Tempest (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Book Three)

Title: Tempest
Author: Troy Denning
Superseries: Star Wars
Series: Legacy of the Force
Preceeded By: Bloodlines (By Karen Traviss)
Succeeded By: Exile (By Aaron Allston)

Ratings

Score: 10/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Definite!

Review

When I picked this book up at midnight last night, it was with the intention of reading for ten or twenty minutes before going to bed. Three hours later, I put the finished book down. From the prologue to the end, I found no point in the book where I didn't want to read "just the next few pages..."

As with the previous book, Bloodlines, I started reading with some trepidation that the third (and final) author in the series would not meet the quality that I had found in the first two. I'm happy to be able to say I needn't have worried. Denning is at least as good as Aalston and Traviss, and once more I'm glad that I started reading this series.


There are a few differences between the three authors, Denning doesn't start a section with the location as the other two did, for example, and his style is a little different, but I think that the three authors write similarly enough to make the series seem consistent, and so far the stories meld together well.

Now, in previous reviews I've expressed dislike at prologues mid-series. To me a prologue is something that happens before the main story, and out of place in sequels. So when I found that this had a prologue, I expected to be annoyed by it. However, it isn't really a prologue as the story pretty much leads on directly, just as the epilogue is more of a final chapter than the "Some time Later" that I normally expect it to be.

And to be honest, that is the biggest thing I didn't like about this book. The words "prologue" and "epilogue". Which is nothing at all really. Perhaps I would have preferred a more definite conclusion to Lumiya's storyline, but I'm assuming that it was left vague on purpose. I guess I'll find out in book four.

It's rare that I read three consecutive books in a series that rate so highly. Each author has had a good start to the series, and I look forwards to reading the rest of them. Of the Extended Universe that I have read, only the Darth Bane books have surpassed these, and not by much. Even if they had been left unpublished from now on, I would highly recommend these first three of the Legacy of the Force series. 

More Information

Main Protagonist(s): Mixed. Although I'm never really sure who the "good guy" is.
Main Antagonist(s): Two definite females, otherwise some organisations.
Main Relationships: Heterosexual, but not very central
Genre: Science Fiction
Brief Synopsis (from Amazon):
As civil war threatens the unity of the Galactic Alliance, Han and Leia Solo have enraged their families and the Jedi by joining the Corellian insurgents. But the Solos draw the line when they discover the rebels’ plot to make the Hapan Consortium an ally–which rests upon Hapan nobles murdering their pro-Alliance queen and her daughter.

Yet the Solos’ selfless determination to save the queen cannot dispel the inescapable consequences of their actions, that will pit mother against son and brother against sister in the battles ahead. For as Jacen Solo’s dark powers grow stronger under the Dark Jedi Lumiya, and his influence over Ben Skywalker becomes more insidious, Luke’s concern for his nephew forces him into a life-and-death struggle against his fiercest foe, and Han and Leia Solo find themselves at the mercy of their deadliest enemy . . . their son. 

ISBN: 978-0-09-949204-7
Website: -
Amazon Link: US UK
Pages: 392
First Published: 2006
Publisher: Arrow