Rating: Summary: I loved it! Review: I thought this book was an excellent new direction for the NJO books. It was about time some other Star Wars writers added new, unique characters and plots besides Zahn. Nom Anor and his friends were a great new idea that will add a twist to the Star Wars saga.And yes, it is about time someone died. And a good choice at that if you ask me. I also enjoyed how the Solo children were more involved and developed, since Luke, Mara, Han, and Leia can't live forever.
Rating: Summary: My poor Wookie! Review: Here's hoping Chewie is resurrected just in time for EPISODE VII, not to mention a cameo for EPISODE II. WE NEED CHEWBACCA BACK! Was the book well written? The death scene was very cinematic, but I am in denial!
Rating: Summary: Couldn't put it down Review: After a string of sub-par Star Wars extrapolations, Salvatore has recaptured the feel of the original series by Timothy Zahn. The action sequences in the book are particularly well-executed, and Salvatore's interpretation of the main characters is true to the original movies. Unfortunately, there are a few plot elements that seem to be introduced prematurely. For example, Mara Jade's illness is introduced on the first page of the book, yet it has almost no influence on the outcome of this portion of the saga. The effect is one of "Hey, Mara's sick, don't forget it because it will be important in the next book." It also seems as though Luke and co. went to see Lando just to "run the belt", even though the purpose of the trip was to link certain New Republic leaders to smuggling activities. In an attempt to set up the final battle, Salvatore puts the bigger picture on the back burner. Overall, a fine effort. The pace and realism more than compensate for the subtle failures in the plot.
Rating: Summary: A Refreshing Change of Pace Review: Though I will miss Chewie in the future, this book adds a touch of realism to the Star Wars saga. No one has as many lives as the core characters, not even Morris the Cat! This book also introduces a terrifying new foe to our heroes and the New Republic. I highly recommend this book to any Star Wars fan who can cope with the loss of a beloved character. For all of you who complain about this book, get a grip! This is just a new path in the never ending Star Wars saga, and it opens up the reader to a sense of suspense once again! Now we never know until the end of the novel if our heroes really will survive!
Rating: Summary: How's This For a Plotline... Review: I know I'm only a mere reader, a lowly fan, and what do I know? But, I'd have really enjoyed this book more if Kyp Durron had been killed off instead of you-know-who. I mean, the guy doesn't have a clue. I'd love to see alot more Corran Horn, too. Horn is even above Skywalker in the "common sense department", as well as the "guts department". So, next time kill off Kyp and put Corran in his place, OK?
Rating: Summary: Terrible Book Review: ...especially compared to Timothy Zahn's work. I'm a big Star Wars fan and a big Salvatore fan, and I thought it would be a perfect match. But this is just a very flat story with boring villans, weak dialogue and a ho hum story. Big disappointment.
Rating: Summary: Vector Flop Review: This novel, Vector Prime, and the beginning of the New Jedi Order era are a flop. There was great expectation for this, but the choice of Salvatore as the author of such a critical phase of the timeline was a big mistake. He achieves to write a very thin plot, to trivialize the characters (even Zahn's Mara), and to continue the awful competition among Star Wars authors of "the galactic menace of the month", and "my menace is bigger and meaner than yours". This does not help Lucas'own narration of Palpatine's and Anakin's story. Vector Prime tries to be a "dark" novel, but its darkness comes out thin, unconvincing and artificial. Salvatore makes even the death of you-know-who seem as trivial as slipping in the shower. The problem with a saga-series such as this is that characters DO get tired and worn. Remember the Dune and the Riverworld series, which won large criticism for Herbert and Farmer after they overexploited their worlds. This time it is much worse for Star Wars in the hands of several incompetent writers. They should have left Zahn (the best in the lot) finish it with a trilogy instead of the duology, and retire those characters quietly. The next problem is that the Solo kids have turned into awful characters thanks to Kevin J. Anderson, another of the awful authors in the Star Wars stable, and his young Jedi series. If Lucas Films and Licensing wanted to pander to high schoolers, promoting the Solo kids as typical american (not galactic) teenagers, they should have left the older (Luke, Mara and the senior Solos) characters retire to a deserved rest in a nice planet. At a certain age, saving the galaxy every week is a little too much. The full saga is alive thanks to George Lucas and Episode 1, (in spite of Brooks), and up to the Campbellian mythical standards of the first film trilogy, but the New Jedi Order era will hardly merit an exhibition in the Smithsonian if it is continued by mediocres such as Salvatore. Star Wars, in certain ways, surpasses Asimov's Trantorian empire; but good authors (Benford, Brin and Bear) are revivifying Isaac's world in the new Foundation trilogy. I hope Star Wars follows this good example. Dr. Enrique Perez - Castillo Ph.D. (Comparative Literature)
Rating: Summary: Not the best..But real close :) Review: I have to admit, I did hear of the death of someone prior to reading it, and I wasn't dissapointed in thier exit. It was done in a very heroic manor, and any star wars fan would be proud. I didn't like the fact that Mara Jade is now tihs weakened character fighting a rare disease, but it's just another problem for the Star Wars gang to figure out. I did enjoy reading about the Solo children, and how each of them has taken on a peronallity of their own, and you can even see young versions of Leia, Han, and Luke in the three children. Which leaves me to believe that even after the original heros are gone, their children will carry the torch :) Can't wait for the next one!
Rating: Summary: At last, some realism Review: I have been reading the Star Wars novels for quite some time now and I have been getting more and more bored with the stupid plotlines, unbeatable humans and an ever rebuilt empire. The few that actually had me gripped were "the Heir to the Empire trilogy","I, Jedi", "The Jedi Search trilogy" and "the Hand of Thrawn series". But now at last Mr. Salvatore has brought some realism back to the Star Wars galaxy. The characters are believable, the plot is interesting, the enemies are ugly, horrible and sick and the Solo children are now hero's themselves (rather than annoying little brats than turned the Star Wars galaxy into the Brady Bunch). The death of Chewbacca was excellent, the conflict between Anakin and Han was touching and Mara's disease couldn't have come at a better time to add to Lukes troubles. I know it will all end in happiness, but it's a nice change to get into the heads of the heroes when they are at their boiling points. I think the novel is excellent, though my only request is that Chewbacca does not turn up again in Book 2. Although his death is painful, it is also very very powerful.
Rating: Summary: The Worst Star Wars Book To Date Review: For those of us who believed that we had seen the worst of Star Wars literature with Barbara Hambley's Planet of Twilight or Children of The Jedi or Vonda McIntyre's Crystal Star, we have a new enemy . . . RA Salvatore's Vector Prime. If he could be turned he would be a powerful ally. Yes . . . yes, can it be done? No my Master, Salvatore is beyond all hope. Very well then, barr him from writing about anything Star Wars related for the rest of his lifetime. Mr. Salvatore's work is called a Star Wars novel, it has all the old favorites in it, but there isn't anything else to anchor it to the Star Wars universe. In Timothy Zahn's Hand of Thrawn duology, the Empire had few operable TIEs left in inventory and that made it imperative for the Preybird to become the mainstay of the Imperial Navy's starfighter force. Yet, in Vector, we are made privy to the fact that Lando--a conniving smuggler and gambler--has acquired TIE Fighters, Boombers and even several TIE Advanced x1s for his new operation. Since when can a lowly smuggler/gambler obtain TIE Advanced starfighters, when Grand Admiral Thrawn didn't have a single one to make use of, nor did the resurrected Emperor, who chose to use droid TIEs. When did the New Republic get an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer? UI find it highly doubtful to believe that Admiral Pellaeon had a large firesale at which Imperial technical schematics were sold to the New Republic. Or perhaps we'll find out that Admiral Pellaeon has decided to ditch the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Chimaera and decided to transfer his flag to a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser. And then there's Mara's infection which is nothing more than a poorly contrived plot device. The Force should certainly be able to destroy these spores. Her husband is a Jedi Master, her sister-in-law is a Jedi Knight, her nice and two nephews are Jedi and she is a Jedi herself. If a group of Jedi trainees can join hands in Darksaber and channel the Force to hurl 17 Star Destroyers to the edge of the Yavin system, Mara's new family should have absolutely no problem in curing her. We have known that the Force flows through all living things since A New Hope. Yet, it seems Mr. Salvatore never learned that. I find it incomprehensible that these alien things he chose to infect our universe with are not a part of the Force, when they are living organisms. My advice to Mr. Salvatore is this: watch A New Hope, The Empire Strike's Back and Return of the Jedi and absorb the dialogue. Read the five Star Wars books written by Timothy Zahn, the four by Kevin J. Anderson and I Jedi so you can actually learn about excatly what the Star Wars Universe is, since you don't seem to have a clue. Better yet, stick to your Dungeon & Dragons nonsense and never again write another Star Wars book. Where are you Timothy Zahn? You're our only hope to save this travesty, this filth! Oh save us from these no-talent hacks who are hired to write Star Wars books just because they've sold a lot of books!
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