The Legacy of the Force continues with the third book, this time written by Troy Denning. I read some of his work in the past, and I quite like it, especially Star by Star. What I love about his books, is that I don't feel like the main characters have a "plot shield" (like it's usually in other star wars books).
The main thing for me was the dialogue. There was always so much tension between some specific characters, I love it.
You'll see some lightsaber fights, space battles as well as stealth action, overall, the book has a lot of stuff that we like about star wars.
The only downside for me was Jaina's storyline, which I usually like. The other storylines were likable.
I absolutely recommend continuing the series, if you've read the previous books.
P.S.: If your main reason to pick up this book is to read about Tenel Ka (due to the book's cover art), read a book from the New Jedi Order instead ( )

Denning, while not totally redeeming himself from the Darknest fiasco, has certainly gone a long ways toward it. Jacen is becoming more and more powerful, and sets up Lumiya and Luke & Mara to face off, to see what happens. Ben is becoming a little yes man" for Jacen, Han and Leia are now hunted by Jacen for supposedly trying to assassinate Tenel Ka and Allana. Jacen is completely over the edge, the galaxy's "peace" means more to him than the individual, and it is hinted at that there might be a hidden Order of the Sith, in defiance of the One Master, One Student sith rule. Just hinted though...
" ( )

“Okay, so it’s kind of a big deal.”

Tempest is the third book 3 the Legacy of the Force series. Jacen Solo, son of Han and Leah, twin brother to Jaina, has completely embraced Lumiya’s teachings in the Sith ways. He is spiraling deeper into the Dark side of the force, believing that he’s doing what’s necessary to bring balance back to the universe. But on his journey, he is losing himself, losing his sense of humor and loyalty to his family and what is right. He begins making military decisions based on his emotions before learning facts, even firing on the Millennium Falcon KNOWING that his parents were on board, believing that they were traitors. While Han and Leah had gone against the Galactic Alliance’s wish and entered talks with the Corellian insurgents, they were set up but those same people when they were sent to speak with Tenel Ka and to discuss and alliance with the Hapan Consortium. Instead of talking, they were actually sent as bait to bring Tenel Ka into the open for an assassination attempt. Caught in the middle of these factions the Solos try to use it to their advantage and gather information about the plot. Sending notes and clues every chance they have, the Solos come under fire from Jacen Solo before they can get clear of the situation completely.

What I love about the Star Wars universe books is that they tie in with other books; characters, events. But it has never been clearer than when I read the Fate of the Jedi series before the Legacy of the Force series. Everything that Luke is trying to discover in Fate of the Jedi, everything that is being tried by the Galactic Alliance, is happening in this series. With so many books in the Star Wars universe it can be difficult to keep chronologies straight. But I highly recommend this series before the Fate of the Jedi series.

It’s so difficult and painful seeing what Jacen is doing. How he has conned himself into believing that what he is doing is for the good. The characters that we have come to love are being torn apart by what he is doing, by his manipulations. It’s a difficult story to read, but it’s an important one to the Star Wars universe. ( )

When I picked this book up at midnight last night, it was with the intention of reading for ten or twenty minutes before going to bed. Three hours later, I put the finished book down. From the prologue to the end, I found no point in the book where I didn't want to read "just the next few pages..."

As with the previous book, Bloodlines, I started reading with some trepidation that the third (and final) author in the series would not meet the quality that I had found in the first two. I'm happy to be able to say I needn't have worried. Denning is at least as good as the Aalston and Traviss, and once more I'm glad that I started reading this series.

There are a few differences between the three authors, Denning doesn't start a section with the location as the other two did, for example, and his style is a little different, but I think that the three authors write similarly enough to make the series seem consistent, and so far the stories meld together well.

Now, in previous reviews I've expressed dislike at prologues mid-series. To me a prologue is something that happens before the main story, and out of place in sequels. So when I found that this had a prologue, I expected to be annoyed by it. However, it isn't really a prologue as the story pretty much leads on directly, just as the epilogue is more of a final chapter than the "Some time Later" that I normally expect it to be.

And to be honest, that is the biggest thing I didn't like about this book. The words "prologue" and "epilogue". Which is nothing at all really. Perhaps I would have preferred a more definite conclusion to Lumiya's storyline, but I'm assuming that it was left vague on purpose. I guess I'll find out in book four.

It's rare that I read three consecutive books in a series that rate so highly. Each author has had a good start to the series, and I look forwards to reading the rest of them. Of the Extended Universe that I have read, only the Darth Bane books have surpassed these, and not by much. Even if they had been left unpublished from now on, I would highly recommend these first three of the Legacy of the Force series. ( )

(Alistair) Well, another Star Wars EU book, and one which it's been long enough since I read that I don't actually remember that much about it. I don't usually suffer from this problem when the booklog backlog builds up a bit, which I suppose is not that encouraging.

I don't think this is another case of the phone-it-in syndrome I complained of in the last book I read by this author; it was enjoyable enough to read when I was reading it, I do recall, but it doesn't seem to have left much impression.

Oh, well. Next one in this series is an Aaron Allston, who - generally speaking - gives very good book. Guess I'll find out then if it's general EU malaise or not.

( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/cerebrate/2009/03/tempest_troy_denning.html ) ( )