Like many Star Wars books, Annihilation was a mixed bag of good and bad, but for the most part, the good won (it is Star Wars after all) and Annihilation made a fine, solid chapter in the EU. It falls during the Old Republic era which means lots of Sith Lords and just as many Jedi. It occurs almost directly after the events of Star Wars: Fatal Alliance and nearly 2,600 years before Karpyshyn’s accoladed Darth Bane Trilogy.

The part of the story I struggled with was Theron Shan’s upbringing. I understand that his mother Satele Shan was a high ranking Jedi, nearly vital to the Jedi’s war on the Sith. I understand that his father was a high ranking military commander serving on the front lines. But somehow these don’t add up to sending him away right after he was born, never having any contact with him, never telling Jace Malcom he has a son, or never giving Theron the information that Jace Malcom is his father. In fairness to the book and to Mr. Karpyshyn, I think that this reflects one of the glaring and never clear, though often repeated, flaws of the Jedi at this time: attachment is wrong. You could argue that since this in an in-universe, well-established plot point it shouldn’t be such a sore spot. Normally, I would agree. But what really rubbed me the wrong way was the fact that it was coming from a Shan. We’ve been following this family for a while now, and even allowing for differing individuals and eras, I would think it would be clearer to them than any of the other Jedi that not all attachment is wrong. I could completely buy Satele and Jace deciding to send their newborn son away to protect him. We’ve seen that before with the Solo kids, and while it’s not great, it’s done for the child’s benefit. “I sent you away because the rest of galaxy is more important to me” is just plain wrong.

Moving on the positives of the story, Theron was an amazing character! I think we really need more squib Jedi. To have been so completely seeped in Jedi teachings and lore and yet lacking even the most rudimentary access to the force made for a complex and captivating character. I also thought that Theron was perhaps the most well rounded character I’ve read in the Old Republic era novels – aside from Bane in later books – and would love to see him featured in other novels even if he isn’t the main character. His handling of meeting with his parents and working with a Jedi when he failed his own training showed a remarkable maturity. He refused to pretend it didn’t hurt some, but his confidence in the man he’d become allowed him to acknowledge the pain and move on. In many ways, he was a finer example of not allowing emotion to cloud his judgement than his mother was. And beyond and maybe in spite of all that, he had a great sense of humor – very reminiscent of Han Solo.

With a fast paced plot, the fate of the world in the hands of an everyman instead of Jedi, and a focus on characters rather than plot, Annihilation is in many ways the kind of book fans have been clamoring for. And while I had some issues with it, it definitely holds up as one of the stronger entries into the post megaseries EU.

My thanks to Random House for providing me a review copy of Star Wars Old Republic Annihilation via NetGalley, in return for my honest opinion of this book.