Rating: 
Summary: Where's Luke?
Review: The CD covers the adventures of Han and Leia and the kids and their mission to fix communications all over the galaxy. That story was covered pretty well, but what happened to Luke, Jacen, and their journey to find the living planet, Zonama Sekot. It was woefully short on that part of the story, just a few seconds at the end, quickly updating their progress. But the part of the story that was there, was well done, exciting and the "Star Wars" music and sound effects was pretty cool.
Rating:
Summary: Where's Luke?
Review: The CD covers the adventures of Han and Leia and the kids and their mission to fix communications all over the galaxy. That story was covered pretty well, but what happened to Luke, Jacen, and their journey to find the living planet, Zonama Sekot. It was woefully short on that part of the story, just a few seconds at the end, quickly updating their progress. But the part of the story that was there, was well done, exciting and the "Star Wars" music and sound effects was pretty cool.
Rating: 
Summary: Middle Plots
Review: The last trilogy of the New Jedi Order, Force Heretic II: Refugee is book 16 in the series. Our heroes and nemeses begins where the last storylines ended: the Jedi searching for Zonama Sekot, a team investigating communications breakdowns, and the Yuuzhan Vong resisting shame. This novel serves to bridge the gap between conflict and resolution.A solid novel by the Williams/Dix team as the story evolves from conflict into a mysterious semi-solution. Not to say the authors give anything away, but the references make for good questions about the trilogy's conclusion. For instance, Tahiri and Riina of Domain Kwaad what will happen to these two distinct personalities? What of the Zonama Sekot? Is it friend or foe? How could these two factors lead to a resolution to the Yuuzhan Vong war? This trilogy slow to start has picked up hopefully to a good resolution in the third installment. Want more reviews, visit:
http://www.oddworldz.com/thehallow
Rating: 
Summary: they keep pumping out the good books
Review: The New Jedi Order has been a long time running, and I wouldnt have it any other way. This book keeps it going, Im kind of sad that this all will end this fall, keep your eyes out for the newest books.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh.
Review: The second novel of the Force Heretic trilogy encompasses three story lines. The first story line follows Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, Jacen Solo, and other Jedi as they enter Chiss space in search of the planet Zonama Sekot, in hopes that the planet will hold the key to winning the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. While an interesting tale, it is really a secondary story to one of the other story lines. However, this book does move the story along for Luke and Co. The second story line is also a sub-story. Nom Anor is the fallen Executor of the invading Yuuzhan Vong race. He has been banished as a Shamed One. Not satisfied to sit back and accept his fate, Nom Anor has begun a heresy of sorts by establishing a cult amongst the Shamed Ones that reveres the Jedi, and looks upon them to free the Samed Ones of the shackles of oppression. The main story follows Leia and Han Solo, their daughter Jaina and Jag Fel as they return to Bakura. Bakura was the subject of the novel 'Truce at Bakura,' which takes place immediately after 'Return of the Jedi.' In that novel, an alien race called the Ssi-ruuk were threatening to 'entech' an entire planet. Entechment is a process of stealing the souls of a sentient being and using it to control a machine. Bakura appears ready to sever its ties with the New Republic and form an alliance with a race once subjugated by the Ssi-ruuk. There is more than meets the eye though. The Prime Minister is missing, but then suddenly reappears. The Deputy Prime Minister suspects something is up. Malzana Thanas, the daughter of a political hero of Bakura, is being tried for treason. Intrigue abounds. Overall, this novel was pretty clever. The story on Bakura had many layers, but about two thirds of the way through, the pieces fall into place rather obviously for most readers. It was interesting, and a bit refreshing, that most of the action took place away from the war against the Vong. However, there is a bit of a surprise near the end of the book that will cause most readers to scratch their head a bit. Tahiri has an interesting role in this triology. She is dealing with an inner demon, and after this novel, she may never be the same again. This sub-plot has alternated between being interesting and annoying. Hopefully, it will reach an interesting conclusion in the third installment. I'd recommend this novel to anyone that has been reading the New Jedi Order. I would not recommend starting with this novel. Go back to the beginning and read 'Vector Prime' and other novels in the series first.
Rating:
Summary: The Truce is Broken
Review: The second novel of the Force Heretic trilogy encompasses three story lines. The first story line follows Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, Jacen Solo, and other Jedi as they enter Chiss space in search of the planet Zonama Sekot, in hopes that the planet will hold the key to winning the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. While an interesting tale, it is really a secondary story to one of the other story lines. However, this book does move the story along for Luke and Co. The second story line is also a sub-story. Nom Anor is the fallen Executor of the invading Yuuzhan Vong race. He has been banished as a Shamed One. Not satisfied to sit back and accept his fate, Nom Anor has begun a heresy of sorts by establishing a cult amongst the Shamed Ones that reveres the Jedi, and looks upon them to free the Samed Ones of the shackles of oppression. The main story follows Leia and Han Solo, their daughter Jaina and Jag Fel as they return to Bakura. Bakura was the subject of the novel 'Truce at Bakura,' which takes place immediately after 'Return of the Jedi.' In that novel, an alien race called the Ssi-ruuk were threatening to 'entech' an entire planet. Entechment is a process of stealing the souls of a sentient being and using it to control a machine. Bakura appears ready to sever its ties with the New Republic and form an alliance with a race once subjugated by the Ssi-ruuk. There is more than meets the eye though. The Prime Minister is missing, but then suddenly reappears. The Deputy Prime Minister suspects something is up. Malzana Thanas, the daughter of a political hero of Bakura, is being tried for treason. Intrigue abounds. Overall, this novel was pretty clever. The story on Bakura had many layers, but about two thirds of the way through, the pieces fall into place rather obviously for most readers. It was interesting, and a bit refreshing, that most of the action took place away from the war against the Vong. However, there is a bit of a surprise near the end of the book that will cause most readers to scratch their head a bit. Tahiri has an interesting role in this triology. She is dealing with an inner demon, and after this novel, she may never be the same again. This sub-plot has alternated between being interesting and annoying. Hopefully, it will reach an interesting conclusion in the third installment. I'd recommend this novel to anyone that has been reading the New Jedi Order. I would not recommend starting with this novel. Go back to the beginning and read 'Vector Prime' and other novels in the series first.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: There are some brief bouts of action, but altogether this book comes across an a very amateur attempt. Some annyoing mechanisms are used and relied upon way too often, such as ellipses (ending sentences with three dots...). That gets old really fast. The Chiss homeworld story arc is about exciting as watching ice melt. You never get a feel for how the planet looks, just that it is icy. All Luke and Mara do is sit in a library with one brief, completely forgettable incident involving an ice barge attack. Han and Leia are wasted, the Ssi-Ruuk attack makes all of one chapter interesting, and Jaina's story where she helps an accused criminal escape from prison left more questions than answers This just comes across as a very long filler story, written to move copies and cash in on the loyalty of fans who have read too many of the 15 prior NJO books to give up now. While I eventually got to the point of skipping pages, a good friend of mine and the most dedicated fan I know put it down halfway and will not read it anymore. This whole series should have been six books, not countless boring stories full of heroes wandering the unknown regions spouting unnatural dialogue. If I sound like I'm bitter, I just wish that after buying dozens upon dozens of Star Wars novels they would respect the fans enough to make the product worthy of the fans' loyalty. This book doesn't.
Rating:
Summary: Uninspired Filler for NJO
Review: There is really no point reading this book. If you are a fan, buy it for your collection. Otherwise just skip it altogether.
My problem with "Remnant" (part I of the Force Heretic series) was that it was totally predictable. This is even worse. Refugee is so forced its only purpose seems to be to tie up lose ends and set up the last two books of the NJO. The worse subplot is the Han/Leia/Jaina/Jag one. Picking up where they left off in Remnant, they reach Bakura where they fumble around like clueless bystanders for a couple of hundred pages, completely fail to accomplish anything useful and in the end are actually defeated by the "bad guys". Then, suddenly, the situation reverses and resolves itself. Han Solo has no role whatsoever, Leia is limited to making clever diplomatic observations, Jaina runs around picking fights that lead nowhere and Jag Fel flies like your average space-jock. A total waste of ink. The Luke/Mara/Jacen group fares a bit better. At least they get into a couple of scraps in the Unknown Regions and use their Jedi skills to prevail. Also a couple of old favorites make cameos, even though the long-awaited tour of the Chiss domain is a complete letdown. In the end, right as the book ends, Jacen has a flash of inspiration and the story is magically back on track. The only half interesting storyline is the one involving Nom Anor. I found his incroporation of the Force and the Jeedi into his newly conceived Vong herecy quite interesting - creative even. Also, from the Yuuzhan Vong we get at leat a small glimse of how the war is going and what the rest of the Galaxy is up to. That's it. This book needed not have been written. It would have fit nicely as a couple of extra chapters in the other two books of the trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Uninspired Filler for NJO
Review: There is really no point reading this book. If you are a fan, buy it for your collection. Otherwise just skip it altogether.
My problem with "Remnant" (part I of the Force Heretic series) was that it was totally predictable. This is even worse. Refugee is so forced its only purpose seems to be to tie up lose ends and set up the last two books of the NJO. The worse subplot is the Han/Leia/Jaina/Jag one. Picking up where they left off in Remnant, they reach Bakura where they fumble around like clueless bystanders for a couple of hundred pages, completely fail to accomplish anything useful and in the end are actually defeated by the "bad guys". Then, suddenly, the situation reverses and resolves itself. Han Solo has no role whatsoever, Leia is limited to making clever diplomatic observations, Jaina runs around picking fights that lead nowhere and Jag Fel flies like your average space-jock. A total waste of ink. The Luke/Mara/Jacen group fares a bit better. At least they get into a couple of scraps in the Unknown Regions and use their Jedi skills to prevail. Also a couple of old favorites make cameos, even though the long-awaited tour of the Chiss domain is a complete letdown. In the end, right as the book ends, Jacen has a flash of inspiration and the story is magically back on track. The only half interesting storyline is the one involving Nom Anor. I found his incroporation of the Force and the Jeedi into his newly conceived Vong herecy quite interesting - creative even. Also, from the Yuuzhan Vong we get at leat a small glimse of how the war is going and what the rest of the Galaxy is up to. That's it. This book needed not have been written. It would have fit nicely as a couple of extra chapters in the other two books of the trilogy.
Rating: 
Summary: Please don't let these guys write another Star Wars book!
Review: This book is (as another review so aptly put) nothing more than absolute filler material. It is by far the weakest book in the whole New Jedi Order series - even worse (if you can believe it) than Dark Journey. I won't waste my time writing a lengthy review for this as I put so much into my review for the first book in this "Force Heretic" trilogy. Suffice it to say that this entire trilogy by Sean Williams & Shane Dix is complete rubbish and brings the entire "New Jedi Order" series to an all-time low! If you haven't read the trilogy yet, do yourself a favor and skip it. There are plenty of reviews that summarize it well enough for you to get the jist without having to suffer through the poor writing style of these clowns.
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