Action, Characters, and Higher Stakes - This has it allThe Yuuzhan Vong have developed a newer, more fierce weapon against the Jedi: the voxyn, made from vornskyrs and able to "sniff" out and kill Jedi. Luke Skywalker approves Anakin, Jaina, Jacen, and their friends to hunt out the Queen, from which all others are cloned, and kill her. Meanwhile, Coruscant is close to being overrun.NOTE: Based on audiobook and novel.Let me get this off my chest right now. If I were just rating the audiobook, I would mark down heavily because and ENTIRE subplot-the conquest of Coruscant-is COMPLETELY absent. There are no cut scenes between the Young Jedi mission to Myrkr and the events with the "Old" Jedi. This is very sad, as I am sure many who didn't read the novel before relistening on audiobook will walk into the next few books clueless.Troy Denning hasn't always been my favorite author, and I'm not sure why. He is more than competent with his characters, has a good grasp of Star Wars, and has pretty interesting stories. This was Denning's first foray into a galaxy far, far away and, for the most part, I actually really like it. In my opinion, it may be his best Star Wars work.The characters are really well done. Anakin, in particular, really shines in this book. I like where he goes (for the most part...) and how he grew up a lot in this book. Jaina was pretty good, Jacen wasn't bad (are we done with his griping about using the Force for evil yet), and I am SO glad we are FINALLY seeing more than Solo-Skywalkers in the Jedi Order. Denning adds a flurry of new Jedi, such as the Sebatyne clan, Tekli, Alema, and Ulaha. It's been funny, up to this point, there really haven't been many "New" Jedi in this "New Jedi Order". Fortunately, Denning does his part to remedy that.If there is a problem, it's how characters drop in and out of the narrative randomly. For instance, Danni Quee has been MIA since Stackpole's Ruin/Onslaught, but now, she's back (not that she does anything significant). Would have been nice to see what she was doing. Also, where is Nen Yim from the previous two books? Seems she should have had a bigger role. And Vergere popping out of nowhere, absent since Hero's Trial, is awkward as well. And Lando not being used until this book to pop in with his new Deus Ex Machina droids is lame. Why can't there be a bit more flow between these books?As for the mission, it's intense and perfectly AWESOME. I love seeing these young Jedi planning a mission, executing it, changing it as needed, working together, and generally inheriting the torch from their parents. I'd talk about the other parts--Coruscant, Viqi Shesh, etc. but the audiobook left them out (as I said above) and it's been too long since I read this to give a viewpoint by memory.Of course, Denning's books are violent, but absent of crazy swear words. There are sparks between Anakin and Tahiri but nothing explicit.This is a great novel, a real turning point of the series and most definitely worth being in hardcover as major events happen in this book. My only advice? Do NOT listen on audiobook!
I think this is the single darkest Star Wars book that I ever read. It's strange to say, but it captured the mood of the world at the time it was released. With a late October 2001 release, this was the first post-9/11 SW book - and it's interesting in how it reflected the mood since its manuscript was turned in months before 9/11 ever happened.One thing that happens in the course of an invasion of Coruscant (which invasion was plainly inevitable after like the third NJO book) is that Yuuzhan Vong fighters end up crashing into buildings. This was weird. In the real world you had all these pundits saying how there was no way that you could have predicted what happened and here was a work of fiction where what amounted to planes crashing into buildings was all over the place.But what really makes it dark is that so much of it is taken up by a next-gen Jedi commando raid to take out the voxyn queen - voxyn being Jedi-hunting beasts being cloned on Myrkr. Y'know, the home of ysalamiri and vornskrs, and the fact that I remember this stuff probably goes a long way to explaining never getting laid in high school. It has to be really difficult for someone who's young now to understand, but nerdiness used to be an underground thing.Back to the commando raid. It's brutal. This is an against-all-odds, survival-unlikely mission being undertaken. It is tense because the characters are slowly being picked off. This element would not have been out of place in a war movie. And thanks to the death of Chewbacca back in Vector Prime the tension is completely sold. You can't just be sure that the minor characters will die and that all the Solo kids will escape. I have written on other NJO books about how setbacks feel pointless, but this one sold it better than any other.On top of all this you have the fall of Coruscant, making a dire picture for the Republic even more bleak. Indeed, with its fall the Republic essentially no longer exists. But the daring Jedi raid kills the voxyn queen, and so all hope is not lost. Despite the grim events, the universe soldiers on. Also not unlike what was happening in the real world at that time. Very strange. They talk about life imitates art imitates life, but this is the first time I ever really understood what it meant - and it was all because of a Star Wars book.
What do You think about Star By Star (2002)?
This was an amazing book it was dark and showed how the war was a near lost cause and I would recommend it to people who like the Star Wars films and are looking for something just as good but darker. I also believe the book reflects the fights that brothers have sometimes and shows a strong loss of hope that the characters felt when they launch their mission. Even though the war is being lost there is a sort of moment were the main characters are just like we can't let ourselves lose hope and they show a determination that is just amazing in their situation and I think those who haven't read this book should.
—Ben Prentice
This book was very much hit and miss for me.. It is almost as if Denning could not decide whether he wanted it to be about Space combat or a commando Jedi mission. Therefore, the book begins to exhibit s split personality. In addition, the conclusion of the book is very dark, leaving the reader feeling discouraged, much like the viewers at the conclusion of The Empire Strike Back. The book just went on and on and on.. There was a great deal of powerful action, but after awhile it begins to feel like a Bruce Lee movie with one after another bad guy, villain, monster, etc. being slashed across the throat by a Jedi lightsaber in defense.I would think that the next book in the series might bring about some redeeming quality.. but I was disappointed in this one.
—David
This seems like the beginning of the spiral into the low point for the New Republic in this series. Basically everything is going terribly for them. The Vong are attacking Coruscant and have a new type of creature that is tailor made to hunt and kill Jedi. The Solo children form a strike team to kill the origin of the creature while everyone else concentrates on defending Coruscant. The writing in this book is very good, on par with most of the others in the series. Anakin's death is handled ver
—Ren the Unclean
