Product Description

No war can last forever. Now, in the long and punishing battle between the defiant champions of the New Jedi Order and the juggernaut that is the Galactic Alliance, the endgame is finally at hand. With so much lost–and nothing less than the course of the future still at stake–there can be no turning back. No matter the consequences.

The rebel cause is losing ground under the twin blows of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon’s assassination and the death of Mara Jade Skywalker. At the same time, having gained the support of the Imperial Remnant and its ruthlessly efficient forces, the Galactic Alliance, with the extraordinary power and dark brilliance of newly ascendant Sith Lord Darth Caedus at its helm, may be unstoppable. Tormented and torn between the call of duty and the thirst for vengeance, Luke has searched the Force and beheld an unspeakable vision of the galaxy enslaved under tyranny more monstrous than even Palpatine’s. Now it seems that the last, best hope lies in mobilizing the scattered Jedi for one decisive search-and-destroy mission. The objective: eliminate Darth Caedus.

It’s a plan that will be as difficult and dangerous to execute as it is daring. For Caedus is a scion of both the Skywalker and Solo bloodlines whose command of the Force surpasses even that of his grandfather

Darth Vader. There is only one who is bound by destiny to stand against him in what will surely be a duel to the death, only one with an outside chance of bringing down the dark lord who was once Jacen Solo.

Failure is not an option. The furious final moments between power and peace are here, and whoever confronts Darth Caedus will decide the outcome–and the fate of those left standing.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12534 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-30
• Released on: 2008-12-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 368 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780345477477
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School—Although this book is the conclusion to the series, it is engaging for anyone familiar with the original Star Wars films. Readers become reacquainted with familiar characters such as Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, Han Solo, and Princess Leia. The story picks up where Karen Traviss's Revelation (Del Rey, 2008) leaves off, with Jaina Solo, daughter of Han and Leia Solo, training alongside Boba Fett in preparation for the greatest battle of her life; Jaina is being sent to destroy Darth Caedus, the Sith who was once known as Jacen Solo, her twin brother. As she pursues him across the galaxy, Jaina and her family struggle to separate the Jedi warrior they knew as Jacen from the Dark Lord that he has become. The novel follows the battle between the Jedi and the Galactic Alliance from the perspectives of Jaina; Jacen; and their cousin, Ben Skywalker, creating a fusion of plots dealing with political dispute, inner struggles, and warfare. This is an entertaining and quick read, although the ending seems to wrap up prematurely with several plotlines left unanswered, presumably to be explored in a future series.—Kelliann Bogan, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Troy Denning is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost, Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Star by Star, the Star Wars: Dark Nest trilogy: The Joiner King, The Unseen Queen, and The Swarm War, and Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Tempest and Inferno, as well as Pages of Pain, Beyond the High Road, The Summoning, and many other novels. A former game designer and editor, he lives in western Wisconsin with his wife, Andria.


From the Hardcover edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
What’s the difference between a lightsaber and a glowrod? A lightsaber impresses girls!
–Jacen Solo, age 14 (shortly before he cut off Tenel Ka’s arm in sparring practice)

HE HAD MADE A FEW MISTAKES. CAEDUS COULD SEE THAT NOW.

He had fallen to the same temptation all Sith did, had cut
himself off from everything he loved–his family, his lover, even his
daughter–to avoid being distracted by their betrayals. He could see
now how blinding himself to his pain had also blinded him to his
duty, how he had begun to think only of himself, of his plans, of his
destiny . . . of his galaxy.

Self-absorption.

That was the downfall of the Sith, always. He had studied the lives
of the ancients–such greats as Naga Sadow, Freedon Nadd, Exar
Kun–and he knew that they always made the same mistake, that
sooner or later they always forgot that they existed to serve the galaxy,
and came to believe that the galaxy existed to serve them.

And Caedus had stepped into the same trap. He had forgotten
why he was doing all this, the reason that he had picked up a lightsaber
in the first place and the reason that he had given himself over to the
Sith, the reason that he had taken sole control of the Galactic Alliance.

To serve.

Caedus had forgotten because he was weak. After Allana had betrayed
him by sneaking off the Anakin Solo with his parents, his pain
had become a distraction. He had been unable to think, to plan, to
command, to read the future . . . to lead. So he had shut away his feelings
for Allana, had convinced himself that he was not really doing this
for her and the trillions of younglings like her, that he was doing
this for destiny–for his destiny.

It had all been a lie. Even after what Allana had done, Caedus still
loved her. He was her father, and he would always love her, no matter
how much she hurt him. He had been wrong to try to escape that.
Caedus needed to hold on to that love whatever it cost him, to cling to
that love even as it tore his heart apart.

Because that was how Sith stayed strong. They needed pain to keep
the Balance, to remind them they were still human. And they needed
it so they would not forget the pain they were inflicting on others. To
make the galaxy safer, everyone had to suffer–even Sith Lords.

And so there would be no angry outbursts when he confronted
the Moffs over their unauthorized adventures, no demonstration killings,
no Force chokings or threats to have his fleets attack theirs, no
intimidation of any sort. There would be no consequences at all, for
how were they to know of the worrisome things he had been seeing in
his Force visions lately–the Mandalorian maniacs and the burning asteroids,
his uncle’s inescapable gaze–if he failed to tell them? Whether
blunder or master stroke, the taking of the Roche system was as much
his doing as the Moffs’, Caedus saw now, and he was beyond punishing
others for his mistakes. Starting today, Darth Caedus was going to
rule not through anger or fear or even bribery, but as every true Sith
Lord should, through patience and love and . . . pain.

Caedus finally crested the winding pedramp he had been ascending
and found himself looking down a long tubular tunnel coated in
the gray-yellow foamcrete the Verpine reserved for their royal warrens.
At the far end–guarding one of the shiny new beskar-alloy blast
hatches that had done absolutely nothing to stop the Remnant’s
aerosol attack–stood a squad of white-armored stormtroopers. Their
gray-striped shoulder plates identified them as members of the Imperial
Elite Guard, and the two tripod-mounted E-Webs set along the
walls suggested they were serious about preventing unauthorized access
to the chamber beyond.

The stormtroopers were still turning in his direction, no doubt
trying to decide whether the single black-clad figure striding toward
them was anything to be alarmed about, when Caedus raised a gloved
hand and made a grasping motion. The squad leader raised his own
hand as though returning the greeting–then was knocked off his feet
as both E-Web supply cables tore free of the power generators and
came flying down the corridor with weapon and tripod bouncing
along behind them.

The remainder of the squad swiftly moved to firing positions,
dropping to a knee in the middle of the corridor or pressing themselves
against the tunnel wall, and brought their blaster rifles to their
shoulders. Caedus sent a surge of Force energy sizzling down the corridor,
reducing the electronic opticals inside their helmets to a blizzard
of static. They opened fire anyway, but most of the bolts went wide,
and those that did not Caedus deflected with the occasional flick of a
hand.

He was still ten paces away when the squad leader pulled his helmet
off and, bringing his weapon to bear, began yelling for the others
to do the same. Caedus raised his arm, catching the leader’s bolts on
his palm and deflecting them harmlessly down the tunnel. As the second
and third man prepared to open fire, he flicked a finger toward the
leader’s blaster and sent it spinning into them. It slammed the second
man into the wall and knocked the third’s weapon from his hands.

Caedus summoned the leader forward with two fingers, using the
Force to bring the astonished soldier flying into his grasp.

“I have no intention of harming anyone beyond that door,” Caedus
said, making his voice deep and commanding. “But I have no time
to waste, so I won’t hesitate to kill you or your men. I trust that won’t
be necessary?”

The sergeant’s eyes bulged as though his throat were actually
being squeezed shut–which it was not–and his face paled to the
color of his armor.

“N-n-no, sir. N-not at all.” The sergeant motioned for his men to
lower their weapons. “S-s-sorry.”

“No apologies necessary, Sergeant,” Caedus said. “Obviously, you
haven’t been informed of the new chain of command.”

Caedus set the sergeant’s boots back on the tunnel floor, then
turned to look at each of the others in the squad. He made it appear
that he was requiring each man to look into his yellow eyes, but actually
he was Force-probing their emotions, looking for any hint of
anger or resentment that suggested there might be a hero in the
group. He was down to the last two when he sensed a fist of resolve
tightening inside one.

“Don’t do it, trooper,” he said. “There aren’t enough good soldiers
in the Alliance as it is.”

The fist of resolve immediately began to loosen, but the trooper
wasn’t too surprised to say, “With all due respect, Colonel, we’re not
Alliance soldiers.”

“Not yet.” Caedus gave him a warm smile and turned toward the
blast hatch, presenting his back to the entire squad. “My escorts will
be along shortly. Don’t start a firefight with them.”

When he felt the squad leader motion the hero and everyone else
to lower their weapons, Caedus nodded his approval without turning
around. Then he circled his hand in front of the blast door, using the
Force to send a surge of energy through its internal circuitry until a series
of sharp clicks announced that the locking mechanisms had retracted.
A moment later, a loud hiss sounded from inside the heavy
hatch, and it slid aside into the wall.

Caedus stepped through without hesitation and found himself
looking down on a sunken conference pit where a couple dozen
Imperial Moffs–most of the survivors of the slaughter aboard the
Bloodfin–were rising to their feet, some reaching for their sidearms
and others looking for a place to take cover. Across from them, a small
swarm of insectoid administrators from other Verpine hives squatted
on their haunches, their shiny heads cocked in confusion and their
mandibles spread wide in an instinctive threat display.

“No, please.” Caedus extended his arms toward the Moffs and
motioned for them to return to their seats–using the Force to compel
obedience. “Don’t get up on my account.”

The Moffs dropped almost as one. Most landed in the chairs they
had been occupying, but a couple missed and landed on the floor. Several
of the aides standing behind the Moffs’ chairs were pointing holdout
blasters in his direction, looking to their superiors for some hint as
to whether they should open fire or stand down. Caedus swept his arm
up and sent them all flying out of the conference pit onto the surrounding
service floor.

“I’m afraid this will be a confidential conversation,” he said.

“Leave us.”

When the aides did not instantly obey, he gestured at one of those
who had been pointing a blaster at him and sent the man tumbling out
the hatch.

“Now.”

The remainder of the aides scrambled for the door, many without
bothering to stand. Caedus watched them go, his attention divided
between them and the Moffs, ready to pin motionless anyone who
even thought about raising a weapon. Once the aides were gone, a
simple glance was all it took to send the Verpine administrators scuttling
after them, leaving him and the Moffs alone with a single huge
Verpine with age-silvered eyebulbs and a translucent patch on her thorax
where the carahide was growing thin. She showed no inclination to
rise from her position at the far end of the conference table, where...

Customer Reviews

Tragically anemic finale
What strikes you most about this final volume of the Legacy of the Force is how little there is to it. Weighing in at a slight 299 pages, Invincible consists largely of two long duels between Jaina and Jacen, interspersed with a pair of subplots involving Ben. The epilogue attempts to tie things up with a couple of quick stitches, a hastily tacked-on conclusion that leaves the nine-volume saga incomplete.

One is left with the impression that the manuscript was completed in a rush. It reads like an extended outline - all plot, no character, no theme. The major event of the book, and perhaps the series, is the death of a Sith. How does it feel when one of these Dark Lords leaves the force? How does it feel to a family member? How does it feel to the Sith himself? What happens to Jacen in the force? Was he redeemed by his last minute thought for his daughter? Does he become a ghost, like his grandfather? What's the reaction on Coruscant? On Corellia? On Korriban? Among the Jedi? How does Luke feel? How about Tenel Ka? Allana? Ben? Tahiri? We can only imagine. Denning doesn't tell us.

Nor does he suggest what it all means. We never knew what Jacen wanted, beyond bringing order to the galaxy. But as the disorder was instigated and exacerbated by the Sith, he dies playing a fool's game. How is one to regard this galactic tragedy? What do the other characters learn from this? How has the Star Wars universe changed?

The political end is given about as much thought as the beginning and concludes in just a couple of pages with a New Galactic Alliance. Once Jacen is gone, all appears to be forgiven and forgotten. One of the central characters of the series, Admiral Niathal, is completely missing from the story. The reigns of state are passed to a character who shows up at the last moment and whose appointment appears to be a set-up for the next series of Galactic Tyrant vs Jedi novels.

Where there was so much that could have been developed, we get instead material that should have been left on the editor's desk, such Jaina and Leia chasing a paddy wagon across Coruscant to rescue Ben. The sequence is made possible by the thinnest of contrivances, the Jedi mind trick, and concludes with no rescue and no discernible effect on the plot.

Equally inconsequential is the introduction of a new force power, one potent enough to stop Jacen with a figurative blink of any eye. Shatterpoint (from the novel of the same name) is an ability once attributed only to Mace Windu, to be able to exploit stress points in any given substance or phenomena. Jacen uses it to crack beskar, a metal impervious to even lightsabers. Jaina learns the power from Luke in a matter of days. But it's never used. If Luke, Jaina and Jacen all have this ability, why bother with space battles and lightsabers? Just burst your opponent's heart, or crack open their spaceship, and the game is over.

I usually enjoy Denning's writing, but he's absolutely flat here. The jokes at the beginning of each chapter was a silly idea. Not only because the jokes are bad, but because they make an obvious and trite point - everyone is innocent at some point in their life - and because they served as an excuse for Denning to not have to make an honest attempt at writing a tragic ending. Invincible has no sense of gravitas, no weight, no heft, no feeling that something worth nine novels has happened. It feels light, hurried, rushed, abrupt and empty.

If you would care for a Star Wars series that rewards reading, try these:

Republic Commando
Hard Contact
Triple Zero
True Colors
Order 66

Legacy
Broken (Vol. 1)
Shards (Vol. 2)

Knights of the Old Republic
Commencement (Vol. 1)
Flashpoint (Vol. 2)
Days of Fear, Nights of Anger (Vol. 3)


#

Disappointing ending to a disappointing series...
Let's face it, if you're reading these reviews, you've seen the spoilers already, so while I won't go out of my way to reveal too much, I'm not going to hold back on much either.

Up front information about me: I read novels as a form of escapism. I read novels to escape my world and enter into a new one. I enjoy entering a world where the good guys always win, no matter the odds, and the only people that die are the bad guys. The only way a good guy dies is to allow for something INCREDIBLE. If Biggs were shot down by some random TIE pilot, that's not good. Biggs getting shot down while acting as a human shield so that Luke could destroy the Death Star? That's a good death. Sorry, that's just how I am. To this date, I've read every Star Wars novel ever written.

So now that you know a little about me, you may be able to decide just how much like you I am, and then see if my opinion on the book itself means anything to you.

And with that all being said, onto the book!

This book was very short and had a very disappointing ending to me. More deaths of major characters is simply unacceptable now. You'd think that the children of Han and Leia, plus Ben Skywalker, would have been the people to become the new generation of heroes for the series while all our old movie favorites finally retire... Well, they built up the children of the Solos quite well in the Young Jedi Knights series, but for some odd reason Tenal Ka has been pretty much pushed to the side, Lowbacca may as well not exist, and the characters of both Jacen and Jaina have been destroyed with only one hope of saving them (read on for that one hope). As for how they were destroyed, you can probably guess it, but I'm not going to come out and say it. Read the other reviews which make it quite obvious what has happened to them.

Plot holes galore... The last book already left the reader with about a million more questions than they had coming into it, the only logical expectation is that they'd be answered in this book... Didn't happen. The majority of the questions you had from the last book are still just that, questions. As a bonus, this book leaves us with even more questions and ludicrus events that just leave you feeling dumb struck. This person is now the leader of the Galatic Alliance?! And he took over Pellaeon's spot?! Sigh... give me a break. I felt like the wrap up for this book was more of a "OK, time to reset the chess board, oh but let's put these new faces on these pieces."

The emotion, or lack thereof - There is very little if any emotion involved. "I killed him... I feel nothing." Heartbreaking to say the least. That line (paraphrased) being uttered after the kill sent me for a loop. You can't just kill someone who has that kind of a relation with you and then feel nothing! Pretty much everything else in the book was the same way. I never felt emotionally engaged by the author.

The novel... or the first draft? - The writing is notoriously sloppy in my opinion. I've read Denning's other books, this is probably the worst piece of literature he has ever published (in the Star Wars universe, I've not read anything from him outside of Star Wars). I feel like when he sent the book in for the final publishing he sent in one of his early drafts by mistake. No story, very little development, nothing that drew me in and made me a part of the world.

If I could, I'd give the book a zero star rating. It's horribly disappointing.

My (short) review of the series as a whole - 1/5. The series had enough good points to warrent some points, but the bad far outweighed the good. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm a fan of escapist fiction and escapist fiction doesn't build up so many great characters just to throw them away or drastically change that character's alignment from good to exceptionally evil over night. Jacen was a good guy, and just suddenly, out of nowhere a switch flipped and he was working for the Sith cause. That combined with the deaths of SEVERAL major characters throughout the series is what brings it's score down so low.

Personally, this will probably be the last Star Wars book I spend any money on. Only thing that could possibly make me come back would be if the next series started out with Mara waking from a dream, nullifying the last half of the NJO series, the horrible bug series, and this series. Bring back the Vong, but let Mara recognize from the dream something she needed to do to stop Anakin Solo from getting killed and causing the nightmare she had to become a reality. I'd love to see all the movie characters retire like a lot of you have expressed, but they've pretty much killed off all the kids I cared to replace them with.

Anyway, that's my two cents on the novel, the series, and the Star Wars universe in general as of late. I hope it helps you make a wise purchase. Personally, I'd borrow this from a friend or from a public library.

Star Wars books need a new lease of life.
I've always thought that most Star Wars books which take place long after Return of the Jedi have been quite weak. This final book is no exception.

If you read the inner jacket summary, it says this is it, the final climactic showdown between Jacen and Jaina, trying to build tension. But anyone who has read the previous eight books can see this is, a complete load of horsespittle. Jacen's ship, the Anakin Solo was boarded several times, and he could have been killed several times as well. Once by Luke, once by Ben, and once by a Mando (forgot his name) who was under orders from Boba Fett not to kill Jacen. So far from being invincible, Jacen has been one of the most vulnerable villains yet.

In fact, Luke is revealed to be fully capable of kicking his butt. And considering Jacen admits he would only just be able to just beat Master Saba, there's no reason why any of the other masters, like the powerful Kyp (I've always felt he was underutilised) couldn't take him out either.

So basically this a book which is light on suspense and quite short in length.

As a stand alone book, and as a final volume, Invincible is not good and it is only worth reading so you know what happens in the end.

I was quite disappointed.

As an aside, there is also a Legacy comic series set roughly 100 years from this book. In it, the Sith have once again vanquished the Jedi. I was wondering if the comic series was "canon" and whether or not Invincible was the prelude to the fall of the New Jedi Order. After all, there doesn't seem to be a strong succession plan after Luke.