Alyce Caswell - Author
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Book Reviews

Dynasty of Awesome

15/3/2023

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Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil (Star Wars Legends)
​by Drew Karpyshyn

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Darth Bane is growing weaker and his apprentice, Darth Zannah, still has not challenged him - will his dynasty of evil (badumtsh!) end with her? Or must he take drastic action and betray his philosophy by discovering the secret to living forever? Zannah knows she needs to challenge Bane, but she yet to find a worthy successor of her own. Time is running out. Only one Sith will prevail.

The previous instalment in the Darth Bane series was good, but it was rushed out as a replacement for another book and suffered because of this. Dynasty of Evil benefits from a longer publication timeline. The characters are better developed this time and they all contributed to an absolutely fascinating plot. Master vs master...apprentice vs apprentice...I honestly didn't know who was going to come out ahead until the end - and what an ending it was! It seems that my understanding of the outcome of Zannah and Bane's final battle matches what the author intended, though I will admit that it is a bit vague.

Put simply, this is the sequel we've been looking for. It's a pity there wasn't another.

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Always Two There Are

12/3/2023

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Darth Bane: Rule of Two (Star Wars Legends)
by Drew Karphyshyn

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Darth Bane continues to train Zannah, his apprentice - and he continues to grapple with his failure to create a holocron. His activities are veiled in secrecy, but there are still many ways that they can be brought to light. A figure from Zannah's past may expose them. Or perhaps it will be another figure from the past, a Jedi who can't shake the feeling that the Sith may not be as extinct as they seem.

The epic feel of the previous novel is notably absent here, but I would still say that it's a decent sequel - much better than I expected it to be. And yet it still falls short. Karpyshyn likes to use time jumps - I don't like the effect they have on pacing. But I appreciated the return of Farfalla and Darovit, just as I appreciated the use of locations introduced in other EU works. This really helped to make Rule of Two feel like it belonged in a galaxy far, far away (well, the pre-Disney version anyhow).

But I just...wasn't as enthralled with this book as I wanted to be. It needed more development in some areas and Bane needed to be a lot less passive.

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Rule of One

9/3/2023

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Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (Star Wars Legends)
by Drew Karpyshyn

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​Before the Rule of Two, there was Darth Bane. Before Darth Bane, there was an indentured miner full of deadly anger and untapped potential - and his name was Dessel. His rise within the Sith is marked with hard lessons and treachery, but Bane's path will alter the galaxy forever. Yet his biggest challenge is finding the single being who is worthy of coveting his power.

During my recent read-through of the pre-Disney EU media, I thought that some of the Old Republic novels were quite good, but it's now obvious where they drew their inspiration from! What pale imitations. Even Karpyshyn seems to have failed to recapture this magic in his later novels. See, I'm reading these in chronological order, not publication order...so I was used to some very average work from his author. Path of Destruction was nothing short of epic. I'm now quite excited to read the rest of the trilogy.

I will also add that it's extremely impressive Karpyshyn managed to take an underwhelming comic series and turn it into a story worthy of the word "saga".

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Expanded Universe Round-Up #4

19/2/2023

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Spiral (Lost Tribe of the Sith)
Ah. The Lost Tribe of the Sith. My guilty pleasure. I'm glad there was one last piece of their history left to read - and of course I enjoyed it. Sure, we've had secret starships and secret inhabitants on the planet in other stories already... but this was undeniably fun (if a bit bonkers). Hilts was a fave of mine in the Lost Tribe print collection so I was pleased to see him. Too bad there's no more. I'd have happily read more of these.
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​Aflame 
​(Knight Errant Vol 1)
Kerra Holt is given the correct medium this time (the novel did her and her storyline no favours) and she is able to truly shine in the comics. It's by no means a blinding shine, more of a dull gleam, but it's there. Kerra does get on my nerves a bit... I am hoping that some character development occurs. Alas, there aren't many TPBs in the series, so I suspect not.
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​Deluge 
(Knight Errant Vol 2)
I wish I could say this was an improvement, but at least it wasn't a step backwards. I'm rather bemused that John Jackson Miller, who is responsible for my favourite Star Wars comics (KOTOR), managed to create this lacklustre series. I do think it was a good decision to show Kerra's homeworld. The interactions she had there helped to add...at least one dimension to her character lol
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​E
scape (Knight Errant Vol 3)
I suspected that Kerra Holt would enjoy no character development in this series and I was right. This is a disappointing volume in general and extremely disappointing as a conclusion (given the timing, it's obvious that the sale to Disney is the reason the series ended - a mercy killing, really). I felt underwhelmed by a storyline that should have done Big Things for Kerra...but didn't. We are left with the same old ending. More people to save. On repeat. Ad nauseum.
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​​Jedi vs. Sith
I vaguely recall reading this a long time ago... back then it was considered a key piece of Legends canon. It isn't worthy of its prior status. Cartoonish in both art style and storyline, it impressed me when I was a younger, but now I see that it's somewhat nonsensical and there is no solid connection to the galaxy at large. It just seems strange that all this action would be limited to one world. But I still enjoyed this TPB, flaws and all. Perhaps nostalgia is to blame!
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Plot Errant

18/2/2023

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Knight Errant (Star Wars Legends)
​by John Jackson Miller

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Kerra Holt is a Jedi stranded deep in Sith space with no way out - she doesn't even have the coordinates she needs to get home. But she is not aimless. She continues to do what she can to free the beings under Sith rule and that includes making strange, untrustworthy allies. Forget lightsabers and explosions - Sith politics may be the greatest challenge she has ever faced.

This story should not have been presented in the format of a novel. I realise it was meant to complement a comics line, but it was segmented in a way that doesn't really work in prose. It would have made far more sense to be published as part of the comics (that way it's divided suggests that it was the equivalent of three TPBs). The pace was negatively impacted by this and I struggled to get into the story - so many days and so many attempts. Kerra is at times a fun character (mostly she seems a bit flat), but this was not the right vehicle for her.

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Not At All Level

9/2/2023

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Path of Deceit (Star Wars: The High Republic)
​by Tessa Gatton & Justina Ireland

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Padawan Kevmo Zink arrives on Dalna as part of an investigation into missing artefacts and quickly encounters the Path of the Open Hand, which is definitely not as chill and peaceful as they appear. Marda is a devout follower of the Path and her beliefs bring her into instant conflict with Kevmo. She likes him...but how can she befriend a Jedi who abuses the Force?

The most important aspect of this book is the introduction of the Leveler. It is also the only interesting aspect. I was not interested in meeting Marchion Ro's relatives and I'm finding that I'm just not interested in seeing how the whole shebang began. Most of Path of Deceit is an unimportant snorefest. The delightfully dark ending...was a brief glimpse into this book's potential. Alas, it was a potential that was not lived up to.

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The Name's Shan, Theron Shan

2/2/2023

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Annihilation (Star Wars Legends)
by Drew Karpyshyn

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Theron Shan is one of the best loose cannons working for the SIS and that makes him the best candidate for a daring mission into Sith territory in an attempt to destroy a deadly starship. His past and background will either help or hinder him - especially when decisions must be made by those in far more senior positions. Trust goes both ways...or it should!

Hmm. I did enjoy aspects of this book. Theron Shan is a great protagonist and he's Force blind despite his pedigree, which makes him very interesting. I appreciated that the story continued on from the comics and dealt with the outcome, but it was slow going at times and I felt jarred by the overly obvious 20th-century influences present in the novel. Including the less-than-stellar use of female characters (which was also a failing of Karpyshyn's other Old Republic entry, Revan).

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Team-Up Time

26/1/2023

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Fatal Alliance (Star Wars Legends)
by Sean Williams

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A Hutt is keeping a prize of galactic importance in her digs and everyone wants a chance at buying - or stealing - it. Jedi, Sith, Republic, Imperial and even Mandalorian interests are all at play here, but in order to find the true prize they can't compete with each other. They'll have to play along and forge... a fatal alliance (ba dum tsh). No one will come out of this team-up unscathed.

Up until this point, the Old Republic novels have felt less like stories and more like...ghosts of stories. Attempts to carefully follow or avoid the games, attempts that have left me wanting. But this one finally yielded a decent adventure. I found that the more generous length worked in the book's favour - it drew me in and made the characters feel like old friends by the end. An excellent entry.

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Star Wars: ZOMBIES!

22/1/2023

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Red Harvest (Star Wars Legends)
​by Joe Schreiber

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​Hestizo Trace has a gift with plants and so she works at the Agricultural Corps instead of in a Jedi Temple. When a special black orchid is stolen, she is taken along with it - and delivered straight to a Sith Master whose latest project involves Sith trainees who just won't seem to die. Escape is becoming more impossible by the second. Who will be left alive instead of undead?

This was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. But I won't lie - I enjoyed the heck out of it. Sometimes you just need a silly, fun zombie romp involving lightsabers and Tauntauns. Oh and let's not forget the Taken reference. It's the kind of moment you either hate or cackle uncontrollably at. Obviously, I was in the latter camp. A trashy and terrible book, but damn I love it.

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Darth Respirator the First

20/1/2023

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Deceived (Star Wars Legends)
​by Paul S. Kemp

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A peace treaty is to be signed and the war ended - but first, the Sith will do the unthinkable with the Sacking of Coruscant. Jedi Aryn Leneer wants revenge. The footage of the being who killed her Master is on Coruscant, but the Empire is still there and she shouldn't be endangering the treaty. Her journey begins and ends with Darth Malgus. If she succeeds, then she will be betraying her Order and her soul.

I didn't want to like this, but it slowly won me over until I realised that I'd suddenly run out of pages to read. Setting this over three days was a good idea. Due to this, the pace of the story never flagged and there wasn't any time to get bored or focus on the flaws (and yes, there are flaws!). I'm not sure why, but I found Kemp's writing style slightly off-putting. But the story itself was excellent.

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    About

    Alyce Caswell, when she isn't buried in a book or drinking her way through a giant pot of tea, is a keen writer of science fiction and romance. She has published two novels and four novellas in her space opera family saga, The Galactic Pantheon Series.

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  • Home
  • Books
    • The Galactic Pantheon >
      • The Tortured Wind
      • The Twisted Vine
      • The Flickering Flame
      • The Shifting Ice
      • The Whispering Grass
      • The Creeping Moss
      • The Galactic Pantheon Novellas
      • The Adventures of Grace Pendergast, Galactic Reporter
    • The Shadow of the Gods
    • Dealing with the Demon
    • Love and Lockdown
    • The Eyes of Charon
    • Sweet Delights
  • Other Works
  • Book Reviews
  • Contact