Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XXIX: Reunion by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

Mass market paperback, 390 pages
Published 2003
Acquired 2003(?)
Reread July 2015

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic III: Reunion
by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

Year Four of the Invasion (Months 10-11)
I had memories that this was the best of the "Force Heretic" novels: Luke and company finally reach Zonoma Sekot and learn its secrets while Han and Leia go on a rollicking space adventure on a weird planet. Well, I don't know if the difference was that reading all three Force Heretic books in one go really showed how little happened, but this time I found it the worst of these books. As always, nothing actually happens, yet nearly 400 pages are somehow taken up. Seriously, I don't get how Williams and Dix do it; both plots here are extremely simplistic, yet hundreds of pages somehow go by. Events that should be momentous have all the energy sapped out of them; events that should be fun are delivered as dully as possible. The midpoint peak of The New Jedi Order turns out to be an aberration; it is ending as dully and as falteringly as it began.

Who was the "Force Heretic," anyway?

Next Week: We're almost done! It's the antepenultimate New Jedi Order adventure: The Final Prophecy!

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XXVIII: "Or Die Trying" by Sean Williams with Shane Dix

PDF eBook, 6 pages
Published 2004
Read July 2015

Star Wars: "Or Die Trying"
by Sean Williams with Shane Dix

Year Four of the Invasion (Month 9)
This short story, originally published in Star Wars Insider, bridges the gap (such as it is) between volumes II and III of "Force Heretic." Mostly what happens is Jaina recites some trite, nonsensical arguments against using technology to help people live longer (criminals might use it! and besides it's unnatural, unlike previous medical advances, I guess) and someone lets us know the fate of a minor character from 1996's Shadows of the Empire (someone out there must have been demanding to know, I guess). A waste of its mere six pages.

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XXVII: Refugee by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

Mass market paperback, 397 pages
Published 2003
Acquired 2003(?)
Reread June 2015

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II: Refugee
by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

Year Four of the Invasion (Month 9)
"Force Heretic" continues its inexplicable move of making sure we know how planets from the least-interesting Bantam-era novels are holding up; Refugee specifically fills us in on the Ssi-ruvvi, the violent xenophobic reptiles last seen in The Truce at Bakura. It is not remotely interesting.

Also Luke and Mara and company get bogged down in Chiss politics while visiting a library. This subplot is possibly even duller than that synopsis makes it sound. I can't even begin to describe how uninteresting it is.

Next Week: A dangling loose end you didn't care about is tied up in "Or Die Trying"!

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XXV: Remnant by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

I've finally built up a couple week's buffer here, which means I can finally get back to my other reviewing duties: I have a whole pile of Big Finish audio dramas that I've listened to but not yet reviewed at Unreality SF. The first is up now (and hopefully more follow, as it's my spring break this week): Doctor Who: The War Doctor: Infernal Devices.

Mass market paperback, 413 pages
Published 2003
Acquired 2003(?)
Reread June 2015

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant
by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

Year Four of the Invasion (Month 8)
This is one of those 400-page books that you're hard-pressed to explain how it could possibly be as long as it is. There are basically three plots: the first is Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade, and company, en route to the Unknown Regions, helping the Imperial Remnant (hence the title, I guess, though I've no idea why this trilogy is called "Force Heretic") fend of a Yuuzhan Vong attack. This is, for what it's worth, the most interesting of the plots. Which isn't worth very much. It's always nice to see Pellaeon, but otherwise little of interest goes on here.

But that said, the other two plots are even worse. Han and Leia are sent off on the Millennium Falcon to see how some far-flung parts of the galaxy are faring during the invasion, and the answer is utterly tedious. Local politics, blah blah blah, pointless bickering, blah blah blah. Like, it would be hard to imagine a duller plot to inject in the middle of your galaxy-spanning invasion series. Even the Tahiri subplot is utterly dull: I like the idea that her Jedi and Yuuzhan Vong sides have to be reconciled, but Williams and Dix handle it in the most uninteresting way imaginable.

Finally, Nom Anor is getting up to cult hijinks underground on Coruscant. Again, should be interesting; again, sure is dull. I love Nom Anor, but this meanders and goes nowhere.

All that said, this is probably the best of the "Force Heretic" books!

Next Week: A comic book side trip into the universe of video games in "Equals & Opposites"!