Purgatory

Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #5

by John Jackson Miller

The mighty Sith dynasty founded on the planet Kesh by the survivors of the shipwrecked Omen has endured for a thousand years—and so has the merciless Sith code, which prizes power above all else. Lady Orielle Kitai enjoys power as the scion of a noble family and member of the elite Sith Sabers. But Lillia Venn, as reigning Grand Lord of the Sith, possesses absolute power…and is determined to keep it.

When a failed regicide sparks a political—and literal—bloodbath, and suspicion falls on Orielle, she is swiftly condemned to slavery by the ruthless Grand Lord Venn. But seeing the cunning power play for what it is, Orielle vows to strike back. And at the ramshackle home of a poor dirt farmer with an astounding secret, she discovers the means to make her vengeance a devastating reality.

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

30 pages, ebook

First published October 24, 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

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plot:
Purgatory takes place over 1000 years after the original crash. The system is a little different than it used to be. Ori is the daughter of a High Lord. She visits this human slave frequently to get the flowers he makes for festivals. At the festival there is an assassination attempt on the Grand High Lord, and it was blamed on Ori and her mother. They were both demoted to slaves and Ori ran off to Jelph, her human slave friend. Jelph protects her from her enemies, and they hook up. But one day she discovers something in Jelph's barn that turns their relationship upside down.
Characterization:
In the beginning of the book Ori was a stuck up, slave-owner, rich girl. After the assassination attempt where Ori was made a slave, her life changed. Ori learned about humility and other non-Sith qualities. When she discovers Jelph's secret she doesn't know what to believe.
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 really enjoyed getting a new perspective in the series. The twist at the end of the book was really cool. I love Star Wars and this book did not disappoint. I would recommend it to all Star Wars fans.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an ok story, but right after reading about Carrick Zayne this wasn't much, no excitement, just an ok short story.

I *would* say you have to read it for the characters in it though, because they appear on other stories too.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't like the characters in the story very much.

[logankstewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saber Orielle Kitai aspires to be greater than her current station. Her mother is a High Lord, patiently bidding her time, eyeing Grand Lord Lillia Venn's post. Ori waits, as her mother does, to make her move. A year longer and everything will be in order.

It has been over 1000 years since the events of the first volume of the Lost Tribe of the Sith. As such, the cast for Purgatory is completely new, with the first books serving as a historical basis for the current story. Mythology and religion both exist on Kesh, and it was interesting watching them develop. Nevertheless, Purgatory suffers from putting the Reader back into exposition mode.

Perhaps this wouldn't have mattered had I not read these books back to back to back. As such, I did, and Purgatory's characters just haven't been as interesting as the first four volumes. I'll finish the second arc. Purgatory has enough things going for it to compel me to seek resolution.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series started off a little rocky for me with some convoluted writing that was difficult for me to follow but I am huge star wars nerd so I persevered through the series up to this point. Luckily the writing has improved but I am still left wanting something better. I had hoped that this series would offer more insight into the Sith as the Darth Bane novels did but it is completely lacking in that regard. These Sith could be anybody with a light saber. They are not particularly malevolent or devious and make almost no use of the Force for anything. One of my biggest problems with this last entry is that it makes a huge jump one thousand years into the future and yet the Sith society has not really developed that much....they have some political wrangling going on but they are still mooning around waiting for the old Sith empire to come rescue them. Really? after a thousand years? And they are still basically stuck in a tiny portion of this planet that they have conquered. Think back into our own past about what has changed in thousand years. With all of their potential power and an entire planet to use for their own needs they have not progressed at all. These Sith are regretfully boring and lackluster and just not really worth spending any more time with. I will probably read the next story released just because I am a geek like that but I am severely disappointed in this series. Its a good thing it was free.

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very solid story, an interesting look at two quite different characters, or are they? I don't have too much to say, it's a new cast which still has to be properly fleshed out for the most part, but the basics have been established. I guess the surprise revelation at the end came a bit abruptly and wasn't given much of a foundation to shake up, but it does work on the level of parallels.

Overall, a bit weaker than the prior four volumes. But that's with the caveat that the story more directly hinges on its successor, and in any case it's a more focused tale than "Skyborn" was.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the final installment of the short stories. When I got these, I managed to leave out #4 somehow and now it isn't available as a separate book. I'm not buying these again for 50+ pages. I was able to figure out some of what happened in the gap and it was interesting to see how the civilizations had changed, and not changed, during the time period. The ending is a bit abrupt with enough of a teaser that makes me want to do some research on where I may find the rest of the story...

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm feeling less engaged in these characters as we move on from the original crash group a millennia before, but I guess the idea is to set the stage for the battle with the Jedi, so hopefully the next couple of stories will flesh out these new characters a little more. The "surprise" with the farmer isn't exactly unexpected but will be interesting to see what direction these two characters go in the next installment.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to avoid spoilers.

This episode introduces us to the next generation of the Lost tribe. Another setup for future events, this story brings in the next major turn in the story - Jelph. He is apparently a human slave whose family has lost their name. Ori, of an up-and-coming family in the Sith leadership, finds him interesting. Things are changing for both of these characters - both Sith and ???

[Lina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly it took me a loooong time to get into this one. 3 stars only because of the interesting ending.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good continuation of the last tribe series. a surprise character is introduced. good story overall.

[Lyndon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 5 in an 8 book (novelet really) series. But this story arc lasts 2 episodes (#5 and #6). Takes place 1000 years after books 1 to 4.

[Andrea Santucci · Rating 2 out of 5]

Magari la prossima volta un romanzo o due, invece di una serie di racconti sciapetti che non vogliono dire niente?

[Hanna Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I have to know what is coming next!

[Rahul Chandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

First novel with a new generation of the lost tribe, good hook for the rest of the series!

[Myles Gerber · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Interesting to see how the Sith society has evolved. Lone Jedi too?? Exciting stuff!! Not great but still good. Has its moments for sure.

[Dan Graziotto · Rating 5 out of 5]

JJM's shared universe of characters and organizations is one of my favourite. The KotOR connection in this story works so well and sets up the next one perfectly.

[Cameron Fry · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10 OK

[Julianne Redmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again another great read in the Lost Tribe of the Sith Series. Almost 1000 years pass between Savior and Purgatory. There is now a full millenia of history of the Keshiri people with the Sith as their "benevolent" overlords.

This story honestly seemed out of place with the rest of the Lost Tribe books, but was very good in it's own right. The relationship between Ori and Jelph takes a drastically different turn from the machinations and manipulation that we read in the first 4 books of the series.

I don't want to give too much away but there are definitely some unexpected twists in this one!

[Kevis Hendrickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Purgatory, the fifth installment of the Star Wars: The Lost Tribe of the Sith series, John Jackson Miller finally gives us a slice of Star Wars heaven. I make no pretense of being a fan of this series. I'm a diehard Star Wars fan who has grown sour at the deluge of mediocre dross heaped upon unwary readers by far too many Expanded Universe authors. This series got off to a bad start and has been trying to catch up ever since. However, I am happy to say that Purgatory does a wonderful job at making amends for the lackluster books that precede this one.

One area in which this book improves on the others is the careful attention to the characters that dominate this tale. By shrinking the number of players in this offering, Miller is able to give us more insight into his characters. It isn’t nearly as confusing for the reader to identify the players or their role in the story when there are only a few characters to focus upon. I found Orielle Kitai and Jelph to be intriguing characters. I enjoyed the chemistry between them and thought their budding romance to be quite convincing. Though there isn’t a whole lot of time devoted to the other characters, thankfully, there is enough information presented to understand their motivations.

This book isn't without flaws, however. One thing that troubled me from the start of this series is the depiction of Sith Lords. I am not particularly fond of the humanized Sith Lords that Miller creates for his story. Despite his attempts to show them at their deadliest, his version of Sith Lords aren't nearly vindictive or menacing enough to wear the title. The Sith Lords in this series are contradictory in nature to the ones featured in the films. Lucas gives us stereotypically evil (and admittedly one-dimensional Sith Lords) in his stories. But this only makes them seem even more evil.

I also find it very difficult to say where this story is headed other than to serve as the back story for the full-length novels introduced at the end of the books. Traditional stories have a through line (story arc) where a reader can loosely predict future events. Five books into this series and I haven’t a clue what is supposed to happen.

To its credit, Purgatory is an entertaining read and it’s great to see the series start to capture more of the spirit of Star Wars. I can honestly say for the first time, I am looking forward to reading the next chapter.

3 3/4 Stars

[I DRM Free · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been a thousand years since the last book Paragon. The Sith still control the planet, but instead of a single dominant leader, they are lead by seven High Lords, with a single Grand Lord. All vying for dominance, but not generally through power but by votes. Sometimes killing was required to retain dominance, but not generally done to gain dominance.

The newest house appointed to the High Lord position belongs to Ori and her family. Her mother is the newest High Lord, appointed because she kept her cards to her chest and nobody knew who she had allegiance to so she would not sway the power too far one way or another. The current Grand Lord was appointed thanks to her, a weak old woman who many thought would fall over dead from age before long. Allowing more time to negotiate and maneuver to gain power when it happens.

Ori is in charge of decorating her family’s sky box at the arena. An important job to try to outdo the other High Lords. Her secret is a human slave who has an amazing green thumb and knowledge unmatched by any other in agriculture.

But during the next celebration, something goes wrong. Chaos ensues and the High Lords are all killed, except the Grand Lord and Ori’s mother. Ori is forced to flee the town. She goes where she thinks nobody knows, she goes to the human slave with the amazing flowers to hide.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long before she is found and the human slave is found to have a secret, a deep, dark and dangerous secret.

This was a pretty good section of this book, it really had me hooked although I wondered what had happened in the thousand years since book 4. What happened to the Kesh rebellion who had landed on that island.

It has DRM, so I have to subtract 1 point.

[Sacha Valero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jump a thousand years into the future for this installment. Korsin's line has long since vanished and the Sith on Kesh are now ruled by meritocracy.

With the betrayal of Adari by her son, exposing her plans to strand the Sith without uvaks, the Keshiri people have long been subjugated on their own world and are the bottom slave class. Seelah's master plan to rid Kesh of pureblood Sith has come to fruition and they are all human now.

Ori Kitai is the daughter to the newest of the seven High Lords and she's out on a farm gathering some flowers to decorate her and her mothers box for some games. Here we're introduced to Jelph Marrian. A human slave with no surname, who tends a farm without a care in the world for the Sith or their culture and Ori is a bit taken with him.

Back at the games the entry sponsored by Ori's family attempts to assassinate various High Lords. Because the would be assassin was sponsored by her family she and her mother have lost everything and she is forced to flee as a slave.

This is another fine installment though not as good as the previous one. Likely because I had come to know those characters. I have no doubt that I'll come to like these new characters as well, especially Jelph because of a little twist at the end. The writing is strong, the action paced well, and the imagery spot on.

[Avery Delany · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason I'm still persevering with this series is because I'm a huge SW fan and have set myself a challenge to read all of the books. These are some of the first SW books I'm reading and... I'm not impressed at all.

Whilst it's not bad for something that's free there are much better examples of free fanfiction out there, and there are much more deserving authors to be published. I'm not a fan of Miller's writing at all.

So far, the series is not written well except for a few examples. Most of the books are complex and hard to follow. The only ones written decently are when there are only 2 characters to follow.

What I know thus far of the SW series are from the films, but even I know that the Sith in these series are not very Sith-like. They're frankly, quite boring.

This book was just...confusing and odd. It's set a thousand years in the future, which I don't really see the point in doing. Nothing has changed other than the introduction of Jeleph's character.

I'm sticking with it, simply because I've come so far now and I'd like to see if Miller manages to redeem himself. This series had potential but he's never managed to deliver.

[Amy · Rating 3 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.

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot: At first this book confused me, because the main character had not been mentioned in the previous books. Then I realized this one is set years after the fourth book ended. This plot dragged a little for me, but it picked up significantly towards the end with a cliffhanger that leads you directly into the next book.



Characters: I found Ori a bit annoying to be honest. She is very arrogant about her family's standing, and then when she has the chance to restore it she takes it up without considering the consequences of the others around her.



Setting: The setting is the same as the previous books, just years later.



Overall: I loved the romantic aspect included in this book, because it helped you to understand Ori a little more. This book is a good read and I can't wait to start on the next one!

[Yves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Les Sith sont sur Kesh depuis un peu plus de 1000 ans et les personnages des quatre tomes précédents sont maintenant des légendes pour leurs successeur. Un véritable régime féodal s'est installé dans la populations des Seigneurs Noirs et les natifs ne sont maintenant que des esclaves. Le même sort est réservé aux Sith en disgrâce. Ce ne sont pas tous ces disgraciés qui sont prêts à accepter leur sort.

C'est le meilleur tome de la série jusqu'à maintenant. On sent que les choses sont sur le point de débloquer. C'est aussi bien de voir comment les décisions des premiers livres deviennent dans ce tomes des traditions. Cette histoire me donne le goût de lire des romans plus consistant de la série et surtout la série Fate of The Jedi.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still hoping for a pick up in this series, the last installment had come to a head but this one set it back some. There is a rather large time jump (1,000 years) but from what I can see very little in the way of progress has been made as far as the Sith goes. They have some new installments as far as political rivalry goes but they haven't really done anything. They haven't taken over most of the planet or gone on any conquering rages...they banned themselves from the ship wreck so basically gave up on getting off the planet, all while hanging on to the thought that someone might rescue them.
The best part was the reveal at the end, so I'm quite curious as to what will occur next.

[Sasstronaut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to see how Kesh developed a thousand years after Korin and what became of the tribe and Keshiri after the events in Savior. There isnt much mention of the Keshiri themselves but you do get the gist of what happened to boh societies.
I liked the main female, if only because she is a different kind of Sith.
The story is a regular pace, nothing that grabbed me as in previous books.
Writing not as compelling as it was in the beginning but still enjoyable.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I have enjoyed all the books in this series so far, I really thought this was the best. To throw a Jedi into the mix....I guess people that have experience with Star Wars books would probably see this as being expected, just a normal twist. But I thought it was great! Oh and I just discovered the button down here that allows me to hid my review because of spoilers so I'm going to go ahead and do that now since I just revealed that there is a Jedi on Kesh.

[Juan Carlos Toledo Núñez · Rating 3 out of 5]

El problema de esta serie es que, redundan en muchos puntos tratados capítulo tras capítulo, como si no fuese una misma saga. Lo que me gusta, son esas sorpresas al final de cada tomo. En esta ocasión, 100 años después de la lucha por el poder Sith y la frustrada rebelión de los nativos, continúan las intrigas dentro del círculo del poder Sith. Y la aparición de un Jedi en escena, que podría desencadenar la caída de esta última porción Sith que queda en el universo.