The suspense ratchets up in the third installment of the Fate of the Jedi series through a deeper understanding of the true enemy that has awoken.
As Luke and Ben Skywalker continue searching through the Maw Cluster — trying to unravel the mystery of the Force madness infecting young Jedi — a secret sect of Sith stumbles upon a world possessed by an unimaginable evil.
Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, the Solo family deals with the escalating political situation, trying to hold the crumbling Jedi Order together.
Luke and Ben’s findings are thought provoking and gives us a glimpse into the nebulous afterlife of the Force.
Abyss is a book that concerns itself with establishing just what our heroes are up against, the strength and nature of the villains.
It mostly does this through Vestara, the young Sith apprentice who winds her way through the intrigues of the Lost Tribe of the Sith, gaining our empathy in the process.
At a time when the political pressures, caused by the rebuilding of the
Galactic Alliance, are straining relations between the Jedi and Chief of
State, Cal Omas, a mysterious call for help is sent through the Force to
young Jedi Knights — including Jaina and Jacen Solo.
The Joiner King is the first in the three-book Dark Nest series that has the task of tying up loose ends from the New Jedi Order series and laying the foundation for the Legacy of the Force series. Something it accomplishes with depth to spare.
The book has some engagingly bizzare twists and turns, and features an
excellent example of why even the kindest Jedi should not rule over the normal beings of the galaxy.
A good portion of the Dark nest series is spent studying what happens when wise, good people adamantly disagree on what the right thing to do is. No one is completely wrong, but each one thinks they are completely right. The uncertain compromises and strained empathy that twist through this book are made even more complicated by the specter of brainwashing that hovers over our heroes.
The Joiner King ties these knots of opinion and prejudice, leaving us wondering how they could ever be untied.
Yoda:Dark Rendezvous follows two Padawans — spunky Scout Esterhazy and haunted Whie Malreaux — as they help Jedi Master Yoda sneak to a secret rendezvous with Count Dooku in the middle of the clone wars.
The character arcs of Scout and Whie are the driving force of the book.
Scout’s gives us a previously unseen view of what it’s like to only have
just enough Force power to be considered for Jedi training. And Whie’s is a compelling musing on just how unchangeable visions of the future actually are.
All the settings are vividly described, particularly the planet of Vjun where Dooku conducts the war. It is wonderfully spooky, so atmospheric you feel the claustrophobia of the blood stained mansion where the final confrontation takes place.
This marvelous book has Yoda at his best. It captures every aspect of his personality from the weathered mentor to the impish prankster, and makes the improbable relationship between him and Dooku utterly believable.
Taking place a millennia before the events of the Star Wars movies, Darth Bane gives us the chance to see what the ancient brotherhood of the Sith were like and why they changed over to the “Rule of Two” that marks the Sith in the later films.
The change comes in the form of the lowly miner, Dessel, who learns the ways of the Sith — only to realize how little they truly understand.
Darth Bane is an unapologetically evil anti-hero, which he is proud of. Yet, the book manages the feat of having the reader root for Bane, to want him to achieve his goals. His likability comes from seeing him continue to come back stronger after being beaten down over and over again.
The Sith culture presented is remarkably detailed, and gives insight into their beliefs and training.
We are also given an interesting look at the ancient Jedi order. Their individualistic culture serves as an interesting contrast to the more monastic order we saw in Episodes 1-3.
The first book in the New Jedi Order series, Vector Prime shows a galaxy about to be hit by a threat the likes of which has never been seen before.
Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara, Han and Leia Solo and their children are traveling across the galaxy, trying to keep the fraying New Republic together. Will they be able to read the warning signs of this new menace before it’s too late?
Vector Prime is a chilling novel that vividly sketches the Yuuzhan Vong culture and sets a solid foundation for the New Jedi Order series.
Nom Anor serves as a perfect device for describing the Vong, his cold and atheistic view of his own zealotical species giving him just the right amount of detachment necessary for describing the Vong to us when the other point-of-view characters don’t even know they exist.
Yomin Carr’s infiltration of the scientific outpost plays out almost like a thriller, and the scenes of Luke and Mara trying to figure out what happened to the post are wonderfully suspenseful. As are all the scenes of confusion and awe over the Yuuzhan Vong. And the EU-changing tragedy at Sernpidal is handled with a sense of foreboding and inevitability which perfectly fits the situation in the book.
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are sent to a mysterious world named Zonama Sekot set on the edge of unknown space to retrieve a sample of their strange and powerful technology. What they don’t know is that a Commander Tarkin of the Trade Federation is also headed to investigate the planet and, if necessary, subject it to his will.
The main arc of Rogue Planet concerns Anakin Skywalker’s first real conflict with the Dark Side hidden within him.
His reactions and emotions during that trial are presented realistically, and with a respect for his hardships and his desire to do good, that makes him nearly impossible to simplify into just a future villain.
The book also introduces characters and ideas that form a good bit of the plot of the New Jedi Order novels, and Rogue Planet could be viewed as a prologue to that series.
On the whole, Rogue Planet is a captivating story with it’s strong heroes, menacing villains, exotic creatures and chilling foreshadowing.
Newlyweds Luke and Mara Skywalker are called to the Unknown Regions by the secretive Chiss to help unravel a mystery surrounding the ancient Jedi mission called Outbound Flight. Survivors Quest serves as a kind of epilogue to Outbound Flight,tying up loose ends and giving closure to some of Outbound Flights characters.
The book is a slow-burning adventure story, with the tension building up to a remarkable twist about two thirds of the way in — that throws our heroes into an exciting game of cat and mouse. The book keeps a pretty tight focus on Luke and Mara, giving us a lovely look at their pre-Vong War relationship. And it satisfactorily deals with how Mara interacted with the Empire, as it shifted from a chaotic cabal of evil warlords into the relatively peaceful Imperial Remnant.
Darth Maul Shadow Hunter follows the Jedi padawan Darsha Assant on her mission to retrieve a Nemodian spy with valuable information from the darkest depths of Coruscant.
This book takes place just a few days before The Phantom Menace begins, and is essentially one long chase scene winding through the murk of lower Coruscant.The author brings a wonderful amount of detail and richness to that world, both in his descriptions of scenery and the seedy characters that live in it.
Perhaps because it is necessary to keep Darth Maul an enigma the book has relatively few scenes just featuring Darth Maul, instead focusing mainly on the way others react to him — a strategy that works very well for his character.
The lead characters of Darsha Assant and Lorn Pavan are compelling and well written. They have real personality and the author does a great job making the reader care about them in a very short amount of time.
The third entry in the New Jedi Order series, Dark Tide – Ruin deals with
the galaxy wide reaction to the Yuzzan Vong invasion.
Leia and Jaina Solo travel to the Imperial Remnant to warn their former
enemies of the growing threat. The gentle senator Elegos A’Kla goes to meet with the Vong Commander Shedao Shai in the hope of resolving the conflict through negotiation.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and Anakin Solo chase the misled Jedi Daeshara’cor, across the galaxy to prevent her from escalating the war with her rash actions.
One of the things this book excels at is creating believable relationships
and realistic conversations between characters. That ability livens up the quieter scenes in Leia and Jaina’s journey, and makes Corran Horn’s
pathos-filled sub-plot one of the more memorable arcs in the early NJO.
Coruscant Nights – Jedi Twilight is the first book of the Couscant Nights series set two months after Revenge of the Sith. In this book, Jedi-in-hiding Jax Pavan learns of a mysterious droid his old master died trying to locate, and he decides to finish his masters quest. Meanwhile, the Sullustan reporter Den Dhur and the droid I-5YQ are looking for Jax, trying to deliver a message from the father he never knew.
Jedi Twilight is a character driven, detective noir influenced book that
perfectly merges the mood of Revenge of the Sith with the feel of the
original trilogy. It shows the characters coming to terms with the evil
empire they are now under and figuring out what they can do about it.
The book has a large cast of vibrant and unique characters, from old
favorites like Nick Rostu to memorable new ones like the Elomin
Rhinann. And the look we get into the inner workings of the criminal
syndicate Black Sun is a fascinating power play to watch.
