What a shame....
What a shame that such a good author would turn out such a half-finished, unsatisfying story like this. Characters so out of place that they're unrecognizable, an unlikely plot that is just not necessary, and an ending that I absolutely hated, and I'm not alone in that opinion.

Plus, what is with the size of this? It felt half-sized, and definitely not worth the hardcover price. My advice? Buy only if you bought any of the other eight car crashes that were the previous books and need to complete the series and learn about the ending. But if I could do it over again, I would just wait until the paperback came out.

What a shame.....

Not the best....
The Legacy series wasn't my favorite, although it had it's moments. The Boba Fett parts were well done, but Karen Traviss has always been good with the Mando stuff. This final book had it's ups and downs but it felt rushed to me. Something didn't quite fit. But the things that were done to the characters in the series are on the edge of unforgivable. First to kill off so many of the EU's best characters, and you never really get to know some of the better new ones, was sad. I haven't liked it much since Chewie left us and the new books are getting pretty redundant. But what got me more than anything was the naming of the new chancellor at the end of the book, that is just... inconceivable. I hope the new books coming out soon are better.

Legacy Finale
I need to start with a confession-a bad Star Wars book is better than none! I liked all 9 books but feel the whole story could have been said in 5 volumes. Jacen's slow transition into sithdom and all his "feelings" dragged on a little too long. I did not like how main characters had to be killed off. This is science fiction and I don't read these books and say they aren't realistic just because someone didn't get killed off! I for one do not want to see any of the original characters-Han, Leia, Luke, Lando-killed off. Nor any more of the second generation. Who's going to be around in 10 years??? ATTENTION AUTHORS-if you think these guys are getting too old (and I think they can go on into their 90s easy with all the bacta and prosthetics!), please just let them fade away. Don't kill them off-please.

A Disappointing Conclusion
I think that in the context of a sci-fi space opera, the "Legacy of the Force" storyline has been pretty brilliant (its not trying to cure cancer). But this last book was quite disappointing. After reading the pretty amazing "Revelation" by Karen Traviss, you kind of have to wonder what happened. Traviss spent that whole novel meticulously building great characterizations of Jacen, Ben, Luke, Niathal, Daala, Palleaon, and most impressively, Boba Fett, who has spent most of his history being a rather boring bada$$ enigma. Traviss moves all the chess pieces around the board to establish an interesting political, military, and philosophical standoff, then along comes "Invincible", and all that groundwork, and all those characters either disappear, or are reduced back to the stock cliches that were the hallmark of the worst Bantam novels (anyone remember "The Crystal Star" or "The New Rebellion"?)

We're left with what reads more like an outline with a few well written action scenes, and dialogue that is eye-rollingly frustrating. Has Denning always had such a tin-ear with these characters? I don't recall things getting so goofy during the Swarm Wars. Scenes where characters spends a page extemporising about throw-away one liners betray an author who is far more amused than he should be about his characters' witty retorts. I hate to keep comparing Denning to Traviss, but I love the way her Manolorians (and the Clone Troopers in their series) dryly quip to one another while going about their duty. If a Clone Trooper laughed at one of their jokes, they'd be thrown out of the squad. Denning's characters sounded more like the dorky kid who repeats someone else's joke ad nauseum long after it stopped being funny. And I'd swear Denning must have been using his thesaurus looking up synonyms for 'laugh', as his characters spent waay too much time chuckling, chortling, or snickering.

But the poor attempts at humor are just a small problem compared to the short-shrift given to characterization and the complete lack of resolution or explanations for the major political upheavals that literally take place in the space of a few pages at the tale end of the book. [SPOILER] Daala as the new Chief of State? Jagged Fel taking over the Moffs? Wahuh? I'm not saying I can't accept these rather drastic turns of events, but could we get just a little explanation? Did we really need the rather pointless car chase through Coruscant or the blink-and-you'll-miss-it death of Prince Isolder? [END SPOILER] I think there are about 50 pages of this book that could have been a little better spent.

So, overall, I've really enjoyed the series as a whole. I just wish the finale had been placed in the hands of someone prepared to do it right. The various plot-lines had been built up and woven together far too effectively to be so casually brushed aside for a pretty banal and by-the-numbers conclusion.

This is what it built to? sigh
I loved this book... in part. The ending between Jaina and Jacen was absolutely amazing. Very touching, made me cry. LOL However, wtf happened in the rest of this book? What happened to the story? Is this really the ending? After building up what promised to be the most dangerous and powerful Sith Lord of all time, it just ends? All the amazing new and lost powers Jacen unearthed gone again? So many intriguing points from the past 8 books just left hanging, as well as a decent amount of new ones from this very book left unanswered! Maybe they are leaving things hanging for an immediate follow up. There is definitely a lot of confusion left in the galaxy after all of this, and I am left feeling just as confused myself.