Solo's Revenge
Written: Oct 26 '00 (Updated Oct 31 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Han Solo is back, lots of references
Cons: can be slow, what's up with Vergere?
The Bottom Line: A good book giving us a few new characters and a grieving Han Solo comes back to life.
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| martytdx's Full Review: Agents of Chaos I Books |
The New Jedi Order series has been a welcome addition to the Star Wars universe. It introduced a new set of baddies who weren’t vanquished in a single book through the concerted efforts of the same old gang plus the single new player who won’t be heard from again. The Yuuzhan Vong are the best villains in this universe since Admiral Thrawn, and the battles have been great to watch.
See, for once, the New Republic isn’t just losing in the first half of the book and then storming back to win at the final hour. They are losing – and losing badly - to a foe that they not only don’t understand, but can’t figure out how to beat. The Yuuzhan Vong are unlike anything they have faced, and they are running scared.
R. A. Salvatore started the series with the book Vector Prime, setting up the rest of the series which seems to be destined to be presented in two-part series. Michael Stackpole then took over with his Dark Tide series which included Onslaught and Ruin, a fantastic beginning of a wonderful storyline. We see the New Republic on its heels and a dominant enemy wreaking havoc. What’s more, the “canon” of Star Wars – kill off no main characters – is finally altered when Chewbacca is killed saving Anakin Solo. It is this incident which sets the mood for James Luceno’s Agents of Chaos duology.
Unfortunately, blessed with an able storyline, Luceno doesn’t seem to be able to live up to the lead given by Stackpole. In Hero’s Trial, the first book, the story itself is interesting, but is too short and sparsely written for a true story - it seems more like filler, if anything. If I didn’t know better, I would say that the next hardcover (Balance Point by Kathy Tyers) will be really delving into the interesting stuff and that the Agents of Chaos books are just to get you there.
Hero’s Trial runs like this. The Yuuzhan Vong have been finally slowed by the New Republic, but in no way stopped. The New Republic hierarchy, though still factional (as always), no longer denies the threat that is invading their galaxy, and is setting up ways to fight back. Finally, the New Republic is becoming the military that it needs to be, and the government is moving to a true Alliance.
But the Yuuzhan Vong have a plan to strike at the soul of the New Republic – the Jedi. Knowing that much of their morale and strength centers around the Jedi – despite some grave misgivings some in power have about them – the Yuuzhan Vong have set out to destroy as many of the Jedi as they can. To do this, they need an infiltrator – a priestess of the deception sect who is sent with a bio-agent designed to kill as many Jedi as she can under the guise of being a defector with some answers to Mara Jade’s mysterious illness. Tagging along is her able assistant, Vergere (Spoiler: If you read Rogue Planet, you will recognize this name).
However, they haven’t counted on Han Solo finally coming out of his funk. The one downside of the earlier parts of the story was the general lack of Solo doing anything other than moping around. But he’s back, and the usual cast of dark denizens pop up to surround him. Han’s decided that it is payback time and sets out on a personal crusade to stop the Yuuzhan Vong from doing any more damage and avenging his fallen Wookie friend. This still isn’t the same old Han, but it’s understandable. He’s waging both an external and internal war and that has to change him. Along the way, he finds old friends, old enemies and a new sidekick – Droma, a Ryn – to aid him in his quest. Droma and his race are a series of nomads with weird knowledge of strange things – he seems like a convenient source of this information at opportune times, but I actually like the character, and his roguish charm. Think of the unholy union of Lando Calarissian and Yoda.
The story starts off a little slow and – if I may be so bold – amateurish. The characters seem to be pre-molded into a specific category or attitude to fit a part in that scene, and then they disappear. It isn’t until about 50 pages into that Lucerno starts to find his groove. The story starts to hum along, sharing Yuuzhan Vong disaster with Han’s personal wise-cracking at a nice pace. Although nothing earth-shattering, he does a decent job in getting the reader interested in what happens. Lucerno uses his knowledge of the Star Wars universe in general to constantly tease the reader with references from the past, particularly the Han Solo Adventures books. I personally loved these constant references, although I struggled to remember the story behind some of them (the Star Wars Encyclopedia is an invaluable resource in cases like this).
However, all of this unravels a bit at the end, which is a little too neatly tied up for my tastes. It is like one of the old serials (yes, I know that Star Wars is founded on them), where they finish 3 of the 5 sub-plots, leaving two to continue and be added to in the next installment. Not that it is a problem to do this, but the resolution of these plots was a bit too clean. Also disappointing was that the story of Vergere never went anywhere. There was so much more that they could have done with the character, particularly considering her Jedi ties and knowledge of the Yuuzhan Vong, but they didn’t touch it – although there may be something in store for Agents of Chaos - Jedi Eclipse. I’ll let you know when I read it...
Overall, this is a good addition to the Star Wars universe – not as good as Vector Prime and definitely inferior to the Thrawn Trilogy, but still in the upper half of all the books. The series as a whole (meaning the New Jedi Order) has been great, and I would recommend reading it, especially if you are familiar with the earlier stories.
r e l a t e d STAR WARS: NEW JEDI ORDER r e v i e w s
Apocalypse Vong - The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes
Vong are in for a World of Hurt - Force Heretic III: Reunion by Shane Dix and Sean Williams
Han and Leia Ride Again - Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand by Aaron Allston
The Rebels Strike Back - Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dreams by Aaron Allston
Come Hither, Young Jedi, and Make Ware - Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham
Jedi’s Revenge - Star by Star by Troy Denning
Jedi Eclipse – The Empire Strikes Back - Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno
r e l a t e d STAR WARS BOOKS r e v i e w s
Less Than I Wanted, More Than I Expected - Rogue Planet by Greg Bear
In a Galaxy Far, Far Away, About 20 Minutes Ago - The Approaching Storm by Alan Dean Foster
r e l a t e d STAR WARS NON-BOOK r e v i e w s
Hoping for a Harder Version - Star Wars: Rebellion (PC GAME)
Star Wars Original Soundtrack - Favorite Soundtrack Write-Off
So You Want to Be Emperor - Galactic Battlegrounds (PC Game)
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martytdx
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Member: Marty
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 481
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Doing what I can to try new places, restaurants, books and beers.
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