5000 – 4999 BBY: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice

In this short post, I'm going to be looking at Precipice which is the first story in the Lost Tribe of the Sith series.  I'm deeply regretting not downloading all of the books to my tablet sooner because now I'm not able to get the free versions.  Instead, I will most likely have to buy the collected works.  I will cross that bridge when I need to.  Let's get started.

This story takes place after the Omen and the Harbinger collide as they both try to jump into hyperspace.  In the story, we follow the Omen as its crew fights to keep the ship from being destroyed by itself.  Omens captian, Yaru Korsin, is determined to return to Naga Sadow with his load of Lignan ore.  They come out of hyperspace and crash on an unknown planet.  Without any way to contact the Sith fleets, the survivors of the Omen are forced to wait until someone comes to their rescue.  But tensions begin to rise as some of the survivors start to fight with each other.

I really liked this story.  I really admire how the author is able to pick up right were the last story left of (after Crosscurrent when the two ships collided).  It continues to amaze me when I read one story for this blog written by one author and then go onto another story that's written by a completely different author and the story picks up right where I left off.  The people who write these story's are true Star Wars geniuses.  I look forward to reading more of the story's from this series.

For my next post I will be looking at The Fall of the Sith Empire issues #4 and #5.  I also look forward to reading the rest of those story's.  Until then, may the Force be with you......

5000 – 4999 BBY: Crosscurrent (Chapters 1-4, 8)

In this brief post, I will be talking about Crosscurrent by Paul S. Kemp.  More specifically, I will be talking about chapters 1-4 and 8.  Paul S. Kemp is a terrific author.  He is able to grip the reader from the start of the novel to the very end without the reader being aware of the time passing.  Its really a page turner.

For those of you who don't know, this book is set 5000 years before the battle of Yavin and 41.5 years after the battle.  The story follows Jaden Korr but unfortunately I won't be talking about him for a while.  Instead I will be talking about Relin, a ancient Jedi who lived 5000 years before Jaden and his struggle to disrupt Naga Sadows attack on Kirrek.  Relin is chasing after his former apprentice, Saes, who has recently turned to the dark side and decided to join Sadows forces.  Saes is searching for an ore that has the ability to enhance any dark side users powers so that they are nearly impossible to beat.  In order to dot this, Saes completely destroys a moon that has an abundance of the ore.

 Relin and his apprentice arrive to see Saes ships mining the ore from the ruins of the destroyed moon.  They quickly decide that if Sadows forces were to be in possession of this ore during the battle of Kirrek, there would be little hope for the Republic.  So they set a plan in motion to destroy the Sith cruiser before they have a chance to leave the system.  Relin manages to get on board of the cruiser.  He sets charges to the ship's hyperdrive, but is confronted by Saes and the two duel.  Relin loses his arm but manages to escape the cruiser on an escape pod after the explosion.  His apprentice dies in an attempt to try and stop the ship from jumping but it doesn't work.  The ship jumps, dragging Relin behind it.  They begin their travel through time.  

When I read the back cover of the book, I got really excited to start.  That's because it includes Jedi from the past and the present.  Jaden Korr is one of my favorite Jedi and I was happy that I could read a book with him in it so soon into my project.  But unfortunately I'm not going to be talking about him for a while. 

The idea of a damaged ship trying to make it through hyperspace without being torn apart only to find out that they are travelling through time is also extremely cool.  It's like on of those old (or new) Sci-Fi shows that have people from the past going to the future without having a clue what happened.  Another thing that I found cool and interesting (because I have talked about it before) was the way the Force directed all of the people involved in the story together.  Whether it being a Force vision or accidentally coming across a distress beacon, the Force managed to bring everyone together.  The Force keeps bringing these long time enemies (the Jedi and Sith) together in very strange ways.   I'm not going to get into it too much right now, but I found it interesting.

I look forward to reading more about the events of the Great Hyperspace war.  The next thing I will be reading is The Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice.  I am assuming that this story will be about what happened to the Omen after it was damaged by Saes cruiser before jumping to Hyperspace.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you.....    

5000 – 4999 BBY: Fall of the Sith Empire #1-3

In this short post, I'm going to talk about The Fall of the Sith Empire issues #1-3.  Like I said in my previous post I got the Omnibus version of these story's and accidently read to far before writing these posts.

The story resumes with Jori arriving back into Republic space and she is instantly arrested because of her previous crimes.  She is shipped to another world in the Koros system where prisoners are forced to work.  Meanwhile, the Sith Empire is gearing up for war against the Republic.  Before the Sith can leave Naga Sadow's base, Ludo Kressh returns to continue his fight.  Gav hits a button on the wall that blows Ludo's ship out of the air.

Jori is able to escape the prison world by stealing a ship and makes her way to the palace of Empress Teta so that she can warn her of the impending attack from the Sith army.  Since Odan-Urr expressed similar concerns, the Empress is very quick to react.  Empress Teta rally's her army so that they can get ready to defend the republic.  Soon after the Sith drop out of hyperspace and begin their assault on the Republic.  The Sith make their attack on Coruscant while the Jedi Knights try to fend them off.  With them, the Sith bring massive beasts that can crush all in their paths.  That'ts the end of issue 1-3.

I'm surprised that more Jedi didn't see this attack coming.  I would think that the vision that Odan-Urr received would be enough of an alert for the entire Republic to take action.  But instead, they said he was dreaming and that the Sith were long extinct.  Were they ever wrong.  Not only did the Sith use trickery (their trademark) to get a foot hold into the Republic.  But they managed to put together a full scale assault in a matter of days.  To me that's pretty impressive.  Their hatred of the Republic must have had something to do with that (It's fairly obvious).  I have really enjoyed these comics and I can't wait to report on more of them as I go further into goal of looking at Star Wars from beginning to end.

For my next post,  I will be reading Crosscurrent by Paul S. Kemp.  I have read some his other Star Wars novels and look forward to reading this one.  Until I finish the book, may the Force be with you......
         

5000 – 4999 BBY: The Golden Age of the Sith #0-5

I managed to finish reading this book before the end of the month.  I got the Omnibus version so that I had all of the issues in one place but I accidently read to far into it.  I didn't realize that it also contained the fall of the Sith empire, which will be in my next post.  I really enjoyed reading these issues because of the action and adventure that I found around every corner.

This series starts out with with Jedi Knight Odan-Urr, who is a Jedi scholar.  He is in the middle of his studies when his master informs him that he must go to the Koros system to help Empress Teta finish the civil war her system is currently waging.  In that same system, Jori and Gav who are brother and sister await the return of their parents from a supplies run to one of the war zones off planet.  Unfortunately,  their ship is shot out of the sky and they perish along with it. Odan-Urr meets up with a fellow Jedi and informs him that he has learned a new Force technique that could help end the struggle.  This technique is called Jedi battle meditation. This technique allows the Jedi to change the mid of their enemies and surrender.

In the next part, Jori and Gav become hyperspace adventures, which seems pretty cool.  They get to put random co-ordinates into the computer and see where it takes them.  But this time, their co-ordinates took them somewhere that was thought to be destroyed long ago.  They landed on the doorstep of the Sith Empire.  Of course, Gav and Jori had no clue that they were on Korriban so they acted as representatives of the republic wishing to set up a trade route with the Sith people.  Just before the pair land, the Sith are mourning the lose of the Dark Lord of the Sith.  Ludo Kressh is leading the procession as his nemesis, Naga Sadow, approaches.  The two get into a heated fight but Gav and Jori land on the planet to offer them a distraction.  Gav and Jori are captured by the Sith and held in two different locations.  Sadow starts to teach Gav the ways of being a sith.  Later, Ludo Kressh attacks Naga Sadows decoy base and Sadow urges Jori to flee back to the Republic.  But little does Jori know that he has put a tracking beacon on the hull of her ship.

   I liked how this story was told.  I was able to finish all the novels in under a week without missing out on some important details.  The authors of these issues did an incredible job of making sure that everything was authentic.  What I mean by this is that they didn't have lightsabers that have a portable battery pack like in the Clone Wars or the original trilogy do.  These lightsabers needed to be attached to the belt of the user be a chord in order to receive power.  Also, the ships didn't look modern.  Some of them had sails.  I also got to see the ways a Sith manipulate people up close.  It was very interesting to see Naga Sadow being kind and understanding with Gav and Jori but in the end, all he wanted to do was cripple the Republic and let the Sith Empire reign victorious.  He also did a very good job of turning the Sith people against Ludo Kressh so that he could guarantee his new title.

I'm going to use this last paragraph to talk about the decision that was made to cancel The Clone Wars.  I really love this show and I (and many others) feel that a huge mistake is being made by Disney and Lucasarts.  I have heard some rumors that bonus content will be released, but even that may (or will) leave some important points to the story out.  For example, what will happen to Ahsoka?  I really don't think that this "Bonus Content" will leave me satisfied.  I'm not even sure if Captain Rex was in Order 66 or if he gets killed before hand.  I need to know!!!!!  I was OK with season 6 being the last one but now that it's canceled, I don't know.  I have found this website that is dedicated to trying to save The Clone Wars.  I am going to write to Disney and Lucasarts to show my support of The Clone Wars and if your reading this and like The Clone Wars, I hope that you will show your support to.  It's not right for the series to end like this after all of the success it's had over the past 5 seasons.  

My next post will be on The Fall of the Sith Empire #1-3.  Till then, may the Force be with you.........

7000 – 6900 BBY: The Hundred Year Darkness and The Conquest of Sith Space

Sorry for the delay in my posting.  I had the first half
of this written but with the complications of daily life I wasn't able to get back to it until now.

I'm going to be talking about The Hundred Year Darkness and The Conquest of Sith Space in this post.  These two story's are taken out of Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide To The Force by Ryder Windam.  The book is one of my all time favorites because of the vast amount of information inside of it.

I'm still having trouble deciding about how I should right my posts so I may do something's different for this post.  As always,  I will give a brief summary of this section to start out.

The Hundred Year Darkness speaks of the great schisms between the Jedi and the Dark Jedi.  The Dark Jedi discovered that they were able to use the Force to turn creatures into deadly warriors and because of this, the Jedi and Dark Jedi waged war against each other.  And this left many worlds in turmoil.  This time became known as The Hundred Year Darkness.  The Jedi won the war and the remaining Dark Jedi were banished into the far reaches of space.  There they discovered the world Korriban which is the home world of the Sith species.  After conquering the Sith species, the Dark Jedi proclaimed themselves Sith lords.

This section goes on to talk about a Dark Jedi who was present during all of these events.  This Dark Jedi was Ajunta Pall.  It was said that he slew more than a dozen Jedi during these battles.  His tomb has been confirmed to be on Korriban.  It was among the fist burial sites on the planet.

This story has the discovery of the ancient Sith world Korriban.  Now this is where things really start to get good.  With these Dark Jedi starting the process of creating the Sith order, this opens the doorway for new events.  I find it interesting that the Force guided the shuttle that held the exiles to the planet of Korriban.  By doing this, it's setting up the age long conflict between the Jedi and Sith.  I'm also thinking that the Force intended for this to happen on purpose.  Maybe the galaxy needs this conflict in order to prevent a greater evil than the Sith from rising.  Maybe there's a worse enemy out there.  I will be talking more about this in the paragraphs below.

Next is The Conquest of Sith Space.  This is the story told by Ajunta Pall of how the Dark Jedi found themselves on Korriban and how they became the Dark Lords of the Sith.  He recounts all the events of The Hundred Year war but he also talks about how they conquered the Sith Species.  Like me, he also thinks that it was by the will of the Force that they landed on Korriban.  With the help of the Sith, they were able to build new star ships and weapons so that they may one day return to the galaxy and exact revenge on the Jedi.

I'm going to try and expand on the thought of the Force wanting this rivalry to happen for a very long time.  Before the Dark Jedi were banished, they did still have a conflict with the Jedi.  But maybe the Force foresaw this conflict ending sooner than expected (due to the weakness of the Dark Jedi compared to the Jedi) and it needed to do something so that the battle would continue.  So it helped the Dark Jedi find Korriban and the Sith species.  By doing this, the Dark Jedi become Dark Lords of the Sith and their numbers began to grow.  They are becoming more powerful so that they can challenge the Jedi.  Like I said before, I think that the Force is trying to prevent something worse than war than happening to the galaxy.

I'm starting to get angry with myself because I'm having difficulty with what I want to do in my post and every time I think of something new,  I revert to my old ways.  Maybe I need talk more about what I thought of the piece than try and relate different topics to it.  I guess it will take some more practice for it to happen but I'll keep trying.

For my next post, I will be looking at Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith.  I just got the Omnibus version of this graphic novel which includes issues #0-5 so hopefully I will be able to post it by the end of the month.  But until that time, may the Force be with you.....

15,762 – 15,609 BBY: Xim at Vontor

 I am finally able to report back on the latest piece I read.  This piece was Xim at Vontor.  As I have said in my previous posts, I find it hard to read plays.  I don't know why but there is something in my brain that attempts to deter any effort of reading them.  But this time I made it!

As I started to read, I felt like I was loathing every word.  But then I realized it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Before I go into more detail as to why, let me give a brief summary of the story so that you know what I'm talking about.

This story of Xim starts out with an epic space battle in the Vontor system.  The battle is over some kind of precious metal/stone on the planet below that all pirate factions want for themselves.  But Xim's fleet has the upper hand.  They soon win the battle and all of the fleet Generals are invited to the capitol ship for a victory feast.  Some of Xim's Generals have been conspiring against him so Xim sets up a surprise.  During the meal, he orders one of his Generals to kill the other in cold blood.  However, this General is one of the lead people in the conspiracy so he takes this opportunity to attempt to kill Xim.  The General fires the shot at Xim's head.  Xim looses an eye and the traitors escape along with his beloved Queen, Indrexu, who I see as the kind of person that follows whoever is the most powerful at the time.  Xim gets outfitted with new robo eyes (which is pretty awesome) and sets out to Vontors surface to claim his prize of war and to try and find the traitors.  As this piece comes to an end, Xim realizes where the traitors must be hiding and orders all of his war bots to prepare for battle.

Now,  this part of the story of Xim was enjoyable for me.  At the beginning, I thought I would be faced with singing robots like I was in the first Xim story I read.  Instead I was picturing an awesome space battle.  For me this was a huge improvement.  The way that they were describing the battle and where and how the blaster bolts were striking helped to paint an even better picture in my head. What really made it cool for me was when Xim had his eye shot out.  At this point, Xim is starting to seems even more ruthless (and now he looks more like a pirate).

I am starting to realize that it's battles and miscellaneous violence that hook me into a story.  I'm not sure why this is but when story's have songs and musical robots, it tends to push me away.  I can only hope that the Xim story's that I read in the future will be structured as this one was.

For my next post, I'm going to be reading The Hundred Year Darkness and The Conquest of Sith Space from The Essential Guide to the Force book that I have.  This is one of my favorite books to report from.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you...........    

24,500 BBY: The First Dark Legion

Hello again, I'm back with another section from Star Wars: Jedi vs Sith.  The section of this book is in part 3 and it's titled, The First Dark Legion.  It was nice to take a break from reading the plays about Prince Xim (even though I only read one of them).  It may just be me, but I found it incredibly difficult to report my thoughts on a play.  But enough of my complaining, let me give you a summary of this section and make a character analysis.

  This section takes place in the form of a data card.  The data card had on it the voice of Jedi Apprentice, Danzigorro Potts, reporting on the aftermath of a war between the Jedi and the Dark Jedi.  He died during the first schism between these two factions.  The leader of the Dark Jedi was General Xendor.  Xendor was a powerful Force user.  The Jedi Council, outraged by his acts of disobedience,  decided to wage war against Xendor and the people who were following him.

As the data card starts to play, Danzigorro Potts is reporting on the outcome of the final battle between the Jedi and Dark Jedi.  He reports on the death of Xendor and expresses how relieved he is that the war is finally coming to an end.  He is fantasizing on what the next day will look like.  As Danzigorro lays on the ground, bleeding out, he announces that he is the soul survivor of the great battle.  He then reflects on what he had to do during the battle.  Danzigorro was forced to kill his long time friend, Blendri, and her apprentice during the battle.  The pair had turned on the Jedi order and joined General Xendor.

After Danzigorro reflects on the great battle, he starts to go on about how much he loved being a Jedi and how he would never have done anything to betray them in any way.  Danzigorro's final words were about how he thought that the Dark Side wasn't the only reason that Jedi were turning.  He believed that the Jedi order needed to have an enemy or else they would create one out of themselves and wage war against each other.

The character that I would like to quickly look at is General Xendor.  The way that Xendor is talked about in the book makes me think of people in our real world we see and have seen throughout history.  The impression that I got from the way Xendor was described is that he was a well liked person before he took control; he was confident, cool, and had the kind of personality that everyone just loved.  In the history of our planet, we have seen many people who are like that.  An example would be Hitler.  Before the events of WW2, he was gaining the trust and respect of others so he could build up his power and achieve his goal.  I make this comparison because I find both of these men to be similar in characteristics (even though the traits that Xendor posses were only briefly described).  It seems that characters like this pop up all over the Star Wars Universe.

For my next post I will be reading Xim at Vontor.  Until then my friends, may the Force be with you......