Star by Star

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 show more 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...

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In my opinion the best-written NJO book in the series so far, and also longer and more in depth. Star by Star is an important installment in that it is a turning point of the series.

This book focuses on the tale of the Myrkr strike team, the group of young Jedi led by Apprentice Anakin Solo, who infiltrated the Yuuzhan Vong in order to destroy the voxyn queen. While scores of Jedi and New Republic characters have already died over the course of the Yuuzhan Vong war, there's something a lot darker about Star by Star than any of the other books. Perhaps it is because of the detailed deaths of so many Jedi -- young Jedi -- including that of Anakin Solo.

I went with an audiobook for this one. It may have been abridged - there was a storyline involving the Solo children, but that was about it. If it wasn't abridged, that's a bold storytelling choice - leaving out the old, recognizable characters in favour of the 'next generation' of Jedi. Basically, the Solos and a bunch of other young Jedi go on a raid to attack the Yuhzong Vong on their own turf. Everything seems to go farly well, until they are attacked by dark Jedi and Anakin dies! Right after he became a (somewhat) interesting character, as well. Anakin's death, ironically, becomes thematically similar to Chewbacca's earlier in teh series - it's a reminder to the readers that no characters are 'safe', and that death can strike at show more any time. That's a very necessary atmosphere to have in war novels, I think, and it's something that the NJO novels have been kind of lacking up to this point. I must say, though, that I'm not really looking forward to the next few novels being nothing more than another Han pity party (even though I know that might seem somewhat callous to say) show less

I'll be giving away a major plot point at some point in this review. Fair warning.

I wasn't terribly crazy about this book. The action comes fast and furious, which can be a good thing, but I didn't feel like Denning did a good job at all of making it clear exactly what was happening most of the time. This resulted in me skimming through most of the action sequences to get to the resolution.

And then there's the death of Anakin Solo. Now, I have no particular problem with killing off major characters. This whole series is one long war story, and obviously, in war, people die. I'm glad there's at least an attempt to reflect that. I just think it was a bizarre choice to kill off the closest thing the Star Wars universe has had to a dynamic show more character in a long time. And that aside, the manner of his death was ridiculous. OK, he was drawing on the Force to overcome the pain from his wounds so he could go down fighting and give the rest of his team a chance to survive. All that, cool. I'm down. But in doing so he's actually being consumed by the Force, to the point where his body is glowing? That's just dumb.

On the other hand, I did like what Denning did with Jacen's character throughout this novel, actually giving him some subtlety for once. Jacen suppresses the whining that has been prevalent throughout the series and actually just does what needs to be done, for the most part. The way that affects him makes him kind of interesting rather than just irritating. I'm sure the irritating will be back soon, but it was nice to have a break from it. show less

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.

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.

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