What do you think?
Rate this book
Star Wars Legends: Novels
Star Wars: Riptide
Anyone can escape danger. No one can escape the truth.
When a ship full of Sith warriors arrived in Galactic Alliance space, the fight to destroy it accidentally uncovered a hidden menace: a long-hidden group of clones, secretly created as insidious weapons capable of wielding the Force and heedless of the differences between light side and dark side. Now the clones have escaped—and evidence suggests that they are flawed by genetic disease and violent madness.
Jedi Knight Jaden Korr pursues the clones, hoping to heal them but prepared to destroy them. What he doesn’t know is that Sith agents are hot on his heels, determined not only to recover the clones for their Master but to capture Jaden for their own dark-side purposes. In a life-or-death battle, Jaden will confront a shocking reality that will rock him to his core and bring him face-to-face with the question of what makes a man . . . and a Jedi.
When a ship full of Sith warriors arrived in Galactic Alliance space, the fight to destroy it accidentally uncovered a hidden menace: a long-hidden group of clones, secretly created as insidious weapons capable of wielding the Force and heedless of the differences between light side and dark side. Now the clones have escaped—and evidence suggests that they are flawed by genetic disease and violent madness.
Jedi Knight Jaden Korr pursues the clones, hoping to heal them but prepared to destroy them. What he doesn’t know is that Sith agents are hot on his heels, determined not only to recover the clones for their Master but to capture Jaden for their own dark-side purposes. In a life-or-death battle, Jaden will confront a shocking reality that will rock him to his core and bring him face-to-face with the question of what makes a man . . . and a Jedi.
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
93 people are currently reading
1945 people want to read
About the author
Paul S. Kemp
61 books938 followersBestselling speculative fiction author, creator of Egil and Nix, Erevis Cale, drinker of scotch, smoker of cigars, amiable dude. :-)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
November 8, 2025
I enjoyed Crosscurrent so much, so it makes me so sad that I didn't care for this book. It's not particularly bad, it's just "mediocre".
There isn't terribly much to the story, and it feels like it almost could have been an e-book novella released after Crosscurrent. As a novel, it's largely forgettable and doesn't live up to the heights of the first one.
There were a few cool moments here, such as the training sequences with Jaden and Marr, some of the clone scenes, and Jaden calling Luke. There were some cool connections to the Rakatans (although I think it would have worked better if they were connections to Abeloth). But this book lacked the cool factor of the "colliding of worlds" that it needed.
Overall, just an overall disappointing book. Just ok. 5.5 out of 10.
There isn't terribly much to the story, and it feels like it almost could have been an e-book novella released after Crosscurrent. As a novel, it's largely forgettable and doesn't live up to the heights of the first one.
There were a few cool moments here, such as the training sequences with Jaden and Marr, some of the clone scenes, and Jaden calling Luke. There were some cool connections to the Rakatans (although I think it would have worked better if they were connections to Abeloth). But this book lacked the cool factor of the "colliding of worlds" that it needed.
Overall, just an overall disappointing book. Just ok. 5.5 out of 10.
June 20, 2012
Great "Star Wars" novel, which cements Paul S. Kemp as one of the best "Star Wars" authors, up there with Drew Karpyshyn and James Luceno. Jaden Korr, the great Jedi who defeated the evil spirit of Marka Ragnos, is chasing a group of extremely dangerous clones of some of the greatest Jedi and Sith in history, including Mara Jade and Lumiya. In the same time, a pair of deadly Sith assassins with unique ability is chasing him. And they are all going to a place of death, in which a great menace is hidden, a terror from the ancient past of the Galaxy, which predates even the Jedi and Sith. You can't ask for more in a "Star Wars" novel. This was one brilliant novel.
September 9, 2016
I don't know why I inflicted Riptide on myself. I mean, I knew that it would be a quick read, but that's about all it had going for it. It is the sequel to Crosscurrent and give some closure to the story there. But Crosscurrent was awful and it was quite clear that the story wasn't going anyplace good. That's definitely the case. Having read Riptide, I am here to warn away other unwary travelers.
Once again, Kemp relies on cheap plot devices and derivative tropes to fill the time between the beginning and end of the book. The renegade clones drives the plot as they follow Force vision directives leading them and everyone following them to the scene of the climax. Jaden follows the clones, Jaden's friends follow him, and One Sith assassins risk the exposure of their organization decades early for no goal that's ever articulated by following Jaden as well. The assassins are twins, Umbarans Nyss and Syll, who first of all have ridiculous made-up anti-Force powers. Nyss, the male, is the only one who gets to speak. His sister is established as an object he cares about arbitrarily and then killed off in order to provide further motive for Nyss to do what he'd already intended to do the whole time: hunt Jaden Korr. I imagine this is Kemp's idea of character development or dramatic tension or something.
In Crosscurrent, Kemp made Jaden Korr in his image. Apparently that didn't satisfy his ego, because in Riptide, there are now three total iterations running around. And rather than using this to create some sort of interesting character development about identity, genetics, and environment, Kemp references those things with like two lines of dialogue and simply uses them as more plot devices.
Speaking of the Rakata, Kemp once again references a bunch of popular continuitity rather than coming up with something worthwhile of his own. It's unclear what exactly Kemp is referencing, however, since the Rakatan technology bears no resemblance to anything associated with them in other literature, and indeed has more in common with Vong devices. And on top of being a cheap reference, Mother is a cheap trope herself, with no history or depth. Just a giant sentient horror station that lures in prey and consumes them somehow. Ugh, why???
There's also a great conversation here where Kemp reveals a look at the brain behind a cheap sci-fi thriller. Marr questions why Jaden needs to hunt these clones (victims of violence themselves) down in the first place. Jaden tells him, with a sort of gleeful hope, that he is sure they will become violent and force him to kill them. We can literally see Kemp manufacturing situations where heroic murder will be necessary because he needs action and good guys.
Once again, Kemp relies on cheap plot devices and derivative tropes to fill the time between the beginning and end of the book. The renegade clones drives the plot as they follow Force vision directives leading them and everyone following them to the scene of the climax. Jaden follows the clones, Jaden's friends follow him, and One Sith assassins risk the exposure of their organization decades early for no goal that's ever articulated by following Jaden as well. The assassins are twins, Umbarans Nyss and Syll, who first of all have ridiculous made-up anti-Force powers. Nyss, the male, is the only one who gets to speak. His sister is established as an object he cares about arbitrarily and then killed off in order to provide further motive for Nyss to do what he'd already intended to do the whole time: hunt Jaden Korr. I imagine this is Kemp's idea of character development or dramatic tension or something.
In Crosscurrent, Kemp made Jaden Korr in his image. Apparently that didn't satisfy his ego, because in Riptide, there are now three total iterations running around. And rather than using this to create some sort of interesting character development about identity, genetics, and environment, Kemp references those things with like two lines of dialogue and simply uses them as more plot devices.
Speaking of the Rakata, Kemp once again references a bunch of popular continuitity rather than coming up with something worthwhile of his own. It's unclear what exactly Kemp is referencing, however, since the Rakatan technology bears no resemblance to anything associated with them in other literature, and indeed has more in common with Vong devices. And on top of being a cheap reference, Mother is a cheap trope herself, with no history or depth. Just a giant sentient horror station that lures in prey and consumes them somehow. Ugh, why???
There's also a great conversation here where Kemp reveals a look at the brain behind a cheap sci-fi thriller. Marr questions why Jaden needs to hunt these clones (victims of violence themselves) down in the first place. Jaden tells him, with a sort of gleeful hope, that he is sure they will become violent and force him to kill them. We can literally see Kemp manufacturing situations where heroic murder will be necessary because he needs action and good guys.
May 27, 2012
Star Wars novels seem to run just two ways; either they are poorly written or fantastic reads. Riptide is one of the latter. It is non-stop action from nearly the first page. From that point you actually find yourself caring what happens to the characters. If you are a fan of the Star Wars universe or even if you just enjoy a good book, I can not recommend this one more highly.
October 19, 2025
I feel like this Duology went so wild with the time travel, clones, zombies, and Mother.
I often felt like the author was trying too hard to use these concepts as vessels to a deeper understanding of identity and the Force, but they never completely landed. Fun reads though.
I often felt like the author was trying too hard to use these concepts as vessels to a deeper understanding of identity and the Force, but they never completely landed. Fun reads though.
January 6, 2024
I read some of the other reviews of this novel, both positive and negative, and it really helped to solidify my thoughts on this mediocre entry in the Star Wars Legends series. At this point, the Star Wars Extended Universe had been around for a couple of decades, and one can sense how badly the authors and editors were running out of ideas. Riptide, the sequel to the earlier Crosscurrent, is a short, quick read, but it's tedious nonetheless. It suffers from far too much repetition and the introduction of a lot of tired, overused tropes.
The novel picks up immediately where its predecessor ended. Jedi Knight Jaden Korr departs the frozen moon in the Unknown Regions in pursuit of the Force clones discovered at the end of the original novel. He is accompanied by Khedryn Faal and his co-pilot Marr Idi-Shael, a Force-sensitive Cerean whom Korr agrees to take on as an apprentice. The clones, in their stolen ship, travel to Fhost for medical supplies. They are all very sick after the encounter with the 5000 year old Sith ship, Harbinger, and its load of Lignan ore (see the first novel). Jaden and his companions track them down, but unknown to them they are in turn being chased by several Umbaran agents from the One Sith organization. Thus, the book becomes one long extended chase sequence. Various combinations of the three parties run into each other from time to time, fight, and then move on.
The final showdown occurs when the clones reach their final destination, an irradiated star system that features an abandoned space station. The station is inhabited by an entity known to the clones as Mother. Seer, one of the leaders of the clones, believes that Mother will be their salvation, but the entity has been imprisoned on the space station and is actually malevolent. Before the book is over, we will experience organic technology (reminiscent of the Yuuzhan Vong in the New Jedi Order books), zombies (reminiscent of Death Troopers and Red Harvest), and more cloning and body swapping shenanigans (reminiscent of the Dark Empire comic series). And I haven't even included the force suppressive powers of the Umbarans, which will remind you of Timothy's Zhan's ysalamiri.
Some people probably read a book like this and think, "Oooo. It's got everything." For others, like me, it all seems terribly familiar. The characters are stereotypes, not fully fledged beings, and the plot points are predictable. There just doesn't seem to be much in the way of new ideas here, nor does Kemp deepen the mythology in any meaningful way. The one idea that has a chance to be interesting is the alien entity Mother, a relic of the Rakatan Infinite Empire. What exactly is she? Why was she imprisoned in this station? These questions are not answered. Kemp also doesn't return to the question of what happened to the time-traveling Sith from Crosscurrent, preferring to leave that storyline behind.
Riptide reminds me of a soup, made from whatever leftovers one can find in their refrigerator. It may feel satisfying in the moment to make something out of scraps and remainders and the meal may even fill your stomach temporarily. But you're unlikely to remember the meal for long, and you'll probably never make this particular goulash again.
The novel picks up immediately where its predecessor ended. Jedi Knight Jaden Korr departs the frozen moon in the Unknown Regions in pursuit of the Force clones discovered at the end of the original novel. He is accompanied by Khedryn Faal and his co-pilot Marr Idi-Shael, a Force-sensitive Cerean whom Korr agrees to take on as an apprentice. The clones, in their stolen ship, travel to Fhost for medical supplies. They are all very sick after the encounter with the 5000 year old Sith ship, Harbinger, and its load of Lignan ore (see the first novel). Jaden and his companions track them down, but unknown to them they are in turn being chased by several Umbaran agents from the One Sith organization. Thus, the book becomes one long extended chase sequence. Various combinations of the three parties run into each other from time to time, fight, and then move on.
The final showdown occurs when the clones reach their final destination, an irradiated star system that features an abandoned space station. The station is inhabited by an entity known to the clones as Mother. Seer, one of the leaders of the clones, believes that Mother will be their salvation, but the entity has been imprisoned on the space station and is actually malevolent. Before the book is over, we will experience organic technology (reminiscent of the Yuuzhan Vong in the New Jedi Order books), zombies (reminiscent of Death Troopers and Red Harvest), and more cloning and body swapping shenanigans (reminiscent of the Dark Empire comic series). And I haven't even included the force suppressive powers of the Umbarans, which will remind you of Timothy's Zhan's ysalamiri.
Some people probably read a book like this and think, "Oooo. It's got everything." For others, like me, it all seems terribly familiar. The characters are stereotypes, not fully fledged beings, and the plot points are predictable. There just doesn't seem to be much in the way of new ideas here, nor does Kemp deepen the mythology in any meaningful way. The one idea that has a chance to be interesting is the alien entity Mother, a relic of the Rakatan Infinite Empire. What exactly is she? Why was she imprisoned in this station? These questions are not answered. Kemp also doesn't return to the question of what happened to the time-traveling Sith from Crosscurrent, preferring to leave that storyline behind.
Riptide reminds me of a soup, made from whatever leftovers one can find in their refrigerator. It may feel satisfying in the moment to make something out of scraps and remainders and the meal may even fill your stomach temporarily. But you're unlikely to remember the meal for long, and you'll probably never make this particular goulash again.
May 25, 2012
Star Wars:Riptide continues where CrossCurrent ended. A ship of mad clones escape a secret Thrawn Era cloning facility followed closely by Jaden Korr, his new apprentice Marr, and Captain Khedryn Faal. The mad clones forgo a mental and biological illness a plague they believe will be cured by an entity know to them as "Mother." Unknown to all the One Sith have an interest in one of the clones, the last of the Thrawn scientist's experiments The Prime (Solider). All three factions converge and deliver a great story.
Kemp's novel is truly Star Wars meets Philosophy. The core theme of Riptide seems to nature vs. nurture and the power of choice. Jaden Korr having been tempted to the darkside but rejecting it embodies The Light, the twin Umbaran of the One Sith are archetypes of The Darkside. For both parties, choice is what defines them. But what of the clones? They were lab bred using Jedi-Sith DNA to become assassins for an Empire that no longer exists. Are they pred-destined to the Darkiside? Should they be killed as if they are Sith. What is their purpose now? Star Wars gets existential.
"People are not equations."
Riptide delievers. Through philosophical questioning to awesome action sequences the novel will keep you guessing all the way to the end. Kemp has a shocking conclusion in store that will have your mind racing with possibilities. Enjoy!
Kemp's novel is truly Star Wars meets Philosophy. The core theme of Riptide seems to nature vs. nurture and the power of choice. Jaden Korr having been tempted to the darkside but rejecting it embodies The Light, the twin Umbaran of the One Sith are archetypes of The Darkside. For both parties, choice is what defines them. But what of the clones? They were lab bred using Jedi-Sith DNA to become assassins for an Empire that no longer exists. Are they pred-destined to the Darkiside? Should they be killed as if they are Sith. What is their purpose now? Star Wars gets existential.
"People are not equations."
Riptide delievers. Through philosophical questioning to awesome action sequences the novel will keep you guessing all the way to the end. Kemp has a shocking conclusion in store that will have your mind racing with possibilities. Enjoy!
May 25, 2012
I liked the continuation to Jaden Korr's story. While the part with the mindshear and the body switching seemed a bit of a stretch for me, I did enjoy this book. With the focus of the story switching between Jaden, Soldier, and the Umbaran twins, it was a nice change of pace. Learning that the clones each had very simplistic names and were influenced by a real like "Mother" was a nice touch. I wish they had explained the cloning facility a little more as it had so much Jedi and Sith DNA so it would have been nice to get more information regarding what everyone seems to think as a Thrawn-era cloning facility. Overall though, I enjoyed this book.
March 4, 2019
Paul S. Kemp is not my favourite Star Wars author, but he is one of the rare breed that has written in both the Legends and Canon continuities, so someone is clearly buying his books (reviewer gives the mirror a hard stare and shakes his head). Kemp tends towards schlocky horror stories, heavy on the Dark Side users and treating the Force as basically a fuel for overpowered superhero antics. This doesn’t overly appeal to me, but since it is Star Wars, I suppose I am more than happy to read it.
2011’s Riptide is the sequel to 2010’s Crosscurrent starring generic Jedi-and-player-character-from-videogame-sequel: Jaden Korr. Jaden Korr was originally introduced in the 2003 FPS Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy as a replacement for Kyle Katarn, who had already starred in the preceding three games in the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, presumably because taking Kyle’s powers away yet again so that the player doesn’t start the game totally overpowered would have been too repetitious. So we get a character whose backstory is that they built a lightsaber without any training whatsoever, and so must get shipped off the the Jedi Academy post haste.
I always played Jaden Korr as a darkish complexioned female Zabrak with a green double-bladed lightsabre, so this novel is already not doing itself any favours with me by making the character a bland blue-eyed white guy. I don’t need to have seemingly every bloody protagonist look like me in action-oriented SF - I can see that every time I look in the mirror. Can I not get a little bit of diversity, please, popular culture?
(As an aside, the name Jaden peaked in popularity as a boy’s name in the USA in 2011, when it reached the dizzying heights of fourth most popular boy’s name in that country. I like to imagine that this novel is the reason for it achieving this honour, although that might be stretching credulity even further than this book’s plot does. Now, when are Brayden, Kaden and Zayden going to get their Star Wars novels? The internet demands an answer!)
Anyway, the novel starts off with a scene in the narrative’s present, which therefore establishes that most of the plot is going to be told in flashback. This is a rather artificial way to kick the story off with some drama, and comes across as forced rather than an artistic choice.
Once we get that prologue out of the way, we have a bunch of generic Dark Side users happily bickering amongst themselves and spewing Force-lightning hither and thither in all directions like desperate and incontinent racehorces plugged into a Tesla recharge socket. Jaden is worried that they will cause problems wherever they end up (spoiler: they do), so he and his crew (including a new Cerean apprentice) decide to set about finding them.
Luckily for Jaden, these Sith clones decide to go to exactly the same planet that he and his crew were bound for, so the author doesn’t have to waste time going to the trouble of writing any sort of detective element into the narrative. Score one for streamlined storytelling, but take that, realistic plot development!
Toss in another secret Sith order trying to located Jaden and the Sith clones (for reasons unknown), and we are all set up for wacky shenanigans.
Did I say wacky? Apologies, I meant “lazy”. This book is heavy on the most tired Star Wars clichés and overused tropes, and doesn’t seem to have been polished at all after the (maybe) second draft. An example of the dialogue:
“Who were those people?” the copilot asked.
“They’re the bad guys,” said Jaden, and left it at that.
We’re obviously not dealing with the reincarnation of William Shakespeare here.
An evil entity macguffin here, and a droid hating ship’s captain there adds up to a whole lot of “meh”.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. I enjoy the occasional cheeseburger, but each new one isn’t particularly memorable, and eating one always leaves you with a sense that you missed the opportunity to try something new, different and challenging. This book is the same. It’s not poison like the Hambly Sandwich or Lando Calrissian and the Flaewind of Oseon, but it isn’t the haute cuisine of Republic Commando: Hard Contact or the X-wing series.
Recommended only to die-hard Star Wars Legends fans - you won’t hate it, but you probably won’t love it either.
Random thoughts:
Why did the author think it was a good idea to have a place called “Farpoint Station” in his story? It is rather like a Star Trek author deciding to name a starbase “The Death Star” - that name already exists, and it belongs to another franchise!
A pair of Umbarans with the same ability as the ysalamiri to push back the Force is an interesting idea, but it goes to demonstrate that these late Legends-era writers were straining to find reasons to restrict the overpowered Force capabilities of the Sith and Jedi. When you have to reinvent kryptonite simply to prevent a superman from derailing your plot, you know you have a problem with superpower inflation. (Zahn’s original use of the ysalamiri escapes this judgement, as his use of their properties was deft and multifaceted, and didn’t come off as a clumsy plot contrivance.)
Three quarters of the way into the novel, and suddenly we’re confronted with space zombies. I know this book was published in 2011, a time when zombies were inescapable in fantasy fiction, but we’d already seen the undead in Star Wars in the Clone Wars episode Legacy of Terror, and the novels Death Troopers and Red Harvest, and so this was an unwelcome return to an overextended trope.
2011’s Riptide is the sequel to 2010’s Crosscurrent starring generic Jedi-and-player-character-from-videogame-sequel: Jaden Korr. Jaden Korr was originally introduced in the 2003 FPS Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy as a replacement for Kyle Katarn, who had already starred in the preceding three games in the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, presumably because taking Kyle’s powers away yet again so that the player doesn’t start the game totally overpowered would have been too repetitious. So we get a character whose backstory is that they built a lightsaber without any training whatsoever, and so must get shipped off the the Jedi Academy post haste.
I always played Jaden Korr as a darkish complexioned female Zabrak with a green double-bladed lightsabre, so this novel is already not doing itself any favours with me by making the character a bland blue-eyed white guy. I don’t need to have seemingly every bloody protagonist look like me in action-oriented SF - I can see that every time I look in the mirror. Can I not get a little bit of diversity, please, popular culture?
(As an aside, the name Jaden peaked in popularity as a boy’s name in the USA in 2011, when it reached the dizzying heights of fourth most popular boy’s name in that country. I like to imagine that this novel is the reason for it achieving this honour, although that might be stretching credulity even further than this book’s plot does. Now, when are Brayden, Kaden and Zayden going to get their Star Wars novels? The internet demands an answer!)
Anyway, the novel starts off with a scene in the narrative’s present, which therefore establishes that most of the plot is going to be told in flashback. This is a rather artificial way to kick the story off with some drama, and comes across as forced rather than an artistic choice.
Once we get that prologue out of the way, we have a bunch of generic Dark Side users happily bickering amongst themselves and spewing Force-lightning hither and thither in all directions like desperate and incontinent racehorces plugged into a Tesla recharge socket. Jaden is worried that they will cause problems wherever they end up (spoiler: they do), so he and his crew (including a new Cerean apprentice) decide to set about finding them.
Luckily for Jaden, these Sith clones decide to go to exactly the same planet that he and his crew were bound for, so the author doesn’t have to waste time going to the trouble of writing any sort of detective element into the narrative. Score one for streamlined storytelling, but take that, realistic plot development!
Toss in another secret Sith order trying to located Jaden and the Sith clones (for reasons unknown), and we are all set up for wacky shenanigans.
Did I say wacky? Apologies, I meant “lazy”. This book is heavy on the most tired Star Wars clichés and overused tropes, and doesn’t seem to have been polished at all after the (maybe) second draft. An example of the dialogue:
“Who were those people?” the copilot asked.
“They’re the bad guys,” said Jaden, and left it at that.
We’re obviously not dealing with the reincarnation of William Shakespeare here.
An evil entity macguffin here, and a droid hating ship’s captain there adds up to a whole lot of “meh”.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. I enjoy the occasional cheeseburger, but each new one isn’t particularly memorable, and eating one always leaves you with a sense that you missed the opportunity to try something new, different and challenging. This book is the same. It’s not poison like the Hambly Sandwich or Lando Calrissian and the Flaewind of Oseon, but it isn’t the haute cuisine of Republic Commando: Hard Contact or the X-wing series.
Recommended only to die-hard Star Wars Legends fans - you won’t hate it, but you probably won’t love it either.
Random thoughts:
Why did the author think it was a good idea to have a place called “Farpoint Station” in his story? It is rather like a Star Trek author deciding to name a starbase “The Death Star” - that name already exists, and it belongs to another franchise!
A pair of Umbarans with the same ability as the ysalamiri to push back the Force is an interesting idea, but it goes to demonstrate that these late Legends-era writers were straining to find reasons to restrict the overpowered Force capabilities of the Sith and Jedi. When you have to reinvent kryptonite simply to prevent a superman from derailing your plot, you know you have a problem with superpower inflation. (Zahn’s original use of the ysalamiri escapes this judgement, as his use of their properties was deft and multifaceted, and didn’t come off as a clumsy plot contrivance.)
Three quarters of the way into the novel, and suddenly we’re confronted with space zombies. I know this book was published in 2011, a time when zombies were inescapable in fantasy fiction, but we’d already seen the undead in Star Wars in the Clone Wars episode Legacy of Terror, and the novels Death Troopers and Red Harvest, and so this was an unwelcome return to an overextended trope.
November 24, 2020
In this second part of Kemp's duology we get the heroes of the first book chasing the renegades from the end of that book, along with another group chasing...well....both of them. Over and over we get the groups catching up with one or the other, leading to fighting, mostly hand-to-hand and with lightsabers. While it makes for an action-packed 280 pages it also makes for a very repetitive 280-pages. Had half of the well-described skirmishes been cut out, this could have simply been another 140 pages added onto the previous book and saved a lot of time.
May 25, 2012
This was a very well written book in my opinion. Its great for the people who like the Star Wars saga and want to learn more about what happens after the second death star meets its end. One of the things i liked most was that Paul S. Kemp made it so when one story line was starting to make sense he would switch to some one else. The whole book your moving through the universe of Star Wars and this book will keep you interested till the end. Its a good book and i recommend it.
May 25, 2012
A good book but not as good as it's prequel, Crosscurrent. It did expand a little more on what was started in the first book and the ending just blew me away. I won't spoil anything other then the fact that it was a very neat idea. I was hoping for another book that was as good as Crosscurrent and I was only slightly disappointed. There's some good action in it, but it doesn't quite have the same feel as it's prequel. Overall, a good book.
September 1, 2015
A great quick read from Kemp, bringing back the mystery and mysticism of the Star Wars expanded universe. This book verges on horror, with a very 1930's pulpy sci-fi feel as well. After the latest nine book series, this one reminded me why I like Star Wars novels at all.
December 5, 2025
People were not equations. No. People were choices.
Hmm, déjà-vu. Riptide is the same book as its predecessor. Once more, we follow in the footsteps of Jaden Korr and his sidekicks Khedryn & Marr on a journey which begins with fringe pulp and ends in esoteric psycho-horror pulp. Once more, they are followed by a One Sith assassin with a quirky ability. And once more, Kemp sprinkles themes of self-realization throughout. If you have already read Crosscurrent, why then should you pick up this sequel?
Certainly not for its original ideas. Let me reiterate: This hits the very same beats as what came before. I just don't feel Kemp's heart was in it with Riptide. Delving beyond the surface, this becomes most noticeable with regard to chapter structure. The first Jaden novel was quite solid in this regard, as its chapters generally centered around a scene or idea which was realized into a cohesively constructed batch. Riptide more so separates its story into arbitrarily selected, hefty chunks which are content with simply regurgitating the plot rather than having any individual merit. And so many scenes are simply short and pointless, giving us characters' POV just to move the plot along in a most uninspired manner! It's such a slapdash work, very little rises above the functional. A Grade A tie-in product.
This extends to what I presumed was Kemp's style, the "pseudo-Stoverian" approach. Now, the novel still retains its fair share of gore and gross-out material; we even get an ominous wall graffiti made out of blood reminiscent of the second Harry Potter volume, hah. Underdeveloped "midichlorian disease" aside however, it never becomes a core trait as it had been previously. I had fewer hiccups with the prose this time around, but that too comes partially down to unambitious genericity. Even the characters are surprisingly more stock than usual, with Jaden all but looking at the reader and telling them he's grown past character development, whereas Marr vanquishes his core traits to Jedi homogenization. There's some objectification of women here, not on a sexual basis but rather two characters acting as literal plot "objects", so that's bad and dumb and drags down the otherwise fun story of one of the clones. The result in all is a novel without an identity of its own. Kemp does try to delve into the Force a bit more, but even then that's more down to a quantity of page time devoted rather than a quality of ideas developed. It's a shame, I quite enjoyed Crosscurrent and its authorial traces, but I can't muster up much enthusiasm for their counterpart.
What does work well? Insipid regurgitation aside, the new assassin character was quite fun. An Umbaran with the ability to neutralize the Force and a struggle with loneliness, it's a solid concept. As alluded to, the clones have a mostly fun and engaging subplot. Their presence doesn't have a direct narrative counterpart in Crosscurrent, so they perhaps carry the most innovation here. My favorite parts however was the final chapter. After all the insipid repetition, the designated Spooky Place at least makes for a fun and freaky setting. A seemingly bioengineered ship with luminescent corridors and certain surprises... it's not as atmospheric as the predecessor's cold dungeons but is at least worthy of some analogy to the NJO series. On that note, "Mother" conjures up images of Fate of the Jedi and The Clone Wars to such an extent that I'm surprised it is apparently unrelated. Or is it, really? Throughout the duology, Kemp makes sure to chase the EU's then-current trends, and I don't see how a character like this could have existed apart from Abeloth.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Riptide is thus what could have been. This is so very clearly a middle chapter of a story which never concluded. There are very many parts in this book where an attentive reader might stumble, might stop and think about what exactly they're reading - what is the deal with Jaden? What do the One Sith really want, and how far does this cloning scheme go? Indeed, what is Mother, and in relation to Abeloth? It's a rabbit hole of possibilites you can lose yourself in, and perhaps Riptide's most eminent legacy. Yet even if this had resulted in a cohesive story down the road, the problems with repetition and lack of style still stand. Even with a sequel or two, Riptide would be an overly iterative and haphazard release. As is, the book stands primarily as one thing, and that's a missed opportunity.
Hmm, déjà-vu. Riptide is the same book as its predecessor. Once more, we follow in the footsteps of Jaden Korr and his sidekicks Khedryn & Marr on a journey which begins with fringe pulp and ends in esoteric psycho-horror pulp. Once more, they are followed by a One Sith assassin with a quirky ability. And once more, Kemp sprinkles themes of self-realization throughout. If you have already read Crosscurrent, why then should you pick up this sequel?
Certainly not for its original ideas. Let me reiterate: This hits the very same beats as what came before. I just don't feel Kemp's heart was in it with Riptide. Delving beyond the surface, this becomes most noticeable with regard to chapter structure. The first Jaden novel was quite solid in this regard, as its chapters generally centered around a scene or idea which was realized into a cohesively constructed batch. Riptide more so separates its story into arbitrarily selected, hefty chunks which are content with simply regurgitating the plot rather than having any individual merit. And so many scenes are simply short and pointless, giving us characters' POV just to move the plot along in a most uninspired manner! It's such a slapdash work, very little rises above the functional. A Grade A tie-in product.
This extends to what I presumed was Kemp's style, the "pseudo-Stoverian" approach. Now, the novel still retains its fair share of gore and gross-out material; we even get an ominous wall graffiti made out of blood reminiscent of the second Harry Potter volume, hah. Underdeveloped "midichlorian disease" aside however, it never becomes a core trait as it had been previously. I had fewer hiccups with the prose this time around, but that too comes partially down to unambitious genericity. Even the characters are surprisingly more stock than usual, with Jaden all but looking at the reader and telling them he's grown past character development, whereas Marr vanquishes his core traits to Jedi homogenization. There's some objectification of women here, not on a sexual basis but rather two characters acting as literal plot "objects", so that's bad and dumb and drags down the otherwise fun story of one of the clones. The result in all is a novel without an identity of its own. Kemp does try to delve into the Force a bit more, but even then that's more down to a quantity of page time devoted rather than a quality of ideas developed. It's a shame, I quite enjoyed Crosscurrent and its authorial traces, but I can't muster up much enthusiasm for their counterpart.
What does work well? Insipid regurgitation aside, the new assassin character was quite fun. An Umbaran with the ability to neutralize the Force and a struggle with loneliness, it's a solid concept. As alluded to, the clones have a mostly fun and engaging subplot. Their presence doesn't have a direct narrative counterpart in Crosscurrent, so they perhaps carry the most innovation here. My favorite parts however was the final chapter. After all the insipid repetition, the designated Spooky Place at least makes for a fun and freaky setting. A seemingly bioengineered ship with luminescent corridors and certain surprises... it's not as atmospheric as the predecessor's cold dungeons but is at least worthy of some analogy to the NJO series. On that note, "Mother" conjures up images of Fate of the Jedi and The Clone Wars to such an extent that I'm surprised it is apparently unrelated. Or is it, really? Throughout the duology, Kemp makes sure to chase the EU's then-current trends, and I don't see how a character like this could have existed apart from Abeloth.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Riptide is thus what could have been. This is so very clearly a middle chapter of a story which never concluded. There are very many parts in this book where an attentive reader might stumble, might stop and think about what exactly they're reading - what is the deal with Jaden? What do the One Sith really want, and how far does this cloning scheme go? Indeed, what is Mother, and in relation to Abeloth? It's a rabbit hole of possibilites you can lose yourself in, and perhaps Riptide's most eminent legacy. Yet even if this had resulted in a cohesive story down the road, the problems with repetition and lack of style still stand. Even with a sequel or two, Riptide would be an overly iterative and haphazard release. As is, the book stands primarily as one thing, and that's a missed opportunity.
February 7, 2024
JADEN KORR DUOLOGY #2: RIPTIDE
This novel was published a year after the previous book and is a direct continuation of the story that ended in a kind of cliffhanger. It takes place 40 years after the Battle of Yavin and follows Jaden Korr and his two new scrap metal-collecting friends, Khedryn Faal and Marr Idi-Shael. Of course, the story of the first book had been left open-ended and now we have Jaden Korr searching for the group of clones who fled the frozen moon where they were trapped for decades.
Now, Jaden has the task of stopping the clones, but first, he contacts Grand Master Luke Skywalker and informs him of everything that happened and how these clones were created since the time of Thrawn, and that they are hybrids of Jedi and Sith DNA. Among them are clones of Kam Solousar (who died in the first book), Kyle Katarn, Lumiya, Mara Jade, and several others. Likewise, there is also a clone of Jaden Korr himself, called Soldier. This group of clones calls themselves the “Community.” Things become more confusing when the Order of the One Sith enters the scene and presents another clone that they plan to infiltrate the Jedi Order and, for this, they send some brothers from the Umbaran race to kill Jaden Korr. These two Umbarans brothers have a special ability, which is being able to sever a Force user's connection to the Force and also deactivate the energy of the lightsabers. It may seem strange at first, but I would say that they are something like the Ysalamiri from Myrkr, a species with the natural gift that acts as a defense mechanism to create a field that severs the connection to the force. The thing is, these brothers have some kind of genetic defect that causes them to also possess this ability. It's strange, it's interesting and I don't hate the concept, but I think it could have been explained better. Still, the ability of the villains here is what makes them a threat to confront the clones and the protagonists.
Then, this becomes even more complicated, because the clones begin to suffer from degeneration, all except Jaden Korr's clone, because it is the most perfected and does not suffer from these diseases. Also, it turns out that the clones had children and you're just thinking, what's fucking going on here? And the truth is that everything becomes even more confusing as you progress.
The plot is about Jaden and his friends finding the ship of the clones, who are being led by the Lumiya clone towards a being they call "Mother." This being turns out to be a strange entity that lives in a Rakatan facility and is some creation of the dark side that was abandoned and now attracts life forms to possess them.
The members of the “Community”, or at least those who remain, since the group has been reduced throughout the plot, and only remain: Soldier, Seer, and Grace, the only surviving daughter of the clones.
For his part, Jaden and his two friends follow the clones and confront the Umbaran assassins, with the Cerean, Marr, as Jaden Korr's new apprentice, because he's sensitive to the Force. There's also a scene where Jaden purifies the lightsaber crystal of Kam Solusar's clone, which is interesting and makes us wonder if they used this concept introduced in this novel to adapt it to the new canon. Their search takes them to this space station, which is described as a structure that grew, not built, but has grown and is like a kind of gigantic cylinder orbiting in space above the planet with a gigantic tube that comes out and grows towards it out and leads apparently towards the planet. I don't find it really strange, or bad, but it's very bizarre, in general it's a very bizarre story.
The most confusing thing is the ending. It's almost certain that Paul S. Kemp had more Jaden Korr novels planned, but when everything was discontinued after Disney then we can assume this novel works as a halfway ending. But, there are still many open questions, which arise when everyone is on board the space station, our heroes, the clones, and the One Sith's clon agent who wants to replace the real Jaden Korr. The original Jaden confronts the Umbaran agent and defeats him, but the evil clone kills him and Jaden dies. Jaden's apprentice, the Cerean Marr sees this and with a device of ancient Rakata technology, transfers his master's consciousness into the body of the evil clone. This device seems to have the ability to store the memories of a living being and then implant them in another body. After that, there is a short pause where everyone has to flee from the “Mother”, who has taken control of Seer's body and wants to kill everyone. They manage to escape and the station along with the Mother are destroyed. The only two surviving members of the Community, Soldier and Grace flee and head to the unknown regions to find a new life and begin to live in peace. While Jaden and his two friends escape aboard their ship.
That's basically the main plot, it ends the story about the clones and a few pages from Jaden's perspective, where he is shaving and notices that he does not have the scar that he had since his childhood. He has a brief panic attack and thoughts running through his head about, What the hell happened on that space station? The confusion only increases at the end as we wonder if this is the real Jaden Korr or an infiltrator, or if maybe he's still the one, but maybe the evil clone could be in control and exist in his consciousness.
All of that is left open and that is the story itself. I would say that this Duology is underrated and I definitely liked giving it a reread.
This novel was published a year after the previous book and is a direct continuation of the story that ended in a kind of cliffhanger. It takes place 40 years after the Battle of Yavin and follows Jaden Korr and his two new scrap metal-collecting friends, Khedryn Faal and Marr Idi-Shael. Of course, the story of the first book had been left open-ended and now we have Jaden Korr searching for the group of clones who fled the frozen moon where they were trapped for decades.
Now, Jaden has the task of stopping the clones, but first, he contacts Grand Master Luke Skywalker and informs him of everything that happened and how these clones were created since the time of Thrawn, and that they are hybrids of Jedi and Sith DNA. Among them are clones of Kam Solousar (who died in the first book), Kyle Katarn, Lumiya, Mara Jade, and several others. Likewise, there is also a clone of Jaden Korr himself, called Soldier. This group of clones calls themselves the “Community.” Things become more confusing when the Order of the One Sith enters the scene and presents another clone that they plan to infiltrate the Jedi Order and, for this, they send some brothers from the Umbaran race to kill Jaden Korr. These two Umbarans brothers have a special ability, which is being able to sever a Force user's connection to the Force and also deactivate the energy of the lightsabers. It may seem strange at first, but I would say that they are something like the Ysalamiri from Myrkr, a species with the natural gift that acts as a defense mechanism to create a field that severs the connection to the force. The thing is, these brothers have some kind of genetic defect that causes them to also possess this ability. It's strange, it's interesting and I don't hate the concept, but I think it could have been explained better. Still, the ability of the villains here is what makes them a threat to confront the clones and the protagonists.
Then, this becomes even more complicated, because the clones begin to suffer from degeneration, all except Jaden Korr's clone, because it is the most perfected and does not suffer from these diseases. Also, it turns out that the clones had children and you're just thinking, what's fucking going on here? And the truth is that everything becomes even more confusing as you progress.
The plot is about Jaden and his friends finding the ship of the clones, who are being led by the Lumiya clone towards a being they call "Mother." This being turns out to be a strange entity that lives in a Rakatan facility and is some creation of the dark side that was abandoned and now attracts life forms to possess them.
The members of the “Community”, or at least those who remain, since the group has been reduced throughout the plot, and only remain: Soldier, Seer, and Grace, the only surviving daughter of the clones.
For his part, Jaden and his two friends follow the clones and confront the Umbaran assassins, with the Cerean, Marr, as Jaden Korr's new apprentice, because he's sensitive to the Force. There's also a scene where Jaden purifies the lightsaber crystal of Kam Solusar's clone, which is interesting and makes us wonder if they used this concept introduced in this novel to adapt it to the new canon. Their search takes them to this space station, which is described as a structure that grew, not built, but has grown and is like a kind of gigantic cylinder orbiting in space above the planet with a gigantic tube that comes out and grows towards it out and leads apparently towards the planet. I don't find it really strange, or bad, but it's very bizarre, in general it's a very bizarre story.
The most confusing thing is the ending. It's almost certain that Paul S. Kemp had more Jaden Korr novels planned, but when everything was discontinued after Disney then we can assume this novel works as a halfway ending. But, there are still many open questions, which arise when everyone is on board the space station, our heroes, the clones, and the One Sith's clon agent who wants to replace the real Jaden Korr. The original Jaden confronts the Umbaran agent and defeats him, but the evil clone kills him and Jaden dies. Jaden's apprentice, the Cerean Marr sees this and with a device of ancient Rakata technology, transfers his master's consciousness into the body of the evil clone. This device seems to have the ability to store the memories of a living being and then implant them in another body. After that, there is a short pause where everyone has to flee from the “Mother”, who has taken control of Seer's body and wants to kill everyone. They manage to escape and the station along with the Mother are destroyed. The only two surviving members of the Community, Soldier and Grace flee and head to the unknown regions to find a new life and begin to live in peace. While Jaden and his two friends escape aboard their ship.
That's basically the main plot, it ends the story about the clones and a few pages from Jaden's perspective, where he is shaving and notices that he does not have the scar that he had since his childhood. He has a brief panic attack and thoughts running through his head about, What the hell happened on that space station? The confusion only increases at the end as we wonder if this is the real Jaden Korr or an infiltrator, or if maybe he's still the one, but maybe the evil clone could be in control and exist in his consciousness.
All of that is left open and that is the story itself. I would say that this Duology is underrated and I definitely liked giving it a reread.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2012
I found this to be overall more fun to read than its prequel Crosscurrent, since we're now working with established characters and a complex plot already in motion. Kemp's style is weak but definitely tolerable, and the characters are nice but shallow. (Mostly we get to hear over and over how much everyone likes each other.) I like the way that different parts of the Expanded Universe are combined in unusual configurations, and I always like to see novels about compelling characters who didn't originate in the films. I would have liked to get some tiny bit of resolution to the more intriguing plot threads, but I guess Kemp is planning on another sequel; I just hope that Del Rey approves him for another book.
July 11, 2012
Fast paced, action packed, and an entertaining read. This is the second book by Paul S. Kemp in the series, and I've enjoyed it so far because it's a bit different from the other Star Wars novels. You won't find any of the main characters here, no Han, or Leia, although Luke does make a brief cameo. These novels focus on Jaden Korr, who was the protagonist from the Jedi Academy game so many years ago. That's one of the things I really enjoy about the Star Wars Universe, random characters from other media can show up in a novel years later, or in this case be the main character in one. I hope the series continues, because this book leaves a lot of open plot lines that could be very interesting if explored in more detail.
Read
October 4, 2012The sequel to Star Wars: Crosscurrent, Riptide continues the adventure of Jedi Knight Jaden Korr, his new apprentice Marr, and spacer Khedryn as they pursue a ship of mad Jedi clones. Along the way, they encounter a brother-sister team of Force-suppressing trackers who will stop at nothing to capture both Korr and the clones.
Overall, the book is not as exciting as other books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Both it and its predecessor lack the frenetic energy and suspense that other novels in the universe hold. Elements of the story, such as Korr's training of Marr, felt contrived and even conflicted with some elements from the previous novel. Still, it is a decent enough read to hold off those Star Wars fans waiting for the next great series to release.
Overall, the book is not as exciting as other books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Both it and its predecessor lack the frenetic energy and suspense that other novels in the universe hold. Elements of the story, such as Korr's training of Marr, felt contrived and even conflicted with some elements from the previous novel. Still, it is a decent enough read to hold off those Star Wars fans waiting for the next great series to release.
May 25, 2012
this book was a very entertaining read, although it did lack some depth. i am a HUGE star wars fan, so my opinion may be a little biased, but the action throughout the book had me hooked. the writing, especially the dialogue, was pretty cliche. I didnt mind too much, mainly because i had my attention more on the plot as a whole, but i know others will find it annoying. the characters all were somewhat predictable in their actions, but again, i didnt really care too much. I read this more for the attraction i have to star wars as a series. otherwise, i though it was pretty good and a must read for someone who likes star wars, sci fi, or books filled with fighting
May 24, 2012
It's been a while since I read the first Crosscurrent but it seemed like a lot more fun than this one. Mr. Kemp is still doing the whole every-exciting-thing-crammed-in thing; this time with clones, the One Sith and fan-favorite dead characters; but this time it doesn't quite work so well. The clones got pretty tedious pretty quickly. I hope that the characters he introduced will become part of the main series of books, but I doubt it.
August 19, 2012
This book continues the story of Jaden Korr and picks up where "Crosscurrent" ended. I had forgotten a lot of the earlier plot, but the action involves Jaden (with the help of Khedryn & Marr of the spaceship, Junker) chasing down clones who can use the dark side of the Force. There's also a shadow group of the One Sith adding complications to the chase. I especially liked the battle in space which had Jaden using his lightsaber & an escape pod against a scout space vehicle. The story ends with quite a few unanswered questions.
May 25, 2012
This was a book I was looking forward to do much, and I loved it for the most part, but the last 50 pages just lost me. I'm a fan of Kemp, but it seems like he lost his notes and had to extemporaneously finish the novel. I have no clue what Mother was supposed to be, and the twist ending with Jaden seemed unnecessary. And please, I know the One Sith are important in the Legacy era, but do they have to show up in each novel that comes out?
May 24, 2012
I'm not a fan of Kemp's Star Wars novels, but this was much better than the 2 he wrote previously. Though not billed as such, Riptide is a sequel to Crosscurrents but stands well on its own. It is, clearly, a "middle" book and I'm looking forward to the next installment. At least, I hope there's another book in the works because otherwise part of the plot will just be hanging.
May 25, 2012
If you ever needed to know the difference between the Jedi and the Sith then this is the book for you!
It was a good read, but a bit confusing in places: two clones of the main character and all three in the same room? I want to know if there is going to be more to this story, or if this was just the second of a two-fer.
It was a good read, but a bit confusing in places: two clones of the main character and all three in the same room? I want to know if there is going to be more to this story, or if this was just the second of a two-fer.
May 25, 2012
The book was an overall enjoyable quick read. Kemp has somewhat of a weak plot in this book, which makes me hope for a sequel. Maybe a final book could turn this weak installment into a good saga. It would be nice to see the character Jaden Korr being explored in depth. Kemp could take the character in many directions. I would be anxious to read another book based on this character.
May 25, 2012
It was an good read.
I appreciate the trend of following characters from videogames into novels, and the story was decent as well. I didn't really like the ending, but presumably it will be discussed in some future (as of yet unannounced) sequel.
I appreciate the trend of following characters from videogames into novels, and the story was decent as well. I didn't really like the ending, but presumably it will be discussed in some future (as of yet unannounced) sequel.
May 18, 2012
It's good, though it has its faults. It basically requires that you have read Crosscurrent. Also, and this is my main complaint, it has lightsaber physics that are completely made up and donot fit with anyother continuity anywhere. And these convenient physicmajor plot device throughout the book.
May 25, 2012
It was pretty bad, but short, that is all.
May 25, 2012
This was fairly enjoyable. I liked it much better than Crosscurrent.
June 24, 2012
A great second half adventure to Jaden Korr's story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews