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There’s something out there:
a juggernaut of evil bearing down to crush the Republicâ,
unless one lone Jedi, shunned and reviled, can stop it.
Revan: hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior. A Jedi who left Coruscant to defeat Mandalorians and returned a disciple of the dark side, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the price of redemption was high. His memories have been erased. All that’s left are nightmares and deep, abiding fear.
What exactly happened beyond the Outer Rim? Revan can’t quite remember, yet can’t entirely forget. Somehow he stumbled across a terrible secret that threatens the very existence of the Republic. With no idea what it is, or how to stop it, Revan may very well fail, for he’s never faced a more powerful and diabolic enemy. But only death can stop him from trying.
a juggernaut of evil bearing down to crush the Republicâ,
unless one lone Jedi, shunned and reviled, can stop it.
Revan: hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior. A Jedi who left Coruscant to defeat Mandalorians and returned a disciple of the dark side, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the price of redemption was high. His memories have been erased. All that’s left are nightmares and deep, abiding fear.
What exactly happened beyond the Outer Rim? Revan can’t quite remember, yet can’t entirely forget. Somehow he stumbled across a terrible secret that threatens the very existence of the Republic. With no idea what it is, or how to stop it, Revan may very well fail, for he’s never faced a more powerful and diabolic enemy. But only death can stop him from trying.
352 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2011
2223 people are currently reading
13834 people want to read
About the author
Drew Karpyshyn
38 books2,058 followersDrew Karpyshyn is a Canadian author and game designer. After working at a credit union for some time, he eventually became a game developer. He joined BioWare towards the end of the Baldur's Gate series, and wrote the tie-in novel for Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. He stayed with BioWare, where he worked on Neverwinter Nights, and became the Senior Writer on the critically acclaimed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
This Star Wars connection gave him the opportunity to write Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, his first hardcover. Karpyshyn still works for BioWare where he is the lead writer for the Mass Effect series.
This Star Wars connection gave him the opportunity to write Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, his first hardcover. Karpyshyn still works for BioWare where he is the lead writer for the Mass Effect series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,739 reviews
August 29, 2025
As you might have guessed from the rating I gave this book, I really enjoyed it. The thing is that Revan does not actually do much, but his charisma comes off the page. For a warrior Jedi, he does not really do very much fighting but inspires others to greatness. He shows such loyalty in his partners that they are willing to risk everything, including their lives. Some of the best passages in the book are the interaction between Raven and Lord Scourge, the mental chess game they play during Revan's touchier/interrogation.
The biggest thing about this book it the back story of the Sith Emperor and his back story. I have only seen the Sith Emperor mentioned once in the Star Wars: Blood of the Empire v. 1: The Old Republic (Star Wars the Old Republic 1). I am assuming The Next book Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation might be an ending to this story
Revan's main Jedi power is to absorb energy and redirect it back with some of his own power added to it. This ability other Force user with this power were Vader when he absorbs blaster fire into his hand, and the Horrn family most famously Corren Horn Star Wars: I, Jedi. I think this a few of the gamers were not happy with this book cos their version of Raven was not the same as the character in the story. This is a fair point, but this is after the game. Raven is older and recovering from essentially a Force brain surgery. I enjoyed the book and am very interested to know the Jedi who would end this emperor.
The biggest thing about this book it the back story of the Sith Emperor and his back story. I have only seen the Sith Emperor mentioned once in the Star Wars: Blood of the Empire v. 1: The Old Republic (Star Wars the Old Republic 1). I am assuming The Next book Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation might be an ending to this story
Revan's main Jedi power is to absorb energy and redirect it back with some of his own power added to it. This ability other Force user with this power were Vader when he absorbs blaster fire into his hand, and the Horrn family most famously Corren Horn Star Wars: I, Jedi. I think this a few of the gamers were not happy with this book cos their version of Raven was not the same as the character in the story. This is a fair point, but this is after the game. Raven is older and recovering from essentially a Force brain surgery. I enjoyed the book and am very interested to know the Jedi who would end this emperor.
May 13, 2014
I don’t know about this one. I really don’t know. This is far and away the Star Wars novel that I have most anticipated over the years, and yet... I wouldn’t say I hated it, but I think the word here is underwhelmed.
I’m a long time Star Wars fan, but when iconic computer game Knights of the Old Republic came out, I was enamoured. You play as the main character, Revan, in a game that was not only fun, masterful and intuitive but which was driven by an absolutely epic plot as compelling and sweeping as any of the three original films. I could gush about the witty dialogue, the stunning visuals and the wonderful characterisations, but that’s not for here. In summary, the sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, failed to provide us with a satisfactory next chapter in Revan’s tale – Revan doesn’t feature at all, and we are merely told that Revan disappeared into the Unknown Regions some time back in search of something unknown to all – and plans for a third game which would wrap up Revan’s story were aborted in favour of an MMORPG set a century or two down the line. Instead, fans of Revan and KOTOR awaited the release of this novel to finally reveal to us what happened to our erstwhile protagonist. The choice of Drew Karpyshyn as the author seemed only natural – the author of several other Star Wars novels, Karpyshyn had also worked with BioWare on the computer game that brought Revan to life.
It’s hard to be damning of this book because it’s not downright awful as such. The writing is competent, although I’ve seen Karpyshyn write better, there are some interesting episodes and I felt that the dialogue had Karpyshyn’s touch of wit. I didn’t mark the book down at all for having a male Revan – which is canon, although I played as a female – although I did think his marriage with Bastila was rather kitsch. The third main character, Lord Scourge was kind of interesting, but my problem was that I didn’t buy this book for him, I bought this book for Revan, and I’m betting so did a significant proportion of other readers. The book felt short too, and sparse, like there wasn’t enough time to really get into any of the main characters that deeply – Revan, the Exile or Scourge.
At times I felt like Revan was walking around in a shallow daze and couldn’t help but wonder where was the compelling, forceful, gripping personality that I’ve come to associate so strongly with Revan? Revan’s side trips definitely had some interesting points, but I felt a lingering sense of computer game – go here, get the macguffin and retrieve the information in order to go somewhere else – KOTOR itself actually subverted that when I played the game, and almost felt like a novel I could read. I felt that the character of Revan had all the colour washed out here – grey and pasty – and he felt strangely underpowered. I couldn’t quite buy into , by characters I’d hardly had time to get to know, when the Revan I know had been through far worse and won out. I kind of figured when Revan disappeared in the game canon that it was something to do with – so I was rather looking forwards to finding out more about them through Revan’s eyes in this novel. Disappointingly we don’t learn too much about them at all, and from what little we do learn, – this just didn’t bring anything new to the table and felt like Return of the Jedi recycled and regurgitated. I’d imagined to be something truly weird and bizarre.
The less said about the ending, the better. Not enough information is given about so instead of being plausible it felt a like a cheat to me – god mode, anyone? And like many, I just couldn’t buy into – not after what has been established about their powers in the computer games. Perhaps worst of all was Revan’s ending – That just doesn’t seem like a fitting end for Revan. Seems to me . Another contrivance, I felt, was the construct that Not only cliché beyond belief, but somehow it destroys Revan’s mystery and darkness. One element of Revan’s story that really drew me in was that we never knew what Revan and Malak found in the depths of the Unknown Regions, what deep, dark terrors they found, and I had always imagined it had to have been something of such unspeakable horror that at once corrupted Revan whilst at the same time convincing him that the only way to defeat it was to fight fire with fire so to speak, and it was edge of the seat stuff to speculate about whether Revan would regain his memories of that time and if, having that knowledge once more, he would make the same decision again or be able to fight it off and stay true to the light side. This explanation just makes Revan a puppet, a victim – and lessens the significance of his actions whilst on the dark side, the burden of responsibility he held for that, and the darkness that forever marked him as a result.
I haven’t even mentioned that fact that none of the other KOTOR characters get a look in apart from Canderous, T3 and Bastila – for utterly contrived reasons, the other characters couldn’t make it. What?! Why? It’s not like they’re actors and the budget ran out, this is a book, the author can write them in out of thin air! I wanted to see the crews from both KOTOR games making a return in all their badassery, but nope, we don’t even get that.
Very disappointed. Revan just doesn’t seem like Revan, and the ending and explanations suck, frankly. Still, I’m going to give the book half marks because I enjoyed a few elements and the writing was competent, but it never shone and it felt like everyone was out of character and the plot was contrived and unacceptable.
5 out of 10.
December 11, 2017
A longer time ago
but in the same galaxy far, far away …
Revan, Drew Karpyshyn’s 2011 addition to the Star Wars Legends series, takes place some three thousand years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) and so provides a considerable backstory to the adventures most of us are used to from the canonical film series. Still accepted by Lucasfilms for continuity, Revan is a part of the larger Star Wars universe.
The character Revan, complex and intricately drawn with similarities with Annakin Skywalker / Darth Vader, was first introduced to Star Wars fans in a video game format, Knights of the Old Republic. In that game, and alluded to here, he was a controversial figure, both an extremely powerful Jedi and also a follower of the dark side.
In this setting, the Sith are actually an alien humanoid species with a competing galactic empire from that of the Republic. There are frequent references to the great Hyperspace War some years before the events in Karpyshyn’s novel where the Sith and the Republic battled to an almost genocide of the Sith. Karpyshyn describes Revan’s attempts to thwart another bid by the powerful Sith Emperor to make war on the Republic and the narration is segmented between scenes of Revan and Lord Scourge, a Sith warrior.
As fun as this story is, the poignant element of this experience for me was the illumination of Lucas’ great vision. By opening up licenses for various writers to contribute time and imagination to his creation, he has facilitated a pluralistic fantasy, almost an interactive universal storyline whereby a history of tens of thousands of years, with continuity, can be achieved.
Revan’s place in that universe, thousands of years before the familiar events and representing a historical, somewhat mythical place in that universe, also reminds me of Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. In that Old Testament of the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien had created a vast panorama of vision that enabled his more familiar narration to attain a greater depth than would otherwise have been possible. Here to does Karpyshyn (and by extension Lucas) produce a greater depth for the Star Wars system.
And in a wider, and perhaps more obscure way, Lucas becomes this generation’s Tolkien, science fiction and technology replacing magic, but expressing the same form of good versus evil morality.
but in the same galaxy far, far away …
Revan, Drew Karpyshyn’s 2011 addition to the Star Wars Legends series, takes place some three thousand years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) and so provides a considerable backstory to the adventures most of us are used to from the canonical film series. Still accepted by Lucasfilms for continuity, Revan is a part of the larger Star Wars universe.
The character Revan, complex and intricately drawn with similarities with Annakin Skywalker / Darth Vader, was first introduced to Star Wars fans in a video game format, Knights of the Old Republic. In that game, and alluded to here, he was a controversial figure, both an extremely powerful Jedi and also a follower of the dark side.
In this setting, the Sith are actually an alien humanoid species with a competing galactic empire from that of the Republic. There are frequent references to the great Hyperspace War some years before the events in Karpyshyn’s novel where the Sith and the Republic battled to an almost genocide of the Sith. Karpyshyn describes Revan’s attempts to thwart another bid by the powerful Sith Emperor to make war on the Republic and the narration is segmented between scenes of Revan and Lord Scourge, a Sith warrior.
As fun as this story is, the poignant element of this experience for me was the illumination of Lucas’ great vision. By opening up licenses for various writers to contribute time and imagination to his creation, he has facilitated a pluralistic fantasy, almost an interactive universal storyline whereby a history of tens of thousands of years, with continuity, can be achieved.
Revan’s place in that universe, thousands of years before the familiar events and representing a historical, somewhat mythical place in that universe, also reminds me of Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. In that Old Testament of the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien had created a vast panorama of vision that enabled his more familiar narration to attain a greater depth than would otherwise have been possible. Here to does Karpyshyn (and by extension Lucas) produce a greater depth for the Star Wars system.
And in a wider, and perhaps more obscure way, Lucas becomes this generation’s Tolkien, science fiction and technology replacing magic, but expressing the same form of good versus evil morality.
December 31, 2018
So, I want to read all the Star Wars books. I have also tried some of the graphic novels. Legends, Canon, YA, movie tie-in, etc. - I want to read them all! If you have ever looked up a list of all the books released so far for Star Wars you realize this is easier said than done for a few reasons:
• There are a lot – and, they span from tens of thousands of years before the movies to about 40 years after the first Star Wars movie. Getting a chronological breakdown is a good place to start.
• They overlap each other – When you look at a chronological list you see that sometimes a stand-alone book will take place in the middle of a series. Some of the series overlap, too.
• Referencing – This has proven to be one of the biggest issues for me. Several times I think I am all caught up and then the book I am in starts referencing events I am unfamiliar with. This issue will be discussed more below.
• Graphic Novels vs Novels – This adds a whole other level or overlapping and referencing. I have read a few of the graphic novels and they were okay. I reached a point where it became difficult to track the next ones down – and I was not super inspired to do so, so I am not sure if I will continue with them or not.
• Canon vs Non-Canon – I am overcoming this by reading them all in chronological order whether they are Canon or not. Any discrepancies be damned!
I have been waiting to read Revan for a while because I wanted to make sure I had tied in all the stories from the graphic novels, but went ahead with it (for the reasons mentioned above). When I did, I discovered a different level of referencing that I don’t think I will be able to overcome – this part of the Star Wars series is based a lot on a video game. I suppose I could go back and get a copy of the game, but I just want to read! Then, the referencing got even more difficult because it appears that in between Part 1 and Part 2 of this book another whole story took place and I only got a couple page description of that story plus a several year time jump! To me, this was the part of this book I liked least, but if I was a super hard core Star Wars fan and had been keeping up with the releases as the games came out, graphic novels were released, etc., it would not have been as much of an issue.
Despite the complaints above, I really did enjoy this story and I am a fan of the Star Wars universe, legends, battle sequences, force theory, etc. I think that despite the stumbling blocks of the tie-in to the video game and graphic novels, this book was well done and I was engaged with the story throughout. I do feel like maybe the casual sci-fi fan will not enjoy this because it is trying so hard to be part of a massive Star Wars universe outside of the book. But, anyone with a more than by passing interest in Star Wars, who may not have knowledge of every little aspect, but doesn’t mind the gaps being filled in with quick summaries, will enjoy this one.
I plan to continue with this series and my hope is that the disconnects from the graphic novels and video games will prove to be not that much of an issue in the future.
• There are a lot – and, they span from tens of thousands of years before the movies to about 40 years after the first Star Wars movie. Getting a chronological breakdown is a good place to start.
• They overlap each other – When you look at a chronological list you see that sometimes a stand-alone book will take place in the middle of a series. Some of the series overlap, too.
• Referencing – This has proven to be one of the biggest issues for me. Several times I think I am all caught up and then the book I am in starts referencing events I am unfamiliar with. This issue will be discussed more below.
• Graphic Novels vs Novels – This adds a whole other level or overlapping and referencing. I have read a few of the graphic novels and they were okay. I reached a point where it became difficult to track the next ones down – and I was not super inspired to do so, so I am not sure if I will continue with them or not.
• Canon vs Non-Canon – I am overcoming this by reading them all in chronological order whether they are Canon or not. Any discrepancies be damned!
I have been waiting to read Revan for a while because I wanted to make sure I had tied in all the stories from the graphic novels, but went ahead with it (for the reasons mentioned above). When I did, I discovered a different level of referencing that I don’t think I will be able to overcome – this part of the Star Wars series is based a lot on a video game. I suppose I could go back and get a copy of the game, but I just want to read! Then, the referencing got even more difficult because it appears that in between Part 1 and Part 2 of this book another whole story took place and I only got a couple page description of that story plus a several year time jump! To me, this was the part of this book I liked least, but if I was a super hard core Star Wars fan and had been keeping up with the releases as the games came out, graphic novels were released, etc., it would not have been as much of an issue.
Despite the complaints above, I really did enjoy this story and I am a fan of the Star Wars universe, legends, battle sequences, force theory, etc. I think that despite the stumbling blocks of the tie-in to the video game and graphic novels, this book was well done and I was engaged with the story throughout. I do feel like maybe the casual sci-fi fan will not enjoy this because it is trying so hard to be part of a massive Star Wars universe outside of the book. But, anyone with a more than by passing interest in Star Wars, who may not have knowledge of every little aspect, but doesn’t mind the gaps being filled in with quick summaries, will enjoy this one.
I plan to continue with this series and my hope is that the disconnects from the graphic novels and video games will prove to be not that much of an issue in the future.
September 23, 2012
Why? Just why?
We didn’t need this novel, we could have quite happily left the games alone, but then someone has to write this horrible mistake. Couldn’t they have at least given it to an author who doesn’t apparently hate Knights of the Old Republic fans?
The overall plot of Revan is covering the mysterious years after Knights of the Old Republic, why he went missing and where the Exile is. This didn’t need to be expanded upon. Part of what made his leaving so interesting was due to the brief hints as to why, giving suggestions to why he was leaving but never outright saying it. It was a mystery, and mysteries are only interesting so long as you don’t know the truth behind them. But the book has bigger issues than just existing, much bigger ones.
The flaw which stands out the most amongst its shortcomings is its characterisation. Drew Kerpyshyn is a competent author, one who can produce genuinely interesting things onto paper like the Darth Bane series, but he seems not to understand any characters he doesn’t personally create. Or apparently hates them. As a result in this novel Knights of the Old Republic 2 is made almost entirely irrelevant and is completely swept to one side. Most of it is retconned into oblivion.
According to this novel the Exile is just an every day Jedi sent after Revan by Bastila, not a wound in the Force itself. Thus KOTOR2 apparently never existed and its events never happened due to the removal of this one key characteristic. It was the entire driving force behind Kreia going after the Exile so that never happened; Nihilus, another wound in the Force, just plane never existed in the first place according to this. Visas Marr is also deleted from existance. This was a retcon which didn’t need to be done. The Exile was a good character, didn’t need to be nerfed like this and one of Bioware’s best RPGs deserved a better send off than the bastardisation which is this novel. But wait, it gets worse.
Why did they get rid of the Exile’s unique trait? Apparently to give the same ability to a completely new character. That’s right the villain in this, the bloody Sith Emperor, is a wound in the Force. What, was it too inconvenient for there to be a third person who had this ability? Did Kerpyshyn just look at the idea and think “MINE!”?
It’s not just the KOTOR2 characters who suffer in this either. Revan staggers aimlessly about the plot like he’s concussed. Okay, he’s supposed to have memories coming back but that doesn’t mean the writer had to turn him into some halfwit who goes off to fight the Sith without the absolute vaguest fucking clue about what he’s doing.
Oh, and also all of his actions are reduced to a petty slave acting out of spiteful hatred towards his mind controlling master rather than someone actually working for any greater good. No, that is actually in there and it's even worse than it sounds.
There are some well written characters. The Emperor does have some interesting elements, and a Sith known as Scourge is a very good character. The problem is all this is constantly overshadowed by Kerpyshyn apparently putting no where near the effort needed for a novel like this. But wait, it gets worse. Here’s how the novel concludes:
The Exile rescues Revan, teams up with Scourge and they go off to take on the Emperor. The Emperor proceeded to beat Revan senseless, burning him horrifically as they go one on one until the Exile intervenes and they prepare to team up. At which point Scourge’s chronic backstabbing disorder gets the better of him and he insta-kills the Exile. Revan is taken captive and turned into the Emperor’s bitch. Kept alive as a source of power and knowledge for Bioware’s new big bad villain.
Do you know what the absolute worst part of this is though? The crowning turd in the waterpipe? In one of Kerpyshyn’s blogs he complains about people disliking the book and states they just have to deal with it. Since Revan is a financial success apparently he basically doesn’t care, I quote "I guess controversy sells!"
When Revan is good it is admittedly very good, but its massive flaws, spiteful attitude towards KOTOR2 and rife use of deus ex machina drag it down.
Save yourself a lot of time, pain and money this year give this one a miss. If you have any love for Star Wars, KOTOR or Bioware do not buy this book and hope to high heaven it is retconned from the canon.
We didn’t need this novel, we could have quite happily left the games alone, but then someone has to write this horrible mistake. Couldn’t they have at least given it to an author who doesn’t apparently hate Knights of the Old Republic fans?
The overall plot of Revan is covering the mysterious years after Knights of the Old Republic, why he went missing and where the Exile is. This didn’t need to be expanded upon. Part of what made his leaving so interesting was due to the brief hints as to why, giving suggestions to why he was leaving but never outright saying it. It was a mystery, and mysteries are only interesting so long as you don’t know the truth behind them. But the book has bigger issues than just existing, much bigger ones.
The flaw which stands out the most amongst its shortcomings is its characterisation. Drew Kerpyshyn is a competent author, one who can produce genuinely interesting things onto paper like the Darth Bane series, but he seems not to understand any characters he doesn’t personally create. Or apparently hates them. As a result in this novel Knights of the Old Republic 2 is made almost entirely irrelevant and is completely swept to one side. Most of it is retconned into oblivion.
According to this novel the Exile is just an every day Jedi sent after Revan by Bastila, not a wound in the Force itself. Thus KOTOR2 apparently never existed and its events never happened due to the removal of this one key characteristic. It was the entire driving force behind Kreia going after the Exile so that never happened; Nihilus, another wound in the Force, just plane never existed in the first place according to this. Visas Marr is also deleted from existance. This was a retcon which didn’t need to be done. The Exile was a good character, didn’t need to be nerfed like this and one of Bioware’s best RPGs deserved a better send off than the bastardisation which is this novel. But wait, it gets worse.
Why did they get rid of the Exile’s unique trait? Apparently to give the same ability to a completely new character. That’s right the villain in this, the bloody Sith Emperor, is a wound in the Force. What, was it too inconvenient for there to be a third person who had this ability? Did Kerpyshyn just look at the idea and think “MINE!”?
It’s not just the KOTOR2 characters who suffer in this either. Revan staggers aimlessly about the plot like he’s concussed. Okay, he’s supposed to have memories coming back but that doesn’t mean the writer had to turn him into some halfwit who goes off to fight the Sith without the absolute vaguest fucking clue about what he’s doing.
Oh, and also all of his actions are reduced to a petty slave acting out of spiteful hatred towards his mind controlling master rather than someone actually working for any greater good. No, that is actually in there and it's even worse than it sounds.
There are some well written characters. The Emperor does have some interesting elements, and a Sith known as Scourge is a very good character. The problem is all this is constantly overshadowed by Kerpyshyn apparently putting no where near the effort needed for a novel like this. But wait, it gets worse. Here’s how the novel concludes:
The Exile rescues Revan, teams up with Scourge and they go off to take on the Emperor. The Emperor proceeded to beat Revan senseless, burning him horrifically as they go one on one until the Exile intervenes and they prepare to team up. At which point Scourge’s chronic backstabbing disorder gets the better of him and he insta-kills the Exile. Revan is taken captive and turned into the Emperor’s bitch. Kept alive as a source of power and knowledge for Bioware’s new big bad villain.
Do you know what the absolute worst part of this is though? The crowning turd in the waterpipe? In one of Kerpyshyn’s blogs he complains about people disliking the book and states they just have to deal with it. Since Revan is a financial success apparently he basically doesn’t care, I quote "I guess controversy sells!"
When Revan is good it is admittedly very good, but its massive flaws, spiteful attitude towards KOTOR2 and rife use of deus ex machina drag it down.
Save yourself a lot of time, pain and money this year give this one a miss. If you have any love for Star Wars, KOTOR or Bioware do not buy this book and hope to high heaven it is retconned from the canon.
December 2, 2011
Bastards!
I'm a big Star Wars fan. I come from a family of big Star Wars fans. I also love role playing games. Knights of the Old Republic is a Star Wars role playing game. And my favorite video game. Period. Combining the best of the rpg world with a story driven plot and the freedom to play as a female or male Jedi or Sith. With a story that rivals most Star Wars movies. If you like Star Wars you've got to play this game. Anyway, I became very attached to my Revan. One of my favorite characters. Period.
When Knights of the Old Republic 2 came out under another company I was pissed. They ruined my Revan. Took away my end. Although I did learn to love Exile, the player character from this one, almost as much.
I know. This is a review for a book not videogames. What do I think of the book? Reread the first word. :)
I enjoyed it. But like I enjoy fan fiction. (Yeah, I read those). The end SUCKS though. And I choose to ignore it.
It was fun to get some backstory on one of my favorite characters. I like knowing now where Revan went when "he" went away. The Sith were interesting. I like that they have tied Revan to the online game coming. The writing was fine. I liked Candorous being present. Although I missed the other characters even though most got mentioned. (All but one actually) The Exile showing up was a complete surprise. And I liked how they split the difference that Revan was male but the Exile was female. But none of the crew from KOTOR 2 was mentioned, except those from the first too, and that I didn't like. I especially hated (hated!!!!!) what he did to Exile....
If not for the end it may have been more enjoyable.
A comment to any gamers out there: I fear what Karpyshyn has in store for Mass Effect 3. Just saying.
I'm a big Star Wars fan. I come from a family of big Star Wars fans. I also love role playing games. Knights of the Old Republic is a Star Wars role playing game. And my favorite video game. Period. Combining the best of the rpg world with a story driven plot and the freedom to play as a female or male Jedi or Sith. With a story that rivals most Star Wars movies. If you like Star Wars you've got to play this game. Anyway, I became very attached to my Revan. One of my favorite characters. Period.
When Knights of the Old Republic 2 came out under another company I was pissed. They ruined my Revan. Took away my end. Although I did learn to love Exile, the player character from this one, almost as much.
I know. This is a review for a book not videogames. What do I think of the book? Reread the first word. :)
I enjoyed it. But like I enjoy fan fiction. (Yeah, I read those). The end SUCKS though. And I choose to ignore it.
It was fun to get some backstory on one of my favorite characters. I like knowing now where Revan went when "he" went away. The Sith were interesting. I like that they have tied Revan to the online game coming. The writing was fine. I liked Candorous being present. Although I missed the other characters even though most got mentioned. (All but one actually) The Exile showing up was a complete surprise. And I liked how they split the difference that Revan was male but the Exile was female. But none of the crew from KOTOR 2 was mentioned, except those from the first too, and that I didn't like. I especially hated (hated!!!!!) what he did to Exile....
If not for the end it may have been more enjoyable.
A comment to any gamers out there: I fear what Karpyshyn has in store for Mass Effect 3. Just saying.
February 4, 2018
Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.
Knights of the Old Republic (herein after referred to as KOTOR) was one of my all-time favorite video games back in the day, the Old Republic era of Star Wars a great landscape for the epic struggle of Revan, Bastilla, and their companions against the forces of the Sith. I can’t count the hours I sat in front of my television grinding away at the missions, unraveling the quests to finish KOTOR. It was great fun, wonderful memories. But that is exactly why I never read Revan when it was released; my fear that a continuation of this Star Wars story could never live up to my sky high expectations. And, unfortunately, my misgivings have been proven correct.
Revan starts out decently well, I suppose. Our title character is on Coruscant, having been publicly forgiven for his evil deeds in the past, celebrated as a hero of the Republic, and ceremoniously taken back into the Jedi Order, but the reality of the situation is that his former Jedi brothers and sisters don’t really trust him, so Revan has slipped into the shadows, infrequently gracing the halls of the Jedi Temple, and living apart from the Order he saved. The only thing holding him back from a contented life are terrible nightmares of a dark, ominous planet and an overwhelming sense of foreboding about a nebulous power beyond the Outer Rim which is seeking to destroy the Republic!
As far as setups go, all that sounds good, right? Drew Karpyshyn peaking a reader’s curiosity, foreshadowing some serious adversaries for our protagonist, and giving KOTOR fans a peak at our old companions from the game. Sure, I could quibble about Canderous Ordo, T3-M4, and Bastilla Shan not getting enough page time and complain about Mission Voo, Zallbar, and HK-47 not being present at all, but overall, I was satisfied with this beginning . . . before things went horribly wrong.
First off, little by little the story becomes a tale about our resident Sith Lord Scourge. Yeah, he has an interesting plot line, but this isn’t his book. See the title? It is Revan, which means the title character should be front and center in this one. If Drew Karpyshyn wanted to write a story about Scourge so be it, but title it Scourge already. But, no, a book titled Revan turns out to spends all the page time it could have used showcasing Revan, Bastilla, and all the rest of their crew developing Scourge as an up-and-coming power player in the Sith Empire. And when doing this, the author ruins any sense of mystery about Revan’s nightmares, where his quest will take him, or what he will ultimately uncover. I mean, Scourge literally answers all the questions in Revan’s story before he ever gets to. What the hell! How is that making the story of Revan compelling, exciting, or thrilling?
Second, there are multitudes of long, detailed expositions by the author. Definitely, not every reader will be as intimately familiar with KOTOR and KOTOR II as me, but the sheer volume of these massive info dumps was mind numbing. They detracted from the story. They put screeching halts to all plot momentum. Most importantly, they kept Karpyshyn from spending time on developing characters, building up suspense, delving into deep emotional aspects of the narrative, and crafting an engrossing story.
And, lastly, the second half of this book and its conclusion were huge letdowns. Nope, I’m not referring to my fanboy expectations not being met for my favorite characters. What I am speaking about is the major shift away from the actual plot the author spent the first half of the book building up. Suddenly, that plot stops, runs headfirst into a proverbial wall. One page exciting stuff is taking place, mysteries are being answered, then the next page says years have zoomed past. Yeah, you read that right. Years rush pass with the flipping of a page. And in between those pages, KOTOR 2 takes place, a galactic war is fought, and people disappear. All the information a reader gets about these epic events is a brief summary before the Exile from KOTOR 2 takes over the main Jedi role and Lord Scourge becomes the true main character of the novel. This new story then rushing forward to a predictable conclusion; everything ending with another huge time jump, leaving a reader with no resolution to anything to do with Revan or his companions.
To wrap up, this is a book I truly wish I had not read; Revan making me fully understand why people sometimes argue that it is better to leave a great story alone and not attempt to add to it. The simple truth is that KOTOR was just a much better conclusion to the tale of Revan, Bastilla, and all their companions than this book. Perhaps others might enjoy this novel as a video game tie-in or for its development of the history of the Old Republic Era of the Star Wars Universe, but for those wanting to recapture the magic of KOTOR, I’d suggest they look elsewhere.
Knights of the Old Republic (herein after referred to as KOTOR) was one of my all-time favorite video games back in the day, the Old Republic era of Star Wars a great landscape for the epic struggle of Revan, Bastilla, and their companions against the forces of the Sith. I can’t count the hours I sat in front of my television grinding away at the missions, unraveling the quests to finish KOTOR. It was great fun, wonderful memories. But that is exactly why I never read Revan when it was released; my fear that a continuation of this Star Wars story could never live up to my sky high expectations. And, unfortunately, my misgivings have been proven correct.
Revan starts out decently well, I suppose. Our title character is on Coruscant, having been publicly forgiven for his evil deeds in the past, celebrated as a hero of the Republic, and ceremoniously taken back into the Jedi Order, but the reality of the situation is that his former Jedi brothers and sisters don’t really trust him, so Revan has slipped into the shadows, infrequently gracing the halls of the Jedi Temple, and living apart from the Order he saved. The only thing holding him back from a contented life are terrible nightmares of a dark, ominous planet and an overwhelming sense of foreboding about a nebulous power beyond the Outer Rim which is seeking to destroy the Republic!
As far as setups go, all that sounds good, right? Drew Karpyshyn peaking a reader’s curiosity, foreshadowing some serious adversaries for our protagonist, and giving KOTOR fans a peak at our old companions from the game. Sure, I could quibble about Canderous Ordo, T3-M4, and Bastilla Shan not getting enough page time and complain about Mission Voo, Zallbar, and HK-47 not being present at all, but overall, I was satisfied with this beginning . . . before things went horribly wrong.
First off, little by little the story becomes a tale about our resident Sith Lord Scourge. Yeah, he has an interesting plot line, but this isn’t his book. See the title? It is Revan, which means the title character should be front and center in this one. If Drew Karpyshyn wanted to write a story about Scourge so be it, but title it Scourge already. But, no, a book titled Revan turns out to spends all the page time it could have used showcasing Revan, Bastilla, and all the rest of their crew developing Scourge as an up-and-coming power player in the Sith Empire. And when doing this, the author ruins any sense of mystery about Revan’s nightmares, where his quest will take him, or what he will ultimately uncover. I mean, Scourge literally answers all the questions in Revan’s story before he ever gets to. What the hell! How is that making the story of Revan compelling, exciting, or thrilling?
Second, there are multitudes of long, detailed expositions by the author. Definitely, not every reader will be as intimately familiar with KOTOR and KOTOR II as me, but the sheer volume of these massive info dumps was mind numbing. They detracted from the story. They put screeching halts to all plot momentum. Most importantly, they kept Karpyshyn from spending time on developing characters, building up suspense, delving into deep emotional aspects of the narrative, and crafting an engrossing story.
And, lastly, the second half of this book and its conclusion were huge letdowns. Nope, I’m not referring to my fanboy expectations not being met for my favorite characters. What I am speaking about is the major shift away from the actual plot the author spent the first half of the book building up. Suddenly, that plot stops, runs headfirst into a proverbial wall. One page exciting stuff is taking place, mysteries are being answered, then the next page says years have zoomed past. Yeah, you read that right. Years rush pass with the flipping of a page. And in between those pages, KOTOR 2 takes place, a galactic war is fought, and people disappear. All the information a reader gets about these epic events is a brief summary before the Exile from KOTOR 2 takes over the main Jedi role and Lord Scourge becomes the true main character of the novel. This new story then rushing forward to a predictable conclusion; everything ending with another huge time jump, leaving a reader with no resolution to anything to do with Revan or his companions.
To wrap up, this is a book I truly wish I had not read; Revan making me fully understand why people sometimes argue that it is better to leave a great story alone and not attempt to add to it. The simple truth is that KOTOR was just a much better conclusion to the tale of Revan, Bastilla, and all their companions than this book. Perhaps others might enjoy this novel as a video game tie-in or for its development of the history of the Old Republic Era of the Star Wars Universe, but for those wanting to recapture the magic of KOTOR, I’d suggest they look elsewhere.
December 8, 2012
"I feel so helpless. So useless."
Revan has had many titles and jobs - savior of the Republic, Jedi, Sith, mercenary, etc. But now Revan is content to be "husband" to Bastila Shan - until strange dreams of his hidden past haunt him. He teams up with Canderous Ordo to track down his past and hopefully destroy the evil before it destroys those he loves.
I'm going to just come out and say it: I, a huge fan of Star Wars, have never played either of the "Knights of the Old Republic" games. I know, I know, sacrilege. But I haven't been a big gamer and now that I am interested, my Vista laptop won't load it. So I was excited about this book - learning more about Revan, delving into his secrets. I wanted it to make me on fire for the game and the comics. I wanted Drew Karpyshyn to come in with his glory (as he did in the Darth Bane trilogy) and blow me out of the waters.
I am MASSIVELY disappointed with this effort. Honestly, it doesn't even feel like Karpyshyn is trying. The characters are bland, the story is boring, the ending makes the entire story pointless, and the writing is mediocre. This is nowhere near as good as his Darth Bane novels. It wasn't exciting, it wasn't compelling, and it didn't ever make me interested in learning more about Revan, Canderous, or any of the other characters.
But before I heap on the criticisms, let me dole out some compliments.
1. Karpyshyn does a nice job personifying the Mandalorians. I honestly think Karen Traviss, the author who dedicated a lot of her novels to fleshing out their culture, would be pleased at how Karpyshyn wrote them. Sure, it was silly they had to find a "Mask" in order to find a leader, but this is the past. People do weird things in the past. Don't you know that we used to be obsessed with the size of people's head? They developed a whole "science" dedicated to this weird belief and called it "phrenology".
2. Karpyshyn can write action. There are some good action scenes in here. Unfortunately, bland characters and bleh writing take away what would be some kick @$$ scenes.
And...that's all folks. Sorry.
The characters were so boring and bland, honestly, it's as if Karpyshyn cut them out of cardboard and wrote "REVAN", "BASTILA", and "SCOURGE" on the top so we'd know who was who. Revan, our Gary Stu of the novel (because EVERYONE thinks he's SO GREAT - even though, in the book, he doesn't do a whole helluva lot), could have been any Jedi. I got no sense of a deep history with him, feelings, desires, doubts, anything. It's like he was a blank sheet and kept TELLING us how we should feel instead of SHOWING US.
I could FEEL Bane's anger to his father. I could FEEL Bane's desire for power. I never felt Revan's love for his wife, compassion for his friends, or frustration at not knowing his past.
But honestly "boring", "bland", and "indistinguishable" isn't a characteristic solely attributed to Revan. The entire cast could be described with these adjectives. In fact, if I were to do as I normally do, name a character and then describe them, it would look like this:
"A is boring and bland."
"B is bland and boring."
"There is nothing special about C."
And so on. And because I don't want to subject you to that, I'll skip "analyzing" each character and instead tell you some general trends that bugged me.
The women are HORRIBLY treated in this novel. Which is strange because I felt that Drew made Zannah one of the better written female characters in the Star Wars universe. Bastila Shan NEVER gets to do anything. She's always told to "stay home" and do her womanly duty, look after the child (even when she is only a month or two pregnant! Both Leia AND Mara were kicking @$$ when pregnant!). Bastila is a JEDI. She could have helped Revan in his initial mission. In fact, according to everyone else, she's supposed to be a kick @$$ Jedi. But no, Revan says to stay home with the baby, so Bastila stays. If I didn't read other reviews and conversations about KOTOR, I'd think that Bastila was yet another weak-willed "Padme Amidala", who does nothing but sit and home and mope about her man being gone.
(And my complaint isn't that she is upset about her husband being gone, it's that she never acts to find out what happened, instead foisting it on other people, as if she isn't a powerful Jedi.)
The OTHER annoying thing was the jealousy between the two women (Bastila and Meetra) over Revan. Bastila is jealous of Meetra, because Meetra is Revan's apprentice and has a "special relationship" with him. Meetra is jealous of Bastila because Bastila is Revan's wife. Does this happen in real life? Sure! Is the exploration here any good? HELL NO! Does it serve any purpose! HAHAHAHAHA, no way! Karpyshyn doesn't take the time to delve into each woman's feelings about Revan or push the narrative to a new level. It's' just a throwaway detail. Because, we can't have two women with separate connections to a man (wife, student) without the two women immediately being jealous of each other. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this flouncing around in Young Adult; I NEVER thought I would EVER have to complain about in a Star Wars book.
The last character I want to highlight is Scourge. Scourge is a great example of Informed Ability. We are told time and time again how "smart" and "skilled" he is, but he is constantly being out-maneuvered and outwitted by nearly every other character. It got to the point where I figured that he deluded himself into thinking he was great; he actually was probably a mediocre to poor Sith.
The gist of Revan's story here is supposed to be about him "finding his past". But then we get this weird story about Scourge and all the ways everyone can dupe him and outsmart him which doesn't make sense until 2/3 through the book. Both stories felt very much like video games: go here. Defeat boss. Get MacGuffin. Decode. Wash, rinse, repeat.
What probably disappointed me even more (if that is possible) is the ending. I can't say much, but I will say this: WHAT WAS THE POINT? Why write this story if THAT is your ending??? I hope that Karpyshyn TRIES to tie up these ends in Annihilation.
And your favorite and mine...NERD NITPICKS!!
1. The Mandalorians, a rather practical culture as defined in recent Star Wars lore, cannot have a leader of all their clans without a "Mask". This method of rule is just bursting full of problems. Though it does make a good MacGuffin for Canderous and Revan to chase.
2. I am soooo tired of Star Wars authors feeling the need to write an even more evil, bad, horrible, wicked Sith than has come before. It's at the point where you might as well just have Satan come out of Hell and start attacking the Jedi, because that's what the Emperor basically is in this book.
3. "Basic - the lingua franca of interstellar trade was known to virtually every spacefaring species in the galaxy" Why is this line in here, not once but TWICE? I think most Star Wars fans that would be reading this book would be able to WRITE forwards and backwards in Basic (Aurabesh BTW). The ONLY ones who could benefit from this are newbies, and WHY would a newbie pick up this book to start off with? Are the publishers trying to reach gamer fans of KOTOR who aren't into Star Wars? HUH??
Thank you for joining us in another NERD NITPICK!
I won't mince words: this book is massively disappointing. Disappointing as a Karpyshyn fan, disappointing as a Star Wars fan, disappointing as a potential Revan fan. I'm so underwhelmed with this novel, I'm almost dreading to read anything else by Karpyshyn or starring Revan.
I don't recommend this for fans of the video game. I don't really recommend this to Star Wars fans, new or old. This is not Karpyshyn's best work, and I don't know if that is because of deadlines, because of storyline restrictions or what. All I know is I'm one sad Star Wars fan, who is hoping Annihilation is better.
Revan has had many titles and jobs - savior of the Republic, Jedi, Sith, mercenary, etc. But now Revan is content to be "husband" to Bastila Shan - until strange dreams of his hidden past haunt him. He teams up with Canderous Ordo to track down his past and hopefully destroy the evil before it destroys those he loves.
I'm going to just come out and say it: I, a huge fan of Star Wars, have never played either of the "Knights of the Old Republic" games. I know, I know, sacrilege. But I haven't been a big gamer and now that I am interested, my Vista laptop won't load it. So I was excited about this book - learning more about Revan, delving into his secrets. I wanted it to make me on fire for the game and the comics. I wanted Drew Karpyshyn to come in with his glory (as he did in the Darth Bane trilogy) and blow me out of the waters.
I am MASSIVELY disappointed with this effort. Honestly, it doesn't even feel like Karpyshyn is trying. The characters are bland, the story is boring, the ending makes the entire story pointless, and the writing is mediocre. This is nowhere near as good as his Darth Bane novels. It wasn't exciting, it wasn't compelling, and it didn't ever make me interested in learning more about Revan, Canderous, or any of the other characters.
But before I heap on the criticisms, let me dole out some compliments.
1. Karpyshyn does a nice job personifying the Mandalorians. I honestly think Karen Traviss, the author who dedicated a lot of her novels to fleshing out their culture, would be pleased at how Karpyshyn wrote them. Sure, it was silly they had to find a "Mask" in order to find a leader, but this is the past. People do weird things in the past. Don't you know that we used to be obsessed with the size of people's head? They developed a whole "science" dedicated to this weird belief and called it "phrenology".
2. Karpyshyn can write action. There are some good action scenes in here. Unfortunately, bland characters and bleh writing take away what would be some kick @$$ scenes.
And...that's all folks. Sorry.
The characters were so boring and bland, honestly, it's as if Karpyshyn cut them out of cardboard and wrote "REVAN", "BASTILA", and "SCOURGE" on the top so we'd know who was who. Revan, our Gary Stu of the novel (because EVERYONE thinks he's SO GREAT - even though, in the book, he doesn't do a whole helluva lot), could have been any Jedi. I got no sense of a deep history with him, feelings, desires, doubts, anything. It's like he was a blank sheet and kept TELLING us how we should feel instead of SHOWING US.
I could FEEL Bane's anger to his father. I could FEEL Bane's desire for power. I never felt Revan's love for his wife, compassion for his friends, or frustration at not knowing his past.
But honestly "boring", "bland", and "indistinguishable" isn't a characteristic solely attributed to Revan. The entire cast could be described with these adjectives. In fact, if I were to do as I normally do, name a character and then describe them, it would look like this:
"A is boring and bland."
"B is bland and boring."
"There is nothing special about C."
And so on. And because I don't want to subject you to that, I'll skip "analyzing" each character and instead tell you some general trends that bugged me.
The women are HORRIBLY treated in this novel. Which is strange because I felt that Drew made Zannah one of the better written female characters in the Star Wars universe. Bastila Shan NEVER gets to do anything. She's always told to "stay home" and do her womanly duty, look after the child (even when she is only a month or two pregnant! Both Leia AND Mara were kicking @$$ when pregnant!). Bastila is a JEDI. She could have helped Revan in his initial mission. In fact, according to everyone else, she's supposed to be a kick @$$ Jedi. But no, Revan says to stay home with the baby, so Bastila stays. If I didn't read other reviews and conversations about KOTOR, I'd think that Bastila was yet another weak-willed "Padme Amidala", who does nothing but sit and home and mope about her man being gone.
(And my complaint isn't that she is upset about her husband being gone, it's that she never acts to find out what happened, instead foisting it on other people, as if she isn't a powerful Jedi.)
The OTHER annoying thing was the jealousy between the two women (Bastila and Meetra) over Revan. Bastila is jealous of Meetra, because Meetra is Revan's apprentice and has a "special relationship" with him. Meetra is jealous of Bastila because Bastila is Revan's wife. Does this happen in real life? Sure! Is the exploration here any good? HELL NO! Does it serve any purpose! HAHAHAHAHA, no way! Karpyshyn doesn't take the time to delve into each woman's feelings about Revan or push the narrative to a new level. It's' just a throwaway detail. Because, we can't have two women with separate connections to a man (wife, student) without the two women immediately being jealous of each other. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this flouncing around in Young Adult; I NEVER thought I would EVER have to complain about in a Star Wars book.
The last character I want to highlight is Scourge. Scourge is a great example of Informed Ability. We are told time and time again how "smart" and "skilled" he is, but he is constantly being out-maneuvered and outwitted by nearly every other character. It got to the point where I figured that he deluded himself into thinking he was great; he actually was probably a mediocre to poor Sith.
The gist of Revan's story here is supposed to be about him "finding his past". But then we get this weird story about Scourge and all the ways everyone can dupe him and outsmart him which doesn't make sense until 2/3 through the book. Both stories felt very much like video games: go here. Defeat boss. Get MacGuffin. Decode. Wash, rinse, repeat.
What probably disappointed me even more (if that is possible) is the ending. I can't say much, but I will say this: WHAT WAS THE POINT? Why write this story if THAT is your ending??? I hope that Karpyshyn TRIES to tie up these ends in Annihilation.
And your favorite and mine...NERD NITPICKS!!
1. The Mandalorians, a rather practical culture as defined in recent Star Wars lore, cannot have a leader of all their clans without a "Mask". This method of rule is just bursting full of problems. Though it does make a good MacGuffin for Canderous and Revan to chase.
2. I am soooo tired of Star Wars authors feeling the need to write an even more evil, bad, horrible, wicked Sith than has come before. It's at the point where you might as well just have Satan come out of Hell and start attacking the Jedi, because that's what the Emperor basically is in this book.
3. "Basic - the lingua franca of interstellar trade was known to virtually every spacefaring species in the galaxy" Why is this line in here, not once but TWICE? I think most Star Wars fans that would be reading this book would be able to WRITE forwards and backwards in Basic (Aurabesh BTW). The ONLY ones who could benefit from this are newbies, and WHY would a newbie pick up this book to start off with? Are the publishers trying to reach gamer fans of KOTOR who aren't into Star Wars? HUH??
Thank you for joining us in another NERD NITPICK!
I won't mince words: this book is massively disappointing. Disappointing as a Karpyshyn fan, disappointing as a Star Wars fan, disappointing as a potential Revan fan. I'm so underwhelmed with this novel, I'm almost dreading to read anything else by Karpyshyn or starring Revan.
I don't recommend this for fans of the video game. I don't really recommend this to Star Wars fans, new or old. This is not Karpyshyn's best work, and I don't know if that is because of deadlines, because of storyline restrictions or what. All I know is I'm one sad Star Wars fan, who is hoping Annihilation is better.
September 13, 2015
I wanted to like this book, I really did. A month ago when I was so eagerly anticipating the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan, I didn’t expect I would be starting a review for it this way, and I really don’t like having to be negative, but what can you do.
Granted, it is possible that my high expectations may have clouded my judgment. For one thing, I’m a big fan of Drew Karpyshyn — he wrote the Star Wars Darth Bane trilogy and also the Mass Effect novels that I found I really enjoyed. But more importantly, I’m also a big fan of the character Revan, having been obsessed with and emotionally invested in his story from the Knights of the Old Republic games. Still, I have a feeling that even the most casual of readers picking this up will find many problems with the writing and execution of this novel.
To be fair, I’ve been following Drew K’s blog for a while now, and on it he occasionally talks about the pressures of looming deadlines and the challenges of meeting them. His writing in Revan appears to be the latest victim of this restrictive time crunch, as it’s definitely not his best work. This is a shame for two reasons: 1) He’s usually capable of much better writing, and 2) I would have pegged him as the perfect author to tell Revan’s story, as he was intimately involved with the development and writing of the first KOTOR game.
Another reason why I think the book was a rush job is how well it started out in the first handful of chapters, versus how everything started unraveling and falling apart in the second half. I’d glimpsed some of the not-so-positive starred reviews prior to finishing the novel, and thought to myself, “Nah, this isn’t that bad.” But then I hit part II. And I began to understand.
First of all, in retrospect so much of the book felt like filler, lengthy exposition sequences and drawn-out descriptions. While I understand the need to bring readers up to speed with the events of KOTOR (for those who have never played the RPG or need a refresher — it’s been about 8 years since the game’s release, after all) I lamented the fact it came at the expense of scenes that actually required details and a more in-depth look. Instead, important action sequences and scenes that actually drove the plot forward or called for more emotion were completely glossed over.
Second, the book was so short. It’s not like there wasn’t enough to write about. Like I said, so much of the novel could have been fleshed out and made better. It just felt like the author needed it to be over and done with, fast.
Third, there was a very noticeable shift in focus by the end of the book. I thought I began by reading about Revan, but little by little, he started taking more of a background role, and by the final chapters it was clear the emphasis was more on the Sith character of the novel, Lord Scourge. I just found this odd, and I still don’t really understand the purpose.
Nonetheless, there is still plenty of Revan, which is one of the reasons why I couldn’t just toss this book aside. There will be answers to some big questions left behind by the ending of KOTOR and KOTOR II, and for this reason I don’t regret reading it at all. The Jedi Exile also plays a huge role, and it is in this book that she is finally identified and given a name — Meetra Surik.
However, speaking of characters, don’t expect many of the companions from the games to make an appearance. The three that get the honor are Canderous Ordo, T3-M4 and Bastila Shan. The rest like Mission Vao, Zaalbar or HK-47 are only mentioned in passing, or given some weak excuses why they couldn’t show up. Carth Onasi doesn’t even get a mention, and while admittedly he was one of my more whiny and annoying BioWare boyfriends, I couldn’t help but notice the snub. Ouch.
I don’t want to make it sound like Revan was all bad. I personally liked a lot of the dialogue, though I think I’m probably in the minority with regards to this. I definitely think dialogue-writing is Drew Karpyshyn’s forte, but while some lines might work well in a video game, I admit they don’t always translate well onto a page in a novel. Some plot points were predictable, but in general I enjoyed the story. And finally, like I said before, the book does manage to bring some form of closure. Sort of.
This does beg the question: Is closure — that is, a truly satisfying conclusion that emotionally invested KOTOR fans have been waiting almost a decade for — even possible for an epic story like Revan’s? Honestly, I believed the answer is yes. And I still do. Which is why I had such high hopes for Revan. Despite my biases, I still think it could have been the book to bring ultimate closure to the KOTOR series. If only Drew K had been given enough time.
So, to wrap this review up, you may find Revan interesting if you’re into Star Wars novels or game tie-ins in general. I say read this book if you’re fan of the character and the KOTOR games. You might end up disappointed, but you’ve come this far, so might as well finish up. Also read this book if you’re really into the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. There will be quite a few mentions of Revan and his adventures in the game, so knowing the character’s background might enhance the story behind those quests for you, but it’s definitely not required knowledge.
But if you don’t know much about the lore behind SWTOR and the Old Republic era and are thinking of reading this to get pumped for it, I would rethink that decision. For that, you’d be better off playing KOTOR.
Granted, it is possible that my high expectations may have clouded my judgment. For one thing, I’m a big fan of Drew Karpyshyn — he wrote the Star Wars Darth Bane trilogy and also the Mass Effect novels that I found I really enjoyed. But more importantly, I’m also a big fan of the character Revan, having been obsessed with and emotionally invested in his story from the Knights of the Old Republic games. Still, I have a feeling that even the most casual of readers picking this up will find many problems with the writing and execution of this novel.
To be fair, I’ve been following Drew K’s blog for a while now, and on it he occasionally talks about the pressures of looming deadlines and the challenges of meeting them. His writing in Revan appears to be the latest victim of this restrictive time crunch, as it’s definitely not his best work. This is a shame for two reasons: 1) He’s usually capable of much better writing, and 2) I would have pegged him as the perfect author to tell Revan’s story, as he was intimately involved with the development and writing of the first KOTOR game.
Another reason why I think the book was a rush job is how well it started out in the first handful of chapters, versus how everything started unraveling and falling apart in the second half. I’d glimpsed some of the not-so-positive starred reviews prior to finishing the novel, and thought to myself, “Nah, this isn’t that bad.” But then I hit part II. And I began to understand.
First of all, in retrospect so much of the book felt like filler, lengthy exposition sequences and drawn-out descriptions. While I understand the need to bring readers up to speed with the events of KOTOR (for those who have never played the RPG or need a refresher — it’s been about 8 years since the game’s release, after all) I lamented the fact it came at the expense of scenes that actually required details and a more in-depth look. Instead, important action sequences and scenes that actually drove the plot forward or called for more emotion were completely glossed over.
Second, the book was so short. It’s not like there wasn’t enough to write about. Like I said, so much of the novel could have been fleshed out and made better. It just felt like the author needed it to be over and done with, fast.
Third, there was a very noticeable shift in focus by the end of the book. I thought I began by reading about Revan, but little by little, he started taking more of a background role, and by the final chapters it was clear the emphasis was more on the Sith character of the novel, Lord Scourge. I just found this odd, and I still don’t really understand the purpose.
Nonetheless, there is still plenty of Revan, which is one of the reasons why I couldn’t just toss this book aside. There will be answers to some big questions left behind by the ending of KOTOR and KOTOR II, and for this reason I don’t regret reading it at all. The Jedi Exile also plays a huge role, and it is in this book that she is finally identified and given a name — Meetra Surik.
However, speaking of characters, don’t expect many of the companions from the games to make an appearance. The three that get the honor are Canderous Ordo, T3-M4 and Bastila Shan. The rest like Mission Vao, Zaalbar or HK-47 are only mentioned in passing, or given some weak excuses why they couldn’t show up. Carth Onasi doesn’t even get a mention, and while admittedly he was one of my more whiny and annoying BioWare boyfriends, I couldn’t help but notice the snub. Ouch.
I don’t want to make it sound like Revan was all bad. I personally liked a lot of the dialogue, though I think I’m probably in the minority with regards to this. I definitely think dialogue-writing is Drew Karpyshyn’s forte, but while some lines might work well in a video game, I admit they don’t always translate well onto a page in a novel. Some plot points were predictable, but in general I enjoyed the story. And finally, like I said before, the book does manage to bring some form of closure. Sort of.
This does beg the question: Is closure — that is, a truly satisfying conclusion that emotionally invested KOTOR fans have been waiting almost a decade for — even possible for an epic story like Revan’s? Honestly, I believed the answer is yes. And I still do. Which is why I had such high hopes for Revan. Despite my biases, I still think it could have been the book to bring ultimate closure to the KOTOR series. If only Drew K had been given enough time.
So, to wrap this review up, you may find Revan interesting if you’re into Star Wars novels or game tie-ins in general. I say read this book if you’re fan of the character and the KOTOR games. You might end up disappointed, but you’ve come this far, so might as well finish up. Also read this book if you’re really into the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. There will be quite a few mentions of Revan and his adventures in the game, so knowing the character’s background might enhance the story behind those quests for you, but it’s definitely not required knowledge.
But if you don’t know much about the lore behind SWTOR and the Old Republic era and are thinking of reading this to get pumped for it, I would rethink that decision. For that, you’d be better off playing KOTOR.
September 26, 2012
Star Wars Revan: A lengthy and ranty review. {Massive Spoilers inside, for the two games, book, and even Mass Effect 3…ye have been warned!}
Well folks, we’ve reached a new low. Just when I thought that Star Wars couldn’t get any lower after the holiday special, the Legacy of the Force book series, the various changes to established canon as of the new Clone Wars cartoon (even though I still love it), and the various awfully written dark side endings to games (The Force Unleashed I and II, KOTOR 1 AND 2, the Jedi Knight games, etc.), this book is a new low. It…I don’t even know how to describe the utter betrayal that this book sends me and everyone else that might’ve liked Knights of the Old Republic 1, 2, or both. I guess the only proper way to start is at the very beginning. This will contain spoilers for KOTOR 1 and II as well as the book, so be forewarned!
KOTOR 1 was actually a hefty gamble for Lucasarts and Star Wars in general. Previous Star Wars games had been massively successful as well, but it was KOTOR that really broke the mold for the games…for better and worse, in this humble tea lover’s opinion. It raised the bar for Star Wars games as a whole, but…also raised fans’ impossible expectations even more. Seriously, one main criticism of the Force Unleashed was that it wasn’t KOTOR…don’t get me started on that OR the dismemberment point. Bottom line, KOTOR was an absolutely brilliant game with a deep roster of characters, a new era to explore, and a fully customizable Jedi/Sith of your very own! It was practically what every Star Wars fan had asked for, barring real lightsabers of course! Despite all the positive things, including multiple GOTY awards, it wasn’t perfect; which is actually something I need to address later, as it ties into my major point about the companions. I’ll get into KOTOR 2 later because THAT game deserves a once as well.
Revan is a major character in the first KOTOR, described as a whirlwind of not only Force power and saber technique but also tactics and battle strategy. Revan is able to persuade, fight, or just outmaneuver any situation that stands in the way; this is confirmed by various testimonies, journal entries, and the big secret twist at the end. To get this out of the way, because this really is relevant to one of my major problems with the book, the biggest spoiler in the game is that the PLAYER turns out to BE Revan, afflicted with memory loss due to Malek’s betrayal and the Jedi Council deciding on it. It was one of the largest twists in the Star Wars universe at the time, roughly on par with Vader being Luke’s father in shock for some people. It was amazing to see that players had been Revan all along and had all that history, in addition to all the things the player did in the game on the many different planets and best of all? This was the player’s character, man or woman, Light or Dark, red or blue, all player created with unique stories behind them, unique abilities, and unique actions.
Here is where the book immediately falls flat on its face: it tries to canonize Revan. I’m not entirely against the canonization of characters (just see the Legend of Zelda and Pokemon manga for good examples of those) but I’m against it being done poorly. This is an example of the latter in the most extreme way. Before anyone gets on my case, George Lucas only specified a certain level of canon for the two player characters in the two KOTOR games: gender and ending choice; Revan is male, the Jedi Exile is female, both chose the Light Side endings of their respective games. Revan in KOTOR I was a character creation, a blank slate so to speak. Revan had no established identity, no established persona, side, Force Powers, lightsaber color or all else during the amnesia period of the game; Revan was entirely the player’s creation despite having a previous backstory and by the end of the game Revan was usually akin to a walking destroyer able to completely wipe out any threat with fully upgraded companions.
I understand what this book intended to do, but it fell flat with it. Revan is NOT consistent at any time throughout the book in any of the areas mentioned prior. His powers fluctuate to the point where at one point he’s in WALKING GOD OF DESTRUCTION MODE…and another he’s barely able to fend off three hapless troops. His personality is all over the place, going from brooding and serious to joking and laughing BY THE VERY NEXT CHAPTER! He…basically is not Revan, not the one that players took a long journey with and spent a good 8 years wondering about, and that’s not even getting into the ending of the book! He’s married to Bastilla which, while not entirely bothering me because I romanced her my first playthrough, has bothered me because of what happens to her character as a result. The result of this is Bastilla Shan, the noble, the wise, the slightly naïve but altogether complete badass who stood her ground against Malek alone and was able to resist turning to the Dark Side for a long time…is stuck at home being Revan’s cheering section. Smooth Mr. Karpyshyn, you not only have nothing for her to contribute by the very end of the game if the player manages to redeem her from the dark side but now you completely eviscerate her character by having her just…stay at home, because that’s how marriage in Star Wars works right? Never mind that when Han Solo and Leia got married and had about three kids, Leia was still performing her duties as an ambassador and later on became a Jedi; risking life and limb not only got Han but for the Rebel Alliance as a whole!
Revan sucks at persuasion here, and despite the fact that he’s a recognized hero who saved the galaxy from a never ending Sith army and super weapon; he’s treated like an old war relic that refuses to die! So, because SOME Jedi didn’t like him…he’s practically put out to pasture? Drew, you CREATED Revan, couldn’t you think of something else other than that for him? That’s strike one on the MASSIVE list I have! The companions are next, and I swear this is going to be the absolute lousiest thing I say in this review…okay, maybe not THE lousiest but something close to it! This is probably the worst stab in the back to loyal friends since Ultima 9, the Legacy of the Force book series, the Transformers films by Michael Bay, and the post-Konoha invasion arcs in Naruto Shippuden!
Okay, I briefly went over Bastilla’s massive derailing earlier but I feel the need to comment some more on her and the companions as a whole. It turns out that Bastila was carrying Revan’s child, which I’m not against since the Old Republic confirmed Satele Shan months to a year before the book was even announced. The problem is it reduces her to the pregnant love interest that has nothing to do but wait for her partner to return. Leia and Etain Tur-Mukan, a canon character and a character from Karen Traviss’ Republic Commando series respectively, act as ambassadors and negotiators whilst pregnant while their husbands are off in battle, they don’t stay at home like the book has Bastila doing; nor are their husbands the forefront of their minds. Even Padme Amidala still maintained senatorial duties and ambassadorial duties. I might be remembering this wrong, but I don’t remember much about Bastilla from the book besides how different she was from the games in terms of persona and motivations. I remember more about the utter betrayal of the rest of the companions and later characters then I did about Bastila, perhaps I suck as a reader or Karpyshyn as a writer? You decide!
Onto the companions! You remember all those awesome and amazing characters that were in KOTOR 1, like HK-47, Carth, Zaalbar, Juhani, Mission, etc? Well, get ready for all that to be stomped into the dust because most of them are never seen at all! Canderous Ordo is in for 3 chapters and never seen again, T3-M4 is aboard the Ebon Hawk making repairs, and Bastila is at home. The others are mentioned in a crappy throwaway line by Revan when he’s helping Ordo and Carth isn’t mentioned at all. Carth Onasi, the guy who accompanied Revan since the beginning of KOTOR 1, who was rather important to the plot of the game, and becomes an admiral in KOTOR 2…is never mentioned at all. I’m not sure which is a larger betrayal, the fact that we NEVER see these characters or the many other things I have to say. To keep this short, it’s companions that usually make RPG’s like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and KOTOR: understanding their stories, helping them work out problems, getting to know them as people and fighting alongside them and seeing transformations happen depending on player choice. Zaalbar opened up by the time the game was done for me, Carth and I had resolved the problem of him wanting revenge, Mission dealt with her brother, Juhani got aid in her doubting herself, and HK-47…was still himself by the end but slightly less wanting to murder and backstab everything in sight. To completely cut them out of the book is a major faux pas and yet another betrayal.
Oh, but I haven’t even scratched the surface yet! If the treatment of Revan and the companions is a major strike, then wait till I get to the treatment of the OTHER major character involved in the story. Remember when I said that I’d give KOTOR 2 a once over? Now’s the time to do so! You see, KOTOR 2 was supposed to be the sequel that was twice as good and twice as awesome as the first; but for some reason Lucasarts got a bit greedy and decided to have Obsidian studios rush the product before it could brush its teeth. They wanted it twice as awesome; twice the awards, and twice as content rich…but they only gave them half the time. They really shouldn’t have been surprised that it wasn’t as good as the first or that it received more criticisms then the first did. It has a ton of problems, such as that several levels are incomplete, several quests are incomplete, important conversations are incomplete, the last level is largely incomplete, and there’s really no ending. Now, the player character was just as interesting as Revan was. The Jedi Exile was a Jedi that followed Revan to war before Revan’s memory loss, and was cut off from the Force as a result of this action and exiled from the Order. The player also encounters many new faces but also a few familiar faces as well that actually evolved as a result of the player’s choices in KOTOR 1, as well as locations that are mostly new with a few older ones mixed in. There are different choices to make and a ton of other features like influence that come into play when dealing with the companions.
What does all of this have to do with the book, you ask? Well, about halfway through the story, the Jedi Exile shows up! Yep, the Exile shows up, is female, a Jedi Guardian, and has a name! Her name is Meetra Sutrik, and she…well, actually she doesn’t entirely have much to separate her from a normal Jedi. Either that or I don’t precisely remember much about her that separated her from a normal Jedi. My memory’s the worst in this respect, though I do remember the ending and how it’s the ultimate disrespect to all involved…and how it’s pretty much the worst possible thing to happen to fans of KOTOR 1 and 2. Oh, and remember all of those bright and sprightly companions the player had in KOTOR 2, and all the adventures they went on? Prepare for hope and joy to be summarily crushed, because NONE of the Exile’s adventures are mentioned in the book, nor her companions…ever, actually. In fact, the only real memorable thing about the Exile is how the ending goes down, but I need to address one other thing before that…
Okay, about halfway through the story, Revan boards the Ebon Hawk and flies off into the outer rim…and his ship gets shot out of the air by, pause for dramatic effect…LORD SCOURGE! Dun, Dun, Dunnnn! By the Force, Lord Scourge?! Not Lord Scourge, anybody but him! How will we survive— hang on a second, who is this guy? Where did he come from, how did he take out the Ebon Hawk in one hit, what is his purpose in the story? These questions barreled through my head when I first encountered Scourge…and here’s the best bit: he takes over the entire book, is in the chapter IMMEDIATELY following Revan’s prologue, and does the stupidest thing to screw over the ending. He has the gift of prophecy, and that’s about the only thing I can bring myself to care about this guy who takes over literally the ENTIRE PLOT…and even then it’s because it’s a plot point! He would be interesting if he had an entirely separate book dedicated to him, but here he’s…well, just a Sith with the gift of sight.
Okay, biggest betrayal time folks. The ending is, without any form of exaggeration whatsoever, the worst thing I’ve ever seen out of Star Wars. Worse then the dark side ending of KOTOR 1, worst than the one in the Force Unleashed, worse then…well, not worse then the Legacy of the Force but it comes damned close! So…after a complicated series of events involving Revan breaking out of his restraints thanks to the Exile and T3, Scourge, Revan, and the Exile face down the Sith emperor. The three are doing rather well, when suddenly Scourge has a vision of the emperor being defeated by another Jedi that isn’t the two standing alongside him! So…and I swear I’m not making this up, the ending starts going south. The Jedi Exile, the character whom ended up slaying multiple Sith Lords and stopped the galaxy from being totally screwed on four to five different levels…is promptly betrayed first, zapped with Force Lightning and killed without comment. Revan is zapped into unconsciousness and thrown into cryogenic freeze by the Sith Emperor. T3-M4, the greatest droid companion this side of R2-D2, is flash fried and disintegrated by the Sith Emperor…I just…WOW! I could compare this to Cry for Justice, where Prometheus took out a ton of League members almost effortlessly, or Identity Crisis where Slade managed to injure League members WHILE STANDING STILL and suffered NO hits to him despite dealing with people that had FREAKING SUPERPOWERS…and he was just using a sword and his fists against SEASONED League members! I could even bring up Syndel from the 2011 Mortal Kombat, curbstomping about 7 other fighters that the player has played as…in a cutscene, that the player has no control over and comes out of nowhere in the last couple hours of the game! But this, my dear readers, deserves some more damn attention than that!
One! Killing off the Jedi Exile in this way, someone that players loved just as much as Revan at least, is not only typifying the Stuffed in the Fridge trope but is also a final slap in the face to a great character, female characters in general, and fans like myself that were hoping to see something grand, operatic, and amazing for a character that we spent hours building! It’s a shock death, it’s basically sweeping the supposed “lesser female” character of the Exile, and indeed the very idea of a strong female character in general, under the bus! The fact that she’s the first to be betrayed and killed off without so much as a lasting blow on her part is my proof. She and Revan are both iconic characters in the way that Gordon Freeman and Chell are, silent but memorable and they are characters that deserve better than this! The Exile managed to survive all manner of things thrown at the character, including being cut off from the Force and being hunted by Sith that ruled the majority of the galaxy AND OVERCAME IT ALL! Killing her off like this is just…argh!
Two! Revan going out in the way that he did, while not outright KILLING him, might as be slapping fans in the face twice! I understand he does appear in some form in the Old Republic, but that’s something I’ve found problematic. Instead of a full KOTOR 3 game featuring either the player playing as their choice of character, we got the MMO. Not that the MMO is a problem by itself, but it’s like…paying for what is essentially about 12 campaigns which I could probably burn through in a summer per month…isn’t fun. That and this POS was created in it’s place to explain what happened?! Suffice to say, I wasn’t in any mood to play TOR after that…though now that it’s going Free to Play I might! Anyway, Revan being stuffed into a freezer…just doesn’t jive well with the perception or any sort of expectation that I had for Revan’s fate, let alone the Exiles. This is the character that held off at least three to four high ranking Jedi, practically held off the Council SINGLE-HANDEDLY…and he’s just stuffed into a freezer?! That’s not just a slap in the face to a character, BUT THE ENTIRE KOTOR FANDOM AS A WHOLE!
Three! T3-M4 dying in that way was about as tragic, heartbreaking, and infuriating as…Legion’s death in Mass Effect 3 without the sense that the death meant something. It’s as though Stephen Moffat was directing the whole scene by saying “Now kill off the cute cuddly one, that’ll REALLY make fans cry!” It’s not enough that I got to see two of my favorite characters in the entirety of the Star Wars universe get cheaply toyed with and broken at the last minute, but ya had ta throw in the droid dying huh? That’s great, that’s just perfect, FEED ME MORE reasons to want to slam this book against a wall!
There are a few good things I can say that Mr. Karpyshyn did here. The lightsaber battles, however brief, are fun but a bit formulaic for lightsaber battles. To elaborate on that point, I’m used to fights that are of a speed that benefits the character, fast for a character like Starkiller and slow for a character like Vader, the battles in the book are few and far between and don’t exactly inspire the rush a lightsaber battle should. There’s also the character involved in said battles not being…well, interesting. Scourge is one note, Revan and the Exile are broken, and the other Sith characters just aren’t memorable for me to care about…no, not even the Emperor. Another thing the book does well is that it does give us what happened to the main characters of the two games…albeit something completely horrible and breaking all kinds of canon. It doesn’t characterize well, it feels…incomplete, so to speak and I know there’s been posts by Mr. Karpyshyn that he was on a deadline that was very rigorous but FOR THE SAKE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY MAN, WHY DIDN’T YOU THINK THIS THROUGH ENOUGH?!
Overall, I give it 1 star and that’s being generous. If you’re new to all of this, it probably won’t affect you as much. If you’re a vet when it comes to Star Wars, however, I URGE YOU to not buy this book. Don’t think about it, don’t look at it, don’t even TRY to read it…just let it slip into discontinuity like Legacy of the Force and other equally bad Star Wars related material. It breaks beloved characters, completely ignores other essential characters and just…frustrates me to no end with its spotlight stealing character who’s apparently a companion in TOR! This is my Ultima 9, my Garbage Pail Kids, my Countdown to Final Crisis, my Mass Effect 3…bottom line, THIS BOOK SUCKS!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2021
Rating: 4 stars
I was just going to write something like "twas good" and then be done with the review, but then THAT ENDING! IT WAS SUPER GOOD. I loved it so much. It was so unexpected, but all the characters still acted so authentically in the given situation, which authors tend not to do when wanting to add a plot twist.
The book was also brutal throughout, and I love it when Star Wars does that, because I'm sick of this family friendly approach that the sequel trilogy has adopted (I also just hate the sequel trilogy).
(Also, there was this place that cut people off from the Force and all I could think of was that it was like a stedding in Wheel of Time.)
I was just going to write something like "twas good" and then be done with the review, but then THAT ENDING! IT WAS SUPER GOOD. I loved it so much. It was so unexpected, but all the characters still acted so authentically in the given situation, which authors tend not to do when wanting to add a plot twist.
The book was also brutal throughout, and I love it when Star Wars does that, because I'm sick of this family friendly approach that the sequel trilogy has adopted (I also just hate the sequel trilogy).
(Also, there was this place that cut people off from the Force and all I could think of was that it was like a stedding in Wheel of Time.)
Read
June 7, 2025Star Wars novels are becoming fun and spontaneous reads for me. They’re pretty light and alright to get into. I enjoy the ideas and expanded lore they provide to the Star Wars universe (even if they are not all explicitly canon). Revan is definitely one of the better Star Wars novels. I had already known about Revan and a little of Darth Nihilus (we love eating planets) but actually reading this was enjoyable. There were parts that got surprisingly dark and it was fun. It reaffirmed my fascination for The Old Republic. I hope for the day that Star Wars decides to film SOMETHING in the Old Republic Era. There is so much potential in that area.
March 9, 2021
I enjoyed the long buildup to an eventual confrontation with the Sith Emperor, and some of the concepts (such as the Force nullity of Nathema) were intriguing but on the whole I felt that my total unfamiliarity with the Knights of the Old Republic game was a major handicap to enjoying the story as fully as intended.
OK I'd be in for this...
OK I'd be in for this...
August 14, 2018
Continuing my way through the ‘Legends’ timeline with this being the third event in chronological order.
As the events take place in ‘3954 BBY’.
This is also the first of four The Old Republic books that focuses on characters from the popular video game ‘Knights of the Old Republic’.
Having not played the game I wasn’t previously familiar with them, so I was really grateful that the prologue gave a quick summary as to where the main character Revan is with he’s life.
Revan is living on Coruscant and now married to Bastila Shan. But having lost he’s memory after the events of the Mandalorian Wars, he is constantly plagued by dreams that inspires him to rediscover he’s past.
I thought that this was a perfect way to introduce the character, slowly drip feeding information to the reader throughout the book.
Thought this is Raven’s story, the main plot focuses on a new stirring of the dark side.
As Revan embarks on a quest the story flows with plenty of action.
The main reason why I wanted to read these novels was to discover more from the Star Wars universe.
Even though there was plenty of info-dumping during the narrative this was exactly what I’d hoped for when I first set to read all these books.
Highly entertaining, this have been my favourite so far!
As the events take place in ‘3954 BBY’.
This is also the first of four The Old Republic books that focuses on characters from the popular video game ‘Knights of the Old Republic’.
Having not played the game I wasn’t previously familiar with them, so I was really grateful that the prologue gave a quick summary as to where the main character Revan is with he’s life.
Revan is living on Coruscant and now married to Bastila Shan. But having lost he’s memory after the events of the Mandalorian Wars, he is constantly plagued by dreams that inspires him to rediscover he’s past.
I thought that this was a perfect way to introduce the character, slowly drip feeding information to the reader throughout the book.
Thought this is Raven’s story, the main plot focuses on a new stirring of the dark side.
As Revan embarks on a quest the story flows with plenty of action.
The main reason why I wanted to read these novels was to discover more from the Star Wars universe.
Even though there was plenty of info-dumping during the narrative this was exactly what I’d hoped for when I first set to read all these books.
Highly entertaining, this have been my favourite so far!
September 23, 2022
Introduction
I am writing this review 2 years after reading this novel so my memory might be a little rusty. However, after reading about 75 Star Wars books/comics, this still remains in my top 5. Maybe it's the rose coloured glasses talking, but I still think it holds up if you put things into context.
What you should know before reading
For starters, I went into this Old Republic "series" without doing much research. I knew that Revan was the first book. I also knew that Malgus was on the cover of Deceived, the second book in the series. I knew that Malgus was prominent roughly 300 years after Revan. So Deceived is clearly not a sequel to Revan, neither is Fatal Alliance or Annihilation. Naturally, I expected the Revan novel to finish Revan's story. Last thing I expected was the ending to be a cliffhanger. So after consulting The Google, I found out that Revan's story is continued in Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)... UGH WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT? I ended up watching clips on The YouTube to finish his story. I find it very unsatisfying but that's beside the point.
So what was the point of this book? It ties the Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) video games (which are stellar btw) to SWTOR. Knowing this, I don't see any other way that Karpyshyn could have made the ending better considering the plans they had for Revan in SWTOR. I can't blame him for that.
Lastly, I think this book is better suited for KOTOR fans; however, I don't think KOTOR is a prerequisite. I played and loved KOTOR before reading this book and it was so easy to get into as I already had a connection to the characters and a good understanding of the lore. I can't speak for those who didn't play KOTOR first, but I think it goes into enough details to follow along without any issues. So now that the context is established, let's look at the novel.
TL;DR
-The Revan novel ties KOTOR in to SWTOR
-The Old Republic series (Revan, Deceived, Fatal Alliance, and Annihilation) are basically standalones that are marketed as a series.
-The ending is a controversial cliffhanger, but it's not the fault of the author.
-I think KOTOR fans would enjoy this story more, but I don't think KOTOR is a prerequisite.
REVIEW
THE BAD
Revan's wife Bastila really got snubbed here. No adventures for her. Legendary Jedi Master turned boring stay at home wife.
THE GOOD
The first third or so of the book follows Revan and Canderous (or as I like to call him: Cando the Mando) on an adventure to retrieve Mandalore's Mask (a ceremonial war mask worn by the Mandalore). So we get a lot of Mandalorian lore, and a look into Revan's past when he fought against the Mandalorians.
Throughout most of the book, each chapter switches POVs from Revan to a Sith Lord named Scourge. Scourge was not in KOTOR so he was completely new to me, and I found myself loving him just as much as Revan. We got so much Sith lore, both as a species and a faction. There's so much drama within the Dark Council and with Emperor Vitiate. The power of Vitiate is absolutely frightening and we get some of his backstory.
Eventually, the Revan POV and the Scourge POV become one. They cross paths when Revan and Cando the Mando part ways and Revan explores memories from his past and I'll leave it at that to remain spoiler free. Their interactions and their relationship is fascinating. Karpyshyn managed to string together a thrilling, lore-filled, epic plot with amazing characters.
VERDICT
5 stars. Absolute page-turner. A deep dive into Mandalorians, Sith, and Jedi in The Old Republic era is so satisfying.
I am writing this review 2 years after reading this novel so my memory might be a little rusty. However, after reading about 75 Star Wars books/comics, this still remains in my top 5. Maybe it's the rose coloured glasses talking, but I still think it holds up if you put things into context.
What you should know before reading
For starters, I went into this Old Republic "series" without doing much research. I knew that Revan was the first book. I also knew that Malgus was on the cover of Deceived, the second book in the series. I knew that Malgus was prominent roughly 300 years after Revan. So Deceived is clearly not a sequel to Revan, neither is Fatal Alliance or Annihilation. Naturally, I expected the Revan novel to finish Revan's story. Last thing I expected was the ending to be a cliffhanger. So after consulting The Google, I found out that Revan's story is continued in Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)... UGH WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT? I ended up watching clips on The YouTube to finish his story. I find it very unsatisfying but that's beside the point.
So what was the point of this book? It ties the Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) video games (which are stellar btw) to SWTOR. Knowing this, I don't see any other way that Karpyshyn could have made the ending better considering the plans they had for Revan in SWTOR. I can't blame him for that.
Lastly, I think this book is better suited for KOTOR fans; however, I don't think KOTOR is a prerequisite. I played and loved KOTOR before reading this book and it was so easy to get into as I already had a connection to the characters and a good understanding of the lore. I can't speak for those who didn't play KOTOR first, but I think it goes into enough details to follow along without any issues. So now that the context is established, let's look at the novel.
TL;DR
-The Revan novel ties KOTOR in to SWTOR
-The Old Republic series (Revan, Deceived, Fatal Alliance, and Annihilation) are basically standalones that are marketed as a series.
-The ending is a controversial cliffhanger, but it's not the fault of the author.
-I think KOTOR fans would enjoy this story more, but I don't think KOTOR is a prerequisite.
REVIEW
THE BAD
Revan's wife Bastila really got snubbed here. No adventures for her. Legendary Jedi Master turned boring stay at home wife.
THE GOOD
The first third or so of the book follows Revan and Canderous (or as I like to call him: Cando the Mando) on an adventure to retrieve Mandalore's Mask (a ceremonial war mask worn by the Mandalore). So we get a lot of Mandalorian lore, and a look into Revan's past when he fought against the Mandalorians.
Throughout most of the book, each chapter switches POVs from Revan to a Sith Lord named Scourge. Scourge was not in KOTOR so he was completely new to me, and I found myself loving him just as much as Revan. We got so much Sith lore, both as a species and a faction. There's so much drama within the Dark Council and with Emperor Vitiate. The power of Vitiate is absolutely frightening and we get some of his backstory.
Eventually, the Revan POV and the Scourge POV become one. They cross paths when Revan and Cando the Mando part ways and Revan explores memories from his past and I'll leave it at that to remain spoiler free. Their interactions and their relationship is fascinating. Karpyshyn managed to string together a thrilling, lore-filled, epic plot with amazing characters.
VERDICT
5 stars. Absolute page-turner. A deep dive into Mandalorians, Sith, and Jedi in The Old Republic era is so satisfying.
February 10, 2024
Oddly enough, I never reviewed this book. But it's easily my least liked Star Wars book of all time, and that says a lot.
I'm not blaming Drew entirely for this, as he had to tie in the book to the atrocious MMO plot for Revan. But still, it's just not good.
All the companion characters in both Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 are all conveniently busy at the same time, and can't come along with Revan and Jedi Exile, Meetra Surik, aside from T3 and Canderous. Also, it's somewhat lore breaking in general that Bastila and Revan are allowed to be married for whatever reason.
Anyway, for a book about Revan, it's barely about him. It spends far more time about a Sith Pure-Blood named Scrouge, who I've always found to be a horribly boring character. Then at the climax, he has a vision that the player character in the MMO is the only one that can kill the Emperor, so he betrays Meetra and Revan. Stabbing Meetra in the back and watching as Revan get fried by the Emperor and captured for 300 years, after he already captured earlier in the book by a random Sith Lord.
I just don't like it at all. They made Meetra and Revan to be chumps, and considering this game was supposed to replace KOTOR 3 just irks me deeply.
Reread: Yeah, it's just as bad the second time.
I'm not blaming Drew entirely for this, as he had to tie in the book to the atrocious MMO plot for Revan. But still, it's just not good.
All the companion characters in both Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 are all conveniently busy at the same time, and can't come along with Revan and Jedi Exile, Meetra Surik, aside from T3 and Canderous. Also, it's somewhat lore breaking in general that Bastila and Revan are allowed to be married for whatever reason.
Anyway, for a book about Revan, it's barely about him. It spends far more time about a Sith Pure-Blood named Scrouge, who I've always found to be a horribly boring character. Then at the climax, he has a vision that the player character in the MMO is the only one that can kill the Emperor, so he betrays Meetra and Revan. Stabbing Meetra in the back and watching as Revan get fried by the Emperor and captured for 300 years, after he already captured earlier in the book by a random Sith Lord.
I just don't like it at all. They made Meetra and Revan to be chumps, and considering this game was supposed to replace KOTOR 3 just irks me deeply.
Reread: Yeah, it's just as bad the second time.
May 1, 2024
Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Revan von Drew Karpyshyn
„Die Macht lässt sich nach deinem Willen formen, aber das verlangt oft seinen Preis. Die stärksten Rituale der Dunklen Seite fordern einen Tribut, den nur die wenigsten bereit sind zu zahlen.“
Nach langer Zeit auf meiner TBR habe ich mich letzte Woche endlich entschlossen die vier The Old Republic-Romane zu lesen. Los ging es in chronologischer Reihenfolge mit „Revan“!
Der Inhalt:
Revan war vieles: Held, Verräter, Sith, Jedi. Zurück auf der hellen Seite der Macht, doch seines Gedächtnisses beraubt, plagen ihn schwere Alpträume. Die Lösung der rätselhaften Gedankengebildes mag auf der vergessenen Heimwatwelt der Sith, Dromund Kaas, liegen. Zur selben Zeit an eben jenem Ort deckt der Sith-Lord Scourge ein dunkles Geheimnis auf, welches das Potenzial hat, den Lauf der Geschichte für immer zu verändern...
Meine Meinung:
Wie schon in „Darth Bane“ beweist der Autor ein tiefes Verständnis für die Macht. Er erzählt auf mehreren Handlungsebenen eine spannende Abenteuergeschichte, die sowohl Detektivgeschichten als auch Actionerzählungen gleicht. Durchwoben wird alles von der Macht, die einmal mehr den mysteriösen Antlitz jenes Energiefeldes erhält, welches Ben Kenobi erstmals in Episode IV erläutert. Vor allem Fans der Videospiele kommen auf ihre Kosten, doch auch Neueinsteiger in die Materie (wie ich) können der Handlung gut folgen. Das Buch ist flüssig und fix zu lesen, wobei die klare und bildhafte Sprache sehr hilft. Als besonderes Highlight sticht der Einblick in die Vergangenheit des Sith-Imperators hervor.
Fazit:
Ein spannendes Star-Wars-Abenteuer, welches Leser, die bisher noch keine TOR/KOTOR-Fans waren, definitiv zu solchen werden lässt!
Revan von Drew Karpyshyn
„Die Macht lässt sich nach deinem Willen formen, aber das verlangt oft seinen Preis. Die stärksten Rituale der Dunklen Seite fordern einen Tribut, den nur die wenigsten bereit sind zu zahlen.“
Nach langer Zeit auf meiner TBR habe ich mich letzte Woche endlich entschlossen die vier The Old Republic-Romane zu lesen. Los ging es in chronologischer Reihenfolge mit „Revan“!
Der Inhalt:
Revan war vieles: Held, Verräter, Sith, Jedi. Zurück auf der hellen Seite der Macht, doch seines Gedächtnisses beraubt, plagen ihn schwere Alpträume. Die Lösung der rätselhaften Gedankengebildes mag auf der vergessenen Heimwatwelt der Sith, Dromund Kaas, liegen. Zur selben Zeit an eben jenem Ort deckt der Sith-Lord Scourge ein dunkles Geheimnis auf, welches das Potenzial hat, den Lauf der Geschichte für immer zu verändern...
Meine Meinung:
Wie schon in „Darth Bane“ beweist der Autor ein tiefes Verständnis für die Macht. Er erzählt auf mehreren Handlungsebenen eine spannende Abenteuergeschichte, die sowohl Detektivgeschichten als auch Actionerzählungen gleicht. Durchwoben wird alles von der Macht, die einmal mehr den mysteriösen Antlitz jenes Energiefeldes erhält, welches Ben Kenobi erstmals in Episode IV erläutert. Vor allem Fans der Videospiele kommen auf ihre Kosten, doch auch Neueinsteiger in die Materie (wie ich) können der Handlung gut folgen. Das Buch ist flüssig und fix zu lesen, wobei die klare und bildhafte Sprache sehr hilft. Als besonderes Highlight sticht der Einblick in die Vergangenheit des Sith-Imperators hervor.
Fazit:
Ein spannendes Star-Wars-Abenteuer, welches Leser, die bisher noch keine TOR/KOTOR-Fans waren, definitiv zu solchen werden lässt!
October 17, 2018
3.5 stars.
I liked this one. Revan was a great character. The other characters were nicely done too. The world building was wonderful and it created a nice fit for both the characters and the plot. I loved that, especially when it comes to genes like sci-fi and even fantasy.
I also enjoyed the plot. It had a few threads going on at once and they were nicely woven together. There were even some well placed zingers. Relationships were also strong and detailed. They completely worked here.
I liked this one. Revan was a great character. The other characters were nicely done too. The world building was wonderful and it created a nice fit for both the characters and the plot. I loved that, especially when it comes to genes like sci-fi and even fantasy.
I also enjoyed the plot. It had a few threads going on at once and they were nicely woven together. There were even some well placed zingers. Relationships were also strong and detailed. They completely worked here.
July 8, 2025
Drew Karpyshyn's "Revan" is not the best Star Wars book I have read. It is, in fact, my least favorite so far, although part of the problem may lie with the fact that it is based on or inspired by a video game series with which I am unfamiliar. Apparently, "Knights of the Old Republic" is an old-school video game that was immensely popular among the gaming set. (Indeed, gamers I know say that this game was the pinnacle of gaming excellence. I can't verify that, as I've never played it.)
There is much back-story necessary to understand the context of this story, most of which is explained very briefly in the book through rather boring bits of exposition and/or awkward sections of dialogue.
Karpyshyn is, at most, a competent writer, but it is clear that he enjoys video games (and designing them, according to his bio) from the way the book is structured. Like a video game, the main character is given a task, and he is then sent off to different increasingly difficult levels to accomplish this task. He encounters allies along the way, and there are many fight sequences. Basically, the book is a video game.
I find video games excruciatingly dull and tedious, which is why I don't play them, so it's no wonder that I didn't enjoy this book that much. Gamers, and especially those familiar with "KOTOR", will probably get much more enjoyment out of this.
There is much back-story necessary to understand the context of this story, most of which is explained very briefly in the book through rather boring bits of exposition and/or awkward sections of dialogue.
Karpyshyn is, at most, a competent writer, but it is clear that he enjoys video games (and designing them, according to his bio) from the way the book is structured. Like a video game, the main character is given a task, and he is then sent off to different increasingly difficult levels to accomplish this task. He encounters allies along the way, and there are many fight sequences. Basically, the book is a video game.
I find video games excruciatingly dull and tedious, which is why I don't play them, so it's no wonder that I didn't enjoy this book that much. Gamers, and especially those familiar with "KOTOR", will probably get much more enjoyment out of this.
May 29, 2016
When I first read Revan, I thought it was fantastic, one of the best books I ever read. However, I read it again and...it definitely has some problems. I seriously got the vibe that this would be the result if Michael Bay did a Star Wars Film.
THE STORY: this book takes place in two distinct parts, so I will summarize each one.
Part 1: Two years have passed since Revan's triumphant victory over Darth Malak in the first Knights of the Old Republic video game and he is now a hero of the republic, happily married to the jedi knight Bastila Shan. However, Revan is afflicted by horrible nightmares that he believes are connected to his lost memories that were erased by the jedi council during the Jedi Civil War. He recruits the help of the mandalorian Canderous Ordo, a mercenary who aided him in his quest against Malak during the awesomeness that this book mostly lacks. Regardless, the pair go on an adventure with another Knights of the Old Republic Teammate, the astromech droid T3M4 and they go on an I guess insightful adventure.
Meanwhile, a sith lord named Lord Scourge has been summoned by Darth Nyriss and he goes on some missions for her. Later it turns out that Nyriss was testing scourge to see if he was a good candidate to help her in stopping the nefarious plans of the Sith Emperor himself.
Part 2: Revan has vanished. Meetra Surik, also known as the Jedi Exile from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, has saved the republic once again. After she returns from her triumph over the evil Darth Traya in KOTOR 2, she goes off on a search for Revan not really knowing or probably even caring about what happened to the likes of Atton, Bao Dur, Visas, or any of her companions except for T3M4. Eventually, Meetra finds revan, and they team up with Lord Scourge to try and stop the emperor from carrying out the plans that Nyriss told us about in part 1.
Meanwhile, Lord Scourge is doing stuff too, but i can't say more without spoilers.
THE BAD: This book is extremely insulting to its characters. In the video games that they come from, the characters are interesting and/or likable. Here, they range from being very bland to insultingly off. Revan is quite the boring character, and the other two main players, Lord Scourge and Meetra Surik, are not much better.
Lets' start with Revan. He is the character that players portray in the first Knights of the Old Republic video game. There are many different ways to play him, but the version canonized by this novel is that Revan is male, he defeated Malak, saved the republic, and married Bastilla (not a spoiler for the book). I think that Karpyshyn did not elaborate much on his personality because he wanted to leave it open to the interpretation of the players who had their own vision of the character. But here's why this doesn't work. This is a novel, where all the decisions are made by the author, not an RPG where the player makes the choices himself/herself.
Meetra is much the same. She is the exile, the character that players portray in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Like Revan, players can interpret the exile in any way they wish. Canonically, The Exile is a female named Meetra Surik who saves the Republic from the evil Darth Traya. It would have been nice to learn about what happens to the KOTOR 2 characters, but this is just a nitpick compared to my other problems with this book. Anyways, Meetra bothered me because like Revan, she's not an interesting character. Again, I think Karpyshyn wanted to leave things open to interpretation, but I already explained why this doesn't work. She's also overly sexualized in the novel. I read complaints on reviews for A New Dawn complaining about Hera's looks getting too much emphasis, but even if I had a problem with that it's nothing compared to the way Meetra Surik is reduced to brain candy in this novel. After Meetra was placed in the dancer's outfit i really felt like I was reading a Michael Bay Star Wars story rather than something that captured the spirit of the KOTOR games or even the Old Republic MMO.
With both Meetra and Revan, Karpyshyn really should have gone all the way with establishing a canon for these two characters. He already decided the genders and game endings for these characters, so why not canonize a personality as well? With Revan, the players who played a female Revan that romanced Carth or played dark side would be betrayed already. Same with players who played the exile as a male and/or darkside. I know he wanted to let the KOTOR players reading this keep their visions of the two characters but this tactic was not the correct approach.
If the characters from here didn't match the players' vision from the games, well, that already missed the mark. This was unavoidable though as anybody playing a different version of the characters wouldn't get their visions portrayed here. But even those who did have their visions of the characters realized don't get a good portrayal because, well, Revan and the Exile are extremely uninteresting in this novel! The result of this misstep was two bland main characters that are almost as bad as the characters from Fatal Alliance. Even so, I read many other reviews and the majority did not complain about their vision of Revan being ruined.
Scourge is pretty bland for the majority of the story as well, and the other side characters are forgettable as well.
However, my biggest gripe is with Bastila. In the first KOTOR game she's a strong, stubborn, almost pretentious badass with a double saber, but here she's a weak, submissive wife/mother. I read other reviews complaining how Bastila is just told to stay home and take care of the baby. An example from a reviewer on this website who I am quite the fan of, Crystal Starr Light . "(even when she is only a month or two pregnant! Both Leia AND Mara were kicking @$$ when pregnant!)" My girlfriend, who's playing the MMO with me right now, roleplays her smuggler character where she would kick butt while pregnant too. Another quote from Matthew Borgard . "Gone is the strong, capable Bastila Shan. She's been replaced by a Stepford Wife that seems to exist solely to say "I love Revan SO MUCH!"".
My point is, I don't have a problem with her staying home, as her pregnancy and child actually makes that practical. As a Jedi, i think she legitimately made a rational decision. My problem is the way that this decision was reached. When Revan leaves, he just gives Bastila a one-sentence reason to stay home and she just says "oh alright". This is where she really goes out of character from the game. Why doesn't she try to argue? why doesn't the discussion last longer? Oh wait, it's because Bastila was poorly handled just so the slow moving plot would go faster and we could have some action.
Speaking of plot, the story is really slow moving and drags on. It should have been called Scourge, because this book is really about Lord Scourge and not Revan. Instead of chapters used to develop Meetra Surik or especially Revan, we get more than half of the entire book devoted to scourge swinging his ligthsaber. It would have been better if he had more character development, but that doesn't happen until the end when all the characters are together anyways.
THE GOOD: Despite my newly realized problems with the story and the characters, there were actually parts of the book I still really like.
First off, the lore and worldbuilding. I love the KOTOR universe and I found the parts where characters' pasts, the mandalorian culture, the way the sith empire works, and the emperor's past all really interesting.
Second, the action is really, really good. Karpyshyn is great at writing slick, intense fight scenes. The cool action scenes that Lord Scourge gets really save the first portion of the book- if you can't get into the story or characters, at least you can enjoy the action. And once the characters finally team up, everything really gets going. Revan's bland personality was redeemed by the badass action scenes he gets at the last quarter of the book, and Meetra and Scourge actually get a tinge of character development.
I know many reviewers didn't like the ending, but I don't necessarily understand why. In my opinion, the climax is awesome. We get another of Karpyshyn's amazingly rendered action scenes that pits Revan, Meetra, and Scourge against the emperor and his guards and it was done really well. Also, the ending ties in excellently with the Old Republic Video game. Which, to be clear, the book is meant to tie in to the Old Republic MMO rather than be a conclusion to the character arcs from KOTOR. Whether you like this decision or not, that's how it was done, and for the purpose it was intending to achieve the book works.
I even found some of the comedy pretty good, especially Revan's conversation with Atris. I laugh almost as hard at that scene as I do to 3PO's transition to gold plating in the Taratovsky Clone Wars Cartoon from 2003.
THE VERDICT: Despite its big problems, Revan still passes as an ok novel for me. This book may be a disgusting insult to the characters from the KOTOR games but I can't say I completely hate this novel because the action was still good and I enjoyed the last third or so when the three main characters teamed up. In the end though, this book isn't very good. If you like the Old Republic Era and especially KOTOR you will probably find the setting and the lore interesting, and you will definitely enjoy the action sequences. Even then though I don't think you will like it that much. If you are looking for a Star Wars novel set in the Old Republic era with an interesting story and compelling characters I'd check out Deceived or Annihilation instead.
THE STORY: this book takes place in two distinct parts, so I will summarize each one.
Part 1: Two years have passed since Revan's triumphant victory over Darth Malak in the first Knights of the Old Republic video game and he is now a hero of the republic, happily married to the jedi knight Bastila Shan. However, Revan is afflicted by horrible nightmares that he believes are connected to his lost memories that were erased by the jedi council during the Jedi Civil War. He recruits the help of the mandalorian Canderous Ordo, a mercenary who aided him in his quest against Malak during the awesomeness that this book mostly lacks. Regardless, the pair go on an adventure with another Knights of the Old Republic Teammate, the astromech droid T3M4 and they go on an I guess insightful adventure.
Meanwhile, a sith lord named Lord Scourge has been summoned by Darth Nyriss and he goes on some missions for her. Later it turns out that Nyriss was testing scourge to see if he was a good candidate to help her in stopping the nefarious plans of the Sith Emperor himself.
Part 2: Revan has vanished. Meetra Surik, also known as the Jedi Exile from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, has saved the republic once again. After she returns from her triumph over the evil Darth Traya in KOTOR 2, she goes off on a search for Revan not really knowing or probably even caring about what happened to the likes of Atton, Bao Dur, Visas, or any of her companions except for T3M4. Eventually, Meetra finds revan, and they team up with Lord Scourge to try and stop the emperor from carrying out the plans that Nyriss told us about in part 1.
Meanwhile, Lord Scourge is doing stuff too, but i can't say more without spoilers.
THE BAD: This book is extremely insulting to its characters. In the video games that they come from, the characters are interesting and/or likable. Here, they range from being very bland to insultingly off. Revan is quite the boring character, and the other two main players, Lord Scourge and Meetra Surik, are not much better.
Lets' start with Revan. He is the character that players portray in the first Knights of the Old Republic video game. There are many different ways to play him, but the version canonized by this novel is that Revan is male, he defeated Malak, saved the republic, and married Bastilla (not a spoiler for the book). I think that Karpyshyn did not elaborate much on his personality because he wanted to leave it open to the interpretation of the players who had their own vision of the character. But here's why this doesn't work. This is a novel, where all the decisions are made by the author, not an RPG where the player makes the choices himself/herself.
Meetra is much the same. She is the exile, the character that players portray in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Like Revan, players can interpret the exile in any way they wish. Canonically, The Exile is a female named Meetra Surik who saves the Republic from the evil Darth Traya. It would have been nice to learn about what happens to the KOTOR 2 characters, but this is just a nitpick compared to my other problems with this book. Anyways, Meetra bothered me because like Revan, she's not an interesting character. Again, I think Karpyshyn wanted to leave things open to interpretation, but I already explained why this doesn't work. She's also overly sexualized in the novel. I read complaints on reviews for A New Dawn complaining about Hera's looks getting too much emphasis, but even if I had a problem with that it's nothing compared to the way Meetra Surik is reduced to brain candy in this novel. After Meetra was placed in the dancer's outfit i really felt like I was reading a Michael Bay Star Wars story rather than something that captured the spirit of the KOTOR games or even the Old Republic MMO.
With both Meetra and Revan, Karpyshyn really should have gone all the way with establishing a canon for these two characters. He already decided the genders and game endings for these characters, so why not canonize a personality as well? With Revan, the players who played a female Revan that romanced Carth or played dark side would be betrayed already. Same with players who played the exile as a male and/or darkside. I know he wanted to let the KOTOR players reading this keep their visions of the two characters but this tactic was not the correct approach.
If the characters from here didn't match the players' vision from the games, well, that already missed the mark. This was unavoidable though as anybody playing a different version of the characters wouldn't get their visions portrayed here. But even those who did have their visions of the characters realized don't get a good portrayal because, well, Revan and the Exile are extremely uninteresting in this novel! The result of this misstep was two bland main characters that are almost as bad as the characters from Fatal Alliance. Even so, I read many other reviews and the majority did not complain about their vision of Revan being ruined.
Scourge is pretty bland for the majority of the story as well, and the other side characters are forgettable as well.
However, my biggest gripe is with Bastila. In the first KOTOR game she's a strong, stubborn, almost pretentious badass with a double saber, but here she's a weak, submissive wife/mother. I read other reviews complaining how Bastila is just told to stay home and take care of the baby. An example from a reviewer on this website who I am quite the fan of, Crystal Starr Light . "(even when she is only a month or two pregnant! Both Leia AND Mara were kicking @$$ when pregnant!)" My girlfriend, who's playing the MMO with me right now, roleplays her smuggler character where she would kick butt while pregnant too. Another quote from Matthew Borgard . "Gone is the strong, capable Bastila Shan. She's been replaced by a Stepford Wife that seems to exist solely to say "I love Revan SO MUCH!"".
My point is, I don't have a problem with her staying home, as her pregnancy and child actually makes that practical. As a Jedi, i think she legitimately made a rational decision. My problem is the way that this decision was reached. When Revan leaves, he just gives Bastila a one-sentence reason to stay home and she just says "oh alright". This is where she really goes out of character from the game. Why doesn't she try to argue? why doesn't the discussion last longer? Oh wait, it's because Bastila was poorly handled just so the slow moving plot would go faster and we could have some action.
Speaking of plot, the story is really slow moving and drags on. It should have been called Scourge, because this book is really about Lord Scourge and not Revan. Instead of chapters used to develop Meetra Surik or especially Revan, we get more than half of the entire book devoted to scourge swinging his ligthsaber. It would have been better if he had more character development, but that doesn't happen until the end when all the characters are together anyways.
THE GOOD: Despite my newly realized problems with the story and the characters, there were actually parts of the book I still really like.
First off, the lore and worldbuilding. I love the KOTOR universe and I found the parts where characters' pasts, the mandalorian culture, the way the sith empire works, and the emperor's past all really interesting.
Second, the action is really, really good. Karpyshyn is great at writing slick, intense fight scenes. The cool action scenes that Lord Scourge gets really save the first portion of the book- if you can't get into the story or characters, at least you can enjoy the action. And once the characters finally team up, everything really gets going. Revan's bland personality was redeemed by the badass action scenes he gets at the last quarter of the book, and Meetra and Scourge actually get a tinge of character development.
I know many reviewers didn't like the ending, but I don't necessarily understand why. In my opinion, the climax is awesome. We get another of Karpyshyn's amazingly rendered action scenes that pits Revan, Meetra, and Scourge against the emperor and his guards and it was done really well. Also, the ending ties in excellently with the Old Republic Video game. Which, to be clear, the book is meant to tie in to the Old Republic MMO rather than be a conclusion to the character arcs from KOTOR. Whether you like this decision or not, that's how it was done, and for the purpose it was intending to achieve the book works.
I even found some of the comedy pretty good, especially Revan's conversation with Atris. I laugh almost as hard at that scene as I do to 3PO's transition to gold plating in the Taratovsky Clone Wars Cartoon from 2003.
THE VERDICT: Despite its big problems, Revan still passes as an ok novel for me. This book may be a disgusting insult to the characters from the KOTOR games but I can't say I completely hate this novel because the action was still good and I enjoyed the last third or so when the three main characters teamed up. In the end though, this book isn't very good. If you like the Old Republic Era and especially KOTOR you will probably find the setting and the lore interesting, and you will definitely enjoy the action sequences. Even then though I don't think you will like it that much. If you are looking for a Star Wars novel set in the Old Republic era with an interesting story and compelling characters I'd check out Deceived or Annihilation instead.
July 18, 2016
I was going to write a long review about this book with spoilers, but I don't think I could do this book justice. The beginning was a little shaking for me, but that may have been because I've never played the KotOR games, and probably won't for the foreseeable future.
I will say, towards the end this book got a little philosophical, and that was pretty cool. One of my favorite things about Star Wars is the Force, and the many philosphies surrounding it. Personally, I think Revan and the Grey Jedi are on the right track.
Also, what the fuck was up with the last four chapters? I never saw that coming.
I will say, towards the end this book got a little philosophical, and that was pretty cool. One of my favorite things about Star Wars is the Force, and the many philosphies surrounding it. Personally, I think Revan and the Grey Jedi are on the right track.
Also, what the fuck was up with the last four chapters? I never saw that coming.
February 23, 2023
Why did no one tell me the Star Wars novels slapped??
March 2, 2014
"White or black makes a shade of grey - a colour Revan likes no doubt!"
Recently I decided to have a nose through some of the newer Star Wars extended universe novels. The only previous books I've read are two of the Darth Bane trilogy and one of The Legacy of the Force series of novels. Revan by Drew Karpyshyn seemed like a good entry point, having played both games The Knights of the Old Republic and The Old Republic at launch. What really grabbed my attention to Revan's character is that he is one of the few Jedi to use both the dark and light side as his weapon, this reflects in his character also. I'm all about the anti-hero you see, life is about treading those grey areas and taking both good and the bad, moulding it to your own moralistic views. How deep of me.
Right the book. Revan having been through the whole conquest of the Mandalorians and from extension, his attempts on conquering the Republic, has now been accepted back into the Jedi fold. Though he is still shorn by some in the order. His life with Bastila is revealed in detail within the novel. There is a hell of a lot of dialogue between them, his own doubts and concerns and her worries that the old Revan will return. She has almost gone full circle from the KOTOR game, where she was decisive and principled. Now Bastila is a concerned stay-at-home-mum, simmering with worry. Canderous Odo is also there, the old bounty hunter from KOTOR, ready to give a hand to his old war buddy Revan. Oh, Kriea is here also.
While this is occurring, the reader is introduced to Lord Scourge (I do love how the Sith have such silly names) on Dromund Kaas - the homeworld of the Sith Empire and of the Emperor "something something dark side" yes that's right! The Sith lord has been summoned back to the Sith homeworld to investigate several attempts on Darth Nihilus life. What he discovers is the politics of the Sith council, of plots within plots that unravel as he delves into his investigation/or sometimes interrogations. Certain characters try to make life difficult for Scourge, half his time is spent contemplating concerns that, well, for me don't really represent what a Lord of the Sith is! Such as fear, doubt, indecision and insecurity. None of those traits sat well with me, especially when he is meant to be one of the most adept blade masters in the Emperor. He spent half his time worrying about a administration official stabbing him in the back. Oh what a pantomime of a villain!
Scourge really does steal the show from Revan though, he is intriguing and intimidating, where Revan, is now indecisive and still broken from his past. Scourge has the arc, where Revan seems to be placed into the story only as a side character - though some of his flashbacks reveal many new details to the reader. Over time the story moves steadily forward, plots of betrayal come afoot, deaths (some very graphic deaths for Star Wars standards) and a very stereotypical Emperor made for difficult read at times. Oh by the way, this Emperor makes Palpatine look like a choirboy!
What fascinated me was Revan's philosophical stance behind being a Jedi, or if you like, a grey Jedi. He who has tasted both the good and evil side of the force, seem to balance out and reject one or the other. Not so with Revan, he embraces both powers and uses them to fuel his abilities. This is highlighted throughout the novel, especially towards the end, where some of his more interesting 'combined' powers come to the fore and harmonise together, but his character is one big humour-ific failure.
If you take the Revan we know from the KOTOR, you know that the prose should make for some strong literary themes - when does the end justify the means? what constitutes necessary evil, who decides the limit? What if you did something terrible, but for the great good, does that justify your actions? As ever, Revan walks that tight-rope, but so does Scourge (more so in this novel). I've never came across a humane Sith before - who knew!! I really do feel the author has destroyed the character I knew from KOTOR, Revan doesn't appear in prose style so well. My mind says this is weak, it is weak, the author isn't strong with the force. If I had to guess, he is a meandering gundark, roaming around Dromund Kaas looking for a story.
Recently I decided to have a nose through some of the newer Star Wars extended universe novels. The only previous books I've read are two of the Darth Bane trilogy and one of The Legacy of the Force series of novels. Revan by Drew Karpyshyn seemed like a good entry point, having played both games The Knights of the Old Republic and The Old Republic at launch. What really grabbed my attention to Revan's character is that he is one of the few Jedi to use both the dark and light side as his weapon, this reflects in his character also. I'm all about the anti-hero you see, life is about treading those grey areas and taking both good and the bad, moulding it to your own moralistic views. How deep of me.
Right the book. Revan having been through the whole conquest of the Mandalorians and from extension, his attempts on conquering the Republic, has now been accepted back into the Jedi fold. Though he is still shorn by some in the order. His life with Bastila is revealed in detail within the novel. There is a hell of a lot of dialogue between them, his own doubts and concerns and her worries that the old Revan will return. She has almost gone full circle from the KOTOR game, where she was decisive and principled. Now Bastila is a concerned stay-at-home-mum, simmering with worry. Canderous Odo is also there, the old bounty hunter from KOTOR, ready to give a hand to his old war buddy Revan. Oh, Kriea is here also.
While this is occurring, the reader is introduced to Lord Scourge (I do love how the Sith have such silly names) on Dromund Kaas - the homeworld of the Sith Empire and of the Emperor "something something dark side" yes that's right! The Sith lord has been summoned back to the Sith homeworld to investigate several attempts on Darth Nihilus life. What he discovers is the politics of the Sith council, of plots within plots that unravel as he delves into his investigation/or sometimes interrogations. Certain characters try to make life difficult for Scourge, half his time is spent contemplating concerns that, well, for me don't really represent what a Lord of the Sith is! Such as fear, doubt, indecision and insecurity. None of those traits sat well with me, especially when he is meant to be one of the most adept blade masters in the Emperor. He spent half his time worrying about a administration official stabbing him in the back. Oh what a pantomime of a villain!
Scourge really does steal the show from Revan though, he is intriguing and intimidating, where Revan, is now indecisive and still broken from his past. Scourge has the arc, where Revan seems to be placed into the story only as a side character - though some of his flashbacks reveal many new details to the reader. Over time the story moves steadily forward, plots of betrayal come afoot, deaths (some very graphic deaths for Star Wars standards) and a very stereotypical Emperor made for difficult read at times. Oh by the way, this Emperor makes Palpatine look like a choirboy!
What fascinated me was Revan's philosophical stance behind being a Jedi, or if you like, a grey Jedi. He who has tasted both the good and evil side of the force, seem to balance out and reject one or the other. Not so with Revan, he embraces both powers and uses them to fuel his abilities. This is highlighted throughout the novel, especially towards the end, where some of his more interesting 'combined' powers come to the fore and harmonise together, but his character is one big humour-ific failure.
If you take the Revan we know from the KOTOR, you know that the prose should make for some strong literary themes - when does the end justify the means? what constitutes necessary evil, who decides the limit? What if you did something terrible, but for the great good, does that justify your actions? As ever, Revan walks that tight-rope, but so does Scourge (more so in this novel). I've never came across a humane Sith before - who knew!! I really do feel the author has destroyed the character I knew from KOTOR, Revan doesn't appear in prose style so well. My mind says this is weak, it is weak, the author isn't strong with the force. If I had to guess, he is a meandering gundark, roaming around Dromund Kaas looking for a story.
July 18, 2020
Revan Drew Karpyshyn double whammy Star wars fix abated fun honest BS ...Revan is a kick-ass jedi completely broken and now far more interesting.
March 4, 2019
Revan is a complex guy. He has spent his time as a Jedi, then broke from the order to become the Revanchist, to post Mandalorian Wars taking his friend Malak to Unknown Regions and falling to the dark side. He was later redeemed by helping the Jedi tp defeat Darth Malak. But now Revan wonders what happened out in the Unknown regions? What made him fall to the dark side?
Out in those regions, on Dromund Kaas, a new anointed Sith Lord named Scourge is about to enter the political backstabbing world of the Dark Council. Here he is asked by Dark Councillor Nyriss to investigate a plot against her life. There is far more to it than it seems. It's a Sith thing. In the background, there is the Sith Emperor.
Eventually, with a path crossing of the Mandalorians and "helping" in finding their New Mandalore, Revan stumbles upon the Sith Empire. The rest would be spoilers. The ending was rather interesting but has somewhat less of an impact now that I see this is Book one of what is likely to be a trilogy. All I know is the Emperor is a nearly demi-god like entity and you should have brought way more people. But still a fun story send in the Old Republic and the old Sith Empire. Revan is one interesting dude. I will get the next book in the series.
Out in those regions, on Dromund Kaas, a new anointed Sith Lord named Scourge is about to enter the political backstabbing world of the Dark Council. Here he is asked by Dark Councillor Nyriss to investigate a plot against her life. There is far more to it than it seems. It's a Sith thing. In the background, there is the Sith Emperor.
Eventually, with a path crossing of the Mandalorians and "helping" in finding their New Mandalore, Revan stumbles upon the Sith Empire. The rest would be spoilers. The ending was rather interesting but has somewhat less of an impact now that I see this is Book one of what is likely to be a trilogy. All I know is the Emperor is a nearly demi-god like entity and you should have brought way more people. But still a fun story send in the Old Republic and the old Sith Empire. Revan is one interesting dude. I will get the next book in the series.
August 9, 2015
Revan is an awesome character but this book dumbed him down almost the entire time.
But, the book as a book was okay. Things moved a bit too fast. But the ending was terrible !
Actual Star Wars wise, the book was bad.
WARNING: if you liked KOTOR 1/2 or the character Revan at all, don't read this book. He is weak and so is the .
But, the book as a book was okay. Things moved a bit too fast. But the ending was terrible !
Actual Star Wars wise, the book was bad.
WARNING: if you liked KOTOR 1/2 or the character Revan at all, don't read this book. He is weak and so is the .
April 11, 2013
4/5 stars because I am TEETH GNASHINGLY UPSET ABOUT THE OUTCOME :(
UPDATE: Lowered to 2/5 stars because I finished KOTOR2 and DISLIKE THE OUTCOME EVEN MORE. The story is great until Revan leaves Canderous to his people, but then it falls apart trying to unveil the big reveal and the betrayal and Meetra's death.
Ugh.
UPDATE: Lowered to 2/5 stars because I finished KOTOR2 and DISLIKE THE OUTCOME EVEN MORE. The story is great until Revan leaves Canderous to his people, but then it falls apart trying to unveil the big reveal and the betrayal and Meetra's death.
Ugh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 7, 2017
This is the novel we did not need. It's a very, very poor attempt to reconcile the Knights of the Old Republic games with The Old Republic the MMO. It was entirely unnecessary. Did fans of Revan and the Exile want closure? Of course we did! But we didn't need it in the way we got it. I would have been content (barring getting KOTOR 3, of course), with a novella or novel about the Exile finding Revan and them returning to the Republic. Instead we get a horribly shoe-horned story that proclaims at the end "Play SWTOR! PLAY IT NOW!" Pretty much proves that LucasArts gave zero shits about real closure for KOTOR fans and thought they'd lure them into the SWTOR train by falsely promising answers about Revan and the Exile.
Let's start at the beginning. We'll skip past my rant about Revan being male instead of female to make room for the problems at hand. The problem with 'choose your own character' games that allow you to shape the protagonist (something BioWare is well known for), is that when it comes time to canonize them for other media, you are going to piss a lot of people off. Revan is supposed to be a force of nature, a brilliant tactician, a charming and charismatic leader. The Revan in the novel is a piece of cardboard. At one point he's described as speaking in a monotone, emotionless voice, which is just as bland as he's portrayed. It's like Drew couldn't decide Revan's personality, so kept him blank as possible and threw in a few quirks that disappear as quickly as they appear. Now, we find out Revan married Bastila. Meh, not the way I would have gone, but they wanted the Shan line to continue, apparently (as evidenced by Satele and Theron), so Bastila is carrying Revan's spawn, which apparently gave her a personality transplant (more on that later). Instead of helping the Republic recover, which was the whole freaking point of KOTOR, Revan made a deal with the Council that he's allowed to marry Bastila and they'll be left alone. Yeah, no, the real light-side Revan (male or female), wouldn't do that. Then he abandons everyone for a short sidequest with Canderous before flying off half-cocked in the Ebon Hawk, only to be captured for years by someone he should be able to break with his pinkie. Revan is supposed to be all powerful but half the time he's getting overpowered by mooks.
Next, let's go to the Exile. Rule one, don't ever mention the name 'Meetra Surik' in my presence, because I may break something and I can't guarantee that it won't be a piece of you instead of the furniture. It's obvious that Drew did barebones research on KOTOR 2 and the character of the Exile, because everything she went through is wiped out and she's portrayed as a basic Jedi. This gets even worse the further you go, she acts like Revan's teenage padawan fangirl, excitedly singing his praises while feeling immense jealousy over his marriage to Bastila. WHAT? The Exile had two guys swooning over her (Atton the snarky pilot and Mical the thoughtful scholar), she doesn't need REVAN to feel fulfilled. Funny how Revan marries Bastila but the Exile is reduced to the simpering jealous friendzoned girl who cries out "notice me, senpai!" all the time. NO, NO, NO, NO. Ugh, I can't even talk about this anymore. Meetra Surik is NOT the Exile. And for an added bonus (SWTOR Spoilers!)
Onto Revan and the Exile's companions. You don't see 90% of them, okay, fine. What's sad is that Carth, who is essential to KOTOR, and all of the Exile's companions, are never given a mention. The others are quickly brought up and dismissed as to why they won't appear. If you were hoping that it meant Revan and the Exile would assemble a new team for their latest adventure, well, you'd be WRONG.
With the title Revan you would think this book was all about Revan. Well, no, two thirds of it are about some Sith Lord douchebag named Scourge. He's smart, he's powerful, he's amazing... except he can't defeat droids and can never tell where his loyalties lie because he can't tell who's lying and who isn't! First he's loyal to the Emperor, then Darth Nyriss, then Revan and the Exile, and then the Emperor again. He's a truly awful character and my immense dislike of him grows even more in SWTOR. This book should have cut out Revan and the Exile entirely and been renamed Scourge, following the dunce and all his bumbling adventures.
Basic plot breakdown: Revan is captured by Scourge. Years later, the Exile goes to save Revan, teams up with Scourge to save him, and all three go to take out the Emperor. Except at the last minute, Scourge betrays them because he has a vision of someone ELSE killing the Emperor, so Scourge kills the Exile (who is barely given a paragraph to acknowledge her demise), and Revan is taken hostage... again.
Time for some random annoyances!
-When the Exile touches down on the dead world, it would have been the PERFECT time to bring up Darth Nihilus, the guy who fed off the Force and sucked worlds dry. Not even a mention.
-Bastila has gone from powerful Jedi and master of the Battle Mediation to barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Instead of looking for Revan, she plays dutiful mommy to her kid.
-In KOTOR 2, Mical theorizes that when Revan invaded the Republic, he had a purpose, that he was trying to stabilize the Republic while trimming away the unneeded bits. This is destroyed in the novel when it's revealed that Revan and Malak were brainwashed by the Emperor to attack the Republic because LOLEVIL.
-The way Revan's memories came back. What the hell.
All of this tripe was written to hype up The Old Republic, when it should have never been written. SPOILERS FOR SWTOR (mostly about the Jedi Knight story and the Shadows of Revan expansion).
And now a rant about Scourge, filled spoilers from SWTOR (please feel free to skip as it's just me venting).
In closing, if you are a fan of either KOTOR games, AVOID THIS BOOK AT ALL COSTS. Go read something great that Drew has written, like the Darth Bane series or Annihilation. Don't waste your time with this crap.
Let's start at the beginning. We'll skip past my rant about Revan being male instead of female to make room for the problems at hand. The problem with 'choose your own character' games that allow you to shape the protagonist (something BioWare is well known for), is that when it comes time to canonize them for other media, you are going to piss a lot of people off. Revan is supposed to be a force of nature, a brilliant tactician, a charming and charismatic leader. The Revan in the novel is a piece of cardboard. At one point he's described as speaking in a monotone, emotionless voice, which is just as bland as he's portrayed. It's like Drew couldn't decide Revan's personality, so kept him blank as possible and threw in a few quirks that disappear as quickly as they appear. Now, we find out Revan married Bastila. Meh, not the way I would have gone, but they wanted the Shan line to continue, apparently (as evidenced by Satele and Theron), so Bastila is carrying Revan's spawn, which apparently gave her a personality transplant (more on that later). Instead of helping the Republic recover, which was the whole freaking point of KOTOR, Revan made a deal with the Council that he's allowed to marry Bastila and they'll be left alone. Yeah, no, the real light-side Revan (male or female), wouldn't do that. Then he abandons everyone for a short sidequest with Canderous before flying off half-cocked in the Ebon Hawk, only to be captured for years by someone he should be able to break with his pinkie. Revan is supposed to be all powerful but half the time he's getting overpowered by mooks.
Next, let's go to the Exile. Rule one, don't ever mention the name 'Meetra Surik' in my presence, because I may break something and I can't guarantee that it won't be a piece of you instead of the furniture. It's obvious that Drew did barebones research on KOTOR 2 and the character of the Exile, because everything she went through is wiped out and she's portrayed as a basic Jedi. This gets even worse the further you go, she acts like Revan's teenage padawan fangirl, excitedly singing his praises while feeling immense jealousy over his marriage to Bastila. WHAT? The Exile had two guys swooning over her (Atton the snarky pilot and Mical the thoughtful scholar), she doesn't need REVAN to feel fulfilled. Funny how Revan marries Bastila but the Exile is reduced to the simpering jealous friendzoned girl who cries out "notice me, senpai!" all the time. NO, NO, NO, NO. Ugh, I can't even talk about this anymore. Meetra Surik is NOT the Exile. And for an added bonus (SWTOR Spoilers!)
Onto Revan and the Exile's companions. You don't see 90% of them, okay, fine. What's sad is that Carth, who is essential to KOTOR, and all of the Exile's companions, are never given a mention. The others are quickly brought up and dismissed as to why they won't appear. If you were hoping that it meant Revan and the Exile would assemble a new team for their latest adventure, well, you'd be WRONG.
With the title Revan you would think this book was all about Revan. Well, no, two thirds of it are about some Sith Lord douchebag named Scourge. He's smart, he's powerful, he's amazing... except he can't defeat droids and can never tell where his loyalties lie because he can't tell who's lying and who isn't! First he's loyal to the Emperor, then Darth Nyriss, then Revan and the Exile, and then the Emperor again. He's a truly awful character and my immense dislike of him grows even more in SWTOR. This book should have cut out Revan and the Exile entirely and been renamed Scourge, following the dunce and all his bumbling adventures.
Basic plot breakdown: Revan is captured by Scourge. Years later, the Exile goes to save Revan, teams up with Scourge to save him, and all three go to take out the Emperor. Except at the last minute, Scourge betrays them because he has a vision of someone ELSE killing the Emperor, so Scourge kills the Exile (who is barely given a paragraph to acknowledge her demise), and Revan is taken hostage... again.
Time for some random annoyances!
-When the Exile touches down on the dead world, it would have been the PERFECT time to bring up Darth Nihilus, the guy who fed off the Force and sucked worlds dry. Not even a mention.
-Bastila has gone from powerful Jedi and master of the Battle Mediation to barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Instead of looking for Revan, she plays dutiful mommy to her kid.
-In KOTOR 2, Mical theorizes that when Revan invaded the Republic, he had a purpose, that he was trying to stabilize the Republic while trimming away the unneeded bits. This is destroyed in the novel when it's revealed that Revan and Malak were brainwashed by the Emperor to attack the Republic because LOLEVIL.
-The way Revan's memories came back. What the hell.
All of this tripe was written to hype up The Old Republic, when it should have never been written. SPOILERS FOR SWTOR (mostly about the Jedi Knight story and the Shadows of Revan expansion).
And now a rant about Scourge, filled spoilers from SWTOR (please feel free to skip as it's just me venting).
In closing, if you are a fan of either KOTOR games, AVOID THIS BOOK AT ALL COSTS. Go read something great that Drew has written, like the Darth Bane series or Annihilation. Don't waste your time with this crap.
February 9, 2012
*Very minor spoilers follow*
While the exploration of the Old Republic era started in the comics, Bioware's original Star Wars game, Knights of the Old Republic, created a massive interest in the events that occurred thousands of years before the appearance of Luke Skywalker. At the center of this story was Revan, the eponymous hero of Drew Karpyshyn's new novel. Ever since the end of the original KOTOR, Star Wars fans have wondered what happened to the mysterious Jedi-turned-Sith-turned-Jedi. And, if they're like me, they couldn't be more disappointed.
The basic plot is simple: Revan, now married to Bastila, remembers there's some great threat in the Unknown Regions and goes to seek it out. The secret, as we learn in the first chapter and as anyone familiar with The Old Republic can guess, is that the Sith are out there, waiting, plotting their invasion, so a significant portion of the novel is seeing the view of the Sith Empire culture from the eyes of one of it's citizens. It plays out pretty much how you'd expect. There are very few twists and turns, and even the ending, while slightly unexpected, isn't terribly surprising.
The most glaring problem with Revan is the characterization. Now, I fully admit that Karypyshyn had a rough job here. One of the main conceits of the KOTOR games is the ability for the player to create their own sense of who Revan (and the Jedi Exile, in the second entry) is. So there's necessarily going to be some disparities between Karpyshyn's Revan and mine. That's not my problem. My problem is that the other characters act nothing like themselves, if they have any characterization at all. Gone is the strong, capable Bastila Shan. She's been replaced by a Stepford Wife that seems to exist solely to say "I love Revan SO MUCH!" Canderous has been castrated, and he acts toward Revan like a rescued puppy toward its master. The rest of the characters are waved away with the flimsiest of excuses: "Oh, we can't possibly ask Mission to help save the galaxy with us. She owns a shop now! A SHOP!" This run down of all the companions from KOTOR (except Carth, who, for some reason, is not mentioned once) and the reasons why Revan doesn't want to talk to them gets pretty absurd, honestly.
The weird characterization doesn't stop there. It's not just consistency with previous material -- the novel has a plethora of internal consistency problems. Revan oscillates from a paragon of justice, completely unwilling to do anything anyone would frown on, to a witty rogue, charming the pants off of everyone he meets, to a heretic, bravely straddling the line between Light Side and Dark Side. If you asked me for a single trait that defined Revan, I couldn't give you one. And that's just lazy writing, in my opinion. The new Sith character, Lord Scourge (who, it must be said, is really the main character of the novel) undergoes similar contortions. He starts out as a typical Sith -- not so much evil, as just kind of a dick. About halfway through the novel, he has an about face and starts to think of a couple of people as his friends, suddenly grows a heart, etc. There's almost no incentive for this -- any motivation that's present is given to him offscreen.
And thus, we come to the second glaring problem of the book. A good 75% of the plot -- everything that's not Scourge's story -- happens offscreen. Revan's entire plot arc is just him remembering things, or having visions about things. Nearly every chapter in the first half of the book begins with Karpyshyn giving us a narrative infodump about something that happened in KOTOR, or something that happened between KOTOR and Revan, or something that's going to happen in The Old Republic. I understand this is a setup for Bioware's next game, and that you need to refresh people who haven't played the older titles in years, but the author chooses the clumsiest way to do it. Instead of cleverly dropping a few reminders here and there, he just decides to organize the majority of the novel as if it's the introduction in a video game manual. I can count two significant actions Revan takes in this novel. The rest of it is just backstory.
Finally, I was very much surprised with how weak the novel is on the technical side of things. Strange and lazy choices, such as the aforementioned infodumps, are accompanied by wooden dialogue, horrible pacing (action scenes that go on for pages and pages, followed by major decisions and time shifts that are barely mentioned in passing) and weak descriptions. I say I'm surprised because Karpyshyn's other Star Wars novels have actually garnered a fair amount of praise. But after reading Revan, I'm not in much of a hurry to track them down. I believe Karpyshyn knows how to tell a decent story, as evidenced by his role in Bioware games such as Mass Effect, as well as what I've played so far of The Old Republic. And normally I can forgive mechanics if the story is intriguing enough. But the problems here are so glaring, and the story so lackluster, that I can't help but notice every little detail. I don't normally expect great literature from Star Wars books, but I do expect some authorial effort and external editing, something Revan is in dire need of.
In the end, I can't even really recommend this book to die hard Star Wars fans. The plot informs The Old Republic, and I'm sure some of the characters in Revan are the same we'll be fighting in endgame raids in a few months. But all the relevant information can be found in a few minutes on Wookieepedia, and the read would probably be just as enjoyable. The only reason I'm giving it two stars instead of one is that it's not so painful to read that I couldn't continue -- I was at least able to plow my way through to the end. But I can't say I had a good time of it.
While the exploration of the Old Republic era started in the comics, Bioware's original Star Wars game, Knights of the Old Republic, created a massive interest in the events that occurred thousands of years before the appearance of Luke Skywalker. At the center of this story was Revan, the eponymous hero of Drew Karpyshyn's new novel. Ever since the end of the original KOTOR, Star Wars fans have wondered what happened to the mysterious Jedi-turned-Sith-turned-Jedi. And, if they're like me, they couldn't be more disappointed.
The basic plot is simple: Revan, now married to Bastila, remembers there's some great threat in the Unknown Regions and goes to seek it out. The secret, as we learn in the first chapter and as anyone familiar with The Old Republic can guess, is that the Sith are out there, waiting, plotting their invasion, so a significant portion of the novel is seeing the view of the Sith Empire culture from the eyes of one of it's citizens. It plays out pretty much how you'd expect. There are very few twists and turns, and even the ending, while slightly unexpected, isn't terribly surprising.
The most glaring problem with Revan is the characterization. Now, I fully admit that Karypyshyn had a rough job here. One of the main conceits of the KOTOR games is the ability for the player to create their own sense of who Revan (and the Jedi Exile, in the second entry) is. So there's necessarily going to be some disparities between Karpyshyn's Revan and mine. That's not my problem. My problem is that the other characters act nothing like themselves, if they have any characterization at all. Gone is the strong, capable Bastila Shan. She's been replaced by a Stepford Wife that seems to exist solely to say "I love Revan SO MUCH!" Canderous has been castrated, and he acts toward Revan like a rescued puppy toward its master. The rest of the characters are waved away with the flimsiest of excuses: "Oh, we can't possibly ask Mission to help save the galaxy with us. She owns a shop now! A SHOP!" This run down of all the companions from KOTOR (except Carth, who, for some reason, is not mentioned once) and the reasons why Revan doesn't want to talk to them gets pretty absurd, honestly.
The weird characterization doesn't stop there. It's not just consistency with previous material -- the novel has a plethora of internal consistency problems. Revan oscillates from a paragon of justice, completely unwilling to do anything anyone would frown on, to a witty rogue, charming the pants off of everyone he meets, to a heretic, bravely straddling the line between Light Side and Dark Side. If you asked me for a single trait that defined Revan, I couldn't give you one. And that's just lazy writing, in my opinion. The new Sith character, Lord Scourge (who, it must be said, is really the main character of the novel) undergoes similar contortions. He starts out as a typical Sith -- not so much evil, as just kind of a dick. About halfway through the novel, he has an about face and starts to think of a couple of people as his friends, suddenly grows a heart, etc. There's almost no incentive for this -- any motivation that's present is given to him offscreen.
And thus, we come to the second glaring problem of the book. A good 75% of the plot -- everything that's not Scourge's story -- happens offscreen. Revan's entire plot arc is just him remembering things, or having visions about things. Nearly every chapter in the first half of the book begins with Karpyshyn giving us a narrative infodump about something that happened in KOTOR, or something that happened between KOTOR and Revan, or something that's going to happen in The Old Republic. I understand this is a setup for Bioware's next game, and that you need to refresh people who haven't played the older titles in years, but the author chooses the clumsiest way to do it. Instead of cleverly dropping a few reminders here and there, he just decides to organize the majority of the novel as if it's the introduction in a video game manual. I can count two significant actions Revan takes in this novel. The rest of it is just backstory.
Finally, I was very much surprised with how weak the novel is on the technical side of things. Strange and lazy choices, such as the aforementioned infodumps, are accompanied by wooden dialogue, horrible pacing (action scenes that go on for pages and pages, followed by major decisions and time shifts that are barely mentioned in passing) and weak descriptions. I say I'm surprised because Karpyshyn's other Star Wars novels have actually garnered a fair amount of praise. But after reading Revan, I'm not in much of a hurry to track them down. I believe Karpyshyn knows how to tell a decent story, as evidenced by his role in Bioware games such as Mass Effect, as well as what I've played so far of The Old Republic. And normally I can forgive mechanics if the story is intriguing enough. But the problems here are so glaring, and the story so lackluster, that I can't help but notice every little detail. I don't normally expect great literature from Star Wars books, but I do expect some authorial effort and external editing, something Revan is in dire need of.
In the end, I can't even really recommend this book to die hard Star Wars fans. The plot informs The Old Republic, and I'm sure some of the characters in Revan are the same we'll be fighting in endgame raids in a few months. But all the relevant information can be found in a few minutes on Wookieepedia, and the read would probably be just as enjoyable. The only reason I'm giving it two stars instead of one is that it's not so painful to read that I couldn't continue -- I was at least able to plow my way through to the end. But I can't say I had a good time of it.
October 6, 2022
Though I have played a little of the game, this book had all new characters and situations for me. It started out slow for the first half, so I gave it four stars. However, it got really interesting about halfway through and had a very good ending.
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