Rating: 
Summary: People who think that KJA stinks are morons
Review: While I disliked how KJA was killing off some favorite charectars, or how he was once again returning to the old death star topic, I'll have to say I resent the coments like "this was a bad as the Jedi Academy Trilogy." Those books were a masterpiece, and if you don't like them, you shouldn't even read Star Wars. As for the coments on the names of the superweapons, what would you have liked him to name them. That Evil Sphere idea made me crack up. The Sun Destroyer, the Sun Killer, the Sun-blower-upper. For crying out loud, who gives what he names his superweapons? Don't let the morons in the begginning change your opinion of Kevin J. Anderson. They were probably just looking for an excuse to insult the book. Oh, and by the way, I'm glad he got rid of Castilla. I hated that charectar. Luke's image has already changed from an eager young kid to a smart, quiet, peaceful man, despite becoming more dangerous. Becoming a family man would probably make me burn *Children of the Jedi.*
Rating: 
Summary: Warning to those who are beginning to read SW literature!
Review: This book was a complete letdown. I haven't read that many Star Wars books yet, in fact, "Darksaber" and "Shadow of the Empire" are the only two that I have read thus far, but these were so terrible that I must warn those who are just beginning to read Star Wars literature NOT to begin with these two.
I will admit that "Darksaber" had a few redeeming aspects of it that makes it worth reading though, even if it is an embarrassing failure.
For instance, scattered throughout the book are flashbacks to past events that took place during the time of the movies and plot developments never explained in the movies such as: who designed the Death Star, who worked on it, and the Hitlerian philosophy of the Imperials. I also liked how Anderson depicted the Imperials, giving them a greater depth than I had previously encountered. I also liked how Anderson made reference to and revisited well known locations in the Star Wars universe, although at times it felt as if he was attempting to cram as much of it as possible into a short book of 300 or so pages, making Luke and Callista's journeys to those locations seem more an excuse for Anderson to write about them in his book rather than having a pertinent reason for going there. I also thought the inclusion of the Hutts had potential and would have been a noble idea had it been done by a better author.
Although these were all laudable aspects of "Darksaber," they just weren't good enough or written well enough to save the rest of the novel from a state of ludicriously bad writing.
Most of the plot scenes were irrelevant, inpertinent, and pointless. The characters were wooden, shallow, and lacking in personality. Even the ones who had potential such as Pellaeon and Daala fell far short of the author's aspirations.
Durga the Hutt seemed more like a character used for tasteless comic relief than a notorious crime lord.
Also, given the fact that the Empire considers females and nonhuman species inferior it seems highly unlikely that the Emperorless Imperials would have so readily followed a woman, especially when Daala went against all the principles of the Empire to give aliens and females equal opportunities.
Bevel Lemelisk, although being a character that had potential, became one of the worst characters ever created under Anderson's amateur guidance.
The destruction of the Death Star was horribly anticlimatic, making it one of the most hyped up and pointless events in the book.
One event that irritated me, although it didn't have much relevance to the rest of the story's plot, but is a perfect example of one of the main things that makes this book so horrible, is when Han and Luke travel with a group of Tusken Raiders on Tatooine. Anderson only vaguely and inadequately explains why they would do such a thing and, again, only seems to be another weak excuse to mention a well known Star Wars ingredient in his badly written book.
The entire scene on Hoth with Luke and Callista (who I might add is one dimensional, annoyingly whiny, and frustratingly weak) was another lame excuse to mention a trademark Star Wars location.
I could go on at length as to why this book fails, but that would probably be a book in itself, so I'll just leave you with what I have written and hope that was enough to convince you to avoid this book.
Rating:
Summary: I am of two minds on this one.
Review: This might be the only KJA SW book that I'll keep in the long run. I STRONGLY emphasize the word "might". For some reason Darksaber is more palatable to me than the Jedi Academy trilogy.
In fact, the Jedi Academy as a setting was not made "real" for me until 2002, with the release of the game Jedi Outcast. Bob Bergen's portrayal of Skywalker aside, being able to move around in the 3-D environment of the Yavin temple and watch the Jedi in combat training really made the Academy believable for the first time.
That says something right there, and it doesn't reflect well on Anderson. But the point of this review is not to bash Anderson....or else I would. At great length. But you've heard it all before.
It's strange to me that even though Yoda said ( in 1980 ) "Size matters not", many people immediately tack on their lawyer-like "BUT THERE'S A LIMIT" mentality. Yoda didn't say "Size matters not, up to a point."
And let's not forget, people: there was a certain Sith Lord who said ( in 1977 ) that "the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force." So don't get too shrill with your cries of "but the Force can't do that".
I give Anderson some credit for bringing Pellaeon into the story, and thus showing that he has SOME respect for what Zahn accomplished. In fact, this book contains the chronologically important moment where Daala admits she wasn't destined to be in charge of the Empire in the first place and hands the command over to Pellaeon. Granted, the references to Karrde and some kind of "Smugglers' Alliance" might not seem to fit, but who knows what Karrde was up to in those years anyway? Gardening?
The thing about Pellaeon, as far as Zahn is concerned, is that he's the "kindly Imperial", who eventually signs a peace treaty with the New Republic. In the Thrawn trilogy Pellaeon's role was basically to play Watson to Thrawn's Holmes, in case anyone missed that.
Here we come to the issue of the "not-so-bad enemy officer". I have long felt that Pellaeon seemed somewhat out of characterization in Darksaber, because of his agreeing to the preemptive and unprovoked assault on Yavin 4. Then again, he's an Imperial. Possibly he felt that the slaughter would be necessary in order to prevent future attacks on his forces by the nascent Jedi. In any event it seems a little cold-blooded for the character, but maybe his "second banana" role in the early Thrawn books obscured the fact that Pellaeon probably wanted the Empire to win as much as any other Imperial. However, to my limited recollection, nobody in the Hand of Thrawn books said anything to Pellaeon along the lines of holding him accountable for his actions at Yavin 4. On further reflection that could be because the New Republic never knew specifically that he was there....
Time to get to my latest theory. Bothered by the KJA books, in whatever capacity ( poor execution of good ideas, etc. )? Ever seen this kind of effect take place elsewhere in the SW universe? I have. And I think you get my drift.
It seems that Lucas has what might generously be called "writer's block". I don't know if he's read the Zahn books but he sure as heck put CORUSCANT in the prequels, didn't he? Here's the theory: GL read Anderson's books and liked them. Because the same things that many people don't like about Anderson are IN THE PHANTOM MENACE. There are details, specific pieces of evidence, etc. that I don't have in front of me right now. But it's there. Search your feelings...you know it to be true.
If I wanted to sound crazy, I would tell you a different theory: in the future it will be revealed that KJA ghost-wrote large portions of TPM. Since I'm not crazy that's not my theory.... not yet.
One last thing: why are there so many short, similar 5-star reviews for this item, obviously intended to throw off its average rating, in which the reviewer is imply listed as "a reader"? This is what we call the "Amazon shill" effect. I guess if you're inundating a review site with lots of bogus reviews, who has the time to even come up with stupid Internet handles, much less actual names?
Rating: 
Summary: Death Star? Can't Kevin write anything original?
Review: I can not stand this book. I can't even finish reading it. Kevin J Anderson can not write original Star Wars books at all. The only thing I have ever seen with his name on it that was entertaining was the Dark Lords of the Sith comic book. Everything he writes is unoriginal and lacking in story. He seems to have some obsession with Death Stars and world destroyers because all he seems to put in his books are those. Darksaber, Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, Champions of the Force, heck even the IG-88 story he wrote for Tales of the Bounty Hunters had the Death Star tied in (IG-88 transfers himself into the Death Star...what the heck?) Seriously, this book is not worth it. Try Timothy Zahn or Michael Stackpole. At least they don't always use Death Stars. And while Zahn's last 3 books are based around Thrawn, the original Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command, when Thrawn first appeared, was not him dry humping the same concept over and over.
Rating:
Summary: this book stinks
Review: This book was a complete letdown. I haven't read that many Star Wars books yet, in fact, "Darksaber" and "Shadow of the Empire" are the only two that I have read thus far, but these were so terrible that I must warn those who are just beginning to read Star Wars literature NOT to begin with these two.
I will admit that "Darksaber" had a few redeeming aspects of it that makes it worth reading though, even if it is an embarrassing failure.
For instance, scattered throughout the book are flashbacks to past events that took place during the time of the movies and plot developments never explained in the movies such as: who designed the Death Star, who worked on it, and the Hitlerian philosophy of the Imperials. I also liked how Anderson depicted the Imperials, giving them a greater depth than I had previously encountered. I also liked how Anderson made reference to and revisited well known locations in the Star Wars universe, although at times it felt as if he was attempting to cram as much of it as possible into a short book of 300 or so pages, making Luke and Callista's journeys to those locations seem more an excuse for Anderson to write about them in his book rather than having a pertinent reason for going there. I also thought the inclusion of the Hutts had potential and would have been a noble idea had it been done by a better author.
Although these were all laudable aspects of "Darksaber," they just weren't good enough or written well enough to save the rest of the novel from a state of ludicriously bad writing.
Most of the plot scenes were irrelevant, inpertinent, and pointless. The characters were wooden, shallow, and lacking in personality. Even the ones who had potential such as Pellaeon and Daala fell far short of the author's aspirations.
Durga the Hutt seemed more like a character used for tasteless comic relief than a notorious crime lord.
Also, given the fact that the Empire considers females and nonhuman species inferior it seems highly unlikely that the Emperorless Imperials would have so readily followed a woman, especially when Daala went against all the principles of the Empire to give aliens and females equal opportunities.
Bevel Lemelisk, although being a character that had potential, became one of the worst characters ever created under Anderson's amateur guidance.
The destruction of the Death Star was horribly anticlimatic, making it one of the most hyped up and pointless events in the book.
One event that irritated me, although it didn't have much relevance to the rest of the story's plot, but is a perfect example of one of the main things that makes this book so horrible, is when Han and Luke travel with a group of Tusken Raiders on Tatooine. Anderson only vaguely and inadequately explains why they would do such a thing and, again, only seems to be another weak excuse to mention a well known Star Wars ingredient in his badly written book.
The entire scene on Hoth with Luke and Callista (who I might add is one dimensional, annoyingly whiny, and frustratingly weak) was another lame excuse to mention a trademark Star Wars location.
I could go on at length as to why this book fails, but that would probably be a book in itself, so I'll just leave you with what I have written and hope that was enough to convince you to avoid this book.
Rating:
Summary: Worse then Jedi Acadmey Trilogy
Review: When I first started reading this book, I thought that the plot was pretty solid, having Daala team up with the Hutts, giving Luke a girlfriend, give Leia, Han, Chewie, R2, and 3PO some time together, and giving Kyp Durron and Dorsk 81 (other Jedi from Anderson's previous trilogy) some time to show the galaxy that Luke isn't the only one amazingly gifted with force powers. However, even the aspects of this disaster which should have been good turned more putrid as the shallow plot progressed. In the end, the Hutts and Daala never teamed up together. They just happened to be fighting two seperate fronts on the New Republic at the same time. Durga the Hutt is like a Looney Toon villian. For example, in one chapter (which are always too short), Durga accidently electricutes the wrong officer by pressing the wrong button. How did a villian this stupid become one of the galaxies largest crime lords? Also, where are the other Hutts? The only other one was on of Durga's slaves. Also, Daala's character became more inept then she was before. One of my favorite characters, Pellaeon, was ruined by simply delegating advice to Daala. Luke's girlfriend, Callista (from the incredibly confusing Children of the Jedi), has no depth or personality and is possibly both the winiest and worst character that has ever walked the galaxy far, far away. (Her relationship with Luke has less depth then Jacen and Danni Quee relationship from the NJO.) She turned Luke from a Jedi into more of his father's character. He's also afraid he won't be able to be with his girl, and is constantly ignoring everything else for her. Also, why can Callista only use the Dark Side? That's the STUPIDEST idea I've ever heard of. Han and Leia have about two scenes together. Now, normally I think there is too much romance in Star Wars, but please, at least give us Han and Leia instead of Luke and Callista. Finally, the other major plotline was Kyp and Dorsk's. I thought the Dorsk had gotten over his problems by the end of teh Jedi Academy Trilogy, but they keep resurfacing here. And how did Kyp go from being the conflicted Dark Jedi we saw before, to a new, perfect good Jedi fighting on the light side. (At least the NJO redeems this problem by continuing to have Kyp fighting on the light side of the Force, but still retaining his arrogance of condoning Dark-like actions.) Now, to talk about the book's overall feel and major points. The idea that another superweapon based on the Death Star was built is just stupid.
In the end, it doesn't even work! This plotline, like many others, ended nowhere. Crix Madine, Chewbacca, Wedge, Qui Xux (uughh!), Admiral Ackbar, etc. are all given their respective scenes. However, what was the point of all these threads? None of the characters had any depth. I was almost crying when Crix Madine died. I wasn't crying because of his death though, but because his role in the novel was pointless, and he had no depth, AT ALL!!!!. He could have been any other character and it wouldn't have matter. In the middle of Darksaber, Luke and Callista return to Hoth for stupid reasons. Then they discover survivors from a Wampa hunting party. It reads like a bad horror flick, where each charcter is given just enough depth to make them seem human. Then, they each go through tiny, little, and pointless soul-searching scenes that mean NOTHING! Then, they each die, EVERY ONE, and readers can see how Anderson counts down the # left, trying to add some suspense to a scene that has none. In the end, this book left me feeling like a wasted a good seven hours. Overall the pros and cons were:Pros:
*Strong continuation and pulling together of entire Star Wars saga so far.
*Good action scenes, which arn't at all technical, so that every reader can UNDERSTAND WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON. This is Anderson's strong point. Cons:
*Pointless plots that go nowhere.
*Too little time given to major characters, too much given to smaller characters.
*Shallow characters.
*Almost no exposition (like in LORD of the RINGS or Star Wars: Episode V). The entire novel felt rushed. At the start of the novel, Anderson thanks some people for letting him continue to write books at the pace that the plot pops out of his head. However, the overall tone of the book makes it seem like Anderson gave none of the scenes in his fast-paced book any second thought.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, just not good....
Review: Darksaber is the second book in the so-called Callista Trilogy. Kevin Anderson writes a decent if unoriginal story, using many of the same characters from his Jedi Academy Trilogy. First the good: having the Hutts try to costruct a Death Star type weapon was a decent idea, the areas introducing some of the back story to Lemeslick, Tarkin and Ackbar were equally good and fun to read. It was nice to see Leia as the Chief of State if only for a short time. Unlike some other books, where Han and Leia are running around all over the place without guards, escorts or anything else essential to a chief of state, Anderson writes Leia as a leader of the Galactic Senate at some points. At others, he reverts to form. The death of Madine is handled very well, as is the return to Hoth and the one-armed Wampa. The bad: Continuing a tradition of useless Star Wars characters, Anderson brings back Qui Xu as Wedge Antilles main squeeze, Admiral Daala, the most inept Imperial commander to grace the expanded universe also returns, and of course everyone's favorite dead Jedi inhabiting the body of one of Luke's former students also returns. To think that Admiral Pelleon would at any point defer to Daala is outrageous. She's a totally inept officer, but at least she is able to kill off the annoying Moffs. Qui just does not need to be anywhere near the military. She's a scientist with no memory, get rid of her. Callista just never fit into the Star Wars universe. Somewhere along the line, someone decided Luke needed a girlfriend and so she was invented. Her only being able to use the Dark Side of the force is stupid, as is her continuing whining about her fate. Luke Skywalker clone Kyp Durron also returns, now a full Jedi Knight. Wow, he went from mass murderer to full Jedi in about a year, Luke needed to spend more time with him to move that fast. Overall, Darksaber is an ok read. There are many better Star Wars books out there and several that are worse. There are some key elements needed to understand the SW universe better such as the background of the Death Star, Tarkin etc., but there is just too much recycled material to make this a good story.
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