I loved this book. That was a no brainer! Although a few things did stand out for me. I was astonished when I read that Angral and Adraas were disapproving of emotional attachment, yet I've always felt that, for the Dark Side, you would be allowed. But then I realised it was because they viewed it as a weakness (which wasn't the surprise) and that they were concerned that he had a weakness. They were looking out for him, in a sense (which was the surprise).

Another thing, was that it was too short! Okay, the book length was decent and right for the story, I'm just being greedy here. I wanted more! I wanted to see so much of the worlds and the galaxy and the political goings on, and how the Jedi were reacting to the loss of the Temple, but we saw none of that! This saddened me, but again, I get why, as it would have been out of place for that book.

I think the reason they disapproved was that Malgus went out of his way to protect her during and after the attack on the temple. His weakness was not that he had emotional attachment but that he was willing to put himself and his mission at risk. Had he left her to die I think they would not have an argument. Malgus protected her during the battle and got her special medical treatment after. I also think Angral and Adraas wanted Malgus out of the way since he wanted the war to continue while Angral and Adraas wanted political gains from the treaty.

Actually, I don't think Angral and Adraas mentioned Malgus' weakness to him to help him, but because it was a nice cheap shot they could use against him. They knew that it was his weakness and they were trying to use it against him. Firstly they could torment him about how he had a weakness and that he wasn't as all powerful and important as he thought he was. Secondly, it gave them justification for replacing him.

Of course this backfired because their taunting ultimately caused him to sever his weakness and then go about destroying them.

The story of Malgus really ended with signs that he has a lot more story to be told. It's likely that we'll get this story in the TOR game, but do you think the Drew Karpyshyn novel might cover some of it, or perhaps other future books? I'd love to see more Malgus in written form. As for the others, I think that Z-Man and the rest should live happily ever after, but there is that little catch that Z-Man is likely related to Jaden Korr. They could always explore more with him for that reason.

I agree Z-man and Aryn should be left in peace. I wonder if Jaden's connection to Z-man will be revealed during Riptide. Kemp has done a great job with both Cross Current and Deceived so I am willing to wait and see how it comes together.

I would love more Malgus stories. I would love to see how he will bring on his vision of a galaxy in flames. I would also love to see his adventures in the Unknown Regions. I am in no hurry to see his rise to power in the Sith ranks (assuming that will happen), I think we got plenty of that with the Darth Bane series.

I loved this novel; truly, it's in my top five SW novels of all-time, and the characters are some of my favorite in all of the galaxy far, far away. The vivid imagery, heavy characterization, both direct and indirect, and great pacing lent to an amazing read. It was perfect length and had great moments all along the way. Not only a great way to introduce to TOR era, but really SW to anyone who has the slightest interest in the movies.

I liked this one, but I think it was so overhyped by fans (not here, just in general) that I felt it didn't live up to the high expectations - especially considering that I'd already placed high expectations on it given the subject matter. It's certainly a great read, but I feel that all the clamoring of "BEST STAR WARS BOOK EVER!" is really... well, untrue. In fact, I enjoyed Crosscurrent far more than this. I liked the fast pace, and didn't mind the page length for once (especially considering how short this was). I just felt that Darth Malgus was a secondary character, which I hated. He doesn't appear in every chapter, whereas Zeerid and Aryn did - and they were two characters that I didn't much care for. Zeerid kind of grew on me as the story progressed, but Aryn never did. I thought the ending wrapped things up FAR too easily, with Vrath's fate the only real shocker for me (and why the heck was his last name Xizor? Bad idea, IMO). When he did show up, I tended to really enjoy Malgus's characterization, but I thought that he got shafted a bit for the sake of telling a story. He seemed so powerful... and I think that humanizing him a bit more... kind of took away from the mystique he had in the trailers. Also, I have no idea why almost every single character's name started with the letter "A." I had a lot of trouble keeping people's names straight. You've got Arra and Aryn, two similar names that both have four letters. And the two other Sith had names that were exceedingly similar. It was jarring, and I didn't care for it - I hate constantly flipping back to the DP to remember who is who.

if the entire story focused on Malgus, in every single chapter, that would have killed the story. You would rather have all Malgus, all the time, at the risk of not having a real story? If anyone is to blame for the hype of this book, it's Bioware and Del Rey. It deserved the hype of being a good book, but they shouldn't have tried to sell it so much as a "Malgus history book". It was just a TOR novel with Malgus as one of the characters. I was expecting a totally different kind of book as well. Meeting all of these other characters surprised me, but now that I think about it, I shouldn't have been so shocked. The story can't revolve around one dude. It would have been pretty boring if it had.

Right, and seeing all the other characters, done so well, only opens more avenues for the era and the characters themselves. Honestly, who can't relate to Ayrn's desire of revenge? Malgus' frustration that he sees exactly what's going in, but can't do a single thing about it. The fact that it was able to leave character names in my brain, a sense of the era, both immediate and pre, and make me care is what draws me to it as a top five. Sometimes, simple is better, and this is one case; we don't need battles that take entire chapters, or overly complicated action. Kemp's ability to cut through all that, yet still give us what we need for it to be fun and exciting, is why I feel Deceived is truly special.

No, I'm not saying I wanted Malgus all the time. But like you said, the book was hyped as a book that focused on Malgus. He wasn't the focus, though. He was a secondary character that took a backseat to Aryn and Zeerid. I went into the novel fully expecting a focus similar to how Karpyshyn highlighted Darth Bane, and in that regard, I was left high and dry. The book did not accomplish what I had hoped it would. Still a great read, but definitely not one of the best.

Come on, Aryn wanting revenge? What EU story DOESN'T have a Jedi character like that? It's almost a cliche at this point, the amount of original character Jedi that have to straddle the line between light and dark. There was absolutely nothing new in Aryn's character arc, and I think that's what made her an awful character.

And what makes Darth Malgus an interesting character? I hear that so often: that Darth Malgus is somehow the most complex Sith Lord ever. Um, what? He's got the mentality of a grade school kid. He's got an attachment he knows he shouldn't have, and he has problems handling things with finesse like a Sith Lord should. Ok... and how does that add up to being complex? Because he can see himself being maneuvered out of favor? That happens to people in real life all the time, seeing the writing on the wall and being able to do nothing about it. There's absolutely nothing riveting there.

Plus, almost every single bit of the book is predictable. You know that when Zeerid gets the call to spice run his stuff to Coruscant, you know he'll hook up with Aryn before he gets there. You know that Malgus won't die. You know that Zeerid will get the prosthetic legs for his daughter. You know that Zeerid and Aryn will end up together. The only thing that caught me off-guard (though I suppose it shouldn't have) was Vrath's death - which I absolutely loved.

Look, the book is a great read. It's fast-paced, and tells a decent story. But to say that it's a better book than Revenge of the Sith, Labyrinth of Evil, The Unifying Force, Traitor, Shatterpoint, the Darth Bane stuff, Hard Contact, Rogue Squadron, Sacrifice, Vortex, Abyss... etc etc. You see what I'm saying? There's a lot of FANTASTIC reads in the EU already, and while Fatal Alliance and Deceived have proven that TOR has a great potential for fantastic stories... Deceived comes nowhere near the pedigree of established greats.