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Force Heretic II: Refugee by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

Book 16 of the NJO

4/5 Sabers

YES! the sequel to the Truce at Bakura that everyone wanted! Also, the only NJO book that like..had nothing to do with the Vong (save for the Nom Anor side-plot) Good read, read it after Truce at Bakura.

Story: Okay, the Search for Sekot is now on Csillia, where they have been alloted 2 days by the Chiss to search their libraries for Sekot. Some rogue chiss who dont like Baron Fel try and kill the gang, but they escape like always. Anyways. At Bakura, they discover that the P'w'ecks, the Slaves of the Ssi-Ruuk are rebelling with the grant of the Keeramak, this mutant Ssi Ruuk thing, and want to make peace with Bakura. Anyways, hijinks occur, Tahiri is still freaking out with the Riina Kwaad persona that was brainwashed into her, and eventually, it turns out that the Ssi-Ruuk are invading, but the P'W'ecks really do revolt and the Ssi Ruuk are stopped. oh yeah, Nom Anor is still sopreading the Jedi heresy and now has infiltrated Supreme Overlord Shimrra's dealings. And no Tahiri is in a coma trying to fight off Riina.


I know the summary was really nondescriptive, but its a good fun read.

Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno

Book 1 of the Clone Wars 3 set

4/5 Sabers

I first must say that I am terribly sorry that I am disrupting your general chronological order. However, you probably know how I regard EU books. I hate them with a passion. So you know, assuming you saw the lightsaber count, that this must be good.

It is good... for a Star Wars book. Not stellar, but a solid good.

Anyway, yes, I never buy EU books anymore; my aunt bought it for me for the plane trip. I thought it would be rude not to read it, so I did.

It starts with a lot of excitement. Some confusing writing here and there, but otherwise very enjoyable. Luceno does squad-based military combat well. Anakin and Obi-Wan take a team of Clones into a Nemodian stronghold... on Nemodia. The Trade Federation wants a last grab at the riches there before the planet falls to the Republic, and so greedily risk life and limb to get them with a whole Republic navy/army on their back. Word is Nute Gunray and Rune Haako are there personally. It's a chance the pair of Generals/Jedi can't pass up.

There's lots of witty banter between the two throughout the story. It's actually witty, like in Ep. III. As opposed to the unfunny sludge in Ep. II. There's good humor in other places too. Let me just say Obi-Wan fights off a small legion of battle droids while high on fungi spores.

Of course they don't catch the Nemodians, but they do capture a couple of other things. The hapless TC-14, if you remember "her" from Ep. 1, and Gunray's mechno chair. The chair has a holo transciever that is wired to sidius, and thus it is used to spark a trail leading Obi and Annie to find him.

It's used to foil Grievous' first flailing for a hiding-place-planet, but that's pretty much it for the Republic using it militarily.

The dynamic duo, meanwhile, travel to a few worlds in their search. One I found incredibly interesting and entertaining. I don't want to reveal much. It's the first one they go to. Then there's the typical asteroid-based colony. Then the typical crappy planet with the obligatory speeder chase scene. The chase is quite boring, and I'd advise you to skip over it.

While all that is happening, it shifts from Sidus and friends to Palpatine and friends. It's fascinating. There are parts where you really wonder what Palpatine will do or say, and are totally surprised by his reaction. News that should be bad to Darth Siduis is taken in stride. His acting abilities are revelaed to be top-notch.

Siduis is also a bit more uncertain. It makes him more believable, so it's good. many thigs happen to screw up his plans, but his expertise in manipulation is exposed in that the plans never are screwed up.

There are some fun scenes with grievous and his dealings, and some backstory explanations with him.

After all that, turns out, whoops, sidius is on Coruscant! So a team of jedi and Republic special officers and droids go to find him. They wind through an interesting trail the reveals a little bit more about Coruscant life below the facade.

Annie and Obi go to fight Dooku in a distracting move made by Sidious. Sidious orchastrates the kidnapping. Grievous jumps to Coruscant. Attacks. Some prolonged scenes of battle that are annoying. Exciting stuff. Confusing bits on a train. Annie and Obi realize they've been fooled and come to the rescue.

And that's basically where Ep. III starts.

I liked this book. It was well-written. There were a couple parts where Luceno repeated conspicuous phrases, which i find incredibly annoying, but it was so rare it was tolerable. There was an impossible scene where fighters went up against a cap. ship and beat it, which put me in a huff. And that's really it. Some nice space battles. Nifty ground battles. Interesting insight into Coruscant. And Annakin/Obi-Wan's realtionship is really demonstrated. Overall a good book, highly recommended. The author collaborated with Lucas and other Star Wars media stuffs, and it really shows that he did some research and cooperation. Which is, of course, excellent.

The Unifying Force by James Luceno

Volume 19 of the NJO

4.5 out of 5 lightsabers

I'm not fond of Luceno, I hated his Agents of Chaos duology, but the conclusion to the NJO redeemed him a little in my eyes. Its a pretty good read, and ties up some loose ends, and all that good stuff.

Story: The Vong are weak, and the Alliance is ready to Strike. The Battle for Coruscant begins in the skies, while Luke, Jaina and Jacen infiltrate the Supreme Overlord's lair. The sky's rain death, and Zonama Sekot offers assistance. Luke succeeds in killing Shimrra, and is injured badly, and they discover that Shimrra's jester Onimi was the true Supreme OVerlord and the only Vong to retain connection to the Force. Jacen slays Onimi by becoming one with the force. Warmaster Nas Choka surrenders to the Alliance, and all is well, though Jag Fel leaves Jaina to go to Csilla.

Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning

4/5 sabers

Geez, I haven't done one of these in.. *hits backspace* two months! Anyways, this is a great book, Troy Denning said the Dark Nest trilogy would follow the OT formula, and this book definately has that ESB feeling.

Story: It is one year after the events of The Joiner King. Jaina and Zekk are still joined at the mind, to the point that they cannot distinguish whose thoughts are whose. Nine year oldBen Skywalker is now the informal apprentice to his cousin Jacen, the only person he feels comfortable using the Force around. The Killiks have now colonized the fourteen worlds of the Utegetu Nebula. But, the Dark Nest, the Unconscious of the Killik hives that Luke Skywalker seemingly destroyed at Kr, is still active. Their trademark black membrosia, an intensely intoxicating beverage is being run by smugglers and pirates everywhere, and Yuuzhan Vong war hero, Admiral Sien Sovv, is killed in a ship crash due to black membrosia intoxication. All is not well for the Galactic Alliance. Answering a summons to Woteba, an Utegetu world, Luke, Han, Leia, Mara, and the droids travel to meet UnuThul, the Joiner that was once Raynar Thul, Jedi Knight. UnuThul tells them that the Dark Nest was created by the wife and daughter of one of Mara's targets while she was the Emperor's Hand. He also tells them about the Fizz, a corrosive acid that is decimating all Killiks in any world in the Utegetu Nebula and blames the Jedi for giving them poisoned worlds. To give them reassurance of the Jedi non-involvment, Luke and Han stay behind on Woteba while Leia and Mara take a Fizz sample for analysis on Ossus. Meanwhile,, Luke and Han meet Alema Rar, the Dark Nest Joiner and ex-Jedi who gives them an activation key to Artoo, and shows them two scenes of Luke's parentage: one with Padme, and the other showing Anakin decimating the younglings of the Jedi temple. Meanwhile, Ben and Jacen take a detour from their trip to Endor, and stop to see Tenel Ka who has summoned Jacen. When they arrive, Jacen is told that Tenel Ka has had a daughter, and he is the father. The reason being that Tenel Ka used the Force to prolong the pregnancy. When Ben pipes up that they will be in trouble, Dark Nest Killiks suddenly attack the child. Ben, swaying under their influence again uses a powerful Force Push on Tenel Ka and the baby. The strength of the push was so strong that Jacen had to use a Force Grip to subdue Ben into sleep, and then repeatedly used the Force to instill false memories in him. To Jacen, the daughter means everything, and the only way to save her is to decimtte the Killiks. Tracing the attack to Tenel ka's grandmother Ta'a Chume, Jacen uses the force to give her a brain hehmorrage and then returns to Ossus with Ben, who has no recollection of the event. Meanwhile, with Luke on Woteba, Cal Omas, Chief of State declares that the Jedi need a temporary leader and appoints Corran Horn leader. This stirs up controversy between the other leaders. Leia and Saba, her master, take the Fizz to Cilghal who determines that it is an envior,mental defense system so advanced, the nanotechnology is not known to the Galactic Alliance. They return to the Utegetu Nebula, only to find out that it is being blockaded by the Fifth Fleet, headed by Admiral Bwu'atu, who defeated the Thrawn simulator every time. While attempting to run the blockade, they are detained on the Admiral Ackbar flagship of the Fifth Fleet. On Ossus, Kyp and Kyle Katarn lead some Jedi to steal StealthXs and lead a rescue team to Woteba and the Ackbar. Meanwhile, Jacen, who is seeing visions of eternal wars, leads some Jedi including Jaina and Zekk, under false pretenses, to instigate a war between the Chiss and Killiks, in the hopes that the Killiks will be decimated and his daughter, who is still unknown to everyone, will be spared. This succeeds, but when Jaina figures out she was duped, she vows never to fly with Jacen again and shuts off the twin bond between them. on Woteba, Han and Luke meet up with Jae Juun and Tarfang, who are now helping three Squibs who deal with the Killiks in distributing models of the X-Wing and Millenium Falcon. Luke and Han figure out that these models have Dark Nest Killiks in them, and they all board Juun's ship to try and get out of Woteba. They succeed, and end up in the Tarkin's Eye, a G-Class Star that turns out to be the hiding place of fifteen Killik hiveships, including the Dark Nest ship. Meanwhile, Leia and Saba are let go, because the Fifth Fleet discovers the Killiks at Tarkin's Eye. A large space battle is fought, and Luke and Mara and Han and Jae and Tarfang land up on the Dark Nest ship, where they battle Lomi Plo, but she gets away. The novel ends as the Killiks steal the Admiral Ackbar and Admiral Bwu'atu orders the fleet to continue attacking the Killiks, in hope of a retreat.

M'kay, I'm doing a review. Please don't hurt me. sweatdrop

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter by Michael Reeves

4/5 Sabers

I loved this book. It really provides a lot of insight into Darth Maul, and the interaction between I-Five and Pavan is wonderful.

The story begins just before Episode One. The Emperor begins to set in motion plans for a certian trade blockade on Naboo, but a squeamish Neimodian throws a wrench in the Emperor's plans when he sells information about the blockade to a shady info dealer, Lom Pavan, and his odd droid, I-Five. Needless to say, the Emperor isn't very happy about this and sends Darth Maul to silence both the Neimodian and Pavan.

Maul easily offs the Neimodian, but has a trickier time with Pavan, who seems to have the traditional scoundrel's luck. A young Jedi apprentice, Darsha Assant, gets mixed up in the affair and she, Pavan, and I-Five are pursued even into the bowels of Coruscant by the relentless Darth Maul. Darsha's master sacrifices himself to buy her and her charges more time to escape, but he only prolongs the inevitable. Darsha and I-Five are both killed by Darth Maul, and Pavan manages to escape and warn Senator Palpatine about the impending blockade.

Too bad Palpatine already knows.