"I had built this bubble around us...Nothing could hurt us—could really hurt us."Twenty-five years have past since Luke Skywalker went from a farm boy on Tatooine to destroyer of the Death Star. Han and Leia are married with three teenagers, Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin. Luke has married once-enemy, Mara Jade. But things are never easy for our heroes. Mara is inflicted with a strange illness. And on a far away scientific station on Belkadan, Danni Quee receives the first hint of a menace about to invade the galaxy.NOTE: Based on audiobook and novel.The year is 1999. The Phantom Menace is in theaters, the first Star Wars movie in over fifteen years. Del Rey has acquired the license for Star Wars novels. And The Powers That Be knew that there had to be changes. Readers complained about the lack of a cohesive storyline, about the invulnerability of our major characters, about the lack of a decent threat. And thus, "Vector Prime" was born.For me, "Vector Prime" isn't much different than the Battlestar Galactica miniseries. The stories both tell are very similar: the impending doom of a nation/galaxy. Neither know what is about to come, both are pretty contented (even if peace is constantly just barely out of reach for the New Republic), and both have enemies they don't know/understand.The Yuuzhan Vong threat was wonderfully executed. Salvatore nicely introduces (but not TOO much) this strange and foreign culture and begins laying the foundation for novels to come. Yammosks. Dovin basals. Ooglith masquers. The blankness in the Force (though exacty what this means still remains a mystery to me). I personally like the new "darker" edge, and I like the movement back to an epic war and story. Many of the Bantam novels were one shots or trilogies; there was little overall story and enemies appeared suddenly in one novel, only to be killed off or arrested by the end. Furthermore, many of these enemies (such as Admiral Daala) lacked the punch to make them ominous villains. What villains could be more scary than ones you don't know and ones who are invulnerable to your greatest asset?Salvatore did a fair job with the recurring characters. Han, Luke, Leia, and Mara were well done for the most part, and these aren't the easiest characters to recreate (trust me, I've read loads of poor attempts). Many could criticize Han for his actions, but given what happens in the course of the novel (no spoilers, although it has been 11+ years so you probably know already), I thought it was believable. A real, major character dies in the novel, and his death was well done and poignant. I even liked how Salvatore brought Jacen out of the "goofy, animal dork" that the Young Jedi Knight novels painted him as.But that doesn't mean the characters were perfect. I honestly groaned when I read about "battle hardened" Jaina at the ripe old age of 16. Really? I get she's been through those YJK adventures, but to go so far and say she's battle-hardened and a superbly wonderful pilot able to outbeat Kyp Durron in a pointless scene at Lando's Folly is just over-the-top. Anakin and Jacen are slightly annoying in the same regards. I liked how they bickered about the Force and what it means, as that does feel like something teenagers would do, but please, stop treating the kids like they are 20-year olds.The worst was Danni Quee. I can't imagine a then-18 year-old being allowed on such an uber special mission, nor can I imagine a now-21 year-old being an "inspiration" for the entire team. Unless she is the Littlest Cancer Patient. Then she can be an inspiration.There are some nice action scenes in the novels, particularly the one between Mara and Corr (Mara gets the first YV kill! WOOHOO!). I also like the introduction of the Battle Meld. But the way that the Helska Yammosk is dealt with is more goofy science (melting ice can make a planet EXPLODE??? Gosh, maybe I was a bit harsh on my Rule of Two review!). Not to mention, probably because I listened most recently to an audiobook, not everything goes from A to B to C. For example, Sernpidal's moon is about to impact, so Han takes off only to return in the next section. Talk about Huh? factor!If you haven't been following the Star Wars novels, this is an excellent place to start. There is little backstory you need that isn't already given. Even with goofy science, some extreme characters, a skippity-do-da plot and a highly controversial character death (that I think was well-done and appropriate, but not everyone will agree with me), this is a decent novel, a nice entrance to the rest of the series, but also a decent "standalone" should you decide you just don't care for the rest of the series.
For fans of the original Star Wars films this is a good solid story with adventure and excitement galore. Set 25 years after the events of the original A New Hope film, the galaxy comes under threat from an invading force of frightening warriors. And who should stumble across this invading force? Han Solo with his ever-present sidekick, Chewie. Han's wife Leia, their jedi-trained kids Jacen, Jaina and Anakin (it's been 25 years after all). Luke and his wife Mara, whose rapidly failing health will play a part in the story to come. C-3PO and R2-D2 are present of course and even Lando makes an appearance or two.A lot of the action takes place in the form of space battles (although there are one or two Lightsaber-style fights the enemies are not lightsaber wielders). The new threat to the galaxy, the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong, are scary, evil and quite formiddable. They quickly raise the ante by, among other things, killing a major character from the films (and no, not just some random Ewok, someone important). The effect is, as intended, to make the reader treat the threat as being quite credible and ensure that you feel that no-one is safe in the books to come. Speaking of which, this book is the start of a nineteen book cycle (The New Jedi Order). This put the story in danger of being left way too open ended but the author manages to make this book entirely self-contained while hinting that the story is far from over.I do have a few gripes about the book that took me out of it a few times (how do you land on a planet without realizing that the moon is going to do 2 orbits in the next few hours and then collide with the surface) but I'm happy to cast those aside and treat this as the Space Fantasy that it is. For people that haven't read any of the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels this is a reasonable place to jump on board. Many events of the last 25 years are referred to and many characters are handled comfortably that my be entirely new to you but it's still good Star Wars-y fun :)
What do You think about Vector Prime (2004)?
I read the first eight New Jedi Order books in high school around 2003. I remember enjoying them at the time, but not so much the substance of them, etc. They aren't as memorable to me as other things that I've read, though maybe they deserve a second look. I think this was my first Salvatore book, and I do remember enjoying the way he painted the picture of the post-film trilogy Star Wars universe.I don't know if the thickness of #9, Star by Star, was daunting to my high school self, if I had a particularly daunting school schedule (very possible), or if I found a different literary rabbit hole to follow after. I think it might have been a combination of these things, and the sheer number of books in the series. I had yet to discover used book stores, and these things were (and still are) quite pricy for books that take a day or so to read each. I like how this review has become a bit of a confession. I'd like to think I've become wiser over the years when it comes to buying books. After this happened, I found the whole original Dune series at a thrift store for a dime or so each. Younger me thought, "Wow, the whole series here, cheap! No money worries and no searching!" I proceeded to not read the Dune series for about three or four years after that. Now I still buy used books, but only purchase the first of a series as a test-run, so to speak. If it passes that first litmus and I discover a new author I enjoy, then I become a little more adventurous with my purchases. Local Bookstores RIP:Walden Books - 2005Books-a-million - 2011Barnes and Noble - only a matter of time!
—Michael Tildsley
Well, I'd say congratulations, Han Solo is still Han Solo! That being said, I really liked this book when I first read it. It was my first foray into the EU, and one I really enjoyed, considering I was 15 at the time and the only other exposure to Star Wars I had had till then was a novelization of the original trilogy. (Which, by the way, I still like better than the movies)
—Markus
The writing is good in this book and I like R.A. Salvatore. But I believe his weakness in his end on this book. There was so much buildup only for the last 20 pages to be a random victory. I love when books or movies end on a sad note like Empire Strikes Back. It could've been a dark beginning which was instead made into a cheap ending. I definitely liked the character development but I HATED that he killed Chewbacca!! Like I said good book but has it's cheap parts
—Corey
