"Rogue Planet" by Greg Bear [Del Rey, 2000]

[image=http://www.theforce.net/books/images/rogueplanet.jpg]

"The Force is strong in twelve-year-old Anakin Skywalker ... so stron that the Jedi Council, despite misgivings, entrusted young Obi-Wan Kenobi with the mission of training him to become a Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan - like his slain Master Qui-Gon - believes Anakin may be the chosen one, the Jedi destined to bring balance to the Force. But first Obi-Wan must help his undisciplined apprentice, who still bears the scars of slavery, find his own balance.

Dispatched to the mysterious planet of Zonama Sekot, source of the fastest ships in the galaxy, Obi-Wan and Anakin are swept up in a swirl of deadly intrigue and betrayal. They sense a disturbance in the Force unlike any they have encountered before. It seems there are more secrets on Zonama Sekot than meet the eye. But the search for those secrets will threaten the bond between Obi-Wan and Anakin ... and bring the troubled young apprentice face-to-face with his deepest fears - and his darkest destiny."

 

7

Enjoyed the developing relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan but the ship making was a little starange and hard too understand.

 

8.

I personally didn't think that it was hard to understand, and I really like how it connected to the NJO. i think more prequel era books should have connections like that to the NJO or at least the Bantam era.

 

I give it an 8. It was pretty good (as far as I can remember). There were just some things about it that took away the feel of "Star Wars", though. It was nice to see some backstory on Vergere and Tarkin. Thracia Cho Leem was pretty cool. I wonder if we'll ever see her again?

 

I gave it a 7. I loved the developing relationship between OB1 and Anakin, but did not enjoy alot of the material about the ships being built all confusing like. I have read that it ties in nicely with NJO, and I have yet to read a single NJO book, yes I am behind. So, if that turns out to be the case, and it ties in well, then I could see myself bumping this up to an 8.

 

It does indeed tie in with the NJO masterfully and for anyone who has read Traitor and Destiny's Way it goes even more in-depth.

I just love those kind of little tie-ins.

 

6

While Rogue Planet really did explore some intresting theories, alot of the time I found myself confused and having to flip back a couple of pages and re-read them to figure out what was going on.

 

4.




It connected well with the NJO, no doubt about it. The mentioning of Vergere and the beginning exploration of her going with the Yuuzhan Vong was not only clever, but also interesting.

Also, the character development of Sienar and the introduction of Tarkin as a prequel impacting entity was a nice addition to the already good NJO tie-in.


This ended the good part of the book.



First off, although the book had a nice linking to the NJO and I understand the importance of Zonama Sekot thereof, I still didn't think that such a planet was an ideal place for some of the fastest ships in the galaxy.



The entire ship-making process bugged me- it was complicated, yes, but that was more of on the good side of the scale than the bad. It was exactly how the ships were created- the stereotypical way of "if the seeds don't like you, the ship isn't going to be fast".


Also, the way it showed the Force as a being- personified in the form of the first "Magister"- was both strange and a deficit to the essence (understood moreover by fans who thought "midicholorians" took away from the Force's luster and mystery).



Also, building hyperdrive into the depths of a planet? Fugghetabout it!



Yet, the thing that ticked me off the most was, undoubtably, Anakin.


Why is it that every single author has to show Anakin tempting towards the Dark Side?

My goodness, let it go already! Just because you are writing Prequel EU doesn't mean that you have to add in your 2 cents of Anakin being turned into Vader (kudos to Alan Dean Foster for his tremendous work on the Approaching Storm, and by not making Anakin seem aggressive, but rather in a fitting persona ).

The "Anakin vs. the Blood Carver" scene was what sparked this- even the context irritated me.



*sighs* This is the only Prequel novel that actually disappointed me.






*shrugs* But, then again, that's just my opinion.


Ken Kenobi- And you have a nice day

 

Overall, I give this book between a 7 and 8. Mediocre plot, but fantastic characterization of Obi-Wan and Anakin and their tenuous relationship - some of the best handling of movie-established characters I've seen in any of the EU.

It would be very poor handling if no sign of Anakin's fatal flaws were ever shown before his turn, and this book shows a believable progression from TPM and one that would progress easily into Anakin's character in AOTC, and likewise for Obi-Wan. A lot of Bear's insights were just perfectly in character - noticing how Anakin seems to cling to/have a strong need for female presences in his life, how Obi-Wan is very caught off-guard and utterly clueless at how to handle Anakin's outward and very un-Jedi-like displays of affection... those definitely stood out from the mediocre plot and made the book something worth keeping on my bookshelf.

 

I give it an 8 for it helped me to see the occurances between the two movies. Those being TPM & AOTC.

 

I meant to give this book a 5, but I accidently hit the 4 button.

Anyway, I did not enjoy much about this book. I felt it was written poorly, and the development of characters was also not done well. I especially did not like Obi Wan's reaction to what Anakin did to the Blood Carver.

However it was a cool tie in to the NJO so that was a plus for the book.

 

I gave it a 5.

It just never seemed to grab my interest. Then ending just seemed anti-climatic to me.

That being said I really liked Anakin in the story, I thought the author did a great job with him.

 

I give this book a 9. I loved the way it tied in with the NJO, and the Tarkin and Sienar chapters alone make the book worth reading, in my opinion. I also liked getting a pretty good look at Anakin's dark side. I found that the Obi-Wan and Anakin chapters could be a bit slow at times, which is why I didn't give it a perfect 10. Overall, I thought it was a very good book.

 

I gave it a 7. I found the subplot about Tarkin abd Sinar more interesting then Zonama Sekot. Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship was somewhat interesting but the process of making the ships was weird and a little bit boring.

When I reread the book I just read the Tarkin chapters.

 

9. It was a great prelude to the NJO and, to some extent, ANH.

 

7/10

Nice way to introduce the Yuuzhan Vong, although we don't hear of them ...

Some parts are very slow, but overal it's a nice book.

 

I gave this book a 5. I liked it but if I hear the word Wizard in conjunction with Star Wars one more time . . .

I liked the plot, I liked the development of the characters and the background of Zonoma Sekot/Yuuzhan Vong. I Loved the line from Mace "The Chosen One's not in his room?" (or however it went).

I just thought it could have been written better. It was very jumpy between the plot(s).

 

6/10 V good relationship between Anakin and Oni-wan, but parts of the book were difficult to visualise and this is due in part to the nature of what Bear is trying to describe, but also to the poor quality of the writing. Also it suffers from continuity errors within its own pages: at one point it's dawn and a few sentences later Mr Bear tells us about the evening casting its light over something or other, with no apparent lapse in time having occured. Also, near the beginning, Mace is standing up in front of Anakin, reprimanding him and then, all of a sudden, he gets up out of his chair to greet someone. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

The book suffers with a lack of hindsight to AOTC and so there will need to be continuity fixes galore regarding the TF! Not Bear's fault, but someone's gonna have fun explaining the apparent amalgamation of TF forces into the Republic Defence force! Not an essential book to read if you do not intend to read any of the NJO.

 

7

Anakin was great, the NJO-ties were neat, but it wasn't perfect. A few chapters of Raith Sienar and Tarkin were not to my taste....

 

8/10, it ties in with the Vong, particularily the FH trilogy. But I'm not that fond of most of the PT books... I also found the living ship idea far fetched, although I read it prior to the NJO, so now I'd be adjusted to the idea...

 

6 - I enjoyed it but I found parts of it a little tiresome.

NJO fans should read it due to the links. I read it before NJO and went back and read it when I realised it had made mentions of a certain character...

 

I gave it a 4/10.

I loved the Ani/Obi Wan storyline, and I liked the foreshadowing of Anniken & the lava pit.

However, the book was too drawn out. And those 2 page chapters killed the continuity for me.

 

Not that great, was it?

It's strange though, because Greg Bear has a far better pedigree as a science fiction writer than Timothy Zahn et al.

 

I gave it a 5

I really liked how tarkin was in it.that was one of my favoriet parts.but alot of it was just not all that great.I agree the ship being grown was way too confusing.and the book really slowed down in the middel.and there wasn't any lightsaber action much at all.

so 5-average