Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XXXIV: The Swarm War

Mass market paperback, 357 pages
Published 2006
Acquired January 2006
Previously read February 2006
Reread November 2015

Star Wars: Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
by Troy Denning

Seven Years after the Invasion
Well, at least the Squibs are in it. It has that going for it. Otherwise: dead boring, and a frustratingly out-of-character autocratic Luke. I feel like Lucasfilm had an endpoint in mind (Luke as Grandmaster of a New Jedi Order structured exactly like the old Jedi Order), and that endpoint had to be reached whether it made sense or not. I want a happy Jedi Order that fundamentally gets along, not a group of argumentative children ruled by a dictator.

Next Week: That's it for the New Jedi Order! Next, I'll wrap up my Deep Space Nine reread with the first of two remaining books. Doctor Bashir goes on the run in Warchild!

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XXXIII: The Unseen Queen

Mass market paperback, 333 pages
Published 2005
Acquired 2005
Previously read December 2005
Reread November 2015

Star Wars: Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
by Troy Denning

Seven Years after the Invasion
If Troy Denning had only written Recovery, Star by Star, and Tatooine Ghost, he would safely be in my Top Five Star Wars authors. But instead, he shifted to churning out books like this, where basically nothing happens in 300 pages, and the character all act like immature idiots. The New Jedi Order was nearly brought down by internal squabbling during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, and here they're even worse. Like, what was the point of the resolutions of the end of that series if I have to read page after page of out-of-character Jedi characters arguing with one another over nonsense? Give me bad-ass Jedi who fly around the galaxy fixing wrongs. That's what I want out of a Star Wars story. There are a couple good points here (Denning always does a good Han/Leia escapade), but so much of this book is dull meandering to set things up for Dark Nest III. I had fond memories of this series, but ten years later, I have no idea why!

Next Week: Still more Killiks! Still more indecisive waffling! Still more Dark Nest! The Swarm War!

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XXXII: The Joiner King by Troy Denning

Mass market paperback, 526 pages
Published 2005
Acquired August 2005
Previously read October 2005
Reread October 2015

Star Wars: Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
by Troy Denning

Six Years after the Invasion
Having finished The New Jedi Order after an awful long time reading, I thought it would be nice to read the Dark Nest trilogy, a follow-up to its events five years on of which I had fond memories. The first book is decent: parts of it are fun, while parts of it meander a bit too much. Denning always does a good job with Han and Leia; the interactions and adventures of the two of them are always fun to read in his hands. I'd really like to see him tackle more books like Tatooine Ghost, that allow them to go on an adventure without all the baggage of telling some galactic threat story. The Killik nests and the joiners are also some pretty interesting concepts, a little more sci-fi than Star Wars usually gets, but Denning pulls it off here, I think. On the other hand, I don't think he really gets the version of the Force that was advanced in Traitor, and I really dislike what he begins to do with Jacen here (which will culminate in Jacen's fall to the Dark Side in the tremendously misjudged Legacy of the Force). On the whole, this volume is fun, but the seeds of what will make the later Dark Nest books not as fun are present, as well.

Next Week: One year later, the Killiks are back in The Unseen Queen!

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XVII: Star by Star by Troy Denning

Hardcover, 606 pages
Published 2001
Acquired December 2001
Reread July 2014

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Star by Star
by Troy Denning

Year Three of the Invasion (Months 1-2)
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...

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XIII: Recovery by Troy Denning

Kindle eBook, n.pag.
Published 2001
Acquired April 2014
Reread May 2014

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Recovery
by Troy Denning

Year One of the Invasion (Month 12)
I read this supplementary eBook at some point in the past (it's collected in the paperback of Star by Star, and I think I borrowed it off someone) but not where it falls in the chronological sequence of The New Jedi Order, shortly after the events of Balance Point. This book reminded me of how Troy Denning is one of my favorite Star Wars authors, and why-- because he can write fun. Han and Leia are trying to make their way from Duro back to Coruscant, only all sorts of unsavory types are after them following Balance Point. There's fun stuff here: Han trying to con bounty hunters into thinking he's a doctor, a mysterious passenger on the Falcon, a new subfaction of Jedi, complicated plans and deceptions, and best of all, Han and Leia's rapprochement. This is good, fun, real Star Wars in a way that The New Jedi Order has lacked up until now.

New Republic Week: Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning

Hardcover, 327 pages
Published 2004 (originally 2003)
Previously read February 2004
Reread July 2012

Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost

by Troy Denning

Would it be that Troy Denning had been writing Star Wars novels ten years earlier, because in many ways, this is the novel that The Courtship of Princess Leia should have been. Bridging the gap between Courtship and Heir to the Empire, Tatooine Ghost takes Han and Leia to Tatooine so that they can recover an important painting at auction. But what it ends up doing is confronting Leia with her past: the grandmother she never knew and the father she doesn't want to.

Tatooine Ghost links elements revealed in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones into the original Star Wars characters to great effect: the sequences where Leia reads the diary of Shmi (surely one of the most underrated Star Wars characters) are excellent, even riveting, despite their flashback status. These are used to drive Leia's emotional journey-- which is paralleled with her physical journey. This is a harrowing escapade for Leia, Han, and Chewbacca. I doubt that any other Star Wars stories have revealed the harshness of Tatooine quite so effectively as this one.

What Denning also does well is write the Han/Leia relationship. I think this can be a tricky one to manage, because you have to be true to the films in depicting their characters-- which don't really show Han and Leia in a committed relationship very much. But Denning manages to get their characters spot on, and yet portray the depth of the commitment they have to one another.

There are a lot of things to like about this book: a good role for Chewbacca, random prequel characters like Kister and Wald, a Thrawn cameo, and best of all, the Squibs! Denning doesn't forget that Star Wars should be zany and funny.  I loved it everytime they showed up and caused trouble, well-intentioned in their own way.

The pacing could maybe be better-- the second half drags a little bit as they travel through the desert so much-- but on the whole this is one of my favorite Star Wars novels.