Fall of the Sith Empire

Review by me, “No one”

Star Wars Fall of the Sith Empire
By Kevin J Anderson
5000 BBY


Synopsis:

Naga Sadow prepares to lead his Sith forces into Republic space to achieve the Sith dream of galactic conquest! Meanwhile, Jori Daragon makes her way back to warn the Republic and Empress Teta of the impending doom. But doing the right thing for once won’t be easy, to do so she must avoid arrest for the list of crimes she committed before leaving Cinnagar. Before beginning the battle, Sadow makes preparations for war (see Star Wars Crosscurrent also) by rallying the Sith Empire to his cause, and training Gav Daragon in the ways of the Sith.

Sadow leads his banner across several Republic worlds unleashing the horrors of war, enhanced by his use of a meditation sphere and Sith Battle meditation. Several Jedi aid the Rpublic’s defenses but even that is barely sufficient. Luckily an embittered Gav Daragon has seen the error of his ways and disrupts Sadow’s meditation, turning the tide of battle in favor of the Republic.

As the Sith forces are in retreat, Naga Sadow flees to Yavin Four, where he bides his time and begins constructing some mysterious temples. Jav Daragon rebuilds her life by starting a repair shop in honor of her fallen friend Aarrba the Hutt’s name.



Review:

This one was a lot better than the first half of Golden Age of the Sith, and about the same as pt2 of the same story. For one, the art as a whole was better, Dario Carrasco Jr.’s pencils be thanked for this. Though overall the art was better, I still don’t care for most of the fashion of this era. I don’t exactly get what they were going for. It looks kind of Roman, but kind of Egyptian, and pretty raggedy.

Despite the fact that Fall was better than Golden Age in parts, I still get a feeling that it’s more or less just a Tales of the Jedi potboiler. I don’t know why. Outside of Odan Urr and Yavin Four, there’s not much that connects this to later TOTJ stories. I guess those two are fairly critical to TOTJ but still. There are connections to later stories with Korriban, ZIost and the meditation spheres, but those are fairly recently. More like they’re going back here to make this seem like less of a potboiler by taking a few good things.

It was also cool to see the ancient Coruscant. Even 5000 years before the movies, the senate hall exterior looked somewhat familiar.

Storywise, the action was a lot better, though kind of messy. There was a lot of battles being fought and it was a bit overwhelming having that many battlefronts. Coruscant, Kirrek, Cinnagar come to mind, though there may have been more.

There are a few events which I would like to point out. The first is the parallel to Order 66. Naga Sadow has the Massassi slaves kill the commanding Sith lords on each ship. It seems the Sith seem to reuse some of their strategies. At least they waited 5000 years.

We also we here Odan Urr’s passion for old knowledge has a twofold part to play. One, he creates the library of Ossus. And Two, he has the Sith Holocron that will ultimately lead to Exar Kun’s reign of terror. Regarding Ossus, I realize that there are thousands of years between TOTJ and the prequels, but wouldn’t the prequel era Jedi have known about Ossus? I guess we’ll find out more once we get further into the TOTJ.

Another key thing that appears is the Sith Meditation sphere ship. It’s good to see it in use so that’s easier to visualize in the Legacy of the Force series. Though it brings up the question, would a starship still function after 5000 years?

Not much else to say regarding the review as it’s a comic and kind of hard to review the way a novel is. Not say that it’s less of a story, it’s just easier to critique a 300 page novel than 50-100 page comic. Also, 5000 years BBY is not exactly my favorite era. Even the old TOTJ series isn’t that good until Dark Lords of the Sith. Though that is the case, I have more to say about it. TOTJ was more exciting for me because there was more anticipation. Maybe it’s my attitude, or the fact that I’ve grown, but I’ve always had a hard time getting into Golden Age and Fall.

Overall this one wasn’t bad, but certainly not essential reading, sorry KJA. I guess it was good to read this, and Golden Age once, but once you know the essentials it’s OK to put that in the back of your mind and let it just have a pleasant rest as just back story. I’d say the biggest take away would be that Naga Sadow basically was a true Sith, he tried to achieve his goals and failed miserably because he didn’t have a decent plan. He was no Palpatine. The other thing to take away from this is that the Sith had some downright dangerous knowledge, but most of them didn’t seem to know how to use most of it. It wasn’t until Exar Kun and Darth Revan that the Sith started becoming more dangerous. They seem to have uncovered and built upon the knowledge that these Sith forgot.

Golden Age of the Sith

Golden age of the Sith

5000 BBY


Synopsis:

Down on their luck explorers Gav and Jori Daragon are trying to make their big mark upon the galaxy. Their job, to find new hyperspace routes in the hopes that they can find a route that leads to a great trade opportunity or allows the merchants to travel to other systems more quickly. The Daragons make one more hyperspace jump in the hopes that it will lead to their big break. Of course they botch it up and then damage their ship.

The Daragons end up back on the planet Cinnagar, waiting for their repairs to be finished, and trying to find a way to pay for them. While reflecting upon their downturn, matters grow worse when they run afoul of bounty hunters. Having nothing to lose but their lives, they steal their repaired ship and make a random jump into the unknown. And end up in the heart of the Sith empire.

In the Sith Empire, Marka Ragnos has just died leaving Naga Sadow and Ludo Kresh to squabble over the remains of the empire. Kresh is content to enjoy the decadence and luxury of the empire while Sadow sees the Daragons as his opportunity to control the galaxy. After taking advantage of the (nonexistent) outside threat of the Republic, Sadow assumes control of the Sith and subdues Kresh’s forces, and allows Jori Daragon to escape to the Republic. Gav is left behind and begins learning the powers of the Sith.


Review:

I’m not terribly fond of this story. The Daragons aren’t especially likable characters. They are screw ups, never doing anything right, but that’s not the only issue. They’re also kind of whiny and deceitful as well. Sort of like a morally questionable Ep IV Luke Skywalker. Aarbah the Hutt on the other hand is kind of a likeable character, breaking the gangster stereotype and his design is pretty cool. The purple hat is probably what makes his image.

We are also introduced to some Jedi, Odan Urr and Memit Nadill. Master Ooru, a motherbrain looking guy, who actually appeared on cracked.com’s worst Star Wars character list. He was kind of cool, but to each his own. The archaic lightsaber was interesting as well, having it attach to a power supply on the belt really makes it look old fashioned.

Overall, most of the art/design of the book isn’t really that appealing, at least in the Republic. I understand it’s supposed to be thousands of years before Skywalker, but everyone is wearing mismatched or tattered toga-ish robes. Odan Urr actually isn’t bad, his armor looks cool and his Jedi robes actually look somewhat contemporary. Once we see the Sith Empire though, that’s when things look cool. Korriban, and the valley of Dark Lords is cool. Marka Ragnos’ tomb is just as it looked in the Jedi Academy game. It’s cool to see where that came from. The rest of the Sith Empire was cool, the ships, the architecture, even what they wore.

Story wise, I have to say it wasn’t anything exceptional, despite being written by one of my favorite authors, Kevin J Anderson. The best parts happened in the Sith Empire. The double crossing that the Sith do to each other, clearly showing why Bane’s rule of two is essential. Naga Sadow double crosses other lords and even kills his former mentor, Simus (who at this point is just a desiccated head), and manipulates a threat to assume power.

So first half of the story, I would give one or two stars, but the Sith half four or five out five. The story does shine light on the origins of the Sith, which is nice but not wholly necessary.

Long, Longer ago in a Galaxy...

A little intro on me. I grew up in the 80's on the original trilogy. In the 90's I got hooked on reading the EU with Tim Zahn's stuff, then Kevin J anderson. Beyond those I have read one off stories here and there, and the occasional trilogy. Then i kind of gave up thinking the quality was starting to suck. I was also upset that there was no real continuity/timeline.

Then the New jedi Order came, with a timeline, and I began reading and enjoying those. I went back and bought almost all the books I was missing, and new stuff when I can find it on the cheap. As the NJO dragged on, and the prequels were coming out, i began to lose interest in the NJO, especially once Anakin Solo died. So, i read the post NJO stuff, I am beginning to lose interest as they are covering ground that has been covered before. Hmm, Jacen Solo (Anakin Skywalker's grandson) becoming a Sith! Oh, Obi-Wan duels a jedi who survived order 66 and he becomes a Sith (Darth Krayt)!

So why should you read this? mainly because I want to look at everything as a whole and just go through it in some sort of order. Also, in giving my opinion/review of a given story, you can decide for yourself if it's worth your time. And I am going to read all these, and have already started, so why not write about it?

So to start, the furthest back I have read is Golden age of the Sith, and Fall of the Sith Empire. I have not yet read Golden Age, but I have read Fall of the Sith. before saying anything about this, I will review if possible. My local library should have both. Then I will be going into the Tales of the Jedi series which i recall having enjoyed, despite the ancient looking art. for the time, it wasn't bad.

I actually have read the TOTJ, but I also listened to an audio drama of TOTJ, Freedon Nadd Uprising, and Dark Lords of the Sith. I will conclude the first review with the Sith War TPB.

My memory at the moment was that all of this stuff came out in the mid 90's and at a time I was waiting for the prequels to come out. Looking back, it's not the best, but it's certainly better than some stuff out now, which I will cover later. (thank you Legacy and Legacy of the Force.)


Look for this update in the next week or so...