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Star Wars: The New Jedi Order #9
Star by Star
The New York Times bestselling Star Wars series The New Jedi Order enthralls readers with its epic drama and thrilling adventure. Now readers will pierce the very heart of darkness... It is a solemn time for the New Republic, as the merciless Yuuzhan Vong continue their campaign of destruction. The brutal enemy has unleashed a savage creature capable of finding—and killing—Jedi Knights. And now Leia Organa Solo faces a terrible ultimatum. If the location of the secret Jedi base is not revealed within one week, the Yuuzhan Vong will blast millions of refugee ships into oblivion.As the battered but still unbroken Jedi scramble to deal with the newest onslaught, Leia’s son Anakin lays out a daring plan. He will lead a Jedi strike force into the heart of enemy territory in order to sabotage the Yuuzhan Vong’s deadliest weapons. There, with his brother and sister at his side, he will come face-to-face with his destiny—as the New Republic, still fighting the good fight, will come face-to-face with theirs...
605 pages, Paperback
First published October 30, 2001
About the author
Troy Denning
165 books630 followersAlso known as Richard Awlinson.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 210 reviews
September 21, 2024
In 2008, I attempted the task of reading the entire New Jedi Order saga…and Star by Star was the point at which I gave up.
Just today, as part of my second attempt of reading the same series, I nearly read this book in one sitting.
Previously, I had felt that Troy Denning was a poor writer; now, I'm not so sure of that.
I can't wait to get my hands on the next one...but that'll be sometime next week.
Just today, as part of my second attempt of reading the same series, I nearly read this book in one sitting.
Previously, I had felt that Troy Denning was a poor writer; now, I'm not so sure of that.
I can't wait to get my hands on the next one...but that'll be sometime next week.
May 27, 2011
Action, Characters, and Higher Stakes - This has it all
The 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!
The 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!
November 25, 2008
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.
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.
March 17, 2022
I love this book, it's truly so tragic. The loss of Anakin, the fall of Coruscant, and Borsk blowing himself up and taking 25k Yuuzhan Vong with him. It's so great, but man it's long and brutal.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2015
****The following review contains spoilers, so if you haven’t read this book yet, and you want to, I highly recommend skipping this review. You’ve been forewarned.****
I just recently learned about the so-called “Star Wars” canon, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
A part of me thinks: whatever. I appreciate director J.J. Abrams’s desire to take the Star Wars franchise in a completely new direction, and I’m confident that whatever direction Abrams chooses to take the franchise will be a fascinating, exciting, and profitable one. George Lucas did, after all, generously hand over the keys (and the title) to the castle, so he doesn’t really have any say in how Abrams redecorates the place. And, by all accounts, (depending on your source) Lucas seems to be, at the very least, pleased with Abrams’s final product. It may not have been the movie Lucas would have made, but based on Lucas’s last three attempts, Lucas’s version may not have been the film fans would have wanted anyway.
The so-called “canon” stems from an artistic desire on Abrams’s part to distance himself, creatively, from Lucas’s influence. Like he did with the “Star Trek” reboots, Abrams hopes to “re-invent” the Star Wars universe into a place where new fans and new generations of kids who have never seen the original “Star Wars” films will feel welcome. I can dig that. It’s a totally different world, here in 2015, than it was in 1977, and the new “Star Wars” film, in order to be successful, must reflect that.
Another part of me, however, thinks: the so-called “canon” is bullshit.
How do you negate the combined efforts of several dozen authors and at least a hundred different novels that have taken Lucas’s original vision and expanded it into a vast universe of beloved characters beyond the original nine main characters? The answer, of course, is you don’t and you can’t.
Not that I believe that Abrams is trying to do that with “The Force Awakens”, but the decision to establish a “canon” is, essentially, a slap in the face to the true die-hard SWEU fans who have grown to love the well-established new characters---Mara Jade, Admiral Thrawn, Admiral Pellaeon, Talon Karrde, Kyp Durron, Corran Horn, Anakin Solo, twins Jacen and Jaina Solo, Ben Skywalker, and countless others.
Granted, this only applies to those of us who read. As shocking as it is, many people out there aren’t readers. If it’s not available in video game format or on a TV show or movie, it doesn’t exist for them, which is fine. They can’t miss what they don’t know exists.
I am very excited about the movie, don’t get me wrong. I’ve already come to a place of acceptance with “The Force Awakens”. I’ve even created my own rationalization for the fact that (according to the trailers, at least) Chewbacca is still alive, the Empire is still a viable enemy, the Yuuzhan Vong did not appear to lay waste to the New Republic, and that Mara Jade, Ben Skywalker, and the Solo children do not exist at all in this alternate dimensional timeline.
The part of me, however, that is taking this the hardest is the part of me that would love to have seen Abrams film the New Jedi Order series.
Starting with R.A. Salvatore’s “Vector Prime”, NJO has taken the SWEU into a darker, more violent direction. There are over 20 books in this series, by a wide variety of writers. The series has been hit or miss but mostly hits, in my opinion, delving occasionally into ridiculously soap opera-esque melodrama and sappiness but, for the most part, creating an engaging and fast-paced war drama about a nearly-unstoppable enemy, the Yuuzhan Vong.
Troy Denning’s “Star by Star” is the ninth book in the NJO, and it is, in my opinion, the most intense, exciting, and violent book within the series. It is almost Timothy Zahn quality, which is high praise coming from me, as I think Zahn sets the bar for the SWEU.
The New Republic and the Jedi Knights have suffered numerous ugly defeats in their war against the Yuuzhan Vong, but much of their defeats have been due to political in-fighting and divisiveness within their own ranks, a fact that Yuuzhan Vong war leaders have relished and exploited to their benefit.
The Galactic Senate, led by Borsk Fey’lya, has devolved into an ineffectual governing body. Important and integral issues such as building up the fleet and what to do with the influx of millions of interplanetary refugees have been stalled to the point that lives are being lost and the New Republic military has been unable to keep up with the almost unending number of Yuuzhan Vong soldiers and starfighters.
To make things worse, a growing galactic anti-Jedi movement has made life difficult and deadly for the hundreds of Jedi Knights fighting to protect the very people who hate them. After the Yuuzhan Vong issued an ultimatum which stated that all hostilities will cease if the Jedi Knights are handed over for eradication, attacks on Jedi Knights have risen, thanks in large part to a group ironically called the Peace Brigade, comprised of mostly humans bent on appeasing the Yuuzhan Vong by handing over weapons, refugees, and kidnapped Jedi Knights in exchange for a safe place within the inevitable Yuuzhan Vong-ruled galaxy. These Peace Brigaders are in complete denial, however, as the Yuuzhan Vong have repeatedly not kept any promises made and have stated outright that they long to see every non-Yuuzhan Vong creature---”infidels”, as they call them---in the galaxy killed, as per their extremely violent religious beliefs.
This is the state of affairs at the onset of “Star by Star”.
The newest threat to the Jedis is a Yuuzhan Vong creature called the voxyn, which are hunting down Jedi Knights and killing them throughout the galaxy. Scientists have determined that these creatures are actually clones, and that the original creature is indigenous to the planet Myrkyr. A mission to go to Myrkyr in an attempt to destroy this creature and the cloning facilities is set in motion by Luke Skywalker. Heading the mission is Anakin Solo.
The majority of the book focuses on this integral mission, occasionally shifting scenes to the Yuuzhan Vong and the New Republic forces who are gathering to protect Coruscant.
Denning has written one of the most kick-ass space battles I have read in any SWEU book thus far. It is riveting and intense, but it is also important for many reasons, the least of which is its strategic importance in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. It’s a mature battle scene, meaning that while it may be exciting, it does not glorify war in its portrayal of the violence and aftermath. This is “Star Wars” at its bloodiest.
In terms of its importance, the Battle for Coruscant is as vital as the Battle for Endor was in “Return of the Jedi”. The outcome of this battle------is as surprising and horrific as it is inevitable.
The Mission to Myrkyr is just as vital to the series, as well. Not only does it have repercussions for the future of the Jedi Knights, it also has personal repercussions for the Solo family, .
“Star by Star” is an emotionally draining war novel that resurrects the importance of “Star Wars”. It is as horrific and moving and disturbing as any war novel should be, and it may shock and offend some “Star Wars” fans simply because it brings a hell of a lot more realism to the SWEU than many are prepared to deal with.
For non-reading “Star Wars” fans, I hope “The Force Awakens” is everything that they hope it to be. As good as I personally expect the film to be coming from Abrams, I can already say with confidence that it can’t hold a candle to what authors such as Timothy Zahn, R.A. Salvatore, Michael Stackpole, and Troy Denning (just to name a few of my personal favorites) have already succeeded in doing in print.
I just recently learned about the so-called “Star Wars” canon, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
A part of me thinks: whatever. I appreciate director J.J. Abrams’s desire to take the Star Wars franchise in a completely new direction, and I’m confident that whatever direction Abrams chooses to take the franchise will be a fascinating, exciting, and profitable one. George Lucas did, after all, generously hand over the keys (and the title) to the castle, so he doesn’t really have any say in how Abrams redecorates the place. And, by all accounts, (depending on your source) Lucas seems to be, at the very least, pleased with Abrams’s final product. It may not have been the movie Lucas would have made, but based on Lucas’s last three attempts, Lucas’s version may not have been the film fans would have wanted anyway.
The so-called “canon” stems from an artistic desire on Abrams’s part to distance himself, creatively, from Lucas’s influence. Like he did with the “Star Trek” reboots, Abrams hopes to “re-invent” the Star Wars universe into a place where new fans and new generations of kids who have never seen the original “Star Wars” films will feel welcome. I can dig that. It’s a totally different world, here in 2015, than it was in 1977, and the new “Star Wars” film, in order to be successful, must reflect that.
Another part of me, however, thinks: the so-called “canon” is bullshit.
How do you negate the combined efforts of several dozen authors and at least a hundred different novels that have taken Lucas’s original vision and expanded it into a vast universe of beloved characters beyond the original nine main characters? The answer, of course, is you don’t and you can’t.
Not that I believe that Abrams is trying to do that with “The Force Awakens”, but the decision to establish a “canon” is, essentially, a slap in the face to the true die-hard SWEU fans who have grown to love the well-established new characters---Mara Jade, Admiral Thrawn, Admiral Pellaeon, Talon Karrde, Kyp Durron, Corran Horn, Anakin Solo, twins Jacen and Jaina Solo, Ben Skywalker, and countless others.
Granted, this only applies to those of us who read. As shocking as it is, many people out there aren’t readers. If it’s not available in video game format or on a TV show or movie, it doesn’t exist for them, which is fine. They can’t miss what they don’t know exists.
I am very excited about the movie, don’t get me wrong. I’ve already come to a place of acceptance with “The Force Awakens”. I’ve even created my own rationalization for the fact that (according to the trailers, at least) Chewbacca is still alive, the Empire is still a viable enemy, the Yuuzhan Vong did not appear to lay waste to the New Republic, and that Mara Jade, Ben Skywalker, and the Solo children do not exist at all in this alternate dimensional timeline.
The part of me, however, that is taking this the hardest is the part of me that would love to have seen Abrams film the New Jedi Order series.
Starting with R.A. Salvatore’s “Vector Prime”, NJO has taken the SWEU into a darker, more violent direction. There are over 20 books in this series, by a wide variety of writers. The series has been hit or miss but mostly hits, in my opinion, delving occasionally into ridiculously soap opera-esque melodrama and sappiness but, for the most part, creating an engaging and fast-paced war drama about a nearly-unstoppable enemy, the Yuuzhan Vong.
Troy Denning’s “Star by Star” is the ninth book in the NJO, and it is, in my opinion, the most intense, exciting, and violent book within the series. It is almost Timothy Zahn quality, which is high praise coming from me, as I think Zahn sets the bar for the SWEU.
The New Republic and the Jedi Knights have suffered numerous ugly defeats in their war against the Yuuzhan Vong, but much of their defeats have been due to political in-fighting and divisiveness within their own ranks, a fact that Yuuzhan Vong war leaders have relished and exploited to their benefit.
The Galactic Senate, led by Borsk Fey’lya, has devolved into an ineffectual governing body. Important and integral issues such as building up the fleet and what to do with the influx of millions of interplanetary refugees have been stalled to the point that lives are being lost and the New Republic military has been unable to keep up with the almost unending number of Yuuzhan Vong soldiers and starfighters.
To make things worse, a growing galactic anti-Jedi movement has made life difficult and deadly for the hundreds of Jedi Knights fighting to protect the very people who hate them. After the Yuuzhan Vong issued an ultimatum which stated that all hostilities will cease if the Jedi Knights are handed over for eradication, attacks on Jedi Knights have risen, thanks in large part to a group ironically called the Peace Brigade, comprised of mostly humans bent on appeasing the Yuuzhan Vong by handing over weapons, refugees, and kidnapped Jedi Knights in exchange for a safe place within the inevitable Yuuzhan Vong-ruled galaxy. These Peace Brigaders are in complete denial, however, as the Yuuzhan Vong have repeatedly not kept any promises made and have stated outright that they long to see every non-Yuuzhan Vong creature---”infidels”, as they call them---in the galaxy killed, as per their extremely violent religious beliefs.
This is the state of affairs at the onset of “Star by Star”.
The newest threat to the Jedis is a Yuuzhan Vong creature called the voxyn, which are hunting down Jedi Knights and killing them throughout the galaxy. Scientists have determined that these creatures are actually clones, and that the original creature is indigenous to the planet Myrkyr. A mission to go to Myrkyr in an attempt to destroy this creature and the cloning facilities is set in motion by Luke Skywalker. Heading the mission is Anakin Solo.
The majority of the book focuses on this integral mission, occasionally shifting scenes to the Yuuzhan Vong and the New Republic forces who are gathering to protect Coruscant.
Denning has written one of the most kick-ass space battles I have read in any SWEU book thus far. It is riveting and intense, but it is also important for many reasons, the least of which is its strategic importance in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. It’s a mature battle scene, meaning that while it may be exciting, it does not glorify war in its portrayal of the violence and aftermath. This is “Star Wars” at its bloodiest.
In terms of its importance, the Battle for Coruscant is as vital as the Battle for Endor was in “Return of the Jedi”. The outcome of this battle------is as surprising and horrific as it is inevitable.
The Mission to Myrkyr is just as vital to the series, as well. Not only does it have repercussions for the future of the Jedi Knights, it also has personal repercussions for the Solo family, .
“Star by Star” is an emotionally draining war novel that resurrects the importance of “Star Wars”. It is as horrific and moving and disturbing as any war novel should be, and it may shock and offend some “Star Wars” fans simply because it brings a hell of a lot more realism to the SWEU than many are prepared to deal with.
For non-reading “Star Wars” fans, I hope “The Force Awakens” is everything that they hope it to be. As good as I personally expect the film to be coming from Abrams, I can already say with confidence that it can’t hold a candle to what authors such as Timothy Zahn, R.A. Salvatore, Michael Stackpole, and Troy Denning (just to name a few of my personal favorites) have already succeeded in doing in print.
October 14, 2021
3.5 Stars
This is an important novel in terms of plot progression. It deals with some serious subject matter, but I didn't entirely feel the emotional weight of the situation. I was most bugged by the aloofness of the adults when it came to the children, particularly Ben. He felt like an accessory more than a beloved baby. This one is definitely worth reading for the storyline but I was let down by the character work.
This is an important novel in terms of plot progression. It deals with some serious subject matter, but I didn't entirely feel the emotional weight of the situation. I was most bugged by the aloofness of the adults when it came to the children, particularly Ben. He felt like an accessory more than a beloved baby. This one is definitely worth reading for the storyline but I was let down by the character work.
June 23, 2013
I felt this book was too long. More than anything, the book was cluttered by battle scenes, both in space and on the ground. The descriptions of these battles soon grew tedious and I feel that the story gained little for them. While it did add a lot of drama to the Yuzhan Vong war, this was probably one of my least favorite of the New Jedi Order series so far.
June 9, 2024
Excellent. Easily the best of the NJO series so far by a long shot, and the best Star Wars book I’ve read in quite some time. Denning really just said fuck a duology and wrote 1 book twice the length of most other entries in the series so far, and it really shows in the balancing of characters and storylines. This was the book worth working through some of the weaker books that came before it. A lot of action with the Solo kids in this one which I am most looking forward to in any NJO book. The main story has also taken a very interesting turn and I am very excited to continue this series.
Massive spoilers, do not click unless you have read this book.
Massive spoilers, do not click unless you have read this book.
July 25, 2023
I’ve heard so, so much praise for this book as I’ve begun diving into Legends—best NJO book, best Legends book, best Star Wars book, etc. I’m very happy to say it absolutely lived up to the hype!
This was just an excellent read all the way through. It felt like a real “event” book, where everything building through the series came to a climactic head. All the characters have important roles to play and are handled excellently, with several of them having standout moments—Leia, Luke, Anakin, and Nom Anor come to mind especially. I also loved the progression of the story here. It sort of reminds me of The Rising Storm from the canon The High Republic series, where the first part is all buildup and then everything goes wild in the latter half. I loved some of the more discussion-based, political moments in this book involving characters like Borsk Fey’lya and the Yuuzhan Vong. The action here is great as well, which really dominates the later parts of this book. Finally, there are some big events that happen here. The Solo kids go on a very dangerous mission that leads to some big consequences, and the end of the book turns the tide of the series entirely.
No real cons to speak of. This was excellent all the way through. Definitely the best New Jedi Order book so far and one of the best Legends books in general!
Rating: 10/10
This was just an excellent read all the way through. It felt like a real “event” book, where everything building through the series came to a climactic head. All the characters have important roles to play and are handled excellently, with several of them having standout moments—Leia, Luke, Anakin, and Nom Anor come to mind especially. I also loved the progression of the story here. It sort of reminds me of The Rising Storm from the canon The High Republic series, where the first part is all buildup and then everything goes wild in the latter half. I loved some of the more discussion-based, political moments in this book involving characters like Borsk Fey’lya and the Yuuzhan Vong. The action here is great as well, which really dominates the later parts of this book. Finally, there are some big events that happen here. The Solo kids go on a very dangerous mission that leads to some big consequences, and the end of the book turns the tide of the series entirely.
No real cons to speak of. This was excellent all the way through. Definitely the best New Jedi Order book so far and one of the best Legends books in general!
Rating: 10/10
July 9, 2011
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.
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.
September 30, 2017
The New Jedi Order series grinds on with this 600+ page slog. There are two primary plotlines that run in parallel. In the first, Anakin volunteers to lead a Jedi strike team on a covert commando mission to a Yuuzhan Vong worldship to destroy the source of the voxyn, a threat specifically aimed at the Jedi. In the other storyline, Leia, Luke, Han and Mara must ready themselves, as the invaders appear to be preparing a strike on Coruscant itself.
The book has two major and interrelated flaws. The first is that it is almost non-stop action. Every chapter features some form of combat - a space battle, a firefight, lightsaber duels, hand-to-hand work - it's interminable. And none of the action feels particularly original or well-written; if it had I might have cut it some slack. I'm sure some readers might appreciate all of this flailing around, but I just found it tedious. Despite the Star Wars title, I don't read these book for the combat. As with any lengthy series, I am here for the characters. Unfortunately, author Troy Denning doesn't seem to be very interested in character development or even in giving his readers any time to breathe between martial engagements.
The other major flaw is the unrelenting grimness of the book. Just when it appears that things can't get worse for our heroes, things get worse for our heroes. Everyone is angry, depressed, or grief-stricken all of the time. There were several moments when I felt that Denning should just kill characters off, because there was no reasonable way for them to survive (and in fact, there are eventually some casualties). Perhaps both of these flaws would have been less irksome in a shorter book, but this volume, weighing in at twice the length of most other novels in this series, seemed like overkill.
The one major thing I kind of liked in this book was the redemption of Borsk Fey'lya. Despite all the faults he's demonstrated in the EU books, especially in the NJO, he gets a moment here to prove his mettle, even if it is only in defeat. Denning gives us a sense of how complicated Fey'lya is, a caution against judging any being too quickly. I just wish he had given us more of that empathy in the rest of the book.
If you're like me, you'll plow through this volume as quickly as possible, eager to get to a less brutal and unrelenting chapter in this massive saga.
The book has two major and interrelated flaws. The first is that it is almost non-stop action. Every chapter features some form of combat - a space battle, a firefight, lightsaber duels, hand-to-hand work - it's interminable. And none of the action feels particularly original or well-written; if it had I might have cut it some slack. I'm sure some readers might appreciate all of this flailing around, but I just found it tedious. Despite the Star Wars title, I don't read these book for the combat. As with any lengthy series, I am here for the characters. Unfortunately, author Troy Denning doesn't seem to be very interested in character development or even in giving his readers any time to breathe between martial engagements.
The other major flaw is the unrelenting grimness of the book. Just when it appears that things can't get worse for our heroes, things get worse for our heroes. Everyone is angry, depressed, or grief-stricken all of the time. There were several moments when I felt that Denning should just kill characters off, because there was no reasonable way for them to survive (and in fact, there are eventually some casualties). Perhaps both of these flaws would have been less irksome in a shorter book, but this volume, weighing in at twice the length of most other novels in this series, seemed like overkill.
The one major thing I kind of liked in this book was the redemption of Borsk Fey'lya. Despite all the faults he's demonstrated in the EU books, especially in the NJO, he gets a moment here to prove his mettle, even if it is only in defeat. Denning gives us a sense of how complicated Fey'lya is, a caution against judging any being too quickly. I just wish he had given us more of that empathy in the rest of the book.
If you're like me, you'll plow through this volume as quickly as possible, eager to get to a less brutal and unrelenting chapter in this massive saga.
September 7, 2013
I was kind of amazed to see this book hold a 3.92 average rating.
I was very disappointed in this book. Clocking in at just over 600 pages, I thought Denning should have either split this book into two volumes, or just had an editor cut about 200 pages.
I knew where this book was heading the entire time, I just wished the plot got there faster. There are WAY too many minor characters to keep track of, so I ended up just remembering a detail about them to keep them straight. Tahiri = hot for Anakin. Ganner = scarred dude. Bela = female reptile.
Sadly I could not wait for this book to be over, which is unusual because I've read and liked Denning's work before.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER alert below here.
I was pretty surprised by how nonchalant Han and Leia took Anakin's death. Yes they were anguished right after it happened, but by their escape from Coruscant they're practically back to cracking wise.
Plot points for my own personal use, to keep track of the major plot points of the NJO series:
- Anakin leads a strike team behind enemy lines to destroy the vonyx queen (Jedi hunters).
- The Yuuzhan Vong begin an assault of Coruscant.
- The Jedi are attacked at their secret base (Eclipse).
- Lando saves Ben and 3P0 aboard an escaping ship.
- Viqi Shesh makes an attempt on Han and Leia's lives. Her plot is foiled but Shesh is injured.
- Anakin and several minor Jedi characters die aboard a Vong worldship in their mission to kill the vonyx queen.
- Nom Anor and Vergere "team up" to track down the Jedi twins.
- Jaina uses dark side energy and is forced to leave Jacen on the worldship with Vergere after Jacen kills the vonyx queen.
- Borsk Fel'yla (spelling) detonates a suicide bomb as the Vong invade Coruscant.
- The Vong capture Coruscant, with Han, Leia, Luke, Mara, one of the two Noghri, and various New Republic troops aboard the Millennium Falcon.
I was very disappointed in this book. Clocking in at just over 600 pages, I thought Denning should have either split this book into two volumes, or just had an editor cut about 200 pages.
I knew where this book was heading the entire time, I just wished the plot got there faster. There are WAY too many minor characters to keep track of, so I ended up just remembering a detail about them to keep them straight. Tahiri = hot for Anakin. Ganner = scarred dude. Bela = female reptile.
Sadly I could not wait for this book to be over, which is unusual because I've read and liked Denning's work before.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER alert below here.
I was pretty surprised by how nonchalant Han and Leia took Anakin's death. Yes they were anguished right after it happened, but by their escape from Coruscant they're practically back to cracking wise.
Plot points for my own personal use, to keep track of the major plot points of the NJO series:
- Anakin leads a strike team behind enemy lines to destroy the vonyx queen (Jedi hunters).
- The Yuuzhan Vong begin an assault of Coruscant.
- The Jedi are attacked at their secret base (Eclipse).
- Lando saves Ben and 3P0 aboard an escaping ship.
- Viqi Shesh makes an attempt on Han and Leia's lives. Her plot is foiled but Shesh is injured.
- Anakin and several minor Jedi characters die aboard a Vong worldship in their mission to kill the vonyx queen.
- Nom Anor and Vergere "team up" to track down the Jedi twins.
- Jaina uses dark side energy and is forced to leave Jacen on the worldship with Vergere after Jacen kills the vonyx queen.
- Borsk Fel'yla (spelling) detonates a suicide bomb as the Vong invade Coruscant.
- The Vong capture Coruscant, with Han, Leia, Luke, Mara, one of the two Noghri, and various New Republic troops aboard the Millennium Falcon.
June 9, 2021
ANAKINNNNNNNNN.
I finished this several days ago and I'm still reeling over it...and trying to figure out just how to in the post-Crucible World Between Worlds fix-it fic I started a few weeks ago.
This book is brutal, intense, heartrending, still manages to have some adorable Luke/Mara moments, and, well, so much of the Mission to Myrkr I was reading with a feeling of dread because I know how severe the repercussions of that mission are to certain characters. I did feel like Tahiri was underused yet again, and there were a couple moments where I was confused about how exactly the action was working (space battles just work better on screen, there's no way around it), but I don't really have any other complaints. Other than that my heart hurts. He had so much to live for. And Jaina. Oh, Jaina. And Jacen. This is not going to be good. But at least Ben is safe, though it got sketchy there for a while.
There's just so much IN this book. I could say so much more about this book, but then I'd end up giving a recitation of all the major events and I probably shouldn't do that. But I will say that Star By Star is on the upper end of the NJO quality scale, IMO.
Even though HE HAD SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!!!!!
I finished this several days ago and I'm still reeling over it...and trying to figure out just how to in the post-Crucible World Between Worlds fix-it fic I started a few weeks ago.
This book is brutal, intense, heartrending, still manages to have some adorable Luke/Mara moments, and, well, so much of the Mission to Myrkr I was reading with a feeling of dread because I know how severe the repercussions of that mission are to certain characters. I did feel like Tahiri was underused yet again, and there were a couple moments where I was confused about how exactly the action was working (space battles just work better on screen, there's no way around it), but I don't really have any other complaints. Other than that my heart hurts. He had so much to live for. And Jaina. Oh, Jaina. And Jacen. This is not going to be good. But at least Ben is safe, though it got sketchy there for a while.
There's just so much IN this book. I could say so much more about this book, but then I'd end up giving a recitation of all the major events and I probably shouldn't do that. But I will say that Star By Star is on the upper end of the NJO quality scale, IMO.
Even though HE HAD SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!!!!!
October 15, 2010
This was ok - There was plenty of action with what I like to overly generalize as people going plces and doing things. I prefer that in MOST books than the endless (seeming) inner turmoils and machinations.
That said this left me a bit cold. I cant really tell if it was the book itself or just the way the series seems to be repeating old themes. The Fall or Coruscant and Anakin dying seem like we have been here before - not in this series I guess, unless you count Chewbacca dying as very similar to Anakin dying, but just the whole thing.
It also may not be this book in particular, but I also keep feeling in this entire series, like they win at the end of each book or duology, but still end up further and further behind in the war. I dont know if my own sense of impending disappointment is what kept these on my own shelves so long before finally getting around to reading them, or if it was just time to get caught up to I can get to the Legacy of the Force and the Fate of the Jedi series'.
Either way, color me as glad to have read this, but I wont be reading it over and over again, like Dark is the Sun by Philip Jose Farmer... Now THAT is a brilliant book...
C+
That said this left me a bit cold. I cant really tell if it was the book itself or just the way the series seems to be repeating old themes. The Fall or Coruscant and Anakin dying seem like we have been here before - not in this series I guess, unless you count Chewbacca dying as very similar to Anakin dying, but just the whole thing.
It also may not be this book in particular, but I also keep feeling in this entire series, like they win at the end of each book or duology, but still end up further and further behind in the war. I dont know if my own sense of impending disappointment is what kept these on my own shelves so long before finally getting around to reading them, or if it was just time to get caught up to I can get to the Legacy of the Force and the Fate of the Jedi series'.
Either way, color me as glad to have read this, but I wont be reading it over and over again, like Dark is the Sun by Philip Jose Farmer... Now THAT is a brilliant book...
C+
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 14, 2009
The new Jedi order completely outpaces anything in the Starwars genre. This series was Dark, exciting, fast paced, and inspired. The writing was fantastic and the level of philosophy and force history was unparalleled. If your a fan at any level of the Starwars Universe than this series is a must read. It is on my top 5 of all time for a series and I treasured every moment I spent in that time. But beware, this isn't your typical Starwars book, be ready for a level of intensity that you've never seen. May the force be with you.!
December 27, 2021
Here we go. After 8 long months, I finally finished the longest entry of the New Jedi Order book series, Star by Star. And... wow, that was long. First I stopped for a 3 month hiatus because the first 200ish pages failed to grab me. Then after another 200 pages my personal life got to busy. It was only after the past several weeks or so that I managed to power through and finish this bloated monstrosity.
I've been posting updates about my reading progress with these books on facebook in various Star Wars related groups, and one thing has been consistent across every group: about how good this book is. Everyone was telling me how much Star by Star was going to blow me away and how it would completely change my perspective on the series, etc. etc. Whenever I posted a review on a book I didn't like, the comments would often say something along the lines of "don't worry, the series gets good once you reach Star By Star". Or when I posted a review on a book I liked, I would often get at least one comment along the lines of "Just wait until you hit Star By Star". Simply, put, someone would always find a way to pivot the conversation to a variation of hyping up Star By Star and how good it is.
So now that I have actually read the novel, I'm sorry to disappoint those of you who have been following my New Jedi Order reviews and reading progress: it didn't live up to the hype. Not even close. Actually, Star by Star has now surpassed The Darth Bane Trilogy for what I consider to be the most overrated Star Wars novel(s) of all time. Even though I disagree with many Star Wars fans about the bane trilogy being a masterpiece, I can pick out elements in all three books that I thought were incredibly well done and I can understand why people connected to them as a result: The characterization of Darth Bane himself in Path of Destruction. Everything except the orbalisk armor in Rule of Two. The phenomenal final confrontation in Dynasty of Evil. With Star By Star on the other hand, I just don't see what makes this one of the all time greats for Star Wars novels, even when exclusively accounting for the original Expanded Universe. Heck, it's not even close to my favorite book in the New Jedi Order (and keep in mind, I've only read 9 of these books).
EDIT! "RECOVERY": After a comment on a facebook post sharing this review (which I confirmed as true with a wookieepedia search of my own), I learned a piece of vital information regarding this book, specifically the first 82 pages of Star By Star's paperback edition, presented as a prologue. I only learned AFTER reading this novel that "Recovery" was originally published as a short story E-book completely separate from Star By Star- this wasn't even in the original hardcover release from 2001 (while Star by Star was released on October 30th, 2001, "Recovery" came out on October 1st, 2001). I specifically wanted to address this matter before the main review because when I read this novel, I mistakenly read "Recovery" as a direct prologue to Star By Star (like it was presented in the paperback copy that I read). The story starts after Balance Point and ends before the Edge of Victory duology opens.
Because of this, when I was reading Star By Star, I absolutely HATED it- as a prologue to Star by Star, it made absolutely no sense. I wasn't aware of its origins as a separate story taking place before the Edge of Victory books, so it felt like Star By Star was completely ignoring the events of the past TWO NOVELS, and hence Han Solo felt out of character. In addition, everything in the "prologue" felt entirely superflous to the rest of the book- little if anything in "Recovery" actually contributes to the rest of the story, and Han and Leia act like I would expect following Edge of Victory. My horrible experience with what I mistakenly thought was the dragged out 82 page opening to this novel actually reverberated throughout the rest of the book and contributed to why I struggled to stay interested in the book and why I took so long to finish it.
However, in original standalone context that "Recovery" was released, looking back it actually works just fine- as a piece of bonus content for the paperback of Star by Star it would have been a fun addition for fans who missed the original hardcover release and/or even hardcore fans who missed the Ebook and wanted to complete their collection. Had I read it right after Balance Point (or at least was aware of that context going in), everything would have made sense as a bridge between Han's story in Balance Point and the subplot he gets with Leia and Jacen in Edge of Victory II: Rebirth. I don't know if would have called it a great story or anything, but I certainly wouldn't have loathed and despised it the way I had when initially reading it as part of the rest of Star By Star.
*END EDIT*
THE STORY: After that publishing blunder that made the 82-page "Recovery" feel like wasted time, we begin the story proper. Our heroes are trying to figure out how to fight back against the Yuuzhan Vong. After a string of setbacks at Duro, Yavin 4, and other locations, a new Yuuzhan Vong weapon has emerged- the jedi-killers known as the Voxyn, a biotech abomination created with Myrkyr's Vornskyrs.
Anakin Solo leads a strike team comprised of some of the best and brightest young jedi (including his twin siblins Jacen and Jaina) on a mission to Myrkyr to take out the Voxyn Queen, essentially "destroying" the Vong bioweapons.
Meanwhile, the rest of the major characters- Han, Luke, Leia, and Mara, continue to fight against the Vong, increasingly desperate to stop Warmaster Tsavong Lah's voyage of Conquest from reaching Coruscant itself.
THE BAD: IT'S TOO LONG.
That's the biggest problem Star By Star has, and I mean that. Almost every flaw I found in Star By Star can be traced back to its 523 pages worth of text (and if you include the prologue, that page count balloons to an ungodly 605). I've done some research on the behind the scenes aspects of this book, and it seems like author Troy Denning is not necessarily the one at fault here. When he signed on to do this book, he was already given an outline for the story the NJO creative team wanted him to tell. Regardless, whether Mr. Denning couldn't figure out how to trim the pages down or his publishers insisted that Star By Star be 600 pages (or 500 without the prologue), most of this book feels completely dragged out. I wouldn't call it filler (again, unless you include the prologue), but I felt like everything that Denning needed to do in this book could have been done in 450 pages if not 400- and after how exhausting this book was, I genuinely think the book would have been much better for it.
If the 82- page "prologue" was the only portion of this book that I hated, I would have probably given this a much higher rating. Unfortunately, the next 400 pages still had plenty of problems- most importantly, the feeling that everything was dragged out to an unnecessary degree. Again, I can't say there's much actual filler in this novel- Star By Star is clearly an event-driven ensemble story who's purpose is to progress the plot and the worldbuilding for the series as a whole. But because of how long things take, I found most of it boring and slow despite how many big battles there were. It takes ROUGHLY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY PAGES for Anakin's strike team to get to Myrkyr- this is the MOST IMPORTANT SUBPLOT in Star By Star!
Unfortunately, much of the other things going on just failed to grab me. I didn't need an entire chapter focused on a space battle featuring Danni Quee and newcomer Saba Sebatyne (oh yeah, BTW Danni is back, and I still don't like her character). Most of the chapters focused on the POV of the villains were uninteresting and failed to make me invested in them. Tsavong Lah is still just a generic hulking BBEG, and Viqi Shesh is a boring corrupt politician. And Nom Anor... Kriff, just kill this guy off already, HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING IMPACTFUL FOR NINE BOOKS! While I don't think they were badly written or out of character, I still didn't have much of a reason to care about the Big 4- because despite how cute Ben Skywalker is, it didn't lead to further development for Luke and Mara. If the prologue isn't included Han and Leia act like themselves pretty much throughout the book, but don't get any development until the final 100 pages. (that being said, the notion that Han couldn't go on the Myrkyr mission just because he isn't a jedi is STUPID AS KRIFF. Just say he was needed in space battles to fly the millenium falcon. problem solved.)
In addition, two noteworthy characters play a bigger role in Star by Star than they have since... goodness Dark Tide II: Ruin? I already mentioned Danni Quee, who still sucks as a character (that comparison to Tahiri Denning writes in makes her even worse), but Lando Calrissian is here as well. He still is lacking any sort of character development and feels completely shoehorned into the story. Despite being set up as a powerful anti-vong weapon, not even Lando's YVH droids contribute anything to the story here.
The last major problem I have goes into spoilers- if you haven't read the book yet, skip this.
THE GOOD: I may have complained a lot, but Star By Star does have its redeeming qualities.
For the most part, I thought the Myrkyr mission was handled very well (despite how long it took to start and ). Is it borderline absurd that the entire strike force is composed of teenagers? Sure, but Denning offers a reasonable explanation for why Luke and Mara couldn't go and why Anakin had to lead them. In addition, I really appreciated how Denning established the team- of course it has Jacen and Jaina, but he also includes Tahiri (building off Edge of Victory), and characters from the Young Jedi Knights books- Tenel Ka, Lowbacca, Raynar Thul, and Zekk. In the case of the latter four, Denning did a great job making sure he caught up readers who hadn't read the YJK books- THANK YOU. Between that fun aspect of fanservice and introducing several new characters to round out the team (Alema Rar, Lomi Plo, Welk, and the Barabel trio along with recurring NJO newcomer Ganner Rhysode), I loved how Denning made this team feel big but not too overwhelming to keep track of. But even after the initial setup this plotline continues to carry most of the book in an effective way- Denning makes sure to keep the focus on our core Solo-spawn Trio. Anakin Solo is taking the next step of his complex hero's journey as he is thrust into a position of leadership, and he struggles with the fate of his siblings, the other members of the strike team, the jedi order, and the rest of the galaxy. In addition, his siblings get to develop too. Jaina gets some long overdue growth as she gets the chance to bond with her brother with some really nice exchanges of dialogue (that pays off later, more on that in a bit). The brother-brother dynamic between Anakin and Jacen is especially strong as Jacen gets to work through some of his philosophical issues and gets to mend burnt bridges between him and Anakin caused by earlier events in the series. Couple this with a string of effective, tension-filled action scenes and you have a through-line in this book that is close to brilliant.
And once I made it to the final 100-130 pages, Star by Star almost became a different book for me. After hundreds of pages of tedious space battles and boring villain chapters, the storyline with the big 4 suddenly becomes quite effective and fully grabbed my attention. . Han and Leia especially shine in this last stretch, but Luke and Mara work pretty well too. As the situation gets increasingly desperate and our heroes encounter setback after setback, I was at the edge of my seat trying to figure out how they were going to get out alive. For Jaina Solo, this is easily the most interesting I have seen her in the entire New Jedi Order series so far. I finally felt like she had some personality beyond Han-esque one-liners that can't seem to hit the mark. Given the placement of this book in the rest of the series and the next one that will follow (the Jaina-centric Dark Journey), I feel more confident than before with Jaia's new character development actually sticking this time. While I'm still not ready to say that I am finally a fan of Jaina (I have been subject to 9 books worth of false starts when it comes to story arcs and character development for her character), I'm more confident than previously in the ability of these books to do something interesting with her.
As for Troy Denning's writing, I think it was fine. He seems to have a good grasp on the characters for the most part, as they all seemed consistent with who they were in the previous 8 NJO novels outside of the prologue. In addition, he did a good job with a good portion of the action sequences. Given that this is both Troy Denning's first SW novel and the first time I have personally read a SW novel penned by him, my conclusion on Denning as a Star Wars writer currently is this: if Denning is given a good prompt, he can execute it in a way that works well. When Star By Star was focusing on specific elements (The Myrkyr mission and the major plot developments from ~page 475-605), Denning's writing was good. Most of the problems in Denning's style was in the 150ish pages of bloat outside of those core elements (and the prologue before I realized what that actually was).
Lastly... Borsk Fey'lya. However... yeah you would know if you've read the book.
THE CONCLUSION: It's difficult for me to pin down a final rating for this book. With the prologue included, I couldn't go higher than 3 stars. But if I tried to separate the prologue and just treat it as the standalone short story "Recovery" as originally intended, I'm hovering between a 3 and a 3.5. Between Goodreads not letting me do half-ratings on their scale , I'm rounding down.
But even without taking into account the mess with the "prologue", I wanted to like the rest of this book more than I did. Even beyond the hype, my interest in this book steadily built up throughout reading the series. However, Star by Star ended up being too long for its own good, and by the time I actually made it to the good parts, they were tarnished by how tired I had become of reading the book overall. Rather than being fully invested, most of my time reading this book was clouded by an overwhelming feeling of wishing that it was over already. That being said, I must make it clear that I didn't hate this book by any means. Most importantly, I still want to read Dark Journey and the other books following Star By Star.
I thought this book was okay overall, just massively overhyped. If anything, Star By Star is just as much of a mixed bag as the rest of the series leading up to it has been, at least in my opinion. If those of you seeing this are huge fans of this novel and disappointed about my... middling... review, I'm sorry. If you can read this book and be blown away, that's great; more power to you. I'm glad that the majority of the fan base seems to have loved this one. But for me, I'm ready to move on from the slog that Star by Star turned out to be, and get started with the second half of the New Jedi Order. Here's to hoping that I will continue to at least be able to enjoy these books overall. And maybe, just maybe, I can eventually find my own "Star By Star"- that magical New Jedi Order entry that I will fall in love with, the one that will completely win me over in the same way this book has for others who have read the series.
I've been posting updates about my reading progress with these books on facebook in various Star Wars related groups, and one thing has been consistent across every group: about how good this book is. Everyone was telling me how much Star by Star was going to blow me away and how it would completely change my perspective on the series, etc. etc. Whenever I posted a review on a book I didn't like, the comments would often say something along the lines of "don't worry, the series gets good once you reach Star By Star". Or when I posted a review on a book I liked, I would often get at least one comment along the lines of "Just wait until you hit Star By Star". Simply, put, someone would always find a way to pivot the conversation to a variation of hyping up Star By Star and how good it is.
So now that I have actually read the novel, I'm sorry to disappoint those of you who have been following my New Jedi Order reviews and reading progress: it didn't live up to the hype. Not even close. Actually, Star by Star has now surpassed The Darth Bane Trilogy for what I consider to be the most overrated Star Wars novel(s) of all time. Even though I disagree with many Star Wars fans about the bane trilogy being a masterpiece, I can pick out elements in all three books that I thought were incredibly well done and I can understand why people connected to them as a result: The characterization of Darth Bane himself in Path of Destruction. Everything except the orbalisk armor in Rule of Two. The phenomenal final confrontation in Dynasty of Evil. With Star By Star on the other hand, I just don't see what makes this one of the all time greats for Star Wars novels, even when exclusively accounting for the original Expanded Universe. Heck, it's not even close to my favorite book in the New Jedi Order (and keep in mind, I've only read 9 of these books).
EDIT! "RECOVERY": After a comment on a facebook post sharing this review (which I confirmed as true with a wookieepedia search of my own), I learned a piece of vital information regarding this book, specifically the first 82 pages of Star By Star's paperback edition, presented as a prologue. I only learned AFTER reading this novel that "Recovery" was originally published as a short story E-book completely separate from Star By Star- this wasn't even in the original hardcover release from 2001 (while Star by Star was released on October 30th, 2001, "Recovery" came out on October 1st, 2001). I specifically wanted to address this matter before the main review because when I read this novel, I mistakenly read "Recovery" as a direct prologue to Star By Star (like it was presented in the paperback copy that I read). The story starts after Balance Point and ends before the Edge of Victory duology opens.
Because of this, when I was reading Star By Star, I absolutely HATED it- as a prologue to Star by Star, it made absolutely no sense. I wasn't aware of its origins as a separate story taking place before the Edge of Victory books, so it felt like Star By Star was completely ignoring the events of the past TWO NOVELS, and hence Han Solo felt out of character. In addition, everything in the "prologue" felt entirely superflous to the rest of the book- little if anything in "Recovery" actually contributes to the rest of the story, and Han and Leia act like I would expect following Edge of Victory. My horrible experience with what I mistakenly thought was the dragged out 82 page opening to this novel actually reverberated throughout the rest of the book and contributed to why I struggled to stay interested in the book and why I took so long to finish it.
However, in original standalone context that "Recovery" was released, looking back it actually works just fine- as a piece of bonus content for the paperback of Star by Star it would have been a fun addition for fans who missed the original hardcover release and/or even hardcore fans who missed the Ebook and wanted to complete their collection. Had I read it right after Balance Point (or at least was aware of that context going in), everything would have made sense as a bridge between Han's story in Balance Point and the subplot he gets with Leia and Jacen in Edge of Victory II: Rebirth. I don't know if would have called it a great story or anything, but I certainly wouldn't have loathed and despised it the way I had when initially reading it as part of the rest of Star By Star.
*END EDIT*
THE STORY: After that publishing blunder that made the 82-page "Recovery" feel like wasted time, we begin the story proper. Our heroes are trying to figure out how to fight back against the Yuuzhan Vong. After a string of setbacks at Duro, Yavin 4, and other locations, a new Yuuzhan Vong weapon has emerged- the jedi-killers known as the Voxyn, a biotech abomination created with Myrkyr's Vornskyrs.
Anakin Solo leads a strike team comprised of some of the best and brightest young jedi (including his twin siblins Jacen and Jaina) on a mission to Myrkyr to take out the Voxyn Queen, essentially "destroying" the Vong bioweapons.
Meanwhile, the rest of the major characters- Han, Luke, Leia, and Mara, continue to fight against the Vong, increasingly desperate to stop Warmaster Tsavong Lah's voyage of Conquest from reaching Coruscant itself.
THE BAD: IT'S TOO LONG.
That's the biggest problem Star By Star has, and I mean that. Almost every flaw I found in Star By Star can be traced back to its 523 pages worth of text (and if you include the prologue, that page count balloons to an ungodly 605). I've done some research on the behind the scenes aspects of this book, and it seems like author Troy Denning is not necessarily the one at fault here. When he signed on to do this book, he was already given an outline for the story the NJO creative team wanted him to tell. Regardless, whether Mr. Denning couldn't figure out how to trim the pages down or his publishers insisted that Star By Star be 600 pages (or 500 without the prologue), most of this book feels completely dragged out. I wouldn't call it filler (again, unless you include the prologue), but I felt like everything that Denning needed to do in this book could have been done in 450 pages if not 400- and after how exhausting this book was, I genuinely think the book would have been much better for it.
If the 82- page "prologue" was the only portion of this book that I hated, I would have probably given this a much higher rating. Unfortunately, the next 400 pages still had plenty of problems- most importantly, the feeling that everything was dragged out to an unnecessary degree. Again, I can't say there's much actual filler in this novel- Star By Star is clearly an event-driven ensemble story who's purpose is to progress the plot and the worldbuilding for the series as a whole. But because of how long things take, I found most of it boring and slow despite how many big battles there were. It takes ROUGHLY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY PAGES for Anakin's strike team to get to Myrkyr- this is the MOST IMPORTANT SUBPLOT in Star By Star!
Unfortunately, much of the other things going on just failed to grab me. I didn't need an entire chapter focused on a space battle featuring Danni Quee and newcomer Saba Sebatyne (oh yeah, BTW Danni is back, and I still don't like her character). Most of the chapters focused on the POV of the villains were uninteresting and failed to make me invested in them. Tsavong Lah is still just a generic hulking BBEG, and Viqi Shesh is a boring corrupt politician. And Nom Anor... Kriff, just kill this guy off already, HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING IMPACTFUL FOR NINE BOOKS! While I don't think they were badly written or out of character, I still didn't have much of a reason to care about the Big 4- because despite how cute Ben Skywalker is, it didn't lead to further development for Luke and Mara. If the prologue isn't included Han and Leia act like themselves pretty much throughout the book, but don't get any development until the final 100 pages. (that being said, the notion that Han couldn't go on the Myrkyr mission just because he isn't a jedi is STUPID AS KRIFF. Just say he was needed in space battles to fly the millenium falcon. problem solved.)
In addition, two noteworthy characters play a bigger role in Star by Star than they have since... goodness Dark Tide II: Ruin? I already mentioned Danni Quee, who still sucks as a character (that comparison to Tahiri Denning writes in makes her even worse), but Lando Calrissian is here as well. He still is lacking any sort of character development and feels completely shoehorned into the story. Despite being set up as a powerful anti-vong weapon, not even Lando's YVH droids contribute anything to the story here.
The last major problem I have goes into spoilers- if you haven't read the book yet, skip this.
THE GOOD: I may have complained a lot, but Star By Star does have its redeeming qualities.
For the most part, I thought the Myrkyr mission was handled very well (despite how long it took to start and ). Is it borderline absurd that the entire strike force is composed of teenagers? Sure, but Denning offers a reasonable explanation for why Luke and Mara couldn't go and why Anakin had to lead them. In addition, I really appreciated how Denning established the team- of course it has Jacen and Jaina, but he also includes Tahiri (building off Edge of Victory), and characters from the Young Jedi Knights books- Tenel Ka, Lowbacca, Raynar Thul, and Zekk. In the case of the latter four, Denning did a great job making sure he caught up readers who hadn't read the YJK books- THANK YOU. Between that fun aspect of fanservice and introducing several new characters to round out the team (Alema Rar, Lomi Plo, Welk, and the Barabel trio along with recurring NJO newcomer Ganner Rhysode), I loved how Denning made this team feel big but not too overwhelming to keep track of. But even after the initial setup this plotline continues to carry most of the book in an effective way- Denning makes sure to keep the focus on our core Solo-spawn Trio. Anakin Solo is taking the next step of his complex hero's journey as he is thrust into a position of leadership, and he struggles with the fate of his siblings, the other members of the strike team, the jedi order, and the rest of the galaxy. In addition, his siblings get to develop too. Jaina gets some long overdue growth as she gets the chance to bond with her brother with some really nice exchanges of dialogue (that pays off later, more on that in a bit). The brother-brother dynamic between Anakin and Jacen is especially strong as Jacen gets to work through some of his philosophical issues and gets to mend burnt bridges between him and Anakin caused by earlier events in the series. Couple this with a string of effective, tension-filled action scenes and you have a through-line in this book that is close to brilliant.
And once I made it to the final 100-130 pages, Star by Star almost became a different book for me. After hundreds of pages of tedious space battles and boring villain chapters, the storyline with the big 4 suddenly becomes quite effective and fully grabbed my attention. . Han and Leia especially shine in this last stretch, but Luke and Mara work pretty well too. As the situation gets increasingly desperate and our heroes encounter setback after setback, I was at the edge of my seat trying to figure out how they were going to get out alive. For Jaina Solo, this is easily the most interesting I have seen her in the entire New Jedi Order series so far. I finally felt like she had some personality beyond Han-esque one-liners that can't seem to hit the mark. Given the placement of this book in the rest of the series and the next one that will follow (the Jaina-centric Dark Journey), I feel more confident than before with Jaia's new character development actually sticking this time. While I'm still not ready to say that I am finally a fan of Jaina (I have been subject to 9 books worth of false starts when it comes to story arcs and character development for her character), I'm more confident than previously in the ability of these books to do something interesting with her.
As for Troy Denning's writing, I think it was fine. He seems to have a good grasp on the characters for the most part, as they all seemed consistent with who they were in the previous 8 NJO novels outside of the prologue. In addition, he did a good job with a good portion of the action sequences. Given that this is both Troy Denning's first SW novel and the first time I have personally read a SW novel penned by him, my conclusion on Denning as a Star Wars writer currently is this: if Denning is given a good prompt, he can execute it in a way that works well. When Star By Star was focusing on specific elements (The Myrkyr mission and the major plot developments from ~page 475-605), Denning's writing was good. Most of the problems in Denning's style was in the 150ish pages of bloat outside of those core elements (and the prologue before I realized what that actually was).
Lastly... Borsk Fey'lya. However... yeah you would know if you've read the book.
THE CONCLUSION: It's difficult for me to pin down a final rating for this book. With the prologue included, I couldn't go higher than 3 stars. But if I tried to separate the prologue and just treat it as the standalone short story "Recovery" as originally intended, I'm hovering between a 3 and a 3.5. Between Goodreads not letting me do half-ratings on their scale , I'm rounding down.
But even without taking into account the mess with the "prologue", I wanted to like the rest of this book more than I did. Even beyond the hype, my interest in this book steadily built up throughout reading the series. However, Star by Star ended up being too long for its own good, and by the time I actually made it to the good parts, they were tarnished by how tired I had become of reading the book overall. Rather than being fully invested, most of my time reading this book was clouded by an overwhelming feeling of wishing that it was over already. That being said, I must make it clear that I didn't hate this book by any means. Most importantly, I still want to read Dark Journey and the other books following Star By Star.
I thought this book was okay overall, just massively overhyped. If anything, Star By Star is just as much of a mixed bag as the rest of the series leading up to it has been, at least in my opinion. If those of you seeing this are huge fans of this novel and disappointed about my... middling... review, I'm sorry. If you can read this book and be blown away, that's great; more power to you. I'm glad that the majority of the fan base seems to have loved this one. But for me, I'm ready to move on from the slog that Star by Star turned out to be, and get started with the second half of the New Jedi Order. Here's to hoping that I will continue to at least be able to enjoy these books overall. And maybe, just maybe, I can eventually find my own "Star By Star"- that magical New Jedi Order entry that I will fall in love with, the one that will completely win me over in the same way this book has for others who have read the series.
November 19, 2016
Oh, dance in the dark of night, Sing to the morning light.
The dark Lord rides in force tonight, And time will tell us all.
The dark Lord rides in force tonight, And time will tell us all.
September 10, 2016
5 stars
Nice to see Lando, Han, Leia, Luke, Mara Jade, Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin. Also nice that Lando got married.
Can't wait to read more Star Wars books!!!!
Nice to see Lando, Han, Leia, Luke, Mara Jade, Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin. Also nice that Lando got married.
Can't wait to read more Star Wars books!!!!
June 27, 2024
4.5
As promised by the community this is truly one of the best Star Wars stories I have ever seen, read, heard, watched, played etc.
It's a frustratingly rare occurrence for Star Wars to actually reach what I feel is its full potential but in this book, it certainly does. I am so glad that Denning is a frequent author in the main line story of the books going forward (and I also plan to check out his Halo books because this was so great). This is someone who really understands that above all else, Star Wars should be about cool factor. This book is pretty much pedal to the metal from page 200-600 and it's a wild ride.
The characterization is pretty much exactly on point for the new characters and the original trilogy characters alike, even making me emotional at times to see things like the real Luke Skywalker in contrast to what we saw in the last jedi. There's really good development for Han and Leia in here too which is nice because most authors just leave them static. The younger generation is also in full force here though I would criticize that unless you've read young jedi knights and junior jedi knights you will be a bit lost when you are introduced to the strike team of young jedi. I was still able to get myself on track by taking some notes though. The one thing is that although it isn't handled improperly, I would have wanted even more acknowledgment and development from the big thing that happens near the end of the second act. This criticism doesn't have much weight though because things were happening so fast and the duty for this aftermath development really falls to the authors who will write the next few books.
The action, which is pretty well non stop, as it should be in Star Wars, has a bit of a range. At times it is absolutely excellent and at times I did have some trouble with the sense of space. It was always competent enough that I could figure out what was happening it's just that at times it was perfect and at times it was a little unclear. This is really a nitpick but that extra .5 went somewhere and this is part of it. Overall though, I think Denning just really gets what I'm looking for. Star Wars should always be fun and cool above all else and with the way he writes characters fighting together and playing off of each other this was in full force.
The plot itself is absolutely wild. Again, just a fantastic idea clearly written by someone who knows what the fans want and knows how to make things exciting and fun. With the high sense of stakes established by Vector Prime too I found myself seriously sweating and stressed (this is a good thing lol) which doesn't often happen with Star Wars books. I'm not putting any spoilers in this review but many bad things happen in this book and although some it felt a little early in my opinion, I have read that that isn't the fault of the author and it was all handled well. It certainly kept me on my toes.
I think this book is exactly what NJO needed to actually move things forward. I think meaningful change will come from the events of this book on multiple levels of the overarching plot and we really needed that jump start right now.
To end, I'll emphasize my enjoyment by saying that I loved this book so much that I still haven't even had time to worry about the acolyte. The force is with the expanded universe!
As promised by the community this is truly one of the best Star Wars stories I have ever seen, read, heard, watched, played etc.
It's a frustratingly rare occurrence for Star Wars to actually reach what I feel is its full potential but in this book, it certainly does. I am so glad that Denning is a frequent author in the main line story of the books going forward (and I also plan to check out his Halo books because this was so great). This is someone who really understands that above all else, Star Wars should be about cool factor. This book is pretty much pedal to the metal from page 200-600 and it's a wild ride.
The characterization is pretty much exactly on point for the new characters and the original trilogy characters alike, even making me emotional at times to see things like the real Luke Skywalker in contrast to what we saw in the last jedi. There's really good development for Han and Leia in here too which is nice because most authors just leave them static. The younger generation is also in full force here though I would criticize that unless you've read young jedi knights and junior jedi knights you will be a bit lost when you are introduced to the strike team of young jedi. I was still able to get myself on track by taking some notes though. The one thing is that although it isn't handled improperly, I would have wanted even more acknowledgment and development from the big thing that happens near the end of the second act. This criticism doesn't have much weight though because things were happening so fast and the duty for this aftermath development really falls to the authors who will write the next few books.
The action, which is pretty well non stop, as it should be in Star Wars, has a bit of a range. At times it is absolutely excellent and at times I did have some trouble with the sense of space. It was always competent enough that I could figure out what was happening it's just that at times it was perfect and at times it was a little unclear. This is really a nitpick but that extra .5 went somewhere and this is part of it. Overall though, I think Denning just really gets what I'm looking for. Star Wars should always be fun and cool above all else and with the way he writes characters fighting together and playing off of each other this was in full force.
The plot itself is absolutely wild. Again, just a fantastic idea clearly written by someone who knows what the fans want and knows how to make things exciting and fun. With the high sense of stakes established by Vector Prime too I found myself seriously sweating and stressed (this is a good thing lol) which doesn't often happen with Star Wars books. I'm not putting any spoilers in this review but many bad things happen in this book and although some it felt a little early in my opinion, I have read that that isn't the fault of the author and it was all handled well. It certainly kept me on my toes.
I think this book is exactly what NJO needed to actually move things forward. I think meaningful change will come from the events of this book on multiple levels of the overarching plot and we really needed that jump start right now.
To end, I'll emphasize my enjoyment by saying that I loved this book so much that I still haven't even had time to worry about the acolyte. The force is with the expanded universe!
June 5, 2023
I almost gave it a 3, but the last third of the book was very, very good. I think the book was too long and repetitive otherwise. However, there was a ton of action, if that's your thing. I actually like non-battle parts better. There was more character development between the Solo siblings and more progression in the deteriorating state of the New Republic.
December 12, 2021
I'm still not a great fan of the Vong storyline...but it certainly reaches a peak with this epic novel. In fact, my only issue is that there is TOO much going on in here...including a surprising prologue that only features Han & Leia, which spends nearly 90 pages tying up the plot points of the previous novel! It's a story that almost collapses under its own weight...but it doesn't, and it manages to spin the saga into a new, desperate, fascinating direction. This was definitely not what I was expecting.
April 17, 2009
Action packed, tense and fun. And now that I've listed the good parts:
Anakin. Oh, Anakin. He was easily my favorite of the three Solo kids and I sobbed like a baby when he died. Then I cried harder watching his family react to his death. They should have killed Jacen instead, and saved themselves loads of trouble later on. (foreshadowing....)
Anyway, I'm an eternal optimist and I firmly believe that Anakin will one day reappear and marry Tahiri and make me happy. The end.
Anakin. Oh, Anakin. He was easily my favorite of the three Solo kids and I sobbed like a baby when he died. Then I cried harder watching his family react to his death. They should have killed Jacen instead, and saved themselves loads of trouble later on. (foreshadowing....)
Anyway, I'm an eternal optimist and I firmly believe that Anakin will one day reappear and marry Tahiri and make me happy. The end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2011
This book is long and takes forever to read, but it's well worth it.
This book has everything you love about Star Wars. So much happens in this book; it's amazing. I am very upset over Anakin Solo's death. I'm a huge fan of Anakin Solo (maybe his biggest fan) and I hated reading about his death.
Overall this book is five stars, even if he did kill Anakin off. ;P
This book has everything you love about Star Wars. So much happens in this book; it's amazing. I am very upset over Anakin Solo's death. I'm a huge fan of Anakin Solo (maybe his biggest fan) and I hated reading about his death.
Overall this book is five stars, even if he did kill Anakin off. ;P
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2019
To me, the New Jedi Order series has been slow and boring, but this book has made me hooked on the series! The plot twists and turns create an adventure much like the other series throughout the Star Wars EU. At first you look at the book, see how thick it is, and say “something’s going to happen in this book for sure” and Troy Denning did not let down.
For those who struggled through the first half of this series like me, this book, I believe, is the saving grace that turns everything upside down, but in the right direction that deserves the name Star Wars.
For those who struggled through the first half of this series like me, this book, I believe, is the saving grace that turns everything upside down, but in the right direction that deserves the name Star Wars.
August 21, 2017
This time, a key character was killed off - but properly. Unlike with Chewbacca, whose death was a waste back in the first book of this series, Denning did Anakin Solo right. He went out with a blaze of glory, a death to end all deaths. One of the best hero deaths I've ever read.
Besides that key plot point, the hunt for the queen voxxyn by the Jedi strike force was tense (if a little long-winded). I was surprised that they squeezed in a quick Vong attack on Coruscant (not only that - but they actual seized control of the planet!), and again - another great death scene there.
The New Republic and the Jedi's backs are against the wall. We must read on...
Besides that key plot point, the hunt for the queen voxxyn by the Jedi strike force was tense (if a little long-winded). I was surprised that they squeezed in a quick Vong attack on Coruscant (not only that - but they actual seized control of the planet!), and again - another great death scene there.
The New Republic and the Jedi's backs are against the wall. We must read on...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2016
Star by Star is a very sad book - and Star Wars isn't meant to be sad. Yes, there are setbacks, but in the end the heroes should always prevail. In fact, that the heroes prevail over overwhelming odds is part of what makes the universe so much fun. But Star by Star is just unrelentingly sad.
The story opens with the New Republic at war with the Vuuzhan Vong, alien invaders from another Galaxy, who have invaded the Star Wars Galaxy with two goals in mind: the complete conquest of the galaxy and a religious fervor to destroy the Jedi. One of the problems with the story is even with chapters written from the Vuuzhan Vong point of view - it's never explained why they want every single Jedi dead. There's just no reason for it and no explanation. That makes the story very weak. We do learn that the Vuuzhan Vong exhausted the resources of their own galaxy - so they built worldships to travel to a new galaxy, while increasing their sacrifices to their war gods, and mutilating themselves in offerings to the gods - but it's never explained, at all, why they want to destroy the Jedi. And since, in the Star Wars Universe the Force is pretty much a force of nature - it's an impossible conflict.
Also, revealed in the beginning of the story, Chewbacca is dead, having been killed in an (successful) attempt to rescue Anakin Solo (Han and Leia's youngest son) from a Vuuzhan Vong POW camp. This is backstory so not a lot of details are given. Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker have married and have a newborn son, Ben. And Han and Leia's older children, the twins Jacen and Jaina, are now full Jedi Knights. Jaina is a seasoned X-fighter pilot. Jacen has the talent, through the Force, to understand and even sometimes influence animals.
Most of the plot involves the war, and various battles and attempts by the New Republic to do something.
About halfway through the book, Anakin Solo comes up with a desperate idea, he will take a squad of young Jedi Knights, let themselves be "captured" and destroy the Voxyn Queen. The Voxyn are an animal bred by the Vuuzhan Vong to hunt down and kill Jedi. Once they discover that all the Voxyn are clones of the queen, the Jedi figure that destroying the queen will help the New Republic war effort. Another group of scientist-Jedi work to discover how more of the Vuuzhan Vong organic technology weapons, especially the yammosk - a creature that co-ordinates the battle orders of the Vuuzhan Vong -equivalent of X-wings and other small space fighters actually work.
Much of the rest of the book splits between what the rest of the characters are doing: Han and Leia for the most part on Coruscant - capital planet of the Star Wars Galaxy where Leia finally gives up her diplomatic position in the Senate in protest of the New Republic's plans to appease the Vuuzhan Vong by selling out the Jedi. Luke and Mara are on Eclipse - the Jedi secret base, caring for their infant son, and managing the Jedi role in the war. The scientist-Jedi attempt to crack the code of the yammosk. And Jacen, Jaina, Anakin, and their squad of young Jedi Knights attempting to kill the Voxyn Queen.
However, Anakin's squad - one by one are getting killed. And that makes the book so sad. As there was an entire series of early Young Adult "Young Jedi Knights" and "Jedi Academy" books - to see the main characters from those books dying one-by-one? It's a hard read. Eventually even Anakin falls. His death sets his older sister, Jaina, on the path to the Dark Side. And Leia, who feels her son's death, even though she's on Coruscant on the opposite side of the Galaxy, is thrown for a loop and ready to just give up.
But the bad news isn't over - the Vuuzhan Vong launch a successful attack on Coruscant, capturing the capitol planet - and killing thousands of civilians in the process. Han, Leia, Luke and Mara barely escape. Luke and Mara had been fighting in the battle - but are also there to pick up their infant son, Ben, whom they'd left with Han and Leia to be safe. During Han and Leia's rush to get to the Falcon to escape - Ben and C3PO get separated and end up on a fleeing refugee ship. Though Lando does manage to rescue the two from the Vuuzhan Vong that board that ship.
Anakin's mission - already failing miserably, results in the successful destruction of the Voxyn - but the deaths of at least half his squad, as well as Anakin himself. Jacen is also, again, captured by the Vuuzhan Vong, who have a religious superstition about twins - and intend to force Jacen and Jaina to fight to the death, and considering Jaina has turned to the Dark Side - it may just happen.
Also, the book has no closure - Han, Leia, Luka, and Mara escape Coruscant in the Falcon, and Ben is meant to be safe on the Errant Venture thanks to Lando, but everything is much in the air and undecided - especially with Coruscant destroyed. So, after reading over 600 pages, nothing is really decided and I hate that.
This book was too sad, too depressing, and too filled with death for Star Wars and doesn't fit the "light adventure" mold of most of the tie-in novels. I didn't really enjoy it.
The story opens with the New Republic at war with the Vuuzhan Vong, alien invaders from another Galaxy, who have invaded the Star Wars Galaxy with two goals in mind: the complete conquest of the galaxy and a religious fervor to destroy the Jedi. One of the problems with the story is even with chapters written from the Vuuzhan Vong point of view - it's never explained why they want every single Jedi dead. There's just no reason for it and no explanation. That makes the story very weak. We do learn that the Vuuzhan Vong exhausted the resources of their own galaxy - so they built worldships to travel to a new galaxy, while increasing their sacrifices to their war gods, and mutilating themselves in offerings to the gods - but it's never explained, at all, why they want to destroy the Jedi. And since, in the Star Wars Universe the Force is pretty much a force of nature - it's an impossible conflict.
Also, revealed in the beginning of the story, Chewbacca is dead, having been killed in an (successful) attempt to rescue Anakin Solo (Han and Leia's youngest son) from a Vuuzhan Vong POW camp. This is backstory so not a lot of details are given. Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker have married and have a newborn son, Ben. And Han and Leia's older children, the twins Jacen and Jaina, are now full Jedi Knights. Jaina is a seasoned X-fighter pilot. Jacen has the talent, through the Force, to understand and even sometimes influence animals.
Most of the plot involves the war, and various battles and attempts by the New Republic to do something.
About halfway through the book, Anakin Solo comes up with a desperate idea, he will take a squad of young Jedi Knights, let themselves be "captured" and destroy the Voxyn Queen. The Voxyn are an animal bred by the Vuuzhan Vong to hunt down and kill Jedi. Once they discover that all the Voxyn are clones of the queen, the Jedi figure that destroying the queen will help the New Republic war effort. Another group of scientist-Jedi work to discover how more of the Vuuzhan Vong organic technology weapons, especially the yammosk - a creature that co-ordinates the battle orders of the Vuuzhan Vong -equivalent of X-wings and other small space fighters actually work.
Much of the rest of the book splits between what the rest of the characters are doing: Han and Leia for the most part on Coruscant - capital planet of the Star Wars Galaxy where Leia finally gives up her diplomatic position in the Senate in protest of the New Republic's plans to appease the Vuuzhan Vong by selling out the Jedi. Luke and Mara are on Eclipse - the Jedi secret base, caring for their infant son, and managing the Jedi role in the war. The scientist-Jedi attempt to crack the code of the yammosk. And Jacen, Jaina, Anakin, and their squad of young Jedi Knights attempting to kill the Voxyn Queen.
However, Anakin's squad - one by one are getting killed. And that makes the book so sad. As there was an entire series of early Young Adult "Young Jedi Knights" and "Jedi Academy" books - to see the main characters from those books dying one-by-one? It's a hard read. Eventually even Anakin falls. His death sets his older sister, Jaina, on the path to the Dark Side. And Leia, who feels her son's death, even though she's on Coruscant on the opposite side of the Galaxy, is thrown for a loop and ready to just give up.
But the bad news isn't over - the Vuuzhan Vong launch a successful attack on Coruscant, capturing the capitol planet - and killing thousands of civilians in the process. Han, Leia, Luke and Mara barely escape. Luke and Mara had been fighting in the battle - but are also there to pick up their infant son, Ben, whom they'd left with Han and Leia to be safe. During Han and Leia's rush to get to the Falcon to escape - Ben and C3PO get separated and end up on a fleeing refugee ship. Though Lando does manage to rescue the two from the Vuuzhan Vong that board that ship.
Anakin's mission - already failing miserably, results in the successful destruction of the Voxyn - but the deaths of at least half his squad, as well as Anakin himself. Jacen is also, again, captured by the Vuuzhan Vong, who have a religious superstition about twins - and intend to force Jacen and Jaina to fight to the death, and considering Jaina has turned to the Dark Side - it may just happen.
Also, the book has no closure - Han, Leia, Luka, and Mara escape Coruscant in the Falcon, and Ben is meant to be safe on the Errant Venture thanks to Lando, but everything is much in the air and undecided - especially with Coruscant destroyed. So, after reading over 600 pages, nothing is really decided and I hate that.
This book was too sad, too depressing, and too filled with death for Star Wars and doesn't fit the "light adventure" mold of most of the tie-in novels. I didn't really enjoy it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2020
The writing is a bit rubbish and the characters don't work but the story is epic and it makes the galaxy a lot bigger. Imagine if they had made XII, XIII & IX follow thee novels instead?!
June 29, 2021
2 stars solely because I didn't enjoy reading Star by Star and felt uncomfortable with the excessive degree of torture and pain & suffering...
For 2021, I decided to reread Del Rey’s first attempt at a multi-author book series in the Star Wars universe: The New Jedi Order, which was published between 1999 and 2003. This shakes out to 19 novels, two eBook novellas, three short stories, and a tangentially-related prequel era novel.
This week’s focus: the third hardcover release in the New Jedi Order series, Star by Star by Troy Denning.
SOME HISTORY:
Troy Denning had written some Star Wars material for West End Games in the late 1980s—two “choose your own adventure” stories and the Star Wars Roleplaying Game supplement Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races—but like R.A. Salvatore, he was perhaps better known for his novels set within various Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. Star by Star made it to number eleven on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of November 16, 2001.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I was a little nervous about rereading Star by Star, because I’m not sure whether it’s worse to read it completely unprepared for all the pain and suffering that will follow, as I did in 2001, or with a vague foreshadowing of every tragic event that occurs. I remembered most of the Jedi strike team’s subplot, but less of other events.
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME COUNT:
The Jedi strike team wear snazzy brown hooded jumpsuits with reinforced armor bits--although that doesn’t seem to prevent them from being repeatedly wounded.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
The Yuuzhan Vong have unleashed the voxyn, a savage creature capable of finding and killing Jedi Knights. And now the Jedi face a terrible ultimatum: if the location of their secret base is not revealed within one week, the Yuuzhan Vong will destroy millions of refugees. So Anakin Solo lays out a daring plan. A Jedi strike force will allow itself to be captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and taken to Myrkr, where the Jedi will destroy the voxyn queen. But can they fight a ruthless enemy without falling victim to the dark side?
THE CHARACTERS:
It’s easy to forget that Star by Star isn’t solely about the young Jedi strike team--the abridged audiobook almost entirely focuses on Anakin and co--but there are other subplots. Han and Leia are aiding the Jedi resistance. Luke Skywalker finally takes action. Danni Quee reenters the story, teaming up with Saba Sebatyne’s Wild Knightz to try to capture and counter yammosks. Borsk Fey’lya finally takes a side, while Viqi Shesh continues her traitorous scheming. And on the Yuuzhan Vong front, Warmaster Tsavong Lah begins his push against the New Republic capital of Coruscant while Nom Anor and Vergere must work together to capture the Solo twins.
Leia comes to the realization that she doesn’t want to be involved in politics anymore, and that the Force is calling her to another path. After being reunited with his family, Han feels a little nervous about losing them, so he's initially unwilling to take risks until Leia pushes back against that. A lot of their plot line involves them scouting for the Jedi and the New Republic military--and then an extended (sometimes silly) subplot in which Luke and Mara give them their infant son for safekeeping, only for Han and Leia to lose Ben during the evacuation of Coruscant. I wasn't crazy about this part; it felt like an unnecessary addition to all the traumatic events going on with the fall of Coruscant.
Luke finally takes a stand! He decides that the Jedi should take action, and so a lot of his plot line involves Luke and Mara forming their own x-wing squadron. They’re very successful at first, but as with the fall of Coruscant, they lose a lot of people in the end. All the different squadrons use codenames; Luke’s is “Farmboy,” but Mara’s is “Mother”... Look, I understand she just had a baby, but you can give her a better codename than that!
Danni Quee reappears, after not really being seen since the Dark Tide duology. (I would be interested to know what Michael Jan Friedman’s trilogy would have entailed, because we learned here that she’s been training in the Force for the past two years.) She accompanies Saba Sebatyne and the Wild Knightz in an attempt to capture a yammosk--the Yuuzhan Vong brain strategy thing--and then learn how to counteract it. Cilghal and Danni create the blocker offscreen, and I wish we could have seen more of her work.
On the political side, we have Borsk Fey’lya finally siding with the Jedi. Borsk has been all over the place in the series thus far; he dithered and played both sides for so long that it was satisfying to see him actually do something (even if it is a suicide bomb). And Viqi Shesh really falls apart in Star by Star--she went from being this secret traitor working for the Vong to someone unduly manipulated by them. She tries to assassinate Borsk Fey’lya, then makes multiple attempts to capture Ben Skywalker. I'm not sure she would be willing to take that much public action, especially when she thinks that the fall of Coruscant would culminate in her being placed in a position of power. She goes downhill very fast.
Tsavong Lah begins his big push against the Core, capturing Reecee and Borleias before moving on to Coruscant. The Vong capture Coruscant, mainly because the strategy involves overwhelming force and doesn’t care about loss of their own vessels. (Very unlike our heroes!) Nom Anor and Vergere are both separately scheming, and are dispatched to Myrkr to capture the Solo twins--twins have great prominence within Yuuzhan Vong mythology. Nom Anor’s plan is clear, but Vergere’s motives are much less so…
There are other things happening in the book to justify its very long length, but the Jedi strike team subplot is the most pivotal and central. Ganner Rhysode is the decoy leader, but Anakin Solo is the actual strategic lead. The team is composed of volunteers--people had to choose to go--but I did question the presence of every single Solo child on this strike team. While I understand that the voxyn are a huge threat, and Jaina and Jacen and Anakin would all want to volunteer for this task, I wish there had been a little more pushback against all of them being involved--because you run the very great risk of Han and Leia losing all their children on the same (reckless) mission.
Briefly: the strike team plans for a fake traitor (Lando) to hand them over to the Vong. They then commandeer the vessel (The Exquisite Death) and head to Myrkr to destroy the voxyn queen, since Cilghal learned that all the voxyn are clones of the only viable specimen. They arrive and lose the first member of their team (Ulaha Kore); Anakin senses the presence of other Jedi, but they discover that they’re Dark Jedi. They keep trying to reach the cloning facilities but it's like a maze. They lose more members of the strike team (Jovan Drark and Eryl Besa and Bela & Krasov Hara); they’re betrayed by the Dark Jedi who abscond with Raynar Thul.
And after the Edge of Victory duology, where Anakin struggled with toning down his recklessness and thinking about the example he presents to other Jedi, he behaves in a very reckless manner: he tries to rescue his sister from Vong ambush and is grievously wounded. He’s unwilling to slow down--he’s unwilling to stop and heal--so as the story progresses he grows weaker and weaker. The team finally make a play against the voxyn queen, but it fails. Anakin gives himself up to the Force to help the others escape--he's full of light, his cells are breaking down--and he's able to destroy the voxyn genetic material but at the cost of his own life.
With Anakin’s death, the strike team falls apart into two factions. Jaina gives herself over to her anger and grief, retrieves Anakin's body from the Vong, crashes the shuttle she’d stolen, but in the end escapes with everyone except for Jacen. Meanwhile, Jacen tries to finish the mission (as Anakin requested) so he tracks down the voxyn queen. He successfully takes her out, but he’s also captured by Vergere and his fate is left up in the air.
Part of what I found so sad about Star by Star was how dysfunctional the relationship between the three Solo siblings appeared. Anakin doesn't want Jacen to be part of the team; he thinks that Jacen’s different ideas will lead to division within the group. Jacen comes along anyway as the facilitator of the Jedi mind meld, but as tensions rise he finds it harder to keep everyone connected. Jacen incorrectly believes that Anakin ordered Ulaha to resist torture; Anakin regrets bringing Jacen along on the mission; Jacen is barely given an opportunity to apologize for his mistake. I think what upsets me the most is that Anakin dies, and I never got the sense that the Solo siblings were able to work through their conflicts beforehand. (I guess that’s true to life, but it’s excessively depressing.)
The Jedi strike team is half composed of the usual lot (the Solo kids, Ganner Rhysode, and characters from the Young Jedi Knights books), but also a number of new characters. I think this led to the same problem I had with Stackpole’s X-Wing books, where characters die to illustrate how *~*dangerous*~* the situation is; but other than the first death (Ulaha) and Anakin, I didn’t know much about these Jedi characters so they felt like expendable crewmen.
ISSUES:
Star by Star accomplishes a lot. But I have trouble talking about my issues with it, mainly because I don't think that they’re issues with the book in a technical sense but more things that I don't feel comfortable reading. This obviously made me reluctant to reread it twenty years later! For instance, the excessive use of torture: when the Jedi strike team is captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, Commander Duman Yaght wants to uncover the location of the secret Jedi base...so there’s a lot of torture. I don't like reading torture scenes; I didn't like it in Balance Point, I didn't like it any of the other books, and it's really uncomfortable for me to read. While I know why it's there--it sets the stakes of everything that's to come--I didn't like revisiting it. It made me upset to see how these young Jedi start to break and almost turn against each other.
I also questioned the sense of time here: Balance Point and the Edge of Victory duology were supposed to take place 26 years after the Battle of Yavin (within the span of one year), and then Star by Star takes us to the next year of the war, 27 years after the Battle of Yavin. Yet the Yuuzhan Vong don’t learn about vornskrs until Edge of Victory I: Conquest, and I’m not sure how much time has elapsed between Conquest and Edge of Victory II: Rebirth and now Star by Star. The voxyn cloning facility and the worldship feel too entrenched for the amount of time that has actually elapsed. The Yuuzhan Vong created different, unique environments to train the voxyn--but we also know that they had great difficulties in creating them, as evidenced by the fact that the only viable specimen was the voxyn queen. It seems like a lot of work went into this but the timeline doesn’t mesh with that.
A related problem with the voxyn: we see one Jedi's death in the very beginning (Numa Rar), but the ones that follow (Lusa and Eelysa and Lyric) happen completely offscreen. I wish we could have seen some more of those deaths, to drive home the huge threat of the voxyn and why the Jedi need to tackle this impossible task. Because as it stands, I wanted to side with some of the other Jedi--the voxyn are obviously dangerous, but they didn't feel as developed as I would have wanted them to be.
Finally, I found the action scenes were difficult to follow--which is a little hard when so much of the book is devoted to action sequences! I think this worked very well for the strike team scenes on the worldship, because it's disorienting. It has a very dream-like vibe which I think works well with the mission, and works well with the amount of fatigue that the Jedi were operating under. It almost gives a sense of unreality to everything that's happening above Myrkr, because I'm not sure how long they've been there and exactly what their routes have entailed. It just gets murky.
With the other characters, I feel like those disorienting battle scenes are much more of a detriment. It's hard for me to follow what's happening in the battles, and I should be able to follow what happens! The battle for Coruscant is confusing, and there's lots of things happening--so the emotion is right, but I feel like there should be more clarity there.
IN CONCLUSION:
Star by Star is a very emotional read. More than any of the other NJO books thus far, this is a war story, and it has the coinciding losses. The tides of war in the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion have tipped over to the Vong’s favor: Coruscant is fallen, the New Republic government is in pieces, the secret Jedi base on Eclipse has been breached, and the Jedi have lost countless members, including Anakin Solo.
While I’m glad I got to read Star by Star for this reread, and there were some parts that I thought were well done, the novel is too dark and grim and depressing for me. Fortunately I have it behind me, so I can move forward to the rest of the series and a more hopeful outcome for our heroes.
Next up: a Jaina-centric novel--Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/BveMK1KiVbI
Interview with Troy Denning circa 2001: https://web.archive.org/web/200503080...
For 2021, I decided to reread Del Rey’s first attempt at a multi-author book series in the Star Wars universe: The New Jedi Order, which was published between 1999 and 2003. This shakes out to 19 novels, two eBook novellas, three short stories, and a tangentially-related prequel era novel.
This week’s focus: the third hardcover release in the New Jedi Order series, Star by Star by Troy Denning.
SOME HISTORY:
Troy Denning had written some Star Wars material for West End Games in the late 1980s—two “choose your own adventure” stories and the Star Wars Roleplaying Game supplement Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races—but like R.A. Salvatore, he was perhaps better known for his novels set within various Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. Star by Star made it to number eleven on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of November 16, 2001.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I was a little nervous about rereading Star by Star, because I’m not sure whether it’s worse to read it completely unprepared for all the pain and suffering that will follow, as I did in 2001, or with a vague foreshadowing of every tragic event that occurs. I remembered most of the Jedi strike team’s subplot, but less of other events.
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME COUNT:
The Jedi strike team wear snazzy brown hooded jumpsuits with reinforced armor bits--although that doesn’t seem to prevent them from being repeatedly wounded.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
The Yuuzhan Vong have unleashed the voxyn, a savage creature capable of finding and killing Jedi Knights. And now the Jedi face a terrible ultimatum: if the location of their secret base is not revealed within one week, the Yuuzhan Vong will destroy millions of refugees. So Anakin Solo lays out a daring plan. A Jedi strike force will allow itself to be captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and taken to Myrkr, where the Jedi will destroy the voxyn queen. But can they fight a ruthless enemy without falling victim to the dark side?
THE CHARACTERS:
It’s easy to forget that Star by Star isn’t solely about the young Jedi strike team--the abridged audiobook almost entirely focuses on Anakin and co--but there are other subplots. Han and Leia are aiding the Jedi resistance. Luke Skywalker finally takes action. Danni Quee reenters the story, teaming up with Saba Sebatyne’s Wild Knightz to try to capture and counter yammosks. Borsk Fey’lya finally takes a side, while Viqi Shesh continues her traitorous scheming. And on the Yuuzhan Vong front, Warmaster Tsavong Lah begins his push against the New Republic capital of Coruscant while Nom Anor and Vergere must work together to capture the Solo twins.
Leia comes to the realization that she doesn’t want to be involved in politics anymore, and that the Force is calling her to another path. After being reunited with his family, Han feels a little nervous about losing them, so he's initially unwilling to take risks until Leia pushes back against that. A lot of their plot line involves them scouting for the Jedi and the New Republic military--and then an extended (sometimes silly) subplot in which Luke and Mara give them their infant son for safekeeping, only for Han and Leia to lose Ben during the evacuation of Coruscant. I wasn't crazy about this part; it felt like an unnecessary addition to all the traumatic events going on with the fall of Coruscant.
Luke finally takes a stand! He decides that the Jedi should take action, and so a lot of his plot line involves Luke and Mara forming their own x-wing squadron. They’re very successful at first, but as with the fall of Coruscant, they lose a lot of people in the end. All the different squadrons use codenames; Luke’s is “Farmboy,” but Mara’s is “Mother”... Look, I understand she just had a baby, but you can give her a better codename than that!
Danni Quee reappears, after not really being seen since the Dark Tide duology. (I would be interested to know what Michael Jan Friedman’s trilogy would have entailed, because we learned here that she’s been training in the Force for the past two years.) She accompanies Saba Sebatyne and the Wild Knightz in an attempt to capture a yammosk--the Yuuzhan Vong brain strategy thing--and then learn how to counteract it. Cilghal and Danni create the blocker offscreen, and I wish we could have seen more of her work.
On the political side, we have Borsk Fey’lya finally siding with the Jedi. Borsk has been all over the place in the series thus far; he dithered and played both sides for so long that it was satisfying to see him actually do something (even if it is a suicide bomb). And Viqi Shesh really falls apart in Star by Star--she went from being this secret traitor working for the Vong to someone unduly manipulated by them. She tries to assassinate Borsk Fey’lya, then makes multiple attempts to capture Ben Skywalker. I'm not sure she would be willing to take that much public action, especially when she thinks that the fall of Coruscant would culminate in her being placed in a position of power. She goes downhill very fast.
Tsavong Lah begins his big push against the Core, capturing Reecee and Borleias before moving on to Coruscant. The Vong capture Coruscant, mainly because the strategy involves overwhelming force and doesn’t care about loss of their own vessels. (Very unlike our heroes!) Nom Anor and Vergere are both separately scheming, and are dispatched to Myrkr to capture the Solo twins--twins have great prominence within Yuuzhan Vong mythology. Nom Anor’s plan is clear, but Vergere’s motives are much less so…
There are other things happening in the book to justify its very long length, but the Jedi strike team subplot is the most pivotal and central. Ganner Rhysode is the decoy leader, but Anakin Solo is the actual strategic lead. The team is composed of volunteers--people had to choose to go--but I did question the presence of every single Solo child on this strike team. While I understand that the voxyn are a huge threat, and Jaina and Jacen and Anakin would all want to volunteer for this task, I wish there had been a little more pushback against all of them being involved--because you run the very great risk of Han and Leia losing all their children on the same (reckless) mission.
Briefly: the strike team plans for a fake traitor (Lando) to hand them over to the Vong. They then commandeer the vessel (The Exquisite Death) and head to Myrkr to destroy the voxyn queen, since Cilghal learned that all the voxyn are clones of the only viable specimen. They arrive and lose the first member of their team (Ulaha Kore); Anakin senses the presence of other Jedi, but they discover that they’re Dark Jedi. They keep trying to reach the cloning facilities but it's like a maze. They lose more members of the strike team (Jovan Drark and Eryl Besa and Bela & Krasov Hara); they’re betrayed by the Dark Jedi who abscond with Raynar Thul.
And after the Edge of Victory duology, where Anakin struggled with toning down his recklessness and thinking about the example he presents to other Jedi, he behaves in a very reckless manner: he tries to rescue his sister from Vong ambush and is grievously wounded. He’s unwilling to slow down--he’s unwilling to stop and heal--so as the story progresses he grows weaker and weaker. The team finally make a play against the voxyn queen, but it fails. Anakin gives himself up to the Force to help the others escape--he's full of light, his cells are breaking down--and he's able to destroy the voxyn genetic material but at the cost of his own life.
With Anakin’s death, the strike team falls apart into two factions. Jaina gives herself over to her anger and grief, retrieves Anakin's body from the Vong, crashes the shuttle she’d stolen, but in the end escapes with everyone except for Jacen. Meanwhile, Jacen tries to finish the mission (as Anakin requested) so he tracks down the voxyn queen. He successfully takes her out, but he’s also captured by Vergere and his fate is left up in the air.
Part of what I found so sad about Star by Star was how dysfunctional the relationship between the three Solo siblings appeared. Anakin doesn't want Jacen to be part of the team; he thinks that Jacen’s different ideas will lead to division within the group. Jacen comes along anyway as the facilitator of the Jedi mind meld, but as tensions rise he finds it harder to keep everyone connected. Jacen incorrectly believes that Anakin ordered Ulaha to resist torture; Anakin regrets bringing Jacen along on the mission; Jacen is barely given an opportunity to apologize for his mistake. I think what upsets me the most is that Anakin dies, and I never got the sense that the Solo siblings were able to work through their conflicts beforehand. (I guess that’s true to life, but it’s excessively depressing.)
The Jedi strike team is half composed of the usual lot (the Solo kids, Ganner Rhysode, and characters from the Young Jedi Knights books), but also a number of new characters. I think this led to the same problem I had with Stackpole’s X-Wing books, where characters die to illustrate how *~*dangerous*~* the situation is; but other than the first death (Ulaha) and Anakin, I didn’t know much about these Jedi characters so they felt like expendable crewmen.
ISSUES:
Star by Star accomplishes a lot. But I have trouble talking about my issues with it, mainly because I don't think that they’re issues with the book in a technical sense but more things that I don't feel comfortable reading. This obviously made me reluctant to reread it twenty years later! For instance, the excessive use of torture: when the Jedi strike team is captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, Commander Duman Yaght wants to uncover the location of the secret Jedi base...so there’s a lot of torture. I don't like reading torture scenes; I didn't like it in Balance Point, I didn't like it any of the other books, and it's really uncomfortable for me to read. While I know why it's there--it sets the stakes of everything that's to come--I didn't like revisiting it. It made me upset to see how these young Jedi start to break and almost turn against each other.
I also questioned the sense of time here: Balance Point and the Edge of Victory duology were supposed to take place 26 years after the Battle of Yavin (within the span of one year), and then Star by Star takes us to the next year of the war, 27 years after the Battle of Yavin. Yet the Yuuzhan Vong don’t learn about vornskrs until Edge of Victory I: Conquest, and I’m not sure how much time has elapsed between Conquest and Edge of Victory II: Rebirth and now Star by Star. The voxyn cloning facility and the worldship feel too entrenched for the amount of time that has actually elapsed. The Yuuzhan Vong created different, unique environments to train the voxyn--but we also know that they had great difficulties in creating them, as evidenced by the fact that the only viable specimen was the voxyn queen. It seems like a lot of work went into this but the timeline doesn’t mesh with that.
A related problem with the voxyn: we see one Jedi's death in the very beginning (Numa Rar), but the ones that follow (Lusa and Eelysa and Lyric) happen completely offscreen. I wish we could have seen some more of those deaths, to drive home the huge threat of the voxyn and why the Jedi need to tackle this impossible task. Because as it stands, I wanted to side with some of the other Jedi--the voxyn are obviously dangerous, but they didn't feel as developed as I would have wanted them to be.
Finally, I found the action scenes were difficult to follow--which is a little hard when so much of the book is devoted to action sequences! I think this worked very well for the strike team scenes on the worldship, because it's disorienting. It has a very dream-like vibe which I think works well with the mission, and works well with the amount of fatigue that the Jedi were operating under. It almost gives a sense of unreality to everything that's happening above Myrkr, because I'm not sure how long they've been there and exactly what their routes have entailed. It just gets murky.
With the other characters, I feel like those disorienting battle scenes are much more of a detriment. It's hard for me to follow what's happening in the battles, and I should be able to follow what happens! The battle for Coruscant is confusing, and there's lots of things happening--so the emotion is right, but I feel like there should be more clarity there.
IN CONCLUSION:
Star by Star is a very emotional read. More than any of the other NJO books thus far, this is a war story, and it has the coinciding losses. The tides of war in the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion have tipped over to the Vong’s favor: Coruscant is fallen, the New Republic government is in pieces, the secret Jedi base on Eclipse has been breached, and the Jedi have lost countless members, including Anakin Solo.
While I’m glad I got to read Star by Star for this reread, and there were some parts that I thought were well done, the novel is too dark and grim and depressing for me. Fortunately I have it behind me, so I can move forward to the rest of the series and a more hopeful outcome for our heroes.
Next up: a Jaina-centric novel--Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/BveMK1KiVbI
Interview with Troy Denning circa 2001: https://web.archive.org/web/200503080...
September 25, 2024
INTRODUCTION
Star By Star, although with little issues I will touch upon later, is quite easily the best novel so far.
Troy Denning’s first foray into Star Wars is an extremely bold behemoth, which amounts to six hundred pages in total, and it took me around four days to fully read.
Now did it need to be six hundred pages?
I’m not sure. But it definitely needed to cross the three hundred barrier every novel so far hasn’t strayed far from, and I’m glad it did that at least.
There are various sorts of sections of the plot focusing on different aspects, different planets, different conflicts. A lot needed to be set up. So I didn’t mind the slower pace on a whole.
VOXYN
I think the Voxyn are a brilliant concept, with a magnificent design realised in the Japanese cover art by Tsuyoshi Nagano. Eight-legged, acid spitting creatures, they are extremely ferocious and a true threat to the Jedi.
Animalistic hunger felt through the Force is a magnificent concept to create a magnetic tension any time they’re around. With how bold this series is anyway, Troy Denning takes it up a notch, and you are seriously concerned a major character will die to a Voxyn at any moment, as very often they take down Jedi built up through the book as major players.
Shock after shock!
YUUZHAN VONG
The Vong’s perspective in this book was probably the best written it has been yet. With Vergere and Nom Anor competing constantly, and the warmaster Tsavong Lah pushing bold tactics and being the most ferocious he has been yet, everyone feels like a proper threat.
Their side of the story is more interesting than ever as we see them often struggle to predict and fight Jedi, but having much more success with the New Republic, continually outsmarting them and defeating them.
Their losses to the Jedi cement (to me) the superiority of the Jedi, as in one encounter they uttery destroy the Yuuzhan Vong and save countless refugees, even if this doesn’t amount to what the Vong soon accomplish.
THE INVASION OF CORUSCANT
As I repeatedly mention in my reviews, I’m not one for the space battles in Star Wars. And I felt that whilst this book leaned a little too much into them at times, the battle of Coruscant was, for the most part, extremely engaging.
The plot with Ben being captured was a bit much for me, and felt kinda pointless. But Leia’s fight with Viqi Shesh just captivated me, you really do want Viqi dead, and are even rooting for her recklessness.
Han gets to be a bit more of his old self here, and Luke and Mara are brilliant in this sequence of the novel.
I always love when the villains of something are winning and everything seems hopeless, so it’s really, terribly devastating but also awe-inspiring for Coruscant to finally be taken, and taken so early.
It really feels like the New Republic are done for, and that the Jedi are the galaxy’s last hope. I almost find it hard to believe Coruscant has been taken so early, and the amount of lives lost in the battle is just terribly shocking. Countless civilians, countless refugees, so many more Jedi and fighters lost in battle.
Things have never been worse, and I love it,
LEIA’S CHARACTERISATION
I felt that Leia was distinctly at her best here.
So far, she has probably my favourite design in the entire Star Wars saga, with her flowing white robes reminiscent of her costume in the very first movie, she looks extremely regal and powerful, and with her shorter, still growing hair, she looks really cool, more of a fighter than a princess than ever before, and it has to be my favourite look for her.
Her striking, crimson, ruby lightsaber is also just fantastic, and I love the idea of a Jedi, rather than a Sith, with a red lightsaber. Something I admire about the EU was how the lightsabers had more personality, more freedom, more individuality, and it really helps with Leia here. She basically looks sick as fuck.
I also adore that she finally felt so utterly done with politics. It has been a critique of mine in previous novels from the New Republic era that they always delegated Leia to mere political drama, and rarely any of the action she was known for in the original trilogy. And it more or less stuck as her status quo in these novels.
But with her declaring herself finished with the Senate, and engaging in various fight scenes with her lightsaber, she feels more like a Jedi than ever, and I pray to see it continue, or at least a positive balance.
ANAKIN SOLO
I always knew of Anakin’s fate since before I read these novels, and I very recently had it spoiled for which novel it would be.
But I am happy to report that I still found it extremely upsetting when he died in battle!
Anakin was my favourite of the Solo children. In this book, he was seventeen I believe, which is my age, so I felt a bit closer to him. I loved how he was a bit more emotional, a little bit reckless, and has an obsession with becoming a hero.
He wanted to change the meaning of Anakin from Vader, to a great Jedi. And he most definitely succeeded. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to have someone so young die in war, and I feel the novel better than any other does a great job of showing the horrors of true war, on a grand scale with the Yuuzhan Vong.
Leia’s despair shatters me, and I never thought we’d ever see Leia like she is here. She feels totally helpless, and just screams upon feeling his death. It is terrifying, it is horrifying, and it really upsets me to think about, enough to feel myself tearing up typing it!
I rarely get beyond tearing up, or a single tear when anything in media upsets me, but this novel almost got me crying properly. I felt three tears roll down my cheeks, and I felt like I’d start sobbing!
I loved Anakin so much. I miss him too.
JACEN & JAINA
Jacen and Jaina take Anakin’s death in two different ways.
There was Jacen’s calmness, and the other - Jaina’s reaction - I was ecstatic to have not had spoiled for myself.
As for Anakin, he was upset, crying even. But with his aspiration to be a proper Jedi, all of his beliefs on sacrifice and the rights and wrongs of the Force, I really admire his reaction. He is heartbroken too, but doesn’t allow it to consume him or get in the way of his mission.
Ultimately leading to him being left behind as he fulfils the mission, ‘tricked’ by Vergere (who I still don’t believe is completely evil!) I feel really bad for Jacen. He doesn’t get to shine as strongly as his siblings in this book, but he’s still really great.
Jaina finally gets to properly, seriously shine in this one. Her absolute rage and fury leads to her doing some things very stupid, finally breaking her numbness with all of the death and loss of the war building up on her. I can see her never being the same again.
What I never, ever expected, was what she immediately did next.
Force lighting! Is it just me, or is Jaina the fucking coolest ever with force lighting? Leaning fully into her rage, she commands force lightning upon the Yuuzhan Vong, and kills many in her rage. It is a fucking fantastic moment, exceptional for her character, and completely, utterly unexpected. I am so thankful no one spoiled this for me!
I feel that her character and grief is to be more fully explored in the next novel, but this was already just amazing!
BORSK FEY’LYA
I really hate Borsk. But he almost redeemed himself in this novel.
Fully backing the Jedi almost the whole way through, surviving an assassination, politically assassinating Viqi herself, and sacrificing himself to deliver a blow to the Yuuzhan Vong, and to stay with Coruscant in his death, knowing his political career was over, and that he wouldn’t be remembered well.
I don’t believe he should be remembered well. He was a terrible person in almost every case, using the war and its inner conflicts to his own gain, but he really started to turn around towards the end, and it seemed like he was really trying his best to save everyone.
I almost found myself upset at his death too.
CONCLUSION & MINOR CRITICISMS
Overall, this was a fantastic book. It was heartbreaking, tragic, imaginative, gritty, dark, and utterly hopeless, perfectly in line with the series, and a true mighty blow to our heroes.
It isn’t entirely perfect, though. Maybe Denning’s later career with Star Wars, or his shorter books will improve upon this, but I found his writing a little bit of a mixed bag.
First of all, the book was definitely just a bit too long. There were a few sections that just went on too long, one of them being the space battle for Coruscant. He was very good at writing these sequences, and they were easy to follow at least, but they went on just a bit too long for my liking.
Another was that I found he didn’t describe Yuuzhan Vong scenery, technology, the worldship, the planet of Myrkr, etc. For a lot of the plots revolving around the Solo kids and their mission to Myrkr, I found myself absolutely baffled at the scenery, and really struggled to imagine it.
I couldn’t grasp for the life of me what the interior of the worldship looked like, and for absolutely ages, I hadn’t even grasped that they had moved from Myrkr to a worldship, or how!
He did, however, perfectly handle an enormous ensemble cast of characters, and it did feel like he did an exceptional job with everybody. Writing Luke and Mara’s romance wonderfully, Han and Leia’s healing relationship, the Solo children at their best, Talon Karrde and Lando in on all of it too, he was really good.
He also came up with some brilliant concepts, such as Lando’s Yuuzhan Vong killer droids, that sounded really cool when reading, and turned out to be really useful.
So generally, it’s an exceptional book. It broke my heart and shattered it, and has turned things really, really dark for the New Republic.
I am eager and excited for more.
9.5/10
Star By Star, although with little issues I will touch upon later, is quite easily the best novel so far.
Troy Denning’s first foray into Star Wars is an extremely bold behemoth, which amounts to six hundred pages in total, and it took me around four days to fully read.
Now did it need to be six hundred pages?
I’m not sure. But it definitely needed to cross the three hundred barrier every novel so far hasn’t strayed far from, and I’m glad it did that at least.
There are various sorts of sections of the plot focusing on different aspects, different planets, different conflicts. A lot needed to be set up. So I didn’t mind the slower pace on a whole.
VOXYN
I think the Voxyn are a brilliant concept, with a magnificent design realised in the Japanese cover art by Tsuyoshi Nagano. Eight-legged, acid spitting creatures, they are extremely ferocious and a true threat to the Jedi.
Animalistic hunger felt through the Force is a magnificent concept to create a magnetic tension any time they’re around. With how bold this series is anyway, Troy Denning takes it up a notch, and you are seriously concerned a major character will die to a Voxyn at any moment, as very often they take down Jedi built up through the book as major players.
Shock after shock!
YUUZHAN VONG
The Vong’s perspective in this book was probably the best written it has been yet. With Vergere and Nom Anor competing constantly, and the warmaster Tsavong Lah pushing bold tactics and being the most ferocious he has been yet, everyone feels like a proper threat.
Their side of the story is more interesting than ever as we see them often struggle to predict and fight Jedi, but having much more success with the New Republic, continually outsmarting them and defeating them.
Their losses to the Jedi cement (to me) the superiority of the Jedi, as in one encounter they uttery destroy the Yuuzhan Vong and save countless refugees, even if this doesn’t amount to what the Vong soon accomplish.
THE INVASION OF CORUSCANT
As I repeatedly mention in my reviews, I’m not one for the space battles in Star Wars. And I felt that whilst this book leaned a little too much into them at times, the battle of Coruscant was, for the most part, extremely engaging.
The plot with Ben being captured was a bit much for me, and felt kinda pointless. But Leia’s fight with Viqi Shesh just captivated me, you really do want Viqi dead, and are even rooting for her recklessness.
Han gets to be a bit more of his old self here, and Luke and Mara are brilliant in this sequence of the novel.
I always love when the villains of something are winning and everything seems hopeless, so it’s really, terribly devastating but also awe-inspiring for Coruscant to finally be taken, and taken so early.
It really feels like the New Republic are done for, and that the Jedi are the galaxy’s last hope. I almost find it hard to believe Coruscant has been taken so early, and the amount of lives lost in the battle is just terribly shocking. Countless civilians, countless refugees, so many more Jedi and fighters lost in battle.
Things have never been worse, and I love it,
LEIA’S CHARACTERISATION
I felt that Leia was distinctly at her best here.
So far, she has probably my favourite design in the entire Star Wars saga, with her flowing white robes reminiscent of her costume in the very first movie, she looks extremely regal and powerful, and with her shorter, still growing hair, she looks really cool, more of a fighter than a princess than ever before, and it has to be my favourite look for her.
Her striking, crimson, ruby lightsaber is also just fantastic, and I love the idea of a Jedi, rather than a Sith, with a red lightsaber. Something I admire about the EU was how the lightsabers had more personality, more freedom, more individuality, and it really helps with Leia here. She basically looks sick as fuck.
I also adore that she finally felt so utterly done with politics. It has been a critique of mine in previous novels from the New Republic era that they always delegated Leia to mere political drama, and rarely any of the action she was known for in the original trilogy. And it more or less stuck as her status quo in these novels.
But with her declaring herself finished with the Senate, and engaging in various fight scenes with her lightsaber, she feels more like a Jedi than ever, and I pray to see it continue, or at least a positive balance.
ANAKIN SOLO
I always knew of Anakin’s fate since before I read these novels, and I very recently had it spoiled for which novel it would be.
But I am happy to report that I still found it extremely upsetting when he died in battle!
Anakin was my favourite of the Solo children. In this book, he was seventeen I believe, which is my age, so I felt a bit closer to him. I loved how he was a bit more emotional, a little bit reckless, and has an obsession with becoming a hero.
He wanted to change the meaning of Anakin from Vader, to a great Jedi. And he most definitely succeeded. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to have someone so young die in war, and I feel the novel better than any other does a great job of showing the horrors of true war, on a grand scale with the Yuuzhan Vong.
Leia’s despair shatters me, and I never thought we’d ever see Leia like she is here. She feels totally helpless, and just screams upon feeling his death. It is terrifying, it is horrifying, and it really upsets me to think about, enough to feel myself tearing up typing it!
I rarely get beyond tearing up, or a single tear when anything in media upsets me, but this novel almost got me crying properly. I felt three tears roll down my cheeks, and I felt like I’d start sobbing!
I loved Anakin so much. I miss him too.
JACEN & JAINA
Jacen and Jaina take Anakin’s death in two different ways.
There was Jacen’s calmness, and the other - Jaina’s reaction - I was ecstatic to have not had spoiled for myself.
As for Anakin, he was upset, crying even. But with his aspiration to be a proper Jedi, all of his beliefs on sacrifice and the rights and wrongs of the Force, I really admire his reaction. He is heartbroken too, but doesn’t allow it to consume him or get in the way of his mission.
Ultimately leading to him being left behind as he fulfils the mission, ‘tricked’ by Vergere (who I still don’t believe is completely evil!) I feel really bad for Jacen. He doesn’t get to shine as strongly as his siblings in this book, but he’s still really great.
Jaina finally gets to properly, seriously shine in this one. Her absolute rage and fury leads to her doing some things very stupid, finally breaking her numbness with all of the death and loss of the war building up on her. I can see her never being the same again.
What I never, ever expected, was what she immediately did next.
Force lighting! Is it just me, or is Jaina the fucking coolest ever with force lighting? Leaning fully into her rage, she commands force lightning upon the Yuuzhan Vong, and kills many in her rage. It is a fucking fantastic moment, exceptional for her character, and completely, utterly unexpected. I am so thankful no one spoiled this for me!
I feel that her character and grief is to be more fully explored in the next novel, but this was already just amazing!
BORSK FEY’LYA
I really hate Borsk. But he almost redeemed himself in this novel.
Fully backing the Jedi almost the whole way through, surviving an assassination, politically assassinating Viqi herself, and sacrificing himself to deliver a blow to the Yuuzhan Vong, and to stay with Coruscant in his death, knowing his political career was over, and that he wouldn’t be remembered well.
I don’t believe he should be remembered well. He was a terrible person in almost every case, using the war and its inner conflicts to his own gain, but he really started to turn around towards the end, and it seemed like he was really trying his best to save everyone.
I almost found myself upset at his death too.
CONCLUSION & MINOR CRITICISMS
Overall, this was a fantastic book. It was heartbreaking, tragic, imaginative, gritty, dark, and utterly hopeless, perfectly in line with the series, and a true mighty blow to our heroes.
It isn’t entirely perfect, though. Maybe Denning’s later career with Star Wars, or his shorter books will improve upon this, but I found his writing a little bit of a mixed bag.
First of all, the book was definitely just a bit too long. There were a few sections that just went on too long, one of them being the space battle for Coruscant. He was very good at writing these sequences, and they were easy to follow at least, but they went on just a bit too long for my liking.
Another was that I found he didn’t describe Yuuzhan Vong scenery, technology, the worldship, the planet of Myrkr, etc. For a lot of the plots revolving around the Solo kids and their mission to Myrkr, I found myself absolutely baffled at the scenery, and really struggled to imagine it.
I couldn’t grasp for the life of me what the interior of the worldship looked like, and for absolutely ages, I hadn’t even grasped that they had moved from Myrkr to a worldship, or how!
He did, however, perfectly handle an enormous ensemble cast of characters, and it did feel like he did an exceptional job with everybody. Writing Luke and Mara’s romance wonderfully, Han and Leia’s healing relationship, the Solo children at their best, Talon Karrde and Lando in on all of it too, he was really good.
He also came up with some brilliant concepts, such as Lando’s Yuuzhan Vong killer droids, that sounded really cool when reading, and turned out to be really useful.
So generally, it’s an exceptional book. It broke my heart and shattered it, and has turned things really, really dark for the New Republic.
I am eager and excited for more.
9.5/10
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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