Rating: 
Summary: Alan Dean Foster is Back in the Star Wars Universe.
Review: Truly a charismatic book, though it takes place between pages 4 & 5 of ATOC.
It is a welcomed addition to this Star Wars fan's library giving a tremendous view into background of events leading to and surrounding Episode II. Even without any space battles this book never failed to challenge my putting it down. I found myself wanting to read a little further each time I tried, just to find out how the two Jedis and their Padawans were to get out of their current quandary. Nice build up for the release of Episode II. Hope every Star Wars fan gets a chance to read this one.
Rating: 
Summary: A prelude to Attack of the Clones
Review: The story surrounding this book is not bad, but it is drawn out. Two Jedi, Obi-Wan, and Luminara, along with their two Padawans, Anakin and Barriss, head to the planet Ansion to keep the citizens there from seceding from the Republic. The planet is made up of city dwellers, and nomads out in the prairie, who are at odds with each other. We see outside influences at work to get this planet to secede, that would lead to a chain reaction of other planets following suit. The main character behind this is revealed, and this person will appear in Attack of the Clones. Not who you think it is. We get a good look at Luminara, and Barriss who will be appearing in the Attack of Clones movie. We also see Anakin as a young adult, and the author portrays his thoughts, of his mother, and something else, but the author would not dispel the other. My guess would be Padme Amidala. Barriss senses this in Anakin, but he will not open up to her. Anakin displays anger at times, and seems self centered unlike the normal Jedi way. All four face challenges as they search the praries for the head group of the nomads to get them to agree with the city Ansionions on the matter of not seceding from the Republic. Some lightsaber sequences and difficult situations face the Jedi during this novel and keeps your interest. One character introduced as Tooqui, a Gwurran, reminds me of an Ewok, as well as his fellow Gwurran. Not a bad book. Enjoyed the Jedi's travels through the praries and the different creatures they encounter.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a 1hour Television Show, when I Expected an Epic
Review: This book was by far my least favorite star wars book ever. It was boring and slow. The bad guys where uninteresting and the action was ok.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book
Review: This book was good; not the best ever, but well worth the time it took me to read it. I was also pleased to see the return of a good author like Foster to the Star Wars universe. The book serves as a bit of a 'set-up' for the political situation in Episode 2, as well as a way to define the characters of Anakin and Obi-Wan, and it accomplishes these goals well, if little else. In this book, the rather backwater planet of Ansion has become a focal point in the increasingly shaky Republic; it's thinking of seceding, which could ultimately lead to war. The Council sends two Jedi teams there to try to straighten things out, Obi-Wan and a now eighteen-year-old Anakin, and Luminari Unduli and her young padawan, Bariss Offee. The book's focus is mainly the characters and relationships between the four Jedi, as they work towards a collective goal against seemingly impossible odds, and try their best to get along. All the characters were portrayed well, but Anakin especially really struck home. This is one author who remembers what it's like to be a teenager! Anyway, if your a fan of the prequels (and who isn't?) definitely check this one out, but if action and battles is your main thing, you'll most likely find this one rather tedious.
Rating: 
Summary: A steaming pile ...
Review: I wrote an earlier review of this book when I had halfway finished ... at that stage I almost dumped it in the garbage. However, I managed to struggle through to the end (only because I never leave a book unfinished) and thought I should update my previous review. This is a truly awful novel. Don't buy it. You have been warned. It's a mystery to me how an author such as Alan Dean Foster, who has written so many other decent novels, can churn out such badly written, infantile gibberish. It's more of a mystery how Lucas Books can publish it. The writing style is wooden (much like the dialogue from the Phantom Menace) and lifeless. The pace is ponderous.
The characters are one dimensional & the plot non existant. The entire premise could have been covered by a 15 to 20 page short story ... however it is stretched out to 300+ pages in mind numbing fashion. It's glaringly obvious that this book managed to avoid the editor. And if an editor *did* skim through it - he or she should be fired! The number of mistakes (gramatical, contextual and even spelling) is staggering.
How can any author switch narrative perspective in the *same* paragraph? Isn't that covered in "Writing for Dummies" ???
How can any author completely contradict themselves in the space of two sentences? I reiterate - do *not* waste your time with this book.
Reading it will give you no insight into the second prequel, nor into anything to do with the Star Wars universe.
At best this book will only give you a headache ... but why risk it?
Rating:
Summary: This Book Should Have Never Been Published
Review: God, where do I start?
First off, the plot is horrible, this isn't really the authors fault since this is probably what he had to work with, publishing the book before AotC is released. Bassicly, 4 Jedi need to convince a tribe to sign some sort of agreement. And that's it. They go on a journey that lest a couple of hundred pages, they encounter every form of wildlife they can, they get to the tribe, the tribe signs the treaty, end of story.
This awful plot is supplemented by bad characterizations and horrible humor along the lines of a Jedi apprentice telling individuals who have implants in their heads that may explode that they have "explosive personalities". Ha ha. Anyway, my suggestion is don't buy the book. You'll just waste 20 bucks.
Rating:
Summary: Quite Disappointed
Review: It's rare that I encounter a book that I decide not to finish, but in the case of "The Approaching Storm" I eventually realized that my time could be better spent doing something besides plowing through to the end. The story is very weak. If there are any elements in this book that are relevant to the Star Wars "mythos" they didn't appear by the time I quit reading (which was when I was about 50% done with the book.) This is truly a bad book.
Rating:
Summary: two and a half thumbs up
Review: I found this book very creative and immersing. A must read for any star wars fan. Though the book is much more political than it is action, it is still a very good book. I feel when fans finally see ATOC they will be able to appreciate this book a lot more.
Rating:
Summary: Did Foster have a ghost-writer???
Review: I expect FAR better from Alan Dean Foster, given that the original STAR WARS novelization, along with SPLINTER OF THE MIND'S EYE, were excellent stories. The plot is threadbare, the villains cardboard and boring, the dialoge and what pass for "action" scenes repetitive, the phrasing poorly written and edited, and Foster also committed one of my pet peeves: switching points-of-view within the same section, literally from paragraph to paragraph in many cases. Badly written; badly edited. Obviously rushed to grab sales before the new movie comes out. What a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: How does this fit in with anything???
Review: Whoa! Five pages to rent a few lousy beasts of burden. This is a RPG Magazine 5-pager stretched out by 295 extra pages of mindless babble. Man, if I wasn't a totally hooked 'completionist' I tell you...! And what's up with the Trade Federation? One book they rule, another they drool... And Obi Wan as a totally non-plussed, non-emotive aloof self-absorbed Jedi Elitist? Hey, it's only been a few years since "Rogue Planet" and everyone has become someone else. If you want post-TPM Star Wars action without a remote, lame tie-in to the upcoming blockbuster movie read "Rogue Planet" - 100X better all around.
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