Planet of Twilight

Rating:
Summary: Another great book in the Star Wars series.
Review: I just finished Planet of Twilight and it is truly another great book in the series. This book seems to wrap up Luke's relationship with Callista, but fear not, it doesn't wind up with her dieing. This leaves the character for possible future appearances. There are a few surprises in this one particularly the long lost love of Leigus. Barbara is more readable in this book than her last Star Wars book. Barbara has a tendency to start a character speaking, drift around describing scenery or events for a long time, then back to the conversation. It makes the conversation difficult to follow. There is less of that in this book and that's refreshing. I won't give away any plot points, all I will say is this is a must read for any Star Wars fan. If you haven't been reading the rest of the series I would reccomend reading the Thrawn Trilogy and Children of the Jedi first. I thought the planet of Nam Chorios was indeed an interesting one. While the threat to the galaxy may be considered unoriginal, it was done very well and is an intricate part of the story. Hats of to Barbara for this April fix for addicts of the Star Wars universe.

Rating:
Summary: excellant book overall, lack of originality in some areas
Review: This book, which I had the honor of reading before it was released to the general public, is different. The long dormant sentien life form, lacks seriously in orginality. Though Callista's final sacrifice provides a fitting end to her character, said as it might be. Leia's part of the story though is, as in the "children of the jedi" ver confusing. Likewise Luke seems to whine more, yet his jedi powers seem more than before. While the story itself is very enjoyable, its continuity is lacking. The purist will like it only for its clearing up of a major issue. The rest will enjoy it for its story

Rating:
Summary: Better than the First
Review: This book is the finale of the Callista trilogy. Although it still isn't up to the calliber of other books in the Star Wars saga, it still is better than Hambly's first effort, Children of the Jedi. I give you three reasons. 1) There is more action in this story and you actually get to see a lightsaber duel. 2) The villains in this story are actually pretty cool. 3) The characters are better affiliated with the story. All in all, a good sci-fi read, but still not up with Zahn, Stackpole, and Allston in terms of Star Wars novels.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book of the "Callista Trilogy" New Interesting Concept!
Review: Planet of the Twilight is the third book in the so-called Callista Trilogy, and the second Star Wars book by author Barbara Hambly. It is the best of the Trilogy. Hambly's previous work Children of the Jedi was repetative, convoluted and boring. While her writing and plot still tend to be convoluted and Han Solo plays a very minor role (in the great scheme of things), Hambly brings a fresh idea to the Star Wars universe: that of an inter-galactic plague. The whole Droch/Black Seed plague idea was really inspired. In many ways this is the horror story of the Star Wars universe, very different from the previous five books which featured super-weapons like the sun-crusher, Death Star prototype, Eye of Palpatine and Darksaber. Disease is a different type of weapon and the only credible way for Chief of State Leia to be kidnapped with all her bodyguards etc around is to have them die of the plague. The story revolves around Luke and Leia with special emphasis on Leia. It was nice to see her in a credible fighting role, and to see her powers expand. Luke is still looking for Callista, but he seems to have gained back a measure of common sense and competence. Their were two other really great things in this book: 1) the relative absence of Callista, 2) the writing away of Admiral Daala. I never liked Callista, i thought she was a useless character and really had no business being in the Star Wars universe. Everything about her rubbed me the wrong way. As for Admiral Daala it was good to see the most inept Imperial commander ever be written out never to bother the reader again. She just fades away never to return (I hope). Having read pretty much every Star Wars book in existance from the X-Wing books, the 5 Zahn books, the Corellian Trilogy, the Black Fleet Trilogy, the Jedi Academy Trilogy, the Prequal era books, the New Jedi Order and pretty ,uch everything else, the Callsita Trilogy is one of the weakest written. PLanet of the Twilight is the best of that trilogy, but it is not one of the best Star Wars books. The plot ideas are interesting, but simply put, I think Hambly has a poor writing style and she simply does not write a very exceptional Star Wars tale. I do recommend PLanet of the Twilight to any Star Wars fan, but remember there are many, many better books out there.

Rating:
Summary: So much potential. So little delivered.
Review: Barbara Hambly has twice proven to be incapable of handling the reins of the Star Wars Universe. She is supposedly an accomplished science fiction. While that may be true in other stories, she lacks the understanding and ability to embrace the Star Wars novels and create compelling episodes in this ongoing series. Her first attempt was "Children of the Jedi", which was a long, ponderous, and slow book. If a novel like this is slow, it's a cardinal sin in writing. The reader gets bored and then frustrated with the book and is tempted to put it down permanently. The disappointing thing about "Children of the Jedi" was that the story, itself, had a great deal of potential and could have (should have) been a rousingly exciting novel.

"Planet of Twilight" is Ms. Hambly's second attempt at a Star Wars novel. Sadly, it fails for all the same reasons that "Children of the Jedi" did. It is long, ponderous, and slow. Her prose is so wordy that she sometimes takes up to an entire page to describe items or scenes that should only take a sentence or two to describe. An editor could have helped her dramatically here. Her 'cutesy' terminology also causes the reader to do a double- take and wonder if they read what they just read. Some examples have her referring to a coffee-like beverage as 'coffeine' and a potato-like substance as 'topatoes'. It seems to indicate a lack of true imagination and it's slightly insulting to the reader who would much rather she used the original words or develop completely different words.

"Planet of Twilight" is comparable to "Children of the Jedi" in the sense that it has an equally interesting plot that is completely muted by Hambly's writing style. In this story, there appears to be a Death Seed plague that is infecting the galaxy and causing massive loss of life. In an attempt to find out what has happened and establish diplomatic ties with the Chorios system, Princess Leia traveled to the planet of Nam Chorios, where most of the distress seems to originate. It seems the Death Seed plague is actually a species of insect-like creatures called 'drochs' that can suck the life energy out of people. Unfortunately for Leia, she gets trapped on the planet by its evil ruler, Seti Ashgad and he suspicious assistant Dzym. Because of the strong defensive system set up on the planet, she is also unable to be rescued for quite some time. Luke Skywalker, of course, tries to save his sister while also tying up the loose ends of the Calista romance.

There are moments when this story seems like it could really take off and captivate the reader. Alas, Hambly continually confounds the reader with her writing. I can only hope that Hambly does not get another chance to write Star Wars novels. People read these stories because they are looking for an escape. They want an entertaining read that flows and isn't too much of a struggle to read. This isn't a novel for a school book report. If the writer's style makes the novel too much of a chore to read, the reader is just going to put it aside and not read it anymore. That is the true mark of the failure of a Star Wars novel and it is exactly what has happened with "Planet of Twilight".

Rating:
Summary: Let me just say this
Review: I think that this is, without doubr the worst Star Wars book ever written. There is no plot, no chacter development nothing. I read this book several years ago and can still remmeber clearly the absolute confusion I was in upon reading it. If you don't believe me take a look at the sample pages.