Legacies of Betrayal: Let the Galaxy Burn (Horus Heresy)

Product Information

Aaron Dembski-Bowden is the author of the Horus Heresy novels Betrayer and The First Heretic, as well as the novella Aurelian and the audio drama Butcher’s Nails, for the same series. He also wrote The Talon of Horus, the popular Night Lords series, the Space Marine Battles book Helsreach, the Grey Knights novel The Emperor’s Gift and numerous short stories. He lives and works in Northern Ireland. Honour to the Dead (*****) I'd give it way more stars if I could. Titans, Calth, Ultramarines and civilians. It was amazing to get about four different perspectives especially those of the regular citizens of Calth. Well Done. Every post will be filled with Spoilers from the novel so if you haven't read this week's book then proceed with caution. Horus Heresy Saga: Legacies of Betrayal: Let the Galaxy Burn hey man, the Sith are the cool ones....they can feel emotions and stuff. It's just a different way of doing the same thing, ect ect."

Six years after his retirement from the CIA, Bagley was startled by an unlikely coincidence. “Two deaths—each purportedly a suicide, each with its deep roots in the secret world, each with its own perplexing mysteries” caught his attention in 1978. Bagley was living in Brussels after stepping down as CIA station chief there. One of the men who died was a KGB defector who had provided invaluable information to the agency. The other was a long-serving CIA senior officer. In both cases, the circumstances made it clear to Bagley that suicide was unlikely. And as he dug deeply into the available (and sometimes secret) facts, he became convinced that neither had killed himself. The book’s plot reflects the current events of the world in 2006: The Yuuzhan Vong War is over, and the galaxy is beginning to rebuild. The Galactic Alliance has been formed, out of the ashes of the New Republic, as a way to unite the vastly different worlds. Sadly, only a few years in, and unrest and disunity is already starting to fracture the government.

Company Details

Years following the devastating Yuuzahn-Vong War, the galaxy once again is in a state of turmoil. The Galactic Alliance is dealing with a planetary uprising that could come to full-scale conflict and everyone, including the Skywalker and Solo families are caught in the middle.

Legacies of Betrayal is the thirty-first book in the Horus Heresy Series. It is was published in October 2014.However, fast forward to the winter of 2022, some fifteen years after the original release. The landscape of Star Wars fandom is massively different. Countless novels, games, comics have been rendered as "Legends" tier canon following the Disney acquisition of George Lucas' franchise, including this very title. When The Force Awakens was released in cinemas, I thought the movie franchise might be in good hands, and I was pretty certain upon the release of Rogue One that it was worth sacrificing my beloved "Extended Universe" to see new Star Wars content on the big screen. Unfortunately, everything that followed has made me think otherwise. But will I read it twice? Nope. I don’t want to listen to Jacen being a dummy anymore than I have too. Only from out of great conflict can true heroes arise. With the galaxy aflame and war on an unimaginable scale tearing the Imperium apart, champions of light and darkness venture onto countless fields of battle in service to their masters. They ask not for remembrance or reward - simply to meet their destiny head-on, and only by embracing that destiny will they come to learn what the unseen future may yet hold for them... [1] Contents Meanwhile, Jacen is undergoing a very dangerous shift in his philosophical world-view, initiated by a mysterious woman who may be a long-lost Dark Jedi named Lumiya (first appearing in the 1981 Marvel Comics “Star Wars” series, issue #56). His movement toward the Dark Side is progressing, and it is leading him to a point of no return. Unfortunately, he is also responsible for the training of his cousin, 13-year-old Ben Skywalker. Master Luke senses a disturbance, but he is unaware of what is happening. However at the end of the book there are two short stories written by Karen Traviss, one of the best Star Wars writers I've seen in a long time.

I The Solar War • II The Lost and the Damned • III The First Wall • Sons of the Selenar • IV Saturnine • Fury of Magnus • V Mortis • VI Warhawk • VII Echoes of Eternity • Garro: Knight of Grey • VIII The End and the Death ( Volume I • Volume II • Volume III) I’m not expecting “Mein Kampf” levels of commitment to beliefs. Characters of both light and dark sides of the Force often present thought-provoking arguments for their actions. Despite this, they justify evil and conclusions they are drawn to that come off as lazy and OVERLY unrealistic. More unrealistic than even a Star Wars novel should contain. I enjoyed meeting the children of some classic characters, and the return of the characters themselves, older but not necessarily more mature. I especially enjoyed the return of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon on the side of many of his former enemies, and discovering his (Hebrew) first name, having missed it if it appeared in earlier books. I'm writing this review immediately following my second read of this book, the first being in the late 00s upon original release. I felt compelled to do so as with the benefit of hindsight, and dare I say wisdom, this book (and hopefully the series) has a renewed purpose and interest for Star Wars fans such as I. The tassel artifact that was found after that failed diplomatic mission is key to drawing Jacen to the planet of Lorrd, where Jacen and Ben meet up with Nelani Dinn, a Jedi Knight who definitely has a crush on Jacen, and the trio keep getting drawn into these dangerous scenarios that seem designed to judge how Jacen responds to situations. The tassel first caught his attention because one of its lines translates as “He will strengthen himself through pain,” and Jacen feels like that’s talking directly to what he experienced during his time in the Embrace of Pain. The meanings of the other tassel parts also seem to be prophecies that relate to Jacen, and one is in a Sith language.Note: This is a longer review than usual since there are nineteen stories of varying length in the anthology. Settle in for a long ride. I also liked Butcher's Nails as it explored the dynamics of the relationship between primarchs. Yes, this has been covered in other books and stories but Angron is especially a difficult individual to interact with. Betrayal introduces the two main conflicts of the Legacy of the Force series: the beginning of a civil war between the Galactic Alliance and some of its member systems, as well as the beginning of Jacen’s fall, courtesy of the Dark Lady Lumiya. There are also big revelations about Vergere’s nature that will have ramifications for everything to come (although your mileage may vary what you think of those). I did feel that Betrayal was trying to do too much at times—that in trying to set up both Jacen's downfall and this galaxy-wide war, the book ended up with a bunch of exposition about long-standing tensions that have been simmering below the surface, without actually showing us many concrete examples of these tensions before the Galactic Alliance vs Corellia standoff. A bigger issue: I think that Betrayal is trying to do too much here. Not only is Allston setting up Jacen's Sith journey, but this conflict between the Galactic Alliance and Corellia which will spiral out to other systems. That's a lot to do, and unfortunately the book throws us into this Galactic Alliance military action against Corellia with not a lot of setup. We jump from “Corellia is unhappy about centralization” to the Galactic Alliance parking a fleet in Corellian space and sending in Jedi teams to kidnap Corellian heads of state. I know that the Dark Nest trilogy was all about this Chiss/Killik conflict in the Unknown Regions, but I would have liked to see hints of this situation in those preceding books. It would have helped to have this built up, instead of dropping the reader into the middle of a conflict that we’ve been told has been brewing behind the scenes—with not many examples of it before everything explodes. To make this plot point work you would have to do one of two things. Either firmly established that Jacen saw no other way to prevent the death of billions of people other than becoming a Sith and doing awful things or make Jacen a sociopath.

That is certainly An Interpretation. I’m just not sure it’s an interpretation I buy. While Vergere did terrible, morally dubious things, she’s always felt more like a Gray figure to me—neither Jedi nor Sith. I’m not sure that this is what Matthew Stover intended, or even James Luceno and Walter Jon Williams intended, but stories always evolve over time. I may not like this retcon—I think it makes more sense that Lumiya is lying to Jacen and giving him events “from a certain point of view” to push him towards her desired outcome—but that’s definitely not the official LotF explanation. Sometimes the truth is too hard to bear especially when it is found in an agency that is supposed to work for your country and not against it. I think that this was a very good book there were a lot of unexpected twists and turns in the book which is good for action books. The author put a lot of very very tense moments where the character has to make a tough decision that may change his or her life. I also liked this because the author included cliffhangers that really stumped the reader for a good amount of time It might have been a dull book if it had not been for the fact that these many betrayals happened in my lifetime involving government officials who were in the news ... as happens frequently, what is reported by the mass media often is a coverup ... especially when the Washington Post is rumored to have been controlled by the CIA. Fantastic short, a great example of how to properly use a limited amount of words to tell a full story. A wonderful portrayal of one’s loyalty and power, Nisha Andrasta showing both strength and weakness, quitting and making an impact at the same time.As a fan of the Star Wars (now designated Legends) books throughout my life, I had spent much of my youth reading the seemingly unending stream of stories (some better than others) up until about 10 years ago, when, upon completely the Yuuzhan Vong series, chose to step away from Star Wars novels and explore other genres and writers. Now with Episode 7 on the horizon and the de-canonization of the Legends novels, I chose to return to galaxy far far away in something of a farewell tour. I wanted to see what ideas will make it to the films and TV series, what won't, and what will be changed and inverted in unexpected ways. The Solo plotline wasn't as interesting, except when it came into the politics of how they are essentially for both the Corellians and the GA. Completely arbitrarily, I decided that I would resume my own personal SWEU reading challenge in 2021, starting with Aaron Allston’s “Betrayal”, the first book in a nine-book series entitled Legacy of the Force. I was frustrated by the development of Jacen, simply because at the beginnning of the book he was finally the jedi I wanted him to be in the last couple of series. However, since I already knew his fate in the series, I understand and accept what happened. Narrated by: Ian Brooker, Jonathan Keeble, Toby Longworth, Penelope Rawlins and Windson Liong. Approx running time: 13h 18mins.