Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance

First off, I am not the single source for all things Star Wars and other books written in the Star Wars Universe. So, for the life long fans who have read many different works of Star Wars fiction you may see "SWTOR: Fatal Alliance" in a very different light than myself. I read this due to just being a fan and looking forward to the upcoming game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Having played both Nights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 I also wanted to see the continued flow of the story line from those two previous games and learn some about the timeline that is set 3,000 or so years before the Star Wars movies 1 through 6.PROS:-My best reason for buying the Audio CD or book is the same reason they published the book in the first place. It will help you to become familiar with the events taking place prior to the game and hopefully add to the game experience itself. You could easily get away without this but it's a fun story to help you wait for the games release.-The reader does a nice job. Not too fast or slow and with a delivery that allows the listener to paint a quality picture of the what's being said.-Great for idle time. I put mine onto my iPhone and it was easier than dealing with the CD's, 11 in total, but I still get a hard copy for the collection.-The sounds and "production" that go along with the reading do add a nice element to the story and help build the mood and feeling.Neutral:-I disagree, with some of the reviews, that this is too "Slow paced" or that we have too little detail into each main character's history and thinking process -character development. I think these readers are a little off in wanting deep character development or constant action in order to be entertained. The purpose was to introduce us to the timeline and start to familiarize us with characters that may be in the game or refered to. It did that just fine for me.Cons: Only one.-Although I felt the reader did a good job and the sounds and effects were cool I did not like the voices for all the characters, with the female lead voices as my main gripe. I may be a rookie when it comes to audio books but I was surprised to hear what sounded like the reader just changing his voice into a poor imitation of a female. I really thought they could have found true female voices for each of the main female characters. I also think this would have helped the flow of the story as some of the voices sound similar to each other and can confuse the listener.For anyone that found my review halpful or interesting you may want to check out the videos on youtube about Star Wars the Old Republic and the "timeline" vids that give a view of events that took place from the prespective of a Jedi investigator. I think they have an entire channel now. I have also found the offical page very informative. swtor.com -It has a listing of the books coming out before the game. Three in total, 1st is Fatal Alliance, 2nd is Deceived, and 3rd -who just made public but not yet in print- is going to be called Revan. The last book will basically help link "Revan" who was a main character from Nights of the Old Republic to the storyline of The Old Republic, which is around 300 years down the line from when we first are introduced to him.

Most of the reviews you will find on this book are pretty bad. The main complaint I have seen is that there is little or not enough character development, which is a load crap. There is PLENTY character development, the people complaining about the character development most likely are expecting a 6-7 pages of what motivates the character, what set of morals they have(if any), what are they think at every exact moment, what their favorite flower is, what their favorite color is, what they had for breakfast, what they plan to have for lunch, and what they had for dinner... That just is not good story telling and is YA character development, it's a very easy way to bore readers with page upon page of trying to jam an entire character's mind and being into a bunch of pages that simply just have words on it and don't progress the story in any way.The book goes into the different perspectives of each character which made things very interesting and gave you views from different angles of the story. You learn more about each character as the book the story develops and they are faced with challenges, opportunities, and certain situations. It brings out the true nature of each character and shows you how strong their resolve is in the face of adversity. The ending of the book was alright, but sets the book up for sequels or possible stories that branch off since there are so many characters involved in this book. Overall I thought it was a great read and I very much enjoyed it despite the doubt I had for the book created by a couple(not all) nit-picking reviews. If you are an avid fan of Star Wars and love Star Wars I definitely recommend this book for you.

3,500 years before Luke Skywalker faced off against Darth Vader, the forces of good and evil faced off against one another in a battle for survival. A starship known as the Cinzia was intercepted by a smuggler named Jet Nebula. Nebula was intent on capturing the cargo contained in the Cinzia, but the ship self-destructed. The ship was carrying a valuable artifact, and it is now in the hands of the Hutts. They intend to auction it off to the highest bidder; either from the Republic or Empire.Representatives from both the Republic and Empire have come to bid for the artifact. Also along are Shigar Konshi, a Jedi padawan sent by his master, Satele Shan; Eldon Ax, a young Sith girl sent by her master, Darth Chratis; and Dao Stryver, a Mandalorian warrior with a vested interest. However, once in the presence of the artifact, all try to steal it. The artifact manifests itself into terrifying "hex" droids and attacks the would-be bidders. Surviving the attacks of the hexes, the Jedi, Sith, and others set course for the artifact's planet of origin: Sebaddon.Once there, the would-be thieves discover a power so strong that it could destroy the entire galaxy. Finally realizing the enormity of their situations, the Jedi, Sith, Republic, and Empire form an uneasy and "fatal" alliance to defeat the hexes. Will this fragile alliance last, or will it be shattered? Will the hexes be defeated before they can take over the galaxy?I've been a big fan of Star Wars novels for several years and I enjoyed reading this book. It's a little slow at the beginning, but the pace picks up as the story goes along. I thought the character development was good, and the story is well-written. Although I'm not familiar with the companion video game, I did enjoy this story very much, and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

I'm torn with this book. I enjoy the story and the extra depth it adds to the old Republic lore from the games. However, reading it is incredibly frustrating as it is badly written. For example, here is the sentence that tipped me over the edge:"Almost she gave up there"This is the sort of sentence I would expect from Google translate were it translating the story from a language other than English. Anyone writing a book for publication should really have a basic understanding of how to structure sentences, and this sentence suggest the author of this book does not. It could be that the publisher is simply second rate and doesn't bother to proof read and correct mistakes and not entirely the authors fault of course.Either way, it is a shame as something this small and easy to fix spoils a good story for me

THE STORY:Set before 'The Old Republic' computer game, during the uneasy peace between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, this book tells the story of the discovery of a deadly new droid technology. At first agents of the Sith, the Republic and the Jedi all vie for possession of the technology but soon they realise that they must form an unprecedented alliance in order to end the threat it poses to the entire galaxy.WHAT'S GOOD:I was pleasantly surprised by this book, having feared that it would be little more than an advert for 'The Old Republic' MMO and having particularly bad memories of Star Wars' other MMO tie-in novel (the dreadful 'Galaxies: Ruins Of Dantooine'). Instead we're given an insight into the state of the galaxy through the actions of a group of indivduals who find themselves adrift in it; a Jedi Padawan struggling to become a Knight, a disenfranchised former Special Ops trooper, a Sith apprentice out to prove herself and an Imperial spy with increasingly conflicted loyalties. Thrown into the mix are two very different underworld characters, the ruthless Mandalorian bounty hunter Dao Stryver and the mysterious smuggler captain Jet Nebula (yes, the name is ridiculous but that is directly addressed in the book). My favourite part of the book was the eponymous fatal alliance on Sebaddon. In particular it was great to see the Jedi Padawan being forced to work alongside and learn to appreciate the power of Sith Lord Darth Chratis, whilst the Sith apprentice finds herself suitably impressed by fighting alongside Satele Shan, Grand Master of the Jedi Order. In the end, despite my initial cynicism, this book succeeded in not only telling an enjoyable story but also leaving me hungry for the world of 'The Old Republic' game.WHAT'S BAD:The plot of this book is more than a little contrived, with vast leaps of logic which leave gaping plot holes in their wake. In fact, the plot is treated like nothing more than an unfortunate necessity in order to bring about the alliance and set-piece battle at Sebaddon. Also, although it did work on me, the fact that this book is essentially marketing material for the TOR computer game is all-too apparent. In fact, the eight main characters presented in the Dramatis Personae directly represent the eight classes of character available to play as in the game. Worse than this, is the cringe-worthy summing-up between Stryver and Nebula in the epilogue which pretty much reads as a 'We need YOU to be a HERO' game advert.

A surprisingly pleasing read overall. Having dipped into popular fiction a few times with Star Trek and X-Files books I was sceptical given my mixed experiences. However Sean Williams doesnt disappoint. Predominently the characters are interesting despite the predictability of the narrative. The book seemed well balanced between action reflection and the Jedi fortune cookie pithy zen statements abound.This book doesnt "break new ground" infact it doesnt add any fairly unique ideas to the mix. The story line is very predictable with droid villans "hexes" that evidently are well suited to the video game genere but less interesting; done to death in my own opinion (think Borg meet Stargates Replicators and your not far off). That said I dont think that this was what this book was written for and as a casual read it works fine.I presume this is based on the Old Republic video game and not the Knights of the Old Republic video games I have enjoyed. I would have given the game a go but apparently its windows only so I cant. Consequently I cant comment on similarity and can only review on the basis of what I read. I think the book is worth a read but nothing spectacular. If you want deep meaningful science fiction pick up Herberts Dune Sequence. Otherwise if you want mystery and adventure of great depth try Arthur C Clarke's Rama. But if you want a casual and enjoyable read brimming with cliche and nostalgia? this book will do just fine.

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect going into this book, beyond the setting, but was pleasantly surprised. It's a fun, engrossing novel.

Its a nice book to read while waiting for SWTOR.It isn't the best star wars book out there, but I've read worse, and at least it talks about people/places we may see in the game (some of them we will for sure).I didn't quite like the robot/android stuff because for some reason it didn't quite feel star wars.... I did like a lot of classes we will play were portraid by the book characters.We had the trooper, Jedi, Sith, Smuggler, Imperial Agent... Even a droid companion.All of them are in the book, and it was a nice way to see different takes on the same situation from all this characters.In the end I give this book a 3 out of 5 and recommend it to anyone crazy for star wars and waiting for SWTOR.For anyone not into the game, the book isn't going to be as appealing, and if that is the case you might want to pass this up.