Review - The Swarm War - by Troy Denning

Review - The Swarm War - by Troy Denning - December 27th, 2005

I walked over 3.5 miles in Houston to a Barnes and Noble to buy this book. I had gone to visit some friends in Houston, but they weren't due home for another day (I arrived early) - and so, I walked and bought this book. It was a long, long walk - it was hot (especially after being north and used to temps around freezing) -- it was almost Sadistic....

Let's review.

The Good - Luke Finally Shows Mercy - One of the best things about this book is the fact that Luke shows mercy to Raynar. Instead of taking the easy, the quick way, there is compassion. Wonderful. There's only a problem...

The Bad - The Carnage Seriously - I think more people died in this book than died in Alderaan. And where else do we hear about bodies pilled up 10 deep? Really?

The Ugly - Sadism and Sadistic Jedi - While reading this book, I think I determined upon what it is that I tend to dislike the most about Denning's books. His Wookiepedia page notes that he has done a lot of Dungeons and Dragons.

D&D is a often a dark, brutal universe, akin to the bloody medieval tales - full of hacked limbs and gore. That's not Star Wars.

There is just too much sadistic death in this book. Even for humor. Take Wuluw - the communication Killik. It always dies... and the replacement always jokes about it with Jaina. It's like what Lucas did with the various R2 units getting shot off Padme's Nubian in Phantom Menace -- but with tons and tons of living beings.

And the Jedi become sadistic. Even Han and Leia. For example, on page 125, Han just sort of shrugs off the fact that he lied to a hitbug who then kills two squibs. No impact. Yeah, Han will shoot first, but still, that's just... too sadistic. Or the torture scene... really? A torture scene? You show the droid with a big, giant needle -- you don't describe a scene from Resovior Dogs.

And here is what is so sad about this -- Luke, by the end, shows mercy and compassion. Denning treats this as though it is totally exceptional. In fact, even the other masters have no clue about this.

Except - it's the very heart of what it IS to be a Jedi. Or it was.

And while Denning moves the Jedi back towards this idea, rather than the power hungry stuff -- well... its less than satisfying. And the Sadism remains... even in other books.

So, what does this mean? The Grade - C- Even as much as I'll complain, Denning does have a tight narrative -- he's probably one of the better technical authors in Star Wars... but I just don't like his world view, his approach. It seems off. The Jedi should be paragons of wisdom and compassion -- warrior monks, not just some type of D&D class with an awesome weapon and psychic powers. And I don't know if Denning really, really gets that.