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Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi #7
Fate of the Jedi: Conviction
A nine-book series where the Jedi are under suspicion from their allies and allied with their enemies, featuring Luke, Leia, Han, and the rest of the fans' favourite characters.
380 pages, Hardcover
First published February 9, 2012
131 people are currently reading
2399 people want to read
About the author
Aaron Allston
178 books376 followersAaron Dale Allston was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 188 reviews
November 22, 2023
While I’ve enjoyed the series, I’ve noticed the trend for me that is continued in this book:
The Coruscant Plotline continues to be fantastic and really well written. The Luke and Ben Plotline is the least interesting part of each book, and this one is no different.
In previous books, Allston has made connections to other EU books, such as The Courtship of Princess Leia. This book makes lots of connections to The Calista Trilogy. While I enjoyed the connections, it wasn’t enough to carry the story.
There were some explorations of the force I did enjoy, and Allston really writes humor well in balance during action scenes.
This book finally gives us significant development to the Daala storyline and the Tahiti storyline, and they are both set up well for the future.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but maybe not quite as much as others, but this series continues to be solidly enjoyable. 8 out of 10.
The Coruscant Plotline continues to be fantastic and really well written. The Luke and Ben Plotline is the least interesting part of each book, and this one is no different.
In previous books, Allston has made connections to other EU books, such as The Courtship of Princess Leia. This book makes lots of connections to The Calista Trilogy. While I enjoyed the connections, it wasn’t enough to carry the story.
There were some explorations of the force I did enjoy, and Allston really writes humor well in balance during action scenes.
This book finally gives us significant development to the Daala storyline and the Tahiti storyline, and they are both set up well for the future.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, but maybe not quite as much as others, but this series continues to be solidly enjoyable. 8 out of 10.
August 8, 2021
This is a great book. Aaron Allston, it's a shame you're no longer with us. We, as Star Wars fans, need more quality literature like this.
I didn't think I would like the hunt for an ancient Sith being this much but it's really sucked me in. The alliance between unlikely heroes is such a great touch, as well. Also, Luke as a competent, middle-aged Jedi Grandmaster rather than the movie version, a cynical, washed-up hermit, is always welcome.
Although the book suffers from a few pacing issues, it wasn't enough to ruin my enjoyment one bit. The story ramps up at a steady pace once it starts, and the action is flat-out superb. Every character feels like themselves, too. Nobody is going hither and thither simply to subvert expectations.
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Star Wars Expanded Universe forever.
I didn't think I would like the hunt for an ancient Sith being this much but it's really sucked me in. The alliance between unlikely heroes is such a great touch, as well. Also, Luke as a competent, middle-aged Jedi Grandmaster rather than the movie version, a cynical, washed-up hermit, is always welcome.
Although the book suffers from a few pacing issues, it wasn't enough to ruin my enjoyment one bit. The story ramps up at a steady pace once it starts, and the action is flat-out superb. Every character feels like themselves, too. Nobody is going hither and thither simply to subvert expectations.
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Star Wars Expanded Universe forever.
June 10, 2011
I'm tired of Abeloth. Let's move on.
The characters are what keep me coming back to these stories, and they are the only thing keeping these books enjoyable. There are too many storylines, too many side characters to keep track of, and too much time between books to remember who has died and what kind of political maneuvering has gone on. And I refuse to re-read these just on principle.
Also, I am sad about Callista. I loved her so dearly when she was first introduced, and I wish she could have had a better send off. *sigh*.
The characters are what keep me coming back to these stories, and they are the only thing keeping these books enjoyable. There are too many storylines, too many side characters to keep track of, and too much time between books to remember who has died and what kind of political maneuvering has gone on. And I refuse to re-read these just on principle.
Also, I am sad about Callista. I loved her so dearly when she was first introduced, and I wish she could have had a better send off. *sigh*.
July 1, 2011
"Conviction," the seventh book in the "Fate of the Jedi" series is another book by Aaron Allston I didn't loathe. It's not wonderful, but it's better than the last two books of his I read in this series. And that's quite a compliment coming from me.
There weren't the jaw-droppingly shocking (shocking because it's just bad writing) reversals of plotlines in this book...like the ones in Troy Denning's "Vortex." And Boba Fett shows up in "Conviction", even if he doesn't have a large role in the story.
As is the usual in these books, the subplots clog up the book a lot of the time. Every book in this series could have been half (maybe two-thirds?) as long as it ended up to be. Filling up nine books requires a lot of padding when the stories are sometimes a bit slim.
But what I will say is that the Jedi coup against Daala...which I expected to take up an entire novel...was handled well and did NOT take up an entire novel. The fact that the Jedi coup dovetailed with the evil conspiracy coup was a nice touch as well. Now both the good and the evil conspirators are working side by side to run the GA...except the Jedi don't know for sure that there were other conspirators.
And the trial of Tahiri Veila is finally over, though her trials may just be beginning. I also liked the way her escape was predicated by Daala's escape. Because noble self-sacrifice is very noble, but it doesn't always make for interesting fiction. Tahiri Veila is more interesting on the run that she would be as a Jedi imprisoned or a symbol for people to rally around or destroy.
The anti-slavery subplot is still going strong. Though it seems much more relevant because characters like Leia and Han Solo are becoming involved in it. The Sith keep popping up in this plotline, but they seem to have no actual interest in what's going on with the slaves or their rebellion. So it sometimes feels a bit artificial when Sith activity merges with the anti-slavery plots. Like when the Sith attacked the Fountain of the Hutt Ancients a few books back.
Allana/Amelia and her pet nexu are still around to be cute and get in trouble for a good cause. The Sith seem to be getting the right idea about her destiny and want to stop it from happening.
Luke and Ben (and now Vestara) seem to have renewed their journey of weird Force planets. This time, the planet is called something like Nummy Cheerios, home to sentient Force crystals and deadly Force parasite bugs that burrow beneath humanoid skin. Now they're not looking for why Jacen Solo went all Sith Lord, they're hunting Abeloth. Though Abeloth may have been why Jacen turned. Or maybe not. Either way, Luke's reinstatement as Grand Master after Daala is deposed becomes something of an afterthought. It's handled in a very matter of fact way. I never suspected that Luke would be prevented from returning to the position of Grand Master. I just thought there would be a bit more drama and gravitas to the development. I do appreciate that the tour of weird Force planets is less about learning lessons and appreciating diversity (though there is some of that with the sentient Force crystals) and more about not getting killed, eaten or infested. Much is written about Luke's previous journey to this depressing planet of killer bugs and thinking rocks. From what is said, I'm just as glad I never read about Luke's original journey to Nummy Cheerios.
The Sith show up in the Abeloth hunting plotline for much better effect. They seem inextricably linked with the struggle to defeat/capture/destroy Abeloth. Though the Sith keep falling prey to Abeloth's lure and her promises of dark side power. You'd think they'd learn. But they are the bad guys. I guess not learning (and dying by the dozens) is their job.
I would definitely wait for the paperback or the library book before reading this. It's not a bad book, but it's also not worth paying hardcover prices for. Don't ask me about eBooks. I'm not interested in those.
Unlike the Yuuzhan Vong Star Wars books, I do want to see how this series turns out. The next two books will be coming soon.
There weren't the jaw-droppingly shocking (shocking because it's just bad writing) reversals of plotlines in this book...like the ones in Troy Denning's "Vortex." And Boba Fett shows up in "Conviction", even if he doesn't have a large role in the story.
As is the usual in these books, the subplots clog up the book a lot of the time. Every book in this series could have been half (maybe two-thirds?) as long as it ended up to be. Filling up nine books requires a lot of padding when the stories are sometimes a bit slim.
But what I will say is that the Jedi coup against Daala...which I expected to take up an entire novel...was handled well and did NOT take up an entire novel. The fact that the Jedi coup dovetailed with the evil conspiracy coup was a nice touch as well. Now both the good and the evil conspirators are working side by side to run the GA...except the Jedi don't know for sure that there were other conspirators.
And the trial of Tahiri Veila is finally over, though her trials may just be beginning. I also liked the way her escape was predicated by Daala's escape. Because noble self-sacrifice is very noble, but it doesn't always make for interesting fiction. Tahiri Veila is more interesting on the run that she would be as a Jedi imprisoned or a symbol for people to rally around or destroy.
The anti-slavery subplot is still going strong. Though it seems much more relevant because characters like Leia and Han Solo are becoming involved in it. The Sith keep popping up in this plotline, but they seem to have no actual interest in what's going on with the slaves or their rebellion. So it sometimes feels a bit artificial when Sith activity merges with the anti-slavery plots. Like when the Sith attacked the Fountain of the Hutt Ancients a few books back.
Allana/Amelia and her pet nexu are still around to be cute and get in trouble for a good cause. The Sith seem to be getting the right idea about her destiny and want to stop it from happening.
Luke and Ben (and now Vestara) seem to have renewed their journey of weird Force planets. This time, the planet is called something like Nummy Cheerios, home to sentient Force crystals and deadly Force parasite bugs that burrow beneath humanoid skin. Now they're not looking for why Jacen Solo went all Sith Lord, they're hunting Abeloth. Though Abeloth may have been why Jacen turned. Or maybe not. Either way, Luke's reinstatement as Grand Master after Daala is deposed becomes something of an afterthought. It's handled in a very matter of fact way. I never suspected that Luke would be prevented from returning to the position of Grand Master. I just thought there would be a bit more drama and gravitas to the development. I do appreciate that the tour of weird Force planets is less about learning lessons and appreciating diversity (though there is some of that with the sentient Force crystals) and more about not getting killed, eaten or infested. Much is written about Luke's previous journey to this depressing planet of killer bugs and thinking rocks. From what is said, I'm just as glad I never read about Luke's original journey to Nummy Cheerios.
The Sith show up in the Abeloth hunting plotline for much better effect. They seem inextricably linked with the struggle to defeat/capture/destroy Abeloth. Though the Sith keep falling prey to Abeloth's lure and her promises of dark side power. You'd think they'd learn. But they are the bad guys. I guess not learning (and dying by the dozens) is their job.
I would definitely wait for the paperback or the library book before reading this. It's not a bad book, but it's also not worth paying hardcover prices for. Don't ask me about eBooks. I'm not interested in those.
Unlike the Yuuzhan Vong Star Wars books, I do want to see how this series turns out. The next two books will be coming soon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2017
This is the 7th book in the Fate of the Jedi series. I've completely enjoyed this series as a whole. I like the original characters and the detail given them. I liked the way they have grown up and have children of their own, who are also in this series. I find these books fun, including this one, but this one is the first one that is making this series feel long. There didn't seem to be any progression with this one. Everyone is still in the same boat and are no closer to resolution. I've already read the 8th one in this series, but I have the 9th one still to read, which is the last book in the series I look forward to that but for now, I'll table that one. I have some huge books to get through this month. Maybe in December I'll get to it.
June 22, 2017
Great book, excellent progress moving the series forward. Like all the books in the series I take this book as the sum of its parts. This book is very fast paced with plenty of action, mystery and intrigue to keep the book interesting. I like the idea of Luke playing things close to the vest to even Ban and Vestra do not know what he is up to.
Since the last book when the Saba became acting Grand Master of the Jedi she has decided to take the fight to their enemies rather than waiting for them to react. How does this affect the plans of the other political conspirators? Injured but determined Luke follows Aboloth to another planet from his past, here he intends to make a final confrontation between them both. Leia, Han and Allena are dispatched to deal with the slave situation. The Sith also get a message of what happens when you mess with a member of the Solo family. There are also a couple of old favourites making guest appearances.
A really enjoyable book, a lot faster paced than the other books. With many important ramifications. This book has something for every type of star wars fan. Can't wait to read the next book
Since the last book when the Saba became acting Grand Master of the Jedi she has decided to take the fight to their enemies rather than waiting for them to react. How does this affect the plans of the other political conspirators? Injured but determined Luke follows Aboloth to another planet from his past, here he intends to make a final confrontation between them both. Leia, Han and Allena are dispatched to deal with the slave situation. The Sith also get a message of what happens when you mess with a member of the Solo family. There are also a couple of old favourites making guest appearances.
A really enjoyable book, a lot faster paced than the other books. With many important ramifications. This book has something for every type of star wars fan. Can't wait to read the next book
April 20, 2021
Just loving this series. So much better then the last one. It's a shame there's not much else to read in legends though and so much story simply ends forever.
November 8, 2023
For 2023, I decided to reread the post-NJO books set after the Dark Nest trilogy, especially as I abandoned the Legacy of the Force series after Sacrifice all the way back in 2007. This shakes out to the nine books of the Legacy of the Force series, the nine books of the Fate of the Jedi series, three standalone novels, and five short stories.
This week’s focus: the seventh book in the Fate of the Jedi series, Conviction by Aaron Allston.
SOME HISTORY:
Conviction by Aaron Allston saw the return of two characters who hadn’t been featured since the Legacy of the Force series. One of those characters should not have been a surprise to anyone who saw the back cover of the hardcover edition of Convinction, but the other may have been. Tenel Ka—Queen Mother of Hapes and Allana’s mom—shows up in the last third of the book, and Boba Fett—leader of the Mandalorians and bounty hunter extraordinaire—similarly shows up in the latter third to rescue ~*~someone~*~ from prison. Fate of the Jedi: Conviction by Aaron Allston made it to number three on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of June 12, 2011, and was on the list for two weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
All I guessed going into Conviction was that we’d finally get the conclusion of Tahiri Veila’s long-running criminal trial, and that Luke and Ben and Vestara would continue to chase after Abeloth.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
While the Jedi plan to remove Chief of State Daala from power, Tahiri Veila’s trial rushes towards its conclusion—and the Jedi may not be able to save Tahiri from her fate. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker, his son Ben, and the Sith apprentice Vestara Khai follow Abeloth to the world of Nam Chorios: a dangerous world where any use of the Force has immediate, dangerous repercussions…
THE PLOT:
At the end of Vortex, I said that it’s great the Jedi are finally supporting Luke, and that he’ll have their aid going forward. Conviction squashed that idea flat by having most of the book involve Luke and Ben and Vestara alone trying to track Abeloth on Nam Chorios. She quickly suborns the Theran Listeners, Vestara lures the Sith to Nam Chorios as well, and the Skywalker team are undermined at every new development. (While this is all going on: the Jedi wake the Horn siblings from their carbonite slumber, and they’re still crazy. The Horns connive a way off Coruscant to Nam Chorios, and work under Abeloth’s sway until Luke’s able to re-collect them.) They finally manage to force a confrontation with Abeloth near the end, but they only manage to wound Abeloth and incapacitate the SIth before Abeloth escapes again.
The Jedi extensively plan and then carry out a coup against Daala; they lock down the Senate, they arrest Daala, and now Saba Sebatyne is one of a triumvirate of leaders ruling the Galactic Alliance until they elect a new Chief of State. However, the Jedi are unaware of that pro-Imperial conspiracy, and install two of its conspirators (Senator Treen and General Jaxton) as triumvirate heads. That settled, the Jedi send Han and Leia to Klatooine to try and get various Freedom Fleet groups to join the Galactic Alliance, and they’re joined for negotiations by Queen Mother Tenel Ka of Hapes. The Sith try to assassinate Tenel Ka because they suspect she’s connected to the Jedi Queen that Lord Taalon saw in the Pool of Knowledge, but Allana foils the plot (good for Allana!) and the Klatooinians join the Galactic Alliance.
As the title suggests, Tahiri Veila’s trial finally reaches its conclusion, and the Jedi overthrowing Daala does not work in her favor. Tahiri is found guilty and sentenced to death; her lawyer Bwua’tu plans to appeal, but when Boba Fett shows up to break Daala out of the very same prison, Tahiri takes the opportunity to escape. As the book ends, she’s hiding and waiting for the Solos to return to Coruscant—and Daala is on the loose, desperate to regain power. So we have two runaway felons on the run for the next book.
CHARACTERS:
Since she’s on the cover, I’ll talk about Tahiri first. Her trial felt like a lose-lose situation: Bwua’tu tried to show the jury that Tahiri was manipulated by a Sith Lord, but she did murder an old man, and they have an audio recording proving it. Her guilty verdict was not a surprise, but the death sentence was. Every time someone in Star Wars commits a heinous act (looking at you, Kyp Durron!), they seem to get away scot-free. Up until Daala’s prison escape, I was wondering how the series was going to deal with Tahiri’s sentence—I didn’t think they were actually going to kill Tahiri, but I wasn’t sure how she was going to get out of this predicament. Overall, though, I don’t think Tahiri’s trial needed to be dragged out over three books. The Krytos Trap covered Tycho Celchu’s trial in a single book, and I think restricting the trial to one book made it more thrilling and impactful. With Tahiri’s trial stretching across multiple books, I started to lose interest in the series ever reaching its conclusion.
The Jedi/Daala tensions definitely reach their peak in this book. Seha Dorvald, former apprentice of Octa Ramis, sneaks Jedi into the Senate building in the build-up to the coup—but she’s later arrested, falsely accused of poisoning Moff Lecersen and General Jaxton and of attempting to poison the whole Senate. After the coup, Seha is released and charges are dropped. Her ordeal gets a member of Alliance Security pointed in the right direction RE: the pro-Imperial conspiracy, but otherwise the Jedi are completely oblivious to this far-reaching conspiracy who are prominently involved in their temporary governing situation. (I will get into this more in the Issues section, but while deposing Daala got her off the Jedi’s backs, I don’t think the coup was a good idea in the long run…)
I was glad that Leia finally got to flex her diplomatic muscles in this book with the negotiations on Klatooine, and that Allana was able to reunite with her mom after seven books. I liked that Allana got a little adventure of her own, investigating the suspicious Sith, but I never thought that Tenel Ka was truly in danger—as with Tahiri, she’s a big character with a fan base, and I don’t think they’d be willing to kill her off for the shock factor.
If there’s one thing I’m enjoying about the Fate of the Jedi series, it’s all the different worlds and Force traditions that we visit or revisit. In Conviction, that’s the Theran Listeners of Nam Chorios—way back in Planet of Twilight, I thought that Barbara Hambly excelled at creating atmosphere and memorable settings, and Nam Chorios is a cold, creepy, Gothic world. I was happy to revisit it here, bu8t we didn’t spend much time with the Theran Listeners before they fell under Abeloth’s sway. We meet Taselda again, Luke learns this technique of “mnemotherapy,” but the rest of the book is the Skywalkers being sabotaged for plot reasons. I wanted more!
But Luke’s use of mnemotherapy finally gives us a bittersweet but final ending for Callista. It doesn’t change what happened to Callista in the intervening years—I assume before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Callista made her way to Abeloth’s planet, and it’s implied that Callista’s tiny bit of her soul within Abeloth was why she reached out to the younglings at the Maw Shelter. (I think Abeloth would have reached out to any Force users within her vicinity, as she did with the Mind Walkers, but Callista could have played a role.) When Luke and co. confront Abeloth towards the end, Luke is able to detach Callista’s spirit from Abeloth and let her pass on; in classic Callista fashion, she doesn’t say a word to Luke but you can sense her gratitude. It reiterated to me that Callista has been truly gone for a long time, this was the kindest ending she could have at this point, and Luke did this act out of love and regret.
Now that Vestara’s officially on Team Skywalker, she’s starting to question more elements of her Sith culture—writing these diary entries to a loving father but realizing that she’s deluding herself. (I side-eyed this a little, because I felt like Omen established that the Khais had a surprisingly —for Sith—loving relationship, but Gavar is very ambitious for his daughter and does not have Luke Skywalker’s moral code.) Vestara is realizing that Ben had a very different upbringing than she did, and maybe she’s lacking something as a result. I don’t think her redemption will happen immediately, though, and I’m not even sure if we’ll see it by the end of this series. Vestara is ruthless in a way that Ben could never be: she carries a tsil crystal around for a good chunk of the book “just in case,” knowing she would kill a sentient creature in the process, whereas that idea of destroying one to wound/distract Abeloth and the Sith would never even pass a Jedi’s mind. Vestara’s redemption arc feels veeeerry slow burn to me.
ISSUES:
My first issue with Conviction was (again) a continuation of those editing errors that I've seen in the last few books. Those little editing errors surprised me, and made me wonder if Del Rey was rushing the Fate of the Jedi series to print. The events of the last book, Vortex, took place on the moon of Pyrdr, but Conviction consistently misidentifies it as Almania. On Nam Chorios we meet the centuries-old Jedi Taselda again, but her name is misspelled as “Teselda”--she goes by Sel now, though, so it’s not super noticeable. Finally, during the Jedi coup in the Senate building Corran Horn’s lightsaber is described as “gleaming with a purple light,” but Corran’s blade is (famously) silver. It was just a ton of little stuff like that, which the editors should have caught before publication.
A bigger issue was just the existence of this “Jedi coup” plotline. On the one hand, I think it’s meant to hearken back to the prequels, when the Jedi Council was prepared to confront Palpatine and remove him from office—like, “what if the Jedi infiltrated the Senate building and removed Daala and talked to all the Senators, wouldn’t it be fun if they succeeded?” But we’ve already seen a successful Jedi coup before, when the Jedi overthrew Chief of State Jacen Solo in the Legacy of the Force series. I would think that the Jedi constantly intervening in galactic political affairs wouldn’t help their public image, but they also had no problem with Daala being elected Chief of State at the time so there are bigger issues here.
More importantly, I feel like a Jedi coup and a Jedi member in the triumvirate of temporary leaders creates a very dangerous precedent. All the way back in the Bantam books, the Jedi have struggled with how much support they should lend to the government in power, and one of my biggest problems with Destiny's Way in the New Jedi Order series was how the Jedi directly intervened in the election of a leader and then seemed deeply integrated into the Galactic Alliance’s government. Obviously the Jedi need money to support their mission, but then you run the risk of the government using you as soldiers (the Clone Wars) and the government choosing the priorities of your order, all the way down to Daala having a personal vendetta against the Jedi because she can’t completely control them. I think a lot of these problems could be solved by the Jedi removing themselves from politics, but that may be a pipe dream at this point.
(I had wondered “why not put Leia in charge?” instead of Saba, because of all her political experience, but the book explains that if Leia was a triumvirate member, people might think the Jedi wanted to remain permanently in charge. Since Saba is so obviously not politically-adept, no one will think that the Jedi are grasping for power.)
But my final issue with Conviction is more of an entire series problem: now that I’m coming to the tail end of the Fate of the Jedi, I don’t think there’s been enough plot stuff to sustain nine books. We see that play out in Tahiri’s trial stretching across multiple books, and Luke and Ben investigating/pursuing Abeloth since book 3, and even that slave uprising subplot popping up out of nowhere in book 5. Legacy of the Force was a successful three-author nine-book series, but Legacy of the Force also had this sense of urgency and propulsion that Fate of the Jedi is lacking for me.I think that if Fate of the Jedi had been condensed down to one or two trilogy, it wouldn’t have felt so stretched thin. (Abeloth as the overarching villain doesn’t help either, because she’s this nebulous Lovecraftian dark side entity that could destroy the galaxy yet she’s only threatened individual Force traditions thus far.)
IN CONCLUSION:
Conviction finally gives us a conclusion to Tahiri’s trial, as well as that terrible situation between Daala and the Jedi. There's still that pro-Imperial conspiracy lurking in the wings, but at least they got rid of one of the big bads. (I do think that this Jedi coup is setting a dangerous precedent for everything—I would not have gone that route!) I liked that we returned to Nam Chorios because I found it so interesting and atmospheric in Planet of Twilight; I just wish we could have seen more of the Oldtimers and the Theran Listeners and their Force tradition before they immediately under the sway of Abeloth, and hinder Luke and Ben and Vestara are hindered every step of the way.
Next up: the penultimate book in the Fate of the Jedi series, Ascension by Christie Golden.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/CdZZhPfO62o
This week’s focus: the seventh book in the Fate of the Jedi series, Conviction by Aaron Allston.
SOME HISTORY:
Conviction by Aaron Allston saw the return of two characters who hadn’t been featured since the Legacy of the Force series. One of those characters should not have been a surprise to anyone who saw the back cover of the hardcover edition of Convinction, but the other may have been. Tenel Ka—Queen Mother of Hapes and Allana’s mom—shows up in the last third of the book, and Boba Fett—leader of the Mandalorians and bounty hunter extraordinaire—similarly shows up in the latter third to rescue ~*~someone~*~ from prison. Fate of the Jedi: Conviction by Aaron Allston made it to number three on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of June 12, 2011, and was on the list for two weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
All I guessed going into Conviction was that we’d finally get the conclusion of Tahiri Veila’s long-running criminal trial, and that Luke and Ben and Vestara would continue to chase after Abeloth.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
While the Jedi plan to remove Chief of State Daala from power, Tahiri Veila’s trial rushes towards its conclusion—and the Jedi may not be able to save Tahiri from her fate. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker, his son Ben, and the Sith apprentice Vestara Khai follow Abeloth to the world of Nam Chorios: a dangerous world where any use of the Force has immediate, dangerous repercussions…
THE PLOT:
At the end of Vortex, I said that it’s great the Jedi are finally supporting Luke, and that he’ll have their aid going forward. Conviction squashed that idea flat by having most of the book involve Luke and Ben and Vestara alone trying to track Abeloth on Nam Chorios. She quickly suborns the Theran Listeners, Vestara lures the Sith to Nam Chorios as well, and the Skywalker team are undermined at every new development. (While this is all going on: the Jedi wake the Horn siblings from their carbonite slumber, and they’re still crazy. The Horns connive a way off Coruscant to Nam Chorios, and work under Abeloth’s sway until Luke’s able to re-collect them.) They finally manage to force a confrontation with Abeloth near the end, but they only manage to wound Abeloth and incapacitate the SIth before Abeloth escapes again.
The Jedi extensively plan and then carry out a coup against Daala; they lock down the Senate, they arrest Daala, and now Saba Sebatyne is one of a triumvirate of leaders ruling the Galactic Alliance until they elect a new Chief of State. However, the Jedi are unaware of that pro-Imperial conspiracy, and install two of its conspirators (Senator Treen and General Jaxton) as triumvirate heads. That settled, the Jedi send Han and Leia to Klatooine to try and get various Freedom Fleet groups to join the Galactic Alliance, and they’re joined for negotiations by Queen Mother Tenel Ka of Hapes. The Sith try to assassinate Tenel Ka because they suspect she’s connected to the Jedi Queen that Lord Taalon saw in the Pool of Knowledge, but Allana foils the plot (good for Allana!) and the Klatooinians join the Galactic Alliance.
As the title suggests, Tahiri Veila’s trial finally reaches its conclusion, and the Jedi overthrowing Daala does not work in her favor. Tahiri is found guilty and sentenced to death; her lawyer Bwua’tu plans to appeal, but when Boba Fett shows up to break Daala out of the very same prison, Tahiri takes the opportunity to escape. As the book ends, she’s hiding and waiting for the Solos to return to Coruscant—and Daala is on the loose, desperate to regain power. So we have two runaway felons on the run for the next book.
CHARACTERS:
Since she’s on the cover, I’ll talk about Tahiri first. Her trial felt like a lose-lose situation: Bwua’tu tried to show the jury that Tahiri was manipulated by a Sith Lord, but she did murder an old man, and they have an audio recording proving it. Her guilty verdict was not a surprise, but the death sentence was. Every time someone in Star Wars commits a heinous act (looking at you, Kyp Durron!), they seem to get away scot-free. Up until Daala’s prison escape, I was wondering how the series was going to deal with Tahiri’s sentence—I didn’t think they were actually going to kill Tahiri, but I wasn’t sure how she was going to get out of this predicament. Overall, though, I don’t think Tahiri’s trial needed to be dragged out over three books. The Krytos Trap covered Tycho Celchu’s trial in a single book, and I think restricting the trial to one book made it more thrilling and impactful. With Tahiri’s trial stretching across multiple books, I started to lose interest in the series ever reaching its conclusion.
The Jedi/Daala tensions definitely reach their peak in this book. Seha Dorvald, former apprentice of Octa Ramis, sneaks Jedi into the Senate building in the build-up to the coup—but she’s later arrested, falsely accused of poisoning Moff Lecersen and General Jaxton and of attempting to poison the whole Senate. After the coup, Seha is released and charges are dropped. Her ordeal gets a member of Alliance Security pointed in the right direction RE: the pro-Imperial conspiracy, but otherwise the Jedi are completely oblivious to this far-reaching conspiracy who are prominently involved in their temporary governing situation. (I will get into this more in the Issues section, but while deposing Daala got her off the Jedi’s backs, I don’t think the coup was a good idea in the long run…)
I was glad that Leia finally got to flex her diplomatic muscles in this book with the negotiations on Klatooine, and that Allana was able to reunite with her mom after seven books. I liked that Allana got a little adventure of her own, investigating the suspicious Sith, but I never thought that Tenel Ka was truly in danger—as with Tahiri, she’s a big character with a fan base, and I don’t think they’d be willing to kill her off for the shock factor.
If there’s one thing I’m enjoying about the Fate of the Jedi series, it’s all the different worlds and Force traditions that we visit or revisit. In Conviction, that’s the Theran Listeners of Nam Chorios—way back in Planet of Twilight, I thought that Barbara Hambly excelled at creating atmosphere and memorable settings, and Nam Chorios is a cold, creepy, Gothic world. I was happy to revisit it here, bu8t we didn’t spend much time with the Theran Listeners before they fell under Abeloth’s sway. We meet Taselda again, Luke learns this technique of “mnemotherapy,” but the rest of the book is the Skywalkers being sabotaged for plot reasons. I wanted more!
But Luke’s use of mnemotherapy finally gives us a bittersweet but final ending for Callista. It doesn’t change what happened to Callista in the intervening years—I assume before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Callista made her way to Abeloth’s planet, and it’s implied that Callista’s tiny bit of her soul within Abeloth was why she reached out to the younglings at the Maw Shelter. (I think Abeloth would have reached out to any Force users within her vicinity, as she did with the Mind Walkers, but Callista could have played a role.) When Luke and co. confront Abeloth towards the end, Luke is able to detach Callista’s spirit from Abeloth and let her pass on; in classic Callista fashion, she doesn’t say a word to Luke but you can sense her gratitude. It reiterated to me that Callista has been truly gone for a long time, this was the kindest ending she could have at this point, and Luke did this act out of love and regret.
Now that Vestara’s officially on Team Skywalker, she’s starting to question more elements of her Sith culture—writing these diary entries to a loving father but realizing that she’s deluding herself. (I side-eyed this a little, because I felt like Omen established that the Khais had a surprisingly —for Sith—loving relationship, but Gavar is very ambitious for his daughter and does not have Luke Skywalker’s moral code.) Vestara is realizing that Ben had a very different upbringing than she did, and maybe she’s lacking something as a result. I don’t think her redemption will happen immediately, though, and I’m not even sure if we’ll see it by the end of this series. Vestara is ruthless in a way that Ben could never be: she carries a tsil crystal around for a good chunk of the book “just in case,” knowing she would kill a sentient creature in the process, whereas that idea of destroying one to wound/distract Abeloth and the Sith would never even pass a Jedi’s mind. Vestara’s redemption arc feels veeeerry slow burn to me.
ISSUES:
My first issue with Conviction was (again) a continuation of those editing errors that I've seen in the last few books. Those little editing errors surprised me, and made me wonder if Del Rey was rushing the Fate of the Jedi series to print. The events of the last book, Vortex, took place on the moon of Pyrdr, but Conviction consistently misidentifies it as Almania. On Nam Chorios we meet the centuries-old Jedi Taselda again, but her name is misspelled as “Teselda”--she goes by Sel now, though, so it’s not super noticeable. Finally, during the Jedi coup in the Senate building Corran Horn’s lightsaber is described as “gleaming with a purple light,” but Corran’s blade is (famously) silver. It was just a ton of little stuff like that, which the editors should have caught before publication.
A bigger issue was just the existence of this “Jedi coup” plotline. On the one hand, I think it’s meant to hearken back to the prequels, when the Jedi Council was prepared to confront Palpatine and remove him from office—like, “what if the Jedi infiltrated the Senate building and removed Daala and talked to all the Senators, wouldn’t it be fun if they succeeded?” But we’ve already seen a successful Jedi coup before, when the Jedi overthrew Chief of State Jacen Solo in the Legacy of the Force series. I would think that the Jedi constantly intervening in galactic political affairs wouldn’t help their public image, but they also had no problem with Daala being elected Chief of State at the time so there are bigger issues here.
More importantly, I feel like a Jedi coup and a Jedi member in the triumvirate of temporary leaders creates a very dangerous precedent. All the way back in the Bantam books, the Jedi have struggled with how much support they should lend to the government in power, and one of my biggest problems with Destiny's Way in the New Jedi Order series was how the Jedi directly intervened in the election of a leader and then seemed deeply integrated into the Galactic Alliance’s government. Obviously the Jedi need money to support their mission, but then you run the risk of the government using you as soldiers (the Clone Wars) and the government choosing the priorities of your order, all the way down to Daala having a personal vendetta against the Jedi because she can’t completely control them. I think a lot of these problems could be solved by the Jedi removing themselves from politics, but that may be a pipe dream at this point.
(I had wondered “why not put Leia in charge?” instead of Saba, because of all her political experience, but the book explains that if Leia was a triumvirate member, people might think the Jedi wanted to remain permanently in charge. Since Saba is so obviously not politically-adept, no one will think that the Jedi are grasping for power.)
But my final issue with Conviction is more of an entire series problem: now that I’m coming to the tail end of the Fate of the Jedi, I don’t think there’s been enough plot stuff to sustain nine books. We see that play out in Tahiri’s trial stretching across multiple books, and Luke and Ben investigating/pursuing Abeloth since book 3, and even that slave uprising subplot popping up out of nowhere in book 5. Legacy of the Force was a successful three-author nine-book series, but Legacy of the Force also had this sense of urgency and propulsion that Fate of the Jedi is lacking for me.I think that if Fate of the Jedi had been condensed down to one or two trilogy, it wouldn’t have felt so stretched thin. (Abeloth as the overarching villain doesn’t help either, because she’s this nebulous Lovecraftian dark side entity that could destroy the galaxy yet she’s only threatened individual Force traditions thus far.)
IN CONCLUSION:
Conviction finally gives us a conclusion to Tahiri’s trial, as well as that terrible situation between Daala and the Jedi. There's still that pro-Imperial conspiracy lurking in the wings, but at least they got rid of one of the big bads. (I do think that this Jedi coup is setting a dangerous precedent for everything—I would not have gone that route!) I liked that we returned to Nam Chorios because I found it so interesting and atmospheric in Planet of Twilight; I just wish we could have seen more of the Oldtimers and the Theran Listeners and their Force tradition before they immediately under the sway of Abeloth, and hinder Luke and Ben and Vestara are hindered every step of the way.
Next up: the penultimate book in the Fate of the Jedi series, Ascension by Christie Golden.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/CdZZhPfO62o
June 13, 2011
The 7th and latest volume of the Fate of the Jedi saga, Conviction, is here. This time it’s Aaron Allston at the helm and this time…it’s more of the same. First off let me start by saying that whoever wrote the back copy for this book should be summarily fired. I’ve never read a description that tries its hardest to spoil everything that happens in the novel and is, in many regards, patently misleading. Seriously, absolutely terrible job on that part. Furthermore, I’m sure I’ve said it before, that the publishing schedule is all sorts of bizarre for this series. When the final volume is published in April of 2012 this series will have been running for just under three years. For comparison sake Jim Butcher has been known to release a new book every 6 months, by himself. Apparently three authors writing a single series eight books long requires 3 years of writing. If I’m not mistaken I do believe that Allston has had some health issues over this time but I still found that the stop and start publishing schedule is a serious detriment to the series (books 1 to 3 were released every other month followed by a six-month break then two more books every other month then another 6 month break, from there things are a bit more irregular). While I’ve certainly enjoyed aspects of the series so far what is even more distressing is lack of much progress made in resolving any of these storylines. The broad focus on the different aspects of the series has stalled developments to a point where I suspect that this was initially multiple series that have been condensed into a single narrative. If you’ve read any of the other volumes in this series the structure and themes of this book might feel familiar.
The Jedi and Daala circle each other with their teeth bared. Luke, Ben, and Vistara are hot on the trail of Aboleth who, surprise surprise, is busy preparing another ambush(es). Amelia Solo is as precious and adorable as ever. Yes, that’s a bit pithy but it is the same combination of things we’ve seen for the last couple of novels at least. There is no further exploration as to what Aboleth is, nor is her relationship to the scattered bits of ancient technology still even mentioned. Daala is still increasingly irrational and paranoid. The quest to determine what drove Jacen Solo to the Dark Side is abandoned and Force Teleportation is still resoundingly ignored. Despite being “cured” in the previous volume there are still the rather annoying deus ex machina of the mad Jedi running around. The more I’ve listened to this series the more I find the motivations, or at leas the actions, of either side in the Jedi/Daala conflict to be a bit bizarre. If both popular and senate approval of Daala’s actions was so low there has to have been some sort of official action that could have been taken rather than a coup. The Jedi show of force seems to me to play right into Daala’s fears.
Griefing asside I did enjoy Conviction. I though Allston did a wonderful job in playing up Vistara’s growing doubts about her own beliefs and the comparison of her own upbringing to that of Ben was a nice touch. I was particularly fond of Vistara’s letters to her “fantasy dad” and it seemed to me a very teenage response to her emotional state. I also rather liked seeing the a bit of the tactical/calculating side of Luke and his minor confrontation with Abeloth this time out did offer a fair amount of the emotional closure for his character. Han, also gets a nice moment in the sun in the novel even managing to surprise his wife a bit. In the end Conviction was certainly an entertaining entry into the Fate of the Jedi series that actually offers some progress in many of the main plot points, even if it is less progress than I’d like. Marc Thompson is, as usual, top notch and the sound effects and music straight from LucasFilm once again create a wonderful immersive experience. Conviction is not an improvement over the previous volume in The Fate of Jedi Saga but it hopefully marks a turning point for some actual developments in terms of plot; especially given the fact there are only two more volumes left in the series.
The Jedi and Daala circle each other with their teeth bared. Luke, Ben, and Vistara are hot on the trail of Aboleth who, surprise surprise, is busy preparing another ambush(es). Amelia Solo is as precious and adorable as ever. Yes, that’s a bit pithy but it is the same combination of things we’ve seen for the last couple of novels at least. There is no further exploration as to what Aboleth is, nor is her relationship to the scattered bits of ancient technology still even mentioned. Daala is still increasingly irrational and paranoid. The quest to determine what drove Jacen Solo to the Dark Side is abandoned and Force Teleportation is still resoundingly ignored. Despite being “cured” in the previous volume there are still the rather annoying deus ex machina of the mad Jedi running around. The more I’ve listened to this series the more I find the motivations, or at leas the actions, of either side in the Jedi/Daala conflict to be a bit bizarre. If both popular and senate approval of Daala’s actions was so low there has to have been some sort of official action that could have been taken rather than a coup. The Jedi show of force seems to me to play right into Daala’s fears.
Griefing asside I did enjoy Conviction. I though Allston did a wonderful job in playing up Vistara’s growing doubts about her own beliefs and the comparison of her own upbringing to that of Ben was a nice touch. I was particularly fond of Vistara’s letters to her “fantasy dad” and it seemed to me a very teenage response to her emotional state. I also rather liked seeing the a bit of the tactical/calculating side of Luke and his minor confrontation with Abeloth this time out did offer a fair amount of the emotional closure for his character. Han, also gets a nice moment in the sun in the novel even managing to surprise his wife a bit. In the end Conviction was certainly an entertaining entry into the Fate of the Jedi series that actually offers some progress in many of the main plot points, even if it is less progress than I’d like. Marc Thompson is, as usual, top notch and the sound effects and music straight from LucasFilm once again create a wonderful immersive experience. Conviction is not an improvement over the previous volume in The Fate of Jedi Saga but it hopefully marks a turning point for some actual developments in terms of plot; especially given the fact there are only two more volumes left in the series.
July 7, 2011
this book was clearly a placeholder in the series, repeating plotlines from the previous two books. I wish that Lucasbooks would stop planning these huge story-arc, nine novel series. They have tried to turn the success of the New Jedi Order into a template for huge sales, but none of the series that followed the Yuuzhan Vong storyline have deserved that treatment. Go back to plotting trilogies and the storytelling can get tighter and the plots more compelling...
June 27, 2011
Not bad, but this is still a three book series being stretched out to nine books. We're finally moving towards a conclusion here, and this has less filler material than most of the others in this series.
July 24, 2019
It took me a long while to finish this one, for a couple of reasons:
1) I might be suffering from Fate of the Jedi fatigue.
2) This was the last Aaron Allston Star Wars novel for me to have read, so finishing it felt a little too much like drawing a line under an era - a little bit too final.
It's a shame it's not really up to the standard of many of his other Star Wars novels.
I'm beginning to think that this series should really have been a trilogy: there's both too much and not enough going on at the same time. The Abeloth plotline seems ever-so-long-and-drawn-out now: she's been not-quite-finished-off more times than I can recall, and I'd really like it to end soon.
There's also been too many large parties of Lost Tribe Sith who appear and get cut down in the series for their activities to become more than a repetitive nuisance.
Not to mention the achingly slow dealing with Should-Never-Have-Been Head of State Daala's plotline.
It's as if there was an editorial meeting of Lucas Books and the three authors saying, "Fill up nine books with Sith and Force monster related hijinks", and then the writers only came up with enough material for a book each.
Still, Allston's writing is as readable as ever - his portrayals of the large cast of movie and Legends continuity characters are always consistent and true to their essences, and I'm still enjoying the story overall.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
1) I might be suffering from Fate of the Jedi fatigue.
2) This was the last Aaron Allston Star Wars novel for me to have read, so finishing it felt a little too much like drawing a line under an era - a little bit too final.
It's a shame it's not really up to the standard of many of his other Star Wars novels.
I'm beginning to think that this series should really have been a trilogy: there's both too much and not enough going on at the same time. The Abeloth plotline seems ever-so-long-and-drawn-out now: she's been not-quite-finished-off more times than I can recall, and I'd really like it to end soon.
There's also been too many large parties of Lost Tribe Sith who appear and get cut down in the series for their activities to become more than a repetitive nuisance.
Not to mention the achingly slow dealing with Should-Never-Have-Been Head of State Daala's plotline.
It's as if there was an editorial meeting of Lucas Books and the three authors saying, "Fill up nine books with Sith and Force monster related hijinks", and then the writers only came up with enough material for a book each.
Still, Allston's writing is as readable as ever - his portrayals of the large cast of movie and Legends continuity characters are always consistent and true to their essences, and I'm still enjoying the story overall.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
May 5, 2025
While I am definitely enjoying the series as a whole (and grateful still to be reading Expanded Universe content in 2025), this book was not without flaws. Ultimately, I think my frustrations lie in the misuse of two characters; Jaina Solo and Tahiri Veila.
Jaina feels very much a secondary character in this series, the focus is very much on others throughout. After the events of the Legacy of the Force series, she was positioned as the saviour of the galaxy, and felt like she was primed as the face of the EU from that point onwards. Unfortunately, she just sits in the background here.
Similarly, Tahiri suffers from a similar affliction in this book. Some of the earlier books in the series featured some absolutely brilliant courtroom scenes with her, as she is tried for the murder of Gilad Pellaeon. While this plotline did develop somewhat here, it felt like it did not get the focus and emphasis it should have done.
Aaron Allston's writing is consistent as always, although there were a few too many references to the original film trilogy shoehorned in here for my liking (including Leia directly quoting a scene that she definitely wasn't present for).
But to finish on positive notes, Luke and Han are superbly written, it's always a pleasure to read about these two characters when the author is this adept at writing them.
Jaina feels very much a secondary character in this series, the focus is very much on others throughout. After the events of the Legacy of the Force series, she was positioned as the saviour of the galaxy, and felt like she was primed as the face of the EU from that point onwards. Unfortunately, she just sits in the background here.
Similarly, Tahiri suffers from a similar affliction in this book. Some of the earlier books in the series featured some absolutely brilliant courtroom scenes with her, as she is tried for the murder of Gilad Pellaeon. While this plotline did develop somewhat here, it felt like it did not get the focus and emphasis it should have done.
Aaron Allston's writing is consistent as always, although there were a few too many references to the original film trilogy shoehorned in here for my liking (including Leia directly quoting a scene that she definitely wasn't present for).
But to finish on positive notes, Luke and Han are superbly written, it's always a pleasure to read about these two characters when the author is this adept at writing them.
December 21, 2021
I'd probably push this to 3.5 stars. There is still far too much going on in this series for my taste, and there are far too many characters to keep track of...but the characterization is first rate, there's some great humour with the Solo's granddaughter & C3PO, and it finally feels like the plot is moving forward.
September 26, 2025
Chief of State Natasi Daala has been overthrown, and the Jedi Order has taken control of the Galactic Alliance. But while the new governors dismantle Daala's draconian regime, forces still loyal to the deposed official are mobilizing a counterstrike. And even the Jedi's new authority may not be enough to save Tahiri Veila, the former Jedi Knight and onetime Sith apprentice convicted of treason for the killing of Galactic Alliance officer Gilad Pellaeon.
The above is the first of two paragraphs making up Conviction's dustjacket blurb. The events referred to aren't what happened in the prior volume, or indeed what takes place in this novel's opening section, but rather prematurely summarize its main events... what?!? This is genuinely one of the most inexplicable things I've ever witnessed with these books. It's particularly bad because FOTJ just doesn't have anything to say 90% of the time. Now there's actually no reason to read this particular entry, since everything surrounding those two plot points is complete filler.
Oh yes, Conviction is one of those books. I honestly just don't have anything to say about it. The Luke team follows Abeloth to another Bantam-era planet and doesn't accomplish anything; the Jedi continue to be wholly unsympathetic, Kenth's funeral existing only for plot exposition; the actual government takeover is hilarious in how asinine, yes, and yet also glossed over it is; there are multiple allusions to other Allston/Stackpole books that just don't work because this novel itself is such nothingness. Valin and Jysella Horn's insanity is prolonged through to the end, then solved off-screen, and doesn't serve any purpose because Allston sill adamantly refuses to give them any character. That's such a disappointing thing, too, because if there's anything his FOTJ efforts have taught me it's that Allston books really only work when he has a concept rooted in strong characters to work with. By itself, the prose is painfully dry. I dare say I enjoyed the sentence-to-sentence of Vortex much more, even despite that book being so much worse. At least a couple characters like Corran Horn vaguely resemble their actual selves again. That is all I can muster.
So let's talk about the cover art, instead: We see Tahiri Veila on the front, and Tenel Ka Djo on the back. Given the blurb you'd expect the former to play a hefty role, but her sentencing is dealt with in extremely rare, extremely short scenes instead. So now that the series has been prolonging her subplot over multiple books, it basically fizzles out at the end. Lovely. At least Tahiri breaks out of prison almost immediately, which makes two developments on her plot's front, i. e. two too many by the series standard. Now, Tenel Ka actually doesn't do anything. She's reintroduced maybe two thirds into the book (her first appearance in this series, period!), does nothing except solve a subplot that didn't logically require her presence, then dips. The reason for why she was chosen for a cover, then, I have a pet theory about: Certain fans were very vocally complaining about her lack of presence in these books at the time, so maybe LFL/Del Rey decided to throw them a bone - and boost sales ever so slightly. I wouldn't put it past them.
1.5 stars, for the few nice character moments sprinkled throughout.
The above is the first of two paragraphs making up Conviction's dustjacket blurb. The events referred to aren't what happened in the prior volume, or indeed what takes place in this novel's opening section, but rather prematurely summarize its main events... what?!? This is genuinely one of the most inexplicable things I've ever witnessed with these books. It's particularly bad because FOTJ just doesn't have anything to say 90% of the time. Now there's actually no reason to read this particular entry, since everything surrounding those two plot points is complete filler.
Oh yes, Conviction is one of those books. I honestly just don't have anything to say about it. The Luke team follows Abeloth to another Bantam-era planet and doesn't accomplish anything; the Jedi continue to be wholly unsympathetic, Kenth's funeral existing only for plot exposition; the actual government takeover is hilarious in how asinine, yes, and yet also glossed over it is; there are multiple allusions to other Allston/Stackpole books that just don't work because this novel itself is such nothingness. Valin and Jysella Horn's insanity is prolonged through to the end, then solved off-screen, and doesn't serve any purpose because Allston sill adamantly refuses to give them any character. That's such a disappointing thing, too, because if there's anything his FOTJ efforts have taught me it's that Allston books really only work when he has a concept rooted in strong characters to work with. By itself, the prose is painfully dry. I dare say I enjoyed the sentence-to-sentence of Vortex much more, even despite that book being so much worse. At least a couple characters like Corran Horn vaguely resemble their actual selves again. That is all I can muster.
So let's talk about the cover art, instead: We see Tahiri Veila on the front, and Tenel Ka Djo on the back. Given the blurb you'd expect the former to play a hefty role, but her sentencing is dealt with in extremely rare, extremely short scenes instead. So now that the series has been prolonging her subplot over multiple books, it basically fizzles out at the end. Lovely. At least Tahiri breaks out of prison almost immediately, which makes two developments on her plot's front, i. e. two too many by the series standard. Now, Tenel Ka actually doesn't do anything. She's reintroduced maybe two thirds into the book (her first appearance in this series, period!), does nothing except solve a subplot that didn't logically require her presence, then dips. The reason for why she was chosen for a cover, then, I have a pet theory about: Certain fans were very vocally complaining about her lack of presence in these books at the time, so maybe LFL/Del Rey decided to throw them a bone - and boost sales ever so slightly. I wouldn't put it past them.
1.5 stars, for the few nice character moments sprinkled throughout.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 30, 2011
More exciting than the previous book, Conviction offers a better paced novel than we've seen in a while in the FotJ series. Still, this book suffers from the same problems the previous few books have, chiefly, it's practically the same book as the previous books, only with a new main planet of interest, a new villain/thing, and no new surprises.
Well, to be honest, maybe one surprise, but not really. See, the publisher really dropped the ball with this one in their marketing. Normally I don't read the backs of books (or the inside dust jackets) unless I have no idea what to expect. But for some reason, I read this one, and lo, two FAT SPOILERS were there. Each of these things didn't happen until 2/3 of the way through the novel, and had I not read the dust jacket, they might have been more of a surprise. So fie on you, Mr. Publisher.
As for the actual plot itself? Luke & Ben & Vestara are still chasing Abeloth across the galaxy, still hounded by Sith, and still invincible. The GA is still in turmoil between Chief of State and the Jedi Order. Slave rebellions are still cropping up. Blah blah, rinse, repeat. I'm not pleased with the droll repetition and I sincerely hope the next EU books do not go longer than a trilogy/duology. Nine is just ridiculous if there's nothing happening in them.
I'll finish the series, but only cause I love the EU. Here's to hoping it returns to something better than this stuff.
Well, to be honest, maybe one surprise, but not really. See, the publisher really dropped the ball with this one in their marketing. Normally I don't read the backs of books (or the inside dust jackets) unless I have no idea what to expect. But for some reason, I read this one, and lo, two FAT SPOILERS were there. Each of these things didn't happen until 2/3 of the way through the novel, and had I not read the dust jacket, they might have been more of a surprise. So fie on you, Mr. Publisher.
As for the actual plot itself? Luke & Ben & Vestara are still chasing Abeloth across the galaxy, still hounded by Sith, and still invincible. The GA is still in turmoil between Chief of State and the Jedi Order. Slave rebellions are still cropping up. Blah blah, rinse, repeat. I'm not pleased with the droll repetition and I sincerely hope the next EU books do not go longer than a trilogy/duology. Nine is just ridiculous if there's nothing happening in them.
I'll finish the series, but only cause I love the EU. Here's to hoping it returns to something better than this stuff.
February 7, 2024
FATE OF THE JEDI #7: CONVICTION
“Conviction” is the seventh novel in the nine-part “Fate of the Jedi” series. Written by Aaron Allston and is his third and last novel in this series.
Fate of the Jedi as a whole was doing very well until the fifth book. After that came “Vortex”, which was incredibly horrible. And now we have “Conviction,” which is Allston's weakest novel in this series. It is a little better than “Vortex”, because it reads quickly, is fluid, and is written with the typical humor that Allston has in his books. There are good scenes, moments, and good characters; but the problem is that this novel is too long and with a lot of filler that makes the story progress very slowly.
The first story is about Luke and Ben along with Vestara traveling to a pirate-controlled space station in search of Abeloth. Tracking down Abeloth, they travel to the planet Nam Chorios, the same planet from the novel “Planet of Twilight” by Barbara Hambly. This is strange and interesting at the same time because not many references are made to these novels that make up the so-called “Callista Trilogy”, and now in FOTJ, we see more of this. Of course, Abeloth appears in his Callista Ming form in the story and is still just as terrible.
They travel to Nam Chorios and encounter a group of users called "Theran Listeners", who have a connection to sentient crystals known as Tsils. In “Planet of Twilight” it had already been established that these crystals are like living creatures that can reflect and amplify sunlight to help stop parasitic insects, Drochs, from spreading a plague called Death Seed, which apparently if left uncontrolled, is capable of destroying all life throughout the galaxy. This makes Nam Chorios a strong place in the Force and causes the slightest use of the Force on the planet to trigger a Force Storm in various parts of the planet. It's kind of stupid, it was stupid in Planet of Twilight and it works a little better here. It makes allusions to old characters, concepts, and all the connections and I think that's all good.
Luke and the others meet an old woman named Sel (Teselda), who is a Jedi who lived for several centuries by eating these parasitic bugs (which caused this Death Seed plague) because it gives you immortality or something. Teselda seems to not remember meeting Luke in the past and she takes them to the Theran Listeners. Luke learns from them a power known as “Mnemotherapy”, with which you can eliminate bad memories, bad feelings and extract people who were absorbed by Abeloth. From there they search for Abeloth and Luke allows Vestara to send a secret message to the Sith to bring reinforcements.
On Coruscant, Valin and Jysella Horn finally break free from their frozen in carbonite. Everyone thinks they are healthy, but they are still secretly under the influence of the psychosis that causes them to believe that everyone around them they are impostor. They pretend that everything is normal, but together they conspire to contact Abeloth. This whole Horn brothers plot was the weakest thing in the book, it's stupid, boring, and leads to nothing.
Meanwhile, Chief of State Daala becomes more crazy to the point where forces the Jedi to carry out a coup against them. Daala's actions against the Jedi are because she believes that slave uprisings are the work of the Jedi when everything is part of the conspiracy of Moff Lecersen and his partners in crime. Also, The Errant Venture frees his hostages in Borleias after finishing this legendary Sabacc game where Wynn Dorvan was the winner. The Jedi take advantage of this, and Masters Kyp Durron and Octa Ramis infiltrate a ship that is heading towards the Senate on Coruscant or more specifically, where Daala is. Another Jedi, Seha Dorval, seduces a Coruscant Security Forces worker to obtain plans for the Senate building to be able to mount his coup of State. She's then discovered and accused of poisoning Moff Moff Lecersen, but she escapes when all the madness breaks out.
In this novel, we see how the Jedi take power. Exactly the same thing happens as in Episode 3 with Windu and Palpatine, or at least an approximation. To get to this part, we also have to endure about ten chapters of preparation where they put together their plan and we see the perspective of each character. I mean, I don't hate it, it's fun because it's written by Allston and it's got his comedic, jokey style, but it's so boring. Eventually, the Jedi succeed, and there is now a temporary government made up of a Triumvirate that includes Saba (Jedi), Jaxton (military), and Treen (a senator from Kuat who is part of the Lecersen conspiracy). Basically, all three agree that Daala was an evil that deserved to be stopped because she was fucking everything and… I mean, what did they expect from Daala in command of the Galactic Alliance, she's literally a terrorist, I could have expected that kind of surprise from someone who was a good person, or from a completely new character, but we are talking about Daala, fucking Daalaa, the person who attacked Mon Calamari, Luke's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 and killed thousands with the Crimson Command.
Daala is arrested and the judge sentences her because she's guilty of crimes against humanity. This is true, but I don't know why they're only now realizing this and not before she was named Chief of State. It's really stupid all this and that's why this plot sucks. Tahiri Veila's trial comes to an end and she's found guilty and sentenced to prison pending her sentence, which is a death sentence. Daala and Tahiri are in the same prison and both they escape when Boba Fett appears to rescue Daala. Tahiri takes advantage of this and she simply escapes to a clandestine apartment where she will live alone. While Daala plans to regain her power somehow now that she is no longer Chief of State. That's a cliffhanger for the next book and I really don't give a shit.
We also see how Han, Leia, and Allana travel to the planet Klatooine to seek a solution to the slave uprising and propose that they join the GA. The Klatooinians refuse to start conversations until they speak with trusted people, so they send for Tenel Ka as an envoy diplomat. The Lost Tribe tracks Tenel Ka's movements and believes she's connected to the Jedi Queen that Lord Taalon saw in his visions. A Sith on the planet realizes the connection between Tenel Ka and Allana, so he decides to kill them both. The Sith places a bomb on the body of C-3PO. Allana foils this plan and Leia defeats the Sith in a ightsaber duel. The mission is successful and Klatooine becomes a member of the Galactic Alliance.
This part is relatively funny because they kidnap C-3PO and implant a bomb inside him. Although it is also too much with this invented subplot in the last chapters, there are too many storylines in my opinion. They are also not well organized or divided to fit together in a way that does not result in a saturation of so much content and information to process.
In the final story, we see Luke and the Sith confront Abeloth, who has taken control of a large part of the planet's population and caused force storms to occur due to his misuse of the Force. Valin and Jysella arrive to help Abeloth, along with some reporters for some reason. Abeloth appears once again as an avatar of Callista to weaken Luke's determination. Luke realizes that Callista still exists within Abeloth and uses the technique of “Mnemotherapy” to free her. Vestara destroys a Tsil, creating a reaction wave of waves through the Force, paralyzing the Sith and Abeloth.
Abeloth flees aboard Ship, the Sith Meditation Sphere. When she's leaving, meets with Gavar Khai (Vestara's father) and they both have a conversation. In the orbit of Nam Chorios, the Jedi and Sith forces clash for a while before backing out. Luke may have a break after all this time, but he knows they've stopped escaping a valuable opportunity to take down Abeloth.
Even though it starts a little slow, it's still the best plot. Even Callista's farewell was good. Not like in the case of Akanah in “Vortex”, where Denning has Luke brutally kill her with his lightsaber by cutting off limbs from her and other Edgy stuff. Vestara's character development is also good, we see how she begins to write in a diary where she compares her father and Luke and how perhaps she can take another path other than that of the Sith. Overall, “Conviction” isn't the worst novel in the series, but it is well below the first five novels
“Conviction” is the seventh novel in the nine-part “Fate of the Jedi” series. Written by Aaron Allston and is his third and last novel in this series.
Fate of the Jedi as a whole was doing very well until the fifth book. After that came “Vortex”, which was incredibly horrible. And now we have “Conviction,” which is Allston's weakest novel in this series. It is a little better than “Vortex”, because it reads quickly, is fluid, and is written with the typical humor that Allston has in his books. There are good scenes, moments, and good characters; but the problem is that this novel is too long and with a lot of filler that makes the story progress very slowly.
The first story is about Luke and Ben along with Vestara traveling to a pirate-controlled space station in search of Abeloth. Tracking down Abeloth, they travel to the planet Nam Chorios, the same planet from the novel “Planet of Twilight” by Barbara Hambly. This is strange and interesting at the same time because not many references are made to these novels that make up the so-called “Callista Trilogy”, and now in FOTJ, we see more of this. Of course, Abeloth appears in his Callista Ming form in the story and is still just as terrible.
They travel to Nam Chorios and encounter a group of users called "Theran Listeners", who have a connection to sentient crystals known as Tsils. In “Planet of Twilight” it had already been established that these crystals are like living creatures that can reflect and amplify sunlight to help stop parasitic insects, Drochs, from spreading a plague called Death Seed, which apparently if left uncontrolled, is capable of destroying all life throughout the galaxy. This makes Nam Chorios a strong place in the Force and causes the slightest use of the Force on the planet to trigger a Force Storm in various parts of the planet. It's kind of stupid, it was stupid in Planet of Twilight and it works a little better here. It makes allusions to old characters, concepts, and all the connections and I think that's all good.
Luke and the others meet an old woman named Sel (Teselda), who is a Jedi who lived for several centuries by eating these parasitic bugs (which caused this Death Seed plague) because it gives you immortality or something. Teselda seems to not remember meeting Luke in the past and she takes them to the Theran Listeners. Luke learns from them a power known as “Mnemotherapy”, with which you can eliminate bad memories, bad feelings and extract people who were absorbed by Abeloth. From there they search for Abeloth and Luke allows Vestara to send a secret message to the Sith to bring reinforcements.
On Coruscant, Valin and Jysella Horn finally break free from their frozen in carbonite. Everyone thinks they are healthy, but they are still secretly under the influence of the psychosis that causes them to believe that everyone around them they are impostor. They pretend that everything is normal, but together they conspire to contact Abeloth. This whole Horn brothers plot was the weakest thing in the book, it's stupid, boring, and leads to nothing.
Meanwhile, Chief of State Daala becomes more crazy to the point where forces the Jedi to carry out a coup against them. Daala's actions against the Jedi are because she believes that slave uprisings are the work of the Jedi when everything is part of the conspiracy of Moff Lecersen and his partners in crime. Also, The Errant Venture frees his hostages in Borleias after finishing this legendary Sabacc game where Wynn Dorvan was the winner. The Jedi take advantage of this, and Masters Kyp Durron and Octa Ramis infiltrate a ship that is heading towards the Senate on Coruscant or more specifically, where Daala is. Another Jedi, Seha Dorval, seduces a Coruscant Security Forces worker to obtain plans for the Senate building to be able to mount his coup of State. She's then discovered and accused of poisoning Moff Moff Lecersen, but she escapes when all the madness breaks out.
In this novel, we see how the Jedi take power. Exactly the same thing happens as in Episode 3 with Windu and Palpatine, or at least an approximation. To get to this part, we also have to endure about ten chapters of preparation where they put together their plan and we see the perspective of each character. I mean, I don't hate it, it's fun because it's written by Allston and it's got his comedic, jokey style, but it's so boring. Eventually, the Jedi succeed, and there is now a temporary government made up of a Triumvirate that includes Saba (Jedi), Jaxton (military), and Treen (a senator from Kuat who is part of the Lecersen conspiracy). Basically, all three agree that Daala was an evil that deserved to be stopped because she was fucking everything and… I mean, what did they expect from Daala in command of the Galactic Alliance, she's literally a terrorist, I could have expected that kind of surprise from someone who was a good person, or from a completely new character, but we are talking about Daala, fucking Daalaa, the person who attacked Mon Calamari, Luke's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 and killed thousands with the Crimson Command.
Daala is arrested and the judge sentences her because she's guilty of crimes against humanity. This is true, but I don't know why they're only now realizing this and not before she was named Chief of State. It's really stupid all this and that's why this plot sucks. Tahiri Veila's trial comes to an end and she's found guilty and sentenced to prison pending her sentence, which is a death sentence. Daala and Tahiri are in the same prison and both they escape when Boba Fett appears to rescue Daala. Tahiri takes advantage of this and she simply escapes to a clandestine apartment where she will live alone. While Daala plans to regain her power somehow now that she is no longer Chief of State. That's a cliffhanger for the next book and I really don't give a shit.
We also see how Han, Leia, and Allana travel to the planet Klatooine to seek a solution to the slave uprising and propose that they join the GA. The Klatooinians refuse to start conversations until they speak with trusted people, so they send for Tenel Ka as an envoy diplomat. The Lost Tribe tracks Tenel Ka's movements and believes she's connected to the Jedi Queen that Lord Taalon saw in his visions. A Sith on the planet realizes the connection between Tenel Ka and Allana, so he decides to kill them both. The Sith places a bomb on the body of C-3PO. Allana foils this plan and Leia defeats the Sith in a ightsaber duel. The mission is successful and Klatooine becomes a member of the Galactic Alliance.
This part is relatively funny because they kidnap C-3PO and implant a bomb inside him. Although it is also too much with this invented subplot in the last chapters, there are too many storylines in my opinion. They are also not well organized or divided to fit together in a way that does not result in a saturation of so much content and information to process.
In the final story, we see Luke and the Sith confront Abeloth, who has taken control of a large part of the planet's population and caused force storms to occur due to his misuse of the Force. Valin and Jysella arrive to help Abeloth, along with some reporters for some reason. Abeloth appears once again as an avatar of Callista to weaken Luke's determination. Luke realizes that Callista still exists within Abeloth and uses the technique of “Mnemotherapy” to free her. Vestara destroys a Tsil, creating a reaction wave of waves through the Force, paralyzing the Sith and Abeloth.
Abeloth flees aboard Ship, the Sith Meditation Sphere. When she's leaving, meets with Gavar Khai (Vestara's father) and they both have a conversation. In the orbit of Nam Chorios, the Jedi and Sith forces clash for a while before backing out. Luke may have a break after all this time, but he knows they've stopped escaping a valuable opportunity to take down Abeloth.
Even though it starts a little slow, it's still the best plot. Even Callista's farewell was good. Not like in the case of Akanah in “Vortex”, where Denning has Luke brutally kill her with his lightsaber by cutting off limbs from her and other Edgy stuff. Vestara's character development is also good, we see how she begins to write in a diary where she compares her father and Luke and how perhaps she can take another path other than that of the Sith. Overall, “Conviction” isn't the worst novel in the series, but it is well below the first five novels
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2024
Conviction is the seventh installment of the relatively unspectacular Fate of the Jedi series. Compared to its direct predecessors I found it a bit more engaging, more consistently paced, and, thus, less of a chore to finish.
In keeping with the series’ tendency to revisit familiar settings and almost forgotten characters, Conviction takes us back to Nam Chorios. It is where decades ago Luke’s would-be romance with Callista ended in a remarkably anticlimactic way (I haven’t forgotten how unsatisfying the conclusion to Barbara Hambly’s Planet of Twilight was). Now, Luke returns hoping once more to destroy Abeloth. Nam Chorios makes for an interesting setting, and it quickly becomes clear that things haven’t changed all that much over the past thirty years. Much like a freezing version of Tatooine it is an almost unlivable planet, which is plagued by the Droch parasite species for one and has a very unique relationship with the Force for another. Home to the mysterious Tsils, a mineral-like life form the mere presence of which enhances Force sensitivity, any use of the Force on Nam Chorios may have dire consequences possibly causing devastating so-called Force storms. These difficult surrounding conditions naturally do not make the Skywalkers’ quest any easier, but they do spice things up a little. Allston takes his time getting to the inevitable showdown allowing the Skywalkers and Vestara to learn about the ways of the domestic Force-wielders and giving Luke lots of time to muse about his previous run-in with Nam Chorios and its peculiar inhabitants. Meanwhile, the still-crazed Horn siblings also make their way to the planet to then partake in the face-off between the Skywalkers, the Sith, and Abeloth. Although it is an interesting read for the most part, in the end, the Skywalker storyline again amounts to nothing as, once more, the cavalry shows up at the last minute (this time a small group of Jedi lead by Jaina Solo) and a newly weakened Abeloth escapes again.
Compared to the relatively slow-progressing plot on Nam Chorios, the situation on Coruscant is definitely more exciting as the conflict between the Jedi and Chief of State Daala culminates in the Jedi finally taking decisive action against Daala’s growing despotism. For me, the Jedi actually staging a coup is surprising and marks a clear break from their previous leader’s cautious leadership style. Once Daala has been subdued it turns out that gaining the Senate’s support is easy underscoring how delusional and solitary Daala’s decision-making had ultimately become. A triumvirate consisting of one representative of the Senate, one of the armed Forces, and one of the Jedi is installed to temporarily stand in for the Chief of State. Interestingly, the Jedi choose Saba Sebatyne as their representative. While it is understandable that she would be the one to take over for Kenth Hamner as acting Grand Jedi Master given how she was the one to voice her mistrust in him and to tragically overthrow him, she does not seem to be such a sound choice as the Jedi’s external representative in a political/diplomatic environment. After all, the Barabel species is not exactly known for its tact and patience. It seems that the most sensible solution would have been to make Leia their representative. However, given her history doing so might make it seem like the Jedi are trying to seize complete control and also her abilities are needed elsewhere for now. Surprisingly, Saba fares remarkably well on her own and does exhibit some unexpected political savvy, which seems a bit out of character given her impulsive nature.
Because of Leia’s diplomatic abilities, the Solos are being sent to Klatooine. It is one of the planets on which there currently is a slave uprising and Leia is tasked with helping the two fronts come to a peaceful solution. After some back and forth, the presence of Tenel Ka Djo, Queen Mother of Hapes, is demanded due to her dual role as both political leader and former Jedi. As the trip to Klatooine also poses an opportunity to visit her daughter, Tenel Ka gladly accepts the invitation. Little does the Solo family know that during their stay on Klatooine they are being spied upon by Sith agents, which luckily are rather inept. Following their perished leader’s order to kill Tenel Ka to prevent her from birthing the mysterious Jedi Queen from his vision, the spies come up with a sloppy plan to complete their mission. Despite all the surveillance and Tenel’s obvious familiarity with the Solo’s alleged adopted daughter, it takes them an astonishing amount of time to figure out who Amelia Solo really is. Naturally, the Sith are eventually stopped mostly thanks to Allana herself and cannot share their new-found intelligence with anyone. The Klatooine sub-plot is the only one receiving a proper conclusion in Conviction and while arguably insignificant for the big picture it is an interesting addition that deals with a pressing political conflict, offers some much-appreciated Solo banter, and concludes in a suspenseful way.
Meanwhile, the Tahiri sub-plot also continues (yes, this is still going on). The Jedi coup happening just as her trial is about to close does not bode well for her. Not only is she found guilt, but also sentenced to death. Luckily, former Chief of State Daala ends up being imprisoned close to Tahiri, allowing the latter to jump on Daala’s escape, which is staged by none other than Boba Fett. Given the now changed political landscape, I guess Tahiri will eventually be reinstated as a legitimate member of society but this will probably happen in the final installment of the series such that her side-plot gets to be dragged out for the entirety of the series. While Tahiri’s conviction certainly is an important element of Conviction it is far from being its defining event. Accordingly naming the novel for it seems kind of random, as does putting her face on the cover. Honestly, this has been true for most of the books of the series, and it seems that these have just been named for some random cool-sounding words that may or may not have anything to do with the actual plot. The same goes for the cover design choices, the main objective of which appears to be to put everyone on the cover once.
Compared to the 2 or 3 novels preceding it in the series, Conviction is an improvement. It is way more readable with relatively short chapters that do not jump back and forth so much making it easier to follow its plot. Regardless, the series is still somehow just droning on lacking the excitement of, e.g. the Legacy of the Force series. With only two novels to go, I cannot really imagine the series going out with a bang and pretty much expect an anticlimactic final solution. My guess is that there will be yet another encounter with Abeloth in the next book. Again, it will lead to nothing and Abeloth will escape. The final novel will then conclude with her actual death, and it may or may not give us a satisfying explanation on the nature of her being. Regardless, there still is hope that the last two novels offer some surprises and perhaps even pick up the pace.
In keeping with the series’ tendency to revisit familiar settings and almost forgotten characters, Conviction takes us back to Nam Chorios. It is where decades ago Luke’s would-be romance with Callista ended in a remarkably anticlimactic way (I haven’t forgotten how unsatisfying the conclusion to Barbara Hambly’s Planet of Twilight was). Now, Luke returns hoping once more to destroy Abeloth. Nam Chorios makes for an interesting setting, and it quickly becomes clear that things haven’t changed all that much over the past thirty years. Much like a freezing version of Tatooine it is an almost unlivable planet, which is plagued by the Droch parasite species for one and has a very unique relationship with the Force for another. Home to the mysterious Tsils, a mineral-like life form the mere presence of which enhances Force sensitivity, any use of the Force on Nam Chorios may have dire consequences possibly causing devastating so-called Force storms. These difficult surrounding conditions naturally do not make the Skywalkers’ quest any easier, but they do spice things up a little. Allston takes his time getting to the inevitable showdown allowing the Skywalkers and Vestara to learn about the ways of the domestic Force-wielders and giving Luke lots of time to muse about his previous run-in with Nam Chorios and its peculiar inhabitants. Meanwhile, the still-crazed Horn siblings also make their way to the planet to then partake in the face-off between the Skywalkers, the Sith, and Abeloth. Although it is an interesting read for the most part, in the end, the Skywalker storyline again amounts to nothing as, once more, the cavalry shows up at the last minute (this time a small group of Jedi lead by Jaina Solo) and a newly weakened Abeloth escapes again.
Compared to the relatively slow-progressing plot on Nam Chorios, the situation on Coruscant is definitely more exciting as the conflict between the Jedi and Chief of State Daala culminates in the Jedi finally taking decisive action against Daala’s growing despotism. For me, the Jedi actually staging a coup is surprising and marks a clear break from their previous leader’s cautious leadership style. Once Daala has been subdued it turns out that gaining the Senate’s support is easy underscoring how delusional and solitary Daala’s decision-making had ultimately become. A triumvirate consisting of one representative of the Senate, one of the armed Forces, and one of the Jedi is installed to temporarily stand in for the Chief of State. Interestingly, the Jedi choose Saba Sebatyne as their representative. While it is understandable that she would be the one to take over for Kenth Hamner as acting Grand Jedi Master given how she was the one to voice her mistrust in him and to tragically overthrow him, she does not seem to be such a sound choice as the Jedi’s external representative in a political/diplomatic environment. After all, the Barabel species is not exactly known for its tact and patience. It seems that the most sensible solution would have been to make Leia their representative. However, given her history doing so might make it seem like the Jedi are trying to seize complete control and also her abilities are needed elsewhere for now. Surprisingly, Saba fares remarkably well on her own and does exhibit some unexpected political savvy, which seems a bit out of character given her impulsive nature.
Because of Leia’s diplomatic abilities, the Solos are being sent to Klatooine. It is one of the planets on which there currently is a slave uprising and Leia is tasked with helping the two fronts come to a peaceful solution. After some back and forth, the presence of Tenel Ka Djo, Queen Mother of Hapes, is demanded due to her dual role as both political leader and former Jedi. As the trip to Klatooine also poses an opportunity to visit her daughter, Tenel Ka gladly accepts the invitation. Little does the Solo family know that during their stay on Klatooine they are being spied upon by Sith agents, which luckily are rather inept. Following their perished leader’s order to kill Tenel Ka to prevent her from birthing the mysterious Jedi Queen from his vision, the spies come up with a sloppy plan to complete their mission. Despite all the surveillance and Tenel’s obvious familiarity with the Solo’s alleged adopted daughter, it takes them an astonishing amount of time to figure out who Amelia Solo really is. Naturally, the Sith are eventually stopped mostly thanks to Allana herself and cannot share their new-found intelligence with anyone. The Klatooine sub-plot is the only one receiving a proper conclusion in Conviction and while arguably insignificant for the big picture it is an interesting addition that deals with a pressing political conflict, offers some much-appreciated Solo banter, and concludes in a suspenseful way.
Meanwhile, the Tahiri sub-plot also continues (yes, this is still going on). The Jedi coup happening just as her trial is about to close does not bode well for her. Not only is she found guilt, but also sentenced to death. Luckily, former Chief of State Daala ends up being imprisoned close to Tahiri, allowing the latter to jump on Daala’s escape, which is staged by none other than Boba Fett. Given the now changed political landscape, I guess Tahiri will eventually be reinstated as a legitimate member of society but this will probably happen in the final installment of the series such that her side-plot gets to be dragged out for the entirety of the series. While Tahiri’s conviction certainly is an important element of Conviction it is far from being its defining event. Accordingly naming the novel for it seems kind of random, as does putting her face on the cover. Honestly, this has been true for most of the books of the series, and it seems that these have just been named for some random cool-sounding words that may or may not have anything to do with the actual plot. The same goes for the cover design choices, the main objective of which appears to be to put everyone on the cover once.
Compared to the 2 or 3 novels preceding it in the series, Conviction is an improvement. It is way more readable with relatively short chapters that do not jump back and forth so much making it easier to follow its plot. Regardless, the series is still somehow just droning on lacking the excitement of, e.g. the Legacy of the Force series. With only two novels to go, I cannot really imagine the series going out with a bang and pretty much expect an anticlimactic final solution. My guess is that there will be yet another encounter with Abeloth in the next book. Again, it will lead to nothing and Abeloth will escape. The final novel will then conclude with her actual death, and it may or may not give us a satisfying explanation on the nature of her being. Regardless, there still is hope that the last two novels offer some surprises and perhaps even pick up the pace.
June 13, 2011
Another fine Star Wars book by Aaron Allston. This guy knows how to write a page-turner — this actually might have been the Star Wars book I've read the quickest.
Nothing particularly stands out, another average book in the series, but «Conviction» keeps up the pace set by Troy Denning in the previous one, «Vortex».
There isn't a lot I can say that wouldn't spoil things this far in the Fate of the Jedi series, so I'll keep it brief. Many story threads are finished in «Conviction», so we have something like a turn in the collective narrative of the GA versus Jedi Temple, Luke and Ben's Planet-hopping, the Lost Tribe advent in the galaxy, the mad jedi, and Tahiri's trial. I feel this series final two books are going to be very different than the previous six.
Two little side notes: I'm not one for nitpicking, but I'm pretty sure Anji (Allana's pet nexu) had a restraint that impeded it from unsheathing its claws and even bitting with force enough to hurt (something it does in this book). Also, didn't Allana have her hair dyed black so her Hapen ascendancy wouldn't be so obvious?
Nothing particularly stands out, another average book in the series, but «Conviction» keeps up the pace set by Troy Denning in the previous one, «Vortex».
There isn't a lot I can say that wouldn't spoil things this far in the Fate of the Jedi series, so I'll keep it brief. Many story threads are finished in «Conviction», so we have something like a turn in the collective narrative of the GA versus Jedi Temple, Luke and Ben's Planet-hopping, the Lost Tribe advent in the galaxy, the mad jedi, and Tahiri's trial. I feel this series final two books are going to be very different than the previous six.
Two little side notes: I'm not one for nitpicking, but I'm pretty sure Anji (Allana's pet nexu) had a restraint that impeded it from unsheathing its claws and even bitting with force enough to hurt (something it does in this book). Also, didn't Allana have her hair dyed black so her Hapen ascendancy wouldn't be so obvious?
July 4, 2011
The overwhelming number of ancillary characters in this book are a major distraction, and the prose is nowhere near Allston's usual standard. This, coupled with my general annoyance with the plot in this series made for the kind of book I was eager to get done with.
The tale in terms of plot improved about half-way through the book (or at least as much as it could while still involving the ever-derivative Abeloth), and I was interested to see the end. Lack of follow up with Vestara was most unsatisfying. Substituting a scene with her and Ben rather than Gavar Khai would, I think, have been a better choice. Also the final action sequences were ramping up to be something special, and then... were quite anti-climatic.
Still, towards the end, I felt a little thrill of "I'm looking forward to the next volume!" Until I remembered it's written by Christie Golden. Well. At least there will be no shortage of Vestara and Ben in the upcoming book. Sigh.
When's that next Tim Zahn book released again?
The tale in terms of plot improved about half-way through the book (or at least as much as it could while still involving the ever-derivative Abeloth), and I was interested to see the end. Lack of follow up with Vestara was most unsatisfying. Substituting a scene with her and Ben rather than Gavar Khai would, I think, have been a better choice. Also the final action sequences were ramping up to be something special, and then... were quite anti-climatic.
Still, towards the end, I felt a little thrill of "I'm looking forward to the next volume!" Until I remembered it's written by Christie Golden. Well. At least there will be no shortage of Vestara and Ben in the upcoming book. Sigh.
When's that next Tim Zahn book released again?
October 8, 2013
Another decent installment in the series, though maybe one of my least favorite. Plots are progressing, Skywalkers are visiting new weird planets, trials are ending, governments transitioning, slaves rebelling, the usual. The hunt for Abeloth is still my least favorite part yet it seems like that is supposed to be the main focus. The strange force planet in this book didn't interest me at all really, which makes this one the weakest of all the books so far. I still care about the side stories and all the characters, but the central storyline needs to be kicked into high gear soon. Hopefully...
June 28, 2011
Not as boring as the previous books in the series. Starts out blah, but picks up about half-way through and becomes an okay book. This particular Star Wars series is just not that great. Too many characters to try to fit into each book. Seems like they should make stories that focus on a smaller group of characters.
March 24, 2012
As a Star Wars fan I liked this book, but overall I'm finding this series to be a little lacking. Perhaps more of a focus on the younger newer heros of the Star Wars universe rather than the constant trotting out of Luke, han, Leia and the rest. I feel there hasn't been a good Star Wars story arc since the Yuuzhan Vong series.
February 1, 2017
Things are shaping up for the finale...
November 12, 2023
The Fate of the Jedi story churns on. In this installment, two warring conspiracies both seek to overthrow Chief of State Natasi Daala, but the Jedi get there first. A triumvirate is temporarily convened to carry out the affairs of the Galactic Alliance. Meanwhile, Luke, Ben, and the young Sith woman, Vestara Khai, continue to track Abeloth, eventually heading to Nam Chorios, a locale first introduced years ago in the Legends novel Planet of Twilight. Han, Leia, and others from the Alliance are negotiating with planets that had slave revolts, to bring their new governments into normal relations with the GA. But a Sith plot to attack the Hapan heir, Allana, disrupts their work on Klatooine.
As usual in this series, there is too much going on for everything to be truly effective. In addition to the stories above, we also have the outcome of the trial of Tahiri Veila, a subplot involving the Horn children, who are the only ones still suffering from Abeloth's illness for some reason, and the return of Boba Fett. And that doesn't even cover some of the interpersonal character dynamics between Vestara and Ben, who continue to fall for each other. Even a competent author like Aaron Allston was can't hit all of these beats without losing some quality. On the other hand, Allston's strength was always pushing a plot forward and delivering interesting action, and he does that here too.
(It doesn't help that the locations and characters read like a catalog of material from earlier EU books. We've visited Nam Chorios, Centerpoint, and Dathomir. Daala, Boba Fett, Jagged Fel, and others are recurring characters. What's next? The return of the Yuuzhan Vong?)
I think I am just finding myself bored with the whole affair. It's too much of the same. The series retreads ground that has been gone over before in the Star Wars universe, and adds little to it. In fact, I think it is fair to say that the plots, themes, characters, and ideas in this nine-book epic saga are pale imitations of earlier ideas. Allston and his fellow authors aren't going somewhere new, deeper, or better. They're just churning out more pulp with less interest. Because once Abeloth is ultimately defeated in the ninth book, there will undoubtedly be some other Force-wielding "big bad" to come. And my patience for these tales is winding down. All I can hope is that, when I finish the Legends books, the Disney reboot will breathe fresh life and ideas into the series.
As usual in this series, there is too much going on for everything to be truly effective. In addition to the stories above, we also have the outcome of the trial of Tahiri Veila, a subplot involving the Horn children, who are the only ones still suffering from Abeloth's illness for some reason, and the return of Boba Fett. And that doesn't even cover some of the interpersonal character dynamics between Vestara and Ben, who continue to fall for each other. Even a competent author like Aaron Allston was can't hit all of these beats without losing some quality. On the other hand, Allston's strength was always pushing a plot forward and delivering interesting action, and he does that here too.
(It doesn't help that the locations and characters read like a catalog of material from earlier EU books. We've visited Nam Chorios, Centerpoint, and Dathomir. Daala, Boba Fett, Jagged Fel, and others are recurring characters. What's next? The return of the Yuuzhan Vong?)
I think I am just finding myself bored with the whole affair. It's too much of the same. The series retreads ground that has been gone over before in the Star Wars universe, and adds little to it. In fact, I think it is fair to say that the plots, themes, characters, and ideas in this nine-book epic saga are pale imitations of earlier ideas. Allston and his fellow authors aren't going somewhere new, deeper, or better. They're just churning out more pulp with less interest. Because once Abeloth is ultimately defeated in the ninth book, there will undoubtedly be some other Force-wielding "big bad" to come. And my patience for these tales is winding down. All I can hope is that, when I finish the Legends books, the Disney reboot will breathe fresh life and ideas into the series.
May 19, 2025
I really had to struggle to get through this one. It was all over the place. The story was fragmented: Allston was describing events that happened off page and just referenced them as though we, the readers, were supposed to know what happened. Vestara goes from being a potential enemy and distrusted by Luke and Ben, to being a steady part of their team. Also, I really hate the constant pining Luke does for Callista, treating her as "the one that got away". It's incredibly disrespectful to Mara Jade and, quite frankly, Callista was not that interesting a character. All this does is remind me of one of the worst trilogies of the Bantam Era.
The whole jedi coup should've happened 2 books ago, honestly. How Daala has managed to survive being in power this long is baffling. And the fact that she manages to escape prison and punishment thanks to Boba fucking Fett of all people is just frustrating. Can't these writers just let the bitch die?
It's ironic that Tenal Ka and Tehirri are both featured on the covers, considering how little they appear in the story itself.
I feel like it should be mentioned that Luke, Leia, and Han are all in their 70s at this point. And they're still running around fighting sith? Remember when the NJO was supposed to be where the new jedi like Jaina, Tenal, Tehirri, Lowbacca, and the others were gonna be the ones leading the fight against evil while the old heroes start to slow down? Good times.
Honestly, at this point, it feels like Aaron wasn't even trying. This is one of his weakest SW books and one of the longest. Maybe he just wasn't feeling it anymore, maybe his heart attack affected him more than we think, but this series as a whole has been going on for way too long. And we still have 2 more to go.
The whole jedi coup should've happened 2 books ago, honestly. How Daala has managed to survive being in power this long is baffling. And the fact that she manages to escape prison and punishment thanks to Boba fucking Fett of all people is just frustrating. Can't these writers just let the bitch die?
It's ironic that Tenal Ka and Tehirri are both featured on the covers, considering how little they appear in the story itself.
I feel like it should be mentioned that Luke, Leia, and Han are all in their 70s at this point. And they're still running around fighting sith? Remember when the NJO was supposed to be where the new jedi like Jaina, Tenal, Tehirri, Lowbacca, and the others were gonna be the ones leading the fight against evil while the old heroes start to slow down? Good times.
Honestly, at this point, it feels like Aaron wasn't even trying. This is one of his weakest SW books and one of the longest. Maybe he just wasn't feeling it anymore, maybe his heart attack affected him more than we think, but this series as a whole has been going on for way too long. And we still have 2 more to go.
September 14, 2017
1 Star - Horrible book, It was so bad I stopped reading it. I have not read the whole book and wont
2 Star - Bad book, I forced myself to finish it and do NOT recommend. I can't believe I read it once
3 Star - Average book, Was entertaining but nothing special. No plans to ever re-read
4 Star - Good Book, Was a really good book and I would recommend. I am Likely to re-read this book
5 Star - GREAT book, A great story and well written. I can't wait for the next book. I Will Re-Read this one or more times.
Number of times read: 1
The story of the new Jedi Order. This is around 40 years after the battle of the Death Star. I am reading this before I have read most of the books between the battle of the Death Star and when this book starts. This has caused me to not understand all of the references. I feel I should have waited on this.
Characters - The characters classic Star Wars (Luke, Leia, Han, etc) and some new Jedi. The character development was not as detailed as I would have liked but it was adequate.
Story - This is a continuation of Star Wars, if you like Star Wars then this story helps expand the story with a focus on the new Jedi Order.
Overall - This is an average book. Nothing real special, but it is a Star Wars story and I am a Star Wars fan. So this is a have to read along with the other 100+ books.
2 Star - Bad book, I forced myself to finish it and do NOT recommend. I can't believe I read it once
3 Star - Average book, Was entertaining but nothing special. No plans to ever re-read
4 Star - Good Book, Was a really good book and I would recommend. I am Likely to re-read this book
5 Star - GREAT book, A great story and well written. I can't wait for the next book. I Will Re-Read this one or more times.
Number of times read: 1
The story of the new Jedi Order. This is around 40 years after the battle of the Death Star. I am reading this before I have read most of the books between the battle of the Death Star and when this book starts. This has caused me to not understand all of the references. I feel I should have waited on this.
Characters - The characters classic Star Wars (Luke, Leia, Han, etc) and some new Jedi. The character development was not as detailed as I would have liked but it was adequate.
Story - This is a continuation of Star Wars, if you like Star Wars then this story helps expand the story with a focus on the new Jedi Order.
Overall - This is an average book. Nothing real special, but it is a Star Wars story and I am a Star Wars fan. So this is a have to read along with the other 100+ books.
January 16, 2020
I don't always keep track of who has written which book when I load up the next one in the series on my Kindle, but there's something about Aaron Allston's writing for Star Wars that immediately feels familiar. He has a superb grasp of the characterizations of the different folks involved in these Legends-story and the Star Wars fandom really lost something special when he passed.
This book continues to push the story of the threat of Abeloth and how Luke and Ben along with the young Sith Vestera are keeping up the chase as best as they can. But there's the legitimate fear that we're running out of Luke as the Grand Master continues to push himself as hard as Harry Dresden at the end of one of his books, if you get my drift.
I appreciate the efforts to sort of resolve the slow-moving mess that has been the drama back on Coruscant, but I'm not 100% sold if this was the best approach for things or if things needed to run their course a bit longer before seemingly forcing a resolution. Yes, there's also the little twist that follows, but this part of the story still felt rather messy.
On the whole, still a solid part of this series and a great example of how Legends really rocked during its heyday.
This book continues to push the story of the threat of Abeloth and how Luke and Ben along with the young Sith Vestera are keeping up the chase as best as they can. But there's the legitimate fear that we're running out of Luke as the Grand Master continues to push himself as hard as Harry Dresden at the end of one of his books, if you get my drift.
I appreciate the efforts to sort of resolve the slow-moving mess that has been the drama back on Coruscant, but I'm not 100% sold if this was the best approach for things or if things needed to run their course a bit longer before seemingly forcing a resolution. Yes, there's also the little twist that follows, but this part of the story still felt rather messy.
On the whole, still a solid part of this series and a great example of how Legends really rocked during its heyday.
July 1, 2021
So I wasn't really enjoying the beginning of this book. There was blackface again. Their were some elements of comedy that were just falling flat for me. And I just kept getting dragged out.
But as it moved on I got into the book better, and I thought that the ending was largely satisfying. A lot of elements finally got resolved to a certain degree, and I thought it worked really well.
The cliffhanger on this one didn't pump me up a lot, though it did get me thinking a bit. So reasonably successful.
It looks like a lot of my questions. The burning ones I've had throughout the series aren't going to get answered.
Why did blowing up CenterPoint set this all off?
Why were the stations near the maw set to destroy themselves when Centerpoint was destroyed?
What was centerpoint doing all the way from the corellia system?
Why was the Corellian system made? What does that have to do with the maw? Are they just spare habitable planets they needed to move out of the way, so they set them around a star that had no planets of its own?
We've moved away from the maw for a while now. It's possible we'll move back in that direction, or there will be thoughts and summary of this at the end. But it just doesn't seem like we're going to get there. and I want to know!
But as it moved on I got into the book better, and I thought that the ending was largely satisfying. A lot of elements finally got resolved to a certain degree, and I thought it worked really well.
The cliffhanger on this one didn't pump me up a lot, though it did get me thinking a bit. So reasonably successful.
It looks like a lot of my questions. The burning ones I've had throughout the series aren't going to get answered.
Why did blowing up CenterPoint set this all off?
Why were the stations near the maw set to destroy themselves when Centerpoint was destroyed?
What was centerpoint doing all the way from the corellia system?
Why was the Corellian system made? What does that have to do with the maw? Are they just spare habitable planets they needed to move out of the way, so they set them around a star that had no planets of its own?
We've moved away from the maw for a while now. It's possible we'll move back in that direction, or there will be thoughts and summary of this at the end. But it just doesn't seem like we're going to get there. and I want to know!
October 20, 2024
The book itself is not written badly. I'd probably give it a 3/4 if I was judging on standalone merits. The 2 here is mainly for having a Jedi coop at all, which since this was a planned series may have been dumped on Allston. While I like that the series builds chronologically, Tahiri's trial drags on a bit longer than probably should have.
I'm also noticing some little slips in editorial details, like Allana's hair is no longer dyed, which I think was a detail Allston himself had included at the beginning of the series, and an important detail given that they're supposed to be hiding her identity.
Particularly given the interest by the GA in NOT repeating what had gone down with Jacen and the not that far in the past history with Palpatine, you would think they'd make some efforts to restrict the executive branch's ability to abuse the military, and have some line of succession for if the Chief of State is ill, killed, or arrested. I just don't find it plausible that anyone can arrest the Chief of State and declare themselves Chief of State...
And triumvirates just seem like a terrible idea in general. The fixation with them starts getting weird.
I'm also noticing some little slips in editorial details, like Allana's hair is no longer dyed, which I think was a detail Allston himself had included at the beginning of the series, and an important detail given that they're supposed to be hiding her identity.
Particularly given the interest by the GA in NOT repeating what had gone down with Jacen and the not that far in the past history with Palpatine, you would think they'd make some efforts to restrict the executive branch's ability to abuse the military, and have some line of succession for if the Chief of State is ill, killed, or arrested. I just don't find it plausible that anyone can arrest the Chief of State and declare themselves Chief of State...
And triumvirates just seem like a terrible idea in general. The fixation with them starts getting weird.
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