The battle for Drongar continues, and the battle surgeons of Rimsoo 7 are caught up in the fluid lines of war between the Separationists and the Republic. Led by chief surgeon Jos Vondar, the doctors try to help the fallen and injured fighting over the miracle plant bota.

However, beyond the scope of the medicine and trauma, darker undercurrents are passing through the camp. Sabotage and a Separationist attack have created chaos at Rimsoo 7, and changed the dynamics for all involved. Gone is surgeon Zan Yant killed in the attack that forced Rimsoo 7 to move while under fire. Now, the core of doctors, journalist Den Dhur and Jedi Padawan Barriss Offee race to save lives and discover the truth before the war comes far too close for comfort...

[• the STORY •]
In the completion of the MedStar duology, we return to Drongar and the galactic M*A*S*H* unit, fresh from the tragic ending of the first book. Zan Yant has been killed during the evacuation of the mobile hospital during a Separationist attack, leaving those who survived to grieve and question the meaning behind it all in their own ways. For Dhur, it means drinking while searching for his next story, for the Jedi Offee, it means trying to find the source of the attacks on the camp. For Vondor, it means much more - coping with his friend's death, understanding his new revelations about what it means to be sentient ... and figuring out how nurse and friend Tolk la Trene fits into his life - now and in the future.

Meanwhile, a man from Jos' past appears as the new leader of the group and a new, young hotshot doctor arrives to replace Yant - all causing new stress for the fragile doctor. As Jos struggles internally, Dhur and Offee are both discovering new information about the bota - key pieces of information that might turn the tide in the war on the planet. And the hidden spy continues to plot with both Black Sun and the Separationists for control of ALL of the bota on the planet. And those around him he considers friends - well, they might have to be collateral damage...

[• the WRITING •]
The story for MedStar II: Jedi Healer continues the original theme that MedStar I: Battle Surgeons started - the lives and struggles of a Republic Mobile hospital unit on the edges of the galaxy. Like its predecessor, Jedi Healer takes a set of non-central characters and weaves a tale around them, attempting to show the largely unseen and unfelt horrors and costs of a galactic civil war.

Authors Michael Reaves and Steve Perry came up with a good overall plot, but like the first book, tend to do too much to give 'easter eggs' to fans with constant references to other parts of Star Wars arcana. Too often, these attempts to cater to the more rabid fans end up disrupting the story or seem too arbitrary to be effective.

The story itself is adequate, if not stellar. The topic is cool - what happens to the people on the fringes of this war, the people who aren't the Savior of the Jedi or won't appear in the movies. Almost all of the Star Wars novels feature characters we know and bring in other characters as nothing more than ends to a means. Not here - the authors get a lot of creative play since only Offee has been seen before. In fact, I like the character of the Sullustan Dhur, despite his stereo-typical journalist characterization. And the droid I-Five is a refreshing humorous character.

But Reaves and Perry are best known for adapting other's stories into novels, a pair of modern Alan Dean Foster's (who, ironically, wrote the other book featuring Barriss Offee), and create mostly filler for this book. In short, it's fairly basic writing that tells a story but don't expect Timothy Zahn-like tales to be woven in these pages.

[• the final WORD •]
If you read the first book, it's worth picking up the second. If you haven't read the first book, I would probably wait until you can find them both on Half.com or similar discount site. The stories aren't bad but they are merely filler for fans who want something until Episode III comes out later this year. If you do pick it up, you can enjoy the book but it probably won't be one of your favorites.

[• related CLONE WARS BOOKS •]
• MedStar I: Battle Surgeons »
A Republic M*A*S*H* unit struggles on the distant world of Drongar during the Clone Wars.

Recommended: Yes