Rating: Summary: Good Start to what will be a good trilogy Review: Don't listen to the other reviews, Force Heretic I is a very decent Star Wars books, especially considering how bad most of the NJO has been. While there are some minor continuity errors, the book is well written and has decent characterizations. My personal favorite is Pellaeon, who really has teeth in this book. My only major complain is that the lack of chapters is quite annoying, and it was a tad bit slow in the beginning.
Rating: Summary: the rebel empire Review: well, for those of you who read this, you will be getting somewhat of a feel for what lies ahead in this book. As the title for this review somewhat implies, it greatly involves the imperial remnant. In this book, the empire learns that they are not invincible as the Vong attempt to take over their little corner of the galaxy, the tide of battle is turned only when the jedi appear on the scene on a mission for the Galactic Alliance. the jedi teach the empire how to survive in a fire fight and after some close calls, the empire finally wins the battle to survive and fight another day. later on the empire realizes that they need to join, at least militarily with the Galactic Alliance in order for the Empire to survive this war. there is also a subplot involvng Nom Anor and the shamed ones which some might find kind of interesting. overall it was a good read.
Rating: Summary: Relationships and Subplots Review: It is a good continuation of the NJO story line. The Solo twins continue to grow and develop relationships with other characters. The Tahiri sub-plot kept me going and wondering what is going to happen to her. I can't wait until the next two books come out!
Rating: Summary: Force Heretic I: Remnant Review: I enjoyed the basic plot of the story and I liked the mystery that surrounded several of the characters. Also, I enjoyed the freshness of the new and novel ways in how some of the problems faced were solved. I did feel like, however, I was reading one of the Rogue novels because there was so much detail on the space fights. So much detail in fact that the main plot is forgotten or lost. Old information was repeated and basically the book felt like a lot of small stories put hapzardly together. Over all, I do not think this was one of the best Star Wars books I have read except for certain bits and pieces.
Rating: Summary: Filth Review: What complete and utter nonsense. This book is an embarrassment to the NJO series, which really means something given the sometimes miserable quality of the previous books. The main characters have absolutely no connection to their normal personalities. In fact, most have no personalities at all. Jacen becomes a soldier-boy to whom "saving lives, protecting freedom, and fighting evil" represent the purpose of the Jedi. Of course this directly contradicts every idea Jacen has had since NJO book 2, and makes all of the character development seen in the last several years a wasted effort, but who's counting? Clearly not the deplorable Sean Williams and Shane Dix.Dialog is almost always interchangeable between characters. Often one cannot tell Luke, Mara, Jacen, and others apart by what they say. Illogical Harry Potter-like plot devices abound, like Jag Fel, normally desirous of a command structure, deciding that he should ponder the clear evidence he found on Galantos instead of showing it to Leia and Han. Several battle tactics are ridiculous, often involving enormous risk in order to achieve nothing. Williams and Dix need to read some Stackpole or Allston to learn how to write such scenes intelligently. The Jacen and Danni interactions are ridiculous, as well. It's a pity Danni didn't die ten books back. As it is, she's become some sort of uber-scientist. As a scientist, I have to remark that astrophysicists don't move on to become the galaxy's greatest biologists. As written, Danni achieves things that millions of specialists were unable to do over months or years, and she does it without any background in hours or days. That, however, is a complaint that applies to the series as a whole. More specifically, Danni and Jacen have no compelling connection, and Jacen's character up until this book was much more conducive to a solitary life. I fear that the three-book contract given to these two awful writers, the first three-book contract given for the NJO series that didn't end up cancelled, may doom the series and keep many people from reading through to the end.
Rating: Summary: Good but not that good Review: Starts out rather slow, but picks up momentum near the end of the book. Not nearly as much information to digest as Destiny's Way, but i think it lacked physical action. For the most part its kind of aerial and strategic, more behind the scenes. It is still a good read if you enjoy the series though.
Rating: Summary: Below average NJO Review: First, don't be mislead by the back-cover, the events in this book have little to nothing to do with Zenoma-Sicket. It is primarily about a small group of Jedi helping the Imperial Remnant fight off Yuzhan-Vong. In general this book, like many others in the series, suffers from a drastic drop in quality about half way through. There are major pieces of the story that seem obviously to have been written with a "let's just get this done attitude:" Events start to be summarized with little detail and there is a strong sense that plot developments were created ad-hoc by the writters, with little editing. The writing is unspectacular at best. Among the annoying aspects is that the perspective of any of the older generation of characters is never taken, and their roles are unnecessarily small. Some of the attempts at dramatic build-ups are complete failures, unenhanced by frequent "!" insertions. Within the context of the New Jedi Order, I would rank this book similarly to Destiny's Way and far below Star by Star, Traitor, and Enemy Lines.
Rating: Summary: Sweet love Review: Oh yea now we finally get to see the yuzhaan vong start thinking that invading this galaxy wasnt the best idea. the staory is basically luke, mara, jacen and some other jedi go on the search for zenoma sekot the living planet. but when the get on there journey they meet up with an empire getting ready to be wiped from existance. i wont give away any spoilers but i will say jacen and danni are starting to show there liking of each other. sweet book i cant wait for refugee and reunion. and comon ppl we all know anakin should be resurrected somehow.
Rating: Summary: Entertaining Space Opera for the NJO Fans Review: This latest installment of the New Jedi Order Series continues the story after Destiny's Way. It's the first book of a trilogy that will set the stage for the grand finale: Greg Keyes' The Final Prophecy. Remnant's plot folows the "stage coach" approach: small groups of our favorite heros, attempt to save the day by enduring long and lonely treks through the wilderness (of space), facing diverse dangers and hostile natives while forging unexpected if reluctant alliances. (Star Wars EU fans will be reminded of T. Jahn's Specter of the Past / Vision of the Future duology.) One group, led by Luke, Mara and Jacen is heading for the Unknown Regions, with planned stops in the Imperial and Chiss sectors, on a search for Zonama Sekot, the living planet of the Annakin/Obiwan novel Rogue Plannet. Another group, led by Han, Leia, Jacen and (my personal favorite) Jag Fel, is heading to the opposite direction, on the more mundane, yet equally dangerous mission of re-establishing contact with the various fragments of the scattered New Republic. I will not give any more of the storyline away, even though, unfortunatelly, there really isn't much to give away. Nothing really new or unnexpected happens in this book. The two groups go through the usual ambushes, betrayals, "surprises" and their assorted personal demons with casual efficiency and their trademarked resilience. Which, however, is not to say that this novel is not worth reading - in fact, quite the opposite, because unlike the confused and frustrating Destiny's Way, Remnant is both entertaining as well as detailed and consistent with the Star Wars universe: - All major and minor characters used are accurately depicted - indeed almost every character is carefully developed further, in a subtle and natural manner. Their relationships are cultivated as well: Jaina & Jag, Jacen & (??) - I will not give it away! Remnant has the richest cast in a long while. - The NJO story arc surges forward. A LOT of threads are picked up and masterfully woven together, both from the NJO and the older novels: the Empire, the Chiss, the Yvetha (remember them?!), the now fugitive Nom Anor, the ... - no more spoilers! - The SW Expanded Universe is taken very seriously . It feels as if (finally) someone read all the books and then took good long look at the galactic map, asked all the nagging questions (like "I wonder what the Ssi-Ruuk think about this whole situation") and only THEN finalized the story - EVERYTHING is consistent and familiar, making the book a very entertaining read for the Star Wars fans. So, in the end, my main criticism is only that the book is predictable. Nothing unreasonable happens. Having been told what our heros have set out to do, we can more-or-less count on them to accomplish it and we are reduced to enjoying the action, like a Hollywood blockbuster that grossed $500M at the box office but neven quite got the Academy nomination. Better than the three star rating, but a bit short of four too.
Rating: Summary: A New Low in the Star Wars Book Universe Review: The only book i liked in The New Jedi Order series was the first book by Salvatore, Vector Prime. Since then the series has failed to hold my interest, with its lack of focus and coherent plotline. Too many things are going on, and at a length of 15, the series needs to reach some kind of conclusion. Unfortunately the books in this series have become indistinguishable from each other. There is the usual New Republic politics, the Yuuzhan Vong making some gains, and our heroes making desperate stands, barely managing to hold off total destruction. If you want to read really good Star Wars fiction, read Timothy Zahn's books. There are 5 that I'm aware of. Zahn's exciting plot, discussion of Jedi power limitations, and intriguing characters (Grand Admiral Thrawn etc.) make it worth your time. Stop wasting your time with this series!
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