Book Review: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan

Book: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan (The Old Republic book #1) by Drew Karpyshyn

Cover Art and Design by LucasArts

Edition: Paperback

Description:

There’s something out there: a juggernaut of evil bearing down to crush the Republic—unless one lone Jedi, shunned and reviled, can stop it.

Hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior—the man called Revan has been all of these. He left Coruscant a Jedi, on a mission to defeat the Mandalorians. He returned a Sith disciple, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the price of redemption was the loss of his memories. All that’s left are nightmares—and deep, abiding fear. What happened beyond the Outer Rim that Revan can’t quite remember or entirely forget? One thing he’s certain of: Something dark is plotting to destroy the very existence of the Republic. With no idea how to identify the threat, let alone stop it, Revan may be doomed to fail. For he’s never faced a more powerful and diabolic enemy. But only death can stop him from trying.





Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan is a very good story but for a book titled Revan the story surprisingly didn't spend a great deal of time focusing on the titular character. The character that received the most page time is Darth Scourge, a Sith Lord.

The story follows the once revered now despised Jedi Revan who in the past stopped the Madalorians but somehow mysteriously became entranced by the dark side and returned to attack the Republic. The Jedi Council was able to restore him but in the process removed some of his memories. To the public, Revan was seen as a hero but to the Council he was a reminder of his betrayal even if he had been controled in some way by an outside force. Since then Revan has had limited if any at all involvement with the Jedi Order, he and his wife Bastila (who's also a Jedi), keep a low profile living in Coruscant. Despite, the memory loss and his shunned existence, Revan's connection to the Force is constant and his visions seem to be trying to show him something if only he could figure it out. He knows there is a growing threat approaching but he doesn't know who.

Meanwhile, Darth Scourge who was sent to the Sith planet Dromund Kaas tasked by the Emperor to find out who was trying to kill Sith Lord Darth Nyriss. A simple task that was quickly becoming more complex, complicated and deadly the more he investigated. As the story moved along, Revan in an attempt to figure out his Force visions retraced his steps back to the Mandalorians. Helping his friend Canderous Ordo, a Mandalorian restore his tribe and find an important clue that would eventually lead him to the cause of his visions. This story sends Revan on an unexpected journey that hurtles him to more danger as well as finding himself trapped by Sith.

The intensity of this story doesn't lessen when the two (sometimes three, there was a fair amount of attention given to Jedi Meetra who was searching for Revan) separate stories start to connect, it only gets better from there. This story has love, sadness, pain and power and an underlining lesson of danger and betrayal that Revan should have had at the forefront of his mind when undergoing this unsanctioned Jedi mission. The author seems to relish showing how evil the Sith are and the story never lets the reader forget it.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan is a fast-paced well-written narrative that spins between Jedi Revan and Sith Lord Darth Scourge that plunges into a complex sci-fi thriller that'll keep you guessing. It's still disappointing that these older Star Wars stories are no longer canon because of the Old Republic stories that I've read so far, they have all been very good reads. I can't wait to read more from this era.