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Omen (Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi, Book 2) |  | Author: Christie Golden
Publisher: LucasBooks
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy Used: $3.99
as of 9/9/2010 10:43 PDT details
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Seller: the_book_fool
Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 282166
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Pages: 250
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.4 x 1
ISBN: 0345509129
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345509123
ASIN: 0345509129
Publication Date: June 23, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Jedi Order is in crisis. The late Jacen Solo’s shocking transformation into murderous Sith Lord Darth Caedus has cast a damning pall over those who wield the Force for good: Two Jedi Knights have succumbed to an inexplicable and dangerous psychosis, criminal charges have driven Luke Skywalker into self-imposed exile, and power-hungry Chief of State Natasi Daala is exploiting anti-Jedi sentiment to undermine the Order’s influence within the Galactic Alliance.
Forbidden to intervene in Jedi affairs, Luke is on a desperate mission to uncover the truth behind Jacen’s fall to the dark side–and to learn what’s turning peaceful Jedi into raving lunatics. But finding answers will mean venturing into the mind-bending space of the Kathol Rift and bargaining with an alien species as likely to destroy outsiders as deal with them. Still, there is no other choice and no time to lose, as the catastrophic events on Coruscant continue to escalate. Stricken by the same violent dementia that infected her brother, Valin, Jedi Knight Jysella Horn faces an equally grim fate after her capture by Natasi Daala’s police. And when Han and Leia Solo narrowly foil another deranged Jedi bent on deadly destruction, even acting Jedi Grand Master Kenth Hamner appears willing to bow to Daala’s iron will–at the expense of the Jedi Order.
But an even greater threat is looming. Millennia in the past, a Sith starship crashed on an unknown low-tech planet, leaving the survivors stranded. Over the generations, their numbers have grown, the ways of the dark side have been nurtured, and the time is fast approaching when this lost tribe of Sith will once more take to the stars to reclaim their legendary destiny as rulers of the galaxy. Only one thing stands in their way, a name whispered to them through the Force: Skywalker.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 56
 The weakest of the series so far. September 8, 2010
Angelo Kastroulis (Jacksonville, FL United States)
Let me start by saying that there were elements I liked. The Sith were interesting, and there were tidbits of storyline continuation that were great. But, it's taken me twice as long to read this book over the others in the series, because it's just not as interesting. When I read Aaron's or Troy's books I just didn't want to put them down. There were many moments I just said "wow".
That being said, I'm glad I didn't pay $27 for the hardcover. Although I also had storyline issues, my main issues were with the writing. I was very disappointed that considering how short this book was, how much of it was consumed with "feelings". A lot was spent on explaining how characters were emotionally tormented and crying. I love character development. In some cases it's very necessary (such as introducing new characters). But, many times in this book I found myself rolling my eyes and wanting to skip ahead past sections.
One example of many of the over-the-top "feeling" discussions happened in the first few chapters, when Jysella Horn anguishes excessively over her brother's imprisonment. OK, I get it already, she's upset and it's a tough situation... but it takes 2 chapters for her come to grips with her feelings and work her way out of the temple. That's 10% of a short book. That's time that could have been spent on Luke Skywalker or the Sith (or even spending more time on the prologue) or some lightsaber battles.
One other issue on the character side was that the transformation in the sanity of the young Jedi, when explained, was unbelievable. One would at least have some sort of struggle to make sense of their situation maybe asking... "If these Jedi are impostors, why have I not sensed it until now? I mean literally 1 second ago this person was not an impostor and right before my eyes they now feel like an impostor. I KNOW what the symptoms are and I seem to have them." Instead there was literally zero struggle. It's like a light switch went off, and the characters said "every one is an impostor". I mean Jysella curling up and just crying over her brother is explained, but there's no emotionally struggle in coming to grips with an irrational feeling?
Overall a necessary read, but I think if you want this to be a $27 hardcover, it has to be more substance and leave the emotional fluff out (unless you're going to add it in ADDITION to more content).
Christie Golden, WHY!? August 22, 2010
APH (California)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Summary:
Luke and Ben meet the Aing-Tii, which put them on the path to finally understanding what's going on with the psychotic Jedi. Han and Leia get a pet for their granddaughter. Meanwhile, there's a new possible threat and Sith leader.
TL;DR Version:
If this is an omen of things to come, I almost don't want to read the rest of the books, especially if I had to buy the hardcover versions. Christie Golden seemed like she was really trying to increase word count without saying anything, and nothing actually happened in this book. Underwhelming is a word that comes to mind.
Review:
I was really excited to start this novel, after reading Outcast. There was a lot of potential there, and the set up was ripe for a solid Force push in the stomach by an awesome story. And I definitely didn't get that from Omen-at all.
In my last review, I took each storyline and spoke about it separately, and planned to do the same thing for this book initially. After reading about 150 of the book's scant 276 pages (only 250 in hardcover...wow!), I realized that this book's stories are almost exactly the same as Outcast`s! The only really "new" storyline, to me, was Vestara's, who is an up and coming Sith, about whom the ship fortuitously named Ship is apparently enamored with. (Golden goes out of her way to insist that the characters know that ship is male as well. Very confusing for a Star Wars novice like myself, since no ships ever have male/female identity until now...). Even though all of Vestara's scenes were written in a different way (Worrying about whether there's a shower and a place to relieve herself in the new barracks, giving away her possessions, etc) than I am used to in this genre, her story has so much promise. Yet it simply disappeared, giving way to the next story.
So, what is the next story? Well, we get two more "Force psychoses", in exactly the same manner as Valin, Jysella's brother, in Outcast. The different between the way Allston wrote it, though, and the way Golden wrote it, is night and day. In Golden's version of the "insanity", the style is cumbersome and there is absolutely no suspense about it at all. Maybe that's because I kind of know what to expect when I see "Not-Han" and "Not-Leia" but... still!
Then there's Luke and Ben. Well, they're flying through space, looking for a race of creatures known as the Aiing-Tii, who have unique Force prowess. It's Ben's thought that perhaps these Aing-Tii will be able to either explain what happened to Jacen Solo that led him down the path of the Dark Side to become Darth Caedus, or in some other way, Ben and Luke will be able to figure it out. I don't want to give too much away, except I do want to say that Luke tells Ben that he should "get ready to be licked a lot", and that I don't think the Force should ever be referred to as a rainbow. As Luke and Ben leave the Aing-Tii after a scene of events about 1/3 of the entirety of the book, it struck me that you could replace "Aing-Tii" with "Baran Do" from Outcast and have roughly the same exchange.
The next big storyline was like, "what the heck?" Well, it reminded me a lot, again, of Outcast, when Han and Leia took their not-granddaughter to visit good ol' Lando Calrissian (A great role model for a kid, let me tell you!). In this book, it's not Kessel, but instead a zoo! I did like the reference that Han made back to the movie, when he mentioned slicing into a Bantha to save Luke. There was a big smile on my face there! But, seriously, we're in the middle of this big Galactic Alliance crisis and they're going off to a zoo? It just seemed, weird and misplaced.
I want to know more about Vestara and the Sith! Hopefully the next book will actually have some progression in a storyline aside from just introducing a new one!
Cover/Title/First Line Critique:
I like the cover, except that I think it's supposed to be Vestara, and I don't remember any reference in the book to her dual-wielding a dagger and a lightsaber. While she is indeed given a lightsaber (And in a Neo-esque moment, receives one of the original Sith lightsabers), it just seems out of place. This book opens up right in front of a planet, whereas Outcast opened up right in front of a ship (or kind of below). I don't know, seems odd to me. And I think, to properly appreciate the title...I'll need to read the next book. That is, to properly see if there was actually an "omen" in this book or not.
 Star Wars Omen May 5, 2010
Sam Fett (Louisiana)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The entire time reading this novel I knew the Sith would be returning back into the Galaxy. Daala trying to coral the Jedi but taking advice from an aid was eerily familiar and I thought great another hidden Sith trying to destroy the Jedi typical rehashing old story lines. Well I was...so far... wrong. The Sith do come back into the Galaxy in force and it was an interesting way to do so and creative. As far as the Aid of Daala I think strongly that he is not Sith now which opens up many possibilities for his future involvment with the series. Luke and Ben are handling the exile from the Jedi order well and it is interesting to see them tracing the path of Jacen to determine why he became Darth Caedus. An easy read that succesfully pull off the return of the Sith to the Galaxy. You can also see the ground work for the very popular Legacy Comic series set 100 years in the future. This is only book two and so far the series seems better than the previous one. Not as dark as the past two series this one is more like an adventure than a crisis which is fun to read.
Just not enough in this book January 24, 2010
Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
With Grandmaster Luke Skywalker in exile, the existence of the Jedi Order is in a more precarious position than anyone thought likely. But, when Jedi Knights begin to go psychotic, thinking that everyone around them has been replaced with duplicates, the situation of the Order goes from bad to worse. While various Jedi search for some answer to what is happening, others race to keep the Galactic Alliance from doing something precipitous. It's a race against the clock, and it appears that no one is going to win this one at all!
Well, I must say that I was somewhat disappointed with this book. First of all, at 272 pages, there is not a lot of scope to tell a good story. Worse though, the author does not try to use the room allotted to tell a good story, instead this one seems to have no good ending, having the feeling of a bridge, connecting the book before it to the one following.
No, no matter how you look at it, there is just not enough in this book to justify the price. I wanted to like this book, but instead found myself disappointed.
 Blah! January 24, 2010
Challenger Nuke (Santa Fe, NM)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
It is obvious that this author does not pay much attention to her craft and is only interested in banging out another "Ho Hum" Star Wars story -- if one can be that generous! First, the craft: Christie, learn what passive voice is and don't use it! Please don't overwork the adjectives and adverbs. You have just shown that because you don't know how to choose strong action verbs that you rely on too many adverbs. And, if you "must" use them, learn how to place them! When you have a grip on this, you might consider learning something about sentence structure.
Second, this story is boring! The plot is so thin that it makes one want to fall asleep. Too many secondary characters and needless description that nobody cares about. Just another way to pad the word count. Hey, Shelly Shapiro (Del Ray books) and Sue Rostoni (Lucas Licensing), do you actually read this crap or are you too busy counting your fat pay checks? Congratulations, you have totally tanked my enthusiasm for Star Wars!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 56
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