Rating: 
Summary: Easily the best book so far in the New Jedi Order series.
Review: This book picks up about two months after Jedi Eclipse. In the first few pages Jaina, who is still flying with Rogue Squadron, is injured in battle and temporarily loses part of her sight. On the planet Duro, where refugees from those worlds captured and destroyed by the Yuuzhan Vong invaders are being brought, Jacen is working at his father's side. Ever since the events at Centerpoint, he has been especially confused and conflicted. He knows that the Vong must be fought, yet he is afraid that by using the Force to strike back, he will step over to the dark side. Back on Coruscant, Mara discovers that she is pregnant, and she worries that her disease might harm her unborn child. When Mara and Luke discover that a Jedi apprentice went missing on Duro, they take Anakin and head there to check it out. The main plot in this book was Jacen's dillema. After the events in the last book, Jedi Eclipse, I found his character to be quite irritating, but how he resolved his issues in this book redeemed him for me. I liked how Mara and Jaina were featured more than they were in the Agents of Chaos duology, especially seeing as how they are two of my favorite characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this latest addition to the New Jedi Order, which is easily the best so far. I am looking forward to the next book.
Rating:
Summary: New Jedi Order Shows Its Force!
Review: Kathy Tyers has returned to the Star Wars univers and at the best possbile time! The Vong have successfully divided the galaxy and the New Republic is on the edge of disaster. Luke and his wife, Mara Jade Skywalker are trying to keep the Jedi Order together while worrying about... a personal issue (see pg. 94). While a comedy of errors is raging on the planet Duros as Han and Leia work against each other without knowing. Jacen has abandoned the Force only to find that he cannot run from destiny. And at the end, the Jedi find that they, not the Vong are to become the focus of the galaxy's wrath. Kathy Tyers left me wanting more and loving every second of the book. Yet some questions for the saga remain... Where is the New Republic Admiral we all loved? Has he turned true Bothan? Where is Admiral Pellaeon. He said that he has not turned his back on the people of the galaxy, yet where is the Imperial Navy? And lastly, as we see the Chiss in chapter one, where are they? According to many sources, the Chiss control over half the galaxy (the unknown regions) and they have not yet moved to assist the NR in stopping this threat... Yet it all, Balance Point should be rated next to Timothy Zahn's calabre in its excellent style and motion. Thank you Kathy for another excellent piece of work!
Rating: 
Summary: Balance between Greatness and Crapish
Review: This book has a reasonably simple plot which is quite easy to understand. In the complicated political world of Star Wars, this was a much welcomed breather. Basically, the entire Star Wars family ends up taking many paths to Duro, which is the Yuzzhan Vong's next target in their push toward Coruscant. The true heart of the story comes in character development, such as relationships between Han and Leia, Han and Droma, Jacen and EVERYONE, etc. These developments are also a great break from previous NJO books. Overall, in these aspects, the book is like the author's other Star Wars novel, Truce at Bakura. However, the book falls short of being great in the same way as TB, just not as much. Because of the simple plot in the novel, the action scenes (which are very short), can be confusing at times. One example which comes to mind is when Jacen and Jaina are flying through the orbital city in a vehicle. Fast readers might have problems understanding what is going on, so slowing down the pace is needed at times. Also, the character development goes to far and makes the plot predictable. The focus is Anakin deciding to stop use the Force. In the end, he must decide whether he should continuing using the force in order to save a loved of his. These sort of things become predictable, and the plot begins to fizzle at the end. Overall, the most memorable impressions I had were that of the recurring secondary characters. The scenes with Randa the Hutt, Nom Anor, & Droma were done particularly well, saving the novel from becoming pointless. I recommend this book, but not highly.
Rating:
Summary: Light, dark...what's the difference?
Review: Up until now, the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series has been cosmic in scope, with characters moments taking place on a backdrop of world after world falling to the villainous Yuuzhan Vong. With Balance Point, Kathy Tyers gives us a bit of a break from that. Sure, the Vong are still ravaging every planet in sight, but the events of the book are limited to one planet with all of the characters involved being there. It's a bit more intimate in scope in one other way, too: the main point of the story is young Jacen Solo's quest to discover just what his place in the Force is. It's a nice change of pace, but the presentation is a little boring and the characters sort of lie there on the page.I have to admire Tyers' attempt to do a Star Wars novel with very little starship combat, though there is a fair share of juking and jinking to be done. However, what we're left with flies off the page like a Tie Fighter with one solar panel missing. It's sad because this is a novel that sets up a lot of the books to come (or appears to, anyway). Coruscant is threatened, Han and Leia may be back together and Han is acting more like himself after what happened in the last few books. Jacen comes to a crossroads and appears to make the correct decision, and there's plenty of personal action. Yet for some reason, none of this stuff seems to move. Droma gets very little characterization, and what there is of it is carried over from Luceno's novels (Hero's Trial and Jedi Eclipse). He is clearly not taking Chewbacca's place, but I can't tell if that's because he's not supposed to or because he's just characterized badly. The regulars are decent, but bland. The reunion between Han and Leia should be electrifying, but it just limps along (granted, they are in decontamination, but still...). It's nice to see them working together and caring about each other, but it would have been nice to have better dialogue for them. Jacen's relationship with his sister, Jaina, takes a nosedive as Jacen reveals that he won't use the Force, even to rescue their mother. Thankfully, Jacen realizes that not using the Force but relying on others to use it is kind of hypocritical, but then he never does anything with that realization. When Jacen makes his final decision about his destiny, it all comes about in a fairly clichéd way, with a loved character being in danger forcing him to decide. The answer is, of course, predictable. We are introduced to Warmaster Tsavong Lah, a Vong who appears to be an ongoing character in this one, as well as meeting Nom Anor yet again. Anor is actually getting a bit irritating, so one can only hope that he will soon be vaped accidentally by one of his own troops. He's a spy, infiltrating the New Republic in various guises, showing up in book after book in another role, serving the Vong god of Tricks rather then the god of Violence. While it looks like this dynamic could be interesting in future books, Anor as a character has never achieved anything more then reader annoyance in my book. As I said before, the plot is a lot more intimate and less star-spanning then previous books, which does make for a tighter book. I really liked the way the book didn't jump all over the known galaxy and stayed in one place pretty much. Of course, it's a stretch that they all end up in the same place yet again, but it's a given with the Star Wars books, so I should probably stop complaining about it. I also really liked the relationship between Mara and Anakin, and to a lesser extent, Luke. A momentous event in Luke and Mara's relationship occurs in this book, and I hope it leads to even more interesting things. In the meantime, though, Mara and Anakin make a wonderful pair. Mara's the experienced one and Anakin is eager to learn at her feet. He learns a bit about espionage as well as more about using the Force. He's also shown to be a bit of a hot shot, and I hope this leads to a lesson in future books. All in all, Balance Point is a perfectly acceptable Star Wars novel. It has some excitement and some good character moments. I just wish there had been more of them. If you're reading the series, it's not really one you can skip (though hopefully future books that rely on it will tell you enough about it if you do decide to pass it by). It's also good enough to get through if you have to. But if you're picking and choosing, give this one a miss. David Roy
Rating: 
Summary: Who are these characters?
Review: Reading through many other reviews, there seems to be a mix of opinions as to Ms. Tyers' talents and writing style. Not having read "The Truce at Bakura," this was my first experience with her as an author. However, after reading more than 200 pages of this novel, I don't feel very compelled to also read "Truce." I loved the way the book opened, basically with a summary of all that has happened in the world of NJO in the first 5 books. Having read those books over several months, it's easy to forget a few details, so that was a welcome addition to this novel. The story got off to a very dramatic start with a dogfight. I've noticed that such action sequences have been pretty limited since the opening chapter. We're left not knowing what happened to Jaina. (I hope not to give away too many spoilers, so skip this part if you haven't read the book. I mostly mean to make arguments about what disappointed me and point to specific portions of the book that support my assertions.) The deeper I got into the book, the more I wondered why these characters seemed so different from the ones I've grown to love (in the case of those from the movie trilogy) and many who weren't created by Tyers seemed to fall victim to mischaracterization. One scene that's been pointed out by many other reviews is the Han/Leia "reconciliation." I was antcipating much more, after the huge build up of alleged verbal fights that had happened between those two after the conclusion of Agents of Chaos and before the beginning of Balance Point. Furthermore, Jaina's anger at her mother completely caught me off guard. To this point, Jaina has seemed like she wanted to be in the military (maybe exhibiting some of Han's wrecklessness) despite her parents' reservations. She has one serious accident, and suddenly, "You weren't there for me mom!" Oh, boo hoo! The irony is how Jaina and Leia were indeed on the same planet and never knew until later in the book. Some attention is paid to Luke and Mara once again, which was very welcome. However, I found Tyers' style in terms of writing dialogue highly distracting. You will be trying to follow the actual words, and descriptions keep getting thrown in the middle. Now I'm trying to picture someone pursing their lips or lifting an eyebrow, rather than concentrating on what's being said. With Mara, aren't we talking about the Emperor's former assassin? And she's paranoid about a disease that's gone into remission? When she does find out what's going on with her body, rather than the natural instinct to become protective, she's more than ready to put her life on the line again. Strangely enough, that is the real Mara. How about the Vong? They are personified as sadistic killing machines who embrace pain and don't fear death. Why is there a scene in this book where one actually runs from a fight? I truly hope Tyers does her homework when writing future books in the SW expanded universe. The book does have its strong points, but also some glaring weaknesses, and just doesn't seem to flow well with the books that came before it. I wonder how certain details are vital to the plot. Kathy must have some fascination with hair or concentration camps. The strange part is, we're talking about refugees who've already been diplaced, on the run and humiliated beyond reason for months or maybe years. What did that plot twist do for them, other than destroy their already suffering morale? I am mainly reading the rest of this book so I'll know what's going on in the Edge of Victory duology. Maybe the cliffhanger that's been mentioned as happening at the end will redeem the book a bit for me.
Rating: 
Summary: It all depends on your point of view
Review: This is the first book in the NJO that I read, and I really enjoyed it. I can see how some people wouldn't, but in my opinion it depends on what your expectations are:
If you like a lot of characters, lots of battles, and a more general view of the NJO, you'll probably be disapointed, but if you enjoy reading about the Solos/Skywalkers, and like good character interaction, this book is definetely for you. This book focuses mainly on Luke, Mara, Han, Leia, and the 3 solo children, and most of it takes place on the same planet. My favorite thing about this book is the character interaction. It was good to see Mara and Anakin working together again like they did in Dark Tide I, and overall Mara and Anakins personalities are well written. Luke was somewhat of a disapointment and didn't do much of anything except worry about his wife, but not being a huge Luke fan, I didn't mind it too much. Jacen was written pretty badly, and since I read this book first, it gave me the impression that he was a wimpy little punk. That didn't prove true in the other books, and I learned to appreciate Jacen's thinking, I just think Tyers did a bad job explaining it. I did like the scenes with both Jaina and Jacen, Tyers did a nice job with them together. Jaina was written alright, she lacked the toughness and eagerness to fight in this book. Now about the thing with Han and Leia: It was well written, but way too short. Delete a Luke/Mara love scene and give it to Han and Leia, PLEASE. I also think Leia was rather poorly written, she lacked personality. Han was also not too good, he wasn't the risk-taker and "scondrel" we've all grown to like. As I did with all the books, I skipped the parts with the Vong, so I don't have much to say about them.
Overall, it was a great book, and I'm glad I read it first. If your looking for a book with characters like Lando, Karrde, the Horns, and lots of movement and battles, this book probably isn't for you. In my personal opinion, it was good, but I think it would have been better as two novels with more of a focus on everything else.
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