Agreed, but blank101 assured me that it's going to be a temporary feature, so I hope a rejection of Bries manipulations ends it soon.

 

Gotta say I'm underwhelmed with the sequel so far. I don't think it's nearly up to the level of all his others so far. I found myself bored out of my skull, consistently able to predict what was gonna happen, and starting to skim, which has never happened to me during a blank fanfic before.

In fact, based on what's currently been posted, I'd go so far as to say I think it'd been better off if he just left it with no sequel. Hopefully it gets better from here on out.

 

I disagree.

Even with most of it stuff we'd seen before, I've definitely enjoyed the start of this one more than I did its predecessor.

 

I think one of the problems is the chapters are quite short. Looking at the old alerts from the first story, most of the stories sat at 7-15k words, while here, they've all been less than 8k.

You're just given little snippets and unlike the first one, we're not really sure what direction we're going in either. Result is I'm struggling to get pulled in so far.

But I'm sure that will improve as we get further in.

 

I think the chapters so far work as introduction for the reader and Luke himself.
We get to see what has become of Luke and Luke gets to see what happened to the Empire post Palpatine.
I expect one more similar chapter explaining what happened between stories and Luke fighting his addiction before we come to the meat of the story.

 

So it updated again, and I'm not sure what to think of it. On the one hand I still dislike that he can't get it in his thick head, that he would be better off without the spice. On the other hand he isn't as big a junkie as he was in the other chapters, so there's that.
But it does seem like we're nearing the meat of the story, so that's definitely a good thing.
But I'm gonna hold off judgement about the story, until it has progressed further, so far it seems decent, though the whole focus on him being highly addicted to spice is boring and uninteresting in my opinion (it was also the worst part of the first story in my opinion).

 

I'm enjoying the psychological battle that Brie and Luke seem to be having, though seeing it from Luke's point of view too much does seem to make it seem like he's got winning too easily. I wonder if blank will pull one on us and grind Luke down again.

Its not that I don't like an active and capable Luke, it's just that what was epic about the first story was the balance it had between success and failure for him.

 

I don't think Brie is that kind of antagonist, personally. I mean, At the Brink... kinda did that in a way I wasn't expecting, but ES had a very different theme because of where in the Emperors domination it started.

I definitely expect there to be sections where Luke feels trapped, beaten and slaved to his old life, but I just can't see Brie beating him to the same extent. Really, I think the throughline will be at least half with getting over the emperor, changing his answer to Jade from this chapter. Brie will be a separate and credible antagonist, but as with At the Brink a good portion of the focus will be on the legacy of the previous book.


(Also, by god do I want to see blank characterising Thrawn! I don't expect it, given the redheads on the cover, but there's still a chance...)

 

The first story started off with a very clear purpose from Chapter 1. It was about Han learning and exploring Luke's character, and then the two of them growing closer. So yeah, we got scenes of Luke both being fucking terrifying and ones of him being pitiful.

So far, there's nothing really to look forward to. There's no clear path ahead and it feels like we're just seeing events and interactions sort of happen. I'm sure that will change. I think what would help is more of Han's POV to be honest, because he has a pretty clear goal.

And +1 on Thrawn being a feature. He'd make a great antagonist (I really hope that doesn't fall to Brie).

 

Cover makes it a certainty that Brie is going to play a large role. Jade too, but we already know what direction that is going to go.

(Saying that, I would be very impressed if blank sends romance in an entirely different direction this time - even keeping Luke with Brie. His railroading to canon is well done, but still grates on me.)

 

I didn't really like this one as I don't care much for the original trilogy, but for others it's probably a very good story. The thing I noticed in the early chapters is that the author tends to repeat himself and that pacing is on the slow side. Maybe the slow pacing is a consequence of character driven stories, I can't tell. I pretty much skipped chapters 15-end as a result. There's only so much Palpatine telling the reader how he 1uped vader that I can take.

The sequel seems more of the same.

 

blank101 just confirmed that thrawn would not feature in Empire's Son unfortunately, but will feature in future stories he's writing:

 

In all the tumult over The Force Awakens you might have missed it, but this updated again. I think its starting to find its legs.

 

On my phone at the moment, so I won't link it, but the story updated again.

The plot's moving forward, and it's definitely the best chapter in awhile.

 

A return to form. For both luke and the author. After the drama with the spice and shira's manipulations it was good to see Luke kicking ass and taking names again.

 

Agreed, this was a great chapter, good to see that there was not a single mention of spice in the whole chapter. Really hope he continues in this direction, this is the kind of Luke I want to read about, not the bloody useless addict that he has been until now in this story.

 

updated Link

 

So the the plot has truly begun, I am very much looking forward to how this is going to go. This was a interesting, yet predictable, chapter.

 

Yesyesyes oh my god yes!

From the moment they said the word clones, I knew this was coming, but the execution was handled so well - especially with the already reignited conflict with Palpatine, who will also know exactly how much Luke caused his downfall.

Not to mention a revelation that came completely from left field. The red herring surrounding the codes to the second Death Star and the Executer was handled just well enough for me to believe it entirely.


But I think the reason I like this most is because it gives a completely clean cut between Empire's Son and the Son of Suns Trilogy. There, Palpatine post-death is a living challenge because of the legacy he has wrought upon his Heir - as much as he didn't want to die then, he absolutely did plan to be succeeded by Luke, as part of his Sith legacy, and his manipulations surrounding Kiara De'Arca, Mara, the inevitability of Luke's fall, and the rebellion are a key part of the plot there.

But in Empire's Son, you don't have a Emperor being succeeded by his groomed heir in a clean transition of power. Instead, you have a rebellion assassination attempt paired with a betrayal from a trusted acolyte.

Which is why we have a galaxy torn apart by warring Imperial factions, an Emperor still clinging onto the vestiges of power, and a protagonist far more swept up in the emotional manipulations of his master.

It also reflects the lack of closure for Luke surrounding Palpatine's defeat, which he had no direct role in - something I suspect will be entirely different for the reborn Emperor.

The political backdrop is also the most interesting of any of blank101's novels, in my opinion. The chaos of the Empire shaking itself apart has always been the most interesting part of the EU, too, and I hope this scenario will play out in a way that makes good use of Palpatine's vulnerable position to showcase a shakeup of the dynamic between him and Luke.


That being said, I had some reservations with how some of canon was incorporated. The nods to the Force Unleashed and Ysalmari were nice, but I didn't like the way cloning was portrayed. The idea that Spaarti cylinders are only good for cannon fodder flies in face of The Hand of Thrawn, as well as my preferred portrayal of Stormtroopers. The use of Ysalmari is contrary to The Thrawn Trilogy which, ignoring the indication that Thrawn invented their use in cloning, he certainly invented the nutrient frame - and the lack of regular refilling should have made them die over the past year.

 

Updated! Link