Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XXII: Traitor by Matthew Stover

Mass market paperback, 292 pages
Published 2002
Acquired 2002(?)
Reread February 2015

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Traitor
by Matthew Stover

Year Three, Month 2 through Year Four, Month 1 of the Invasion*
Discriminating fans know that every Star Wars novel should be by Matthew Stover and/or Troy Denning and/Greg Keyes: their work is the very definite highlights of The New Jedi Order. Traitor takes this war we've been reading and makes it about something, applies a philosophical underpinning, and then questions the very same underpinning. The cover makes this book look like it's of a pair with Dark Journey, and I guess technically it is, but Traitor outperforms Dark Journey on every possible level. Good characters, good story, good plotting, good jokes. The ending is epic. This isn't quite Star by Star or Conquest, but it's by far one of the best NJO books.

Next Week: Admiral Ackbar is back in Destiny's Way!

* Year Three of the Invasion is an odd one: four novels occur in its first four months, and then while Traitor stretches across most of the year, most of the main characters are absent from it; for them, there's a nine-month gap in appearances between Rebel Stand and Destiny's Way. Traitor gives us some glimpses of this time-- the Yuuzhan Vong have a plan to overwhelm the wider galaxy with refugees-- but it seems to be an unusual period of stasis during the Invasion, given that not much changes between Rebel Stand and Destiny's Way.

New Republic Week: Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover

Mass market paperback, 379 pages
Published 2010 (originally 2008)
Previously read January 2009
Acquired June 2010
Reread June 2012

Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

by Matthew Stover

So, having three books (this one, The Courtship of Princess Leia, and The Thrawn Trilogy) on my to-be-read list that all took place in the years following Return of the Jedi, I decided to read all three in a row, plugging in some old books I had to fill the gaps (X-Wing: Solo Command and Tatooine Ghost). This one was first, and like almost all the books on that list, it was actually a reread; I borrowed the book from the library in hardcover before I bought the paperback.

Last time I read it, I thought that The Shadows of Mindor was one of the best Star Wars books ever published; now I know it to be true. This book has everything a Star Wars fan should want: tense battles, cool Force powers, witty banter, Lando Calrissian. All the heroes of the classic trilogy are here, down to Wedge, and they all get together and do their thing with no infighting or despair or whatnot; they're just heroes in the most idealistic sense of the word. Seriously, this book is just a delight to read from start to finish, and if you only ever read one Star Wars novel, this one ought to be it.

That said, if you read many Star Wars novels... and comics... and sourcebooks... and technical guides, The Shadows of Mindor is a different sort of achievement. The whole book is built out of a passing reference in The Courtship of Princess Leia to Han and Leia having a picnic on Mindor surrounded by dead stormtroopers, and over the years, various Expanded Universe releases added tiny tidbits to the Battle of Mindor. What makes The Shadows of Mindor impressive is that you can read it and not know this: the continuity, despite its sheer bulk, still exists to serve the story and not the other way around. Every little reference is accounted for in some way. After suffering through Darth Plagueis, I actually kinda needed a reminder that continuity can indeed be a force for good.