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catchingadri's review against another edition
5.0
As a huge fan of SWTOR, I was excited to finally go back and see more of how Revan ended up where he was in the game. This book gives a great deal of insight into Revan's character. I loved the plot and exploration. I especially loved the Exile being so important to the story! It was great seeing more of her and having her be so important to Revan's story.
cinemasimulacra's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
psijic's review against another edition
3.0
This was both very entertaining and very disappointing.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a great story with a surprising amount of mystery and love for detail. KoTOR II is a fucking brilliant story with beautiful dialogue, acting and maybe the best plot Star Wars has to offer. When the final of the trilogy was dumped with the craze about online services being a constant money income, the arguably saddest event in the history of Star Wars right after Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm happened.
Having played, the MMO The Old Republic, set hundred years later, I can't help but be disappointed be the lack of imagination. That MMOs actually can tell better stories than "there's another superweapon!" has been proven in TESO. But maybe novels will make it better...? Well, no. Drew Karpyshyn seemed to have a very set idea on what happens to Revan, and when the team of KoTOR II changed direction and made the classical hero something much more complex, engaging and memorable, he just went ahead and disenchants virtually everything that made KoTOR II and KoTOR so great.
It's certainly not an easy task to have one novel to be both prequel and sequel of KoTOR II, and prequel of a game set hundreds of years later. A 300 page novel, mind you, can't be the answer, and while it was an entertaining adventure, it lacked the depth and novel-ish feel of even some of the more average Star Wars novels like Rogue Planet. Which, ironically, actually had cooler ideas than Revan and subsequently SWTOR in terms of foreign societies.
This book is best when you just want to play the MMO and ignore KoTOR completely. Of course, that would be a crazy choice since KoTOR is one of the greatest pieces of Star Wars ever, for some, one might even whisper in shadows, actually the best possible experience of that rich world. While the MMO tells cool, but so limited stories that you seldomly forget you're actually in a fictional game. And this is how this novel feels.
The characters are somewhat bland - well, except for Candarous and Lord Scourge, the latter being the actual protagonist of this book. He is a cool character, engaging, and maybe the best thing about this book. Of course it's bound to feel odd to meet the Exile & such as written, set in stone characters when you were free to choose their characters without a voice, but the job done was just disappointing. Karpyshyn seems to both idealize Revan and be bored by Exile, which makes sense, as the latter wasn't created by him. But basically excluding every single other character of the second game? Really? More even, merely mentioning the vast majority of characters of the first game? Whether he had to make this book 300 pages or not, it's so, so short.
Revan is a nice guy. The Exile? Well, she's a nice, very loyal gal. That's basically what I got out of this story. Besides of the fact that Revan seems a bit overpowered; he never came across as this God of the Force. An amazing strategic, yes, a great fighter, but not so damn good. And then so borderline-stupid, too - you really want me to believe he went to the maybe greatest possible threat out there without telling ANYONE where? Going alone? Why? That was part of the mystery of KoTOR 2, and it's explained so matter of fact, on the side, it's... disappointing.
But the worst, worst, worst part about this story is what in fact lurks in the unknown regions. What could it be? A danger much greater than any Sith, any Mandalorian army, something that made Revan leave everyone behind without a word? Well, the answer is.... boring. So, so boring. Spoilers incoming, but trying to keeping spoilers about the games themselves vague.
Now you got Nihilus mixed with Sidious. But this Emperor's brilliance is.... never proven? He's patient, and he sends out people to check out the Republic. Okay. Cool idea. But where Palpatine was also pure evil, he was interesting because of both the clashing philosophies and his strategic genius. The prequels are masterpieces in worldbuilding and plot, sometimes lacking in storytelling, dialogue, CGI, tone.... well. They're problematic. I like them. Because they have something to tell, you know? And their strengths make most of their problems easily excused. Unlike this emperor. He's evil. He's strong. He's patient. Awesome villain.
And this, in the end, is the end of the Exile and Revan? Well, we know it technically isn't since this is a damn prequel-sequel-prequel, but their part in the MMO does nothing to elevate their wasted potential.
Their parts of the MMO are also just a "ah, okay, fine." Just like this book is. Would it have been differently if I didn't know the amazing world of KoTOR, of playing with expectations like Lovecraft? Maybe a small bit. Yes, maybe. But I've known some The Old Republic stories before KoTOR (Fatal Alliance and Jedi Knight MMO) and was never blown away by its worldbuilding. It's just.... what you'd expect, really. The evil version of the Republic. Good fun, nothing more. Until, ironically, Bane, who's pretty cool. Damn it, Drew. And here I thought the essence of Star Wars lies within the telling of new stories, the exploration of new worlds and souls, and the clashing of cultures.
As a massive Mass Effect fan, I can say this for both people who skipped the spoiler section and for those who didn't: This did remind me a bit on, you know, Mass Effect 3. ME3 is awesome, and I love it, but it's also kinda disregarding the mystery of ME1 (which is basically the twin brother of KoTOR 1) and the, I suppose, anticipation of II by answering virtually all questions, with its DLCs (Leviathan and From Ashes), I mean. "We're more than your limited brains could ever comprehend". Unless you're not, it's in some ways pretty classical, actually. But ME3 is still mostly elegant, even with its Reaper story, and is, thanks to the characters, still one of my favourite games ever. This here does neither, and it certainly isn't one of my favourite books.
Should you read it? Well. It depends how well you can differentiate. I like to perceive Star Wars as tales told from the future (a long time ago...), thus accepting contradictions, sometimes even enjoying them. Picking out what I like the best, I guess what fandoms would call "headcanon". So yeah, SWTOR happened to me, but so differently. Anyway. I think you should stay far away from it if you can't make draw this line, if you have this as your definite canon. Because then, KoTOR II alone, alternatively some really cool fan films have so much greater stories and endings to tell. That goes for both people who have played and not played the two games. Because, dear part of the latter, this not a replacement. It's a pre-sequel-prequel that ironically is still worse for people who have played the games. But a nice read for people who haven't isn't worth it if you could, even if it's never, even if it's merely watched, one day enjoy the beauty of KoTOR.
1. Cloak of Deception (4/5)
2. Rogue Planet (3.5/5)
3. Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void (3.5/5)
4. Lost Tribe of the Sith (3/5)
5. The Old Republic: Revan (3/5)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a great story with a surprising amount of mystery and love for detail. KoTOR II is a fucking brilliant story with beautiful dialogue, acting and maybe the best plot Star Wars has to offer. When the final of the trilogy was dumped with the craze about online services being a constant money income, the arguably saddest event in the history of Star Wars right after Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm happened.
Having played, the MMO The Old Republic, set hundred years later, I can't help but be disappointed be the lack of imagination. That MMOs actually can tell better stories than "there's another superweapon!" has been proven in TESO. But maybe novels will make it better...? Well, no. Drew Karpyshyn seemed to have a very set idea on what happens to Revan, and when the team of KoTOR II changed direction and made the classical hero something much more complex, engaging and memorable, he just went ahead and disenchants virtually everything that made KoTOR II and KoTOR so great.
It's certainly not an easy task to have one novel to be both prequel and sequel of KoTOR II, and prequel of a game set hundreds of years later. A 300 page novel, mind you, can't be the answer, and while it was an entertaining adventure, it lacked the depth and novel-ish feel of even some of the more average Star Wars novels like Rogue Planet. Which, ironically, actually had cooler ideas than Revan and subsequently SWTOR in terms of foreign societies.
This book is best when you just want to play the MMO and ignore KoTOR completely. Of course, that would be a crazy choice since KoTOR is one of the greatest pieces of Star Wars ever, for some, one might even whisper in shadows, actually the best possible experience of that rich world. While the MMO tells cool, but so limited stories that you seldomly forget you're actually in a fictional game. And this is how this novel feels.
The characters are somewhat bland - well, except for Candarous and Lord Scourge, the latter being the actual protagonist of this book. He is a cool character, engaging, and maybe the best thing about this book. Of course it's bound to feel odd to meet the Exile & such as written, set in stone characters when you were free to choose their characters without a voice, but the job done was just disappointing. Karpyshyn seems to both idealize Revan and be bored by Exile, which makes sense, as the latter wasn't created by him. But basically excluding every single other character of the second game? Really? More even, merely mentioning the vast majority of characters of the first game? Whether he had to make this book 300 pages or not, it's so, so short.
Revan is a nice guy. The Exile? Well, she's a nice, very loyal gal. That's basically what I got out of this story. Besides of the fact that Revan seems a bit overpowered; he never came across as this God of the Force. An amazing strategic, yes, a great fighter, but not so damn good. And then so borderline-stupid, too - you really want me to believe he went to the maybe greatest possible threat out there without telling ANYONE where? Going alone? Why? That was part of the mystery of KoTOR 2, and it's explained so matter of fact, on the side, it's... disappointing.
But the worst, worst, worst part about this story is what in fact lurks in the unknown regions. What could it be? A danger much greater than any Sith, any Mandalorian army, something that made Revan leave everyone behind without a word? Well, the answer is.... boring. So, so boring. Spoilers incoming, but trying to keeping spoilers about the games themselves vague.
Spoiler
Just another big Sith empire. Literally the same as before. A society with a caste system, with slaves, some evil bad Sith Lords. And the emperor? Well, he has black eyes and was evil even as a child. So evil, in fact, that he was gifted a whole planet by a Sith and went on to dominate everyone. He wants to be immortal and evil and immortal, oh oh, and he's so strong! He drained a planet of life, wow! Funny that not even the Exile once mentioned Nihilus. Drew, the reason Nihilus worked so well was because of that concept of an everlasting hunger without a mind - and him NOT being the only antagonist. He was scary, but most of the time precisely because of his absence!Now you got Nihilus mixed with Sidious. But this Emperor's brilliance is.... never proven? He's patient, and he sends out people to check out the Republic. Okay. Cool idea. But where Palpatine was also pure evil, he was interesting because of both the clashing philosophies and his strategic genius. The prequels are masterpieces in worldbuilding and plot, sometimes lacking in storytelling, dialogue, CGI, tone.... well. They're problematic. I like them. Because they have something to tell, you know? And their strengths make most of their problems easily excused. Unlike this emperor. He's evil. He's strong. He's patient. Awesome villain.
And this, in the end, is the end of the Exile and Revan? Well, we know it technically isn't since this is a damn prequel-sequel-prequel, but their part in the MMO does nothing to elevate their wasted potential.
Their parts of the MMO are also just a "ah, okay, fine." Just like this book is. Would it have been differently if I didn't know the amazing world of KoTOR, of playing with expectations like Lovecraft? Maybe a small bit. Yes, maybe. But I've known some The Old Republic stories before KoTOR (Fatal Alliance and Jedi Knight MMO) and was never blown away by its worldbuilding. It's just.... what you'd expect, really. The evil version of the Republic. Good fun, nothing more. Until, ironically, Bane, who's pretty cool. Damn it, Drew. And here I thought the essence of Star Wars lies within the telling of new stories, the exploration of new worlds and souls, and the clashing of cultures.
As a massive Mass Effect fan, I can say this for both people who skipped the spoiler section and for those who didn't: This did remind me a bit on, you know, Mass Effect 3. ME3 is awesome, and I love it, but it's also kinda disregarding the mystery of ME1 (which is basically the twin brother of KoTOR 1) and the, I suppose, anticipation of II by answering virtually all questions, with its DLCs (Leviathan and From Ashes), I mean. "We're more than your limited brains could ever comprehend". Unless you're not, it's in some ways pretty classical, actually. But ME3 is still mostly elegant, even with its Reaper story, and is, thanks to the characters, still one of my favourite games ever. This here does neither, and it certainly isn't one of my favourite books.
Should you read it? Well. It depends how well you can differentiate. I like to perceive Star Wars as tales told from the future (a long time ago...), thus accepting contradictions, sometimes even enjoying them. Picking out what I like the best, I guess what fandoms would call "headcanon". So yeah, SWTOR happened to me, but so differently. Anyway. I think you should stay far away from it if you can't make draw this line, if you have this as your definite canon. Because then, KoTOR II alone, alternatively some really cool fan films have so much greater stories and endings to tell. That goes for both people who have played and not played the two games. Because, dear part of the latter, this not a replacement. It's a pre-sequel-prequel that ironically is still worse for people who have played the games. But a nice read for people who haven't isn't worth it if you could, even if it's never, even if it's merely watched, one day enjoy the beauty of KoTOR.
1. Cloak of Deception (4/5)
2. Rogue Planet (3.5/5)
3. Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void (3.5/5)
4. Lost Tribe of the Sith (3/5)
5. The Old Republic: Revan (3/5)
eridal582's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
lavaredshrub's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I'm glad we got some kind of continuation to the story of Revan and Meetra even if it wasn't a game.
The story itself is interesting, sets a decent foundation for the sith empire and introduces new characters while keeping the old ones mostly true.
It's really nice to see grey Jedi representation in Revan and see some of his philosophy explored. Even nicer at the end to seea jedi, grey jedi and sith try to take down the emporer together .
It's a shame it can't wrap up the story I'm a satisfying way, as it's simply meant as a precursor to the old republic mmorpg. But for what it is, I think it did a good job of that.
The story itself is interesting, sets a decent foundation for the sith empire and introduces new characters while keeping the old ones mostly true.
It's really nice to see grey Jedi representation in Revan and see some of his philosophy explored. Even nicer at the end to see
It's a shame it can't wrap up the story I'm a satisfying way, as it's simply meant as a precursor to the old republic mmorpg. But for what it is, I think it did a good job of that.
drewpypoopy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
halli_lw's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
This was a solid story, I enjoyed reading it and following along as the characters developed. The ending was not the HEA I usually go for and it was also satisfying and a fantastic end to this epic journey!
andrewnmc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
that_chick26's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
thathaircut's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.75
Revan was surprisingly not a very likeable character, neither were his allies (Meetra, Bastila). Their wrongdoings during and after the campaign against the Mandalorians are brushed over not only by themselves but the author as well it seems. From my perspective, this only contributed to show light side users as pompous, arrogant, and very hypocritical (perhaps even more than usual). Scourge, the Sith character, seemed much more balanced and reasonable in comparison, and his journey captivated me throughout the book. The Mandalorian intrigue was welcome, although too soon forgotten. The book gives us a much needed history regarding the Emperor and Nathema; and introduces us to great characters like Darth Nyriss.
A good read, but the attempts at making the main character relatable or likeable fell short, and definitely made the book less enjoyable.
A good read, but the attempts at making the main character relatable or likeable fell short, and definitely made the book less enjoyable.