David's Review of Coruscant Nights III: Patterns of Force

5/5 Rancors - Patterns of Force is the excellent third book in the Coruscant Nights trilogy by Michael Reaves. I liked this one the best of the three. We have the same basic cast of characters, plus an extremely interesting addition. Jax Pavan, one of the few remaining Jedi, is still the lead guy. He struggles to avoid Darth Vader’s attempts to capture him, and he continues to lead his unusual band of individuals – Den Dhur, I-5YQ, Rhinann, Laranth Tarak, and the Zeltron Dejah Duare. Readers of the first two books will be very familiar with all of these characters.

The interesting addition is Kajin Savaros, a teenage boy who is on his own in Coruscant and is adept in the Force but completely untrained. The boy has tremendous Force skills, so he manages to stay alive. However, he has limited control over his use of the Force and continually calls unwanted attention to himself and his location. Jax becomes his mentor and tries to help him get control of his skills.

A number of things reach a head in this tale. Jax continues to struggle with what his late father would have had him do. I-5 seriously considers making an attempt to assassinate the Emperor, and we all suspect that such a move is likely not a good idea. The group also has to be constantly on guard to avoid giving themselves away to the Inquisitors, Force-sensitive henchmen who have been tasked with finding the remaining Jedi.

I greatly admired the way Mr. Reaves maintained a high level of suspense until the end. You might think that after two books and most of a third that a reader could predict the outcome. I did not find that to be the case. Yes, certainly I knew that they would not succeed in killing the Emperor or Darth Vader. However, I did not know which characters would survive a final face-to-face confrontation with Vader or what kind of shape they would be in at the end. I hope that in the future Mr. Reaves will let us share in the adventures of these characters again.