Union is pretty much the Epilogue of the Bantam era of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, as Del Rey was soon to take over with their Darker and Edgier approach in New Jedi Order.
The story is sweet and enjoyable, if not without problems. Some of the dialogue is stilted, and at times can be just plain hard to follow since the speech bubbles are often poorly placed. Often it seems as if Stackpole simply didn't have room for the text and he had to cut bits and pieces to make it fit, even though important details were left out. Other times it's simply unclear WHO is speaking.
The overall artwork is quite solid. Characters from the films are all immediately recognizable; perhaps TOO much so, considering this book is meant to be set around 15 years after Return of the Jedi, and much of the cast hasn't appeared to age. However for many of the EU characters at times it's hard to tell who is who, especially since we rarely get any sort of introduction to clearly establish their identities.
Also, I always dock points when Mara is drawn with the wrong lightsaber (she SHOULD be using the Anakin lightsaber in her fight with Chik, but it seems her purple one from By The Emperor's Hand has surfaced once again).
The plot by the Imperials is pretty shallow, to say the least, and really doesn't do much to ramp up the drama. Even if you consider the whole ploy to steal Mara's dress was merely a diversion for Takkar's virus from the start, it's pretty tame. But I suppose that was deliberate. It's supposed to be a happy story, after all.
All in all Union is a nice follow-up to the Hand of Thrawn, and closes out the Bantam Era of the EU on a satisfactory note.
Nice Coda for the Bantam Era
Union is pretty much the Epilogue of the Bantam era of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, as Del Rey was soon to take over with their Darker and Edgier approach in New Jedi Order.
The story is sweet and enjoyable, if not without problems. Some of the dialogue is stilted, and at times can be just plain hard to follow since the speech bubbles are often poorly placed. Often it seems as if Stackpole simply didn't have room for the text and he had to cut bits and pieces to make it fit, even though important details were left out. Other times it's simply unclear WHO is speaking.
The overall artwork is quite solid. Characters from the films are all immediately recognizable; perhaps TOO much so, considering this book is meant to be set around 15 years after Return of the Jedi, and much of the cast hasn't appeared to age. However for many of the EU characters at times it's hard to tell who is who, especially since we rarely get any sort of introduction to clearly establish their identities.
Also, I always dock points when Mara is drawn with the wrong lightsaber (she SHOULD be using the Anakin lightsaber in her fight with Chik, but it seems her purple one from By The Emperor's Hand has surfaced once again).
The plot by the Imperials is pretty shallow, to say the least, and really doesn't do much to ramp up the drama. Even if you consider the whole ploy to steal Mara's dress was merely a diversion for Takkar's virus from the start, it's pretty tame. But I suppose that was deliberate. It's supposed to be a happy story, after all.
All in all Union is a nice follow-up to the Hand of Thrawn, and closes out the Bantam Era of the EU on a satisfactory note.