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beerd1's review
5.0
Oh it was good, it was so good, also it was gay, so gay, in the very best way. It enforced my love of BD-1 even more strongly, which I didn’t think was possible and has me hoping for a live action appearance of Cal… also, so so excited for Survivor now.
jerrysaywhaaa's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
This was such a poorly written book, I can’t tell if the author thought the audience was dumb, or they themselves are just dumb. It feels so slow paced because you spend so much time during the action inside the character’s heads hearing their every thought. I also hated the third person limited narrative that would randomly switch which character’s mind they were in. It even made me kind of hate the characters too, especially since there’s little to no character development at all. It really felt like this book was just a bad knock off of Rebels. Maybe if I knew more about the Jedi video games, then I would have liked this book better (but I doubt it).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Genocide, and Blood
Minor: Sexual content
spooky_steven's review
2.0
This was…really mixed. The romance (and new character) was awful & poorly written but the stuff outside of it was *ok* I guess. The plot was really weak & badly paced but the development for Mantis crew (especially Merrin) was ok.
topperfalkon's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I think Battle Scars suffers from being a relatively unimportant bridging novel between both Jedi games, whilst apparently simultaneously having the brief of assuming the reader hasn't played the games. As a result, the start and parts throughout the rest of the books are throwbacks to the first game often with some additional clarification/lore thrown in, which makes the going hard at times.
I was also expecting the book to tie more closely into the state the second game begins with, but actually it seems like Lucasfilm played that story close to their chest, so whilst there's some character development that may or may not have influenced the characters in the second game, the book ends up playing out like the Mantis crew just on one particular mission, rather than a connective narrative between the two games.
Most of the crew do develop from the first game, but mostly the focus is on Merrin, who gets a canonical queer romance storyline that probably would have killed EA if it ever made it into a game. It's overly fawning with a bond based on survivorship, which is a good thematic hook but gets a bit too full-on and repetitive at times without really bringing the story forwards.
I don't feel any of this is the author's fault, and the story picks up once we get into the second act, but having played Jedi: Survivor before reading this, I was hoping for a bit more of a bridge in that character transition.
I was also expecting the book to tie more closely into the state the second game begins with, but actually it seems like Lucasfilm played that story close to their chest, so whilst there's some character development that may or may not have influenced the characters in the second game, the book ends up playing out like the Mantis crew just on one particular mission, rather than a connective narrative between the two games.
Most of the crew do develop from the first game, but mostly the focus is on Merrin, who gets a canonical queer romance storyline that probably would have killed EA if it ever made it into a game. It's overly fawning with a bond based on survivorship, which is a good thematic hook but gets a bit too full-on and repetitive at times without really bringing the story forwards.
I don't feel any of this is the author's fault, and the story picks up once we get into the second act, but having played Jedi: Survivor before reading this, I was hoping for a bit more of a bridge in that character transition.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
idkhow2ratebooks's review against another edition
I’ll return to it someday, just never caught my eye i guess.
jdsterkin's review
1.0
Maggs’ prose reads like middle school era Tumblr fanfiction, and reduces one of the pre-existing characters into a sex toy for her OC. It is worth neither your time or money.
5lastofhisname's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
watermelanie's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
sarkenobi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
ellie_cripps's review
2.0
Genuinely one of the oddest books I have read in a long time, felt like it wasted the opportunity to explore the character relationships that existed from the first game in favour of extra characters with no ties to the audience. Messy at best