A good book, but it killed one of my favorite SW characters. So...yeah. ( )

So I somehow forgot that the entire voxyn storyline - from their introduction to their destruction - is in this one book. Like. The threat and significance almost doesn't seem real because they're introduced and we immediately have a strike team going after them and they're eliminated by the end of the book. Also what even is the timeline of this novel? I feel like it should be weeks or months, but in reality is just a couple of days?

There a couple of moments in this book that really hit me in the feel - mostly involving Jaina because she's my girl but also Leia's speech - but for the most part I was just trying to get through it so I could move on to Dark Journey aka my favorite SW book of all time. ( )

emotional rollercoaster. I cried when Anakin died ( )

I still don't know why Luke Skywalker was so opposed to Jedi taking action in the earlier New Jedi Order books, and thus why he suddenly decides it's okay to take action here isn't really explicable. But, I'm glad he does because though it isn't quite as good as Conquest, Star by Star is the book that really kicks the New Jedi Order up a notch. While Luke, Leia, Han, and company try to do what they can as the Yuuzhan Vong advance on Coruscant, Anakin Solo leads a team of Jedi apprentices on a strike team to destroy the voxyn queen, the "mother" of Force-sensitive, Jedi-hunting creatures starting to plague the galaxy. Unlike the ponderous space strategy of the earlier books, this is really effective.

It's a little different for Star Wars, but it works. Denning brings concepts into Star Wars that are new but work with what we've seen before. The Jedi shadow bombs are a clever idea, but I love the Jedi battle meld, which is used to co-ordinate the actions of the strike team, but also to really make that strike team come to life as characters: this is a group of desperate people, pushed to their limits, and it's utterly engrossing to read about. Anakin Solo was brought to life by Conquest, and Denning really sustains that development here, plus lifting up Jacen and Jaina for the first time in the series. Meanwhile, Leia and Han's adventures on Coruscant are the danger-a-minute escapes you'd expect from them; other than the strike team, these are the best segments of the book-- you can see why Denning went on to write Tatooine Ghost, as he gets these characters perfectly. There are even nice parts for Lando and C-3PO! Heck, he's even the first NJO writer to treat Borsk Fel'lya as a genuine character, and not just an improbable obstacle for our heroes.

Famously, this is the book that kills Anakin Solo. Though I'm disappointed it had to happen given how much Del Rey mishandled the Solo kids in the years to come, the death scene itself is incredibly well done, and it's the right choice for both the book and the series. Anakin consumed by the Force as he dies to save his teammates-- it's marvelous. And then... that scene where Leia and Han find out... you can feel their grief, I got shivers just from reading it. How utterly devastating. This is the emotional low point of The New Jedi Order, this is its The Empire Strikes Back, and it promises that nothing will ever be the same again...

The New Jedi Order: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

As the brutal Yuuzhan Vong war continues, the Vong launch a new threat. A threat so horrid, that it seems as though they may finally have the best of the New Jedi Order. They reveal to have launched a new savage beast that is capable of locating and taking out Jedi Knights. How can a Jedi manage to avoid such a beast and avoid falling to the dark side? The skillful Troy Denning is at it again with another brilliant Del Rey novel, Star Wars: Star by Star. Part of the New Jedi Order series this novel is by far a good read with nearly 630 pages all filled with adventure and skillfully-well thought out planning. ( )