Customer Reviews
Sad letdown - By: Gareth Wilson, 16 Sep 2008 
Being blunt, after such a cracking epic tale throughout, the final part felt like a huge let down. Not only was there little plot, the tale just seemed to be a case of fillingin the blanks, tying up the loose ends & having a couple of long fights between charactersin order to fill the 299 pages. No real thought seems to have gone into the tale as if it was writtenin a rush just to meet the deadline without considering the loyalty shown by the fans as if just by sticking the Star Wars title upon the pages would be good enough to satisfy everyone. If you have to read it, borrow it from the hardened fan who bought it anyway or borrow it from the library.
Good conclusion but a lot of foreshadowing for the future - By: Dave Wilson, 09 Aug 2008 
This was a a nice surprise of a book & a storyline. Having just started reading Star Wars novels again on the advice of a friend I have only recently heard of this set of books & have been lucky enough to read them almost one after the other. I had grown very weary of the New Jedi Order books by its conclusion & I felt this storyline got it right, not that it was perfect. It was the right length & the story was well thought out. My only complaint would be that the switching of authors between every book did lead to some characters appearing & then not being seen until the cycle of authors revolved, which did annoy me a little. This book was shorter than I was expecting after the previous one but it got right to the point & although it could have expanded more on certain aspects I was happy that what was covered was the crucial parts of the story.
The prose is easy to follow & the characters dialogue felt appropriately Star Warsy. It was heart breaking how Jacen Solo has met his end but like the best Star Wars tales it has a moral message now whether you believein it is another question. However I felt it was a worthwhile storyline that took broad aspects of both movie trilogies & put a distinct spin on them that showed a fall to the dark side that was different & highlighted what I believed was wrongin Jacens new view of the force that came out of the New Jedi Order series. In addition I just felt it was a good yarn some nice action set pieces & some classic Star Wars banter that put a smile on my face. There was only one thing I wished had been cleared up & that was what happened to Zekk, I can not wait to get some resolution for that.
Five stars even with the numerous plot lines left begging to be resolved.
Tragically anemic finale - By: ShriDurga, 08 Aug 2008 
What strikes you most about this final volume of the Legacy of the Force is how little there is to it. Weighingin at a slight 299 pages, Invincible consists largely of two long duels between Jaina & Jacen, interspersed with a pair of subplots involving Ben. The epilogue attempts to tie things up with a couple of quick stitches, a hastily tacked-on conclusion that leaves the nine-volume saga incomplete.
One is left with the impression that the manuscript was completedin a rush. It reads like an extended outline - all plot, no character, no theme. The major event of the book, & perhaps the series, is the death of a Sith. How does it feel when one of these Dark Lords leaves the force? How does it feel to a family member? How does it feel to the Sith himself? What happens to Jacenin the force? Was he redeemed by his last minute thought for his daughter? Does he become a ghost, like his grandfather? What's the reaction on Coruscant? On Corellia? On Korriban? Among the Jedi? How does Luke feel? How about Tenel Ka? Allana? Ben? Tahiri? We can only imagine. Denning doesn't tell us.
Nor does he suggest what it all means. We never knew what Jacen wanted, beyond bringing order to the galaxy. But as the disorder was instigated & exacerbated by the Sith, he dies playing a fool's game. How is one to regard this galactic tragedy? What do the other characters learn from this? How has the Star Wars universe changed?
The political end is given about as much thought as the beginning & concludesin just a couple of pages with a New Galactic Alliance. Once Jacen is gone, all appears to be forgiven & forgotten. One of the central characters of the series, Admiral Niathal, is completely missing from the story. The reigns of state are passed to a character who shows up at the last moment & whose appointment appears to be a set-up for the next series of Galactic Tyrant vs Jedi novels.
Where there was so much that could have been developed, we get instead material that should have been left on the editor's desk, such Jaina & Leia chasing a paddy wagon across Coruscant to rescue Ben. The sequence is made possible by the thinnest of contrivances, the Jedi mind trick, & concludes with no rescue & no discernible effect on the plot.
Equally inconsequential is the introduction of a new force power, one potent enough to stop Jacen with a figurative blink of any eye. Shatterpoint (from the novel of the same name) is an ability once attributed only to Mace Windu, to be able to exploit stress pointsin any given substance or phenomena. Jacen uses it to crack beskar, a metal impervious to even lightsabers. Jaina learns the power from Lukein a matter of days. But it's never used. If Luke, Jaina & Jacen all have this ability, why bother with space battles & lightsabers? Just burst your opponent's heart, or crack open their spaceship, & the game is over.
I usually enjoy Denning's writing, but he's absolutely flat here. The jokes at the beginning of each chapter was a silly idea. Not only because the jokes are bad, but because they make an obvious & trite point - everyone is innocent at some pointin their life - & because they served as an excuse for Denning to not have to make an honest attempt at writing a tragic ending. Invincible has no sense of gravitas, no weight, no heft, no feeling that something worth nine novels has happened. It feels light, hurried, rushed, abrupt & empty.
If you would care for a Star Wars series that rewards reading, try these:
Republic Commando
Hard Contact
Triple Zero
True Colors
Order 66
Legacy
Broken (Vol. 1)
Shards (Vol. 2)
Knights of the Old Republic
Commencement (Vol. 1)
Flashpoint (Vol. 2)
Days of Fear, Nights of Anger (Vol. 3)
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I thought it was really pretty cool - By: Jampump, 04 Jul 2008 I have been following this series since the first book came out but I have only just gotten around to getting Invincible. I have liked the series but I think I preferred the larger scale epic story of the New Jedi Order series. Legacy of the Force has a much different story to tell but one which I wish had more of a happy ending. It is also really nice to see the people who make the books & the legacy comics working together so the stories begin to link up.
I really liked this final book although it is pretty short for a hardcover. The use of the Mandolorians by someone other than Karen Traviss was cool to see. It was also good to see the plot being resolved by one of the younger generation with the classic heroes Luke, Leia & Han involvedin more of a supporting role. Overall I really like the book & I think the new GA Chief of State is meant to be controversial & to make for interesting storiesin the future.
Awful in every way - By: T. H. Krul, 02 Jul 2008 Spoilers!!!!
The book starts during a battle, which none of the other books really led up to. The evens leading up to this battle are not explained (or at least notin any logical way). This suddenly changing locations/events continues throughout the book & makes you wonder if little Troy Denning even understands the concept of "timeline".
It is the contents however that make this a truely terrible book, on it's own the book wouldn't even get 3/5 stars, but this book is the lastin a series of 9 books, falling into a universe consisting out of over 100 books. Here is a list of really stupid events;
- The imperial remnant suddenly starts invading other sectors on it's own, like Pellaeons successor could/would ever do so after the events of book 8.
- Mandalorian warriors suddenly become suicidial maniacs at several momentsin the books. Boba Fett is among those, & after just having some connection made with his granddaughter, he sends her against the sith lord of whom he says up front he couldn't defeat..............
- Luke Skywalker acts like an idiot & a sissy, afraid of falling to the dark side if he kills a sith lord, & the "wise" jedi masters agree with him.
- Jacen suddenly hallucinating without explanation.
- Tahiri acting pretty random, with only half-explanations.
- The supreme epic battle of the series & the universe between the 2 Solo twins...........resultingin a very short battlein which almost no force powers are used or anything. In 1 minute most writers could create a better battle.
- Another weird, stupid, retarded thing is...............making Daala, who hates anything to do with democracy, the new leader of the alliance. Come on, that's just an insult to every fan of star wars.
There were about a few dozen more such loopholes, stupidities etc throughout the book, which is the only amazing thing the author accomplished.................creating such a terrible book with so few pages. Never letting Troy Denning writing anything would be a great service to humanityin general.
