Category Archives: Spare Time - Page 3

Timothy Zahn: Allegiance

Timothy Zahn: Allegiance

Story:
4/5
Characters:
3/5
Humor:
2/5
Action:
4/5

Five members of the Imperial Stormtroopers go rogue after being ordered to massacre innocent civilians. They feel their oaths are to the Empire and its people but not necessarily the existing chain of command, so they start taking care of local thugs on their own. They have to be careful, though, as deserters flying around in a stolen ship full of Imperial war materiel are generally not seen in the most friendly light.

Leia Organa enlists eager Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca as well as reluctant Han Solo for a diplomatic mission aiming to solve some inner-Rebellion struggles. Although he sympathises with the Rebellions cause, Han is still not sure wether he wants to join full-time; his wish to be independent clashes with his attraction to the princess. Lucky for him, diversion appears as they track down a group of pirates responsible for attacks on Rebellion supply lines.

Young Emperor’s Hand Mara Jade is sent to investigate some Imperial official who might be corrupt or even treasonous. After she finishes her mission some loose ends in the politician’s money flow set her on the trail of a pirate gang she decides to follow.

Allegiance is a great novel. It starts with three apparently completely disconnected nested plot lines which soon start to intertwine. Characters help or interfere with each other without them even noticing. The way this is done is nothing but artful. Fans will enjoy the character background and especially the glimpse inside Stormtrooper helmets—turns out there are good guys after all. Together with Zahn’s usual qualities and characteristic Star Wars flair you get a very entertaining mid-length novel even non-fanatic fans should be able to enjoy.

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We meet younger versions of some of Zahn’s characters, for instance Mara Jade and Vilim Disra. This gives depth to his earlier published books. Especially Mara’s younger self is interesting. For all her competence she is idealistic enough to think that massacres like the one on Teardrop are ills worth prosecuting officially; she has not yet understood Palpatine. This explains how she ends up on the “good” side later but also deepens my impression that the Emperor is not using all bad people; he rather draws decent folk into his employ and twists them.

The ending promises future stories: Mara Jade and her personal Stormtrooper unit, however illicit, on black ops missions sounds like lots of fun.

Timothy Zahn: Outbound Flight

Timothy Zahn: Outbound Flight
Story:
3/5
Characters:
4/5
Humor:
3/5
Action:
4/5

In Outbound Flight, Timothy Zahn takes us back to 27 years before Yavin and to many a beginning for characters he created. At that time, Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth aggressively pushes for his pet project Outbound Flight to be funded. With a big ship and thousands of volunteers, he wants to explore and settle the Unknown Regions and eventually other galaxies. The Galactic Senate, Chancellor Palpatine and the Jedi Council are all not convinced the project’s merits but Darth Sidious covertly supports it for his own reasons. When Outbound Flight finally takes off, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker are to observe its progress.

Meanwhile, small smuggler Jori Car’das meets mastermind Thrawn, now a mere Commander in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force who struggles with Chiss aggression regulations. Once they realise they are like-minded despite all cultural differences they come to trust and teach each other; a development neither one’s boss agrees with.

It was very interesting to finally read the back-story of Outbound flight which was rediscovered in Survivor’s Quest and all the other great characters of Zahn’s. Having read The New Jedi Order I was particularly intrigued by mentions of the Far Outsiders in the context of the Empire; did Palpatine really mean good taking the lead or did he just use the notion of extragalactic invaders to bend upright people to his will? But most importantly, we finally get the origins of Thrawn; how he came to leave his people and serve the empire had been a gap left unfilled for far too long1. I greatly enjoyed his screen time; even then, he was a brilliant commander and able to manipulate everyone to his liking.

Outbound Flight ranks somewhere between brilliant and above average. I had fun reading it and enjoyed all the little puzzle pieces. It is definitely one of the better Star Wars books and to be recommended to any fan.


  1. Actually, this tale is told in Mist Encounter, a short story included in the book.

Dave Wolverton: The Courtship of Princess Leia

Dave Wolverton: The Courtship of Princess Leia

Story:
2/5
Characters:
2/5
Humor:
2/5
Action:
3/5

The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton takes up immediately after the events of Solo Command. An exhausted Han Solo returns to Coruscant, eager to meet his darling Leia again. He arrives just in time to witness how the Queen Mother of Hapes, a wealthy star cluster, offers riches the New Republic desperately needs for the war effort—under one condition: Leia has to marry the Queen’s son Isolder. Leia struggles to refuse out of her sense of duty, and Prince Isolder being charming and attractive does not help Han’s cause. Jealous and angry, Han applies smuggler-style problem solving and abducts Leia, only to strand them on Dathomir, an unfriendly planet deep in Zsinj’s territory. Luke Skywalker and Isolder team up to find the runaways and find that Dathomir’s native inhabitants might be more dangerous than Zsinj.

Courtship of Princess Leia is one of those books you do not wish were longer. The driving conflict between Han and Isolder quickly becomes embarrassing and reduces Leia to an almost archetypical damsel in distress. Furthermore, Leia and other women seem to swoon a bit too much for grown women. But then, it fits the shallowness of the setup as a whole. Diverting action made Courtship of Princess Leia an entertaining if not gripping read. It should be interesting to fans as the events influence later years in the EU, others can safely ignore it.

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The plot line around warlord Zsinj ends in this book. It happens in passing; none of the characters set out to continue the hunt. Zsinj just happens to be in the neighbourhood, gets in the way and is taken out. I think the Zsinj plotline deserved a more focused, explosive finale scaled to fit the sense of danger Zsinj is connoted with in prequels. That would have left this book to deal with the problem of Leia’s choice of husband only. Of course, there would not have been much of an ending left to Courtship of Princess Leia in that case; more proof that the plot idea is rather weak.

Brandon Sanderson: Elantris

Brandon Sanderson: Elantris
Story:
4/5
Characters:
4/5
World:
4/5
Humor:
3/5
Action:
2/5

Elantris is a standalone novel by Brandon Sanderson, in fact his first published book. It takes place in and around the ancient city Elantris which used to be a place of magic and peace, its inhabitants immortal and beautiful. Food, healing and any material good could be created with a handwave. Any Arelonian could be taken by the Shaod and become an Elantrian—a god, effectively—for eternity. But “eternity ended ten years ago”1. Since then, Elantrians have been looking like zombies and their magic has not been working. General populace panicked, killed as many of the obviously cursed as they could and established a new kingdom. But the Shaod continues to turn people of all kinds into walking dead.

Raoden2, the crown prince of Arelon, awakens one morning to find himself an Elantrian. He is immediately thrown into Elantris as custom dictates; to cover up the shame he is declared dead, killed by a hideous disease. He discovers that his transformed body can not die; the downside is that wounds do not heal either and hurt forever. Also, not needing food is not the same as not feeling hungry; in a place without food, most are plagued by a constant hunger. Therefore, most Elantrians have descended to a primal state, preying on the weak to ease their pains for even a moment. Raoden refuses to give up his humanity and tries to help his peers to overcome constant hunger and increasing pain.

Raodens bride-to-be Sarene arrives in Kae, capital of Arelon, just in time to find her spouse diseased. Contract forces her to be King Iadon’s daughter nonetheless for political reasons. Smart and emancipated—but also naive—Sarene observes that Arelon crumbles on the inside and is threatened by the fanatic emperor of Fjorden from the outside and decides to make it her job to safe the kingdom. She ends up plotting revolution with Raodens old comrades who all believe him dead. Read more »


  1. This is the prologue’s last sentence. I think it is a great one; it made utterly sure I would read on.
  2. Have a look at the pronunciation guide.

John Scalzi: Old Man’s War

John Scalzi: Old Man's War
Story:
2/5
Characters:
3/5
World:
4/5
Humor:
4/5
Action:
5/5

Some centuries into the future, humanity has colonised several worlds using the skip drive for FTL travel. Earth, however, has become a backwater because of overly hesitant and cautious politicians; the level of technology appears barely above ours today. There is next to no contact with colonies; whoever leaves does never come back. Only people from overpopulated countries have the opportunity to become colonists. Citizens of richer countries get only one shot at leaving earth for good: becoming a soldier. When U.S. citizens turn 65, they can sign up to join the Colonial Defense Force at the age of 75. Convinced that the CDF has to make them young again in some way, many sign up—including John Perry, the narrator of this story.

We join John for the ride that starts at his 75th birthday; he leaves earth, is rejuvenated (I won’t spoil the details) and joins the battle for humanity’s survival in a less than friendly galactical neighbourhood. With a death rate of more than 75% over a duty cycle of ten years, chances are he will never get to enjoy another life again; so he’d better enjoy this one!

Old Man’s War is fun. Imagine your grandfather on steroids, an iPhone in his brain and a machine gun at the ready; a fantastic premise! It is a delight to read how John and the other gaffers deal with new lives, new technology and war. On the other hand, we get serious, quite brutal battle scenes. Think Space Cowboys cross-bred with Starship Troopers to get an idea. John’s cynical way to think about the wonders and horrors of his job marks the main conflict in the book.

Sadly, there is not much of a story in terms of chains of events through much of Old Man’s War. There are hints at larger questions, though; for example, what are the motives for the Colonies’ aggression? Maybe the big picture is explored more thoroughly in the sequels. All in all, the book was fun to read, thanks to exciting technology and tart humor among the old guys. Sequels, here I come!