Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as Hero's Trial
Review: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse is a worthy addition to the Star Wars mythos, but it's certainly not anywhere near the best. Whereas this book's predecessor, Hero's Trial, focused almost solely on the (mis)adventures of a still-grieving Han Solo, this volume tries to keep track of everyone. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily a good thing.Han is still on his quest, with newfound sidekick Droma, to find Droma's missing clan. Meanwhile, Leia heads off to the Hapes Consortium to try to win them over to the cause, the Hutts try to play the New Republic off of the Vong for their own benefit, Jacen & Anakin head off to examine the possibility of using Centerpoint Station as a weapon against the Vong, Borsk continues to be Borsk, and there are subplots galore. The author maintains his high standards of writing throughout, and this book could have been absolutely terrific had it been about, say, three times as long as it is. Unfortunately, because of the relatively short length of the book, very few of the plot threads are developed satisfactorily, and sometimes they seem a bit disjointed. Still, the action is excellent, the characterizations are dead on, Luceno's knowledge of the Star Wars universe is superb, and there are cameo appearances of old favorites galore. The only two plots in this book that really kept me extremely interested were the Han and the Skidder plots, though, with the rest being too underdeveloped. The cover isn't very good either. While the Vong (Warmaster Tsavong Lah) appears much as he is described in the book, Han is missing an arm, and his beard looks more like a blur than any facial hair I've ever seen. Overall, this is an okay addition to the New Jedi Order, but the only Great parts of the book were the Han scenes and the last chapter, which almost boosted the book up another point just by itself. I do recommend this novel, but it's not the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, but still a part of the awful New Jedi Order
Review: First off, let me just say if you actually like the New Jedi Order series, then you'll have no problem with this book. Buy it now, and stop reading this review. Okay, now that we got rid of those weirdo's, let's talk about this book. I am a huge Star Wars fan, but (or maybe therefor would be a better word), I cannot abide this New Jedi Order Series. R.A. Salvatore's installment was the absolute worst Star Wars book I have ever read, and while Michael A. Stackpole's two installments were better, they were still no where near as good as his X-Wing stories, although this can be atributed to story-line restrictions. James Luceno's two books, Hero's Trial and this one, Jedi Eclipse, however, soar above the rest of the Order series. These books make excellent use of movie and expanded universe lore, depict the characters true to form (mostly) and keep things exciting, even when people are just sitting around talking. If this author were allowed to write a normal Star Wars book, I'm sure he could easily write on the level of A.C. Crispen, Kevin J. Anderson, or, dare I say it, Timothy Zahn! This book really merits 4 stars (5 stars for Hero's Trial), but I have to knock a star off each due to their role in the New Jedi Order. This book is definately worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Excitement at the very end of the book
Review: From the Heroe's trial, i got the feeling of a resurrection of the Han Solo's character, but in this book wasn't good enough. Jacen gets on my nerves again. And the Jedi seem to get more apart again. The conclusion of this book makes it worth to read all the pages, nice way of relating 4 or 5 stories that seemed isolated into this end. We are lacking for a victory. Everything is too parcial. The agent of chaos I is better, but i definitely recommend this one for the true fan of NJO and SW. Regards from Guatemala
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting conclusion to the Agents of Chaos duo.
Review: This book picks up two months after Hero's Trial left off. Leia is overseeing the evacuation of worlds targeted by the Yuuzhan Vong invaders. Han and Droma are still searching for Droma's relatives. The Jedi Knights are split in two about how to best fight the Vong. Jedi Wurth Skidder has undertaken a dangerous undercover mission on a Vong ship. And while their sister Jaina is flying with Rogue Squadron, Jacen and Anakin Solo have gone to the Correlian system to attempt to rearm Centerpoint Station. The New Republic hopes to lure the Vong fleet to the Correlian System by making it appear virtually defenseless, then decimating the fleet using Centerpoint and the planetery repulsors in the system. This was an exciting conclusion to Hero's Trial, and an excellant addition to the New Jedi Order storyline. The only real problem I had with the book was the exclusion of Mara and Jaina, two of my favorite characters. It's ridiculous that Mara would just sit their on Coruscant hoping her disease was gone, and Jaina could have easily been added into the story by having Rogue Squadron participate in some of the space battles. But the book was an overall great read, nonetheless. I'm counting the days until I get Balance Point.
Rating:
Summary: Only Slightly Better than Hero's Trial
Review: I'm very glad that Agents of Chaos is a duology and not a trilogy, because I don't want to read about Han Solo anymore for awhile. To be fair, Luceno doesnt devote less then three lines to every character in the galaxy, like he (unforutnately) did in Hero's Trial, but he does, however, make the mistake of cramming numerous characters, plots and subplots into a short book, leaving most of them unfulfilled, and the reader unsatisfied. Luceno seems to go the opposite way he did during Hero's Trial, instead of focusing only on Han, he has story lines involving other characters this time around, still maintaining Han as the protagonist of the book. Han's character is more frustrating in Jedi Eclipse then in Hero's Trial, he seems to mope and whine rather often, but he is still doing the same things; flying, arguing, being arrogant, and the like. Putting aside his irritating moping, Han Solo is in his prime. The story of Leia and her eldest son Jacen is probably the most interesting one in the book. While Han is off galavanting about and moping simultaneously, Leia and Jacen are trying to help people displaced because of Yuuzhan Vong attacks. While working at a refuge camp, the two come into contact with some Hutts (who are all very much like Jabba) and they have to cope with the their treacherous behavior. Jacen is very much a torn youth. He is a Jedi, but what, he asks himself, does that mean? How can he fight without going to the dark side? What is the dark side? Is his side even right? Jacen will continue to grapple with these questions for books to come. But in this novel, his torment is important because it affects his actions, and offers insight into his character. All in all, this is a better effort then Hero's Trial, and it would seem that Luceno has learned something since. I did not particularly enjoy the Agents of Chaos series, and the duology nearly put me off the New Jedi Order series. When I later reread the duology, I found that I liked it a little better; but I thought the stories still paled in comparison to mostly all the later books.
Rating:
Summary: Han Solo gets into the thick of it again
Review: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse is the fifth book in the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series. While the first book of this series within a series was a bump in the road to success, the second book redeems it slightly. But only slightly. It starts off slowly and still has some of Luceno's previous book's problems, but overall it is an improvement. Hopefully, the entire series is back on the upswing. Luceno crams a lot of story into the 348 pages of this book. Sometimes it seems to be bursting at the seams, with bits of story leaking from the holes. Some of the stories seem to get short shrift, like the Skidder story. This does play an important part in the finale, so it has to be in there, but I think Luceno could have spent a little more time on it, or found some other way for what happens to evolve. Actually, what I think could have been left on the cutting room floor, with more stuff added to other stories, is the in-depth scenes with the various refugee Ryn. A lot of time is spent on them and with not a lot of discernible effect. Sure, Luceno uses them to illustrate the greediness of the people trying to handle the refugees, and the ship on which they eventually end up plays a semi-important part in the finale, but I think too much time is spent on them. There is another reason I think too much time is spent on them, though. I thought the characterization of them was very lazy. The Ryn are just stereotypical gypsies, and the numbers aren't even filed off. They are people who roam the galaxy, always suspected and persecuted, who dance a lot and play games. They are fortune-tellers who like to use cards in their telling. Droma, because he is characterized a lot more deeply by being partners with Han Solo, breaks out of this stereotype, though the elements are still there. He is actually made an interesting character. But his family and relatives who show up in this book don't do anything but act like gypsies. It would have been nice if they were at least slightly different. And since Luceno doesn't even make them very interesting people as characters, the scenes with them are slow and boring. Another problem with the book is the very slow beginning. I really struggled to get through the first 100 pages or so. There are also various slow spots throughout the rest of the novel as well. This usually happens when Luceno decides to go into great, gory detail about previous books. When I say previous books, I'm not talking about previous New Jedi Order books either. There are so many references to previous series and books that I found it very distracting. Unlike Luceno's last book, where these references also were but he handled them a lot better and I didn't see them as worth mentioning in my review, this time it gets distracting. Luceno sometimes spends whole paragraphs explaining what happened in the previous books, making the story skid to a halt. The worst example of this is when Jacen and Anakin are brought in to prime the secret weapon in the Corellian system. A few years ago this weapon was the centerpiece in a potential rebellion of the Corellian system against the New Republic. Luceno describes almost everything about these books, and it really drags the story down with it when he does. While most of the stories do a decent job of holding the reader's interest (except for the refugees, as explained above), the only really interesting story is the Han and Droma story. The book just kind of sits there when they aren't on the screen, and the book does suffer from it. Han and Droma play off each other very well as characters, and the interplay between them is wonderful. Luceno does a great job of making Droma slide right in as Han's partner, with only a few pangs at Chewbacca's absence. The events that happen to them are interesting as well. Han's daring rescue of Droma when Droma's been arrested on Ruan is a lot of fun, and the droid character that helps Han helps make the story even more fun. The action is non-stop, and vividly described by Luceno, and I have to applaud him for it. This story is wonderful. While the other stories do just kind of sit there, I have to give Luceno credit for tying everything together. The climax is breath-taking, and makes up for the entire rest of the book. Unlike the previous book, there are valid explanations for why everybody ends up at the same place and I didn't find myself groaning once at the coincidence. Luceno still doesn't describe the space battle sequences very well, in my opinion, but he does do a better job than the previous book. There is a lot of tension in the action and it definitely held my interest. I think part of the success is because Luceno doesn't have to describe a lot of ship-to-ship action (though there is some). Instead, most of the ship-to-ship action is the Millenium Falcon and her adversaries. Luceno seems to be better at personal action, with the fight scenes in Han's rescue of Droma and in Kyp and Ganar's attempted rescue of Wurth being especially done well. This book started out so slowly that I was convinced I would give it a worse rating than Hero's Trial, but it surprised me. It got a lot better, and while most of the stories didn't completely excite me, they held my interest while I was waiting for more Han Solo action. That's not bad. I have to say that Luceno did much better this time around, though I'm still not particularly happy that he's the author chosen to end the entire series. Still, we shall see. David Roy
Rating: 
Summary: So bad
Review: I thought it was just me. But after reading some other reviews I'm glad it's not just me. This book [is bad.] I can't stand this writer he's just bad. Whenever he went to describing some planet or space station or creature, I lost interest. It's almost like he's trying to hard to be good. It took me a long time to make it through this book. Read it casue you need to, but you won't enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent plot, lousy writing.
Review: Jedi Eclipse merits a similar review to Hero's Trial, the first book in the Agents of Chaos dulology. Something close to a third of each book comes off particularly well--in Hero's Trial, it's the first third that is good; in Jedi Eclipse, it's the last third. Both books deserve praise for their interest in reviving characters, places, and events found in previous Star Wars books. Luceno introduces important characters in a suitable fashion, and the plot he details achieves key goals in the NJO progression. These are the shared aspects of the books that deserve praise. Unfortunately, the writing of both books is sub-par. Luceno has several debilitating tendencies. He selects one or two characters to fully characterize, while he leaves all others flat and virtually devoid of personality. He does not even stereotype these more "minor" characters (I place minor in quotation marks because often these are characters of vast importance in the other NJO books), prefering to entirely or almost entirely ignore their previous characterization in favor of using them as a bland background cast that can supply extra lines without interfering with his real players. Luceno also tends not to show much intelligence in the scenarios he cooks up: characters make stupid suggestions that seem below their intelligence, they argue poorly, and events tend to unfold with little complexity or subtlety. I can understand characters making mistakes, but that is not what this is about: Luceno's situations simply seem...lame, for lack of a better word. The author is the one who hasn't thought things out well enough, not the characters. Finally, there's Luceno's tendency to let his vocabulary run away with him. Thankfully, his word selection is a little less exotic and his descriptions are less florid in this second book. One gets the impression that his editors told him to lay off a bit. Nonetheless, he seems in Jedi Eclipse to really misuse a lot of his vocabulary, or at least to radically stretch the meanings of some words. All this leaves Jedi Eclipse a mediocre book with a decent plot but poor writing. The NJO story continues apace, particularly in the last few chapters where Luceno sets up some promising political (and otherwise) intrigue that I am sure is part of the grand plan and not some invention of his own. I would go as far as to say that these final chapters are actually exciting and even redeemed the book to a certain degree because of their implications for the future. But in the end, the muddled first 2/3+ of the book serverely marrs the whole. The plot is not as focused on Han as was that of Hero's Trial, and Luceno has a hard time jumping between characters and maintaing a truly coherent plot. It's there, but it deserves more emphasis than it gets. The story also suffers from this shift of focus from Han because Han is one of the only characters Luceno seems to put much effort into characterizing, and without him at the center, we wind up following people who should be more compelling but aren't. The Jedi receive greater treatment in this episode (as its title implies), but Luceno has a hard time rendering them. Wurth Skidder is written passably, but, given his Jedi identity and centrality to the plot, Luceno really ought to give the reader more insight than he does into Wurth's internal workings. Anakin and Jacen suffer more. Luceno clearly picked up on their conflict in Vector Prime and sought to expand on it, but we are left with a hollow shell of what Salvatore wrote. This is mostly because Jacen is drastically simplified from the dynamic and thoughtful young man who Salvatore and Stackpole wrote to a kid whose sole attribute is his unflinching obsession with inaction. I understand that for the uber-plot it is important that Jacen become paralyzed like this, but he should be paralyzed by a progression of intelligent (if misled) thought. I sorely missed hearing Jacen's internal monologue. His reflective nature added much to the reader's experience and understanding of the Force. In fact, it is such thoughtfulness and care to detail that I found most lacking in this book. Other than the case of Jacen, it bothered me the most where the Yuuzhan Vong themselves were concerned. In a book where we become more intimately acquainted with the extremely important yammosk, I was disappointed to see many of the Yuuzhan Vong's alien affectations disappear: their extreme reverence for protocol, their use of the term Jeedai for "Jedi," their utter seriousness, etc. In short, I feel that Luceno dealt with good ideas, but was frequently sloppy, much to the reader's disadvantage. Han's struggle with Chewbacca's death, the deterioration of the Organa-Solo marriage, Jacen's slip into inaction, the plight of refugees, the deepening of the rift between Kyp and Luke--these are all crucial events that deserve far better treatment than they received in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Boring. The worst of the NJO series.
Review: Jedi Eclipse is boring. There is nothing original about it. Han Solo continues to run around with the Chewie clone, and there is a small subplot involving Anakin and Jacen but overall, there is nothing original or exciting in the this novel. There is simply to little going on to justify the amount of writing Luceno does for this story. The only original idea in the entire story is the droid revolution that Han Solo gets involved in. Jacen is portrayed as a whiny, spoiled brat, while Anakin could have ended the whole NJO series with the flick of a button. There is too much that doesn't add up, and too little of the other SW characters to make this book interesting at all.
Rating:
Summary: I had better plots for my action figures in the '80 s
Review: The first three "New Order" novels approach a galaxy far far away from a new prospective, introducing new characters and slowly moving the old ones (Luke, Han, Leia, and Lando) into the background. The "Agents of Choas" novels fail to do this, and really can't hold a candle to 'Vector Prime' or the "Dark Tide" novels. Enter Han Solo every bodies favorite smuggler, Take away Chewbacca and add a smart mouthed version of Jar-Jar! (Luceno should have taken note from Phantom Menace) Tie in a side plot from one of the weaker Star Wars novel trilogies (the Corelian Trilogy) and you have a novel that really doesn't take you anywhere new. Overall the novel is okay, but I came up with more original plotlines for my action figures back in the 80's.
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