Patterns of Force (Star Wars: Coruscant Nights III)
by Michael Reaves
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael ReavesEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-01-27
ISBN: 0345477588
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: LucasBooks
Book Reviews of Patterns of Force (Star Wars: Coruscant Nights III)
Book Review: "If Jax commits himself and his team to Palpatine's assassination, then what distinguishes him from those who represent the dar
Summary: 5 Stars
"If Jax commits himself and his team to Palpatine's assassination, then what distinguishes him from those who represent the dark side?"
So I was really impressed by number 1, disappointed by number 2, and ready to see how the series would end. So I embarked on the third and final chapter!
Jax Pavan, Den Dhur, I-Five, and Rhinann return in our final installment with the lovely Dejah Duare on what could be their final mission. A rogue Force adept roams the underworld, threatening to blow their operation to the Inquisitors, Force users trained by Darth Vader himself. Furthermore, someone from I-Five's past returns with a plan...a plan to kill Emperor Palpatine! What will our band do, to fight injustice in the galaxy?
I Liked:
In book two, I felt that the character of Rhinann had gone off the deep end. In Book 3, Reaves brings Rhinann back to what he had been at the end of Book 1. He does it well enough, that I can either gloss over the disparities in Book 2 or believe that he changed from Book 2 to 3. I appreciated the "mending" and surprisingly found myself liking the character.
Also, I enjoyed seeing Jax Pavan realize his feelings for Laranth, how much he misses her. When Laranth was first introduced in the series, I was so sure she would be a Mary Sue: you know, tough woman, highly attractive and able to bed men in a single bound. Ha! Reaves must be laughing in his recliner at me. He deftly creates this woman, so real and emotional and...wonderful! Then he broke her and Jax up in Book 2, tearing out my heart in the process (darn you, Reaves!). And now, in 3, he starts to weave Jax and Laranth back together in a most beautiful way. And, not to spoil anything, their resolution is absolutely perfect.
I never liked Dejah Duare, but I love what Reaves does to her. Perfect justice!
Besides the characters (my favorites being Laranth, of course, I-Five, and Den Dhur), which are, for the most part, amazing as usual, Reaves also ties in all the details he has been bringing up in his previous books, not only the Coruscant Nights ones, but also the Darth Maul book and the MedStar Duology. Very nicely done, and always neat to see stuff reused.
The ending!! So fast paced, so much happens in so little time! In this regard, I feel like Reaves looked back at Book 1, how he made it so edge of your seat there and repeated that idea here. It is wonderful, a perfect combination for a Star Wars novel.
Lastly, I liked how this novel touched on so many important concepts, but namely this one: what distinguishes the good guys from the bad guys? It isn't a HUGE part of the novel, but it is sly, tricky, and makes you think. I mean, if the bad guys are bad just because they kill, that means any time the good guys kill (even if it is bad guys), then they have become that which they fight. A very challenging idea, and very important still. Reaves handles it particularly well.
I Didn't Like:
I've already complained about how Rhinann's character has skipped all over the place in this trilogy, but since Reaves "fixed" him in Book 3, he goes off my nit-pick list.
Dejah Duare remains on my list, for being the Mary Sue of this series. I despise her overly done-up sexuality, even if she does rely on pheromones to get her way (or maybe because she does).
I was not very fond of Kajin Savaros. I have a hard time believing that this boy is so powerful (able to blast tall buildings in a single breath); he feels like a Marty Stu. Plus, he is a rather bland character, almost like eating vanilla ice cream, but not even good vanilla ice cream. He really is much less a character than a tool, just to move the plot. And his conclusion makes me wonder if I should even have cared about him in the first place.
The beginning felt very, incredibly slow to me. It took me weeks to actually get into the book. It feels like nothing important is happening, that I can't engage in the story. Thank God Reaves picks it up halfway through!
SPOILER:
My last great complaint is that Jax still lives. Yes, I love how he and Laranth get together at the end, but I really tire of seeing all these Jedi that somehow are able to elude Vader and Order 66. I would have preferred to see him die at the end, like how his father died at the end of Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. In this way, I feel that this trilogy is a little too "open-ended". Yes, Jax had his face-off with Vader, but it is obvious that, since neither died, it is only the first face-off. Vader won't just give up on Jax; Jax still lives on Coruscant. And since Jax isn't my favorite character to begin with, I wouldn't have been upset to see him die.
END OF SPOILER
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Star Wars language only.
Dejah Duare pretty much embodies the biggest sexual blips in this novel.
A man is scarred pretty badly in a Force battle. Two people are kidnapped. Other Star Wars fare battles.
Overall:
To be honest, after a few pages, I dreaded this book. I wanted to put it down and forget about it forever. Reaves had kinda lost me after 2, and I didn't think he could bring it around.
Well, Reaves, you proved me wrong yet again! He finished off the trilogy nicely, though I felt that it was still a little more open-ended than I would have liked. So despite a very slow beginning, I give this book a 4.5 stars, rounded to 5.
Brought to you by:
*C.S. Light*
Summary of Patterns of Force (Star Wars: Coruscant Nights III)
After the Empire?s bloody purge of the Jedi, one lone Knight still fights for those who cannot, unaware that he?s about to be swept into a cataclysmic battle against the Master of Darkness himself.Throughout the galaxy, a captured Jedi is a dead Jedi, even in Coruscant?s most foul subterranean slums, where Jedi Knight Jax Pavan champions the causes of the oppressed with the help of hard-nosed reporter Den Dhur and the wisecracking droid I-5YQ. But Jax is also involved in another struggle?to unlock the secrets of his father?s death and his own past.
While Jax believes that I-5YQ holds some of those answers, he never imagines that the truth could be shocking enough to catapult him to the frontlines of a plot to kill Emperor Palpatine. Worse yet, Darth Vader?s relentless search for Jax is about to end . . . in triumph.
The future looming over the valiant Jedi and his staunch pals promises to be dark and brief, because there?s no secret whatsoever about the harshest truth of all: Few indeed are those who tangle with Darth Vader . . . and live to tell the tale.
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