Savior

Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #4

by John Jackson Miller

Twenty-five years ago the survivors of the marooned Sith ship Omen bloodlessly conquered the native population of the remote planet Kesh, installing themselves as overlords and transforming the primitive Keshiri civilization into a new Sith society. Letting nothing stand in his way—including his own brother's life—Omen commander-turned-Grand Lord Yaru Korsin has ruled unopposed ever since. But now his days, and those of the ruthless Sith order on Kesh, may be numbered.

Revolt—and revenge—have been brewing in the hearts of the two women closest to Korsin. One is Adari Vaal, the once-outcast Keshiri who rescued the stranded Sith, aided their domination of Kesh, and now leads the secret resistance against them. The other is Seelah, wife of Korsin, widow of his murdered brother, and mastermind of the plot to assassinate the Grand Lord and seize power. But have the comforts of a king and his own arrogance blunted Korsin's cunning Sith instincts? Or is he ready to deal swiftly and mercilessly with treachery from any quarter?

Enemies themselves, Adari and Seelah are unaware of each other's destiny-altering gambits. They only know that there can be no turning back—and no escaping the consequences if they fail.

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Ebooks, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy

137 pages, ebook

First published April 21, 2010

About the author

New York Times bestselling author John Jackson Miller has spent a lifetime immersed in science fiction. His Star Trek novels include the Discovery – Die Standing, the acclaimed novel Discovery — The Enterprise War, the Prey trilogy, and Takedown. His Star Wars novels include A New Dawn, Kenobi, Knight Errant, Lost Tribe of the Sith, and the Knights of the Old Republic comics, available from Marvel as Legends: The Old Republic.

He’s written comics and prose for Halo, Iron Man, Simpsons, Conan, Planet of the Apes, and Mass Effect, with recent graphic novels for Battlestar Galactica, Dumbo, and The Lion King. Production notes on all his works can be found at his fiction site.

He is also a comics industry historian, specializing in studying comic-book circulation as presented on his website, Comichron.. He also coauthored the Standard Catalog of Comic Books series.

Reviews

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the end (?) I think? of the story. It was a good one and had fun reading it. It's all about the Sith trying to rule over other races.

Main characters were interesting and fun to read, I didn't care for anyone in, but it was fun to read, which is surprising, because I usually give 1 star to a story that has no character I cared for. So kudos to Mr. Miller for that.

Maybe there wasn't enough time to care for someone, but it is what it is. Nicely written plot with vivid enough scenes that you can see happen while definitely keeping you in star wars lore without bombarding you with keywords and whatnot.

The end wasn't that good or that satisfying for me personally, but it was ok. #ItsNotAboutTheDestinationItsAboutTheJourney

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plot:
Savior takes place 25 years after the crash. Korsin believes everything is going well when in actuality it is not. Seelah is secretly training her son Jariad to one day take over after Korsin is dead. Adari is planning on revenge too. As leader of the underground movement to overthrow the Sith, she is plotting the Keshiri's rise to power. After a few days Seelah decides that now is the time to attack. Jariad and his minions attack Korsin and his bodyguard Gloyd. At the same time Adari's plan takes action. She takes all of the uvak and flies them over the ocean to make sure that the Sith can't travel. Meanwhile, Korsin is fatally wounded when he plays his trump card. His daughter. She defeats the attackers and takes over the throne after her dad died. Adari's plan failed, but she ended up in an unexplored land.
Characterization:
Seelah and Adari are both focused on revenge. Seelah wants revenge on Korsin for killing her husband, and Adari wants revenge on the Sith for making her people slaves. Little did they know that both of their plans were working toward the same goal. In the beginning of the series both of the girls were all sweet and innocent. Now they are the leaders of rebellion. That goes to show how much people can change over time.
Audience:
I would recommend this book to teenagers and older as some of the material is hard to grasp. I would recommend this book to Star Wars fans as well as fans of science fiction because there are a lot of fictional aspects in this book such as space travel and futuristic technology. Both genders will be able to enjoy this book equally. However, if you are not a fan of science fiction do not read this book. You will be bored out of your mind because of all of the science involved. Likewise if you are not of a high reading level the content will go right over your head.
Personal Response:
I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. I enjoy reading Star Wars books, and this was no exception. So far this book is my favorite of the series because it brought so many elements together in the end. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Star Wars.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 🌟

Sad to see that Seelah and Adori failed. RIP Jariad. Wonder how Nida will do as the new Grand Lord. Not good that Seelah's legs got broken. Glad that Korsin is gone.

Can't wait to read Purgatory!!!!

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice addition to the series

[Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Savior doesn't build off the momentum that was created with Paragon. While each entry up to this point featured a new main character, Savior ignores this practice and just bounces back and forth between its previous stars. It makes the book feel disjointed and really drags down what could have been an otherwise enjoyable story. The ending is also anticlimactic.

I think the biggest problem with the series as a whole is its format. It would have been much better overall if it was all one book. In fact, it feels like the entries that make up The Lost Tribe of the Sith were meant to be one book at some time. Precipice is the setup, Skyborn is the exposition, Paragon is the rising action, and Savior is the climax/conclusion.

Since the series is separated into multiple parts, expectations change. Each entry is expected to deliver a full and complete experience. Due to the way they're divided up, reviewing them feels like reviewing individual chapters of a story but with the same standards you would have for a whole and complete book. It just doesn't work.

The Lost Tribe of the Sith wasn't great, or even very good much of the time, but I don't feel regret for reading them. Each entry had fun moments and their short length kept me from getting bored. For what they are, any big Star Wars fan should get a bit of enjoyment from the series.

[Kevis Hendrickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

After three mediocre attempts, Jackson finally delivers a decent story in this ongoing series. Savior is the first of the 4 Lost Tribe of the Sith short stories that engaged me as a reader. For the first time since I started this series, I actually want to know where it is going. It's clear Jackson does indeed have a story to tell, even though I still question if I care enough to wait for that story to be told. I am hopeful and optimistic that the rest of the series will live up to the initial hype and take us to that galaxy far, far away. Not great by any stretch of the imagination. But finally a start. 3 stars.

[Sasstronaut · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite since the first.
An exciting culmmination of events in this book, led to by the last few stories, this was fun to read. We finally get to the the extent if the plans and self serving ways common to the Sith.

While this was to be expected, seeing the way things play out is worthwhile and there's a twist or two to keep you from getting bored.

Though i always enjoy reading of Sith plans and their outcomes, many stories are told numerous times. In my opinion, Miller does a good job with this and doesnt make the reading tedious in the least.

Worth the read. Im interested in finding out how the story progresses from here.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much more action-packed than the first three.

[Myles Gerber · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conclusion to the story- or at least, to this era of the lost tribe. Overall, it’s alright. The key problem with following a large cast of characters in a series of novellas that you never really get the time to know any of them that well. We constantly hear talk of Devore but never really got to know him, and Seelah, Yaru and Adari are truly only surface level. But for what we get to see, they’re good. Liberating the Keshiri from the Lost Tribe was nice to see as it’s clear that’s where Adari’s story has been leading up to this point. Yaru Korsin, being the corrupt false prophet that he is, meets a mostly satisfying death by finally being taken down, though being killed offscreen (off page?) wasn’t awesome. It’s nice to see Seelah fall too, winning but at the cost of losing everything that drove her to her goal. And the Keshiri are in fact finally free! So… yeah. It’s nice. It just needed more time. And there’s too much exposition because of the lack of time to allow things to explain themselves naturally. So.. overall it’s okay. Considering there are still five books left I am curious to see where it will all go. I know we follow a new cast of characters considering there is a one thousand year time-skip, and I have a strong feeling we will see Jedi arrive on Kesh, considering Adari absolutely alludes to the "true Skyborne" still existing. So that's what I think! Despite giving it 3 stars I do think you should check this out if you're into legends content. I am also going to try to read the rest of these books in quicker succession (before the end of the year if I am able) considering the fact that taking a four month break definitely didn't do the storytelling any favours.

[Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read. Everything the prior three ebooks were building towards comes back, and with a vengeance. As far as Star Wars tie-ins go, I'm impressed by how economic JJM's writing in these short stories tends to be. Major themes and ideas are often only alluded to once or twice, yet pervade the entire work.

These Sith are such terrible people. It's so refreshing to see a prose work delve into their psyche properly, without relying on reciting Star Wars RPG manual instructions as a substitute for characterization or depth. Savior provides a satisfying conclusion to this generation's conflict, and I'm looking forward to where the story takes off from here.

[Lyndon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is 8 episodes long (Savior is the 4th installment). After the Sith are destroyed, this lost tribe survives a crash landing on a distant planet. Books 1 to 4 (each one a novelet in length) form a story arc, how the Sith using the dark side of the Force are taken as gods by the local inhabitants. Not a bad series.

[Eric Neil Bonds · Rating 1 out of 5]

*WARNING* this is not a novel, or a book, at best it can be called a tiny incomplete pamphlet. The story ok... but it is not worth the waste of time to down load, which will take longer to do than it will for a person to actually read it. When you reach the end, it is incomplete. Don't bother with this.

[Jedi Master Nate Lightray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one just didn't click with me. I enjoyed the last part, and I am definitely interested in going on, but I just found this particular volume to be a little bit boring. And "Savior" is a weird title for a novella that was entirely about revenge. Oh well.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story felt so much shorter than its predecessors and didn't hit the mark. So much happens (no spoilers), but it's like the most dramatic day ever is being described in 10 minutes. I feel like so much more came out of the previous chapter, and it was primarily set up for this.

[Lina · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's getting interesting.
Now that I'm just to the timejumps after every book I'm enjoying them.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

good continuation of the lost tribe saga.

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

More tangled webs, more intrigues, very cutthroat, the natives begin to fight back.... all setup stuff. Not bad.

[Hanna Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I think for me this is the best one so far. And I can't wait to continue on!

[Cameron Fry · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10 GREAT

[Dan Graziotto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things come full circle for the Lost Tribes. Looking forward to the next arc and the time jump

[Meg V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, plot! I actually did enjoy this one. There was a lot of story packed into four chapters.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one. It truly shows how the Sith think. Although there is a big gap in years between this one and he last one, I felt the transition was done beautifully! Not to the next one in this series!!

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last book in this series for this time period. I liked reading about how Seelah and Adari were planning on overthrowing Korsin and enjoyed how the different factions led by Korsin, Seelah, and Adari fought for control of Kesh at the end.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I don’t like about these books is their form – as short stories – what I mean is, that reading them as one book wouldn’t work for me because I want to take it sequentially and therefore I’d have to stop at one point and star another book because the last two stories are after some other books, at least according the time-line. And reading them as separate books is also not the same because they’re too short to build up some atmosphere and suspense, not a very good one, though I admit that the stories got slowly better. But it was odd how there’s been many years between them – 25 years between 1-4 and a thousand between 4 and 5, just then it again was following on each other directly – I mean why? Why not take it a little bit slower?

Oh, and the thing with the Keshiri people – when they’ve been able to steel all their Uvak I certainly wouldn’t just flee and try to find a new home and risk that many would die during the journey, I’d rather have my own city back, so I don’t understand why wouldn’t they rather fight.

Well, anyway, I doubt I’ll read them again, they’re nothing that special.

[Sacha Valero · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth installment is another ten years advanced. Korsin is still the Grand Lord and Seelah is still plotting. However, Adari and a small band of the keshiri know why the disease that killed a hundred thousand of their people started. It was started by Ravalan as a means to force Korsin to leave the Keshiri behind in an effort to be more like Sith.

In an effort to free themselves of the Sith, Adari and her small underground plan to steal the uvak from the Sith. She needs to take advantage of the volcanic activity of the spire to do so and knows that Korsin, Seelah, and many other Sith will be at the ancient temple when they hatch their plan.

While they meet at the temple, Seelah and her son finally hatch their plan to kill Korsin and place Jariad as Grand Lord. Neither this plan nor Adari's goes according to plan. In the end, Adari is betrayed by a loved one while Korsin is aided by one.

This is the best installment yet. The action is spot on and the plotting of the underground and Adari's plan is sad, but necessary if they're going to free themselves. Both Seelah and Jariad receive a fitting end.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things are finally heating up in this novel and plans are put into motion. It has been 25 years since the Sith arrived on Kesh. After spending all that time looking for ways to escape the planet, at last they've accepted their fate that they are bounded to Kesh and no one will come to rescue them. Therefore Korsin is planning a big celebration to announce to the Keshiri that the Sith will remain amongst them as their "Protector".

In the meantime, Seelah has prepared her son to challenge Yaru Korsin as the rightful Grand Lord and the Keshiri rebels are making plans to overthrow all the Sith. Unbeknownst to them, Korsin still had a trick up his sleeve and he plans to use it before his days are up.

Even though it's another short novel, this book packs a lot of story into it. The pieces are coming together and makes for an interesting read.

[Jeff Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me considerably longer to read this book. Not because this installment is anything less than its predecessors, though. Again, this is a short novella, so there isn't much that I can say about it. The characters are good, but not great. It focuses on the Sith during the Sith Wars, and Star Wars villains really have that melodramatic moustache-twirling-tie-you-to-the-railroad-tracks-and-hurl-force-lightining-at-you feel about them.

Some things that I am noticing are small things, not all of them good. Some of the things that characters do seem to come out of left field. There are formatting/grammatical errors that make me have to read a passage again. That being said, there is enough good in the book (and series) to give this an overall four-star rating.

[logankstewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Savior is definitely the most action-filled novella of the series yet. It's 25 years after the Omen crashed on Kesh, and not everyone is happy with how the Sith have been controlling things. There's dissension even among the Sith themselves. Several of the plots from the first three books come to a head here in this fourth volume, and while it was more exciting and longer than the rest, it still could have been developed more. Maybe John Jackson Miller had a word count limit or something?

[Yves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voilà 25 ans que les Sith sont sur la planète Kesh. Une première purge a éliminé les indésirables. Il est maintenant temps pour un changement de garde qui donnera les pouvoirs à la génération née sur la planète. Cependant, le pouvoir en place n'a pas l'intention de céder la place sans combattre.

Des quatre premiers tomes, c'est le premier où il y a vraiment de l'action. C'est intéressant mais ce n'est pas complètement réussi. Moi, lorsque je lis du Star Wars, je m'attends à beaucoup d'action. Cette petite série commence de plus en plus à me décevoir.

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot: This is the only book so far where I felt like the story was getting good. Two people plot against the main character, and it's the two people he trusts most. The ending is well-written as well.



Characters: Two new characters are introduced, but they are only small roles and are mainly seen in the last part of the book.


Setting: No change from the last book.



Overall: This book finally starts to piece the series together and make it worthwhile reading.