It's not that bad. They didn't really need to "find" him to place the tracker--he makes public appearances, and they had an insider who knew how he made them, and they keep a watch on Jacen's Star Destroyer. The device they placed is a short-range one--a targeting tracker. Essentially, it neutralized the fact that Jacen could use the Force to target them, but they couldn't do it to him. They later use it to target him while he's in a stealth fighter.Lord Poe wrote:So, they were able to find him WITHOUT the tracker, to place a tracker on a piece of clothing he might take off, so they'd be able to find him? So what are they going to do later with the aid of the tracker that they couldn't do when they PLACED the tracker?JME2 wrote:However, it transpires that the assassination was a feint; the purpose was to get close enough to Jacen to plan a tracker on his cloak (to counter-act his ability to mask his Force presence and track his movements).
Jesus.....
Why didn't they attack him outright then? Well, he does have a lot of security when he makes the appearance, and they are not suicidal.
Now, as for the novel...
Allston was always a good author. Not in the league of Zahn, Luceno, and more recently, Reaves and Perry, but his stuff is certainly above average for the EU. And his stuff is better than that of the other two LOTF authors, which is especially good for this series--Denning just takes himself too seriously, and KT... let's not go there.
I liked that it mostly used established characters, and did it well, rather than introducing one-novel wonders. The appearances of Kyle Katarn and Tycho Celchu especially pleased me, as well as the background mention of Jaden Korr (by the way, does the character have a canon gender and species?)
Alema Rar is gone. Good riddance. The less there remains from the Joiner nonsense in the Dark Nest trilogy, the better.
Centerpoint is gone. Good riddance. I voted for that thing as the stupidest EU superweapon on that thread--"it was left there by [strike]God[/strike] super-advanced ancient beings" was a really stupid plot device.
And then, in the end, Jacen chokes a bridge officer to death for something that wasn't her fault. It's not a ripoff of the Vader's scenes, but it had that authentic feel.
The novel itself was good. Probably the best one in LOTF. I should have simply put it down an enjoyed this feeling while it lasted. But then, I had to read the two teaser chapters of Revelation in the end of the book.
Now, at the end of Fury, it's pretty much set in stone that Jaina is going to fight Jacen in the end. That's one of the negative points against it--not the concept, but we're told that'll happen rather than shown. I thought it was a good thing that I couldn't see how she was going to do it--but after reading the first two chapters, I realized I should have been able to predict it, given the next book was going to be written by KT.
Jaina is going to become a Mandalorian.
