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stephk23's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fun book. I don't know that it would appeal to someone who doesn't play SWTOR or is a Star Wars fan in general.
goodverbsonly's review against another edition
4.0
this one i like the best tbh so imagine my surprise when it has the weakest ending
donaldinho's review against another edition
4.0
Easy fun read. Can't resist making the lightsaber sound in my head every time. . . . .
hidekisohma's review against another edition
3.0
So i'm going to ask you two questions. 1. Have you played the expansions for the old republic? 2. do you like Theron? If you've answered no to either of these questions, chances are, you're not going to care about this book.
It seems that with the exception of Fatal alliance, every one of these books has a focus on a character. Revan was obviously...well Revan, Deception was Malgus, and Annhilation is Theron. And while Fatal Alliance was still my favorite of the four, (this being the final old republic book as of now), This one definitely comes in second. Having played the expansions and thinking that Theron's an all right guy, I enjoyed the book to an extent.
The biggest issue with this book is that there's a lot of Theron's mommy and daddy issues scattered throughout. If you can push through that, it's fine. The story itself is pretty generic. Super weapon, Theron has to stop it. About as generic as a star wars story can get. But Theron's funny enough and there's some good enough action scenes to make it worth it.
One of the good things was that it was an incredibly fast read. it's only around 280 pages which compared to fatal alliance is Child's play. I pumped this book out in like 2-3 days.
Overall, nothing fantastic, but not bad. A fun romp through the galaxy with Theron. 3/5.
It seems that with the exception of Fatal alliance, every one of these books has a focus on a character. Revan was obviously...well Revan, Deception was Malgus, and Annhilation is Theron. And while Fatal Alliance was still my favorite of the four, (this being the final old republic book as of now), This one definitely comes in second. Having played the expansions and thinking that Theron's an all right guy, I enjoyed the book to an extent.
The biggest issue with this book is that there's a lot of Theron's mommy and daddy issues scattered throughout. If you can push through that, it's fine. The story itself is pretty generic. Super weapon, Theron has to stop it. About as generic as a star wars story can get. But Theron's funny enough and there's some good enough action scenes to make it worth it.
One of the good things was that it was an incredibly fast read. it's only around 280 pages which compared to fatal alliance is Child's play. I pumped this book out in like 2-3 days.
Overall, nothing fantastic, but not bad. A fun romp through the galaxy with Theron. 3/5.
kb_208's review against another edition
4.0
Another good story from Drew. Doesn't really tie in as well with his others, but it's still worth a read.
jaredkwheeler's review against another edition
2.0
Star Wars Legends Project #29
Background: The Old Republic: Annihilation was released in November 2012. It was written by [a:Drew Karpyshyn|20030|Drew Karpyshyn|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1303916330p2/20030.jpg] as the final tie-in novel in "Old Republic" series. It is Karpyshyn's second Old Republic novel after [b:Revan|10687840|Revan (Star Wars The Old Republic, #1)|Drew Karpyshyn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390459480s/10687840.jpg|15597755] (my review).
The Old Republic: Annihilation is set 3,640 years before the Battle of Yavin, after the conclusion of the main storyline of The Old Republic game, but before the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion. The main character is Theron Shan, and at several points the novel refers to the events of [b:The Lost Suns|13078294|The Lost Suns (Star Wars The Old Republic Comic, #3)|Alexander Freed|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403206347s/13078294.jpg|18245437] comic (my review), set 3 years prior. Major characters include the small-time, Twi'lek criminal Teff'ith, Jedi Master Gnost-Dural (narrator of the "Timeline" segments that provide the historical backstory for The Old Republic), Supreme Commander Jace Malcolm, and Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan (Theron's parents). The plot takes place mostly on planets featured in the game (Nar Shaddaa, Coruscant, Ziost), plus some space stations and capital ships.
Summary: The Sith Emperor is dead and with him the Empire's advantage in the Great Galactic War, but the Sith remain formidable. Meanwhile, a Jedi plot to plant an operative within the enemy's highest ranks has backfired spectacularly: The operative has fallen to the dark side, taken the name "Darth Karrid," manipulated her way into the Dark Council, and assumed control of the Ascendant Spear, the most powerful capital ship in the galaxy. In addition to weapons and armaments far beyond anything in the Republic fleet, the Spear is augmented with dark-side energies channeled by its commander and her apprentices as she communes directly with the ship. Knowing they cannot defeat the Spear in battle, the Republic recalls its best intelligence operative and sends him with Karrid's former master on a desperate mission where hope of success is slim and millions of lives hang in the balance.
Review: Annihilation reads a lot like any of a dozen multi-mission storylines from The Old Republic, which will feel repetitive and cliche to anyone who has played through multiple characters in the game. Actually, it's worse than that. I mentioned the various references to The Lost Suns, but it would be more accurate to call this novel a direct sequel. And it would be most accurate of all to call this a blatant retread. Annihilation recycles the plot of The Lost Suns in most of its important details, merely substituting new characters to replace the ones who died in the previous story. So, while most fans will recognize the incredible laziness of yet another tired superweapon plot, only those who have read the comic will appreciate how deeply unoriginal the novel is.
Which is a shame, because I still really like these characters, particularly Theron. As both a descendant of Revan, and interesting in his own right, he is the ideal "main character" of this period of Star Wars history. Revan and his progeny are the Skywalkers of the era, and Theron has a lot of unrealized potential.
Hot-tempered Teff'ith is just as welcome this time around as a source of comic relief and skill with a blaster, but her presence in the story is just as mystifying, too. In The Lost Suns, even though he's an interplanetary spy, Theron was doing police-work on Coruscant for some reason and collared Teff'ith for some low-level criminal activity. Then, he ended up being in such a rush that he couldn't leave her handcuffed to a nearby pole and call the actual police or drop her off with port authorities or anything, but had to haul her around with him so she could join in his adventures. Okay, fine. She's a lot of fun, so we'll let it slide.
This time, she (being as grumpy as ever) has a standing desire to never see or hear from him again, but he finds himself feeling so protective of her that, as the novel opens, he is using his vacation time to follow her around and quietly keep her out of trouble. Which is complicated by the fact that she might just shoot him herself if she were to spot him following her around. Nevertheless, she is somehow the only decent underworld contact that anyone in the entire SIS has, and Theron has to sweet-talk her into lending a hand with vital covert operations not once, but twice. This feels a bit like the Law of Economy of Characters run amok . . . Karpyshyn pulls several moves like this that manage to make a very large galaxy feel very, very small.
And the fact that Teff'ith speaks in a weird pidgin-Basic is just as odd this time around. Actually, it's even more odd because at one point she perfectly pulls off a comm interaction impersonating an Imperial officer with a flawless accent, which means she's actually just choosing to talk like that. Anyway, that's probably more than enough about Teff'ith . . . I could also complain about Darth Karrid having the worst "Darth" name ever, since it presumably comes from her real name: Kana Tarrid. Ugh. So, Darth Vader would have been Darth Akywalker, and Darth Sidious would have been Darth Salpatine? Boo. Try harder.
But these complaints are getting petty, so I should stress that the plot moves along at a brisk pace, stringing well-conceived action sequences together with more character development for Theron. A mission to Ziost to steal the Imperial equivalent of the Nazi Enigma Machine is a definite highlight, as a change of pace. This isn't anything like a stand-out effort, but it's perfectly functional and diverting, for what it's worth. The real disappointment isn't what it is, but it should have been.
C+
Background: The Old Republic: Annihilation was released in November 2012. It was written by [a:Drew Karpyshyn|20030|Drew Karpyshyn|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1303916330p2/20030.jpg] as the final tie-in novel in "Old Republic" series. It is Karpyshyn's second Old Republic novel after [b:Revan|10687840|Revan (Star Wars The Old Republic, #1)|Drew Karpyshyn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390459480s/10687840.jpg|15597755] (my review).
The Old Republic: Annihilation is set 3,640 years before the Battle of Yavin, after the conclusion of the main storyline of The Old Republic game, but before the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion. The main character is Theron Shan, and at several points the novel refers to the events of [b:The Lost Suns|13078294|The Lost Suns (Star Wars The Old Republic Comic, #3)|Alexander Freed|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403206347s/13078294.jpg|18245437] comic (my review), set 3 years prior. Major characters include the small-time, Twi'lek criminal Teff'ith, Jedi Master Gnost-Dural (narrator of the "Timeline" segments that provide the historical backstory for The Old Republic), Supreme Commander Jace Malcolm, and Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan (Theron's parents). The plot takes place mostly on planets featured in the game (Nar Shaddaa, Coruscant, Ziost), plus some space stations and capital ships.
Summary: The Sith Emperor is dead and with him the Empire's advantage in the Great Galactic War, but the Sith remain formidable. Meanwhile, a Jedi plot to plant an operative within the enemy's highest ranks has backfired spectacularly: The operative has fallen to the dark side, taken the name "Darth Karrid," manipulated her way into the Dark Council, and assumed control of the Ascendant Spear, the most powerful capital ship in the galaxy. In addition to weapons and armaments far beyond anything in the Republic fleet, the Spear is augmented with dark-side energies channeled by its commander and her apprentices as she communes directly with the ship. Knowing they cannot defeat the Spear in battle, the Republic recalls its best intelligence operative and sends him with Karrid's former master on a desperate mission where hope of success is slim and millions of lives hang in the balance.
Review: Annihilation reads a lot like any of a dozen multi-mission storylines from The Old Republic, which will feel repetitive and cliche to anyone who has played through multiple characters in the game. Actually, it's worse than that. I mentioned the various references to The Lost Suns, but it would be more accurate to call this novel a direct sequel. And it would be most accurate of all to call this a blatant retread. Annihilation recycles the plot of The Lost Suns in most of its important details, merely substituting new characters to replace the ones who died in the previous story. So, while most fans will recognize the incredible laziness of yet another tired superweapon plot, only those who have read the comic will appreciate how deeply unoriginal the novel is.
Which is a shame, because I still really like these characters, particularly Theron. As both a descendant of Revan, and interesting in his own right, he is the ideal "main character" of this period of Star Wars history. Revan and his progeny are the Skywalkers of the era, and Theron has a lot of unrealized potential.
Hot-tempered Teff'ith is just as welcome this time around as a source of comic relief and skill with a blaster, but her presence in the story is just as mystifying, too. In The Lost Suns, even though he's an interplanetary spy, Theron was doing police-work on Coruscant for some reason and collared Teff'ith for some low-level criminal activity. Then, he ended up being in such a rush that he couldn't leave her handcuffed to a nearby pole and call the actual police or drop her off with port authorities or anything, but had to haul her around with him so she could join in his adventures. Okay, fine. She's a lot of fun, so we'll let it slide.
This time, she (being as grumpy as ever) has a standing desire to never see or hear from him again, but he finds himself feeling so protective of her that, as the novel opens, he is using his vacation time to follow her around and quietly keep her out of trouble. Which is complicated by the fact that she might just shoot him herself if she were to spot him following her around. Nevertheless, she is somehow the only decent underworld contact that anyone in the entire SIS has, and Theron has to sweet-talk her into lending a hand with vital covert operations not once, but twice. This feels a bit like the Law of Economy of Characters run amok . . . Karpyshyn pulls several moves like this that manage to make a very large galaxy feel very, very small.
And the fact that Teff'ith speaks in a weird pidgin-Basic is just as odd this time around. Actually, it's even more odd because at one point she perfectly pulls off a comm interaction impersonating an Imperial officer with a flawless accent, which means she's actually just choosing to talk like that. Anyway, that's probably more than enough about Teff'ith . . . I could also complain about Darth Karrid having the worst "Darth" name ever, since it presumably comes from her real name: Kana Tarrid. Ugh. So, Darth Vader would have been Darth Akywalker, and Darth Sidious would have been Darth Salpatine? Boo. Try harder.
But these complaints are getting petty, so I should stress that the plot moves along at a brisk pace, stringing well-conceived action sequences together with more character development for Theron. A mission to Ziost to steal the Imperial equivalent of the Nazi Enigma Machine is a definite highlight, as a change of pace. This isn't anything like a stand-out effort, but it's perfectly functional and diverting, for what it's worth. The real disappointment isn't what it is, but it should have been.
C+
elodiethefangirl's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
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? Yes
4.5
bodehoover's review against another edition
5.0
The actual plot of this book wasn't anything special but Drew Karpyshyn managed to tie all of the previous book into this one very well. It was really interesting to learn more about Grandmaster Satele Shan (daughter or Revan and Bastila Shan from a previous book) and her relationship with Jace Malcolm and Theron Shan. It does get annoying though when every Star Wars book/movie has some big, unstoppable weapon that needs to be destroyed. It started with 2 Death Stars, then Starkiller Base, and now the Ascendant Spear. Since this book takes place thousands of years before the time of the movies though, the Ascendant Spear was actually the first weapon capable of mass destruction that we see later.
Theron has to be one of my favorite non-force users. He is sarcastic with everyone and tends to ignore the chain of command. His exchanges with other characters and side remarks made the book more alluring.
Most Star Wars books are just a lot of action with little character development, but Annihilation stands out as one of the best Star Wars books I have read.
Theron has to be one of my favorite non-force users. He is sarcastic with everyone and tends to ignore the chain of command. His exchanges with other characters and side remarks made the book more alluring.
Most Star Wars books are just a lot of action with little character development, but Annihilation stands out as one of the best Star Wars books I have read.
graff_fuller's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
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
4.25
I am glad that the Old Republic arc...ended strong. I had a feeling that Drew Karpyshyn would be able to bring it back together, nicely.
Now, having read it, I think the arc was good, but wished there were more of a through line, than it just being set in the Old Republic. Just saying.
Now, that said, I enjoyed most of the books/stories...and this on in particular.
The idea of self-sacrifice and also trying to right, a wrong...done by a subordinate.
The good versus evil...and with evil as the victor (usually), or even the protagonist...is interesting. This wasn't that, but for the Old Republic, they could've gone that way...and as Star Wars is experimenting with The Acolyte, I hope they make that jump. I'm not a "fan" of the Dark Side of the Force, but they DO make intriguing characters...and I wish that this arc during the Old Republic had gone that route.
I enjoyed this story, and look forward to reading onward into the next era. I believe the first book is Darth Plagueis by James Luceno. I hope they try to make him a sympathetic character...for Darth Sidious tried his best to do that with Anakin (before he was made into Darth Vader).
SO...I continue the path of trying to read the entire Legends era of Star Wars. It's a long road, but it has been fun, so far.
Now, having read it, I think the arc was good, but wished there were more of a through line, than it just being set in the Old Republic. Just saying.
Now, that said, I enjoyed most of the books/stories...and this on in particular.
The idea of self-sacrifice and also trying to right, a wrong...done by a subordinate.
The good versus evil...and with evil as the victor (usually), or even the protagonist...is interesting. This wasn't that, but for the Old Republic, they could've gone that way...and as Star Wars is experimenting with The Acolyte, I hope they make that jump. I'm not a "fan" of the Dark Side of the Force, but they DO make intriguing characters...and I wish that this arc during the Old Republic had gone that route.
I enjoyed this story, and look forward to reading onward into the next era. I believe the first book is Darth Plagueis by James Luceno. I hope they try to make him a sympathetic character...for Darth Sidious tried his best to do that with Anakin (before he was made into Darth Vader).
SO...I continue the path of trying to read the entire Legends era of Star Wars. It's a long road, but it has been fun, so far.
probablyrachel's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75