Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 6: Inferno by Troy Denning comes on the heels of Sacrifice, the enjoyable and memorable previous book in this series. After the intensity of Sacrifice, it is only natural that Inferno would let up a bit in terms of telling the overall story of Legacy of the Force. It feels a bit like the beginning of Act IV of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Other than that, I really don’t have much to specifically point to that is memorable or enjoyable, but likewise there is nothing about Inferno that put me off either. There is still a sense that the story being told in Legacy of the Force is progressing well, but it clear to the reader that the story is at a point where it is between any significant events.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 5: Sacrifice by Karen Traviss is the type of story that compels me to continue reading Star Wars books. It has everything I come to expect from a good Star Wars novel: action, intrigue, detailed plot, good characterizations, significant memorable events within the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and edge of your seat anticipation as to what happens next. Even though while reading Sacrifice it is not all that difficult to figure out what will happen at the end, it was still exciting to read. While it is not always easy to avoid spoilers in books such as this, I’d rather not be the one spoiling things in this case, so I’ll leave it at that.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 4: Exile by Aaron Allston leaves the reader with a very similar impression as did the previous book in this series (Tempest by Troy Denning). The larger storyline moves on its logical progression in an entertaining and enjoyable way. Ben Skywalker is tested to determine if he is worthy of being a Sith in the eyes of Jacen and Lumiya. Jacen’s relationship with his parents crumbles as he continues on the path to becoming a Sith Lord. There are not really any other specifics in the book that I can point to which make it enjoyable, other than how it progresses the storyline of Legacy of the Force and makes me want to continue reading this series.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Tempest by Troy Denning is book 3 in the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series. Despite the fact that not much of significance happens in this book, it is well written and an enjoyable read which progresses the story being crafted in Legacy of the Force along its logical path. Tempest returns the focus of the story solely on the Solos and the Skywalkers, highlighted by the tension between Jacen and his parents and the confrontation of Luke and Mara with Lumiya.

Boba Fett, featured prominently in the previous book in this series, is nowhere to be found. This fact is neither a plus nor a minus in my mind, but rather illustrates the fact that each author in this series has their own favorite characters whom they chose to write about. In Troy Denning’s case, that character is Alema Rar.

It’s not always easy to judge individual books within a series such as this, as some books cannot stand alone and must be read as part of the series. But within the context and enjoyment of the Legacy of the Force series, Tempest works well.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Bloodlines by Karen Traviss continues the Legacy of the Force series where Betrayal left off. Bloodlines features the return of one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars Universe: Boba Fett. No one writes Fett and the Mandalorians better than Karen Traviss. But at times I got the sense that the inclusion of Boba Fett in the story that the Legacy of the Force series is telling was simply a way to appease fan interest in Fett. I guess we’ll have to wait and see just how much a role Fett will continue to play in the looming civil war and the growing apart that is occurring between Ben and Jacen and their families, as Ben grows closer to Jacen and Jacen grows closer in spirit to Lumiya.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 1: Betrayal by Aaron Allston begins a 9 part series written by three authors who alternate writing each book in the series. After the sprawling and inconsistent 19 book New Jedi Order series, the editors at Del Rey and Lucasfilm decided the next series should focus on a smaller scope featuring just the main characters and include only a limited number of experienced Star Wars authors.

Betrayal begins in a rather mediocre way and much of the book continues that theme until the end. Even though tensions between the planet Corellia and the Galactic Alliance mount, and Ben Skywalker and Jacen Solo pursue a couple of dangerous missions together, the real excitement of the book begins when Jacen meets and confronts Lumiya, the dark lady from the original Marvel comics Star Wars series.

The ending of this book had me riveted. The dialog between Jacen and Lumiya is some of the most compelling I have read in any Star Wars book, and the decisions and actions taken by Jacen are best left unspoiled.

Betrayal is a good beginning to a promising series, even though the book doesn’t really heat up until the end.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Civil War: Companion can’t really be called a comic book. It is prose. Collecting Civil War Files, Civil War: Battle Damage Report, the Daily Bugle Civil War Special Edition, and two Marvel spotlight issues, the book provides background information rather containing any stories.

And only the Civil War Files and Battle Damage Report contained any useful information. The other stuff was all throw-aways. The Civil War Files was aimed at readers such as myself who didn’t exactly know who every character in the Civil War storyline was and needed either an introduction or a refresher course. The Battle Damage Report was probably the most useful as it recaps each character’s decision regarding the war and the impact or changes the war had on them. But most of this information can be found on Wikipedia anyway.

Rating: 2 out of 10.

Subtitled “Inside the Cutthroat Race from Wharton to Wall Street,” The Running of the Bulls chronicles the stories of approximately seven undergraduate students of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. The book focuses on the recruiting process that these students of the Class of 2004 went through, and what their lives were like for the first year at their Wall Street jobs. As a Wharton alum myself, I was naturally intrigued by the details of what students in the class of 2004 experienced as opposed to when I attended.

The book can be broken down into roughly three sections: an introduction to the school and the students, a brief history of finance in the United States with insight into working on Wall Street, and the detailed accounts of the career paths of several students.

There are a number of details in the book that I found myself disagreeing with, not being able to relate to, or felt could have changed about Wharton since my days there. But when thinking about it, most of those things I disagree with just seemed like nitpicking. The biggest problem I have with the book comes from the Author’s Note at the end of the book. The author states “I also wanted to demystify the infamous Wharton stereotype, one that was both Darwinistic and masochistic.” While I realize that the author tries to present several different perspectives of students experiences, job searches, and career goals at Wharton, the person who makes the biggest impression on the reader is a woman who sacrifices everything in pursuit of her career. For me, this only serves to reinforce the stereotype.

From my experience at Wharton, the people who fit the Darwinistic and masochistic stereotype certainly did exist, but these people were a small minority. The personalities of the students I knew at Wharton really were not all that different from college students I knew and met at other schools.

What I found differed most about being in the undergraduate program at Wharton was the rapid pace of learning in the curriculum. The curriculum advances the undergraduate juniors and seniors to a level that is similar to what is being taught at many graduate school programs. This fact and many other details about what makes Wharton unique were glanced over or left out completely from The Running of the Bulls. Aside from a few references to Steiny-D, Hey Day, and “The Red and Blue,” The Running of the Bulls could have been written about students who apply for jobs on Wall Street from any school.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10.