Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith, #1 (October, 1996)
5,000 BBY
*Okay, so our main characters are flighty siblings who map hyperspace routes after their parents die. Needing money fast, they do a quickie that results in the loss of a supply ship. This could just as easily been a passenger freighter or something . . . We're supposed to like these people?
*Editor’s Note: So, they need this money because they’re having their ship repared by Aarba the Hutt. He refuses to give them the ship back until they actually pay him.
*It is nice to see a Hutt that isn't greedy and even extends credits. He's the most likeable character in this book. How often can you say that about the Hutt?
*Why do all female characters in this universe wear evening dresses slit up to their thigh all the time?
*Editor’s Note: It strikes me, going back over this review, that the correct question is actually “Why don’t all women in this universe wear evening dresses slit up to their thigh all the time?”
*Editor’s Note: Okay, so this ship that was destroyed because of Gav & Jori’s horrible job at mapping hyperspace lanes . . . unfortunately for them, it’s a ship that belongs to Ssk Kahor, a Trandoshan crime lord. So, he sends some thugs after them to beat them up or maybe kill them. Couple of Jedi name of Odan Urr and Memit Nadill intervene and drive off the thugs.
*Okay, so at this point, the lightsaber is powered by a pack that you carry on your belt? Interesting . . .
*Editor’s Note: Or has this been retconned somehow? It strikes me that it probably has.
*Okay, Odan-Urr is probably the most likeable, if only because he seems a lot like me. For one thing, he'd rather just stay with his books.
*Editor’s Note: So after that close call with the thugs, they decide to get off planet. So, they steal their ship back from Aarba and, under hot pursuit by the bad guys, they take a wild stab and leap blindly into hyperspace with no idea where they’ll end up.
*Just once I'd like to read a story where someone takes a blind leap because they have nothing to lose and then they fail utterly, dying in the process.
*Editor’s Note: Seriously, how awesome would that be? Like the main characters like take a desperate leap and then they just die and you realize that they’re not actually the main characters. What a trip.
Kevin J. Anderson, Dario Carrasco, Jr., Mark G. Heike, Bill Black, David Jacob Beckett
* out of **** stars.
*Next time, we’ll hit the next issue of this series and introduce this era’s main villain.