Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic, 26 Jun 2008
Publisher's summary
With the dark ascension of the Empire, and the Jedi Knights virtually wiped out, one Jedi who escaped the massacre is slated for a date with destiny--and a confrontation with Darth Vader.
Jax Pavan is one of the few Jedi Knights who miraculously survived the slaughter that followed Palpatine's ruthless Order 66. Now, deep in Coruscant's Blackpit Slums, Jax ekes out a living as a private investigator, trying to help people in need while concealing his Jedi identity and staying one step ahead of the killers out for Jedi blood. Others search for the elusive Jax too. Hard-boiled reporter Den Dhur and his buddy, the highly unorthodox droid I-5YQ, have shocking news to bring Jax--about the father he never knew.
But when Jax learns that his old Jedi Master has been killed, leaving behind the request that Jax finish a mission critical to the resistance, Jax has no choice but to emerge from hiding--and risk detection by Darth Vader to fulfill his Master's dying wish.
*****
My review
This is a fantastic book. It is very well written with great characters in it. The storyline is excellent, and it has a great pace right from the start. It is not overwhelming though, and the story does not slow down at any point.
I could not put the book down from start to finish, this will be a book that I will read again and again. I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
Thank you Michael Reaves for writing such a great book :D
*****
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An entertaining read, 20 Jul 2008
I haven't read any Star Wars novels in a while, but was intrigued by the blurb on the cover which led me to believe this was about a Jedi working as a private investigator. I was expecting a mystery story. It isn't, but it is an interesting read.
The main strength of this story is the way it leads the reader to empathise and sympathise with characters who have opposing agendas, and makes you want everyone to succeed. The protagonist - Jedi knight in hiding, Jax Pavan - is the best fleshed out of all the characters, and his story provides an interesting look at the fate of a surviving Jedi after the rise of the Empire. Each of the secondary characters - including Darth Vader's personal aide, an ex-soldier, a sentient droid, and an elite assassin - are equally, if not more, interesting. In multi-threaded books, I usually find myself wishing the writer would spend more time on my favourite character, and I often get bored waiting for them to come back, but not so here. As the threads begin to draw together, each different perspective becomes more interesting, and I found myself drawn into the Coruscant underworld, where the last Jedi are hiding and the resistance is beginning to form.
The book's big weakness, I think, is the prose, which is often too bland, at times too descriptive, and at other times not descriptive enough. Sometimes plot development is spelled out to the reader to an almost patronising degree, and repeated as each character learns about it. I would also have liked perhaps a little more character development; being told a character has great martial skills and having to take it on faith until the end is weak writing, when it would not have been hard to work in a demonstration or two. Perhaps over-zealous editing is to blame.
This isn't a bad book, but neither is it a great book. Read it if you feel like spending a couple of hours immersing yourself in the seedier side of Coruscant during the early days of the Empire.
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6 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
release date, 11 April 2007
The release date for this book is actually July2008
(slightly more than 4-6 weeks)!
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