Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan

Did you play Knights of the Old Republic?

Let me first start by saying, I played the video game Knights of the Old Republic. It's very important to have played that game if you want to get the most out of this book. If you haven't, you're probably not going to get most of the references during Revan's part of the story.

That said, if you have played the game, this book explores most of the things that went unexplained in the game. It's really quite a fun trip. I can't wait to play The Old Republic in a month to see how this book will tie into that game as well. I'm more excited than ever to get my hands on it, which is the whole reason this book was written in the first place.

As for the audio, Marc Thompson does it again. What a fantastic narrator. It's been a treat to listen to the more recent unabridged Star Wars books narrated by Mr. Thompson.

As for people who have not played the Knights of the Old Republic, it's really hard to recommend this book to you. I hope someone who hasn't will review this book soon. If you have played it, this book is a must buy.

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Enjoyed the experience

If you could sum up Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan in three words, what would they be?

Enjoyable, Curious, and Abrupt

Who was your favorite character and why?

Revan was the best character overall. The Sith protagonist, Lord Scourge, was also well delivered, but my curiosity kept drifting to the light side/dark side duality or Revan. I should note that the author did a excellent job with all the characters. I only wish the author spent more time devoted to Revan's story and abilities.

What does Marc Thompson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Marc Thompson brought exceptional voice acting and emotion to the story. He was simply invaluable and a delight to listen to.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Anger, excitement, redemption, confusion, and grumpy face. I was mad, almost angry, at the way the author seemingly disposed of the Revan storyline (after his capture). Yet, I still found myself excited to learn more about the back story behind the Emperor and Scourge. The author's ability to include interesting details and characters redeemed the book as I continued to look forward to each new chapter. However, the redeeming qualities did not dissuade my shock by how abrupt the ending was or why Revan was made so apparently ineffectual throughout. The epilogue also gave me a grumpy face and seemed overly forced, almost as if the author was instructed to write something to give the abrupt ending a conclusion.In short, my emotions spanned the gambit by the end.

Any additional comments?

The production on this book was fantastic. Lightsaber sounds, music, explosions... everything. I kept waiting for the book to show me the use of the force in unique and captivating way (the Emperor story line touched on that). Yet, in the end, this book did not do that. Revan was not used well from a user of the force perspective and the story was left to other methods to entertain the reader/listener. I ultimately finished the book wishing Revan got to play with his powers in a awe-inspiring way that would have come across more satisfying/substantial. The inclusion of the Emperor was a treat and his back story did not disappoint. In the end, the book was a fun to listen to, well written, and gave me a lot of interesting concepts to consider.

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Well put on pulp.

What did you like best about Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan? What did you like least?

The production quality on all the SW-TOR supporting audio book fiction has been top notch. Sound effects, musical score, a narrator with a variety of voices at his command, all superb.Unfortunately though, this title just came off as weak. I think the central problem is they're dealing with characters who are so large and mythic in scope that as readers we don't feel much connection with them. This book returns to characters from the original Knights of the Old Republic Franchise and its portrayal of them is just kind of flat. There's really no surprises or significant character development. Who they are at the start of the book is who they are at the end. Overall it just left me wanting.

Would you ever listen to anything by Drew Karpyshyn again?

I would not go out of my way to, to be sure. I'll give an author a second chance, of course, but I don't really feel there was much meat to this story. That maybe because it's a corporate product and the author is under constraints.

What about Marc Thompson’s performance did you like?

Superb. March Thompson did an excellent job, provided impressive variety of characterizations. He was a treat to listen to.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

On a matinee, perhaps.

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Wow what a way to break into star wars books.

I got this book because I loved the game back in the day. Let me just say it was fantastic. You dont need to have played the game to understand anything like some other reviewers have said, but it does make you care for the characters a bit more if you had. Unlike other audio books I've listened to this one has all your favorite sound effects and music from the star wars universe, immersing you just that much more into the story. If your a fan of the game or even just want a good read I highly recommend this audio book.

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If you haven't played the game....

In response to Ryan's review, he might be onto something.

Not having played any of the Old Republic games, this book felt kind of like an abridged version. You'll understand whats going on but you just won't have the detail and the depth that I'm sure the storyline from the game will give you. I felt like the book just skims the surface of the Reven story.
I'd still recommend it to anybody that's a fan of the Star Wars books.
But as somebody that doesn't play the games, It would of been great if they integrated the story lines of the game and book into a 2 or 3 part series.

Oh, and Marc Thompson did another killer job reading this installment of the Old Republic series.

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Titled Character is Rarely Portrayed

What did you like best about Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan? What did you like least?

The best part of the book is how it ties in the mysteries of the story of Revan as seen from the two video games: Knights of the Old Republic & Knights of the Old Republic: Sith Lords.

My least favorite element of the work is the ending - not to be confused with the Epilogue. It is rushed, and does not leave the reader feeling fulfilled after a strong build-up. After thinking about it, the ending does not make much sense in context of the situation of the two warring sides as set down by the novel. Revan's vaunted tactical expertise is sadly ignored by his actions.

Has Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan turned you off from other books in this genre?

No. For the most part, the Star Wars books are fair pulp books with common plots that can be found in many other Sci-Fi novels. There are some exceptions to this and even some of the more common plot stories are decently crafted. It is for me like literary fast food: somewhat tasty but not very filling.

What about Marc Thompson’s performance did you like?

Marc Thompson does many of the voices exceptionally well and his reading is concise. Although, he does mispronounce Bastilla Shan's name.

Any additional comments?

Revan is not seen in this book as much as the Sith character Lord Scourge. For the book to be titled

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This is not the Revan I am looking for

I'm a huge Old Republic dork and an even bigger Revan fanboy. This does not do the character I know and love the justice he deserves. The story itself overall is fine. The voice performance is pretty good. But for starters there is more focus and character arc on Darth Scourge, who is pretty bad ass in his own regard, but I didn't go into the

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Fun story, though a few missteps

I enjoyed the writing and the performance was generally good, but both neither was standout. It drove me insane that Marc Thompson pronounced the "Ebon" in "Ebon Hawk" as ee-bon (like in "teen") rather than e-bon (like "ebony").
With regards to the writing, Bastilla has been neutered.

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Disappointing

What disappointed you about Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan?

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan is a lackluster and forgettable title, weak in both writing and narration. Written to bridge the gap between Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, Revan lacks both the excellent writing and gripping plot of the game that started the Old Republic franchise.

The story starts out dull, alternating between boring action scenes involving a Sith that we know too little to care about, and boring dialog scenes with titular character Revan. If you can force your way through the first few hours, you'll find that the story starts to pick up and get interesting, but the beginning is a true slog. The writing is amateurish; much of the prose is in passive voice, lending a dull and disconnected tone to the story. We are given too little context, too little background on the characters, and exposition is given in long and droning historical summaries occasionally scattered throughout the story. The "show-not-tell" principle or writing is studiously ignored whenever backstory is discussed.

An unfortunately large portion of the story is focused on the Sith Lord Scourge, for whom we only receive a brief introduction. Scourge has almost no personal motivation and is not an interesting or compelling character in the slightest. Tasked with unravelling a plot to murder a high-ranking Sith, he spends most of his time following orders, and never thinks about anything more substantial than whether the people around him are plotting against him. Even though we know the importance of his role will become clear later, if the author doesn't have anything interesting for him to think or say or do in the first half of the book, he shouldn't do anything.

Would you ever listen to anything by Drew Karpyshyn again?

No, his writing is too low-quality, probably directed at young-adult audiences

How could the performance have been better?

If you've ever listened to Marc Thompson narrate a Timothy Zahn novel, you know that he is generally fantastic at his job. Thompson has provided some of the most gripping performances in the history of audiobooks, and is capable of an almost overwhelmingly impressive litany of character voices. He does good impressions of many of the core Star Wars cast, and normally makes his narration exciting and difficult to put away.

However, Thompson's performance in Revan is lackluster and disappointing, and I suspect that he was offered a lower payment than usual for his work this time around. He tends to drone on; even in action scenes where he would normally adopt excited and dramatic tones to emphasize the tension, he speaks in an almost monotone as if the characters were doing chores. The characters are mostly flat and lifeless, expressing no range of emotion.

Worst of all, Thompson has seemingly never played through Knights of the Old Republic. He misprounounces some names (Bas-steel-uh, the ee-bawn hawk) and seems to have made no effort to match the character voices from the game. If you've played through the original games and remember the excellent vocal performances, you'll find his voices for Canderous and Bastilla downright painful. His Bastilla is particularly bad - Thompson doesn't have the best voice for females, so he tends to use soft voices even for strong women. Bastilla's hard edge and sharp tone are lost, replaced with a soft and simpering tone that bears too much resemblance to whiny Imperial officers from Thompson's other performances.

Luckily Revan himself wasn't really voiced in KotOR, so Thompson's voice for him doesn't contradict anything from the game. Thompson's Revan voice is just a deeper version of his Luke Skywalker voice, but the soft-spoken nature of this deep-Luke voice is forgettable and doesn't seem fitting for a character as strong and prominent as Revan.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I spent most of the book alternating between disappointing at the writing and grimacing at Thompson's inaccurate voices for characters from KotOR. Overall I regret picking up this title and would not recommend it for anyone who has played the games.

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Not Really What I Expected

I'm not really sure how to review this book. The writing is not bad, and the narration is quite good. I did find the effects to be a little gimmicky but at time it added to a fun atmosphere.

The problem I have is with the book is the way it treats the characters. I loved the original videogame and have played both several times in fact KOTOR is top 3 games of all time in my book. To me they used them as a backdrop for a new character that I did not really care for and left me trying to grapple how these were the same characters as in the videogame. The only one I feel was at least treated properly was the Canderous Ordo.

In the end I am not sad to have listened to the book as some neat information was scattered about, but in the end I am not sure that I would recommend it to anyone who truly loved the games.

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