Thread:Sakaros/@comment-29301-20180903145046/@comment-29301-20191229221029

I told you I'd read Loyalty this week. I lied; I read it today.

Hot take, I basically liked it. In the back of my head I've been sort of frustrated on how Alecto and her new minions have had nothing visible to do with anything for the past three stories, so it's good to have them back. All the reminders that we're not too far removed from the other events in the series were helpful.

I'll confess I had absolutely no idea who Nawsa Arodion was when the story tried to surprise me with her as part of the Jedi escort, but that's par for the course with me as the reader.

It's a very "medium" installment in many ways, and that works to its advantage. I didn't feel much attached to any of the characters, and nearly all of them are tertiary in their importance, and that helped the drama a great deal (similar to how it did in Igniting the Stars). I felt reasonably sure that nobody here has Plot Armor except for Darth Alecto, so everyone else's survival was very much up in the air.

The ending was satisfying; I'm glad it wasn't just a clean win for the villains, especially since the Jedi Master survives and one of Alecto's pets, one we've sort of gotten to know over a lengthy-ish part of the series, doesn't.

Anything else you want my take on, say so.