side ever!! Why is it so evil? Well, mostly because Luke keeps telling us so with his inner-monologue. Do we ever see anything evil happen there? Um. A volcano blows up. Ben and Vestara fight a monster there. Abeloth has laid some kind of evil trap that catches the Jedi off-guard. Okay, sure, it’s the worst evil planet ever. Why not.

Anyway, the point of these examples, is that Christie Golden seems constitutionally incapable of ever showing anything. She relies solely on the characters telling us what we’re supposed to think, and this, possibly above anything else, is why this feels like such a stupid book. She cheats. She never earns any of the melodrama she is so intent on ramming down our throats.

8) DROID SPELLING CONVENTIONS
Their full names are spelled C-3PO and R2-D2. Their nicknames are spelled Threepio and Artoo. They hardly show up in this book, but when they do, she calls them 3PO and R2. Not sure why that got so far up under my craw, but it did.

9) SPOUSAL ABUSE BEN
I was REALLY bothered by the aforementioned scene where Vestara refuses to let Ben read her personal diary, so he basically beats her up and pins her to her bed until she relents and let him read them. This scene, of course is followed by Vestara having an emotional breakdown and a realization that she loves Ben, then Luke waxing poetically on how mature Ben is compared to other boys.

10) I’m done. There's probably more, but I've lost the will to keep thinking about this awful book. I have no idea how Christie Golden ever got this job. But I’m glad she’s finished.

[JasperKazai · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fate of the Jedi sure has been a series. I know that all of this is no longer considered canon since the Disney buyout, but I wanted to return to this series that I had started back when it was new but had never finished. Wasn't sure if I was going to do a review at all, or maybe wait until I finish the last book and then do a sort of series review. But I think I have enough to say about this book in particular to have a little review of it.
It's not very good. This whole series hasn't been very good, especially when compared to Expanded Universe novels of the past - some of which are amazing. But this entry especially has a lot of issues - mainly, too many things happen. That may seem like it would be a positive, but it's not. This whole series has seemed to move at a glacial pace, and then this books slams the plot forward like it was hit by a freight train. The contents of this book should have been spread throughout the series. It's all a little bit too convenient, and takes place in too little a time frame to make much sense.

One of the largest pills to swallow, in a book filled with them, is that the Lost Tribe of Sith have infiltrated Coruscant. Not just arrived on the planet, but they've integrated themselves into the government, and at high levels. Surprise! It's revealed as a plot twist to boot. Nowhere in the previous seven novels was this even hinted at. It's pulled off without a hitch. A Sith High Lord manages to become the representative of a hitherto unheard of planet, B'nish, and then successfully gains admittance to the Galactic Alliance senate. The planet is described as unimportant and often overlooked. But it's apparently important enough to now be inducted into the Galactic Alliance. How convenient!
Then there's this other character, Rokari Kem. (Who we're also given the nickname of, Roki, in the same scene that we meet her. Rather than introducing that naturally. And she's basically only referred to as her nickname Roki from then on. If you're going to introduce a character and immediately insist that everyone uses her nickname that's just a shortened version of the full name, then why bother with a full name?) She's a beloved resistance leader who helped her people overcome slavery. But we've never heard of her before now. This whole series has been building up these slave revolts, and the payoff of that whole plot arc is this key character that we didn't even hear about until their particular revolt was over with. Why? Why not have their struggle be mentioned before now, if she's so important? Oh, and she's absolutely adored by everyone, even the population of Coruscant, who had nothing to do with her before. Because of course. Abeloth sees this person via a newsfeed on the ancient Sith vessel, because someone took the time to install modern connectivity to it obviously, and then clearly makes plans to go absorb/become Roki Kem. It's not spelled out, but that's what is obviously being foreshadowed. And then that happens off-screen as well, because a number of important events in this novel like doing that.
While Roki Kem is being delayed in her travel to Courscant (which no one finds odd), the Sith Lord masquerading as a senator, Kameron Suldar, ingratiates himself with the secret Imperial conspiracy. You know, the people behind all (well, most) those mysterious things that have happened over the course of this series. Yeah, it turns out it's just a handful of Imperial people. These highly intelligent and cautious masterminds see a video of Kameron giving a speech, and instantly decide he's cool and should be admitted to their cabal. Because duh, why not. They have one dinner meeting, where Kameron basically shouts out that he's a racist, and that's enough to grant him a membership to the conspiracy. Villains have to be racist, of course. This guy they've only just heard of, from a planet they've most likely never heard of, is deemed trustworthy enough to let in on their secret plans they've had going for years. Real smart.
Anyways, more shenanigans occur, and it's time to hold a special election for a Chief of State. Everyone knows it'll be the shoe-in guy, who's basically doing it already. But wait! The new guy, Kameron Suldar, speaks up and questions this choice. And everyone listens to him, because he's the new guy. So who do they end up putting in charge? This other new guy, who was inducted at the same time as Kameron. Because of course the entire Galactic Senate would A) listen to this guy on what is basically his FIRST day of senatoring and B) agree to elect the other new guy who is ALSO new. Totally feasible. Soon after, Roki Kem arrives, and Kameron immediately takes issue with her. She's apparently not so nice after all! I wonder why that is, hmm. Guess we won't find out for awhile, because Kameron totally doesn't know why. He contacts the Grand Lord of the Sith, who decides to go the full cartoon villain route and murder Roki Kem in front of everyone. That'll go well. Fast forward a few hours, and Roki Kem video chats with Kameron, holding the decapitated head of the Grand Lord. Oh no! That's quite fishy. But Kameron STILL DOESN'T IMMEDIATELY REALIZE THAT SHE'S ABELOTH. Even though the Lost Tribe of Sith are QUITE well-acquainted with Abeloth. Nope. He has no idea what's going on! His conclusion is that she must be a Force user! Yep, that sounds about right, Kameron. How the hell does he not realize this?! To top off this unbelievable chain of events, Roki/Abeloth demands that Kameron call a new election, and have her be elected. Days after the previous election. And guess what - it works! The entire senate doesn't find ANYTHING amiss about the STILL BRAND-NEW senator calling YET ANOTHER election for an EVEN NEWER senator, and said newer senator is successfully elected. Because she's beloved by the people! That makes it all ok.
While that's all transpiring, the good guys have their own secret conspiracy brewing, centered around Admiral Bwua'tu. They start calling themselves a "club," namely, "Club Bwua'tu." That name actually becomes official in the next novel. I don't really have anything to say about that, other than that that's a really lame name. That they all immediately took to referring to themselves as a club felt really cheesy.
Oh, I almost forgot - unsurprisingly, the Ben-Vestara relationship became insufferable once it reached its turning point. I suppose that may be an accurate depiction of teenage relationships, though, so perhaps that isn't a flaw. Although, the scene where Ben forces his way into reading Vestara's letter diary thing had a really weird sexual abuse vibe that was really out of place with the rest of their relationship in this novel. That seemed a bit misguided, especially considering how Luke remarks to himself how grown-up and mature Ben seems.

All of that is what made this book fairly bad. It's attempting to set up the final novel to be an epic conclusion, but it does it in such a rushed and far-fetched manner. If the events of this book had been spread out, and slowly transpired over the course of the series, then it would've been much less ridiculous. But instead, it's crammed into the second half of the second-to-last novel of the series, and almost feels as if it's a comedy as a result.
While we're here, let's touch on a big reason why this series falls flat - the villains aren't compelling. Abeloth is such a poorly explained entity, all under the guise of mystery and intrigue, that she loses any real threat that she should pose, because it just ends up confusing you. They try to make it all spooky and enigmatic, but when you have no idea what the villain is capable of in this style, then there are no stakes, because you don't know what ridiculous thing they'll pull out next. But the real kicker is this whole Lost Tribe of Sith nonsense. We're supposed to believe that this culture of intelligent, highly skilled Force users were stranded on a planet for thousands of years? Not one single spacefaring person came into close proximity of this planet? Not to mention that there's apparently over FIVE THOUSAND of these Sith. Yeah. That figure might've been mentioned in the last novel that I'm currently reading instead of this one, but that floored me. We're seriously supposed to accept that FIVE THOUSAND practicing Sith went unnoticed by the Jedi, or ANYONE, for thousands of years? That didn't rate on the "disturbance in the Force" chart?

That's about all I have to say about this novel. If I do end up reviewing the final one after I finish it, I'll probably restate some of this, because it pertains to the whole series. It's a shame that the last big series of the old canon is so mediocre.

Also, bye (as in short for goodbye) was written as 'Bye in dialogue and I hated it. Datapad was referred to as 'pad multiple times. Stop it. It hardly saves time, and it looks dumb.

[Adam Kiewel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great in the beginning and middle. Some of the political parts are a little convoluted, and worse, have logical fallacies that will make you wish the empire won the war. Now to be fair, it's reflected from real world politics, but for me that's an issue. The government decided upon from the ideas of trillions of beings and it shares the same problems we have on earth? I hate that. Also, the parts with daala are always awful. That's just how she is as a character. Thankfully it didn't take too much away from the book as a whole and was an enjoyable read

[Dexcell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know what it was, this book was insanely slow for me. It was basically 450 pages of politics and nothing else. I usually like love that stuff, but man it was hard to push through.

[Meggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

For 2023, I decided to reread the post-NJO books set after the Dark Nest trilogy, especially as I abandoned the Legacy of the Force series after Sacrifice all the way back in 2007. This shakes out to the nine books of the Legacy of the Force series, the nine books of the Fate of the Jedi series, three standalone novels, and five short stories.

This week’s focus: the penultimate book in the Fate of the Jedi series, Ascension by Christie Golden.

SOME HISTORY:

Ian Keltie is a digital artist who lives in Newcastle, and he made the cover art for the nine Fate of the Jedi books. In an interview with Roqoo Depot back in 2011, he talked about his process for creating the covers: he uses a lot of layers in Photoshop, and Del Rey wanted a very specific look for this series. (Like ‘em or not, you will not confuse the FotJ covers for any other Star Wars books.) Keltie’s favorite covers were those for Outcast and Allies, which have a screen-printed-esque look compared to the later darker covers. Interestingly enough, he also revealed that he was provided with photos from photoshoots of the non-OT trio characters, which means they had specific models for characters like Ben Skywalker and Vestara Khai. Fate of the Jedi: Ascension by Christie Golden made it to number seven on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of August 28, 2011, and was on the NYT list for two weeks.

MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:

All I knew going into Ascension was that Luke and Ben and Vestara continued to look for Abeloth, and perhaps the Jedi were going to face some political difficulties after overthrowing Daala in the previous book.

A BRIEF SUMMARY:

As Luke and Ben Skywalker continue to chase after the dark side entity of Abeloth, the Jedi's removal of Chief of State Daala from power in the previous book has repercussions, as a power struggle ensues on Coruscant. Where is Abeloth, and what is she plotting? What’s going on with the Lost Tribe of the Sith? And with Daala on the loose, what will happen next for the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi Order?

THE PLOT:

The penultimate book in the Fate of the Jedi series has three main plot lines running through it. The first involves Luke and Ben Skywalker, Vestara Khai, and Jaina Solo searching for Abeloth and/or the Lost Tribe of the Sith. Vestara’s on the Jedi side but isn’t willing to divulge her homeworld, so the quartet go on a Sith Planets Greatest Hits tour. They visit Korriban, then Dromund Kaas, then a new Sith world called Upekzar that was the site of weird Sith hallucination-fueled rituals. This felt like a wild goose chase.

The second plot line includes everything happening on Coruscant after Daala was removed from power. The temporary triumvirate now consists of Saba Sebatyne, Senator Treen of Kuat, and Wynn Dorvan, but Saba steps down after the Jedi decide to withdraw from Coruscant. Instead of electing Dorvan as Chief of State, though, Kameron Suldar (a newbie senator from B’nish) suggests Padnel Ovin of Klatooine—and it becomes increasingly apparent that the pro-Imperial conspiracy led by Treen and Moff Lecersen has newfound competition from Suldar’s faction.

The third group we follow are the Lost Tribe of the Sith. Gavar Khai’s forces bring Abeloth to Kesh, but she attacks Grand Lord Vol and destroys millions in the capital. A portion of Sith led by Khai leave with Abeloth, while the rest of the Sith carry out a plan that is not immediately apparent. You’ll notice that Abeloth is only present in the beginning of the Lost Tribe of the Sith plot line. For the majority of the book, the reader doesn’t know where Abeloth is or what she’s planning—she’s MIA for a bit.

CHARACTERS:

After wondering in Conviction why Leia wasn't a part of this temporary government and getting a quasi-explanation that the Jedi don’t want the public to think that they’re permanently seizing power, Leia is heavily involved in political stuff here because of her past history. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The triumvirate also replaces General Jaxton (a member of the pro-Imperial conspiracy) with Wynn Dorvan (very competent but also very boring). Dorvan is sucked into a counter-conspiracy that consists of Lawyer Bwua’tu, the recently-awakened Admiral Bwua’tu, and Bwua’tu’s aide, who are trying to uncover the pro-Imperial conspiracy and also first notice that there’s a second group at play. That new group, led by Senator Suldar from B’nish, basically seizes control from Treen’s group and gets a lot of (anti-Jedi) stuff done in a short amount of time.

After two-thirds of his wild goose chase has ensued, Lule returns to Coruscant and decides to pull the Jedi out of the capital. I think there was some good reasoning here—I haven’t felt great about the Jedi being embedded on Coruscant and working for the Galactic Alliance, as that seems like a carryover from the prequels. They don’t need to be Coruscant to operate, and that turned out worse for them during Daala’s paranoid reign than if they were still based on Yavin IV. However, this is just a ploy to draw out the Lost Tribe of the Sith! (Luke is becoming very Machiavellian in his old age.) With the Jedi pulling out and Saba off the triumvirate, the new senators elect Padnel Ovin who at least recognizes that he is not qualified to be Chief of State. The pro-Imperial conspiracy begins to fall apart: Lecersen is caught by Daala, Treen kills her memory-addled colleague, Admiral Bwua’tu’s replacement and General Jaxton are killed.

Because spoilers! Kameron Sundar is actually High Lord Workan, and his associates are all Lost Tribe of the Sith. They have infiltrated places of power on Coruscant, set up their own broadcast network, arrested Leia, and taken over the Jedi Temple. (The Barabels in the depths of the Temple keep killing Keshiri Sith, but…we don’t talk about the Barabels.) Leia’s arrest leads to Han and Lando joining Bwua’tu’s counter-conspiracy club, and they break Leia out of prison right before she’s slated for execution. The Sith senators end up pushing for Rokari Kem of Qaras to be elected Chief of State in Padnel’s place, but Rokari Kem is actually…Abeloth.

My biggest complaint with all the Coruscanti politics is that there’s a lot happening, and a lot of new names and developments to keep track of. And then there’s some throwaway lines like: the undercity/underworld has gotten a whole bunch worse—I think we’re meant to see this as Abeloth’s influence on Coruscant, but it’s never fully fleshed out. There’s a lot of confusion around the passage of time, especially in the political sections, but I’ll talk about that more in the Issues.

On the Imperial side, Moff Lecersen goes back to the Imperial Remnant because he wants to become the Imperial Head of State, and Daala-on-the-run decides that instead of trying to take back the Galactic Alliance she’ll take over the Empire instead. (Why didn’t Daala do that back in the Legacy of the Force books?? Anyway.) Tahiri Veila is serving as Jag Fel’s unofficial bodyguard/advisor, because she thinks she can get a better trial and outcome in the Imperial Remnant after everything that happened in Conviction. (Girl, no.) Everything comes to a head when Daala rats out Lecersen, and then attacks Jag’s forces. Jag had some cards up his sleeves, like Chiss Empire of the Hand ship—which, I thought that the Empire of the Hand had disbanded by the Dark Nest trilogy but I guess not—and there’s ship explosions and moons exploding and everything ends on a cliffhanger for the next book.

Jag felt somewhat off to me, though, less rigid and more Corellian than I expected. He tells Moff Getelles to just call him Jag? Um, no. It’s instances like this where Golden’s relative unfamiliarity with Star Wars peeks through, because while Jag has mellowed a bit from his “extreme focus on protocol and rigidity” heights, I can’t ever see him telling a hostile Moff to call him by his first name.

Finally, Luke and co. have absolutely no idea where Abeloth went after she left Nam Chorios in Ship at the end of Conviction, so Luke wonders if she and/or the Lost Tribe might be on ancient Sith worlds. That’s as good a guess as any, but it doesn’t keep the Skywalker plotline from feeling like a wild goose chase. They find nothing on Korriban, and seem to visit it only so that Vestara can prove her newfound loyalty to the Jedi. On Dromund Kaas, they’re confronted by Gavar Khai and some Sith, clearly under Abeloth’s sway, and Vestara is forced to kill her father to survive. So then Vestara makes a decision that feels very motivated by grief: she feels marooned from the Lost Tribe, and tells Luke and Ben that she wants to train as a Jedi. Luke and Jaina are suspicious of her, but Ben accepts her and thinks she’s sincere. She also jumps right into a romantic relationship with Ben, because…teenagers.

I felt like Vestara was moving a little too fast here, because while I want the best for Vestara I also think that sixteen years of Sith training are a lot to overcome. My uneasy feelings were confirmed when the Jedi headed out to that final Sith world, Upekzar. Luke sends Ben and Vestara and Natua Wan into the tunnels for information gathering while the rest of the Jedi head towards the city with the ominous storm cloud overhead. (The city is a trap, obviously.) In the tunnels, the trio encounter one of those mutated hallucinatory insects, and it attacks Ben. Instead of teaming up with Natua Wan, Vestara attacks her and lets the insect take her in Ben’s place. Ben doesn’t realize any of this, but Vestara knows what she’s done and now thinks she can never be a Jedi because of her actions.

At times I felt like Luke and Jaina were being too mean to Vestara, but by the end I had to admit that Vestara isn’t a fallen Jedi. She’s been raised as a Sith since infancy. Sith culture is all she’s ever known, and she has a ruthless mentality that leads her to face situations in a very un-Jedi-like manner. I don’t think Vestara’s ready to become a Jedi right now—this is not a one-book change at all—and she’s on a much longer, difficult journey.

Aside: Luke’s ploy to lure the Sith on Coruscant seems like a bad idea, no? I think that very bad things would ensue from letting countless Sith infiltrate the capital of the whole galaxy, but I’ll have to wait for Apocalypse to see if my assumptions are correct.

ISSUES:

My first issue with Ascension was a further continuation of proofreading errors in the latter half of this series. Names are spelled wrong (“Porak Vansyn” instead of Porrak Vansyn, “Dromand Kaas” instead of Dromund Kaas), character’s relationships are misattributed (Lawyer Bwua’tu is described as the Admiral’s cousin when he’s his uncle), Leia is described as a former Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance when she served under the New Republic. The editing process really should have caught these errors, but they didn’t.

For me, the biggest problem I had with Ascension dealt with the book’s confusing sense of the passage of time. I’ve had this problem with other FotJ books to a lesser extent, but Ascension really dialed that temporal confusion up to 11. The Abeloth wild goose chase doesn’t seem to take very long: they visit Korriban, then Dromund Kaas, then return to Coruscant for a short break before they end on Upekzar. But the political events on Coruscant don’t seem to be occurring in that same shortened span of time. We see Abeloth on Kesh and the fallout from that, and then suddenly we have all these Sith secretly elected as senators and starting their own broadcast network on Coruscant. That takes time! I would have loved to see a timeline that broke down what was happening when, because it feels like the Sith plot line moves at warpspeed while Luke’s group moves at a snail’s pace. Something doesn’t add up here.

I also think that the sense of uncertainty about time affected the pace for me. Luke’s search for Abeloth dragged, because I knew she wasn’t on any of those worlds. (There’s only two books left, and you’re going to Korriban? Why??) The political stuff, in comparison, happened very quickly, and so the overall pace felt too uneven. I don’t think that the way subplots were separated helped either: we got all the Kesh stuff in one block, and then didn’t see them again until their presence was revealed. There’d be huge chunks of political developments on Coruscant, and then we’d jump back to Luke on the Jade Shadow accomplishing nothing. I was hoping that Ascension would be fast-paced like the latter Legacy of the Force books, but it was lacking any sense of urgency.

IN CONCLUSION:

Ascension leaves a lot of things hanging for the next book: how will this confrontation between Daala and Jag resolve? The Sith have taken over Coruscant, and Abeloth is now Chief of State, which bodes ill for the Jedi. There is a lot going on here, especially on the political front, what with new characters and conspiracies and counter-conspiracies afoot. I wish that Luke's plotline hadn't felt so spectacularly useless, and that the pacing and internal chronology didn’t feel so uneven as we moved from subplot to subplot. But I am curious how this will end, as Abeloth is in a position of power going forward…


Next up: a short story prequel to the Fate of the Jedi series published in Star Wars Insider magazine, First Blood by Christie Golden.

My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/nwrkRvgnbbQ

Interview with Ian Keltie on Roqoo Depot (2011): https://roqoodepot.wordpress.com/inte...

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally finished listening to the penultimate volume in the Fate of the Jedi series, Ascension by Christie Golden. On the whole the story and pacing feels about even with the rest of the series. How you taken that statement is entirely dependent on how you’ve felt about the series to date. Ascension isn’t going to win people already against the series over and, in many aspect, it might drive some who were on the fence away. I think the larger problems with Ascension, and with the entire Fate of the Jedi series, rests squarely on the shoulders of the editorial team. From the start I have been baffled by the release schedule and the seeming lack of progress volume to volume on many of the plot points. There are moments over the series, and particularly in Ascension, where the whole narrative threatens to come apart at the seams.

Be warned, BIG spoilers abound!


Ascension features a rather strong opening. In fact, probably the strongest opening in the whole series. We get a fully Sith perspective with some fascinating insights and a detailed look at the culture of the Lost Tribe. Indeed, their interactions with Abeloth provide welcome non-Jedi perspective and Lord Vol (the big Sith muckity-muck) manages to strike as big a blow to the squamous dark side entity as any that Luke has. Unfortunately it is after this wonderful and exciting opening that the rest of the book loses focus and falls apart. Jedi bumble around the galaxy, Daala continues to be non-nonsensical, and the Galactic Alliance continues to prove itself a hopelessly ineffective and wonderfully stupid governing body.

If you plan on reading this novel you should stop reading now as I’m going to delve into major spoiler territory.

So the Sith have infiltrated Coruscant. So has Abeloth. Of course the former doesn’t recognize the latter. The telegraphing of this maneuver is fairly obvious as it happens and Abeloth, in her confrontation with the Sith in charge of the infiltration could not have been more obvious as to who she was. As her alter ego she professes a desperate need to be loved and worshiped by the people of the Galactic Alliance, given what Lord Vol learned at the start of the novel this should have set off major alarm bells. Sure one could argue that the blindness is indicative of Sith arrogance but it really comes off as rather stupid and somewhat unbelievable.

Furthermore the less said about the Jedi searching abandoned Sith strongholds looking for Abeloth the better. I mean why bother trying to convince Vistara to give up the location of Kesh; you know that completely not abandoned Sith stronghold. Meanwhile, as if Sith and ancient Dark Side entities weren’t enough, there is that whole plot to overthrow the Galactic Alliance thing that is totally transformed into a plot to take over the Imperial Remnant. Throw in a totally random and extraneous plot about Moff’ creating some kind of youth serum and the narrative really starts to struggle under the weight of its many appendages. The less said about Daala the better I don’t even understand how she can still find supporters is beyond me.

I won’t lie I really like the idea of Abeloth. I love her Lovecraftian overtones and her mysterious origins. I loved the early parts of the series where Luke and Ben were exploring the deeper mysteries of the Force. I loved Han and Leia’s encounter with Ancient technologies on Kessel. I have been less fond of the novel’s political sections. The dual threats of the Lost Tribe and Abeloth due little to help another and seem to do more damage to one another. I enjoyed the trippy scenes “Beyond Shadows” and miss the more fantastical elements of the series. Those things have all but disappeared. At this point I don’t even know if Ben and Luke succeeded on their initial quest (to determine how Jacen went bad) and that whole Alanna will be Queen of the Jedi angle has completely disappeared here.

At this point I think I’m mostly anxious to see this series end. I think the editorial staff needs to be shaken up and I think a more focused planned for future series needs to be enacted. In truth there are a lot more problems with this series than I’ve commented on and Fangirl does a heck of a better job in detailing the troublesome depiction of female characters in the series both in her review of Ascension and in this lengthy manifesto/open letter. Truth be told there are only two reasons I’m even remotely excited about Apocalypse (which comes out in April 2012….seriously WTF?) the promise (or vague hint of a promise) to answers regarding Abeloth and the dulcet tones of Marc Thompson (and the wonderful audio production of the team at Random House Audio). Seriously, whatever Marc Thompson asks for he should be given the men is a genius and I seriously cannot imagine anyone else reading these audiobooks.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Christie Golden's "Ascension" (book 8 of 9 in the "fate of the Jedi" series) to be interesting, but not really satisfying.

Book 8 has the tankless task of mostly being set-up for book 9 ("Apocalypse" due April 2012...why so long?) and has to manage events accordingly.

But a LOT of things do happen in "Ascension." A lot of ground is covered. Much of the "standing around waiting for something to happen feeling" is gone. Perhaps if this level of action had been attempted in earlier books, they wouldn't have seemed like filler.

The four main dangers to the galaxy are these:
1) the political conspirators (Moffs and Senators)
2) the Lost Tribe of the Sith
3) recently deposed Admiral Daala
4) Abeloth
And all four of these evil forces start to take big chunks out of the galaxy--and each other. There is a lot of maneuvering and outmaneuvering and backstabbing and secrecy. Daala gets some revenge against those conspirators who undermined her rule. The Sith and Abeloth take big chunks out of each other.

But if you've been reading this series from the beginning, the big "twist" near the end of this book will be no big surprise. The cat is let out of the bag very early on for a careful reader.

Meanwhile, there are two huge turning points for the Ben-Vestara romance...one positive and one negative. But the romance finally does begin...with Vestara renouncing the Sith after she is forced to kill her father (his will twisted or destroyed by Abeloth) to save her own life. But to save Ben, Vestara later chooses to return to her Sith ways, but keeps it a secret.

Though book 7 foreshadowed the impossibility of Ben and Vestara living happily ever after.

And the Lost Tribe of the Sith hatches an ambitious gambit to seize Coruscant itself. Who knew the Sith were Republicans? Though it does make a lot of sense. Taking a page from Emperor Palpatine's book, the Sith go into politics and the media and go after the Jedi full force. And they aren't the only ones who decide on that kind of plan.

Luke Skywalker's return to Coruscant from exile is a short-lived one. He decides to lead the Jedi off of Coruscant for good--just before the bad guys start turning people against them again--in order to lure the various evils out of hiding. But he also has a point that Jedi being too closely involved with politics is a bad thing.

There's a pretty good battle with Daala and her Maw Irregular forces, plus a few Moffs (including Lecersen, once the political conspiracy falls apart), against Jagged Fel's secret Imperial fleet. But if I had to guess, I'd say Daala and Jagged Fel will find some way to co-exist to stop Abeloth--who, by the end of the book, is poised to live out her dream of galactic domination and apotheosis.

And even though the Jedi are lured into Abeloth's giant dark side trap (which might as well have TRAP written in neon big enough to read from space), the damage to the order seems limited.

So the biggest battles are yet to come. Will the good people of the galaxy fall under Abeloth's spell? Will the evil people of the galaxy be content to live as Abeloth's slaves? Will the Jedi be able to unite against Abeloth in time to stop her from becoming a goddess?

I guess we'll have to wait until April 2012 to find out. Though the excerpt from "Apocalypse" seems to indicate that the end of galactic civilization is in the offing.

[James Swenson · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's sad to give this only one star.

I was born in 1977, just like Star Wars. I grew up with the Jedi, and I'm certainly not new to the universe of Star Wars novels. I loved the Thrawn stories, from Heir to the Empire through Vision of the Future, The Truce at Bakura, and Shadows of the Empire.
I liked the Rogue Squadron books, the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy by Michael P. Kube-McDowell; I even liked some things about Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

But Ascension is the eighth book in the Fate of the Jedi series, which begins 43 years after A New Hope. By this time, we have gotten too far removed from the life of Anakin Skywalker; I'm no longer asking, "And what happened next?"

I still want to know more about Luke, Leia, and Han. I'm interested in Mara, Gaeriel, Callista, and Mirax. I enjoy reading about Pellaeon, and I can accept Jacen and Jaina. But I've just finished reading Ascension, and as I look back over the Dramatis Personae, I can't distinguish Drikl Lecersen, Haydnat Treen, Ivaar Workan, and Wynn Dorvan, and I don't really care. I see that the sequel to Ascension is Apocalypse, so it looks like the curators of the series may have come to the same point, and just want it to be over.

[Christopher Stilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series as a whole suffers from being in the unenviable position of having to cover events that are simultaneously new ground and ancient history. Thanks to the Legacy comics, we know that Jagged Fel and Jaina Solo will become Emperor and Empress and will command the services of a Jedi splinter order; we know that Ben Skywalker will have two sons, and that these children do not show any signs of being from a broken home in their adult life; we know that the Galactic Alliance is not consumed from within by an eldritch abomination, and we know that the Lost Tribe of the Sith eventually amount to nothing in the grand scheme of things. The series in general, and this book in particular, seems to resent these things as given and is determined to draw out how they occur in as protracted and painful a manner as possible.

First and foremost: The melodrama that is Ben and Vestara's relationship is getting ridiculous. Granted, they are teenagers and teenagers are always going to be a bit over the top, particularly if they are teenagers that regularly have to decide matters of life and death, but given that - barring spectacularly anticlimactic revelations in the endgame of the series - we know that they are going to eventually have children, the angst is starting to be beyond tiresome.

Likewise, one of the primary draws of the series is for Legacy fans to discover the history of the creation of the Fel Empire and the Imperial Knights, and at present, both have been excessively prolonged. Several opportunities for forward movement occurred in this book, and yet there is scarcely any progress. As the series is fast reaching its climax, some progress had better be made fairly quickly.

As to the book itself, it feels very rushed. The segments dealing with the two aforementioned topics read as though they were originally much longer and have been cut down. The segments dealing with the political conspiracy are much more fleshed out, and considerably more interesting to read, even though the direction they take is so profoundly obvious that the book's twist ending is not even remotely a surprise.

On the whole, this is not the best entry in a series that is generally not as groundbreaking as it is supposed to be.

[logankstewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ascension, the penultimate novel in the nine-volume Fate of the Jedi series, is one of the best in the series so far. After the events of the previous books, it feels like groundwork has finally been lain for major plot development. Daala is a fugitive. Luke and Ben are finally returning from their exile. Abeloth is MIA and extremely dangerous. Ben and Vestara are teenagers in love, even if they're on the opposite sides of the Force.

There's no way I can recommend this book as an introduction to the Expanded Universe. There is so much backstory based on previous EU characters and arcs. Still, the Fate of the Jedi keeps me coming back, if only because I'm a Star Wars fan down to my bones.

That said, I look forward to the conclusion of this series, Apocalypse. Ascension ends with enough of a cliffhanger to have me wondering how certain arcs will be resolved. Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the prevalence of Sith culture/worlds. This stuff is usually entertaining to read about, and there was plenty contained within.

Overall, Ascension finally rises above its predecessors, kind of getting out of the pattern those books had (visit world, face evil, repeat. There are plenty of great EU books out there, and if you're a fan like me, you'll keep on gobbling them up as long as they keep coming.

[Giovanni L]

Overall , I have liked the creativity that the book has had and it had a really great plot to it.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is all coming together for an epic conclusion...I cannot wait for the finish of this 9 book series! So GOOD!

[DiscoSpacePanther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fate of the Jedi: Ascension, being the penultimate volume in the nine book sequence, has the unenviable task of dragging the narrative towards its final conclusion, but without having the opportunity to actually resolve any of the tension itself.

We get more molasses-slow political machinations, more Sith doing Sithly deeds, more of everything that has already padded out the previous seven volumes.

So, what (if anything) stands out in this book?

Not much, really.

A small group of heroes under Luke Skywalker visit a number of ancient Sith worlds (Korriban, Ziost, Dromund Kaas, and Upekzar), each one an anticlimax up until the last, where something interesting actually happens. I get what the writer was trying to do, but instead of building tension, each of the fruitless visits just drains energy from the narrative. It is as if an author was writing a story where a ravenous couple in Rome are trying to find a good place to eat, so he lists in detail the fact that they go to one pizzeria after another, none of which will serve them the ham and pineapple Hawaiian pizza that their hungry souls crave. And this is a story that is a sequel to a story where they did the same thing in Paris, except that time they were looking for a burger. Like I have just done, it belabours the point.

There is some development of the Vestara character, but since I’ve already felt that she has crossed into irredeemability in previous novels, I don’t care overmuch. She still murders, even if her reasoning isn’t quite as selfish as before.

Also, there’s some pretty sloppy writing, for example: “The portcullis rose easily, grinding slightly with eons of disuse.”—which is it? Grinding or easy?

Oh, and then there are the Sith. Sith all day, every day. Sithity Sith McSith—so much Sith it becomes tedious. It gets repeated until it loses all threat and just becomes another boring ordinary faction. “One boot impacted a Sith’s face with a satisfying crunch,” —the villain decay is unbearable. I’m really looking forward to saying “Sithity-bye” once and for all to these pale Palpatine wannabes.

This series has become ever so convoluted, but without enough different flavours to provide interest. The most appropriate word I can find to describe it is “bloated”—I’m increasingly of the opinion that the story of Abeloth and the Lost Tribe of the Sith has enough material for one big novel, or perhaps a trilogy of slimmer volumes. It certainly doesn’t merit a nine-book sequence. The series suffers by comparison with the New Jedi Order, which, whilst being twice as long, packed so much variety and action and surprise that it maintained a gripping quality right to the very end. Fate of the Jedi seems to just be spreading thin material out simply to fill up the nine contractually agreed novels. It’s not bad, per se, but it isn’t gripping.

The reveal at the end that a particular character has taken over a particular institution had been telegraphed so blatantly that is was about as surprising as finding out that it was the Hooded Claw was Sylvester Sneekly all along.

There are some positives—we get a space battle!—but I can’t escape the feeling that the franchise was pretty exhausted by this point in the release schedule.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars: Ascension is the penultimate novel in the Fate of the Jedi series. It follows the adventures of Luke Skywalker as he battles the Lovecraftian monster Abeloth, the Lost Tribe of the Sith, and rogue Supreme Chancellor Daala. The series has been a remarkable improvement over its predecessor, Legacy of the Force, but that's not saying much.

I think Ascension is worthwhile for fans invested in the Star Wars EU but it's likely to be incomprehensible to those not immersed in the setting. The EU lost its way after the New Jedi Order book series and has never really found its way back. The Fate of the Jedi series isn't bad, per say, but it's meandering.

There's about forty plots in the book: including a group of rogue Imperials, the Lost Tribe making an alliance with Aboleth, and Daala's attempts to regain her position as head of a major galactic government. None of them are boring, except maybe the rogue Imperials, but they all compete for the reader's attention.

This is most true for the Lost Tribe of the Sith. The tribe, for those unfamiliar with it, is a group of a thousand or so darksiders recently freed from the planet Kesh. The problems with this premise have been discussed to death already on various forums.

Really, you'd think the Jedi would have noticed them in the past five thousand years. If not them, Palpatine or the other Sith. After all, the Emperor could sense Luke Skywalker gaining power in the Empire Strikes Back.

Still, the Lost Tribe of the Sith aren't your typical 'bwahaha' Sith and I appreciate that. Instead, they're more like the Sith version of the Kardashians. They're arrogant and beautiful snobs who just happen to use the Dark Side of the Force. I'm not sure how I feel about them since I expect my Sith to have a little more dignity than that.

The Lost Tribe of the Sith's members get about as much development as the Dark Jedi Revan kills by the hundreds in the Knights of the Old Republic game. Luke Skywalker kills thirty here, Ben Skywalker kills twenty there, and Abeloth enslaves a whole fleet of them at the start of this book.

Really, this isn't the lowest point the Sith have ever sunk to, but it's pretty close. I'm not a fan of the Rule of Two but these guys deserve better than to be used as lightsaber fodder for Luke and his son. The Lost Tribe of the Sith in Ascension exists for the sole purpose of making new villainess, Abeloth, look better. Given the Lost Tribe of the Sith could have easily carried the series themselves, I'm annoyed.

Abeloth, for new readers, is more or less the Star Wars version of Nyarlathotep. She's a shape-shifting tentacle monster with godlike power who was imprisoned by elder beings centuries ago. Luke and company accidentally let her out by blowing up Centerpoint Station and it's a rush to try and figure out how to put her back in. Either that or simply kill her, old-school style.

I don't mind Abeloth's concept, actually. I'm quite fond of the idea of writers creating new villains for our heroes to face than the old Sith and Imperial standbys. It's a 20,000 year old galaxy, why not create new villains capable of fighting the Jedi Grandmaster? It's just Abeloth isn't exactly the most well-characterized villain, befriending people only to suck out their brains. I'm still not entirely sure what her agenda is. With one book left in the series, that's not good.

There's entirely too much Abeloth stomping on the Lost Tribe of the Sith, especially towards the end. It's hard to take the Sith seriously when they spend whatever time they're not getting stomped on by Luke getting stomped on the Eldritch Abomination. After the events of this book, I'm afraid we're not going to see much more of the Lost Tribe and their schemes.

It seems a waste.

Luke, himself, gives a good showing in Ascension. One of the things the Fate of the Jedi series gets right is their treatment of the Jedi Grandmaster. Luke is brave, wise, kind, and heroic throughout. He's a bit more suspicious and vindictive towards the Sith than I expected, especially for a man whose defining feature as a Jedi is his belief no one is beyond redemption, but not to the point of being out-of-character.

Ben Skywalker continues to be inconsistently written. Part of this is the wholesale retconning of his character arc from Legacy of the Force. In LOTF, Ben was trained as a spy and as Darth Caedus' apprentice, becoming very canny and manipulative. He specialized in investigation with an almost Sherlock-Holmes ability to find clues. Now? He's just pretty much Anakin Solo 2.0, possessing a goofball personality and mad skills. I'm not complaining since I felt a fourteen year old super-spy was ludicrous even in Star Wars, but some hint of his prior characterization would have been appreciated.

One thing I did like was the treatment of the character Vestara Khai. Vestara Khai is a character that a lot of fans didn't know what to make of. For many, she was essentially Mara 2.0. A character that was raised by a Sith Lord to be an assassin and who had some romantic tension with a Skywalker. The book goes in an interesting direction with Vestara, managing a careful balance between a search for redemption and enlightened self-interest.

Vestara is a character I finally started to like at the end of the book and I'm glad they made her. I just wish that Luke had treated her better, since you'd think he'd be more forgiving of a sixteen year old raised in a twisted Dark Side environment. Likewise, you'd think he'd be trying to talk her out of the values that corrupted her.

The rest of the book is amusing and surprisingly light-hearted. I disliked the politics sections of the book, which unfortunately compromised nearly a third of the volume, but the humorous encounters with Han and the Squibs were worth at least half the book price. Squibs are always hilarious and Han playing the straight man worked wonders. Add in a decent showing by the rest of the Jedi Order and I wasn't dissatisfied with this volume.

In conclusion, Star Wars: Ascension is a fairly typical example of the Fate of the Jedi series. There's nothing particularly spectacular about the books but they have a good deal more "fun" to them than the NJO and LOTF series. Star Wars is meant to be a lighthearted tale about good vs. evil. There's room for moral ambiguity and tragedy within the story but good should ultimately overcome darkness. The Fate of the Jedi series remembers that and, because of that, I can't be too harsh on it.

7/10

[elef · Rating 5 out of 5]

i can't believe i almost finished this series. i really love it so much that i'm not really to say goodbye yet.

it kinda took me a little bit longer to finish it because i had this one as a physical copy. at first i thought it would start boring, sith plot lowkey bore me but i love it. definitely wasn't expecting some plot twist and at some point this book turned into a horror story. idk if i said this before but i'm so glad i'm reading it during halloween season! ableoth plot is very good alongside with sith exploration. also i loved how characters were written in it that it kinda scare me with what's going to happen on the last book

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot thickens. Luke, Ben and Vestara visit Sith worlds looking for Abeloth. The Lost Tribe has infiltrated the Galactic Alliance. Leia is falsely arrested. The Jedi leave Corruscant. A major plot twist occurs at the end that was so blatantly obvious halfway through the book.
Again, I'm surprised that I actually liked this book, as the majority of the Lucas-era SW novels are not good. I don't like the attempt to make Vestara the new Mara Jade since Ben has fallen for her and wants to redeem her as a Jedi. I hope in the end that doesn't happen.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is definitely not a coincidence now, Christie Golden is writing the best books of this series. She somehow manages to strike that balance between writing the Star Wars characters we know and love, without trotting out the tired old tropes we've read over and over again in 20+ years of Expanded Universe novels. She also does a superb job of balancing all of the different plotlines which are all going on, ensuring the pacing of each is such that the reader is interested in them all. So often with these kinds of books one of the plotlines is the "B-movie", which honestly only detracts from the main action.

The star of the show here is the storyline between Ben Skywalker and Vestara Khai. When so much has already been done before, this feels like something really unique to the EU.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series has very much taken a left-turn from its original premise, so this novel treads water. Characters return to starting point, plots are consolidated and cleared away for new ideas, and there is a clear build up to a conclusion. There are still too many characters and too many plot strands to keep track of, without a small headache...but there is more than enough to hold the reader's interest as it sets up the series finale.

[Ryan Wild · Rating 3 out of 5]

The set up for the grand finale of the series, this entry is notable only in that we can see the knots beginning to tighten and we finally have fewer questions than answers. Taken alone, this is a good book, but for me was the least stand out in the series.

[Oliver · Rating 1 out of 5]

Then, softly, in a voice that quivered, she said the words that made Ben's heart leap. The words he had been wanting to hear for so long.

Ugh, ugh, ugh. I come back to FOTJ after a couple weeks' worth of rest and am treated to its very worst entry... so far. A commendably stupid effort, Ascension reaffirms my every thought regarding its series' categorical shortcomings while also seeking to dethrone Vortex as the apex of unbelievable characterization and plotting. For most of its runtime, however, it's just... tired.

We begin with what is effectively a c. 50-page novella within Ascension about concurrent happenings among the Lost Tribe. It evokes Golden's two short stories and reads decently well in the moment... but does not lead to anything. We follow Abeloth, whose story hook of working together with the Lost Tribe is immediately left hanging so that she can do whatever on her own (which, funnily enough, is amended at the very end to where the Sith are now technically working for her again? so what was the point in having them be enemies for most of the book?). High Lord Darish Vol receives a bit of spotlight which'll eventually peter out. Finally, Gavar Khai is given perhaps the worst hand. He's always been a moderately fun character to follow, and Ascension's opening chapters add onto that foundation. When he comes back into the fray, after a fairly large gap in page presence, he's completely changed, his development having evaporated. Look, I kind of like the "novella hook", provided that's even what Golden was going for. It's a stylistic choice which can work really quite well to set the scene thematically or give the characters something to ponder - what I figured Gavar Khai's deal would be. But for such a hook to connect, it needs to be followed up on by focused and deliberate writing.

Ascension is one of the least "deliberate" Star Wars books I have ever read. There's little to no thought put into the individual scenes, the different chapters do not add up to a cohesive whole. I cannot help but be reminded of Revelation, the LOTF series' own penultimate entry and perennial low ranker among EU readers. Karen Traviss' efforts astonished with half a dozen different mentions of the planet Naboo thought up concurrently by multiple character on top of many wild leaps in POV (Luke Skywalker temporarily reasoned in Mando terms). True to the author's frankly astonishing schedule c. 2008, it was so very clearly a rushed product on all levels. Christie Golden's follow-up similarly reeks of an omitted editing job with just how many different scenes consist of Imperial saboteurs going out for dinner in a fancy restaurant. Heck, one time there are maybe half a dozen mentions of the color gold within just one scene, from eyes to wine to blood to wine again (nominative determinism in the form of word choice, Christie?). Wait a second... an inexplicable focus on characters going out for a snack... those very scenes following one and the same structure... Oh yes, it's not just one specific Traviss-penned LOTF entry we're mimicking, but all three of them. Ah, nostalgia. And that's not even going into the, again, blatant lack of editing on just a basic logical or quality level, from Jacen being declared Ben's uncle to Leia apparently having been Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance. It's far from the disaster Allies was on that level, at least.

I declared Revelation the worst SWEU novel back in the day. Ascension certainly isn't as vicious with its poison. I cannot say that every single page here is offensive. But FOTJ 8 does lack the type of voice that made the work of Karen Traviss so interesting to talk about. Christie Golden simply does not have an identity as an Expanded Universe author. See, I didn't mind this back during Omen. Golden was very open about Troy Denning's guiding hand during her writing process, and that's very lovely to hear: the authors were genuinely trying to be more coherent than the last series! Indeed, while I find the plot developments here nonsensical, there's at least founded on what happened in prior books. No alternate universes here. Yet, three novels in, I am still unable to pinpoint what exactly Golden's angle is. I guess she's interested in Vestara and sort of the Lost Tribe, but what else? Her Luke, by now, is a Machiavellian sociopath a la Denning, but the writing, the prose and even voicing, doesn't resemble Denning to where I could call her an imitator, for better or worse. No, her intra-series trilogy just reads like the most milquetoast Young Adult fiction the early 2010s SW scene could have produced. Again, there we are with the lack of deliberateness in her craft. It's not offensive, but that itself is offensive. It was a real struggle to get through this one; I'm looking forward to Denning's Apocalypse with just a bit of twisted glee because I at least know it'll not let me down on the basis of memorability.

Let's come back to the Revelation parallels. One of Ascension's biggest sins lies in its portrayal of Vestara Khai, and Ves' budding relationship with Ben Skywalker. Without spoiling any details: We're talking domestic abuse and illogical developments. I recommend the article "Ben Skywalker’s Ascension into Domestic Violence – Why the Fate of the Jedi Hurts So Much" on fangirlblog dot com for a more eloquent overview on the matter (indeed, it's a great overview of where the fanbase was at fourteen years ago as a whole). As for the meat of things: Vestara Khai had just killed her father in mortal combat (there's the anticlimactic end to his character, btw) and is now writing herself an email, playing make-do with a more idealized version of her Dad. Divorced from the sophomoric prose, the scene is actually quite conceptually interesting. But then Ben Skywalker barges in, Ves deletes the mail out of reflex, and Ben, still wary of Vestara for her cultural Sith roots, forcibly confronts her. This is already quite uncomfortable from the beginning:

His hands shot out and gripped her wrists. "Move." [...] He had used the Force not to defend himself, or to restrain her, but to strike her in anger.

I stand by my comments about Golden's relative lack of style, but this scene in particular seems quite a bit more deliberate. I felt quite uneasy with the entire ordeal, Ves shoving Ben back with the Force followed by that, and it gets worse:

The precious second she struggled against them gave Ben all the time he needed to pin her against the bed and use the Force to swathe her in the bedsheets. [...] Fear and defeat both fluttered through Vestara, and suddenly her body, tense and tight, sagged against the blankets tightly wrapped around her

...it's kind of sexually charged, no? It helps to know that Golden apparently wrote incest smut early on in her career (lol). Mind you, nothing like that actually happens, and the scene quickly shifts in another direction. Ben recovers and reads the mails, and him and Ves make up, and make out. This by itself is just kind of hurt/comfort fanfic trite, but the fact remains that Ben struck Ves in the one scene in the novel which isn't stylistically generic. On the scale of violence perpetuated in the SW setting, this naturally falls below planetary genocide or even dismemberment. But it's a realistic type of violence, and one which has negatively resonated with victims of abuse in the audience. I guess you could argue to what extent it really falls under the charge of domestic abuse, given Ves' standing, but the language speaks for itself, no? In any case, who wants our new female lead to be abused like that? Who wants Ben Skywalker to go around abusing women like that? Again, I think it's different to him assassinating someone back in LOTF, though of course that too is ridiculous given Ben having been 14 at the time. In any case, you could relativize the complex by simply accepting that Golden is a bad author and Vestara by the end of it has "turned good", right. Right?

This is where the more "Denning" problems rear their head again. Vestara turns good, wants to become a Jedi, goes on a mission with Luke and the others... but then randomly turns back to the Dark because she's a Sith and will always remain a Sith? Surely, you might think, I'm leaving out a lot of inner struggle between these moments. But no, there's nothing there. Ves is "purified" after the domestic abuse scene, and whenever her doubts are brought up, it's to do with other characters being doubtful but ultimately accepting. I'm stunned, especially since the previous two or three books didn't do anything with her - the logical conclusion being that her development would be one of gradual improvement. But now that's that, she's murdered a fellow Jedi, and going off of LOTF, well, Jacen started there and ended up dead and unredeemed. I can't even bring myself to write a proper long paragraph about this because there's just nothing there. It's almost as if Denning notified Golden last minute about his plans for ruining every character's life and she added this on at the very end. Shameful.

I cannot help but feel Ascension is admitting defeat. Luke gets back on Coruscant, finally, and nobody cares. There's just no emotion here. He reminisces about Jacen, the reason why him and Ben went on their odyssey to begin with, and ventures... the reason why he turned evil was because hurr durr Vergere?

Vergere's torment, in essence a new, if brutal, morality, had molded Jacen and set him on the path. He had been taught his specialness, but had misunderstood it. While every being was unique and had a gift to offer the galaxy, Jacen had seen his uniqueness as a destiny--one that gave him the right, perhaps even the duty, to trample whatever stood in his path in order to do what the felt was best. [...] The true tragedy of Jacen Solo lay not in what he had done, but in why he had done it

What? Huh? But that's what Dark Nest and LOTF said! So what's the point of these eight books up to now? I thought they were looking for new answers, that we were trying to move beyond the failings of the prior series? The Imperial conspiracy similarly fizzles out into nothing. This plot which this novel in particular focuses on - some have called it, by association, the most politics-heavy SWEU book of all - amounts to nothing. Complete waste of space. Remove it from the book and we're down from 400 to 250 pages, is my estimate. Oh, and Luke is just awful in here. Remember the first three or four FOTJ entries, when he both had great banter with Ben, and actually resembled a Jedi Grand Master? Since Allies, the series had been steadily dismantling that portrayal, and now we're officially back to, again, DNT and LOTF levels of characterization:

She smiled a little. "Rather calculated and unfeeling for a Jedi," she said. [...] It was what was necessary for the greater good," Luke said. "They all understand."

I'm not even going to get into what exactly they're talking about, because it's stupid and makes me weep. But it's pure Machiavelli. Luke in the "Denningverse" is, again, the worst SW character of all time. I cannot think of a single more hypocrticial and less sympathetic character, and that includes the Imp who murdered someone's son and then ate him. Okay maybe not that guy but you get the idea.

All of this culminates in the final 100 pages or something, centering on Coruscant, which are just all kinds of awful. Most notably, there's no sense of time or logic to these sections. So first, two politicians enter the GA Senate as representatives of their newly admitted worlds. Elections for interim Chief of State are held among members of the Senate, and one of them - despite having been in the Senate for maybe half a dozen days - is apparently deemed fit enough to be voted into office. This wouldn't logically fly even just on the basis of decorum. Then some time later, maybe a week, there's another election for the same post (???) and then that other Senator who just started their career is voted in. Uh-huh. The greatest bit is how, oh right spoilers, THE SITH HAVE THEIR OWN FOX NEWS-TYPE NEWSCAST AND THEY'RE SPREADING PROPAGANDA ABOUT THE JEDI BEING SPICE SMUGGLERS OR SOMETHING AND PEOPLE ARE TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY FOR SOME REASON. also they're manipulating the elections on the side. Oh yes, it's all about getting just two or three more Senators on their side. Out of a body of thousands upon thousands of delegates making up a galaxy. But you just need to get one or two more to hit that four fifths majority. Oh yes.

Not for nothing: Golden makes the mistake of talking about how someone has a "pile of [data]pads" on their desk. Ah yes, welcome back Revelation. Because datacards don't exist, I presume. And because, of course, in the real world everyone has stacks of smartphones lying around, each on a one contact basis, presumably. I love Star Wars.

See, what's great is that I didn't even enter this review thinking I'd end up eviscerating the book to this extent. But it's just this bad. At least Revelation had bits of greatness in it. Ascension meanwhile is just nothing. No skill involved, nothing to say, absolutely nothing... except clownish plotting. Whenever you think it can't get any worse, it does. Speaking of, Apocalypse...

EDIT: I just looked at the book again, and... Boba Fett on the back cover? What? Are you really that afraid of putting out a book without at least some Original Trilogy paraphernalia to pander to the fanboys? Abeloth, the series' ostensibly main antagonist, never got a cover, mind you...

[Cal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Golden is a great storyteller, good writer. I found this book to be lacking the detail and scene setting at times which was frustrating considering how good the content was. Probably more of a 3.5 for me. Excited for the finale!

[Anchorpete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Space Bureaucrats.
Space Politics.
Those words, strung together, can make many a star wars fan cringe. I have spent many enjoyable hours, listening to amateur critics rip into the prequels. The number one complaint they have about The Prequels is the focus on Politics. They usually use the words Trade Routes and Taxation, a lot when they are ripping into them. This bothers Star Wars fans even more than the Flat, standing in front of a green screen look the prequels have.
Unfortunately, Politics and Space Bureaucrats played a major role in the Expanded universe.
Storytellers, far more deft at the craft that George Lucas were given the keys to the Kingdom, and told to create the world, post Jedi. Just like we did, when we were in our pre-teens, we tried to imagine what the Galaxy might look like, with a dead Darth Vader and Killed off Emperor. Veteran Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors used their world building skills and built what they could, based on what had been put in place, with first the original trilogy, and then the three prequels.
What happens in the Expanded Universe, makes a lot of sense, if you look at the six original films. Obviously, the Rebel Alliance would try to restart the Republic, and that Fledgling New Republic would face many hardships as it rose from the Ashes of the Empire. For twenty years now, I have enjoyed the expanded universe books. I, for one, did not hate the Politics that were involved. I loved shows like Deep Space Nine, Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5, all very political Sci-Fi shows. You know who doesn’t like shows like Deep Space Nine, Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5? People that just want to see action for Action’s sake. The Prequels, if done correctly, could have been a smarter Star Wars. It could have been Star Wars with the same kind of logic and cleverness as those three shows I mentioned. Unfortunately, each film was poorly put together, with a major malfunctioning piece being all of the crammed in Childish Humor.
As soon as the Senators came around in this book, which is just another chapter in the Fate of the Jedi storyline, I started to get a little worried. After really loving Force Awakens, I also wanted to keep Space Politics out of Star Wars, but I realized something pretty valuable.
Star Wars, in the original trilogy is very similar to a superhero story. Solutions do not come from negotiations. The Heroes are not held back because of political red tape. You want to save the day? Blow something up! The Bad guys are keeping you oppressed? Shoot them!
There were quite a few scenes in this book, where the frustration of Space Politics were in full force. Jedi cannot do things because It would draw negative attention towards them, Heroes allow themselves to be arrested and Villains rise to power, because the main characters need to follow the Bylaws put in place by the Senate. This type of storytelling can really tax (see what I did there?) the patience of someone who just wants to see people shoot lazers or swipe at things with their lazer swords.
This book features even more space politics than all three of the prequels combined, and yet it is far more exciting than any of those movies. Want to know why? Because all of the Non-film characters that you are introduced to are great. The Villains are legitimately scary. The emotions are real. There is nothing stiff here. There is true tension and suspense. People might discard this book, and say “Bring on Kylo Ren and some storm troopers”. I say, I wish the Expanded universe could have continued, and I would gladly read about Lost Sith Tribes, and a New Jedi Order, and I would enjoy all of the Space Politics stuffed in between.

[Kaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

FATE OF THE JEDI #8: ASCENSION

Book number eight in the Fate of the Jedi series. This is the penultimate volume written by Christie Golden. I don't know how this series falls apart so quickly, the first five novels were good, then came Vortex, which was painful to read; Conviction followed, which was okay, there were nice elements there, but it wasn't good overall and now we have Ascension. At this point, I don't care about the characters, the plot, or anything else. It's a shame, but if you want to look at it positively, at least the first half of this series was good.

The first thing that comes to mind after finishing the book is that the whole story is completely in circles, stupid, and too long. This is something we've been seeing since Vortex, where the books are too long for a story that doesn't need so many pages. If Conviction had a bad structure with too many plots organized in a bad way, this book goes to the next level and all it does is go in circles to nowhere.

The first hundred pages I really enjoyed. We see how on the planet Kesh, the Lost Tribe of the Sith is preparing to welcome Gavar Khai's fleet back from its mission and its new ally, Abeloth, who will arrive aboard Ship. Gavar Khai pays a visit to his wife, Lahka Khai, during which he kills his daughter Vestara's pet uvak (Tikk), and discusses his daughter's possible defection. Abeloth is introduced to all these Lords who have ridiculous titles and also to the leader of the Lost Tribe, Darish Vol. Of all the Sith, Gavar is among the members of the Lost Tribe who are most loyal to Abeloth. That's why when Abeloth attacks Lord Vol while he is sleeping, Gavar remains loyal to Abeloth and along with other Sith deserters, they abandon Kesh. For some reason, Abeloth uses his god-whatever powers to unleash a devastating Force attack that destroys the crystal city, Tahv, the planet's capital, and kills many members of the Lost Tribe, including Lahka, Vestara's mother, and wife of Gavar.

Everything is relatively fine up to this point. We then see the story of Luke, Ben, Vestara, and Jaina, who are now a team and go in search of Abeloth and the Sith to various Sith Worlds. First, they go to Korriban, which should surprise the reader because chronologically we know that Darth Krayt's Order of the One Sith should be hiding there right now. While there, they encounter some tuk'ata, who are somewhat like wild dogs from the dark side who help Vestara determine that there are no Sith on the planet, while she secretly tells them to make sure any Sith they find find them hiding, since the Jedi are looking for them. Seeing that there is nothing, they continue their journey.

Nothing is mentioned about the One Sith, which is very strange, because Christie Golden knows of its existence, since, in the second novel of the series, “Omen”, the One Sith appears when they try to recruit Ship. But there is no explanation given here as to why they don't appear, not even an implication that they are somehow able to hide due to the power of the dark side on Korriban, just nothing. Luke also doesn't feel any presence of someone who was there recently and there's no explanation for some reason.

They then visit the world of Dromund Kaas and Christie Golden makes connections to the video game Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith. Luke tells how Mara Jade and Kyle Katarn visited the world in the past and how Katarn fell to the dark side, but was rescued by Mara and that's the connection, very cool. They encounter a strike team led by Gavar, and in the battle, Vestara kills her father. After the battle, Ben finds Vestara writing a letter to his dead father, he thinks she is hiding something, but when he realizes the truth, he and Vestara express their true feelings for each other, they kiss, and Vestara intends to abandon Sith's path and become a Jedi. Really a very great development of the character, all very cute and interesting, but it won't last long.

They return to Coruscant, where Luke's exile is lifted because Daala is no more Chief of State and because he discovered the truth of what caused Jacen's fall to the dark side. Luke says that his nephew was always doomed to turn evil and that it was “Vergere's torment” along with his pragmatic ideas that corrupted Jacen, I hate this moment.
Luke goes on a talk show where he wears some makeup combs his hair and says he's going to sever the Jedi Order's ties with the Galactic Alliance. The Jedi will establish a new base of operations far from Coruscant. This generates multiple negative reactions against the Jedi and is taken advantage of by the Sith, who have begun to infiltrate the planet. Several Sith become senators posing as representatives of all those enslaved worlds that are now part of the GA. The Sith are bringing more forces, Lord Vol himself arrives on Coruscant and it is never really explained when they started doing this. We also see how the Sith discover and join this conspiracy of Moff Lecersen, these senators, and other traitors within the Galactic Alliance to seize power, which is also useless in this volume, is completely dissolved. This means hundreds of pages wasted in all the previous books on a plot that goes nowhere. Natasi Daala discovers from Boba Fett that Moff Drikl Lecersen was behind the creation of Freedom Flight to incite chaos in the slave worlds and harm their government. She meets with Lecersen and blackmails him into joining her own plan.

The Sith also created their own propaganda where they spread that the Jedi are traitors. They have a kind of podcast where they simply report conspiracy theories about the Jedi and how they are drug dealers. I don't care. This whole plot is so incredibly stupid.

In the previous novel we end with the Galactic Alliance being governed by a Triumvirate, Saba Sebatyne and Haydnat Treen continue to represent the Jedi and the Senate, but Merratt Jaxton has resigned so that Wynn Dorvan can take his place. After Luke and the Jedi cut ties with the GA, elections are held to decide a new Chief of State. The chosen one is a rookie senator from the planet Klatooine, Padnel Ovin, who doesn't last long in his position because the Sith manipulate things since apparently they are now experts in politics and cause new elections to be held. Grand Lord Darish Vol meets with the High Lord, Ivaar Workan, who tells him about a mysterious senator who is the only obstacle in his path to power. Lord Vol decides to go kill this senator, only to end up being decapitated because the senator, who calls herself Rokari Kem, is actually Abeloth.

Abeloth literally cuts off his head and shows it to Workan on a call smiling at the camera. The Lost Tribe in this book are brain-dead guys, nothing like what we saw in their old appearances. Especially Workan, who is a complete idiot who doesn't realize that Rokari Kem is Abeloth until the end of the novel. The Lost Tribe in this novel are a bunch of complete idiots, incredible idiots, bad villains, and Abeloth is declared as their new leader, “The Beloved Queen of the Stars” and new Chief of State. No joke, he wins the election and is officially Chief of State. She kills the former Chief, Padnel Ovin, and catches the assistant, Wynn Dorvan for helping Leia escape when she was arrested on charges of treason, desertion, and selling drugs...

Han, Lando, and Zekk help Leia escape through some secret tunnels that connect the Jedi Temple and the Senate Building, that's good, it's fun. The problem is the Lost Tribe, after their planet and capital were devastated, they simply decided to move and infiltrate Coruscant just like that. What the fuck was the point of all this, what was that supposed to mean? It's just, how long did it take them to infiltrate the Senate? Please, it's been at most two weeks since their capital was destroyed by Abeloth.

Another plotline has Daala attempting to overthrow Jagged Fel. Daala gathers a force composed of several Moffs loyal to her along with her own fleet including the Chimera, which previously belonged to Thrawn and Pellaeon, which bothered me a lot because Daala should not have such a legendary ship.
Anyway, I also forgot to mention something, because there's a lot of shit here. Now that Jag has reconciled with Jaina and they are a couple again, Jaina's parents, Han and Leia help investigate this conspiracy against Jag and the whereabouts of Daala. For this, they contact the Squibs Sligh, Emala, and Grees. This novel brings back the fucking Squibs, and I don't know why they're here, they're incredibly annoying, I just want to see them dead and every second, every page they were on, I completely hated it.

Jagged is given custody (thanks to Han and Leia) of the fugitive Tahiri Veila, who wishes to atone for Gilad Pellaeon's death and face Imperial justice, rather than that of the Galactic Alliance. Together they begin a battle against Daala's fleet, where there is even a part where Jag is supposedly killed by a certain Moff Getelles from the novel “Planet of Twilight”. I don't know why that novel suddenly becomes so important, but well... The battle thickens, and Jag reveals that the Empire of the Hand still exists and brings his own forces to back him in his battle against Daala. Daala's Maw Irregular Fleet and Lecersen's vessels withdraw from the fight and all is well, for now.

The last plot leads us to the destruction of all of Vestara Khai's character development. At the beginning of the book, we see that she has her doubts about whether being Sith is the right thing to do and after killing her father she decides to become a Jedi. They then continue their search for Abeloth and Ship, which leads them thanks to an investigation by Jedi Natua Wen to the Sith world of Upekzar, which is the most horrible name for a planet in SW that I have ever seen. I had never heard of it, apparently it was created specifically for this book. It all turns out to be a trap and they narrowly escape. However, some Jedi have been left behind, including Ben, Vestara, and Natua. They are exploring nearby caves for potential dangers when they encounter a rhak-skuri (a huge insectoid that feeds on the emotional energy of the Dark Side). When the creature appears ready to kill Ben and devour him, Vestara saves him by killing Natua and letting the beast feed on her. In doing so, Vestara realizes that she can never truly be a Jedi, despite her love for Ben. Instead, she will be with him as long as she can, until the day comes when she must act as a Sith once again. That day, it will break her heart, but she knows she will be forced to kill Ben when he learns the truth about her.

So, there went all his character development, we're back to the beginning, another plot wasted and ruined. I can't believe how a single book can undo so many things that were raised throughout the entire series. That's basically it, now Luke Skywalker, who somehow knew that the Lost Tribe was infiltrating Coruscant, had the Jedi retreat from the planet so he could have his enemies in the same place to defeat them. Luke doesn't care about anyone, whether it's his son, his sister who was arrested, or his niece.

Overall rating, -10/10. I'm sick of this series, I wish the sixth book had been set up to be the last, it would have been a bad ending because Denning would write it, but at least I could say that only one novel was bad in the series. I am very sorry for this saga, but its story was not enough to cover so many books. Definitely the worst novel in the series so far and now I'm afraid of "Apocalypse" because I remember that was the worst in FOTJ.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

Taking place an unknown period of time after the previous novel, yet not, Ascension's main job is to set up the finale. In this, at least, it succeeds. Abeloth and the Sith have both hatched individual plans to take over the Galactic Senate and rule the galaxy. And the Imperial Remnant is in a state of civil war. Plus the Jedi have left Coruscant.

What is never explained, or even hinted at, is how Abeloth and the Sith have both managed to infiltrate the senate seemingly overnight. Abeloth is "shockingly" revealed as Rokari Kem. And senator Kameron Suldar is some Sith named Ivaar Workan. Both of those seem like long-term plans, but they pulled them off literally in days. Abeloth's story is especially hard to swallow. Since the end of the last book, she frees an entire planet from slavery and gets to be their senator, beloved by the entire galaxy in the process.

If you can ignore that plot hole, the book does set up some interesting things. Abeloth and the Sith are in charge of the Galactic Alliance. The Imperial Remnant is now in a state of Civil War. (And, if you're a fan of the comic series Legacy, there are hints that Tahiri Veila may become the founder of the Imperial Knights.) And the Jedi are off chasing ghosts.

I suspect the good guys will win, but hopefully that will be a better story.

[Balkron · Rating 3 out of 5]

1 Star - Horrible book, It was so bad I stopped reading it. I have not read the whole book and wont
2 Star - Bad book, I forced myself to finish it and do NOT recommend. I can't believe I read it once
3 Star - Average book, Was entertaining but nothing special. No plans to ever re-read
4 Star - Good Book, Was a really good book and I would recommend. I am Likely to re-read this book
5 Star - GREAT book, A great story and well written. I can't wait for the next book. I Will Re-Read this one or more times.

Number of times read: 1

The story of the new Jedi Order. This is around 40 years after the battle of the Death Star. I am reading this before I have read most of the books between the battle of the Death Star and when this book starts. This has caused me to not understand all of the references. I feel I should have waited on this.

Characters - The characters classic Star Wars (Luke, Leia, Han, etc) and some new Jedi. The character development was not as detailed as I would have liked but it was adequate.

Story - This is a continuation of Star Wars, if you like Star Wars then this story helps expand the story with a focus on the new Jedi Order.

Overall - This is an average book. Nothing real special, but it is a Star Wars story and I am a Star Wars fan. So this is a have to read along with the other 100+ books.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Golden may be my least favorite author in this series. Her books have seemed forced and not organic. In particular, the ending seemed rushed, to say the least.

In the course of maybe 10 pages we had a surprise coup, a jailbreak necessary to avoid writing Leia into a corner she couldn't escape from, and a Sith-turned-Jedi turning back to the Sith. All were necessary to set up the continuation of conflict into the next book...but they just exploded onto the page with no subtlety. No tension, no build-up....just a quick assassination, and then in a few paragraphs a new head of state is elected and makes the official policy of the government "death to the Jedi", culminating in, we are led to believe, an on-the-spot execution of a Jedi by the head of state's own hand in front of the entire media corps. The entire scenario just wasn't believable, especially that she could wield so much power and no one in the Senate would question her rather disturbing proclamations and actions.

The rest of the book was acceptable, but that ending....

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library)]

Things continue to shape up for the finale...

(I just hope it's better than I remember it being!)

[Kasc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ascension is the eight installment of the Fate of the Jedi series and following a long row of mediocre novels, it finally picks up the pace a bit and sets up what might just become a thrilling finale.

Yet, Ascension takes a while to get there starting off with a lengthy 70-page (!!) exposition that focuses on the Sith point of view exclusively. Via pure willpower and freely cursing Golden for this structural choice I got through these initial pages and was then surprised to encounter a very decent read. Yes, there are some dubious choices at the hands of the main cast, and I guess consistency will always be an issue in long series. Still, I found lots to enjoy.

Politics play a central role as the Galactic Alliance is still trying to handle the transition from Admiral Daala’s despotic rule to a new and properly elected democratic government. It is therefore temporarily ruled by a triumvirate, a political construct which is bound to lead to tension. Personally, I tend to enjoy politics in Star Wars so the back and forth on the political front is right up my alley. Regardless, I understand if others perceive the discussions and intrigue as dull. Ascension also includes a fair share of action scenes to counterbalance the politics, albeit these are less prevalent than in other novels of the series.

The shift in galactic leadership allows for the reinstatement of Luke Skywalker’s reputation and his return to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Effectively all charges against Luke become obsolete the moment Daala is removed from her position. Of course, Luke can unambiguously be characterized as one of the “good guys” and his being absolved feels right and just. However, in principle Daala did have a point in holding him responsible for some of the devastation caused by Jacen and the actions of the Jedi in general. Thus, the conviction being made void without Luke meeting the terms for his return, i.e. figuring out where Jacen went wrong, is somewhat unsatisfying. Also, Luke easily accepting it when he also has a personal interest in completing the task imposed on him feels a bit out of character for a Grand Jedi Master priding himself with an unparalleled moral compass. Interestingly and as if to compensate for this major lapse of the Galactic Alliance’s justice system, Tahiri’s conviction still stands.
Upon his return Luke surprisingly announces his resolution to remove the Jedi from Coruscant for good and thereby also sever all ties with the Galactic Alliance’s government. He argues that the current situation both limits the Jedi’s ability to serve as guardians of peace and justice and leaves them vulnerable to external interventions or even falling victim to outright aggression such as another siege. This solitary decision comes as a surprise to everyone and is not only met with support by the Masters. Yet, perhaps in part reluctantly they accept it, which is remarkable given how harsh their judgement of Kenth Hamner’s leadership style characterized by solitary decisions was mere weeks before. Obviously, Luke is playing the long game and there is an ulterior motive behind his actions, but the others can only adumbrate this as he shares his reasoning with no one. Quite swiftly and with lots of decorum the Jedi officially depart Coruscant leaving behind only a few Barabel that remain mysteriously hidden below the Temple and Leia, whose support in the transition of leadership is still very much needed but who is expected to join the others at some later point (it amazes me that Luke’s ability to order others around also extends to the Solos). How exactly the new chapter for the Jedi is supposed to look like remains unclear as Luke obviously did not think things through. There is no talk of setting up a new home basis and no communication of any long-term plan. Essentially, all Luke does is take the entire Jedi Order along on his very arbitrary pursuit of different locations across the galaxy that emanate Dark Side energy hoping to encounter Abeloth and finally be able to conquer her using the combined strength of the Jedi. While it does seem prudent not to face Abeloth alone, this random mission does not bring about the desired outcome and still causes several casualties (no major ones, though).

With the Jedi off Coruscant the political opinion seems to shift instantly, and a strong anti-Jedi sentiment is instilled in the Senate and the general populace. It is caused by the Sith’s slow and steady infiltration of the government, which goes unnoticed for an astonishingly long time. Overnight the Jedi become general suspects and the (officially) final remaining Jedi on Coruscant, Leia, ends up being arrested for ludicrous charges pressed against her (hilariously, “spice smuggling” is amongst them). Meanwhile a new political player enters the field, a charming female Jessar and member of the Freedom Fight movement, Rokari Kem. Kem is instantly liked by everyone and directly climbs to the highest ranks of the government. Everything about her is suspicious and the fact that no one instantly figures out she has been possessed by Abeloth is incredible. It is funny that while Luke and basically the entire Jedi Order scour the galaxy for Abeloth, they could have immediately encountered her by simply remaining where they were. This just goes to show that whichever masterplan Luke has concocted is not exactly infallible.

As the penultimate novel of the series, Ascension is more concerned with setting up the finale rather than telling any self-contained story. Accordingly, there is no satisfying conclusion to its plot: Luke’s mission again accounts to nothing and the situation on Coruscant remains as tumultuous as before (perhaps even more so). The lack of a proper conclusion does not hamper the reading experience and Ascension remains a solid read and is among the stronger additions to the series. Obviously ,it does not work on its own, but it has made me look forward to the series’ conclusion.