martytdx's Full Review: Gregory J. Keyes - Star Wars New Jedi Order: Final...
Note: For those of you who are familiar with the New Jedi Order storylines, please skip to Paragraph 2.
***CONTAINS SPOILERS***
What came before… The galaxy was at relative peace when they came – invaders unlike anything that had been seen before. Eschewing technology, undetectable in the Force, the Yuuzhan Vong blazed across the galactic disc, seemingly unstoppable. Worlds were crushed by their bio-engineered weapons of war, and even the Jedi faltered under their assault. The New Republic fought valiantly, but ultimately lost to the invaders. However, the Jedi – in league with the remnants of the New Republic and the Empire – are fighting back, finally hurting and even defeating the vicious Yuuzhan Vong. Two groups of heroes are leading the fight against the Vong: Luke Skywalker and the Jedi have found the legendary Zonoma Sekot, the living planet and are attempting to bring it into the war; Han and Leia Solo are leading the Galactic Alliance forces against the over-stretched Vong forces as they take back desperately needed worlds. Meanwhile, the Yuuzhan Vong are moving towards final victory as they strike at the remaining Alliance strongholds…
Word has reached the galaxy that the legendary Zonoma Sekot has been found by Luke Skywalker. The Alliance is increasing the pressure up against the sagging Yuuzhan Vong defenses, led by Wedge Antilles. But the word has also reached the Yuuzhan Vong, and despite Lord Shimarra’s insistence that it means nothing, three Yuuzhan Vong develop a plan to find out more:
Shaper Nem Yim has analyzed material from a Sekotan ship, and has found out something wondrous – and possibly fatal for the Vong; Nom Amor sees his prophecies coming true, and agrees to go with Nem Yim to investigate the mystical world; priest Harrar sees a chance to discover the true purpose of the Vong in this world…
Tahiri and Corran Horn are called together by Alliance security for a message sent by the Prophet – a chance to end the war, in exchange for passage to Zonoma Sekot. Horn, still unsure of Tarihi’s stability, agrees to go, knowing that the trip to get the Vong trio from their new homeworld could be a one-way trip – but also determined to see if they CAN stop this war.
Can Zonoma Sekot give both the Alliance and the Vong the answers they need to stop the devastation being inflicted across the galaxy?
I love the New Jedi Order series – I think that the Yuuzhan Vong storyline has been one of the best things to happen to the Star Wars universe since the original Expanded Universe (EU) novels by Timothy Zahn. The connection between the Prequels and the EU has been interesting to watch, as they brought back the Zonoma Sekot story first touched on in Greg Bear’s Rogue Planet. While the last book in the series, Reunion, told us the story of Luke and friends finding the planet, now we get to see the implications. Interestingly, those implications are not just from the Galactic Alliance’s side of things – the Yuuzhan Vong also have reason to find the planet. In fact, shaper master Nem Yim has discovered that the planet could give answers to both the beginning AND the end of the Yuuzhan Vong.
Greg Keyes makes his second foray into the New Jedi Order Universe (his first was the Edge of Victory duology), and continues with some of the characters he developed, namely Nem Yim. We find out more about her history, and her ‘relationship’ to the shaped Jedi, Tahiri. He does a good job with his own characters, giving them depth that made them almost … ahem, human. Not so good were his attempts to work with Corran Horn and Nom Amor – difficult characters at best to write.
The storyline of the Vong trying to find an ultimate truth on Zonoma Sekot is intriguing and that part of the story worked well. It was interesting to see how the Vong were going to deal with the truth when it stared them in the face, and how it would affect their people as a whole. Also interesting was how the planet was going to, in turn, deal with a people whom it had already had multiple conflicts with.
More and more, the stories seem to be tying up a lot of loose ends, even as Lucas is trying to make the connections between the prequel movies and the original trilogy. Like Shane Dix and Sean Williams before him, Keyes also was able to bring some more elements of the rest of the EU into the story in a way that made it interesting. A battle station in the Bilbringi system comes from out of the past to make an impact in the battle, and a visit to the ancient world of Dagobah takes us back to Luke’s early years as a Jedi. Both were nice touches which added to the books feel.
The battle scenes, while interesting, were not as well done as some of the others in the past. Granted, the story wasn’t really based on the battle and the struggle as much as the events leading to and from it would be. Still, with Wedge’s little war going on for about a quarter of the book, I thought that the scenes could have been a bit more compelling. That being said, one pivotal battle scene near the beginning of the book WAS a cool – if disturbing – tangent to read.
The focus on Tahiri was both compelling and maddening to read. I still don’t particularly like her character – not where they’ve taken her or what has happened to her, but HER. I’ve never really felt a care for her – if she had been killed off, I doubt I would have thought twice about it. However, she is becoming a larger part of the story because of her dual Vong/Jedi personalities, created by Nem Yim’s experiments. I understand that she will have a role in deciding the final outcome, but I’m kind of bored with her character as a whole. This isn’t Keyes’ fault, though – she’s been a weak character throughout the series since Anakin Solo was killed.
Overall, this book fits squarely in the middle of the New Jedi Order novels. It’s better than some, worse than some, but still interesting enough that I’m glad that I got it (of course, how could I not when I’ve read the 14 or so before it!). However, I’m REALLY looking forward to the finale of the series, The Unifying Force by James Luceno which arrives November 4. It will be the end of a major chapter of the Star Wars universe – and leaves me wondering what will come next.
As a beleaguered galaxy fights its way back from the brink of destruction, the Jedi's most fearsome enemy plots to end the war–and claim victory?...More at HotBookSale
As a beleaguered galaxy fights its way back from the brink of destruction, the Jedi's most fearsome enemy plots to end the war–and claim victory?...More at HotBookSale
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