The Next Star Wars Epic Begins with Legacy of the Force: Aaron Allston’s Novel Betrayal

It’s a little difficult to review a novel like Betrayal and not include spoilers. Written by Aaron Allston, Betrayal begins the new nine-book Star Wars series Legacy of the Force, and as such there are bound to be some twists and turns (some major). Believe me, you want to be spoiled as little as possible before going into this novel, as there are some twists that won’t have the same impact if you already know the outcome.

I will say this, however: Betrayal is a great start to the series.

Picking up about five years after the Dark Nest trilogy, Betrayal opens with a now-veteran Jedi Knight Jacen Solo on a mission with nephew and apprentice Ben Skywalker to uncover unauthorized weapons being built by the Corellians. Their discoveries provide a catalyst for events that follow: a show of force by the Galactic Alliance to maintain Corellia within the GFFA; Luke having visions of darkness embodied in a “man who does not exist”; Han growing angrier at the Galactic Alliance’s position against Corellia; and Jacen’s start down a dangerous path.

Betrayal is the best kind of Star Wars novel. The novel hits the ground running and barely lets up, but includes enough character-oriented moments so that it feels balanced. There are some unique moments of a humorous/surreal nature, such as Jacen and company having to deal with the various bizarre people asking for Jedi assistance.

These scenes reminded me of the sort of humor Peter David uses in his Star Trek: New Frontier novel series, but the difference here is that the whole novel isn’t suffused with it. That works tremendously well here, since Betrayal is a book whose serious themes would not be served well by such humor, but is magnificently augmented by having it in small doses. Some of the moments are laugh-out loud funny (Thrackan Sal-Solo’s voice-activated illusion, after Jacen has already encountered it once), and others are funny in a twisted, surreal way (Jacen, after trying to talk a despondent and irrational man down after an hour, finally just tells him to jump).

The flip side of this is the drama at the core at the novel, which sets the stage for the rest of the series. Some may scoff at the idea of a brewing civil war (didn’t we see that already in the Prequel Trilogy?), the hints of the return of the Sith (been there, done that), and yet another galaxy-wide threat that could bring ruin to everything (didn’t that play out during the original New Jedi Order series?). But if one reads Betrayal, those questions become irrelevant.

Sure, some of the ideas are not anything terribly new, but Betrayal puts a fresh spin on them, and by the end one is left wanting more- a lot more. The novel works wonderfully in seeing the Solo and Skywalker families beginning to be drawn to opposite sides of the conflict, with some of them playing dangerous positions as they attempt to keep their feet straddled on both sides. The outcome looks to be heartbreaking, and the seeds planted in Betrayal should make for some very interesting events over the next few novels.

Regarding the characters, Ben and Jacen are the focus, and the thirteen-year old son of Luke and Mara is presented as interesting young character, something that is very tricky to pull off. Ben has a maturity about him that is both startling and a little sad, when you consider the context of his upbringing (born during the Yuuzhan Vong war and raised during its tumultuous aftermath). He shows a resourcefulness that is believable for a boy his age, and Ben is a bright spot in the novel.

Jacen’s character development is even more fascinating. It is amazing to see the growth Jacen has gone through throughout the run of Star Wars novels. Dark Nest showed some disturbing signs for Jacen’s development, and the natural evolution of his character takes place in Betrayal. What makes Jacen so fascinating is that he is someone who firmly desires to do the right thing, to follow the will of the Force. This makes him a great contrast to Anakin Skywalker, who ultimately fell from grace because of his selfishness. One of the key elements to the Legacy of the Force novels will be where Jacen goes from here, and that alone is enough to entice readers back.

The other main characters are handled well, for the most part. There are three problem areas: namely, Han, Leia, and Jaina.

Han’s turn towards anti-GFFA involvement with Corellia (and his sense of national pride) seem a bit jarring, as it appears to come out of nowhere. Leia follows Han’s lead, but considering that she is now a full-fledged Jedi Knight, her lack of resistance to Han’s plans are not only surprising, they’re a bit out of character.

Though at the end she comes to some hard decisions, it appears that it took a lot longer to arrive at them than what would be expected from Leia. And finally, Jaina is not much different than the Jaina we’ve always seen: cranky, a bit ill-tempered, and over all, not terribly interesting. Reading Jaina in this novel was like reading her way back in Dark Journey, even though chronologically that was over fourteen years ago. She’s in her early thirties; perhaps she should have developed further by now. And what happened to the concept of her being the Sword of the Jedi?

Another nitpick about the novel is that the five-year gap between Dark Nest and Betrayal is glossed over. What’s happened to the Yuuzhan Vong and Zonama Sekot? Raynar is commented upon in one line, and that was it. How was he treated after being removed from the Killiks? What was Jag Fel’s fate? Perhaps future novels will deal with these issues.

Overall, Betrayal is a must-read for Star Wars fans. It works great as a standalone novel, but sets the stage for some very interesting events down the road. The nitpicks about the novel are few, and Allston consistently entertains. This is a great start to the Legacy of the Force series. More like this, please.

Rating: 9.6/10