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Summary: And the story goes on
Review: I got this book early somehow yesterday after preordering and breezed through it. Actually though, it reads kind of slower than the other books in this story line, because it seems like nothing happens. It draws too many similarities to the first force heretic book, seemingly just subsituting names in the exact story arc that they used in the last book. The Han/Leia plotline is pretty good, but again the problems coming from multiple authors come up, improvising a simple denouement to the Tahiri problem that no one had realized somehow. Also, the Luke/Mara/Jacen line lacks true interest, especially for the new realm in which they go into. Their whole subplot seems like an inside joke for the writer doing his own research. You can tell that the final books are going to be good, this is just filler basically. What happened to ESB, where the middle of the arc held the most drama? All in all, this book is a must have if you are a reader of this story arc, but as far as books to start reading "The New Jedi Order" with, this is definitely not the one.
Rating: 
Summary: Does not meet expectations
Review: I was expecting this three book series to pick up the pace, but sadly it seems to go down the slope. Three main stories, the male twin solo looking for a mystical planet called Zonama Sekot with the help of Master Skywalker, Jaina Solo and Tahiri fight a disguised Yuuzhan Vong infiltration somewhere in the universe and last but not least Nom Anor returns as a prophet leading Shamed Ones in his struggle to infiltrate the chambers of the Supreme Overlord.All in all, as a NJO fan you follow the stories where they take you and you enjoy letting your imagination loose in the universe of Star Wars. But these books seem to stretch a story that can be fit into a single book. I hope the third book really stands up. Books like these make you feel like a grain of sand in a marketing world. Where all you do is contribute your buy and keep on reading.
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Summary: Why is the plot not advancing?????
Review: I was really looking forward to this book but it came out as a bit disapointing. The only advancments in this book is that -one-Jag stop caring about waht people think and -two- they might finfilly find the planet that Jaca, Danni, Mara, and Luke are looking for. Everything else seems to freeze in time. I really dont like what they are doing to Tahiri. It is so irrating how at first thay make her look like and little jealouse Anakin wannabe. Then they try to make her into a interesting character. Then they kill Anakin off and she starts having a split personality. If you ask me the only way she is going to reslove this problem is to tell somebody what is really happing to her. Then you have Jaina who you think will come out as a hero becouse she is the only person who is not crazy or a pretty boy(and that is what I think of Jacan) Oh yea you have Jag, I am glad to see that at least one boy is not a pretty boy. I really dont know what else to say is I hope that #3 will be better.
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Summary: Bakura is back
Review: Luke, Mara, etc. are still looking for the planet, and getting closer. They are in Chiss space. Baron Fel and his family make an appearance. Leia, Han, etc. are still on a mission to help bring order to the galaxy. Their quest leads them back to Bakura and old enemies, as well as to some new developments. Tahiri is still fighting her private battle. And the Ryn are still being mysterious. It's all leading up to the next book in the series, Force Heretic III: Reunion.
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Summary: Isn't the middle one supposed to be the best?
Review: Not that the book was terrible, but it was confusing. I enjoyed it. I like the way it is written. I t reminds me of the orginal movies - going between the action and characters leaving little cliffhangers. But the introduction of the Ssi-Ruuk is confusing if you haven't read the "Truce at Bakura" recently. I would strongly suggest you read that before even picking up "Refugee." As for the overall story, it isn't as much of a cliffhanger as the first one, "Remnant." I hope they are saving it all for their finale.
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Summary: Force Heretic II: Refugee (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Bo
Review: Sean Willams and Shane Dix have just made another great book to add on to the great new and exciting new jedi order series. This book involves plenty of action to keep your interest as well as some very well written plot twists. I would reccomend this book to anyone interested in the new star wars series.
Rating:
Summary: Force Heretic II: Refugee (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Bo
Review: Sean Willams and Shane Dix have just made another great book to add on to the great new and exciting new jedi order series. This book involves plenty of action to keep your interest as well as some very well written plot twists. I would reccomend this book to anyone interested in the new star wars series.
Rating:
Summary: Almost There
Review: Sean Williams and Shane Dix bring fans closer to the finale of the, "New Jedi Order" series with, "Force Heretic II Refugee". This story will close this fall and the publishers are already looking toward a new grouping of books that readers get a glimpse of at this books close. "Star Wars Shatterpoint", featuring Mace Windu, is going to be the first of the, "Clone War Novels". "Force Heretic II", is a busy work with many storylines continuing the battle for supremacy with the YuuzhanVong while at the same time taking readers back 25 years to the planet that was the setting for, "The Truce At Bakura". Bakura originally took place just 4 years after, "Star Wars A New Hope". In addition to all of the familiar species that are part of this series the authors have brought back the Ssi-ruu and their imperium as well as the P'w'eck and the science of entechment. Entechment is the process of building a hybrid, a machine that combines the soul of a living creature, it is a bridge between the world of the Vong, which is completely organic, and the world of the traditional Stars Wars beings, which utilize machines built by organic life forms as well as the continually evolving concept of The Force. This book also continues the search for an entire planet that is believed to be sentient that is also able to transit the galaxy at light speed, the mythical planet Zonama Sekot. This book has a measure of conflict but it also appears to be bringing in to focus the final solution to this conflict. The decision not to use a biological weapon that would have destroyed the Vong and all their creations has forced a much more difficult path to victory for what was once The New Republic. The decision not to fight as the Vong do, to not commit a form of Genocide has possibly made survival impossible. Zonama Sekot greatly transforms the planets it comes in touch with; in at least one instance leaving a symbiotic life form in its wake where two existed prior to its visit. Tahiri continues to fight the second consciousness within her that was implanted by the Vong, entechment has changed but is still not trusted, and some species are not what they appear as they only appear when masqued. If there is a continuous thread throughout this tale it is that nothing is as it may appear, and that beliefs made need to be amended. This idea is consistent with Jacen who has been questioning the meaning of The Force, which once appeared so easily divided between light and dark. The book does not even hint at how this series may end, but just as the New Republic did not entirely eliminate The Empire, The Vong may not be utterly destroyed either. Like Vergere who lived amongst the Vong, and the shamed ones who now view the "Jedaii" very differently, the end to this series may end in some grand compromise. Not the strongest of books but one that will be welcomed by Star Wars fans.
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Summary: And they're still on the road to Mordor...
Review: So here's Luke Skywalker and his nephew, Jacen Solo, clambering up a dirt mound as their landing party tries to flee to safety from a pack of 11 pink-skinned velociraptor types. Teeth gnash, claws flicker as the clumsy-but-fast creatures close in. After a simple Force trick stops one band of attackers, another band closes in and Luke sends messages of regret to his wife and son that he's probably not going to survive.
Wait a minute. This is Luke Skywalker -- Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, arguably the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy -- and Jacen is one of his most powerful students, and they're fretting about their inability to defend themselves against a handful of monsters?
Such is the way things go in "Force Heretic II: Refugee," the 16th novel in Del Rye's expletive New Jedi Order series. It's not the weakest tale of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the Star Wars galaxy drags, but it has its share of lukewarm heroism and milquetoast villainy.
For the uninitiated, the powers-that-be in the universe of Star Wars novels decided to spice up the classic Star Wars milieu by having a fleet of alien warriors arrive from a nearby galaxy and begin invading the fractured New Republic. After some intriguing initial encounters during which Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, the Solo children and other Jedi discover the invaders (who are invisible in the Force and immune to Jedi powers) and beloved Woolly Chewable dies a noble death, the novels devolve into despairing tales of brutal Yuuzhan Vong conquest.
By the time of "Refugee," the biotechnology-wielding Vong have taken over vast swaths of the galaxy, but the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances (which replaces the New Republic) appears to have stalled further advances. In search of a final resolution to the conflict, Luke, wife Mara and Jacen Solo have gone off in search of the "living planet" Zonoma Sekot (originally introduced in "Rogue Planet," set just after the events of "Phantom Menace"), while Han, Leia and Jaina Solo head to Bakura (originally introduced in "The Truce at Bakura," one of the earliest post-movie novels) on a meandering quest to restore galactic lines of communication.
Like most of the series, Refugee appears to have been rushed into print and underedited. As usual, Luke appears to have forgotten how to do half of the things he and other Jedi could do with the Force in earlier novels. (Later on, a weaker Jedi uses a Force bubble to survive a massive bomb blast -- but Master Luke apparently has no similar talent.) After the escape from the velociraptor wannabes, Luke and his allies fret about whether a doctor can prevent an invasive and intelligent centipede-like alien (a la Stargate's Goa'ulds) from taking over a soldier's body. Worry, worry, worry -- then the doctor announces the creature was removed in time! And the plot point is dismissed and never revisited.
Luke's group winds up falling into the hands of the blue-skinned Chiss (introduced in the excellent Timothy Zahn Thrawn trilogy), with whom so much time is spent without action the author is signaling that, yet again, our heroes will become the target of some unseen conspiracy despite the ability Luke once had to sense danger and see the future. The Chiss -- honorable, disciplined and paranoid warriors -- are portrayed as so security-conscious they store key data in printed books, yet they have no measures to keep our heroes from stealing some of their fighters and easily trouncing Chiss pilots in a dogfight. On the Chiss homeworld, no less!
Meanwhile, Han's group runs into suspicious goings-on on Bakura, where the isolationist government appears to be striking an alliance with the former slaves of the aggressive Ssi-ruuk, whom Luke helped save the Bakurans from in "Truce." As in virtually every previous New Jedi Order novel, key characters leave the diplomatic delegation and go wandering off on their own, easily evading any surveillance by the suspicious local government.
There's also some progress in Yuuzhan Vong Nom Anor's cynical underground development of a forbidden Jedi-based religion on the Vong-conquered former New Republic capital of Coruscant.
There are few plot developments that leave you scratching your head -- the Vong are shown doing something utterly antithetical to their anti-technology religion, without much rationalization -- and the overall story arc doesn't move forward very far. "Refugee" -- a title which seems to have been chosen for marketing reasons, not for any connection with the plot -- also relies too much on the reader's knowledge of previous Star Wars books. Die-hard fans of the Star Wars novels will have to plod through the book. If you just want to find out what happens, dig up a plot summary of the Force Heretic trilogy and save your money for "The Unifying Force," which Del Rey promises will conclude the New Jedi Order in November.
Rating: 
Summary: Where was quality control when this book was written
Review: Talk about a waste of trees, This series seems to be a continuing downward spiral. It is pitiful that you have a series that has spent the past 14 books creating interest excitement and intrigue with quality authors and top notch story lines only to get to the fifteenth and sixteenth book to be completely let down. A plot that doesn't go anywhere or create interest and a story that fails to captivate combined with author(S) who fail miserably at jumping from subplot to subplot in an intelligent manner . The saddest thing of all is that we will continue to buy the series because we hope that something in this sub series will be important to the next authors book. So this author gets a best seller fo sub par work.
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