martytdx's Full Review: Sean Williams and Shane Dix - Star Wars New Jedi O...
Note: For those of you who are familiar with the New Jedi Order storylines, please skip to Paragraph 2.
***CONTAINS SPOILERS***
What came before… The galaxy was at relative peace when they came – invaders unlike anything that had been seen before. Eschewing technology, undetectable in the Force, the Yuuzhan Vong blazed across the galactic disc, seemingly unstoppable. Worlds were crushed by their bio-engineered weapons of war, and even the Jedi faltered under their assault. The New Republic fought valiantly, but ultimately lost to the invaders. However, the Jedi – in league with the remnants of the New Republic and the Empire – are fighting back, finally hurting and even defeating the vicious Yuuzhan Vong. Now, two groups of heroes – Luke Skywalker and the Jedi, and Han and Leia Solo – desperately search for answers that might give them a way to bring this war to a conclusion – and force the Vong out of their galaxy…
The Yuuzhan Vong have long been nearly unstoppable. Coruscant has fallen and been transformed into the new Vong homeworld, Yuuzhan’tar. The shattered New Republic has allied with the Empire in a tenuous Galactic Alliance. The Alliance if fighting a valiant battle, finally making advances against their foes, but the costs are high. Luke Skywalker, leading a team of Jedi, is searching for the famed Zonoma Sekot, a mythic living world Vergere told them about. Meanwhile, Han Solo and Leia are searching for new allies along the Unknown Regions with a small task force of former New Republic and Imperial troops. Will each find what they seek, and bring a solution to the Yuuzhan Vong scourge?
As good as the whole New Jedi Order series has been, I think that the 3 books by Sean Williams and Shane Dix have been some of the best of them. Their Force Heretic trilogy – including the previous books, Remnant and Refugee, has been exciting and brings back the thrill of the Star Wars series.
In Reunion, Luke and company are still searching for the fabled living world that the Jedi Vergere told Jacen Solo about - Zonoma Sekot. This world was first entered into the Star Wars pantheon back in Greg Bear’s book Rogue Planet. In that story, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan were searching for the missing Vergere, finding instead a world unlike anything that they had ever seen – a world that actually communicated and interacted with the native Ferroans which resided there. Anakin was embraced by the world, creating what might have been the greatest starfighter ever created – if he hadn’t had to sacrifice it to save the planet itself. It seems that Zonoma Sekot was reeling from a recent attack by an unknown race called the Far Outsiders, who had only barely been repelled – and the planet was getting antsy. Add an attempt by then-Governor Tarkin to take over the planet by force, and the living, thinking world decided it was time to make itself scarce. And it did, disappearing from its orbit and into legend.
Now, Luke, Jacen and others have finally tracked down the location of the missing planet. However, upon arriving, they find that the Yuuzhan Vong have also found the planet. As they watch, the planet mercilessly defends itself, wiping the Vong armada from the sky - they have found a living, THINKING version of the Death Star. It also offers an invitation for the Jedi to land … which may or may not be a good idea. Having finally found their holy grail, they agree and the adventure begins.
Now, the Jedi must fight the suspicions of the Ferroans and the of the living world itself as they try to get Zonoma Sekot to reveal its secrets – and to attempt to discover a way that those secrets can help defeat the Vong invaders.
Meanwhile, Leia and Han are leading a small fleet on a wild goose-chase started by the newly formed Ryn underground. The gypsy aliens have organized, hiding in the shadows that the poor have always lived in, and providing much information – and often help – to those fighting the Vong. While on a desolate world at the outskirts of the galaxy, they run into an old friend, who then leads them on a journey to find out what has happened to the two deep-space relay stations. These stations keep the Core systems in contact with the outlying regions of the galaxy – the same regions where Luke is. Without them, the communications between them would be halted.
Upon arriving, Han and Leia find themselves in the midst of a massive Vong fleet – a fleet bent on destroying the last link between the Unknown regions and the galactic proper. Outnumbered and outgunned, they get a reprieve when Grand Admiral Palleon’s Imperial fleet lends a hand – and gives them a chance to try to rescue the endangered relay station and it’s crew. But with Han Solo, nothing is ever easy – and this mission follows suit as the odds – and the objectives – keep changing on them.
Meanwhile, Nom Amor is still working his evil underground on the new Vong homeworld, seeding dissent and treachery as he spreads the Jeedai heresy in an attempt to raise himself back up into ‘proper’ Vong ranks.
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This book is written extremely well, and in a slightly unorthodox manner. There are only 4 parts (Infiltration, Confrontation, Abduction and Epilogue) instead of the normal chapters. The activity bounces between the two main groups, and also between the pieces of those groups as they split up during the storyline. Thankfully, the breaks blend seemlessly – as quickly as you cry out against stopping the Luke theme just THEN, you are absorbed into the Solo story line.
The stories themselves are good, if not spectacular – the battle scenes are more of the same, if well written. What makes this a great story is one of the hallmarks of Dix and Williams (D&W) – their ability to blend in elements of other stories and characters into their own. Although it was Greg Bear who wrote the original foray into the world of Zonoma Sekot, D&W do a fantastic job of expounding upon it and making it their own. And the ways that they tie in all three elements of the Star Wars mythology – the original films, the prequel characters and the expanded universe – is fantastic.
Luke finally gets to learn about what happened at Zonoma Sekot – and about his father. Jacen gets to learn about Vergere. They both learn more about where the Yuuzhan Vong came from and what happened all of those years ago (including Tarkin’s role – a nice touch). Among it all, both Luke and Jacen are asked to analyze what they really want from Zonoma Sekot – do they want a living battle station to help them fight the Vong, or do they want to find secrets that won’t compromise the planet’s security. Moreover, will the planet agree to help them at all?
The tie-ins are done extremely well, bringing together some loose ends from the two sets of films. Granted, all of this was ‘non-gospel’ in the Star Wars pantheon to start with, but for a fan like me, it brings everything a bit closer.
The Han, Leia and Jaina portion of the story is a little less compelling – it’s good to see them actually working with the Empire in a way that they can eventually create real peace between them instead of the old ‘good guy, bad guy’ motif in the Star Wars books for so long. Much of the story is simple fighting that has been a theme throughout this extended series. Certain elements – such as Droma returning to the cast – are good, but much of this is simple, entertaining pulp. Even the resolution of Tahiri’s psychological struggles is a bit of a yawner, although it will be interesting to see where it leads in the future.
Lastly, the story of Nom Amor seems like filler, although I’m sure the future holds a vital space for his character. But I found that most of this was ‘Oh yeah – don’t forget about Nom Amor, by the way’ type stuff.
Overall, I found the book one of the more entertaining of the New Jedi Order series – although I’m a bit sad because D&W are done writing in the Star Wars world (at least for a while). With only 3 more books due in this series, the conclusion is coming up fast – especially as we re-enter the galaxy proper and the final stand for the Galactic Alliance. I’m sure that the finale will be spectacular – but in the meantime, I’m enjoying the fireworks.
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