Book Review: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex by Troy Denning

I think by now we all know that my one weakness is Star Wars novels.  MY ONE WEAKNESS IS STAR WARS NOVELS.  There now we are all on the same page for those of you who didn’t know.  Anyway, somehow I missed the debut of the latest Fate of the Jedi novel (Vortex by Troy Denning) months ago, and only recently acquired it.  All other books in progress were disregarded after the acquisition of this new book. (My weakness, remember?)  I’ve been working on it all week.  (Not actually sure why it took me even that long to read it.  Usually, they only take a couple of days. I must have been busy.) However, I’ve read it now.

Okay, here’s a quick summary, Luke has been banished from Coruscant until he fixes all the problems in the galaxy.  Mostly, this is because the new boss lady of the government is an ex-imperial who hates everyone (but doesn’t have the Force, so she’s not entirely evil).  He and Ben go off to figure out what is going on in the galaxy, and find the biggest super-villain ever who has been banished into the Maw for centuries, and also they find thousands of Sith warriors.  Since the new boss lady hates the Jedi, the rest of the Jedi are stuck on Coruscant and Luke and Ben have to take on the super-villain and the hordes of evil Sith all by themselves (or at least until everyone can get unstuck from Coruscant).  Awesome, right? 

That’s right.  It is awesome.  Did I mention I love Star Wars novels?  This one is excellent.  I love the novels that center on Luke and all the gang from the original trilogy.  Some are lame, but this one has it all.  Luke, the Solos, Sith.  Drama, mystery, intrigue.  And Luke and Ben take on a whole freaking TRIBE of Sith.  All by themselves.  Don’t tell me that isn’t awesome.  The only problem I had with this book was the super-villain.  I know, I know… What else are the Jedi going to fight?  At this point they’ve pretty much solved every problem in the whole galaxy, but I don’t know Abeloth seems… cheesy.  I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt here, but come on, people, you can do better than this! 

To recap:

I thoroughly enjoyed the latest installment of my favorite Space Opera.  Troy Denning is great at following the Law of George Lucas in his installments (and I’m sure that’s not exactly an easy law to follow), and still end up with an entertaining story that doesn’t seem forced or plotted (although, I’m sure they are very much both of those things).  Plus, there was a whole lot of Saba Sebatyne.  (I have become quite fond of Barabels since The New Jedi Order series.)  I’m going to give this one an enthusiastic thumbs up, but will gently remind people that my weakness is Star Wars novels, and you probably shouldn’t take all of my exuberance at face value since I do have a weakness.