No Prisoners (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

This seems like a very rushed novel for one of my favorite SW authors, Karen Traviss. At 257 pages, it's a rather short work (although, depending on the word count, that could be misleading). Many characters appear to pop up out of nowhere and some characters' actions are not even explained. Ahsoka, Anakin Skywalker's padawan, seems too petrified for a character that is...more

This seems like a very rushed novel for one of my favorite SW authors, Karen Traviss. At 257 pages, it's a rather short work (although, depending on the word count, that could be misleading). Many characters appear to pop up out of nowhere and some characters' actions are not even explained. Ahsoka, Anakin Skywalker's padawan, seems too petrified for a character that is usually so proactive in both the T.V. show and in other novels. Granted, she has run into rather interesting characters, but her shell shock in a time of battle seems out of character for her. And Traviss also tackles too many issues at once. She criticizes both the Jedi's fear of attachment and the support powerful democracies (like SW's Republic) show towards despotic regimes. Though I love Traviss's constant criticisms in her SW books, she left little room to tackle both in one book. It would have been better if she had left it at just one for this novel. However, she does make up for it with the inclusion of a new character, Jedi Master Djinn Altis, and Jedi Knights Callista and Geith, familiar to fans of the area of the Expanded Universe known as the New Republic era. They are part of a "heretical" community who don't answer to the Council, can marry, have as many apprentices as they want, and can start their training at nearly any age. Yet, it is Altis who is the most compelling. Particularly in the very last chapter as the reader sees him struggle with his own philosophy of the Force and what it means to be a Jedi. This makes him more accessible than some other Jedi characters and he offers a good counterpoint to the Jedi we are used to reading in the novels and seeing in the movies. In short, this would have been a far better book if Karen Traviss hadn't rushed through so many scenes and taken time to flesh some ideas out a bit. Or even shelved some ideas for another SW book. Judging by how many she has written so far, I doubt she will be leaving the SW galaxy of authors any time soon.   hide

Read part of it, didn't like the plot.