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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2013
Hey, all!
Going to make this one short and sweet. Into the Void was being heavily hyped as an entry point into the Star Wars universe way before the Jedi even existed, to a time frame shortly after the exploits of Xim the Despot (If you're familiar with the Star Wars timeline, that's really far into the past). I'm not exactly sure what they were attempting to do with this series, and I guess in my mind I had thought that they would go into the events that came about to create the Jedi in the first place. However, in reality that just didn't happen in this book. Perhaps in the sequel, but I'm honestly so disappointed in this one that I'll pass on any sequel.
Let me backtrack some and cover some key points.
PLOT
For sake of brevity, I'll just say that this concerns a Je'daii Ranger called Lanoree Brock. This takes place so far in the past that simply travelling from planet to planet within a single system isn't accomplished within a short period of time as we're used to in more "modern" SW tales. Thus everything takes place within a single star system, but that's not too bad of a thing, as there are plenty of different locales placed in the book.
Lanoree is given the task of stopping a mad man from activating ancient Gree technology and opening up the system to the outside world, which never really is explained why this is a BAD thing. Suffice to say that all the Je'daii superiors are all up in knots that this must not happen. Enter conflict as Lanoree tries to track down the madman and shut down his operations.
CHARACTERS
Actually this was done pretty well in this book, at least in the case of Lanoree. Some of the other characters are also fleshed out some, and in the end you do feel some empathy for the main characters. However, the writing style of flashing back to events in Lanoree's past is super annoying and I found myself wishing that they were significantly reduced or removed. I didn't feel that those events really added much other than to inflate the page count. Still, some of those events helped to flesh out Lanoree and the madman to some extent, so I guess it's forgivable.
OVERALL CONTENT
I have to admit that the use of the more primitive technology was pretty interesting. Since lightsabers didn't exist back then the Je'daii had to resort to other methods. However, it was a bit annoying to have the main Je'daii weapon to in effect act basically the same as a lightsaber in one critical aspect (Deflecting blaster bolts) felt to me as being "unrealistic". I know they tried to explain it, but it just broke the sense of what works and what doesn't work in the SW universe.
However, some of the other technical limitations act to enhance the story line (A space chase mainly comes to mind) and does so nicely enough to add to the story. So I guess it balances out in favor of the story line.
Side note, one of the things that I think that they did which was surprising was to tackle the subject material for an adult reader. So we're not talking fluffy Ewoks here or there, but a mature book with mature situations written for adults. Heck, this is the first SW book that I've ever read with some (very mild) profanity in it. Surprised me, but hey, it worked. I'd like to see more of this!
MY BIG BEEF
Okay, I see no problem with sequels and adding on to the adventures of a character and, given that I like the characters in question, I don't mind buying the next book in the series. However, just like in Star Wars: Revan, this book doesn't actually end. The conclusion is left to another book to be coming out in the near future.
I. HATE. THAT!
I expect a few things in a book, and one of the most basic is a start, middle, and end. I feel so cheated when a book isn't resolved and set to be continued in a next book. How come the book doesn't have a proper conclusion?Since the same thing happened with SW: Revan, I'm concluding that this is the "new" thing that the publisher is trying to do to boost sales.
Look, that's not honest and a stinky tactic. I have no qualms with a book having hooks for some future book, but FINISH the friggin' plot in the existing book! It just makes me hesitate to buy another book from you because I feel like I'm being forced to buy the next one. THAT is the reason why my review lost a full star. So get it together!
CONCLUSION (Hey, at least this review HAS one, not like the book!)
Look, this book had it's good points. Unfortunately the other things really drag it down. It COULD have been a pretty good book, but the potential was missed with some bonehead decisions. One thing is for sure, I'll be REALLY hesitant to buy more SW books in the future, and I'll completely avoid the sequel to this one.
Going to make this one short and sweet. Into the Void was being heavily hyped as an entry point into the Star Wars universe way before the Jedi even existed, to a time frame shortly after the exploits of Xim the Despot (If you're familiar with the Star Wars timeline, that's really far into the past). I'm not exactly sure what they were attempting to do with this series, and I guess in my mind I had thought that they would go into the events that came about to create the Jedi in the first place. However, in reality that just didn't happen in this book. Perhaps in the sequel, but I'm honestly so disappointed in this one that I'll pass on any sequel.
Let me backtrack some and cover some key points.
PLOT
For sake of brevity, I'll just say that this concerns a Je'daii Ranger called Lanoree Brock. This takes place so far in the past that simply travelling from planet to planet within a single system isn't accomplished within a short period of time as we're used to in more "modern" SW tales. Thus everything takes place within a single star system, but that's not too bad of a thing, as there are plenty of different locales placed in the book.
Lanoree is given the task of stopping a mad man from activating ancient Gree technology and opening up the system to the outside world, which never really is explained why this is a BAD thing. Suffice to say that all the Je'daii superiors are all up in knots that this must not happen. Enter conflict as Lanoree tries to track down the madman and shut down his operations.
CHARACTERS
Actually this was done pretty well in this book, at least in the case of Lanoree. Some of the other characters are also fleshed out some, and in the end you do feel some empathy for the main characters. However, the writing style of flashing back to events in Lanoree's past is super annoying and I found myself wishing that they were significantly reduced or removed. I didn't feel that those events really added much other than to inflate the page count. Still, some of those events helped to flesh out Lanoree and the madman to some extent, so I guess it's forgivable.
OVERALL CONTENT
I have to admit that the use of the more primitive technology was pretty interesting. Since lightsabers didn't exist back then the Je'daii had to resort to other methods. However, it was a bit annoying to have the main Je'daii weapon to in effect act basically the same as a lightsaber in one critical aspect (Deflecting blaster bolts) felt to me as being "unrealistic". I know they tried to explain it, but it just broke the sense of what works and what doesn't work in the SW universe.
However, some of the other technical limitations act to enhance the story line (A space chase mainly comes to mind) and does so nicely enough to add to the story. So I guess it balances out in favor of the story line.
Side note, one of the things that I think that they did which was surprising was to tackle the subject material for an adult reader. So we're not talking fluffy Ewoks here or there, but a mature book with mature situations written for adults. Heck, this is the first SW book that I've ever read with some (very mild) profanity in it. Surprised me, but hey, it worked. I'd like to see more of this!
MY BIG BEEF
Okay, I see no problem with sequels and adding on to the adventures of a character and, given that I like the characters in question, I don't mind buying the next book in the series. However, just like in Star Wars: Revan, this book doesn't actually end. The conclusion is left to another book to be coming out in the near future.
I. HATE. THAT!
I expect a few things in a book, and one of the most basic is a start, middle, and end. I feel so cheated when a book isn't resolved and set to be continued in a next book. How come the book doesn't have a proper conclusion?Since the same thing happened with SW: Revan, I'm concluding that this is the "new" thing that the publisher is trying to do to boost sales.
Look, that's not honest and a stinky tactic. I have no qualms with a book having hooks for some future book, but FINISH the friggin' plot in the existing book! It just makes me hesitate to buy another book from you because I feel like I'm being forced to buy the next one. THAT is the reason why my review lost a full star. So get it together!
CONCLUSION (Hey, at least this review HAS one, not like the book!)
Look, this book had it's good points. Unfortunately the other things really drag it down. It COULD have been a pretty good book, but the potential was missed with some bonehead decisions. One thing is for sure, I'll be REALLY hesitant to buy more SW books in the future, and I'll completely avoid the sequel to this one.
