A review by clarks_dad
Backlash by Aaron Allston

2.0

Not great, but not bad either. I think I preferred the last novel because it broke new ground in the whole Force mythos and philosophy department as well as provided some heart-warming scenes with older characters. This novel reads like survival fiction. Luke and the crew are trapped on Dathomir with a loose Sith threatening to uncover the secrets to an ancient dark power and the Witches of Dathomir themselves threatening Luke and his progeny because of his history with the planet of Force sensitives. Altogether, a pretty shallow story with the usual devices of the Expanded Universe. I expected this novel to be a bit more personal as it narrowed the scope of the epic to focus on one planet as most of the main characters crossed paths for the first time. In the end, it felt like no such effort was made. Any potentially large plot-twists seem like mundane and expected developments rather than galaxy-altering events - bungled assassinations, political compromising and a marriage alliance among feuding tribes that we are made to care nothing about. Ho hum. On to the next!