Star Wars: Darksaber (The Callista Trilogy, #2) in The Expanded Universe

Apr 06, 2008 Keith rated it it was ok

Shelves: star-wars

Stars: 2
Re-read: Probably skip it.
Recommend to: I think casual fans may enjoy this more than hardcore ones.

Darksaber has a special place in my heart because it is the first Star Wars novel I ever read. I was in either 4th or 5th grade and the librarian at the school recommended I read this because it was the only Star Wars book they had. This ultimately moderately enjoyable but it brought low by massively flawed writing.

This is a strange book in that I think you will find it more enjoyable if yo Stars: 2
Re-read: Probably skip it.
Recommend to: I think casual fans may enjoy this more than hardcore ones.

Darksaber has a special place in my heart because it is the first Star Wars novel I ever read. I was in either 4th or 5th grade and the librarian at the school recommended I read this because it was the only Star Wars book they had. This ultimately moderately enjoyable but it brought low by massively flawed writing.

This is a strange book in that I think you will find it more enjoyable if you aren't very knowledgeable about the Star Wars EU. The inconsistencies in the characters and plot stupidity would be less noticeable if you just picked this up as a sort of random read.

My biggest problem with the book is that it is written by Kevin J. Anderson. Almost all of the problems you see in his Jedi Academy trilogy are on display here as well. His critical weakness is that he either doesn't know how or chooses not to create strong characters. He tears down and destroys almost every character he touches, turning them into idiots. (view spoiler)

I didn't think about this until after finishing the book, but I am now pretty confident I know how this book (in terms of plot) came to be. One huge problem with the plot is that there are two many characters and too many things happening. (view spoiler)

-Anderson has made virtually everyone in the Republic absolute morons. (view spoiler)
-Perhaps the dumbest line Anderson has written. (view spoiler)
- This line at the end was weird. (view spoiler)
- Anderson still doesn't understand how large ships would move. He describes Victory-class Star Destroyers as moving too fast to hit. They may be small for Star Destroyers, but they are still massive ships. It'd be like saying an aircraft carrier is too maneuverable to hit.
- (view spoiler)
- I was just laughing when (view spoiler)
-One of the things I liked about the book was how Anderson would give some flashbacks to events in the OT. These were generally interesting. One that I didn't care for though was when (view spoiler)
- There is a scene that really stuck in my memory over the decades after reading this as a kid. (view spoiler)
-(view spoiler)
- Anderson makes a common mistake in having the stakes always be comically large. So everyone has to have massive fleets out of nowhere. (view spoiler)
- Anderson keeps describing how fleets get blindsided by a laser barrage by some foe that just showed up. This just doesn't work. Ships have these things called sensors, and they have dedicated people who watch them. If a fleet of ships emerges from hyperspace next to you, this is very easy to spot. The sensor guy would immediately be reporting the appearance of an enemy fleet. Not when Anderson is writing though. Fleets just show up and are hitting you before you are even aware they are there.

First Reads: 1998/2008
After reading the Jedi trilogy by Anderson, I was worried that I may find similar problems in Darksaber when I read it again. Thankfully, this book was written much better than Anderson's previous Star Wars books. The plot of this story was very engaging all the way through. There were few chapters that I felt I had to trudge through. Unlike some of Anderson's earlier books, I was very interested in all of the characters and storylines. I would recommend Darksaber mainly to star wars fans and science fiction fans. The only problem I have is I felt that Admiral Pellaon was made into a weak character, nothing like the strong leader in the Heir to the Empire trilogy when he fought with Grand Admiral Thrawn. The weakness of his character made it unbelievable after reading about him in earlier books. ...more

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Jan 15, 2011 Noelle rated it it was ok

May Callista die.

Right now, I'm upset with Luke because I know what happens later on in the books, so him spending all his time talking about how Callista is his "one true love" is making me really sick. ...more

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