Nerds That Geek Book Review - 'Star Wars: The Old Republic - Fatal Alliance'

Written by Scott Edwards

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away Captain Jet Nebula comes across a barge named the Cinzia that may harbor a great treasure in its hold. Trying to gain approval to board the ship, Jet and his crew continuously work the existing crew on the Cinzia via their com links, leading to a decision; that regardless what the other crew chooses to do, Jet and his followers are going to board. But the last communication that comes from the ship is, ‘we do not recognize your authority’, shortly before it explodes. Jet knows that there had to be a great take on the ship, why else would it have self destructed, so he salvages the wreckage and returns what he finds to the planet of Hutta.

A Mandalorian bounty hunter named Dao Stryver is on the move, trying to locate a specific human woman, Lema Xandret, a droid builder. During her travels, she encounters a Blackstar Squad member, a Sith Apprentice and a Jedi Padawan.  All had battled against the Stryver, and all were left alive to fight another day. Stryver’s search was not finished, not after hearing about the recent discovery of the Cinzia. The Hutts’ were far from secretive about their new possession and sent waves across the galaxy for an auction of relics that were leftover from the ship's destruction.

After all the groups hear the claims from the Hutts’ and not knowing exactly what the cargo could be, possibly Jedi Artifacts or a weapon of some kind, they all prepare to travel to Hutta to find out before their enemies have a chance to. The Jedi send their Padawan, Shigar, who was recently denied a chance to run the Jedi Trials. The Republic promotes Ula Vii (a spy) to an ambassador role to travel and bid for the Hutts’ new found treasure and the Sith send a young apprentice, Eldon Ax that had a run in with the curious bounty hunter and whom she was searching for, her mother.

Fatal Alliance takes you back to the start of the universe, where the Sith and Jedi battle to the death, the Republic sits back and watches and they don’t know where their boundaries start or end. The Sith and Jedi are pulled together to fight their mutual enemy, the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Stryver, but get much more than they bargain for when they find out the truth of what they are really searching for. A planet run by droids that Lema Xandret had designed. The Hex droids are not only at the top of the food chain, but could overrun the galaxy if they were directed or wanted to.

Taking a trip many years back in the Star Wars realm, 3,650 years before A New Hope, Fatal Alliance provides a fantastic look as to what people and their religions had to do to survive. There are scavengers just working for a paycheck, Sith and Jedi just trying to regain their strength for the next war and the Republic, watching as everything unwinds around them, waiting to see who emerges as the victor. Seeing how the group has to unite to defeat a common foe is just an entertaining way to see what the universe had to do to get by and it includes a  great betrayal at the end of the book to make sure you understand where the alliances remain faithful. Happy reading.    

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