Rating: 
Summary: Save your money
Review: This book is a waste of money. I cannot fathom how nearly 400 pages can contain NOTHING to advance a storyline. Even if you are a fan who would normally buy it for your collection, my advice is to skip it altogether.As with the first book in this trilogy, there are numerous spelling and grammar errors (particularly split infinitives, which might be acceptable for speech, but not for narration), fixations on particular words and/or phrases (e.g., "Be that as it may..." is used WAY too often), and inconsistencies. I still am unaware whether CEDF stands for Chiss Expansionary Defense Force or Chiss Expeditionary Defense Force, since it switches between them repeatedly. Or perhaps there are two such bodies, one with each name, that share the same acronym; it certainly is not clarified in this book. As with Remnant, book 1 of the trilogy, there are three separate storylines. One following Luke and others on a quest to find The Rogue Planet (see that book for a story actually worth reading), the second follows Han and Leia et al. investigating comm breakdown from former New Republic Allies, the third focuses on Nom Anor and his infidel uprising on the former Coruscant. All three story lines go nowhere. For Luke, there is an absolutely pointless and unresolved conflict that occurs on the Chiss homeworld, which we don't even get to see on the star chart, with everything still referred to as the Unknown Regions. Nevermind that they mention many planets and such, leaving the reader to guess where they might be. For Han and Leia, on Bakura, there is about 100 wasted pages of poor exposition, again with battles simply for their own sake, serving no plot advancing purpose. The resolution is disappointing, again with no surprise. Meanwhile, NOTHING happens with Nom Anor except that he gains an informer. Honestly, this story reads as though written both by AND for a twelve year old. It is insulting that this is included in the storyline populated by quality writing earlier in the series. The best thing this book might be used for is recycling.
Rating:
Summary: Weak links in the NJO chain
Review: This is a general comment on all three Force Heretic books. These are some of the weakest books of the series, and found them just barely enjoyable and then only because I enjoy the Star Wars milieu so much. The basic problem is that they make very little sense. After reading the whole series I still have no idea who the "force heretic" the title refers to is. And I have only the foggiest idea why the characters think the quest for Zonama Sekot is important. While we're on the subject, the characters are poorly drawn and their actions make little sense. The whole thing is so weak that the books just aren't a lot of fun.
Rating: 
Summary: Read this one for the Bakuran Story or just skip it.
Review: This is a short review on both the Audio book and the novel Heretic II. This is arguably the least interesting of this trilogy except that I really did enjoy the story about going back to Bakura. You could actually skip this book entirely if you are a busy person and just read books 1 and 3. Even better, just listen to the book on tape like I did and get the whole story in a couple hours. I did borrow the audio books for all 3 books and the paperbacks for books 1 and 2. I refuse to spend any money on NJO material since SBS. This book does little to advance the trilogy. I am going to give 3 stars because I like the Bakura story. See my more detailed reviews of books 1 and 3 for more. Audio book. Jonathan Davis, who does most of the NJO is awesome. Random House Audio does a great job editing the books for abridgements that get the story right. I have every SW audio book ever made up through SBS, and have listened to all those after SBS. Random house combines the talents of the narrator, the John Williams music and sound effects with generally excellent editing for a very enjoyable experience. I wish they would offer some of my favorites in unabridged versions bnut they seldom do.
Rating:
Summary: Where are the Yuuzhan Vong ?
Review: This is the 16th Book in the The New Jedi Order saga, or 18th if you count the 2 e-book only stories. Only three more books to go. The second book in this 3-books story by SEan Williams and Shane Dix, is more entertaining than the first book. The action begins right from the first chapter, and that makes this chapter a better reading than the previous book, where the interesting things happens in the second half of the book. In this book, we see three main stories: the search for the living-planet Zonama Sekot by Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, Jacen Solo, Saba Sebatyne, Tekli, Danni Quee and the group of the Imperial Remnant who are helping them since the last book. After investigating some local legends that can be traced back to the appearance of Zonama Sekot in those solar systems, they now go to the Unknown Regions, but first they have to talk to the Chiss, with whom Soontir Fel (the former Imperial Baron, father of Jag Fel, "boyfriend" of Jaina Solo) now lives. Aside from a cold reception, they must deal with other situation before they can continue the search for the living planet. If you have been reading all the books in The New Jedi Order, you can understand why this living planet is important, and I must emphasize that there's another book not part of the The New Jedi Order line that is now important: it's "Star Wars: Rogue Planet" by Greg Bear ... It's not very good, but you can read about Zonama Sekot and the Jedi Vergere. The other storyline deals with the other party from the Galactic Federation of Free-Alliances (formerly known as New Republic). This party is formed by Han and Leia Organa Solo and a ship and escort provided by the Galactic Alliance, including Jaina Solo and Jag Fel. They are now going to Bakura, after a "recommendation" from a Ryn (an underground spy net trying to help the forces against the Yuuzhan Vong) they met at their last stop. They are trying to re-establish the communication lines between the new Alliance and the worlds who are now isolated, but (from the last book) now we know some of them are incommunicated not because of an accident or war related, but by choice. At Bakura, they find a rebellion, the beginning of a surprising alliance between Bakura and some of their neighborhoods and some plot twists not entirely surprising. Now to understand this part of Bakura you may want to read first "Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura" by Kathy Tyers...but it's not really necessary. I haven't read it but you are provided with all the necessary elements to understand what happened there before. Even Jaina was kind-of out of the loop, since she wasn't born yet when that Ssi-Ruuvi episode happened. But now I want to read it even more after reading this book (good thing I already own a copy!). This smells as a "retcon", as called in the comics medium. Of course there are subplots within each story, making it an enjoyable read: we can see more about Tahiri and the changes she's undergoing, about the relationship between Jacen and Danni and a glimpse of the Chiss. "And where are the Yuuzhan Vong ?" you may ask. Well, this is kind of a light book on them, since we see what's happening with Nom Anor, the former executor now in the run from his former masters. The good thin here is that now we see a little more about Shimrra, Supreme Overlord. The bad thins is I think they didn't got him well. The first time we saw him, it was at a gathering where we saw the awe he inspired. We could feel the floor tremble when he spoke. This is not so when we saw him in this book. I hope this changes in the last two books of the series, since I doubt it'd change in Force Heretic III. Now, please pay attention to the prologue, and if you think the epilogue is just a wrap-up, you will be surprised, trust me. If you are expecting your "Yuuzhan Vong Fix", you'll be dissapointed, but overall, an enjoyable book, even with so little about the Yuuzhan Vong.
Rating: 
Summary: All Filler, No Thriller
Review: This latest installment of the NJO is merely treading water waiting for the series' traditional fall hardcover. Del Rey has really released a low quality product here just to line their pockets with money. This one has all the things you've learned to dread about the lesser NJO novels: retreaded plot lines, unconvincing portrayal of the Jedi mindset, shallow two dimensional emotionalism. Undiscriminating Star Wars fans will love this just as they love all Star Wars novels. I used to look forward to each New Jedi Order Novel to see how the storyline moved along and to sample the styles of the different authors. This one has me dreading the next paperback because this one had no real plot movement; more sadly, the next paperback is written by the same below average author tandem. In summary, Yuck!
Rating: 
Summary: beautiful story
Review: this series had started to get dull but this book put some life back in it. luke and mara are still on their search for a planet that is supposed to be alive but it seems to be more of a legend than a fact. they go to the unknown regions to enlist the chiss for help and have their hands full on a number of opportunities.
meanwhile, han and leia are off on a diplomatic mission. when they get to the planet all seems just dandy. 2 cultures are coming together to put years of hatred behind them. things look just great but that would make for a boring story. this book has more twists and turns than any i have read lately and it is a nice addition to the new jedi series.
Rating:
Summary: Refugee
Review: this was a great read. It seemed to go slow, but i went through it relatively fast. I think the Bakura tie-in was a very good idea, though the end was a little bit confusing. The Han / Leia relationship was done very well. Mara was somewhat ignored, something i didn't like. The few military scenes left much to be desired, i thought, although Jag was done in a very good fashion. the Chiss, an often ignored part of star wars, was done very well. I love learning about them, and the Fel family is one of my favorites. It set up the next book good. The end is coming!
Rating:
Summary: 2.5/5, An improvement, but not enough...
Review: To say the first "Force Heretic" novel was a monumental dissapointment that made me want to rip my eyes out, would be a minor understatement. Which made it all the more surprising to find that I actually enjoyed this second book in the Williams-Dix composition for the New Jedi Order series.
In all honesty, it appears as though one of the writers (I can't tell which) wrote the first book, and the other one wrote this one, so different did I find the styles. Gone were the plaguing problems of incoherent sentences and paragraphs, stuttering storylines and lack of involvement in the characters. As well, I found most of the intrigue laced in this book to actually work. Previously, I staunchly believed mystery and Star Wars don't mix - they didn't in Episode II, on film, they definitely won't on paper - but at least in the case of Bakura, with so much back-stabbing and betrayal going on at once (even the Yuuzhan Vong get in on it) I was genuinely pulled into the book. The whole plot on Csilla seemed like an afterthought however, and the conflict that occured there seemed a little too mainpulative and coincidental. It would've been much easier for Jacen, Luke and Co. to learn Zenoma Sekot's location without an overly done powergrab. Just my opinion. The plot with Nom Anor as Yu'shaa, the Prophet, also worked well, and helped advance the Yuuzhan Vong side of things with surprising clarity.
Of course, the book still wasn't that great.
The lack of chapters will bug me forever, I'm sorry, it probably sounds petty, but it just doesn't work for me. Call it a stylistic choice if you want, I hate it. The characters were absolutely stupid on occassion (even if I feel Dix and Williams did an ok job of molding them this time), a good case of which is with Jaina. She has ample opportunity several times to free herself from Harris (the Vice-President) and his cronie's grasp, yet waits until possibly the worst time to do so, after two backup character's unneccessarily die. I mean, she only has to fight two guys, and at one point one of them is knocked out of the equation and Jaina isn't even bound by cuffs (as she is when she eventually does break free) and yet she still doesn't act, instead choosing to allow another person to die. Horrible plot-manipulation, flat out. Time and time again, I saw character's make hideously foolish choices that no Star Wars hero or heroine would truly make, just to make the plot advance. It came off as downright lazy to me. That being said, I still enjoyed the plot - go figure.
All in all, this novel was a definite improvement on the previous Williams-Dix endeavor, but still failed in far too many aspects to be worthy of joining the likes of Traitor, Star by Star, or any of Aaron Allston's or Michael Stackpole's novels. 2.5/5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: This Book really helps lift the NJO into the realm of EP4-6
Review: Very good writing and character development, also the expressions and writing create unmistakable visuals that help to envision the story and plot, can't wait till book 3!!!
Rating:
Summary: Just doesn't get you going!
Review: Well after reading all the NJO books in order and loving most all of them, I was sorely disappointed in this one. It just did not get me interested at all. Searching for the living planet should have had more time devoted to it, I kept thinking I would get to it on the next page but just wasn't much there. I would have to rate this book as the least liked of all, but needed it for my collection.
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