Valiens Nantaris
Head Admin
So, I have just finished listening to Fatal Alliance.
It was…adequate. It had some things I liked, some I didn’t, and some things which just plain annoyed me.
The Good:
The Bad:
Overall, there were some good parts, but there were also a lot of bad. I rate it 5/10.
It was…adequate. It had some things I liked, some I didn’t, and some things which just plain annoyed me.
The Good:
- Having 8 characters, one for each TOR class, was a smart idea. It tied in well with the game, and was quite fun.
- Sean Williams likes his military stuff, that much is obvious. More than most others he gives some detailed insights into how all the ‘background noise’ (as we call it in most invasions) works. There are some very odd things (like Colonels commanding fleets), but overall it’s solid.
- Some of the characters were nicely done. Basically I like the stories of Larin (trooper), Ula (agent), Jet (smuggler) and Satele Shan (consular). The others were rather more sketchy or weren’t really fleshed out much.
- There were some nice touches, like having one of the mook soldier escorts surviving and being promoted, almost a Wedge Antillies substitute.
- The cover is nice looking.
The Bad:
- Sean Williams wrote the Force Unleashed books. Whether by direction from above or choice he has a record when it comes to the Force of making its users true demi-gods. Compare with ‘Revan’, the previous novel. There Revan and Exile, two of the most overpowered Mary Sues of the Star Wars universe, and Darth Scourge, a Sith Lord, have trouble dealing with well-armed mercenaries and soldiers. Indeed, Exile has trouble taking out four soldiers, needing T3’s help. Compare to this story where Padawans and Apprentices take on dozens of mercenaries, the Hexes, each other. That’s two camps on how to write the Force, and it was not to this story’s credit that it decided to make Force users practically invulnerable except to special circumstances.
- The plot is slow and sluggish. Things happen, but there are large sections of lag. I could excuse this if it was interesting or important, but the long, drawn out sequences on Hutta really do nothing other than wave it at people for when they play TOR. On the whole, I found the plot to be rather confusing. The revelations were not that impressive, and the secrecy was more annoying than useful.
- The story is told from the perspective of 3 of the characters. This works fine when they’re apart, but when they’re together the story has to backtrack and retell the same things, but without putting much spin on them. Sometimes, the narrative skims over important things, then has the character think about it later. It’s disjointed and annoying.
- The whole point of the story is to present a threat Empire and Republic has to unite against, and to be honest, the Hexes don’t really deliver. They’re a generic threat which suffer from the trope of getting less and less effective. On Hutta 4 of them are a deadly thread, later they are being dispatched by the dozen. Though I say this rarely, I think the Vong were a stronger unknown threat.
- The resolution was predictable and annoying as well. Deus Ex Machina resolutions are the staple of this genre, and the blithe dismissal of the whole story at the end was a little irritating.
Overall, there were some good parts, but there were also a lot of bad. I rate it 5/10.
