Aaron Allston wirtes books you can enjoy. He does not write literature, nor will reading his books increase your vocabualary. However, you will laugh and you will have moments of extreme joy while reading Betrayal. This book satisfies on many levels.
Our basic plot is the disillusionment of Corellia with the GA. Corellia prepares to defect from the alliance and the alliance offers a counter strike. At the brink of war, families are suddenly forced to decide their own personal alliances. Of course this is a problem for Wedge, whose daughter is in the GA military. Han, whose family is Jedi and somehow sworn to the GA. Corran, who previously was practically married to the GA, now has a huge decision ahead of him also.
Allston moves fluidly through the story. There aren't many characters or locations and that keeps things easy to follow. Of course Jacen and Ben travel to Lorrd where they meet with Brisha Syo (who is Lumiya). Lumiya has a nice chat with Jacen and he fully accepts what he already was becoming...a Sith. If we go through the stages...we have denial before we have acceotance. Jacen's motivations will compel readers to follow the series through to the end.
Characterizations are interesting: The strongest is Han. He reflects on his choices, his duty, his family. He has fabulous inteactions with others, both humor and sadness. I think we are poised to have some really sad interaction with Jacen down the line. You get the feeling that Han was just starting to get Jacen and then the kid turns Sithly. Poor guy...surrounded by Force-sensitives, father-in-law was a Sith; now his son.
Ben has been written very cool, strong, precocious, but still 13. Ben Skywalker may slowly but surely become the same character Anakin Solo was in the first couple NJO books. He watches Jacen and feels for him in the Force. I can't wait to see how he discovers what Jacen is up to. I thnk he'll follow a dark path for awhile and then escape (hopefully to Sekot) and return a Scion of light.
Luke was most annoying. He is the GRANDMASTER DICTAOR. He meets with Omas, no other Jedi. No other masters are mentioned. He tells everyone what to do. He clears the missions. There are a few scenes where is strength is awesome and I like them, but too often he was boss man. Jaina wants to run who investigates the tassel by Luke and Jacen responds: "Let's not. He's been second guessing a lot of my instincts lately...even though he keeps telling me to trust them. " Jaina lets it go, but that is the essence of Jacen.
Jacen our dark and lovely who can stop blaster fire with his bare hand, who sees the future (so he thinks), who is all cold inside (according to Ben).
Satisfaction level: 9/10 Writing ability: 8/10 (humor and references save it)
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