Rating: 
Summary: Boring. The worst of the NJO series.
Review: Jedi Eclipse is boring. There is nothing original about it. Han Solo continues to run around with the Chewie clone, and there is a small subplot involving Anakin and Jacen but overall, there is nothing original or exciting in the this novel. There is simply to little going on to justify the amount of writing Luceno does for this story. The only original idea in the entire story is the droid revolution that Han Solo gets involved in. Jacen is portrayed as a whiny, spoiled brat, while Anakin could have ended the whole NJO series with the flick of a button. There is too much that doesn't add up, and too little of the other SW characters to make this book interesting at all.
Rating:
Summary: Decent plot, lousy writing.
Review: Jedi Eclipse merits a similar review to Hero's Trial, the first book in the Agents of Chaos dulology. Something close to a third of each book comes off particularly well--in Hero's Trial, it's the first third that is good; in Jedi Eclipse, it's the last third. Both books deserve praise for their interest in reviving characters, places, and events found in previous Star Wars books. Luceno introduces important characters in a suitable fashion, and the plot he details achieves key goals in the NJO progression. These are the shared aspects of the books that deserve praise.Unfortunately, the writing of both books is sub-par. Luceno has several debilitating tendencies. He selects one or two characters to fully characterize, while he leaves all others flat and virtually devoid of personality. He does not even stereotype these more "minor" characters (I place minor in quotation marks because often these are characters of vast importance in the other NJO books), prefering to entirely or almost entirely ignore their previous characterization in favor of using them as a bland background cast that can supply extra lines without interfering with his real players. Luceno also tends not to show much intelligence in the scenarios he cooks up: characters make stupid suggestions that seem below their intelligence, they argue poorly, and events tend to unfold with little complexity or subtlety. I can understand characters making mistakes, but that is not what this is about: Luceno's situations simply seem...lame, for lack of a better word. The author is the one who hasn't thought things out well enough, not the characters. Finally, there's Luceno's tendency to let his vocabulary run away with him. Thankfully, his word selection is a little less exotic and his descriptions are less florid in this second book. One gets the impression that his editors told him to lay off a bit. Nonetheless, he seems in Jedi Eclipse to really misuse a lot of his vocabulary, or at least to radically stretch the meanings of some words. All this leaves Jedi Eclipse a mediocre book with a decent plot but poor writing. The NJO story continues apace, particularly in the last few chapters where Luceno sets up some promising political (and otherwise) intrigue that I am sure is part of the grand plan and not some invention of his own. I would go as far as to say that these final chapters are actually exciting and even redeemed the book to a certain degree because of their implications for the future. But in the end, the muddled first 2/3+ of the book serverely marrs the whole. The plot is not as focused on Han as was that of Hero's Trial, and Luceno has a hard time jumping between characters and maintaing a truly coherent plot. It's there, but it deserves more emphasis than it gets. The story also suffers from this shift of focus from Han because Han is one of the only characters Luceno seems to put much effort into characterizing, and without him at the center, we wind up following people who should be more compelling but aren't. The Jedi receive greater treatment in this episode (as its title implies), but Luceno has a hard time rendering them. Wurth Skidder is written passably, but, given his Jedi identity and centrality to the plot, Luceno really ought to give the reader more insight than he does into Wurth's internal workings. Anakin and Jacen suffer more. Luceno clearly picked up on their conflict in Vector Prime and sought to expand on it, but we are left with a hollow shell of what Salvatore wrote. This is mostly because Jacen is drastically simplified from the dynamic and thoughtful young man who Salvatore and Stackpole wrote to a kid whose sole attribute is his unflinching obsession with inaction. I understand that for the uber-plot it is important that Jacen become paralyzed like this, but he should be paralyzed by a progression of intelligent (if misled) thought. I sorely missed hearing Jacen's internal monologue. His reflective nature added much to the reader's experience and understanding of the Force. In fact, it is such thoughtfulness and care to detail that I found most lacking in this book. Other than the case of Jacen, it bothered me the most where the Yuuzhan Vong themselves were concerned. In a book where we become more intimately acquainted with the extremely important yammosk, I was disappointed to see many of the Yuuzhan Vong's alien affectations disappear: their extreme reverence for protocol, their use of the term Jeedai for "Jedi," their utter seriousness, etc. In short, I feel that Luceno dealt with good ideas, but was frequently sloppy, much to the reader's disadvantage. Han's struggle with Chewbacca's death, the deterioration of the Organa-Solo marriage, Jacen's slip into inaction, the plight of refugees, the deepening of the rift between Kyp and Luke--these are all crucial events that deserve far better treatment than they received in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not too happy with this book
Review: Sorry, I just don't like this book very much. Solo is hands-down my favorite character in the Star Wars universe, and I feel that Luceno's storyline is not doing him justice. This is due, IMHO, to an attempt to cram too much into a couple hundred pages. I agree with a previous reviewer that this novel (and the entire NJO series) feels like it was rushed into production using a set formula (must have ALL the surviving Heroes of Yavin AND some history AND be under a certain number of pages in order to make budget). In short, it is a valiant effort, but tries to do too much in a relatively short book.
Rating: 
Summary: I had better plots for my action figures in the '80 s
Review: The first three "New Order" novels approach a galaxy far far away from a new prospective, introducing new characters and slowly moving the old ones (Luke, Han, Leia, and Lando) into the background. The "Agents of Choas" novels fail to do this, and really can't hold a candle to 'Vector Prime' or the "Dark Tide" novels. Enter Han Solo every bodies favorite smuggler, Take away Chewbacca and add a smart mouthed version of Jar-Jar! (Luceno should have taken note from Phantom Menace) Tie in a side plot from one of the weaker Star Wars novel trilogies (the Corelian Trilogy) and you have a novel that really doesn't take you anywhere new. Overall the novel is okay, but I came up with more original plotlines for my action figures back in the 80's.
Rating: 
Summary: Is the New Republic worth saving?
Review: The heroes of the Rebellion - Mon Mothma, Leia Organa, Ackbar, and others - have been out of power for several years now, and those who have taken over are inept, corrupt, self-aggrandizing, quarrelsome . . . the very things that launched Palpatine into power in Episode I. Borsk Feyla's fear of the Jedi is borne of a sense that the New Republic is spiralling out of control, and, if history truly does tend to repeat itself, someone strong in the Force - particular one already revered as a hero as Luke Skywalker is - could easily turn the situation to his own advantage. Surely that is where the New Jedi Order is taking us - to a conflict over the very nature of the New Republic itself. The Yuuzhan Vong are but a catalyst, revealing the weaknesses of the New Republic after the Empire had finally been defeated in a way nothing else had. As for Jedi Eclipse itself, Luceno does a fine job with the amount of space he had. The criticisms that have been posted about abridged treatment of plots, the absence of favorite characters (Lando happens to be one of my favorites, and he's been AWOL for three books now!) are all fair ones. Luceno does, however, live up to the legacy left by Timothy Zahn (which, unfortunately, has not been the case with every book) and delivers a fast-paced, engrossing story true to the Star Wars universe. Overall, this duology - despite some shortcomings - deserves to rank up there with the original Thrawn trilogy and the Rogue Squadron series - the best the expanded universe has had to offer so far.
Rating: 
Summary: help help oh what are we going to do with such an enemy
Review: the new republic is frantic. they yuuzhan are destroying worlds
left and right. with an enemy that is so merciless in its destruction of complete planets, leia is sent to the hapes sector
to try and draw them into the war to turn the tide of battle.
as another tactic, anakin and jacen are recruited to try and restart centerpoint station, which is a mighty powerful and deadly weapon that can be your greatest weapon or a great cause
of destruction. this book has lots of excitement and adventure
and it is nice to see the diffrent characters that we have come
to love grow and mature as this horrible war takes on more deadlier consequences.
Rating:
Summary: The NJO series just isn't getting any better...
Review: The plot was mildly interesting but not enough happened in order to keep the book entertaining. It follow's the same basic concept of all its predicesors: the Republic is about to accomplish something but in the end the accomplishment is foiled by the Vong and they get one step closer to Coruscant. Nothing is accomplished in the entire book. Don't get me wrong I'm a full blooded Star Wars fan, I've read just about every Star Wars book out there, including the other NJO books, but if you ask me you should save yourself the money and skip Onslaught on up through Conquest; you won't have missed anything by doing so. R.A. Salvador created a wonderful new galaxy to experiment and toy with, but the creativity his succesors included is of the tiniest proportions. Where's Zahn and Anderson when you really need them? Heed well my warning fellow Star Wars fan and remember, the Force will be with you...
Rating:
Summary: Great book.
Review: This a must read book. A great continuation from Hero's Trial. Luceno had a great introduction to the Star Wars universe. I hope James Luceno follows up with many more Star Wars novels. Even though the Yuuzhan Vong on the cover looks totally different than any other picture in the New Jedi Order. If you enjoy sci-fi thrillers tahn this book is defianltely for you.
Rating:
Summary: A good book, but a part of greater story
Review: This book is great, J. Lucenco continued the story from his first book ( Hero's Trial). The plot is good, but you have a feeling that it's a part of greater whole(because it is :)). I think the whole Yuuzhan Vong arc is the best arc we've got in Star Wars novels(except the Thrawn trilogy). In Jedi Eclipse we've got a close look at Han, who was overlooked in the first few books, but now with Hero's Trial and Jedi Eclipse, he has his own dualogy in the YV arc. The book has the pieces that we amused the most in the orginal trilogy: Han(of course), the Hutts and many more surprises... Han has changed over the years, and the lost of his best friend changed him even more. But even now the pilot of the fastest ship in the Universe didn't lose his smugglers charm. I think this book is a great read, but you need to read Hero's Trial first.
Rating:
Summary: Agents of Chaos II : Jedi Eclipse (Star Wars: The New Jedi O
Review: This book is very exciting. It gets a lot of information from the books previous to it. (agents of chaos , vector prime) It is however a good book on its own. This book takes a lot of information from other books wich makes it a key read. Try not to miss out on this series.
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