After eight previous books, essentially retelling the rise and fall of a Dark Lord of the Sith in greater detail than the films, “Invincible” bringing the series to a close. Sadly, it’s immediately apparent that the book is going to fail to live up to the expectations of the audience. It is quite possibly the shortest book out of the nine-volume set, and there’s simply no way to take everything since the first volume and wrap it up in so little time.
While the civil war at the heart of the current crisis changed shape in the middle of the story, simplifying dramatically, the resolution still takes place in a matter of a few pages and with none of the political complexity that started the mess in the first place. Similarly, all the philosophical groundwork put into Jacen’s downfall is discarded in favor of two-dimensional characterization of a stock Sith villain. Not until the very end is any attempt made to tie back into Jacen’s original reason for striking down the path of darkness.
The main problem is that it’s blindingly apparent that the three authors assigned to the series did not sit down and figure out how the arc should progress. The rushed nature of this book is inexplicable given how much of the series was drawn out to the point of absurdity. A little more pre-planning would have allowed the authors to layer the story more evenly, and more importantly, set up a more satisfying conclusion. Characters like Tahiri take a massive leap into new and illogical territory, and in this book, it’s apparent that little thought went into it.
Two main plot failures come to mind. During the course of the series, there is never a real attempt to take custody of Jacen and knock some sense into him. Luke beats him nearly to death, but the logical next step is never taken. Jacen is always left to survive, and that leads to the second problem. No one attempts to bring Jacen back from the abyss. They talk about him, react to him, and dance around his nature, but he never gets a chance to debate his philosophy with Luke or anyone else. If this was always meant to end with Jacen and Jaina crossing lightsabers, why is Jaina never made into his true opposite? The final solution in this novel might have made better sense if it had come after a true attempt to bring Jacen back to the light. (Never mind that the better option would have been sending every single Jedi possible at him, leaving Jaina and her new skills until the bitter end.)
The end of the book drops a massive twist to the franchise, changing the state of play in the entire galaxy as a complete afterthought. This particular event is not insignificant because the process of getting to that twist could (and should) have justified another 100 pages of post-Jacen fallout. There are so many reasons why the new GA Chief of State makes no sense at all that it betrays the sorry state of the novel franchise at this time. Ironically, it was the first volume of this series that offered hope that the post-NJO era would reach its potential.
Rating: 5/10
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