Scourge: Star Wars Legends

There are a few Star Wars Legends novels which, after reading for a while, make you understand why some of the creative powers that be thought the franchise needed a reboot. Jeff Grubb's Scourge is definitely NOT one of them.The Master and smuggler sister of a slain Jedi (along with a Bothan sidekick) make for a good trio of heroes that I wouldn't have minded seeing more of in future books if not for the fate of the Legends universe. The (revealed fairly early on) twist of the dead Jedi being addicted to an interesting, and dangerous form of new spice adds to the layers of the story and its characters nicely. Even the oft-maligned Corporate Sector Authority (or it least its main representative in the book) proves to be entertaining and a little more than meets the eye.The opening scene and the death at the end of it have some good suspense and gravitas.Some of the more interesting Hutt characters in the franchise (Parella, Mika, Popara and Vago) show up in this story, although the prominently featured Zonnos the Hutt is regrettably flat and stereotypical for his species, especially given his role as a suspect for the big bad.There is a mystery going on and it is likely that a lot of readers might guess the answer to it, but there's still some decent twists and turns.Even the main characters ship (The New Ambition) gets a little more color than usual due to the origins behind its name.This book was based on a role-playing game, but you wouldn't know it (or at least wouldn't care) from the lever writing and characterizations. I've read this book twice now, and both times I put it down with a sense of approval at how I'd chosen to spend that time.

To my knowledge, this is Grubb's only novel in the Star Wars EU and his writing style and terminology is a bit of an adjustment compared to other established Star Wars authors but I enjoyed his approach for the most part. Scourge is more of a crime/mystery tale than a galaxy-spanning adventure that we have come to expect from the EU. Additionally, it is a very singular tale. Often a Star Wars novel will follow multiple characters and jump from scene-to-scene showing you the story from multiple angles. This book maintains only two main points of view but primarily sticks with the main characters. These characters are complete strangers to the Star Wars reader. The protagonist - Jedi archivist Mander Zuma - has never made an appearance or even been referenced by other works in the EU prior to this release. This unfamiliarity was what discouraged me from reading this book initially. I had the same misgivings about other works like the Crosscurrent/Riptide series. But after enjoying those novels, I pushed ahead with Scourge.This is a tale about little-known Jedi, Mander Zuma, who's career in The Order has never really taken him into the field. He is an archivist (a.k.a. "librarian") who found himself in the role of teacher to an apprentice out of necessity. His student, upon reaching knighthood, is killed on one of his first solo missions. This leaves Zuma emotionally distraught - wondering if his shortcomings as a teacher contributed to his former student's death. He is dispatched by The Order to investigate the death and complete the fallen knight's mission - a trade negotiation with a Hutt lord. In true Star Wars fashion, however, the death of a Jedi is never an isolated incident, and dealings with the Hutts are never what they appear on the surface. Zuma is quickly embroiled in a conspiracy involving not only the murder of a Jedi knight, but also the trafficking of a potent new hard spice that has recently hit the market. Joining forces with his former student's sister (an independent spacer also searching for answers about her brother's death) and her Bothan partner, Zuma's investigation takes the reader along on a journey to a number of worlds between the Corporate Sector and Hutt Space. Arrayed against him are Hutt crime syndicates, Rodian clans bent on vengeance, and the always by-the-book Corporate Sector Authority. It is truly a fish-out-of-water story about a Jedi struggling to overcome his own perceived insufficiencies while trying to solve a mystery he was never prepared to encounter.The pacing of this novel is a bit jarring - never staying in one locale or plot development for long. My biggest complaint about the author's style is in what is left unsaid. Solutions to conflicts are often glossed over with critical details overlooked. For instance, a chase sequence will sound hopeless at one moment with little chance for survival and then suddenly they meet someone helpful and the next paragraph now finds them miles away in safety. How did they get there? How did they escape all the people chasing them? The reader is left to make their own assumptions. Character development and back-story is often overlooked as well. The reader is expected to take a character at face value and make judgements about his or her motivations and personality based solely on the actions portrayed in the story. There is very little dialog between characters to fill in the gaps. As for Mander himself, he was uninspiring in his uncertainty at the start, but suddenly manifested that famous Jedi wisdom mid-way through the book. There was no watershed moment, no plot twist that clarified his inner turmoils or personal doubts - he just was suddenly a more confident leader (another gap). In addition to this inconsistency, one notices a sudden change in Zuma's skills as a knight in the field. In the beginning he describes himself as being a less-than-capable warrior, feeling unattached to his saber and not comfortable with its use. His efforts in early fight sequences are barely sufficient to keep him alive where other more established Jedi would have handily dispatched his/her foes and walked away without a scratch. This led to an early inquisitiveness on my part - wondering how in the world this Jedi would manage to survive in a hostile galaxy to solve this mystery. I looked forward to seeing some unconventional Jedi tactics. After reading almost exclusively about the exploits of famous Jedi - particularly Skywalkers, Solos, Horns and the like - I was hoping to see what a Jedi without those skills could accomplish. However, like other details overlooked by the author, halfway through the novel Mander suddenly exhibits all those traits of a tried-and-true Jedi master - wielding his blade with mastery and becoming an unstoppable force on the battlefield. How did we get from point A to point B?If you can overlook those points, the story is good enough to keep a readier interested and the plot certainly does move - never languishing. The climax was more or less predictable but not to the point that it became an uninteresting read. Overall, I give it three stars. It's a good weekend read that takes you to the comfortable surroundings of our galaxy far far away, even if the faces are unfamiliar ones.

With Scourge Jeff Grubb delivers a briskly-paced look into some aspects of the Star Wars Expanded Universe that have not been overly delineated in prior works. The story is set in the days of Luke Skywalker's efforts to rebuild the Jedi Order and right after the peace treaty between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant. The intriguing part of using this setting is that Mr. Grubb does not spend time with the familiar main characters of the films and most other books: instead we meet a brand-new and rather atypical Jedi, Mander Zuma, who is happier delving for secrets in musty archives than he is wielding a lightsaber. Mander's apprentice has died in mysterious circumstances and Mander is reluctantly thrown into the investigation. The track leads into the shadowy Hutt underworld to an extent not previously seen in Star Wars books. There are more Hutt lead characters in Scourge than there are humans.The book starts off with a bang as we experience Mander's apprentice's final moments. Toro Irana is acting extremely strangely for a Jedi, filled with anger and lashing out at the locals on the planet of Makem Te. It's a gripping start to kick off the primary mystery of Scourge, which centers on a new substance named Tempest. The mystery is not particularly deep and it's not difficult to unravel where it's headed for the most part: the biggest question mark is around who is heading up the distribution of Tempest and what their motives were for interfering with a Jedi.As Mander's investigation proceeds, he picks up several allies, including his apprentice's sister Reen and the entertaining Bothan Eddey Be'ray. Mander is not the Jedi they expect him to be and his penchant for talking rather than throwing down with a lightsaber provides more than a few fun moments. There is a sense of freedom around Mander taking on this mission with non-Jedi allies and not once reporting back to Luke or any other Jedi Masters on his progress or to solicit advice. Occasionally the various novels mention that there are a couple hundred or so Jedi running around under Luke's leadership, so it's quite refreshing to actually spend time with one who acts autonomously.It's also welcome to explore the Hutt underworld further. Scourge introduces us to the Anjiliac clan, a relatively "clean" group of gangsters compared to their brethren (i.e. they don't sell the "hard stuff" when it comes to spice). The Hutts are each rendered with a distinctive personality, especially the pint-sized Mika, and their plotting throughout the story is appropriately murky. I've wanted to see more of these types of Hutt dynamics since the Clone Wars TV show featured a Hutt council on Nal Hutta, and their mixture of personas maps well with the varied group the cartoon introduced.With Scourge, Mr. Grubb gives us a truly standalone story set in a time of giant series (this is just prior to the New Jedi Order) and highlights brand-new characters in a side story that has a true Star Wars vibe about it. I found his writing very straightforward, down to the extremely literal chapter titles, but certainly solid enough. Beyond Mika and Mander, I don't think these characters will stick with me for very long, but they are easy to differentiate and follow while reading the book (unlike a few Star Wars books where the garbled consonant-filled names for minor characters tend to blur together). I enjoyed reading an independently-minded book set in this part of the time line and hope for more one-offs like it in the future.

As Star Wars novels go this is never going to be in the top 10. However that said I've had fun reading it. What makes the story interesting is the decision to make the hero a very average jedi master, who's riddled with doubts about his abilities. He makes a good change from the norm and is reasonably well developed and likeable. The plot, while not hugely original, is very readable. Also I imagine the way it is written, with very few references to past books, will make very easy for those new to Expanded Universe to pick up.However the book does have some bad points. Most of supporting characters, with one or two exceptions, are very thinly developed and aren't that interesting. Secondly the identity of the arch villian really isn't a mystery. Finally the plot does drag in one or two places.

great short novel all new charactors and great adventure its like detective novel with the force hope read more like this.good read for all.

A great read

As the head line says does what it says on the cover!

Enjoyable adventure novel