Star Wars: The Old Republic - Fatal Alliance

Star Wars: The Old Republic #3

by Sean Williams

Smuggler Jet Nebula has stumbled across a rich treasure. The Hutts want to auction it to the highest bidder, be it the Republic or the Empire. The Jedi High Council sends an investigator. In the end what Jet has unearthed will surprise them all.

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

429 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2010

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling Sean Williams lives with his family in Adelaide, South Australia. He’s written some books--forty-two at last count--including the Philip K. Dick-nominated Saturn Returns, several Star Wars novels and the Troubletwister series with Garth Nix. Twinmaker is a YA SF series that takes his love affair with the matter transmitter to a whole new level. You can find some related short stories over at Lightspeed Magazine and elsewhere. Thanks for reading.

Reviews

[CS · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news is, of all the Sean Williams books I've read (The Force Unleashed, and the NJO Force Heretic trilogy), this one is the best.

The bad news is that isn't saying much.

A Sith, a Jedi, and a Mandalorian walk into a bar...oh, right, I'm supposed to give a summary not a joke!

Through some crazy circumstances, an "eclectic" bunch of people all want the same thing. We have a Jedi Padawan, a Sith Apprentice, an Imperial spy (no, this isn't a spoiler), a drummed-out soldier, a smuggler, and a Mandalorian. This crazy bunch all find out about the ship, Cinzia, and its cargo, and they decide (eventually...) to (sort of) team up and seek it out.

Okay, mildly snarky summary aside (it does sound like the setup to a joke, doesn't it?), this actually wasn't the worst I've read from Sean Williams. I actually found myself liking a bit of it. There are some decently rendered action scenes, a romantic subplot that stays a subplot and does not take over the story nor sound too weird, and a few interesting characters. I particularly liked Jet Nebula. He was a lively guy, kinda interesting.

I've done my duty and complimented this book. Now time for the complaints:

First off, the book is WAY too long. I love me long, meaty books, but this book could easily have had 100+ pages chopped out of it and been a lot better for the editing. The first 100 or so pages were boring as mud. If I didn't have a friend pushing me, telling me it got better, I would have given up, obsessive Star Wars fan or no. In the beginning, a section rarely lasts longer than a page (a page!), and then is followed by another that is like 5 minutes in the future (this is better in the latter portions of the book, where this is toned down or it makes sense with the action to have so many section breaks). And the first could easily have been removed/altered so that there were no section breaks. Add to that the 6 page chapters (and I actually LIKE short chapters), and I felt like I was watching a cartoon on fast forward. Only, nothing was happening, other than setting up all the pointless characters.

Fight scenes, while okay, went on FAR too long; the first fight scene on Hutta, while a great change from the boring, sluggishness of the first 100 pages, went on so long, I got bored and started skimming. There were numerous scenes that seemed to be there only to flesh this out to the ungodly 480 pages mass market paperback. It would be like watching Shia LeBuff scream for three hours, and no director would EVER be crazy enough to make a movie...oh, wait...

The characters were pretty terrible. Other than Jet Nebula (and even HE has his problems), I didn't care about any of them. They were so generic and/or stereotyped, it wasn't funny.

Shigar: goody-two-shoes Jedi Padawan who doesn't pass the trials the first time for some reason the author never bothered to tell us.

Larin: the soldier who did something bad (and lemme tell you, the "bad thing" she did was so lame and overdone I wanted to smack myself with a brick), but teams up with the Jedi after knowing him all of 15 minutes

Ula: the Republic aide who is actually an Imperial spy. YAWN! Sees Larin and he declares her the "Most Beautiful Woman in the Galaxy". Ugh. (This is the part where the romance failed for me.)

Eldon Ax: the Sith Apprentice who is angry and out for REVENGE!!!

Darth Chratis: Sith Lord who is so totally EVULZ

Satele Shan: Wise old Jedi Master who actually doesn't say many wise things

Jet Nebula: Han Solo. Dash Rendar. Need I say more?

Dao Stryver: Mandalorian, which means A) he is super secret, and B) he is independent. The big reveal that Stryver is a female alien was TOTALLY UNNECESSARY AND STUPID!!

You see? These characters have been done over and over and over in fiction, and there is NOTHING that Williams does to try to make them special; instead, they play their one note, the one character trait Williams gives them, over and over and over, ad nauseum. I honestly didn't care who lived or who died. Though if Williams actually had the chutzpah to kill at least one of these jokers, I would have greatly appreciated it and been impressed. A lot of people have said, "I want to know what happens to these characters afterwards", but I don't share that feeling--partially because I didn't care about the characters and partially because Williams really ties up the loose ends and doesn't leave much to go on for a possible sequel.

The story is absurd. Why are all these people interested in this "thing"?! The Hutts don't know what it is; they are just auctioning it off to all these people and somehow, BOTH the Sith and the Jedi/Republic figure it must be worth buying. Suppose it was just space junk? Someone's old Singing Bass they got as a Life Day gift? A waste of time much?

This was SO completely worth teaming up with my mortal enemy!

But even that is only the tip of the iceberg. In order to tell more, I'll have to give some possible spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled, look away now!

What is even weirder is these super-powered robots. Somehow, thousands of years before Luke and Leia, a woman came up with robots that can adapt and change and are somewhat biological (sounds like stealing the Borg concept from Star Trek, now that I think of it!). WTF?! If these things have been invented, why don't they ever crop up later? Sure, all knowledge of their creation is conveniently destroyed (funny how easy it is to do that in movies--nobody apparently ever files their paperwork!), but I still don't buy it. Someone in the thousands of years would have tried to make these suckers and then who needs Emperor Palpatine or the Yuuzhan Vong?

On that thread, for a story supposedly set thousands of years before "A New Hope", there wasn't much of anything that set the surroundings out as being in the past. As an example: 3000 years ago, the US was still inhabited by the Native Americans, the culture was mostly agrarian, and the Greek Empire was the biggest power in the world (give or take a few years). You mean to tell me that people 3000 years before the Death Star had the same hyperdrive capabilities, the same comm power, the same stupid political squabbles (oh, sure, the Sith here are out in the open, but really...), the same structure? I just don't think so!

And I could totally get into nitpick territory if I started to analyze Williams' black hole physics. Since I A) doubt people would care for that and B) don't really want to get that physics nerdy right now, let's just say that physics and quantum mechanics were probably not Williams' strongest classes in college.

The verdict? Personally, I would skip it. I don't think Williams is that great of an author (though for a video game spin off book, he did a much better job making it feel like a book, instead of a video game walkthrough, unlike how he wrote The Force Unleashed), Williams didn't make the era feel very different from what we already know from the Original Trilogy Era (or did he do that because Lucasfilm/Del Rey constraints??), the characters are boring and generic, and the story, while trying to be interesting and show off all the types of characters in The Old Republic role playing game, ultimately is stupid and boring.

HOWEVER! If you are one of those that will be playing The Old Republic MMORPG, you like Williams, or you just want to read some action in the Star Wars galaxy (and don't mind that it feels like Anakin or Luke could pop in at any moment), this may be your book.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I am not a prolific reader of Star Wars EU books so this review is coming from the perspective of a casual fan of the genre. As far as the book goes, this is not one of the better Star Wars books I have read. I would call it an okay "popcorn" book as it kept my interest for though most part but there were no real "wow" moments either. Basically, the book was okay but not quite up to the level where I would say I liked it.

That said, I do need to give significant kudos to the production team of the audiobook of this book, which is the format I read/listened to the book. The audiobook had sound effects (light sabers, blaster fire, various voice overs) and background music throughout giving it a very movie like feel. It was five stars and added to the enjoyment of an otherwise subpar book.

Bottom-line, I can't recommend the book but if you do plan to read it, seek out the audio version.

[Lance Shadow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance is so far the only star wars novel I can truly say I hate. Of all the old republic novels, heck star wars novels i have read, this one is definitely the worst by far. I haven't even read Annihilation, but i know it will be better for two reasons: First, it's written by Drew Karpyshyn, the same person who wrote Revan(which, at least, I adored on my first read). Second, there is no way it could be worse than this.

THE STORY: A reviewer on this website named Crystal Starr Light (check out her reviews of star wars novels, they're great! 8D) said it perfectly: "A Sith, a Jedi, and a Mandalorian walk into a bar...oh, right, I'm supposed to give a summary not a joke!". Seriously, I don't remember how it happened, and I don't care too either. Anyways, 8 bland video game classes (a jedi knight, a jedi consular, a sith warrior, a sith inquisitor, a trooper, a smuggler, a bounty hunter, and an imperial agent, you know, from the Old Republic MMO) meet up on Hutta, where an artifact is being sold. This results in a chaotic series of events where the knight, warrior, and bounty hunter duke it out in one of the most dragged out fight scenes ever and these hexagon robots attack as well. Seriously, these things were so poorly described that until I figured out they were on the cover art of the novel I thought of them as little 2D hexagons flying around.
The hexagonal shapes are apparently really dangerous, so the republic and empire have to team up to destroy these things. Hence, the 8 game classes go to a planet i don't even remember (i know it has lava from the cover art though) to deal with this threat.

THE BAD: Where do i start? this book sucks! The plot? Awful. It is slow, boring, and has way to many terrible characters that get way to many pages. It's quite forgettable. The end is highly unsatisfying and doesn't really go anywhere.
The Characters? Like I said, horrendously bland. I didn't care about any of them. The love triangle was uninteresting and i really didn't get invested.
The writing? Painful. It completely fails to keep my interest, and the author either seemed to have forgotten the gender of one of his characters or it was a really terribly done plot twist, but bottom line it left me so confused. Ok, so there's this mandalorian character in the book named Dao Stryver who is referred to as male the entire book except the epilogue, which then the author suddenly referrs to the character as female. I am all for transgender or transexual characters in Star wars, in fact, a trans mandalorian character would have been really interesting. But the author provides NO INDICATION of this or even explains why on earth Dao is all of a sudden female.

THE GOOD: Ok, so I liked one scene where the knight is saving the consular's life that i found creative, and there was a cool fight scene close to the end between the knight and the inquisitor. One of the characters, an imperial agent implanted in the republic, was alright in one scene. But that really isn't saying much. He's still as lame as the other characters the rest of the time. You have to slog through so much bad just to get to three good moments. And when i say so much bad, i really mean it (the book is WAY to long- almost 500 pages!) Even then these "good" scenes are still mediocre, just good compared to the rest.

THE CONCLUSION: Final rating is 0.5 stars. It still to this day remains my gold standard for what a bad star wars novel is.
Stay away from ever reading Fatal Alliance, even if you like the Old Republic era. This book's terrible. I'm a big fan of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Fatal Alliance has the worst story, worst characters, and worst writing of any star wars novel I had to endure.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sean William's "Fatal Alliance", the third novel in the Star Wars Old Republic series (although all of them are stand-alones, not connected in any way with each other other than the fact that they are set in the Star Wars universe), is a surprisingly decent action thriller that has somewhat restored my faith in the Expanded Universe series, specifically the Old Republic series-within-a-series. Based on a popular video game series that I have never played nor will I ever play, the Old Republic books are set roughly 1,000 years before the events of the first Star Wars movie. It is the legends and mythologies surrounding the never-ending struggle between the Siths and the Jedis, leading up to the formation (actually, the Re-formation) of the Empire under Emperor Palpatine and his Sith Lord, Darth Vader, and the Purge (the galaxy-wide assassination of all Jedi knights). The rest, as they say, is history for Star Wars fans.

"Fatal Alliance" is a "Cannonball Run"-like galactic chase involving smugglers, bounty hunters, Republic troopers, Imperial spies, a young Sith and her master, and a young Jedi and his master. They are all racing to be the first to retrieve an object on auction on the planet Hutta. The galactic gangsters, the Hutts, retrieved it during a pirate attack. No one knows what it is or who made it, but it appears to be powerful. Once all the parties have arrived at the auction, though, events take a turn for the worse. Now, those who were once (and still are) enemies are forced to work together against an even greater and stranger enemy. Not everyone is who they appear to be, and everyone has some kind of secret that may be vital in stopping the enemy.

I'm not gonna lie: this book was silly good fun. Like the Star Wars movies, it's entertainment for entertainment's sake, so it's pointless to pick it apart. It's not Pullitzer Prize-winning material, so I'm not going to bitch and moan about lack of character development or holes in the plot. Who cares? Star Wars fans will read it, and enjoy it, regardless. Those who aren't Star Wars fans won't read it, and why would they? I will say that Williams actually does a pretty good job of developing each of the main characters, which, from a practical standpoint, was necessary considering the mystery-like structure of the novel. Each of the characters has personal motivations that help to explain why they do what they do in the novel. The result is some suspenseful little plot twists and turns throughout.

[Tiara · Rating 3 out of 5]

TL;DR Review:


3 stars. It was fun. Kooky, but fun.

Long Review
Fatal Alliance is a tie-in/lore novel based mainly on Bioware’s MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). This is also the first Star Wars novel that I have read. I consider myself more of a casual fan who mainly enjoys the movies, comics, and games, but I wanted to give the novels a try. As I said on my review of Patrick Weekes’ The Masked Empire, I refuse to let books based on video games off the hook simply for the fact that they’re based on a such a visual medium. There’s an idea that I shouldn’t expect much out of them, but I don’t accept that. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect tie-ins to be more than just a thinly written book meant to make a cash grab, especially considering how thoughtful many games. Why shouldn’t they have book counterparts on equal footing?

This book follows a group of characters from both the Republic and the Empire as they seek to gain control of the remains of a mysterious ship that has the coordinates to resources that could greatly aid either side, or at least, they assume that’s what’s in store for them. They’re unable to verify this before purchase due to the Hutts having control of the remains. However, neither side actually intends to purchase the prize, which results in a mini-heist of sorts. Unlikely alliances are formed as they try to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the destroyed ship.

Williams went out of his way to make sure you knew this was a gaming novel. This book is written with slant toward people familiar with the games or Star Wars in general as most tie-in media is. There’s not much description of the characters or surroundings because the book assumes most readers have played the game and can picture the setting and characters based on what they know about the settings and how the various races typically look, which can be a turn off for someone who may be only slightly familiar with the Star Wars universe. Williams also managed to fit in a shout out to all the classes you can play in SWTOR in this book in the most obvious of ways. There’s not anything wrong with that, but the execution felt cheesy. If you’ve ever played SWTOR, you could easily pick up on the classes these characters represented, but Williams took it a step further by stating outright what classes these characters represent. Example: Moxla was a trooper, and that was easy enough to understand from what we learned about her. There wasn’t really any need to spell it out to the readers, even those who may only be familiar with the movies and/or other Star Wars media. However, we had to have a Captain Obvious moment where another character makes sure to point out that she’s a trooper. We understand she’s a trooper, really. That happened with many characters. I found myself thinking, “I understand he’s a smuggler. I understand he’s a Jedi knight. Why are you stating such obvious facts?”

First, I’d like to talk about a narration well done. Marc Thompson does an exceptional job narrating this story, giving all the characters such distinct voices. And trust me, this book has many characters who speak, so to be able to nail different voices for all of them takes talent. I might have enjoyed his narration more than I enjoyed the story. A few caveats on this audiobook. It is full production, which means there is music and sound effects. From time to time, and this is a complaint I have for most full production audiobooks, the din in the background can drown out the narrator’s voice. Ifound it particularly distracting when Thompson was speaking over a character that was speaking Huttese to simulate translating. That was distracting. Another thing is that the quality was inconsistent. I don’t know if this was an issue with my player or if it’s an issue with the audiobook, but there were parts that were just weak quality.

This book asked me to suspend much of my beliefs as far as the plot was concerned. I never really felt the basis of the plot was a strong one. Plots like these stand up in video games because players have to infer much of the details or what’s going on in the background. Often the players are much more imaginative than the writers in this respect. It gets trickier ro explain this plot “on paper” because then the writers are tasked with fleshing out the story with more detail, and sometimes, that can leave readers thinking that maybe they didn’t think through this plot enough, which is partly the case here. There were many ways that a plot like this could’ve gone that would’ve made it more believable, but it wasn’t so bad that I gave up on it. As far as stories go, this one did keep me engaged. It actually turned out better than I was expecting. And admittedly, I did get a kick out of characters from the game being introduced into the story, such as Satele Shan and Watcher Three. The new characters Williams’ introduced weren’t terribly rounded, but they were likable enough that I cared about what happened to them… well, most of them. Also, I enjoyed most of the action sequences and could see them playing out epically in my head.

This was an interesting trek through the Star Wars universe, and despite some complaints mainly with the weak (very weak and also partially stupid) plot, I’m actually looking forward to reading more novels to fill in the gaps of this universe because it’s all in good fun. Also, Jet Nebula and Clunker are the MVPs of this novel.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sean Williams overcomes a bland cover, a generic title, and a shoddy video game premise to write what turns out to be a pretty satisfying foundation for the new line of Old Republic novels. What's more, Williams makes far more of an uneasy Sith/Jedi alliance in one novel than the entire braintrust has managed to do in six 'Fate of the Jedi' books.

While Allston, Denning, and Golden (shudder) just toss some Skywalkers and Sith together for ambiguous reasons that serve the plot but ignore common sense, Williams creates a genuinely mysterious and creepy threat, and has the Jedi and Sith hostilities evolve naturally into a tenuous alliance. Where the 'Fate of the Jedi' series offers as its Galaxy level threat a monster that never actually does anything but threaten a few background characters then run away when confronted by the heroes, Williams' villians are enigmatic but tangibly dangerous.

There is a great scene where Jedi, Sith, and Mandalorian all converge on a mysterious machine being auctioned off by a Hutt crimelord. The three-way battle is lengthy and well-written, showing two Force-using apprentices test their own personal limits against one another, both physically and philosophically, both guarding against the Mandalorian while they fight each other. When the novel's primary bad-guys enter the fight, you can see the gears turn and the tumblers fall into place as all three participants begin working together, for practicality sake, to stay alive. This extended sequence turns into an every-man-for-himself chase, which leads in a round-about way to a second strained alliance that again seems like the logical, if uneasy, solution to everyone's problems. Allston, Denning, and Golden: Take Notes!!

In addition to the extended and sharply written action scenes, Williams also wheels out a tricky stylistic flourish that could seem gimmicky if employed with less purpose: the shifting point of view. In both the battle at the Hutt palace, and the big space battle climax, the author cycles through the perspectives of no less than four sets of characters, each with different missions and goals, frequently seeing the same event play out multiple times in some nifty non-linear story telling. He avoids making this overly-cute by loading each character's inner-monologues with great characterizations that draw out the subtle dynamics of the various relationships and validate the deals each group makes with the others in order to achieve their disparate objectives.

Featuring a double agent who plays both sides, as well as a sequence in which the Padawan must partner with the Sith Lord while the Sith apprentice must partner with the Jedi Master, also provides great fodder for exploring why the Jedi and Sith hate each other beyond, 'just cuz'.

And as this is all set 3,000 or so years before the rest of the Star Wars EU, it also lays a strong groundwork explaining the workings of the Republic and Sith Empire without getting bogged down in tedious exposition.

There are two niggling little details that bothered me about the world of the Old Republic, but they're fundamental to the premise rather than anything Williams does as a writer. For one thing, I found it distracting that the galaxy of 3,000 years ago is basically the same galaxy as the timeframe of 'A New Hope' and beyond. Technology is the same. Planetary cultures are the same. The Jedi are exactly the same. Heck, the cultures of planet Earth would be unrecognizable to humans of even 100 years ago, much less 3,000! It would just be nice to see some effort put into making the Old Republic Era seem...well, old.

The other thing that is a potential problem is that as characters, the Sith are pretty lame. Not to say they're not mean and evil and horrible and all that. But in both this novel, as well as in Paul Kemp's Old Republic novel, "Deceived", all the Sith ever do is act recklessly and petulently, and the only interesting representatives of their group written with any dimensions at all are the characters who openly question the Sith worldview. Its just hard to buy that an entire population of back-stabbing, overly emotional thugs could rule anything, much less pose a credible threat to the Jedi. It does, I suppose, lend credence to Drew Karpyshyn's 'Darth Bane' novels, whose protagonist shares my view of how ridiculous the Sith are, then proceeds to murder them all. I just hope if the EU continues its exploration of this era, the authors find ways to make the Sith a bit more interesting.

Other that those few little complaints, "Fatal Alliance" is a thorough and fun romp through a relatively untouched EU landscape, and I'm surprised to find myself interested to explore it further.

[Mogsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unless a book really hooks me, I know I can take much too long to read. So maybe I didn’t devour Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Allliance in no time like I had expected, but at the same time I delighted in taking my sweet time to read it. I’ll cut to the chase here — if you can look beyond the faults that are so typical of novels based on video games, you will probably enjoy it. Keep reading for further thoughts, though I’m not going to go into the plot too much (if you want that information you can find it here as well as preview the first chapter) and I promise there will not be any spoilers.

I’d like to mention that I am a big reader and fan of Star Wars expanded universe books, and I can honestly say that Fatal Alliance can stand next to any of them. I’d even go as far as to say it was better written than most of the Star Wars books I’ve read. Sean Williams’ writing style is easy to follow, without feeling like you’re being talked down to. Dialogue can get cheesy and positively cringe-worthy at times, but it’s made up for by the author’s excellent handling of the characters’ relationships with each other.

The story, on the other hand, was a bit disappointing. I realize, however, that storylines that work for a game don’t necessarily translate as well into book form, and I’m sure much of characters and plots from Fatal Alliance were developed under such game-to-novel constraints. At times you may find the story predictable, and inevitably, you will come across parts in the book which will make you stop and think, “Wait, that doesn’t make much sense!” Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to look past these flaws if you can maintain appropriate expectations for an MMO tie-in of this nature.

Fatal Alliance is also blessed/plagued with a large ensemble of characters, depending on the way you look at it. The novel follows the activities of no less than eight characters, no doubt for the sole purpose of showcasing all the classes of the SWTOR game. Consequently, you can expect to find the points-of-view constantly switching around between and even within chapters, sometimes rehashing certain events over and over again. This may annoy some readers, but I think most will end up appreciating the author’s attempt to give equal attention to both the Republic and the Sith.

I also found the character development sufficient, but perhaps die-hards will still find it unsatisfying. In some ways, I believe the book was written with the expectation that the reader is already familiar the Star Wars universe, as well has decent background knowledge of the SWTOR MMO. Indeed, the class archetypes (Smuggler, Jedi Knight, Trooper, etc.) and their traits are well reflected in the novel, and readers will greatly benefit from having existing knowledge of them. Otherwise, you may find the story background and characters’ histories severely lacking and even confusing, and admittedly character development will not go that much further beyond what has already been established and/or understood about the archetypes.

Nonetheless, I am impressed with the way Williams handled the characters and the classes they represent, especially considering how much of it is obviously required to correspond to the game. It’s a challenge to create characters that are based on such prominent archetypes and still make them unique and interesting, but he manages well. Particularly, if you are interested in the Smuggler or Imperial Agent and are disappointed by the limited information Bioware has revealed on them so far, Fatal Alliance will be a treat. While reading, I also picked up on many hints regarding class abilities and other game mechanics, so SWTOR addicts might also have that to look forward to.

While some of my criticisms of Fatal Alliance might seem a little harsh, I do want to make it clear that I enjoyed the book. I think most people who are looking for a fun, casual read will enjoy it too; just don’t expect an epic tale. If you are a fan of Star Wars or the expanded universe, this book is worth checking out. And if you’re a fan of SWTOR, this is a must-read.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite thing about Star Wars books are listening to the audio performances. When they are well done, it is always a fun "listen". I also love the sound effects. Somehow that always enhances my enjoyment. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does....I can't help it.

This one wasn't my favorite, but I still liked this...and I think the difference was made because I listened to the audio. So 3 stars.

[Dexcell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was pretty good! I've had mixed feelings about the MMO tie in books, and I've always heard this one in particular was bad, but it was better then expected. Still a hundred pages longer then it needed to be but still. It's better then Revan, at least.

The story of a young Jedi, Sith, and Mandalorian fighting to stop a self replicating droid army from spreading across the galaxy. As far as Star Wars superweapons go, at least it's original. It's usually just bigger and bigger lasers or something.

I couldn't remember anyone's name in this book for the life of me though, not the most memorable characters.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant

[Elijah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, fast-paced, action packed read! Can't wait to see where this ends with annihilation

[Romy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the story and all the different factions and characters!!

[DiscoSpacePanther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than the previous entries in the Old Republic series. This story is not the usual simplistic morality play between hateful Sith and serene Jedi. Admittedly it does have some elements of that, but it wraps all up in more layers of moral and motivational ambiguity than is normal, so reads as a far more fresh take on that conflict than usual.

The characters seemed much more well rounded (and well though-out) than in many other Star Wars novels, despite them falling quite obviously into various RPG classes and alignments. It would have been easy for Sean Williams to have just left them as sketches to exemplify the gameplay opportunities for players to the BioWare game, but he does expend effort in making the characters (especially Eldon Ax) more three dimensional than he could have got away with.

One negative (that is a common failing in Star Wars novelists) is the unnecessary referencing of starship model numbers. It's not as bad as in some novels I've read, but is disrupts the flow of the narrative a little.

One positive - I had been rolling my eyes at the description of people sinking into molten lava (a trope common enough to occur in LotR, amongst others, despite breaking the laws of physics), but the writer has deftly side-stepped my irritation by giving a reason why people might sink into the liquid.

In short, much more enjoyable than I had any reasonable expectation for it being.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly enjoyable. The story is fun and full of adventure and imagination. The characters are interesting and intriguing. The development of cultures (species) and worlds attests to the bigness of the Star Wars universe and makes efforts to play in the less-explored parts of the sandpit.

[Allison Tebo · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Melissa Schwisow · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an underwhelming Star Wars novel. The reason for a 2-star rating is because some chapters maintained my curiosity despite the predominantly poor writing. The pacing is very slow, with unnecessarily dragged-out action sequences. It features an ensemble of stereotypical characters lacking distinctive personalities or arcs. Each chapter begins with a different point of view, sometimes shifting mid-way, making emotional connections difficult amid the frequent changes. The world-building is simplistic, blurring distinctions between the Old Republic era and the prequel or original trilogy ones. The plot feels contrived, marked by illogical character actions and reveals. A generic story overall.

[Miguel Aguila · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a lot of potential with the premise and setting as well as the characters, but ultimately the whole story just fell flat for me. I was bored a majority of the time and came close multiple times to DNFing the book all together. There were a few seemingly good moments but they were completely overshadowed by the underwhelming story. I love the Old Republic, and was looking forward to this book because Satele Shan was in it, but it just ended up disappointing me. I think Fatal Alliance suffers from bad pacing, disjointed storytelling, and too many characters.

[Ranting Dragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.rantingdragon.com/fatal-al...


Three and a half millennia before Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side and the rise of Palpatine’s Galactic Empire, the Republic finds itself on the brink of war with another threat: the Sith Empire. However, when a third party comes forward with a proposition neither side can refuse, things begin to heat up. Centering around a Jedi Padawan, a Sith apprentice, a disgraced commando, and an undercover operative ultimately looking out for number one, Fatal Alliance sets the stage for Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming MMORPG from BioWare and LucasArts.

A fresh new plot
Before I actually began reading this novel, I was interested in discovering how it would be different from other novels in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. In the past, novels centering on the search for an unknown object usually contained the same motifs: multiple parties are interested, multiple parties fight over the object, and one party walks away with the prize. Obviously, this is highly generalized, but it serves to exemplify my slight apprehension at the initial premise of Fatal Alliance.

However, I was very pleasantly surprised in the direction this novel went. Sure, it began with the multiple parties coming together because of an interesting unknown object, but it deviates from there. In Fatal Alliance, the object of interest becomes the primary threat—to all involved parties, not just a single one. And not only was there that twist within the novel, but the threat becomes so great that it causes Jedi and Sith, Republic and Empire, to join forces in order to have even a hope of a chance at survival.

Seemed over-simplified at times
The one thing which detracted from this novel, for me, was the author’s style of writing. Maybe it is due to the fact that I haven’t read a Star Wars novel in a while, or that I’m used to Timothy Zahn’s writing with the Star Wars universe. Whatever the reason, Williams’ writing style seemed… simplistic to me. It’s not that it was bad writing, because it wasn’t. The best way to describe my impression of his style is as a less-than-adult reading level style of writing. As I said, his writing isn’t bad; it’s just simple.

Character depth is a go—dive, dive, dive
The thing that made Fatal Alliance a truly good read, though, was Williams’ characters. For characters who are essentially one-shot characters for these novels, Williams brought an astonishing level of depth and complexity to them. Of special note is the inner turmoil the Jedi Padawan and the Sith apprentice go through while interacting with their respective sworn enemies. It’s not often that fans of the Star Wars universe get to see old-school Jedi and Sith working together, and I don’t think fans will be disappointed with how things develop in regard to the alliance.

In addition to the Jedi and Sith extremes, I enjoyed the character development of the undercover operative, despite my dislike of the character (I’m a Force-user fanboy at heart). As the alliance forms, it is very interesting to see how the operative’s focus and goals shift from one political spectrum to another—and from there to sheer survival. Throw in a possible romantic relationship, and this character development shakes, stirs, and serves, and does it very well.

Why should you read this book?
Despite my misgivings about the author’s writing style, Fatal Alliance is really a very well-rounded novel. The characters are enjoyable and fresh, and the development they undergo is a sight to behold. However, you should read this novel for the story. This is a new and original plot line for the Star Wars universe and it does a marvelous job in setting the mood for the upcoming video game from BioWare and LucasArts.

[Sacha Valero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams

4 – Stars

Another installment based on the MMORPG and we finally see the Mando's in action. Well, one of them at least.

So at this point in the time line it hasn't been long since the sacking of Corellia. Many of it's citizens blame the Jedi and much of the senate is distrustful of them as well. Then they receive word of an auction by a Hutt. Both the Empire and the Republic are asked to send representatives to bid and are allowed to see some of what's on the block and are convinced that what they've seen is proof of a new world rich in precious resources. Resources desperately needed by both sides.

The Empire sends a figure head for the Emperor as well as a young Sith Apprentice who's mother might be involved with the creation of this technology. The Republic sends a top aid to the Supreme Commander who also happens to be an Empire informant. The Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan sends her Padawan, unbeknownst to the Senate.

At this point it should be noted that a Mandalorian has beaten on the Sith asking questions about her mother to which she has no memories, as well as with the Padawan and a former member of Special Forces.

The Mando, Sith, Jedi, and SF all merge at the same time in the Hutt palace to steal the items and during their fight, the technology that was for sale emerges and begins to engage with all of them before escaping.

Jedi and Sith both have means to track and locate the missing world and when they do, they discover the Mando is already there and a big 'ol battle ensues.

Along for the ride is a smuggler named Jet Nebula who happens to be one of the more interesting characters who figures out the Republic Envoy isn't who he claims pretty quickly. Unfortunately it doesn't look like we get to see him again in future works.

The Sith are predictably evil and the Apprentice more so than her master. In an effort to keep an eye on the other side, Grand Master Shan takes the Sith Apprentice with her on her planetary mission and Darth Chratis takes her Padewan where he discovers he has the ability to control the electricity the Sith use. A force skill the Jedi disapprove of.

Overall it was a mighty fun read.

[Gabriel Vidrine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was quite disappointed with this book. I have read very nearly every Star Wars EU book, and this was one of the worst.

I wasn't too worried about it at first, because I did enjoy The Force Unleashed, another novel by the same author and also based on a video game (with the same title). Having played the game, I thought the book did a good job.

Not this one, however. The writing was stilted, there was little to no description, and the ending seemed to be sort of like AI....it went on and on and on and on and on. For example, the description was so non-existent that I didn't know the Sith girl, Ax, had red dreadlocks until about page 100. That's not something lightly glossed over in description. I still don't know what some of the other characters are supposed to look like (for the most part), unless they were so bland as to be unimportant (not that every character has to have red dreadlocks or crystal teeth or anything like that, but something more than "brown hair, brown eyes" is needed). This may be a symptom of the book being based off of a game, but still...I'm probably not going to play this game (I **hate** online gaming), so it would have been nice to know a little bit more about these characters.

Here's an example of the bad writing in this one. On page 356 of the SciFi Book Club edition, the author writes, "A circular hatch irised open on the top of the thing, like an enormous iris." Really? It irised open like an iris? Wow...the simile is astounding. I never would have thought of making that comparison. How apt.

But, I have to admit that it did make me more interested in the game, enough so that I might have to at least check it out, even if it is online (*gag*). This is probably the worst Star Wars book I've read since "Star by Star" (don't get me started on that one), but if you are a complete Star Wars freak like me, it's one you probably shouldn't miss out on.

[Joey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The overall story in this book could have been great; Jedi, Sith, Empire, Mandalorian, and Republic are forced to join forces to overcome an incredibly powerful, mysterious enemy that threatens to wipe them all out. How could an author fail at telling such a compelling story? Unfortunately, this book fails on many fronts. The most obvious flaw was the writing. Aside from many grammatical errors, there were several, obvious mistakes in the book. At one point, the author identifies the species of a minor character and on the same page, identifies that same character as a completely different species. The descriptions of the characters, the mysterious Hex droids, and environments/planets were severely lacking. It was extremely difficult to visualize the story. Despite the lack of descriptions, the book still felt too long. So much could have been edited out, the reader does not need to know every character's perspective on the same event. But when I wanted to know exactly what happened in great detail (i.e. when the battle over and on the mysterious planet concluded) the author glossed over those events by summarizing one character's report to his superiors. Despite skipping important details in the conclusion, the last few chapters were still particularly overdone, giving each character his or her own ending instead of a single, powerful ending. This left me with even more questions, most of which will most-likely never be answered, since the follow-up Old Republic novels are prequels, not sequels. Thank goodness those will be written by different authors. This wasn't the worst book I've read, so I'm giving it two stars for the overall story and it's creativity, despite the author's inability to execute.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you ask me, Fatal Alliance is nothing more than a fatal mistake.

Needlessly long, repetitive and pointless, this novel is easily the worst of the Old Republic stories and easily one of the worst Star Wars novels I’ve read (in both the EU/Legends and the new canon).

The problem is, that while the idea of teaming up some of the galaxy’s most popular sects (sith, Jedi, madalorians) against a threat that would wipe out everyone, seems like a good combination in theory, it’s a total mess once on paper.

I don’t know he managed to do it, but Williams made such a promising concept into a disaster. It’s probably because the story, once executed, is boring as hell and brings absolutely nothing new to the overall Star Wars saga. The Old Republic is supposed to be an exciting time in the timeline, full of intrigue and history and violent battles that eventually form the basis of the New Republic and the Star Wars of Lucas’s imaginings. Fatal Alliance doesn’t do any of that.

Instead, it’s just an overly long (seriously, 482 pages in this version) story about a bunch of people fighting off sentient droids. That’s about it. We don’t need nearly 500 pages of inane conversation, overly scientific details, contrived and horribly written details, and overall lacking story to get to the point.

Add in a plethora of dumb and confusing characters (Shigar, Shan, Stryker, Stanttors) and Page after page of useless description and jarring scene changes and you have a book that was a total bore and a lesson in forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to do to finish, and you have an idea of what a failure Fatal Alliance is and was.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am giving this two stars only because it is a Star Wars book and I like Star Wars a lot. It's based on a video game that may very well be fun and enjoyable but the book pretty much wasn't. In the story a jedi. a sith, a mandalorian, an envoy and a smugggler have to team up to stop some killer droids. I didn't find the premise very believable. Or I should say I found it more beleivable when Captain Picard and the Klingons had to team up to stop the borg. It's more or less the same story. But there were other problems besides that. First it had the lamest name in the Star Wars universe, Jet Nebula. Second, I don't think that the Sith and Jedi would ever team up for anything. Third, the mandalorian is able to take on those droids, the smuggler, the jedi and the sith single-handedly. In Return of the Jedi, Bobba Fett who wears Mandalorian armor is defeated by a blind Han Solo accidentally bumping his jet-pack and in Episode II Jango Fett, also wearing Mandalorian armor has his head easily severed by Mace Windu. These Mandalorians really aren't that tough. Finally, they kept doing the exact same scene from like five perspectives so you see the Mandalorian destroy the droid, see what the trooper watching him do it thinks about it, see what the Jedi is doing while the droid is destroyed, find out what the sith does while the Jedi is doing what he does while the droid is destroyed etc. It was like playing a first level of a video game with five different characters over and over before you could move on in the game.

[Brett Wyman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book just didn't do anything right. It is too long. No world building. There was a pointless "reveal" at the end. There was wayyyyy too many characters and none of them got any development or personality. Action scenes were stale and confusing. The plot lacked focus and too much was going on to make this enjoyable. The "Fatal Alliance" is actually a good idea. The Jedi and Sith had to work together for once and it just wasted all that potential. Very forgettable and is significantly worse than the other books in the Old Republic series. Do not recommend.

[C.J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fairly insipid on all points--prose, portrayal of Star Wars backstory, and characters. Fairly is putting it much too fair. Williams is rote in his conventions, his narrative arc and his tone. It really hasn't anything to recommend it. Unbelievable conflict; eyebrow-quirking inanity in Jedi-Sith relations; dead-end dearth of subtlety. Da. That's sums it.

[Rena · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't the best but certainly wasn't the worst. I really liked the characters and the story itself was intriguing. I found myself even whispering "wtf" once. Way too long though. I think 100 pages could have easily been cut, so by those last pages I felt myself rushing through it.

[Magpie6493 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have only rated this 2 stars because of how good the first half was. I was however filled with quite a bit if book anger after reading the second half so prepare for quite an angry rabt that is perhaps not fully deserved by this book and quite a good deal of swearing. If you enjoyed this book I'm happy for you. I however we'll amd truly did not and when typing out my thoughts about it in this review found myself quite unable to remain anything resembling being remotely civil. So of you did enjoy it in my interest of respecting your opinion and experience I would suggest not reading further in this review as I got.... quite pissed off.

......




For lack of a better or rather more polite expression.... Holy fuck I have read few book period let alone star wars books that managed to fumble the ending so unbelievably hard when the end was in sight.

In the first half, or I'd almost say the up to 300 page mark, at least in the addition I have, the book is fairly redeemable. Good, even if you go to the first half of the book mark. Ypu have some fascinating and fun sequence of events hapoening with the hutts and the excitement as the characters running into each other there was actually quite good and you do get a lot of realky interesting character moments but that's where the good kind of ends and the book begins a steep decline into what I'll metaphorically call for now Shit mountain.

To begin with, one of the first things upon opening this book that I did a serious double-take one was the inclusion of a rather.... I'd say problematic, but the reality is straight up unbelievably racist stars wars species. Epicanthrix, which the name is a problem due to the fact that this species is classified as being near or non-human and is meant to canonically appear Asian. The Epicanthic fold, by the way, is the more scientific way to describe the fold at the inside corner of the eye that is often a defining characteristic of those of Asian descent. It's not my job nor fully right for me to dive into exactly why that name and many of the other things surrounding this species are racist as I myself am white. I would be remiss however, if I did not mention that, that unfortunate species and name is present as a thing in this book.

Furthermore, there are additional problems with the author forgetting basic details or descriptions about his own characters. To forget hair or skin color to straight up, at least from what I can tell, even forgetting one major characters gender are probably the most distracting. After that we have character moments resolutions and emotions such as romantic feeling taht come out of absolute batshit no where. Which is extremely unfortunate as in the first half of the book kind of leaning towards the 300 page mark that characters were what I ended up liking the most amd was even willing to look past many of the flaws in the plot up until taht point becaus ei was enjoying them so much.

I can't even begin to describe the plot caus ei just ended up getting hopelessly fucking confused with how drawn out it was at the end... like for fucks sake it just kept endlessly going on and on and on and on and on. Like how I managed to get more confused with whatever metaphysical space Droid fuckery bullshit was going on than I did reading rouge planet which was a sentient planet full of talking seed pods that made star ships I don't know.

The author also had an issue with forgetting that he hadn't actually written certain character reveals or loembts properly setting up certain things at fucking all and you're just left there going the he'll are these characters talking about why am I supissed to find this Jet nebula asshole cool at all when you didn't explain shit but had several scenes where you seem to think that you did?

Also FUCK tgat ending. I have rarely ever when reading a book felt the urge so strongly to throw a book across the room caus ei just felt the author was flipping me the bird with whatever low effort fuckery this was. And I read close to or around 200 books every year and have for quite a while. I want to spoil the ending bit I don't think even if I tried to explain it I'd get anywhere close to how pissed off I truly felt by it.

If the goal of this book was to draw me in then betray me so utterly in suck a moronic asinine way that I reached the peak of angry rage taht I became a sith lord consuming planets across the galaxy then boyyyyyyy oh boy did this book accomplish taht and then some.

I would not realky recommend this book at all which is esspecially disappointing because literally all of the othe rold republic books have been unbelievably top tier shit. This book however and I really find my self getting very pissed off in comparison is the literally equivalent not of top tier shit but a steaming pile of dog shit taht you step into barefoot on a beautiful summers day while you're gardening.

I have only rated this 2 stars because of how kuch I enjoyed that first half and I feel like I've perhaps been overly critical in my review. But these are mostly for my own reference and to document how I truly feel about the particular book the review in question has been written about.

[Katrin von Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have enjoyed the "Old Republic" era thus far. I loved "Knights of the Old Republic," am currently playing and enjoying "Knights of the Old Republic II," and have read "Annihilation" and "Deceived," both of which provided satisfying reading experiences in this previously under-developed era of "Star Wars" lore. So, with that in mind, I went into "Fatal Alliance" expecting the same level of entertainment and satisfaction. Sadly, it doesn't quite deliver on the same level as the other books set in this era. Spoilers follow.

"Fatal Alliance" opens with smuggler and privateer Jet Nebula encountering a mysterious ship, the "Cinzia," which self-destructs before he can board it. Initially deeming the ship to be a total loss, Jet and his crew discover that a couple odd items have survived the explosion. The artifacts are taken by the Hutts, who decide to hold an auction, which entices both the Sith Empire and the Republic (and, of course, the Jedi also send someone to investigate). One of the artifacts ends up being a miniature droid factory, which can create powerful and deadly droids, deemed hexes. After tracing the droids to their planet of origin, Sebaddon, the Republic and the Empire form a fragile alliance to prevent the hexes from leaving the planet and spreading a wave of destruction across the galaxy, all while discovering the secrets behind the droids and their creator, Lema Xandret.

I mentioned earlier that I have already read "Annihilation" and "Deceived"...which means that I've read the "Old Republic" novels out of order (rather embarrassing since I'm normally something of a stickler for tackling these things in chronological order when possible). In my reviews for those books, I mentioned that the order didn't really seem to matter since the events were fairly autonomous from one book to the next. It does matter here...sort of. Specifically, the Jedi temple being destroyed, Coruscant being invaded, and the treaty that brought peace between the Empire and the Republic are referenced, but never explained. These events take place in "Deceived," so my recommendation is that you at least read that first before taking on "Fatal Alliance." That being said, this book was published before "Deceived," so you won't be too horribly confused if you decide to take these out of order like I did, but since all of the "Old Republic" novels are now available, I suggest reading them in the order of their events.

"Fatal Alliance" is a decently sized novel at almost 500 pages, and I'm pleased to say the story fills those pages well. It's exciting and fast paced; I don't think I was ever bored while reading, which is always a positive. There's quite a bit that happens between the first appearance of the ship "Cinzia" to the destruction of the hexes, and it feels like a lot happens. Furthermore, the novel is paced well and the events flow seamlessly from one to the next. That's not to say that the whole book is nonstop excitement. Far from it; there are plenty of slower scenes or scenes focused more on character introspection or investigation. Williams simply knows not to let any scene, whether it be an action-packed battle or a character coming to a revelation, drag to the point of stalling the story. At the very least, the book provides an entertaining read from start to finish.

Williams' writing style is pretty par for the course with "Star Wars" books. It's not particularly flowery, but it gives enough description to get a clear picture of what's happening. Aside from a line where something irises open like an iris (you don't say?), there are any particularly cringe-worthy lines or anything to disrupt the story. It's all decently average. What Williams did manage to hit on was an effective way to maintain the tension and suspense throughout the book. He shifts the point of view (third person) character fairly often throughout an event, so you get the event told only once, but from the perspective of several different characters. This ensures that one point of view doesn't get stale, and you'll never be wondering what happened to this or that character while the point of view character is doing their thing. Furthermore, the perspective shifts usually end on small cliff-hangers. If often made it difficult for me to want to put the book down because there was usually something to keep me interested and make me want to read further. I was also pleased to see that Williams didn't fall into the same trap that I've seen other authors fall into when attempting similar point of view shifts, which would be bothersome repetition. The story is almost always moving forward and almost never doubles back to cover the same thing from someone else's perspective. As an aside, the author also writes battles well, whether they've in the air or on the ground, and that's always a plus in these books.

With those two (large) bits of praise, you may be wondering why I only given this book 3 stars. Well, despite the entertainment value of the story, there are several core areas where the novel falls painfully flat. In fact, I would argue that "Fatal Alliance" ultimately fails in what it is intended to accomplish.

The first problem deals with the hexes themselves. The hexes are essentially droid superweapons: they're versatile and are able to adapt to a changing scenario quickly by altering their structure; they can join together to create larger, working items (such as a planetary defense weapon capable of taking out war ships); they can be created by portable "plants" that draw metal and other materials from their surroundings; they're so powerful that a Jedi, a Sith, a few trained soldiers, and a Mandalorian are hard pressed to defeat two of them; they're capable of infecting attacking ships and turning them against one another; and they're controlled by a blood-like fluid that is genetically coded to one specific person. In short, they're far too advanced for the Galaxy Far Far Away. Some readers have complained about this book boiling down to another superweapon plot. Honestly, I don't mind that particular trope in and of itself; it's all about execution for me...but I can't become fully invested in the threat when the antagonists are so unbelievable. We've seen nothing to suggest that this type of technology was available in the movies and the later EU books, let alone an era that takes place thousands of years before the movie. A good story needs a satisfying conflict, and the hexes are too advanced for the setting to fill that role.

Going along with that idea is the whole Lema Xandret/Cinzia/Eldon Ax thing. To sum this up, Lema Xandret is Eldon's mother, but Eldon was taken by the Sith when her Force powers manifested. Lema Xandret retreated to Sebaddon and created the hexes. She also created Cinzia, a clone of Ax. To protect Cinzia, Xandret keeps her in a vat filled with amnioid, the same liquid that's in the droids, to suppress any Force abilities she may have. Due to an event that took place before the happenings of this book, Lema's body was destroyed by the hexes, but her consciousness has been preserved in the amnioid, which is coded so that only Cinzia (and later Eldon Ax) can control it. Typing that all up felt a bit silly because the idea is more than a little out there. If this were a different science fiction world, I might be able to buy one or two of these concepts, but this isn’t a different sci-fi universe – it’s “Star Wars.” These things on their own would be too much; together they’re incredibly unbelievable; as the central idea of the novel, it’s frustrating and silly; and then all of that combined with the already problematic droids just leads to this all not feeling very authentic – it’s all too advanced for both the franchise and the time period, and (much like the droids), that’s something of a problem when so much of the plot focuses on these things.

These things lead me into the book’s biggest failing. As I mentioned earlier, “Fatal Alliance” was the first “Old Republic” era book to be published. This means it had some lofty expectations to fill, more so than the books that were published later. Since this is the first recent written work from this era, it needs to establish the setting and introduce readers (and, as was likely intended at the time, future “Old Republic” gamers) to the world of the “Old Republic.” This should be the novel that sets down the different factions, the political atmosphere, recent events, current and brewing conflicts – this is our first taste of the time period and should whet our appetite for more content from this previously under-represented era. Unfortunately, it completely fails in doing that. While the different groups are certainly present, the novel never really “feels” like it is set thousands of years before the movies. As already mentioned, a lot of previous events (which would do nicely in setting the stage) are sort of glossed over without any explanation and instead the story focuses on technology that’s too advanced. It isn’t even just the big things like the hexes or Cinzia that prevent the novel from attaining the impression of taking place long ago; the smaller, more common “Star Wars” items (such as lightsabers, ships, and armor, to name a few) also aren’t that different from what we see in later books…and they should be given the massive amount of time that passes between this book and later EU works. Perhaps the “Old Republic” game does a better job of establishing the setting, but I’m not a fan of online games, so I had hoped that I could enjoy the time period through the novels, but this one simply fails to deliver.

Character-wise, there’s a large cast list of main characters here. Williams was likely tasked with providing an array of characters that would be similar to the different factions, classes, and races that could be played in the game, and he’s certainly made sure every group is represented amongst the primary figures. Our main characters alone are: Shigar, Jedi apprentice to Grand Master Satele Shan, who has been denied the opportunity to take the trials to become a Jedi Knight and desperately wants to prove to the Jedi Council that he’s ready; Larin Moxla, a former Republic trooper who’s trying to figure out where she fits into non-military life while dealing with the circumstances surrounding her discharge; Eldon Ax, Sith apprentice to Darth Chratis, who has just learned about her past and is starting to tire of her master’s teachings…and the control he thinks he has; Ula Vii, an Imperial agent working undercover as the senior assistant to Republic Supreme Commander Stantorrs who struggles with wanting to do what’s right and wanting to aid the Empire; Jet Nebula, a down-on-his-luck smuggler and privateer who may know more than he lets on; and Dao Stryver, a Mandalorian who seems to be abnormally invested in the mystery of the “Cinzia” and whose intentions are highly suspect. All are interesting in their own right and all have intriguing backstories and personal struggles. Unfortunately, that’s about as far as they really go: good character concepts with promising outcomes. The character growth itself is almost nonexistent. Everyone manages to end up in a different place at the end of the book that they were at the beginning, but they sort of just arrive there via a sudden “aha!” moment without us really seeing how they got there. There’s so much happening with the plot and there are so many characters to include that character development ends up falling by the wayside. And it’s a shame because the figures all hold so much potential to be truly interesting. I understand that the author probably needed to have every faction represented, but I can’t help but wonder if the characters might have been better fleshed out if there were fewer of them.

While the characters themselves are a tad flat, the character interaction is actually pretty good. I especially loved the discourse between Darth Chratis and Shigar and Satele Shan and Eldon Ax when the Sith and Jedi trade apprentices as part of the alliance (it’s always interesting to have the Jedi and Sith trade philosophy without necessarily trying to kill one another in the process). There are also some great moments between Jet Nebula and Ula Vii. Since what little character development there is tends to take place in or be prompted by conversation, I found myself looking more forward to the characters interacting than I did the battles and other more action oriented scenes.

So, there is a romance present. I’ve always been lukewarm about romances in general (especially in “Star Wars,” where they seem to be fairly hit and miss), so my general bias is to dislike them on sight. I’ll give Williams this: he does a decent job of not letting the romance completely dominate the story or even the characters. That being said, it’s still pretty bad. To briefly sum this up, Ula is struck by Larin’s beauty and ends up thinking about her a lot and making failed attempts to flirt with her. Larin doesn’t initially reciprocate these advances because she’s got a thing for Shigar (which culminates in perhaps the most awkward kiss in the franchise since Leia and Luke smooched in “The Empire Strikes Back”). Shigar, being a Jedi and therefore not being allowed to have such emotional attachments (and seeming to have formed none of that sort toward her anyway), has to let Larin down as gently as possible. At the end, it appears that Ula is going to get his wish after all and end up with Larin. To repeat myself, the characters are pretty shallow in their development, so these budding relationships don’t evolve so much as they just appear due to characters suddenly becoming attracted to one another. Also, as an aside, part of me was a little annoyed that Ula only seemed to appreciate Larin’s beauty (kicked off by the cliché of him thinking she is the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen). Larin is portrayed as a capable soldier who excels in combat and leadership; why couldn’t he have become attracted to her for that rather than just her physical appearance? If a romance must be included (since it seems to be a pre-requisite in all novels these days), please give it more basis than the “insta-love” we see here.

On a random character related note, I really liked Eldon Ax. I always love an interesting, yet somehow sympathetic Sith character, and Ax definitely fit the bill. As the book went on, I began to fear that she would become yet another instance of a Dark Side user seeing the faults of the Sith and seeking redemption via turning to the Jedi, especially when she began to fully learn about her past, question it, and listen to Satele Shan’s pointers. I became further worried when she seemed to use her control over the hexes for good (killing her bothersome master in the process). I was therefore very pleased when it didn’t go this way at all. Instead, she returns to the Empire and apprentices herself to Darth Howl, who she deems a more valuably ally (for now) than her former master. I’m glad she didn’t renounce her upbringing or turn her back on the Sith and their teachings; she grew (somewhat) and learned, but never forgot who she was, which is cemented by her choice at the end of the book. I also liked Darth Howl’s character; I’m sad that we won’t get to see this new partnership play out…it’s off to a promising start.

The final thing I feel I need to mention is that the epilogue really had me scratching my head in confusion. There are a few big reveals in the final pages of the novel. The first is that Jet Nebula, with the help of his droid Clunker, had the situation more under control than he let people think. Ok, fair enough. It was implied numerous times that the smuggler knew more than he let on and was keeping his cards close. Second, Dao Stryver actually instigated the whole Cinzia situation by setting up the meeting with the doomed ship and giving it coordinates that would take it through pirate-infested space. That’s also fine by me. Much like with Jet, Stryver’s motivations were up in the air throughout the book, so it’s believable that he had something to do with it…more so when we learn that the Mandalorians wanted to use the incident to test the strength of the Republic and the Empire. Third, Dao Stryver is a weird alien woman…wait, what? That one comes out of nowhere. I don’t mind a female Mandalorian, but the whole thing is never foreshadowed and just seems like a really bizarre choice. What does it contribute to the novel and why did the author decide to throw it in at the end? Maybe it’s something related to the game that I don’t know about? I’m fine with the story throwing a curveball or two, but they really need to be foreshadowed at least a little bit to make sense and be satisfying.

“Fatal Alliance” is an exciting story that easily fills its pages and never slows down. Unfortunately, that and the author’s way of maintaining suspense and writing dialogue are all that the book has going for it. At the end of the day, an “Old Republic” era story needs to feel like it’s taking place in the Old Republic…and with the super-advanced hexes as the antagonists and some really out there concepts that plot hinges on, it doesn’t even feel completely like a “Star Wars” novel, let alone one from the intended time period. I was entertained, but I can’t say that I was completely satisfied. Three Stars.

[Walt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reviews are not kind to Fatal Alliance. Contrary to so many reviewers I enjoyed this book and devoured it within a few days. That is saying something because this book is unusually long for a Star Wars book and surprisingly complex. The most obvious weakness are the generic characters. However, Williams carries a mystery forward for more than half of the book when the story suddenly turns to almost constant action.

Having read Force Unleashed, I have been reluctant to read another book by Williams. I am pleasantly surprised by Fatal Alliance. For one thing, it is not nearly as grounded in the video game as Force Unleashed. In fact, I can place this along side other Old Republic novels without needing any access to the video game. The basic plot outline is that a ragtag bunch of misfits (a Jedi padawan who failed his trials, a disgraced soldier, a smuggler, an irrationally angry sith apprentice, a Mandolorian, and a spy) repeatedly cross paths until they are forced to work together. The outline is obvious from the title, so no spoilers there. There is a lot of happening in order for these characters to get together, often in confrontation before they work together. It is a simple concept; but well executed in Fatal Alliance and accounts for roughly half of the book. The weakness is the blandness of the characters.

Somehow this was the biggest drawback of the book. There are no characters whom readers will recognize from the EU. Satele Shan has a minor role. So Williams does not impose a new personality on an existing character. But at the same time he has a hard time developing his characters. The padawan is the paradigm of good. The sith is the paradigm of evil. The smuggler is a smuggler, or something else - Jet Nebula is the one really loose end in the book. The soldier is a soldier. The spy is a spy. Rarely do they move beyond their simple roles. As individuals there is hardly anything more to them than a stereotype. Their interactions are not much better. Only at the end do we see some individuality with the padawan and the apprentice. Because of these stereotypes, Williams backs himself into a corner than requires something of a deus ex machina to resolve the novel. While logically executed, the ending was unsatisfying. Readers drawn in to the enormous space battle can easily miss "it" when "it" happens and basically ends the novel. What happened? Oh....

The story opens with space pirates raiding a mysterious ship. Returning to the Hutts with an artifact and a navigation computer, the pirates or smugglers (can you guess they continue to stay in the story?) hang out.....The artifact contains rare metals which entices the war weary Republic and Sith Empires. However, the artifact and its origins are so vague, that the two super powers simply send some of their weakest representatives to....investigate....

Overall, the plot is obvious. The many steps to get there are enjoyable. Williams uses short chapters and cliffhangers to keep the story moving briskly along. The complex cast of characters means that the story changes perspectives many times throughout. Even at the end, the cast is going in different directions. Keeping track of where they are, especially during the action, is difficult. I had more enjoyment with the mystery than I did with the climax. Williams did a great job building up excitement and moving the story along. I disagree with other reviewers who did not appreciate the story bringing the cast together. It was fluid, logical, and exciting. I strongly preferred the un-Star Wars parts at the beginning than the trip down the rabbit hole that resolves the story. I recommend the book to genre fans who also like a good mystery.

[PJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams is a high-energy Star Wars novel set in the Old Republic era, and it’s basically a galactic mash-up of intrigue, betrayal, and lightsaber chaos. The book ties into the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic and throws readers into a sprawling, action-packed adventure involving Jedi, Sith, Mandalorians, smugglers, and Hutts. If you’re looking for epic clashes, shady alliances, and a ton of characters with conflicting motives, this one’s right up your alley.

The story kicks off when Tassaa Bareesh, a Hutt matriarch, hosts an auction for some mysterious artifacts that turn out to be tied to a galaxy-threatening weapon called the Desolator. Naturally, this draws all the major factions the Republic, the Empire, Jedi, Sith, and a rogue Mandalorian into a brutal race to control the prize. The stakes are massive, and the alliances formed along the way are as fragile as they are unexpected.

The book shines in its world-building. Sean Williams does an excellent job fleshing out the Old Republic era, giving readers a vivid sense of the political landscape, the Sith’s sinister recruitment methods, and the complexities of galactic warfare. There are nods to the game, with playable classes like Jedi Padawan Shigar Konshi and Sith apprentice Eldon Ax embodying different archetypes. It’s a cool touch that makes the story feel grounded in the larger Star Wars universe.

However, the sheer number of characters can be overwhelming. While some, like Jet Nebula (a laid-back smuggler) and Eldon Ax (a Sith apprentice grappling with revenge), are fleshed out nicely, others feel underdeveloped or like they’re there just to push the plot forward. This can make the narrative feel a bit crowded at times.

The action is relentless lightsaber duels, space battles, and Mandalorian chaos galore. Williams writes these sequences with clarity and energy, but some readers find the pacing uneven. The ending, while dramatic, feels rushed and leaves a few loose ends dangling, likely to tie into the video game or the broader Legends timeline.


Fatal Alliance is a fun, fast-paced ride through the galaxy with plenty of twists and turns. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s an enjoyable read for Star Wars fans, especially those into the Old Republic era or the game tie-ins. Just don’t expect it to stick with you forever.