Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievable!!!
Review: Wow! Troy Denning has created a masterpiece in the art gallery of Star Wars. The attention to detail was incredible and the storyline had me captured for all of the day and a night it took me to read the book. I couldn't put it down! My only objection is waiting till Febuary for the next book in the New Jedi Order series. I do wonder whether or not it was a good idea to kill off [you know i can't say who;)]. I can't wait for the continuation of this series to see how the problems left over from this book are reolved.
Rating: 
Summary: a major let down
Review: with all the had happened in the two previous books i had expect a turnaround in this one. i was actually hoping things were going to get better with the birth of luke's son, not worse. instead this book is rather dark and there are characters that it just doesn't feel like they are acting like them selves. and i find the loss of not only a major but very important character very depressing. the only reason i finished this book is because it was a star wars novel, had it been anything else i wouldn't have. p.s. i really hope the author of the next book finds away to bring this character back
Rating:
Summary: "There's nothing you can do when you're the next in line..."
Review: The above lyric from Genesis's 'Domino' seems a bit too apt for this series. One of the best characters in the series,a legend among SW fiction, is killed off, nullifying some of the best buildup in the series and cutting its promise short. So many people have died, and for what? Because the authors can't find any other way rto make a good story or even create atmosphere. And that is the most dark and frightening thing about what has become the world of 'Star Wars' novels.Denning does a good job with the numerous battles and stories, although the whole idea of mutating vornskyrs sounds very forced and just about as absurb as a lot of the other brainless blabber in the series. Denning's a good writer, I'll admit, but at the same time 'Star by Star' plunges into the depths of terrible plotting. The infamous death is the worst of the series- now we have a well-known character who's been one of the most important in the series who is abruptly killed off. My question: Why? It seems the only way these NJO writers can create a good story is by killing off a major character or decimating some planet. And that's the real tradgedy. Must the SW universe suffer because its writers can't come up with anything original? There are other ways to create drama than killing off people. It especially bothers me that now Greg Keyes' books and the whole death of Chewie now seem to be pointless. Why add that in if the main character is going to be killed? Furthermore, in 'Star by Star' the enemies just seem faceless and prohibit the possibility of anything deep and philosohpical coming out of the conflict, like in Stackpole's latter X-wing comics. Those were thinking man's books. These are books where you fear for your favorite character's lives every time you turn the page and pray they'll make it to the next. It's a sorry state of affairs if they have to do that for every single book. There's nothing wrong with killing off characters, but something is wrong when you waste their lives and kill them off uselessly. Io took the deaths of Chewie and my beloved Elegos in stride, but now it seems Chewie died for nothing except to create a dark atmosphere that the authors originally couldn't make on their own. Furthermore, the only way they can make these books 'dark' is by killing off people. It's a terrible writer's crutch. Look at some of the segments of Stackpole's 'Mandatory Retirement', especially those on the ground on Ciutric. That's darkness, not because a Rogue dies, but because of the feeling of despair, helplessness, and the ideological clahes that bring out the hypocriscy that plagues both the Rebels and the Empire. Where's that in NJO? Where's the depth? While one may say this war is better because it's one more driven, more fierce, and more 'dark', it also has far less depth. In a political war one can examine to motivations and thought of each and every person involed, as was done in things like 'The Making of Baron Fel'. Here it's just people fighting to survive against a faceless enemy devoid of any signs of good characterization whose only motivation for their deeds is fanaticism, and even that is presented vaugely. The Vong are bad... because they're bad. The Empire was bad because it demonstrated hypocricy and bigotry and incurred a lust for power that destroyed it from the inside. Such elegances are lost in NJO. A good author could make Imperials human. Here nothing can make the vong anything more than mean, cardboard baddies who kill things because Yun Yammka said so. All I can say is that my interest in 'Star Wars' is rapidly declining, and I'll most likely only keep up with the NJO series through online plot summaries. I've been a huge fan of the Bantham boooks and an expert on many levels of SW. But now it's all falling apart. I'd rather had a tale of revolution and uprising than a bunch of repetitive stories about extragalactic freaks hacking people just to move the story along. Feel free to continue reading NJO series, of course. But this is the most flagrant example yet of why my faith in Lucasfilm and the NJO series is lost, and why this is one once-devout 'Star Wars' fan who is no longer so.
Rating:
Summary: One He!! Of A Book
Review: this book is really something I can't really right all that much about it without ruining the surprises, first a lot of charicters bite it in this one, including one that well have a far greater effect in the future than Cewbacca's. The Jedi and the New Republic score some victorys, but they lose just as much, the worse blow being scored against the Solo's.
Lots of stuff happens, and it leaves you wanting more, the next book in the timeline comes out in Feb. so we got a bit of time to wait.
Rating:
Summary: Star by Star
Review: This is by far the best book from the "New Jedi order" Series. at over 600 pages, it is almost two books in one. There are so many surprises and mysteries. I recommend this book to everyone, but you should be fully caught up in the New Jedi Order series, so you don't clue yourself in without knowing the background.You think you might know the Star Wars Universe, but after Star by Star, you don't know anything. Everything changes.
Rating: 
Summary: This just blows your mind away.
Review: This book is very, very good, and I would recommend it to anyone who has read any of the other NJO series books. It completely blew me away. I read it, slept, then read it more, and when I slept, I even dreamed about the Yuuzhan Vong. It just can't e put down. But this book is where the battle gets serious. People die. Big characters die. In fact, my favourite character died. It makes you feel worried that someone might die, because you know that it is possible that they might die. The only criticism that I would have is that the character that died had a lot of future potential for other books, and in the previous books their character had been building up layer by layer for the reader. But it does add an edge to the proceedings that is lacking in many other fiction novels. If you are a SW fan, then this is a must-get.
Rating:
Summary: A Much Darker New Jedi Order
Review: This was by far my favorite NJO book since Vector Prime. Troy Denning does a marvelous job and I hope that future authors will be able to carry on the story as well. I had been very discontent with the role of the Jedi in the New Jedi Order. The passive role of the Jedi was really annoying in my point of view. This book changes that. For the first time since the Vong invaded the Jedi carry the fight to them and score major victories. I am glad that the Jedi are taking a more active roll in these books. I can't believe that Anakin Solo died. I figured that he and his siblings were off limits. He was the LAST person that I expected to be killed off, but I guess that is a good thing. Chewbacca was just a minor character and not very well developed. If they will kill off Anakin then ANYONE can be killed off. If you're like me then Borsk Fey'lya has been an annoyance since before Vector Prime, and he finally meets his end in this book. He, like Anakin however, went out in a blaze of glory and kind of made up for his actions in the past. I also hope that Jaina's turn to the Dark Side is further developed in future books and not just forgotten or reversed suddenly. I am anxious to read the next book, Dark Journey. But now that the Vong have captured Coruscant, I am wondering how that the authors will be able to pull off a victory for the good guys without making it sound corney. The bad guys have won so much it really does seem slim that the New Republic will win in the end. Perhaps they don't . . .
Rating:
Summary: Changing the face of Star Wars...
Review: Troy Denning, one of the origional writers of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, shows he know's his stuff. In this 606 page story, we see Jedi from the older Bantam books return, we see unparalled action, and we see events that will once again, shake the Star Wars universe to its core. After reading this book, I have to say that it is one of my favorite SW books of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: I have read almost every star wars books and this one was just astounding. If you wanted unending action and unexpected twists this is the book to read of all of the new jedi order. Though I am a bit dissapointed in Troy Dennings view of how much power Anakin Skywalker had. He truly did not understand how much power that he wielded in the past and the continuous statements in all the other novels of hist huge ability in the force. Troy's view of Anakin Skywalker is more than tragic, it is irrisponsible. Excpetially in killing him in this book. Did he not read the previous books? Is there not someone handleing consistancies throught this multi-book New jedi order? Did he forget the statements that Tahiri and Anakin as a team would win this war and that pair was the new jedi order? Besides that glowing error(which is major) The book is a must read for all.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, but characters seem unrealistic
Review: This book had a great plotline, but there are some real problems. I didn't like the character death (sorry, ain't gunna telll you WHO dies... I had to read it, so will you), it seemed to me that the wrong person died. Leia's character seemed weird, I don't know, just something weird about how she was portrayed. I did like how the author actually suggests that Luke and Mara... act like spouses, as well as how they were treated. I give it a three mainly because of characterization.
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