Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag.
Review: Hero's Trial is a mixed bag. Some parts of the book are quite enjoyable and well-done; others fall flat. On the whole, this is a lackluster book coming from a rather strong series. It simply fails to live up to the standard of excellence that Michael Stackpole set with Books II and III, and it is not quite as interesting or well-written as Book I, which is itself a problematic read but does decently with characterization and plot.I rather liked the first third of Hero's Trial--Chewbacca's memorial service is rather well done and there is some meaningful Han/Leia interaction--but the book pretty much falls apart after that. First of all, Luceno cannot write a space battle. He spends several pages on each of the few major battles that take place, but instead of relating details of strategy and the progress of the battle, he fills the space with meaningless, if florid, descriptions: "Asteroidlike coralskippers, varying in size, shape, and color, advanced in an unstoppable cloud, forging through the intense hail and swarming into the midst of the starfighter groups. Well-maintained formations broke apart as crafts peeled away to all sides, barrel- and snap-rolling into furious engagements with their quarries. In a bloodbath of swirling combat, coralskipper preyed on starfighter and starfighter on coralskipper" (180). This is all very pretty, though rather silly for the excess of adjectives, but it paints nothing more than a general tableau of "space battle." Part of the problem is that we don't know anyone in any of the battles, so Luceno has no obvious character(s) to follow--a problem that stems from his book having such a narrow focus (it deals more or less exclusively with Han). Luceno tries to fix the impersonal nature of the fighting in a later battle by tracking one X-wing, but the pilot is no one we've ever heard of before, and we never hear of him again--not to mention that Luceno renders rather little of the pilot's thought process and actions. In a book about a war, this failure to describe or engage with military combat is rather disappointing--especially because this book follows on the heels of Michael Stackpole's duology, and if ever there was a master of battle-description, it was Stackpole. Aside from the trouble with writing combat, Luceno falls into a few other traps. Around the middle of the book, he makes a typical Star Wars novel mistake by constantly quoting the movies. Han Solo is a quarter of a century older than he was in the films. You'd think he'd have expanded his vocabulary a little in that time. Also, in the second half of the book Luceno's writing shows signs of influence from Kevin J. Anderson, author of the most abominable Star Wars books ever written, the Jedi Academy Trilogy. The events are melodramatic, the characters act stupidly, and the dialogue is like slap-stick comedy. Particularly annoying is a scene at the start of ch. 20 in which the Jedi hold a council that reeks of Kevin J: the characters act with uncharacteristic idiocy, deciding that something obviously suspicious is really okay and that the best way to deal with it anyway is to be insanely optimistic just because "we're all together!" What really gets me is that Wurth Skidder, undeniably the least wise and intelligent of the Jedi (i'm not kidding--check his stats in the NJO Sourcebook if you don't believe me), is the only one who says anything rational or intelligent at the meeting. Anyway, Luceno draws the scene to a close by refering to events directly out of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, confirming the source of his Jedi's behavior. Finally, Luceno's language lacks clarity. At times this makes the plot rather confusing. There are things he just fails to explain adequately--fine points of the bo'tous toxin, details of one character's death, etc. At other times, he trips on his overly-developed vocabularly. He uses (and sometimes abuses) far too many SAT words, which create clutter and just make his writing sound silly. Don't get me wrong, though. The book isn't all bad. I really appreciate Luceno's insistance on re-using characters from past Star Wars novels--it lends credence to the fact that the books really tell one continuous, canonical story. Sometimes he overdoes it, writing entire chapters that talk about what happened in previous books, but it is good to see that not all characters in this universe show up once and then evaporate. Luceno also writes several passages of inspired characterization and inner monologue. In particular, I think he does rather well with Threepio, giving the reader an internal view of the droid that is rare in the books, and treating him with the appropriate mix of levity and seriousness. Luceno also does some interesting and appropriate things with Han's character and with Han's marriage to Leia, though I wonder if the credit for this belongs with the committee that designed the plot for the entire series. Similarly, he introduces Vergere, who will later become enormously important, and he builds her up as a convincingly ambiguous and mysterious character. Finally, I actually somewhat enjoyed Droma. His banter could be a little too much at times, but it was far more interesting than Luceno's excessively serious description. Also, Droma actually seemed to have a touch of depth to him--that is, he was a bit more interesting than a stereotype, which is more than I can say for some of the other Star Wars characters I've met.
Rating: 
Summary: BEST ONE YET!
Review: This book is by far the best NJO book I have read so far, even though I'm only on Star By Star. It had a ton of action and introduces Droma, who kept me laughing with all of his witty remarks.
Rating: 
Summary: Probably the NJO book thus far. . .
Review: It is nice to see that Han Solo is still on the Star Wars map. Not that there isn't room for a whole new cast, but the old one is what made Star Wars, Star Wars. This book brings us into the thick of the greatest battle in the history of the Star Wars Universe. Han is still reeling over the death of Chewbacca. He hooks up with an old friend who tells him about a group of smugglers who have made an alliance with the enemy. A great deal of the book revolves around how he persues this group of rouges. The characters introduced in this book are pretty cool. The Ryn character that kind of attatches to Han is very cool. As I understand, part of the reason Chebacca was killed, is that it was hard to work with his POV, Point Of View. This new character can speak, so therefore, a POV can be used. . . Like I said in the title, this is, in my opinion, the best book so far in the New Jedi Order series. I look forward to the suprises to come.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not enough Showolter to go around. :-D
Review: Great book, the first one I've read through entirely. Too bloody, I thought, but I loved the way the characters were built, and Elan was interesting. C3-PO's griping got old after a while, but that's him for you. Han was great, as always. The references to the books and movies were a bit corny, but I mostly expected that. Major Showolter... :D I loved him, he was really cool!... I wish he was in the other books. :D
Rating:
Summary: Solid but unimaginative addition to the NJO series.
Review: This book is ok. It is much better then Agents of Chaos II. The story however, revolves too much around Han Solo to the detriment of the other characters. Yes, Han Solo was ignored on the 2 Stackpole books, but to have 2 books with the main focus just on him was not really needed. The stories could have been told in one much more interesting book, than in two books that it is easy to skim through. While it was nice to see some of the characters from the Han Solo books brought back, they really did not do much to enhance the story. The addition of Droma, just made him into a Chewie clone. It was uninspired. I would much rather have seen Han working with Anakin than with Droma. The subplot involving the Ving priestess and Vergere was interesting, but really only served to reintroduce Vergere to the Star Wars universe after the few times she was mentioned in Bear's Rogue Planet. Thankfully, the disease that plagued Mara Jade is beginning to be wiped out, but Luceno ignores his more dynamic characters to settle in the stereotypical companions for Han. That said, Hero's Trial is better than its sequal, but the two Agents of Chaos books are the 2 worst books in the NJO series.
Rating: 
Summary: (yawn) boring
Review: I realize all of those who have written reviews for this book already are going to hate me for this, but I really disliked this book. It was boring. It had to much Han, not enough of the other characters. The parts I liked were the ones with Anakin and Jacen. I would recemend skimming this book, because there are quite a few important plot points, but I really did not like it.
Rating:
Summary: At last, a more realistic Star Wars!
Review: The writers have finally realized our characters can't be young forever and allowed them to age like normal people. Han's grief over Chewie's death is very touching and his personal journey very understandable. I hope the sequel is just as good.
Rating:
Summary: ok
Review: The book is ok. It was good to see more of Han after he had to make place for this Corran-creature in the last two books. Yet I missed the other characters. It's really a Han-book but it's not that bad because the next one makes up for the lack of other characters in this book.
The whole story with Elan was good but the end was very disappointing because she didn't achieve anything. Well, at least Vergere seems to have cured Mara, which I didn't expect to happen that quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Top notch story in the NJO
Review: Those who question the direction Star Wars novels have taken should read 'Hero's Trial'. Dealing with the continuing invasion of sinister alien forces, this book deals more with Han Solo than any of the past New Jedi Order books had. This makes it a plus for any fans of the original characters from the films. Also, the novel manages to move the Yuuzhan Vong invasion story along, keeping the continuity in the books more plausable. Star Wars stories are definately on the upswing.
Rating:
Summary: It's Disappointing, as is Most All he New Star Wars Books
Review: I consider myself a die hard star wars fan. Yet I fail to see all the writing magnifance in these new star wars books. Hero's Trial is my least liked so far. My favorite Star Wars authors are by far Timothy Zahn and Keven J. Anderson (Zahn being the better writer of the two). These new books quake in comparison to these books that started the all Star Wars books. So i make a plea to all those loyal hardcore Star Wars fans out there. Pick up The Last Command again, or reread the Jedi Academy trilogy and just pause and compare them with these new "star wars" books coming out. I hope you see the difference I do.
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