Star Wars Legends Project #233

Background: Trapped was written by [a:Alex Wheeler|2637206|Alex Wheeler|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and published in January of 2010. It is the fifth in the 6-book Rebel Force series, following [b:Firefight|6343276|Firefight (Star Wars Rebel Force #4)|Alex Wheeler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328839449l/6343276._SX50_.jpg|6529446] (my review). Wheeler wrote the whole series and has no other Star Wars credits, though this is probably a pen name for another Star Wars author (see my review of book 2).

Trapped takes place a few weeks after the Battle of Yavin, picking up where book 4 left off. The main characters are Han, Luke, and Leia, along with Ferus Olin and Lune Divinian, plus the Imperial assassin X-7. The story takes place mostly on Belazura.

Summary: As X-7's repeated failure to kill Luke Skywalker and complete his mission cause his mental programming to fracture, he struggles to uncover an identity he thought he no longer cared about. Meanwhile, Ferus reunites with Lune, an old friend he thought was gone forever, and finds that spiritually he may indeed be lost. If they can resolve the trauma in their past, they may yet be able to play a vital role in keeping Luke Skywalker on his path to saving the galaxy.

Review: Book 5 of 6 and Wheeler finally decided to stop screwing around and do something with this story, tying in dramatic and emotional echos from the previous series. I can't decide if it's just too little too late, or too much too rushed. Probably a little of both.

Learning about what happened to Lune after we last saw at the end of Last of the Jedi, the tragedies he suffered, and the fates of other characters around him, is satisfying and gripping. His scenes with Ferus finally tie together some of the last threads that have been woven throughout nearly 50 books going back to the Jedi Apprentice series. I just wish it were in service of something better than this, and I don't understand why it was clumsily shoehorned in here instead of being the focus of the entire series.

Somehow it all ends up being about X-7 again, easily the least interesting character in this series and one of the all-time least interesting Star Wars villains. Even Rokur Gepta is more entertaining, albeit much much stupider. There are flashes of the beginning of something good here, and I think if this arc had begun in book 2 and ended here, instead of effectively beginning and ending in book 5, I might have a very different opinion. There are some things to like in this book, but in the end it just feels like a missed opportunity, and I'm not sure I understand where it's going from here.

C

Another good story. This series has really picked up since it's beginning and I'm quite eager to see how it ends. I still have trouble believing that the rebels have stayed on Yavin 4 this long. It just doesn't seem like the rebels methods to stick to a base when the Empire knows where it's at.

There's only one book left in this series, but it will be a while before I get to it. I just got Tarkin from the library and timothy Zahn's Allegiance takes place before the 6th book. I expect Tarkin to be a nice break away from Yavin 4, not that this series takes place solely on that planet. They do not.

This one was a little too heavy on new characters and not enough of big three.

One of the things that has bugged me for much of the Expanded Universe is how much of the story revolves around Luke and the rest of the Skywalkers. We have an entire galaxy of different races, some of whom are sensitive to the Force, but somehow every important story revolves around this small handful of people. It winds up making that galaxy very small, and it bothers me.

In Trapped, X-7 begins to question his identity and his mission, and of course that ties in with the Skywalkers. Not only does Ferus Olin circle back into the story (whose first brush with the Skywalkers was when Anakin was still a Padawan), but now we find that a mysterious contact is actually Lune Divinian, who was a key player in The Last of the Jedi. So, we still have everyone orbiting the Skywalker sun, and man, does it get old.

The story is better than Firefight, since Wheeler doesn't try to cheat the story, but he's still not getting the characters right. These books are readable, but they don't add much to the larger story, even if you are one who's more interested in the Skywalker saga.

An antagonist's story meets a fitting conclusion, and two old friends venture out into the galaxy once more.

I like how elements of various characters' pasts contribute to a bittersweet narrative about finding one's way back, even if one was never there to begin with...if that makes sense.

Wheeler manages to make me feel empathy for the baddies and goodies alike.

Lune Divinian, the piloted hired by X-7 to take out Luke, is kidnapped from Rebel custody, prompting Luke to chase after him. An encounter with an old ally, and a plot to lure in X-7.

Enjoyable fifth of the six book arc, a bit more psychological than the others.