With Purgatory, the fifth installment of Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith, John Jackson Miller finally gives us a slice of Star Wars heaven. I make no pretense of being a fan of this series. I'm a die hard Star Wars fan who has grown sour at the deluge of mediocre dross heaped upon unwary readers by far too many Expanded Universe authors. This series got off to a bad start and has been trying to catch up ever since. However, I am happy to say that Purgatory does a wonderful job at making amends for the lackluster books that precede this one.
One area in which this book improves on the others is the careful attention to the characters that dominate this tale. By shrinking the number of players in this offering, Miller is able to give us more insight into his characters. It isn't nearly as confusing for the reader to identify the players or their role in the story when there are only a few characters to focus upon. I found Orielle Kitai and Jelph to be intriguing characters. I enjoyed the chemistry between them and thought their budding romance to be quite convincing. Though there isn't a whole lot of time devoted to the other characters, thankfully, there is enough information presented to understand their motivations.
This book isn't without flaws, however. One thing that troubled me from the start of this series is the depiction of Sith Lords. I am not particularly fond of the humanized Sith Lords that Miller creates for his story. Despite his attempts to show them at their deadliest, his version of Sith Lords aren't nearly vindictive or menacing enough to wear the title. The Sith Lords in this series are contradictory in nature to the ones featured in the films. Lucas gives us stereotypically evil (and admittedly one-dimensional Sith Lords) in his stories. But this only makes them seem even more evil.
I also find it very difficult to say where this story is headed other than to serve as the back story for the full-length novels introduced at the end of the books. Traditional stories have a through line (story arc) where a reader can loosely predict future events. Five books into this series and I haven't a clue what is supposed to happen.
To its credit, Purgatory is an entertaining read and it's great to see the series start to capture more of the spirit of Star Wars. I can honestly say for the first time, I am looking forward to reading the next chapter.
3 3/4 Stars Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #5: Purgatory
After reading the first four, and speaking with the writer himself via Amazon comments. I must say that I was a little taken back by the time-warp between the fourth installment and Purgatory. I did not believe I would enjoy reading further until the story began to unfold. No spoilers here! But I take it as a priveledge to be the first to review such a work, and I continue to hold my breath waiting on the final three pieces to this emaculate puzzle. Well done sir. I stick to what I said in a different post, if all of the works are ever combined into a single novel, consider the first e-copy sold.
My 11 year old son took my kindle and has been enthralled with these books. He thinks they're fun to read and wants to know where book 6 is... I'm figuring out from reading these reviews that book 6 hasn't been written yet. Well...hurry up and write it because my son can't wait to read it! (But I'm thankful to have my kindle back again.)
I enjoyed all 5 of the Lost Tribe free e-books, although they were too short. It would be great to have them combined into a full novel with more of the tribe's background developed. Can't wait to find out what happens in part 6. Does anyone know when it will be released? I read my books on the iPhone, PC, and Mac OS versions of the Kindle application and would gladly pay for new Lost Tribe stories.
This was, by far, my favorite of the Lost Tribe of the Sith series. I've been reading John Jackson Miller's Star Wars books since his Knights of the Old Republic comics and early short stories and this installment really shows how he has hit his stride in the realm of prose. The characters all but jump off the page in fully-realized form and pull you immediately into their plight.
Building on the foundation laid by the first four stories, this chapter shows us a whole new world and even gives us a small link back to an element of this era previously established in the KOTOR comics. I couldn't put it down and was sorry to reach the end. My only complaint (which isn't a complaint) is that I wanted more! - Kindle - Star Wars - Sith - Star Wars Books'
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