AMEN.
These books jump the Star Wars Extended Universe so far over the shark, it's irrecoverable. The only way out is for Lucasfilm to wake up from the Del Rey depths of stupidity and reboot the post-ROTJ franchise with a completely different set of writers and editors (or just hand the whole thing over to Timothy Zahn, as they should have done with the Extended Universe in the first place, and then stay out of his way.)
Thank you. Although I quibble with your last comment slightly; Allston and Stover should be allowed a hand as well, with Lucreno and Denning on a tight leash as writers.
Considering that Denning was solely responsible for the Star Craft rip-off Dark Nest books (and the game has deeper and more realistic characterization plus a better plot) and oversaw the Legacy and the Fate books: he should not be allowed with fifty years of ever writing for the Star Wars Expanded Universe again. He makes Kevin J. Anderson look like a master plotter with a superb grasp of the Star Wars universe by comparison, and that's really tough to do.
Luceno oversaw the NJO series, which as far as I'm concerned revved up the Del Rey motorcycle on its way to jump the shark tank - he, too, should be kept far away from this franchise.
Allston gets a pass, but only to write X-Wing books.
I'll give you Stover.
I presume this is reviewing the Legacy of the Force series?
You cannot negotiate with fire.
Seems to be. I corrected it back to Legacy of the Force; it really can't be anything else.
This series killed the Star Wars EU for me, Revelation holding a special place of contempt and disgust in my heart. I plan on taking my copy to Traviss, someday, and setting it on fire while she watches. Only ONE other media has ever provoked a similar reaction: The Last Airbender by M. Night Shyamalan. In that case, I plan to someday get a copy of that piece-of-shit film, bring to someplace where Shyamalan's signing autographs, and then setting that on the table and smashing it to pieces for the massive disrespect he did to the Avatar series.
But yeah, Traviss ruined Star Wars for me, to the point where I haven't picked up an EU book since.
This series is basically the entire reason I've insisted that Timothy Zahn should be the ONLY one to write Star Wars EU books, as he KNOWS how the universe works and KNOWS how to write a great Star Wars story.
What about Stackpole? His stuff's good.
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A Kriffing Insult To Star Wars Fans
This series is a big, fat insult to fans of Star Wars, and the franchise in general. You can't even use the excuse that it was trying to be 'ambitious', like the New Jedi Order (which, for the record, was better then this crap); it was just a crappier retread of Episode I-III.
Why You'll Be Insulted:
1. The authors. There is absolutely no authorial cohesion between any of them, judging by the varying characterization of the characters and the pet-plots each one has in their own books; Traviss is easily the worst, but Denning and even Allston indulge in it. And why anyone thought Traviss should write about the Jedi is beyond me.
2. The story. As mentioned above, the story is a badly written re-tread of the prequel trilogy that relies on extensive character derailment to work. Honestly, are the authors really so unoriginal as to recycle the movie plot so clumsily?
3. The character derailment. Dear Waru the derailment. Jacen becoming a Sith? No one even trying to honestly redeem him? Tahiri becoming a pedophile? Jaina needing training with Mandalorians? Luke condoning kidnapping government officials for a Jedi mission? Mara Jade becoming a complete and utter moron? All that and more are needed to move the plot forward.
4. Continuity damage. The Star Wars continuity was horribly burned and maimed to a terrible extent with inane plots, horrible unneeded deaths, and general stupidity; no other series in canon has done such damage, and no other series will. I hope.
There is very little in the books that redeem them; each one of them represents the worst of the authors and Star Wars. Hell, even Jedi Prince is better then this; it didn't fuck the EU up this badly.