Rating: 
Summary: Enter Mace
Review: The fact that they are bringing this character to a more visible place is rather good. His conflicting nature seems to be a rather nice change from the standard Jedi. He is sure of himself and likes a good fight. It just seemed that way he was used in this story took away from him rather than add to the man we will come to know. With his skills he seems to be the equal or Yoda in mastery of the sword. A fact that is displayed in the book. (no there is no duel with Yoda) Overall the book was entertaining but it just seemed to lack something. Still is good read if you don't mind the story line being a bit disjointed.
Rating:
Summary: Heart of Force Darkness
Review: The first two-thirds of this book are brilliant with a Star Wars take on both Heart of Darkness and some intimations of Les Miserables. Unfortunately, the last third is horrible. Mace Windu travels to a jungle planet to investigate a missing apprentice. As he travels further and further into the jungle planet the rules of society disappear and things get more and more chaotic just as in Heart of Darkness. Windu, used to a clean society of black and white laws is similar to Inspector Javert of Les Miserables. He needs black and white laws and when every action causes untold catastrophic consequences with nothing clearly good or evil he has trouble coping. This riff on Heart of Darkness is nothing short of brilliant. We see the jungle dwelling force users who have succumbed fully to the chaos of the jungle's force and Mace's slow descent. However, as if a switch were flicked off, Mace puts it all behind him, buckles down and starts fighting endlessly. The last third of the book is a very long, ugly, improbable battle that finds the shatterpoint of the reader's willing sense of disbelief. Characters who have a light-saber through the gut, are cleaved through the chest and hands to within an inch of the heart, and cleaved through the torso all miraculously survive after the utter destruction of a city when the nearest rescue arrives 48 hours in the distance. I give this 3.5 stars, rounded to a 4. A perfect first two-thirds that take Star Wars to a new level which makes the contrast of the obligatory battle scene even worse in comparison. Mr. Stover, you went from Heart of Darkness and called in the Apocalypse Now airstrike with Jedi. Unfortunately, it didn't work out in the end but the effort and the beginning were brilliant. Next time if you tie it all together you'll have a true masterpiece. Until then, this is despite the awful ending well worth reading for the masterful beginning.
Rating:
Summary: A extremly entertaining entry to the Extended Universe
Review: THE GOOD: This is a telling tale of Mace Windu. Yes, writen well for the older audience, (finally!). The Carectors are well drawn, and developed. The story is fast paced. The action sequences are overall well done. The thing this book acomplished the baest was to make the invincible action Hero, and jedi counsil member Mace Windu, much more human. THE BAD: Continueing with the idea of the action. A lot of time there was too much deatail, and not enough explainaition. I felt like i lost track of what was going on, and somtimes i just felt it was time for the plot to go on. Finally,there wasn't as much dveoping of the clone war on a lager scale as i had hoped. THE UGLY: This is a story of a genocidal war that has been going on for years. Be warned some scences are particularly grusome, not what you would expect from the PG rated Star Wars Universe. ---Don't get me wrong this was a wonderful read. I would recomend it to any Star Wars fan, even if you have never read any Star Wars fiction before!---
Rating:
Summary: Master Jedi Mace Windu... the main feature...
Review: There is no doubt that Matthew Stover is among the best of writers in scifi, and fantasy, with an eloquent penchant for words. Stover has penned a winner in STAR WARS: SHATTERPOINT, which focuses largely on Jedi Master and General of the Grand Army of the Republic Mace Windu.
Jedi Depa Billaba was assigned to Haruun Kal to train citizens to fight the vicious powers-that-be in The Summertime War of the Separatists, the Republic, the innocent and not-so-innocent forces involved. Depa has vanished. Jedi Master Mace Windu is assigned by the Jedi Council to travel to Haruun Kal, his long-ago home world, to find his former Padawan Depa. What Mace finds is not attractive, but deplorable! Has Billaba gone to the dark side?
Shatterpoint defined is 'a critical weakness'. It is through finding the avenues of 'weakness' which compel Windu, and the Force. On Haruun Kal, Kar Vastor has been the 'keeper' of Depa, and a force to be reckoned with. Vastor is not a trained Jedi, but, as others on the planet, he is an 'untrained Force user', through instincts provided by nature to inhabitants. The latter is defined further by Stover as, "... they seem to be our reflections in a dark mirror. They rely on instinct; Jedi rely on training. They use anger and aggression as sources of power; our [trained Jedi] power is based on serenity and defense."
Stover's SHATTERPOINT traverses between Mace Windu's first-class writing of journal entries (which are encrypted and become part of the Jedi Archives), alongside the narrative of the story from a general view. Introduced are living creatures the Akks, characters Lesh, Besh, Chalk, and Nick Rostu (a Korunian who becomes Windu's Major, and provides great humor in the story). Mace's humor sets in oft as well, "Surrender is always made under duress, ... That's why they call it surrender"! Stover does not provide as much dialog as this reader expects in compositions. He does draw out well-written descriptions of the action, battle, and fighting scenes, however lengthy, and at times tiresome. I commend the author for not swaying, but keeping major focus on Mace Windu throughout the story.
Stover's ending provides for Depa in an 'other worldly' state, laying in a bacta tank (an opening for a Depa and Mace sequel, perhaps?). Supreme Chancellor Palpatine asks Mace, why does this happen to Jedi? Mace's response is: "It's war, ... . When every choice you make means death. When saving these innocents means that those innocents must die. ... I'm not sure that any Jedi can survive such choices for long." In Mace Windu's closing journal entry at book end, he writes, "Our enemy is the darkness itself... cloud of fear and despair and anguish... poisoning our galaxy. ... As long as Anakin lives, we have hope. No matter how dark it gets, or how lost our cause may seem. ... our new hope for a Jedi future. May the Force be with us all."
Recommended also: author Alan George Cole's trilogy "Wizards of the Winds" a.k.a "When the Gods Slept" now available as three-in-one (as of December 2004)
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding book, regardless of genre
Review: This book contains a well written and captivating story, and you'll probably enjoy it even if you're not a big Star Wars fan. The story itself moves very quickly, and is very hard to put down. The characters are real and diverse, and you quickly become attached to them. In addition, Stover weaves in some commentary about the hellishness and brutal violence of war, and some insight on the sacrifices necessary to win. There are some extremely and slightly disturbing violent scenes, so it's really not meant for the pre-teen age group. Star Wars fans will enjoy this book immensely. It tells the background story of Mace Windu, and reveals some of his thoughts about the Clone Wars so far. Stover's characterization of Windu is excellent, I could easily see Samual Jackson reciting some of these lines in a film. Reading about the clone troopers in action was also very exciting. The only complaints I have concern the character Depa Billaba. There is an intentional air of mystery about her throughout the book, and it seems like this is never fully resolved. At the end I was still unsure why she behaved the way she did. My other complaint concerns the major battle at the end. Some characters received severe wounds in combat that should have killed them, yet somehow they survived. This seemed a little 'unrealistic', and contrary to his earlier comments on the losses that can happen in a war. Overall I'd give this book 4 1/2 stars, but since that's not possible I'll round up and recommend this to any reader of science fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Damn good book.
Review: This book is not only a marvel as a piece of literature but reaches you on a high emotional level. Many Star Wars books are enjoyable merely on the pretense that they are about the universe that is beloved by all who read them, this book makes you think about every action you take and how you look at the world around you. I not only recommend this book to Star Wars fans but anyone who enjoys a good insightful book.
Rating:
Summary: Packed with adrenaline, mystery, and Jedi Lore.
Review: This book was marvelous. It shows a closer look at Mace Windu as well as the clone wars. It was very entertaining and satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: If only George Lucas would let a real writer work the movies
Review: This is a beautifully written book, very much layered, and it completely changed my view of Mace Windu. Some reviewers here have faulted the detailed descriptions of the battles and bloodshed, but that is exactly the point of this story - it's supposed to upset the reader. You don't come away from reading it feeling uplifted, you just endure and understand what the clone wars (and war in general) are all about, much as Mace does.
I find it a real shame that such gifted writers are doing the filling-in of the story between the movies, but Lucas does all the movie scripting himself, cause he's just not in the league of writers like Stover.
Highly recommended! You'll never see Mace Windu as the cardboard cutout he appeared to be in Episodes I and II ever again!
Rating:
Summary: Windus Greatest Challenge
Review: This is a review of the abridged Audio CD for Shatterpoint.
Before listening to this CD I had read with interest some of the other reviews. They tended to describe the type of story that I usually don't like. I don't tend to like the labyrinth journey type of stories where the characters wander about lost both as to their location but also as to the view of themselves and their world. Well this is not what you get with this audio CD. Random house tends to abridge a 350 page book down to 2CD's for a 2 ½ to 3 hours of listening pleasure. This abridgement takes a slightly longer 416 page book and makes a 6 ½ hour CD! There is nothing boring about this version of the book. Windu is wandering about and in this case the labyrinth is the jungle on his home world. But the story keeps evolving and changing so that your interest is kept. The characters change also which contributes to keeping your interest as well. For those who liked the action of the X-Wing books, you get plenty of action and battles here. The book is a little gory, but it has minimal detail in the audio CD, which makes it less gory and grotesque than some of the early NJO books. What do we know of Windu BEFORE reading Shatterpoint. He is the senior Jedi council member and has frequently made bad decisions when deploying Jedi on missions. He repeatedly underestimates the seriousness of the crises at hand. He is a strong pacifist at heart. One example of bad decisions: Windu learns that a member of the Trade Federation has vital information for the Jedi and is waiting in a "safe house". Windu looks around the room full of Jedi, who are there to welcome a new graduate from Padawan to Jedi Knight, to decide who should take the important task of escorting the informant safely to the Jedi Temple. He selects the newly named Jedi (Darsha Assant) to take on the mission all by herself. Then, it's a 2 hour job and no one has heard from her, and her master have been missing for 48 hours! So Windu sends a young Obi-Wan (even though Qui-Gon is there at the temple and could have gone) all by himself to find the two missing Jedi and their informant. Shatterpoint ends the speculation as to the nature of the character of Mace Windu. Is it he that could have prevented the total destruction of the Jedi order and of the galactic Republic? In the beginning of the book he explains what a Shatterpoint is, and why it was his failure to act that led to massive destruction. Following the Battle of Geonosis Windu has sent Jedi throughout the galaxy to build resistance to the Separatists who are bringing down governments. Here, his Padawan Depa Billaba has disappeared, but they receive a communication that seems to suggest that she has gone crazy. Windu goes alone to Haruun Kalto to bring Depa back, against Yoda's request that he bring help. We see Windu make more bad decisions based on emotion, rather than listening to the force, but we also see Windu the warrior. We even see a glimpse of the wisdom that must have helped him become, in effect, the manager of Jedi operations for the Jedi Council. I have not yet read the 416 page book yet, but based on the 6 ½ hour Audio CD, this is one of the best books in the entire SW expanded universe. The quality so far of the books in this "prequel" era has been excellent, superior really to the NJO. Lucas licensing is to be applauded for the way they are evolving the story by using the novels and the comics from dark horse to go with the movies. One can't help but notice the new, high quality art and inking going on at Dark horse as of about 2 years ago. I only have 2 complaints, Jan Duursema doesn't do MORE of the pencil work and the truly POOR quality of the binding of the TPB (complied) comics since they moved the manufacturing from Canada to China. I highly recommend this audio CD and hope that they will start making longer abridgements like this one in the future and even unabridged. MTFBWY.
Rating:
Summary: 6 1/2 hour Abridged CD is a Tremendous journey
Review: This is a review of the abridged Audio CD for Shatterpoint. Before listening to this CD I had read with interest some of the other reviews. They tended to describe the type of story that I usually don't like. I don't tend to like the labyrinth journey type of stories where the characters wander about lost both as to their location but also as to the view of themselves and their world. This type of story can often be boring, and or confusing to follow but the reader stays with it for the pay off. Often the payoff is some ridiculous contrivance. SP a great journey. This is not what you get with SP the audio CD. And this is not an ordinary Audio CD. Random house tends to abridge a 350 page book down to 2CD's for a 2 ½ to 3 hours of listening pleasure. This abridgement takes a slightly longer 416 page book and makes a 6 ½ hour CD! There is nothing boring about this version of the book. The ending is no odd contrivance either. The ending is a hugh action packed, on the edge of your seat battle. I was expecting to not like this story very much and it blew me away with its awesome sweep instead. I don't ever recall reading a M. R. Stover book before, but what a great job he did. Yes, Windu is wandering about and in this case the labyrinth is the jungle on his home world. But the story keeps evolving and changing so that your interest is kept. The characters change also which contributes to keeping your interest as well. For those who liked the action of the X-Wing books, you get plenty of action and battles here. The book is a little gory, but it has minimal detail in the audio CD, which makes it less gory and grotesque than some of the early NJO books. What do we know of Windu BEFORE reading Shatterpoint. He is the senior Jedi council member and has frequently made bad decisions when deploying Jedi on missions. He repeatedly underestimates the seriousness of the crises at hand. He is a strong pacifist at heart.
One example of bad decisions: Windu learns that a member of the Trade Federation has vital information for the Jedi and is waiting in a "safe house". Windu looks around the room full of Jedi, who are there to welcome a new graduate from Padawan to Jedi Knight, to decide who should take the important task of escorting the informant safely to the Jedi Temple. He selects the newly named Jedi (Darsha Assant) to take on the mission all by herself. Then, it's a 2 hour job and no one has heard from her, and her master have been missing for 48 hours! So Windu sends a young Obi-Wan (even though Qui-Gon is there at the temple and could have gone) all by himself to find the two missing Jedi and their informant. Shatterpoint ends the speculation as to the nature of the character of Mace Windu. Is it he that could have prevented the total destruction of the Jedi order and of the galactic Republic? In the beginning of the book he explains what a Shatterpoint is, and why it was his failure to act that led to massive destruction. Following the Battle of Geonosis Windu has sent Jedi throughout the galaxy to build resistance to the Separatists who are bringing down governments. Here, his Padawan Depa Billaba has disappeared, but they receive a communication that seems to suggest that she has gone crazy. Windu goes alone to Haruun Kalto to bring Depa back, against Yoda's request that he bring help. We see Windu make more bad decisions based on emotion, rather than listening to the force, but we also see Windu the warrior. We even see a glimpse of the wisdom that must have helped him become, in effect, the manager of Jedi operations for the Jedi Council. I have not yet read the 416 page book yet, but based on the 6 ½ hour Audio CD, this is one of the best books in the entire SW expanded universe. The quality so far of the books in this "prequel" era has been excellent, superior really to the NJO. Lucas licensing is to be applauded for the way they are evolving the story by using the novels and the comics from dark horse to go with the movies. One can't help but notice the new, high quality art and inking going on at Dark horse as of about 2 years ago. I only have 2 complaints, Jan Duursema doesn't do MORE of the pencil work and the truly POOR quality of the binding of the TPB (complied) comics since they moved the manufacturing from Canada to China. I highly recommend this audio CD and hope that they will start making longer abridgements like this one in the future and even unabridged. MTFBWY.
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