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jaredkwheeler's review
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #120
Background: The Hive was written by [a:Steven Barnes|20058|Steven Barnes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1284667688p2/20058.jpg] and released as an eBook in May 2004. His only other Star Wars work is [b:The Cestus Deception|35464|The Cestus Deception|Steven Barnes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347760493s/35464.jpg|3165217] (my review) to which it is a companion. He has also written a number of his own novels and a smattering of TV episodes.
The Hive takes place during The Cestus Deception, about a year after the Battle of Geonosis and 21 years before the Battle of Yavin. The main character is Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Summary: As Obi-Wan continues to strengthen his relationship with the X'Ting government of Ord Cestus, and in particular with Regent G'Mai Duris, a new opportunity surfaces. Generations ago, a plague nearly wiped out the X'Ting and the eggs containing the last members of the royal family were secured behind layers of security measures deep beneath the surface. Secured so well, in fact, that multiple attempts to recover them have failed. One more failed attempt and automated countermeasures will destroy the eggs to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. G'Mai Duris believes Obi-Wan is the X'Ting's best hope to restore the royal leadership. Accompanied by one elite X'Ting warrior, Obi-Wan ventures into the depths to accomplish the impossible and save the future of an entire race.
Review: This novella is a bit of a weird animal. Ostensibly, of course, it is a companion to The Cestus Deception and it happens right in the middle of the events in that novel. But in almost every way it is a better, tighter story, and it doesn't even fit with the events of the novel. Obi-Wan in The Hive is a better-written, more likable character, and the most prominent side-character is better than any of the characters Barnes created for the novel as well. Thanks to the length, the plot is more focused and more action-packed, and there are coherent themes and motifs that run through the whole thing and actually pay off in the end.
Now, the payoff isn't great. In fact, it's kind of an eye-roller. I won't give it away, but it's certainly an overused device in Star Wars . . . but the point is that there's something there that feels like a solid, in-universe, well thought-out conclusion that the whole story was building up to. That's kind of the whole thing for me . . . It's mediocre, but it's serviceable, which is leaps and bounds ahead of the novel.
Now, if you're familiar with the plot of The Cestus Deception (as I was, having just read it), you spend the whole story wondering what's going to happen at the end that will feel like a satisfying outcome to the story but still fit with the novel. Well, it turns out he couldn't figure out how to do both of those things, so he settled for the former. This novella was published before the novel, but I assume it was conceived and written after the novel was already completed and submitted. Why else would such a significant, world-changing event not even be referenced anywhere in the novel? The outcome of this story should have changed the entire ending of that one. It makes no sense that it didn't.
You could try and come up with an explanation for why there doesn't appear to be anywhere to fit the events of this story into the events of that one, and why none of the characters mention what happened even though they should, or why Obi-Wan's companion in this story isn't even mentioned in passing in the novel . . . But there's no coherent explanation for why nothing that happens in this story appears to have impacted anything that happened in the other.
Honestly, this story, though not great by any means, is so vastly superior to the other in every respect that I'd just disregard the novel entirely and say this is the only story of the two that Really Happened.
C+
Background: The Hive was written by [a:Steven Barnes|20058|Steven Barnes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1284667688p2/20058.jpg] and released as an eBook in May 2004. His only other Star Wars work is [b:The Cestus Deception|35464|The Cestus Deception|Steven Barnes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347760493s/35464.jpg|3165217] (my review) to which it is a companion. He has also written a number of his own novels and a smattering of TV episodes.
The Hive takes place during The Cestus Deception, about a year after the Battle of Geonosis and 21 years before the Battle of Yavin. The main character is Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Summary: As Obi-Wan continues to strengthen his relationship with the X'Ting government of Ord Cestus, and in particular with Regent G'Mai Duris, a new opportunity surfaces. Generations ago, a plague nearly wiped out the X'Ting and the eggs containing the last members of the royal family were secured behind layers of security measures deep beneath the surface. Secured so well, in fact, that multiple attempts to recover them have failed. One more failed attempt and automated countermeasures will destroy the eggs to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. G'Mai Duris believes Obi-Wan is the X'Ting's best hope to restore the royal leadership. Accompanied by one elite X'Ting warrior, Obi-Wan ventures into the depths to accomplish the impossible and save the future of an entire race.
Review: This novella is a bit of a weird animal. Ostensibly, of course, it is a companion to The Cestus Deception and it happens right in the middle of the events in that novel. But in almost every way it is a better, tighter story, and it doesn't even fit with the events of the novel. Obi-Wan in The Hive is a better-written, more likable character, and the most prominent side-character is better than any of the characters Barnes created for the novel as well. Thanks to the length, the plot is more focused and more action-packed, and there are coherent themes and motifs that run through the whole thing and actually pay off in the end.
Now, the payoff isn't great. In fact, it's kind of an eye-roller. I won't give it away, but it's certainly an overused device in Star Wars . . . but the point is that there's something there that feels like a solid, in-universe, well thought-out conclusion that the whole story was building up to. That's kind of the whole thing for me . . . It's mediocre, but it's serviceable, which is leaps and bounds ahead of the novel.
Now, if you're familiar with the plot of The Cestus Deception (as I was, having just read it), you spend the whole story wondering what's going to happen at the end that will feel like a satisfying outcome to the story but still fit with the novel. Well, it turns out he couldn't figure out how to do both of those things, so he settled for the former. This novella was published before the novel, but I assume it was conceived and written after the novel was already completed and submitted. Why else would such a significant, world-changing event not even be referenced anywhere in the novel? The outcome of this story should have changed the entire ending of that one. It makes no sense that it didn't.
You could try and come up with an explanation for why there doesn't appear to be anywhere to fit the events of this story into the events of that one, and why none of the characters mention what happened even though they should, or why Obi-Wan's companion in this story isn't even mentioned in passing in the novel . . . But there's no coherent explanation for why nothing that happens in this story appears to have impacted anything that happened in the other.
Honestly, this story, though not great by any means, is so vastly superior to the other in every respect that I'd just disregard the novel entirely and say this is the only story of the two that Really Happened.
C+
lefthandedmatt's review
4.0
A fun little adventure much more in the style of classic Star Wars than the full novel this was linked with. Monsters and puzzles and scary moments, and the ending made me chuckle.
verkisto's review
3.0
This novella is set on Cestus and features some of the same characters from The Cestus Deception. In fact, it opens with a scene lifted directly from the novel, and then takes us on a side journey. I think I preferred the novella to the novel, simply because it moved faster, and highlighted the bravery of the X'Ting. Barnes added a thematic element to the story that felt a bit rushed (the X'Ting doesn't trust Obi-Wan, but comes to due to his actions), but otherwise it was an entertaining read.
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