Tired of the Yuuzhan Vong? You picked the right book!Luke and gang still search for Zonoma Sekot, this time on the Chiss homeworld of Csilla and in a big library. Han and Leia and company flit to Bakura to recreate Tyer's "Truce at Bakura". And Nom Anor continues to be a heretic.NOTE: Based on audiobook and novel.Oh, novel, why do you do this to me? Even though I didn't like reading you the first time, I didn't start listening to the audiobook thinking, "I am going to hate this book, hee hee hee hee!!" I wanted this to be a decent book; I wanted to like this; I wanted to look forward to the end of the NJO series. But instead, you take my good will, you take my hopes and destroy them brutally. How dare you.Who would have thought that a 400+ page book could have almost nothing of value happen in it. I may not have liked Force Heretic I: Remnant, but to its credit, something of value HAPPENS. Luke and Mara team up with the Imperials; the Imperials band together to fight the Yuuzhan Vong; the Imperials pledge to help Luke and Mara in their quest for Zonoma Sekot and to fight the Yuuzhan Vong alongside the Galactic Alliance.But this book is 100% skippable. In other words: The ENTIRE BOOK is filler. This is positively ridiculous. You shouldn't be THREE BOOKS away from finishing the series only to hit filler. No. This is the time where things should be coming to a wire; where the fighting should be even more intense; where Luke should be racing to find Zonoma Sekot, where the Yuuzhan Vong should be planning to finally wipe out the Galactic Alliance or vice versa. Instead, let's move away from the battles that have marked the entire series and instead take a trip down memory lane and revisit old Bantam novels *facepalm*Again, the audiobook spares me hours of misery by removing the useless "Nom Anor is STILL NOT FRAKKIN' DEAD and is a heretic for the Jedi, tee hee, isn't that funny because in the beginning he was trying to kill the Jedi" plot and summarizing Luke's stupid trip to the Chiss library mission with one sentence. Good grief, when I am GRATEFUL to an abridged audiobook for removing parts of the book, something is seriously wrong! Why is Nom Anor still alive? Why doesn't he do anything of value? Where are the other Yuuzhan Vong antagonists doing their big battles or whatever? Why is he the only constant Yuuzhan Vong from Day One?! ARGH!!As for Luke's mission, this should be THE big thing (I mean, it's hinted that it is going to END the entire WAR), but instead, it's a stupid trip to the library to gawk at ZOMG! paperback books! And guess what?!?! That's where all the trouble is. The conflict is that the books aren't in digital format and easily searchable so Luke and co have to spend more time in the library searching for the damn planet! This, folks, is what the ENTIRE conflict for this plot thread. In a series which has been about the New Republic struggling to avoid genocide, where billions have died, where the very nature of the Force has been dissected and pawed over, Luke and his pals are hanging in the library, hovering over that damn card catalog system! You have got to be kidding me. THIS IS DRAMA?!?! THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO READ ABOUT?!?! Hunting down books, using the Dewey Decimal system, and pouring over pages?!?! This is as bad as making a book about playing a video game!!!*Goes ballistic and is forcibly administered her happy drugs*Ahhhhh...Sorry about that.Anyway, the part of the story that the audiobook decided you couldn't live without is Han and Leia's trip to Bakura (why, I have no clue). You see, last book, they were assigned the mission to reconnect with planets that have been off the radar. And you know what? That's actually not a half bad mission. It makes sense that the government would want to check and see who is still out there, who is on who's side, and so on. But the problem is, the mission to Bakura ultimately A) has nothing to do with the greater Yuuzhan Vong war, B) is throwing our prima donna protagonists at a background mission at best, C) really doesn't bother to include the greater Yuuzhan Vong war (even, you know, a minor battle or something), D) is best probably for some secondary characters to go on (like Corran Horn or Kyp Durron), E) is badly placed in the series (why doesn't this mission happen, say, pre-"Star by Star" similar to the missions Stackpole wrote in for Corran and Ganner in "Ruin" and "Onslaught"?), F) is probably better for a side mission (you know, a B- or C- or even D- plot) and G) HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE YUUZHAN VONG WAR! We are at the point in the series where we should be revving up to the major climax, and we are doing Part Deux of "Truce at Bakura"?! What is WRONG with the authors?! *headdesk*All the horrible cliches we've seen a billion times in this franchise reappear, with probably the only exception being yet another Superweapon of the Week, but Kevin J. Anderson isn't the author of this series (unless he used a psuedonym...), so that explains that. Anyway, here are some highlights:1. Han and Leia gripe and whine about the Millennium Falcon being boarded even though it is PART OF THE BAKURAN DEFENSE FLEET'S JOB and would THEY honestly let just ANYONE waltz onto their ship without being double-checked, huh, huh, huh?!2. Malinza Thanas (orphaned child of Pter Thanas and Gaeriel Captisan) is a whopping 15, is somehow the leader of an entire Rebellion, and can add her name to the list of Star Wars Mary Sues That I Desperately Want to Hunt Down and Kill.3. Jaina, the supposed "Sword of the Jedi", gets captured and, in stereotypical damsel in distress style that would better suit a Disney movie, must be rescued by a man.4. A Ryn, a species never seen before this series and yet "invisibly ubiquitous" as the plot requires, can break into any security installation and get whatever Macguffin is needed with a mere janitor's pass. And somehow avoid getting caught.5. Rejects from the James Bond Villains School, who reveal their entire plan to our protagonists instead of A) doing their plan or B) killing our protagonists.6. Characters that develop ZOMG! super-Force powers as the plot requires (Tahiri and her Force Bubble Plot Invincibility).7. Tahiri, who was Vong Formed 6 books ago, but is only starting to deal with it now because the authors figured better late than never.8. A false death that is so obvious in its setup, you want to tell the authors that Stackpole would like his trope back.9. Double-, triple-, and quadruple-crosses by known enemies, which the heroes SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER than to ally with, but of course, they don't, otherwise there wouldn't have been filler--I mean, a book--to publish and soak money out of people.About the only redeeming quality to this book is Tahiri's quest. Yes, it's weird it's taken so long to get to it (she was Vong-formed WAY back in "Conquest"), but it is interesting and well-done.Like "Remnant", this book is terrible. It is boring, it is pointless, and it is stupid, relying on a plot regurgitated from the Bantam era while trying to conceal it as "building" on previous novels and hoping that you aren't paying enough attention to see the similarities. Unlike "Remnant", there is no reason why this book exists, other than to soak money from Star Wars suckers like myself. I disliked this book heartily and do not recommend even more vigorously.
The New Jedi Order series took a while to start moving along again, but it is certainly in the zone in the Force Heretic trilogy. While the story is kind of tangental to the main story arc of the series, it is a welcome distraction in a lot of ways. Another interesting thing that is happening in these three books is that there are three storylines that are being followed. However, sometimes there are more things going on at once than is easy to follow. So once in a while, you'll say to yourself, "Wait. I forgot about that character. Do I have to go back and re-read what happened with them last? Nah. I'll remember soon." And you do remember soon, mostly. The layout of the "chapters" contributes to this confusion. There are no chapters. You have a two-space break between storylines. While I understand that this can be used to make the reader feel more like these things are happening concurrently, it gets confusing in this book because there are so many things happening at once. It's a good book, but takes a little more brain power to read than some may be comfortable with.
What do You think about Refugee (Force Heretic, #2) (2003)?
Del Rey started the New Jedi Order to get away from people trying to overthrow the New Republic and blame the good guys. So in this book, we get a plot about people trying to overthrow the New Republic and blame the good guys. What?Danni and Jacen have no chemistry together. Why are they making this a thing? The only good thing I have to say about this book is that Tahiri's struggle with Riina is a welcome addition to the series and the EU as a whole. Also, I only have three books left. "Thank the maker!"
—Matthew Ashby
This book was actually much much better than I expected going into it. Remnant was such a chore to read, I'm glad this one was more enjoyable. I think where it succeeded was in keeping things a bit simpler. The plot lines were clearly divided int 3-4 stories that were very linear in nature and well written. That's what really has hampered this series on the whole: not being able to see its plots through to completion. It really feels like the current activities are going somewhere soon in this installment. That said, it's still kind of a dry read. The political crap always gets too involved and backwards for my liking, but it usually serves a decent purpose. This also kept the politics mixed with enough other stuff to be interesting. Also, I actually sort of enjoyed the library conflict. I know other reviews call it stupid but...when have you seen books in Star Wars? It's a brilliantly simple problem for them to overcome. Though it did wrap up a bit too conveniently at the end and in a way that seemed completely separate from the library research. I'm just glad they've got a direction. There are some stupid moments. Like has been pointed out, when you enter a new system and then get mad that they want you to identify yourself, what the heck is that about? And the extra political conflict on Csilla felt tacked on and was pretty meaningless to me. I also continue to be polarized by the characters - Luke and Mara are awesome but underutilized, Jaina sucks, Jacen has become awesome, Jag and Danni are cool, Saba and Tekli rock but are background, Han and Leia are not as interesting as they should be, etc. the cast isn't nearly as lovable as I want it to be (except on the Jade Shadow. Everyone on the Jade Shadow rocks my tube socks right now). Best part? ONLY THREE MORE BOOKS IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN SERIES!
—Michael Church
While this second book of the miniarc trilogy from the New Jedi Order series started off slowly, the ending kept me up later than normal, and tired for work the next day. Needless to say, it was very exciting. However, further to the excitement was the twists and turns not normally reserved for Star Wars literature. There were events taking place that I never saw coming, and normally these Star wars books are pretty straight laced and formulaic. If for no other reason at all, the novel earned its stripes with the unexpected twists, but it certainly did not want for action, suspence and turmoil (turmoil in the good sense). I very much enjoyed reading this book, and hope book three is equally satisfying.
—William
