Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines by: Karen Traviss

Summary:   Civil war looms as the fledgling Galactic Alliance confronts a growing number of rebellious worlds--and the approaching war is tearing the Skywalker and Solo families apart. Han and Leia return to Han's homeworld, Corellia, the heart of the resistance. Their children, Jacen and Jaina, are soldiers in the Galactic Alliance's campaign to crush the insurgents.   Jacen, now a complete master of the Force, has his own plans to bring order to the galaxy. Guided by his Sith mentor, Lumiya, and with Luke's young son Ben at his side, Jacen embarks on the same path that his grandfather Darth Vader once did. And while Han and Leia watch their only son become a stranger, a secret assassin entangles the couple with a dreaded name from Han's past: Boba Fett. In the new galactic order, friends and enemies are no longer what they seem... Review: Good:  Wonderful story, once it got going. Seeing Jacen follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, it's sad but the parallels drawn between the two stories are wonderful. Jacen repeatedly mentions that he feels ambition was Anakin Skywalker's downfall, then says he as no ambition. He does was he does not for his own sake, but for the galaxy. For order. Now maybe that's true, or he could be deluding himself, I don't know I'm not a psyhciatrist, I'm just a fan. A person reading a book. But if he is without ambition then he is still forgetting what, I feel, was one of Anakin's greatest downfall's. Arrogance. He thinks that no one else can do what he does. He doesn't tell anyone about Tenel Ka or Allana because he feels he is the only that can keep them safe. He is falling prey to his arrogance. He even challenged, although only in his mind, Luke to call him on his actions, which Luke failed to do, though he should. Luke is currently failing Jacen in the same way that Obi-Wan failed Anakin, not so much actually failing, but not paying more attention. Refusing to let themselves notice when someone close to them, someone they trained for so long, was going over the brink and they didn't try to stop them, hoping the other would stop himself. It's hard to equate the Jacen we remember from Balance Point the Jacen that opted to not use the force, rather than use it to fight, and kill, senselessy, with the Jacen we see in the Legacy of the Force series. I only hope his family can stop him before he makes an even bigger mistake than those he has already made. And what about Ben? Jacen wants Ben as his apprentice one day, but Ben is losing faith in Jacen. He saw what Jacen did to Ailyn and is scared now. His hero fell a notch. And then, when Ben was forced to kill two men he broke down. He went and saw his father, not as a Jedi but because he needed his father. I don't really think he will work out as Jacen's apprentice myself. But who knows? Lastly we come to Boba Fett and the Mandalorians, good to see them again, but with Karen Traviss writing the book was there ever any doubt? What about this 140-year old clone Mirta mentioned?And Kad'ika? Little saber? Could this be Karen Traviss' way of finishing off the tale of Etain and Darman, just in case she never gets another chance at it? Some part of it makes sense to me. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Bad:  It was a little tough to get into at first. Kind of a slow start for being the second book in the series. But other than that it was fine. SPOILERS: So Jacen has officially pissed off his sister, by putting her out of active duty for not firing on civilians. His parents, Boba Fett and Mirta Gev because he killed Ailyn Vel in interrogation. And we come to that, he killed her by banging her head repeatedly against a table and using the Force to invade her mind forcibly. Yeah, it was an accident but still... he's becomine more heartless by the day. And then there's his final revelation, he must kill his wife, Tenel Ka, and there daughter, Allana. He has truly lost all sense of self... Many may revile this new Jacen Solo. Myself, I pity him. Back to the Legacy Era. Back to Star Wars Eras.