Rating: 
Summary: Read the entire series and read this again - it's great!
Review: "predictable hazing" is a good term for the reviews I've read here not favorable to Vector Prime...I don't agree - to introduce and get readers to buy into a completely new plot line in Star Wars is no small task. I highly recommend this book to any SW fan, but be forewarned, the series is addicting. When I look back at how well this book foreshadows so many of the events, introduces new characters and shatters illusions about the invincibility of the standard SW cast of characters, I can only rate this a "high five" - :-)
Rating: 
Summary: Good start to a Good Series
Review: Let me start by saying that i love star wars. Always have, always will. I read a lot of star wars books for a while but then i kinda took a break. When i saw that i new series started, i thought hey, why dont i give it a chance, start reading some star wars again. I had my socks blown off. I read this book in about a day, which is pretty good for me. I didnt put it down. I even begged my parents to drive me to the store so that i could buy the next two books in the series also. So i dont know why so many fans hate the New Jedi Order. In fact it got me back into star wars. Oh spoilers ahead though, the reason i didnt give this book five stars is because they killed off one of the main characters who everybody loves. I mean killing Chewbacca only led to some bad times for Han that no one enjoyed to read. So other than that this is one of the best star wars series ever. Go get it now.
Rating:
Summary: Finally
Review: Finally, a Star Wars book where the enemy has a chance! Not a stupid plot about a new superweapon. There is a threat. The last time the Republic looked like it would have to actually pay attention to an enemy was with Thrawn, now there is someone else.
Bad: They make it a short book, then have a sequel so you pay more money. These new SW books just don't cut it. Back in the day... when Bantam published, they were longer and contained better stories. Now... it is meaningless to read them, but this one is interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Wow, Dark and Intense!!!!!!!
Review: This opening to the New Jedi Order hits the reader where it hurts the most, his or her heart. The effective narrative pulls with anticipation and moves at the speed of light. The scenes are so darkly graphic that it is easy to tell that the Star Wars novels have matured. Even the death of a major character is involved. Also, the Yuuzhan Vong are such a biological threat to the major characters that they even rival the Emperor himself. Nom Anor, the Yuuzhan Vong leader, is characterized with style and darkness that it brings back recollections of Darth Vader. If this is how the series opens, I wonder how it will end. Intensity begins on the first page and ends on the last. You won't be disappointed. I couldn't recommend this book more. It is worth every penny. Purchase the book and behold the wonder of Star Wars again.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't make it to pg. 100
Review: The people who liked this book aren't SW fans; they're sci-fi fans. There's a big difference. SW isn't sci-fi. Lucas said that HIMSELF. Why these writers & fans don't GET that I don't understand. What went wrong? See other bad reviews to get a complete list. As for Chewie's death...inexcusable. #1- if you're going kill off this type of character, have some foreshadowing, draw it out; let us know what's going on his head, make us cry. And for God's Sakes, let us know there was no other way. None of this applied to Chewie's death. He was just gone & there was a dozen different ways he didn't have to die. #2- The 'we wanted to kill a beloved character to bring uncertainty to the story & make you fear for the other characters' is almost ALWAYS a load of crap. After killing 1 beloved character, how often has a writer - or in this case, a corporation - turned around & killed another? Please. As for the 'new' enemy....if you hated the Ssi-Ruuk, you're going to DESPISE these Star Trek rejects. As I read about them, all I could think was 'you killed off Grand Admiral Thrawn & TWO Emperor clones, making the Empire a bunch of pansies for this?' Like in too many other cases, the coporation - after creating a new generation of interesting heroes - failed to make a new generation of interesting villians.
Rating: 
Summary: Good SciFi, Bad Star Wars & Bad Editing
Review: I had a bad feeling when those who now control the Expanded Universe decided to kill Chebacca. They had a good idea to pump something new in the EU with an invasion from outside the galaxy. So here is SW fans were left with - A series of prequel books and movies that must necessarily be dark... and a new series NJO that starts off dark. Why was it also necessary to kill beloved characters?
Rating: 
Summary: The Beginning of the End
Review: To many Star Wars bibliophiles, R.A. Salvatore's "Vector Prime" signified the end of a classic literary sub genre. Prior to this particular novel, the Star Wars license had been in the capable hands of Bantam: a publishing house that had remained faithful to the fun-loving essence of the series. With the much-publicized entrance of Vector Prime, the license was transferred to Del Rey and, thenceforward, the story arcs took a darker turn. Del Rey introduced the deaths of both canonical and expanded universe characters, the quixotic pandering to an even younger audience, the introduction of collectivist ideology and politically correct undertones. Through these both sweeping and subtle changes, the space operatic wonder of earlier Star Wars literature was lost and in its place a mere empty shell remained. Vector Prime itself is readable, but lacks the exciting flair of the traditional Bantam epics. The previous having been said, I suggest the reader avoid the New Jedi Order series altogether.
Rating:
Summary: how could they.........
Review: THEY KILLED HIM! although it is a well written book, i cant condone the killing of chewie, one of the best charactors in the star wars universe.
Rating:
Summary: Salvatore should stick to Forgotten Realms!
Review: I am a big fan of Salvatore's Drizz't novels and was excited when he came out with a Star Wars book. Seeing that he was influenced by Star Wars greatly in many of his other novels ... I thought he would succeed as a worthy adition to the somewhat lacking class of Star Wars authors. Well in my opinion he really failed to meet expectations. One of Salvatore's great skills is not superior writing or story but his ability to create such wonderful, diverse and convincing characters. Well tackling the Star Wars universe seems to have thwarted his creative ability since he was required to use existing characters. I find this is the case for most of the Star Wars novels since none of the authors can truly keep any of the main charters in line with their film counterparts. Salvatore struggled with them greatly. At times their emotion and personality was nowhere near what George Lucas had established. ... The enemy race the Vuuzhan Vong or however were a pretty chinsy foe and it seems authors are really stretching for Star Wars ideas. The book was enjoyable for the most part as a Star Wars story but nowhere near what Salvatore is capable of. Timothy Zahn still is the only author to succeed in writing convincing Star Wars books in my mind.
Rating:
Summary: Here come the Vong, hang on to your ships!!!
Review: It was with a bit of trepidation that I started the first book in the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series, Vector Prime. It's been a long while since I've read a Star Wars book, and the ones I had read before weren't the greatest. However, I've heard good things about this series, so I decided to pick the first one up. And I am glad I did. While it's not an outstanding book, it is a very good one. It's well-written with lots of action scenes, and brought back a bit of a feeling of the movies. There are many good things about this book. The Empire no longer exists, but the Yuuzhan Vong seem like they will be a formidable enemy for Luke and his friends. They have that seemingly unstoppable quality about them that brings to mind the Empire, but they are different enough that they don't seem like retreads. The Vong are a very organic species. They use living things as their ships as well as many of their weapons. Insects that are bred to cut through the metal of ships or that cut through flesh with the slightest touch. I found them a very interesting species, and I think they will be an intriguing enemy for the New Republic to fight. I look forward to reading more about them in subsequent books. The main characters are well done. They are the same characters we know and love from the movies, but they have changed enough to acknowledge that they are older and wiser now. They seem a little bit more resigned to their battles, not glorying in them as they used to. Han and Leia, with teenage children now who want to be in the thick of the action, realize that their kids are becoming what they were all those years ago. Luke and his wife, Mara Jade, are also very interesting. Luke's dilemma about the Jedi Council seems like something that will come up in later books, as he doesn't have a lot of time to think about the idea in this one. It adds to the feeling of a series, as the reader gets the idea that more is happening than just what is going on in the story itself. Mara is fighting off a mysterious illness that seems to be infecting some people sensitive to the Force, and while she continues to battle hard, it's a battle that it looks like she may lose. The main characters are given interesting problems to deal with and it makes them people you want to read about. The death of a major character is stunning (unless, of course, you've heard all about it already), and it bodes well for this series. You will never know whether or not a character who is in danger will actually die. This really sets the tone for the entire series, one that will be dark and where anything can happen. But don't worry. There are numerous light moments in this book as well, despite the foreboding feel of the plot. The good-natured competition between the three Solo children is great, and the interplay between Lando and the others is quite good as well. One of the major problems with this book is Danni Quee and the other characters who are at the edge of the galaxy, monitoring. They are the first ones to notice the Vong coming, though they think at first it's just an asteroid or something. However, the problem is that these are some of the most uninteresting characters I've read about in awhile. They go through the motions of what they are supposed to do, fulfilling their functions happily but not engaging the reader's interest at all. Whenever they appear on the stage, the story grinds to a halt. They don't even register much when they meet their inevitable fate. Danni gets off better than the rest, but that's because she has more of a function. It's almost like Salvatore needed some characters to have Danni play off of, but otherwise didn't want to expend much effort in them. Another problem is that the book is overwritten a bit. One thing I hate is when exclamation marks are used by the narrator. I think that it's an attempt to add false tension and excitement to a book, and it really turns me off. Salvatore does that a few times in this book, and it brought me up short each time. It's annoying, and I wish authors would stop doing that. The book was exciting enough without this. Salvatore really has a good sense of the action scene, and it seems he went to the Michael Stackpole school of writing about space battles. Ships are flying all over the place, some blowing up, some not. The pace is fluid and never dull. It's hard to do something like this in prose, but Salvatore does a good job. The tension never lets up during these scenes, a sign of a good action writer. I was very impressed. The battle at the end of the book is especially breathtaking. All in all, though, this is a great start to the New Jedi Order series. It sets the scene very well, sets the mood, and introduces all of the characters. A lot of the main characters were introduced in previous books, but Salvatore presents everything you need to know about them. Their histories are not told completely, so there are some subtle nuances that long-time readers will see that newcomers won't, but it doesn't hurt the book at all. A large part of the plot is dependent on coincidences, but that's par for the course in the Star Wars universe, so it didn't bug me that much. If it bugs you, then you may find a few too many "yeah, right" moments. But for me, it's a good start, and I can't wait to read more.
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