Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Ascension, written by Christie Golden, is the penultimate book in the series and so, has much work to do to bring all the players to their resting places before the various finale confrontations are enacted.

The plot is so labyrinthine, that to give a complete overview would take a couple of pages. A word of warning, this series has so many characters acting in a number of locations, starting anywhere other than at the beginning would be a mistake. This is just as true for Ascension, which, whilst it is well written does not really work as a stand- alone novel.

The novel's action is mainly split between the machinations in the senate, where factions vie for power, including the Jedi, the lost tribes of Sith and the usual band of amoral politicians. This part of the plot works the least well, mostly down to the fact that it is by nature a very talky piece.

Much more interesting, certainly from an action perspective is Luke and Ben's search for Abeloth and her semi-sentient vessel ‘Ship’. Unsure where it/she might have headed they scour planets known to have a historical connection to the Dark Side. As it turns out this is a good ploy, as it allows the author to take you on a journey through some of the more important planets created in the wider Star Wars universe, via both the comics and the books. It also acts to balance up the rather dry political scenes.

To add to the mix there is also the storyline about the Solo's hunt for the old chancellor, who appears to have found an ally in Boba Fett, plus various machinations involving the remnants of the Galactic Empire.

Golden does well to balance out all these elements and still find time to put flesh on her characters. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that with only one more book to go that this novel stops, rather than coming to any satisfying conclusion.

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Charles Packer