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(More customer reviews)fotj:allies is a story with a great deal of potential that is unfortunately undone with very sloppy execution. other reviewers have had some impolite things to say about the author, but i'm not going to go that far, as i'm sure the editorial process is just as much as fault. i venture into spoiler territory a bit, so consider yourself warned.
even if you're not a hardcore fan, the book can be difficult to read at times. there are jumps from one character's perspective to another's that are rather jarring, and characters behave inconsistently, sometimes from one page to the next. too many chapters begin with recaps of what happened a few pages before, as if you hadn't just read it for yourself, or needed help understanding. and then some events seem to happen completely out of sequence- for example, at one point the skywalkers are waiting for a rendez-vous with lando. luke decides to speed up the timetable (because "things have changed," he explains, though at no point is the book clear on what's supposed to have changed), and arranges for lando to meet him on the way. 14 pages later, lando arrives at the site of the initially-planned meeting, and is absolutely shocked that luke is no longer there. what? later on, vestara is asking dyon questions about ship that dyon clearly comprehends, even though it isn't until a few paragraphs later that she explains to him what ship is.
if you are a hardcore fan, it gets even worse. there's far too much character deconstruction in this book. where ben is steady and mature beyond his years coming into this story, here he's a hapless hormonal sap. where vestara had been ambitious, cunning, and ruthless (ship's favorite among the entire tribe), here she's an ineffective, shallow, hormonal sap. where jaina had been tempered through the tragedy of having to kill her brother, here she announces herself almost proudly on multiple occasions as 'sword of the jedi', as if violence is something she suddenly thinks should be embraced. and the one big question that is never answered ties into the most significant deconstruction of all, that of the sith. why exactly is there any kind of alliance at all? that simple question is never answered. it's almost like the jedi and sith are reduced here to political parties simply as a plot device to get ben and vestara into the same room. why would the sith want to confront or destroy a powerful dark-side user in the first place? the book never explains. why would the sith think they need the skywalkers - or anyone else in the galaxy - to help them do it? the book never explains. why would a tribe of thousands, bred for thousands of years to be certain of their superiority, ever think that they would need the help of two good guys to take on a fellow bad guy, for whatever unexplained reason it is that they're choosing to take on a fellow bad guy? sorry, don't know.
i spoke of potential, and the book starts with a great deal. since they were introduced, it was clear that these sith were different than others that had been written. their origins predated both the bane-era self-destructive infighting and the post-bane highlander mentality with one always succeeding the one before. their introduction earlier in the series made explicit their inherent ruthless and merciless capacity. the eventual confrontation between the skywalkers and these sith could have been something really spectacular. instead, the lost tribe here is just another posturing and largely toothless foe. even more potential is lost with the constant return to politics, by far the most boring element of the star wars universe. think back to episode 4, when the extent of the politics is tarkin announcing to the room that the emperor has disbanded the senate. now think back to episode 1, with all that exciting footage of the senate in session. there's far too much episode 1 in this book, and the entire series for that matter.
there were a few years where star wars books had grown predictable. the bad guy or the superweapon du jour, followed by the happy ending. they've become predictable again on a larger scale, with entire sequences of books devoted to dark side macguffins and the republic being transformed from within.
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