Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: THE UNIFYING FORCE (TUF spoilers)

I'll give it 8/10 Good but not the best book from NJO.

 

So The New Jedi Order is over, huh? Wow.

Was The Unifying Force a satisfying conclusion that gives due justice to all the books of the series and the character developments they introduced?

Yes.

THE GOOD

Epic scale
It felt huge. It took a while to get this big ball rolling but when it did the last 300+ pages had a sprawling scope.

Plot Organization
While a few situations seemed a bit too contrived or far-fetched for the most part the complex plotline unfolded in a believable way, following all the important Star Wars archetypes in a fresh new way.

Character Moments
Every character of significance gets at least a page of reflection on the war at some point in the story which do a good job of including everyone and making the NJO everyone's story.

A few really well-done moments
-Mara slapping the mess out of Nom Anor. We've all been waiting for this and it was executed well.
-Han and Luke's near-death experiences. I actually thought we might lose them for the first time in the whole series. I'm almost disappointed they lived (especially Han) because I think the ending could have been a lot more "bittesweet" (sic) if one of them had died.
-Description of Coruscant space battle from the ground. The image of Luke's strike team on Coruscant's ravaged surface in lashing rain with lights from explosions flashing behind the gray sky had a beautiful and eerie description.

Wrap-up
There were a lot of balls in the air and Luceno was able to juggle them well and catch most at the end of the story. Not an easy task - well done.

THE BAD

Opening Exposition
The first 100 pages were terrible and boring. How about 100 more pages of our heroes and the battle for the galaxy instead of some overly-detailed escapade with characters I could care less about (Malik Carr and this Thorsh-thing)

Relentless Reintroductions
I understand that this was important to get everyone involved in the story but everyone who's reading this book has probably read the rest of the NJO and hearing the whole thing summarized everytime another face entered the crowd got a little tedious

Pet Peeve Annoyances
-Alpha Red ship taking FOREVER to just hit Zonama Sekot. It seemed like that thing was just about to strike down for the whole last half of the book. What's going on there?

-Anakin's lightsaber "falling beyond the reach" of Jedi - TWICE! Jacen (p. 449) misses the toss but can't use the Force to recall the lightsaber from the floor where it is later picked up by Tahiri (only to be dropped AGAIN beyond reach and found later by who?). Strange...

-Wedge choosing "Vader" as his call-sign then doing nothing in battle (p. 467). It was pointless for him to choose the name in the first place, even more pointless that he did nothing expect tip a hat to his Red Two designation from ANH. Sure, it was a throw-away moment but to me it disrupted the flow of the story for now reason. Just stay on the capital ship next time...

-AND THE WORD OF THE DAY IS: "NONPLUSSED"
One thing that really distracts me when I'm reading is when an author uses a somewhat rare word over and over and over and over and over and over. I remember in Force Heretic III everybody and his neighbor's goldfish was talking about "telemetry." In [i[The Unifying Force[/i] there's a tendency for people to get "nonplussed." By the time I read "nonplussed" for the sixth time I was nonplussed at why Luceno had to keep using this word...

-Typo on the last page of the book (529). I suppose it's only fitting in a series that's been riddled with poor editing at many turns. I was feeling pretty good about the NJO by the time I finished this book but when our heroes' "bittesweet laughter" started rolling into the heavens I began remembering lot the nagging continuity errors, bad characterizations, and typos that plagued the series along the way. I must say that if one word could sum up my feelings about the NJO now that it's over that would be it: "bittesweet"

 

The characterisations were great. The action was great. Most of the plot points were great. Overall, an excellent book, which is much better than Luceno's past two NJO books. I didn't like them very much the first time around, and even now I prefer Hero's Trial to Jedi Eclipse.

Anyway, we got the mind-blower of an ending that was promised (I think the author that stated that The Unifying Force would be a mind-blower was Walter Jon Williams?). TUF wraps up everything nicely, and there are some excellent cameos (Kyle Katarn, some of the other Jedi), some nice revelations (the explanation of Jacen's vision - I knew that the voice was Anakin Skywalker's!) and very, very few continuity errors, in contrast to the other books.

I loved The Unifying Force. I'd say that it was the best book in the series, as is fitting for a finale. I'm sure I would have liked it a whole lot more if I hadn't read the spoilers, but it was brilliant anyway. It is very deserving of a...

...10/10

 

Ah, "telemetry" is a common word, not unknown in SF books though not just for SF. It means instruments or readings. You can find the word as far back as the decades-old Galactica and Dr Who books.

 

10/10

I don't have much more to say than what's already been said. The characterizations were spot on, all the loose ends were wrapped up nicely, practically every major character appears, Jaina gets captured (I always look forward to these moments ), Boba Fett's cameo was awesome, etc.

My only complaint is the massive amount of typos. That, and that I have to wait I don't know how long to find out how Nom Anor survived.

 

Counting 61 reviews: 557.433/61 = 9.14/10

 

8/10 I would have liked a little more to be resolved at the end...though it left me wanting to read more star wars books. I wanted more about the YJK characters such as Tenel Ka. I liked Jacens character, but Jania was weakly written in my opinion. It was fun to read, I read it in one day and I gave a huge sigh of sadness at the end because the last book in the series was over.

 

It had a nice sense of closure to it.

 

11/10

Best hardcover in the whole series, even surpassing SBS. Jacen vs Onimi was beautifully written, just like Ganner's Last Stand. Luke decapitating Shimrra with his "hedge-clipper" style lightsabers was cool as well. Seeing what Judder Page actually looks like, also awesome. visiting Contruum and Corulag, panets that we've heard of but never seen, excellent. gilad returning Killik Twilight, wonderful example of Luceno's EU research. Harrar returning-also excellent. Nom Anor-everything he said as the Prophet has come true, and he's hopping mad about it. Seeing him crushed between the Shamed Ones and the quorealists was also ironic. Jaina & Jag- nothing wrong about taking a little bit of time before making a major decision like marriage. All in all, a wonderful masterpiece in the SW saga.

 

8.7 out of 10.

 

10/10. It would have been an intense 11/10 (even defeating the 10 scale), except for one issue.

I really wanted to see Jaina and Jag make a plan for the future. That being said, I will settle to agree with ElegosAKla up above me:

Jaina & Jag- nothing wrong about taking a little bit of time before making a major decision like marriage...
I still wanted to see that tied up more. Here's hope for the post-NJO trilogy.

The Yuuzhan Vong were beautifully written, the fight scenes were great (if somewhat rushed), the conclusion was somewhat rushed, but left you with a bittersweet "hey, we got here, but lost so many friends along the way" feeling.

All in all, best novel of the NJO arc.

 

Just finished it. I give it a 10 out of 10. Very very well written I thought. I can't wait to read the post NJO books....is there any word on what they'll be like/when they'll be comming out if ever??

EDIT: I forgot about Boba.....Gotta love Mr. Fett!!!

 

I've heard 2005 tossed around as a generalized release date for Troy Denning's (?) post-NJO trilogy.

 

10/10 woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The best for last!!!

This book rocked

 

For a fan of the original Star Wars series I have been utterly disappointed in every book after the Zahn novels. They ruined the characters, then they ruined the plot, finally they ruined the technology (organic ships are beyond the pale of stupidity), and now THEY'VE RUINED THE FORCE.

The Force, which had up until this point been largely left alone, has now been laid on the chopping block of political correct whitewashing. No longer is there such a thing as the 'dark side' and the 'light side.' Oh no, now the Force is One with everything; what the Jedi had mistakenly called the dark side (you know, where you get all insanely midevil in your thrist for power?) is now simple the 'raw untamed' part of the force which is closely attuned with nature. Thats right, the Emperor was getting in touch with mother earth as he fried Luke like the contents of a KFC bucket. The Force is also now mainly useless except for preaching mindless philosophy to the reader and\or forming hive mind like communications. Does it stop there though? Noooo, next the utterly rediculous organic technology theme is taken to the next level with an ORGANIC THINKING PLANET. This planet is supposedly the key to victory (apparently its the only thing that can stand up to organic ships) so Luke & Co. go off in search of it. Of course it has no weapons, being a pacafist planet, and it screws itself up if it has to unexpectedly jump into hyperspace(?!) but its still all big n bad(tm), or so we're to believe. The organic onslaught (by the Vong) has of course decimated the SW galaxy and its 'primitive' arsenal of planet busting superweapons which the ALLIANCE REFUSES TO BUILD OR USE. Their galaxy is being overrun, you'd think it might be prudent to build some Death Stars to turn the tide, but instead when they did get an efective weapon (a plauge, surprise surprise) a JEDI refused to let them use it (even going so far as to destroy it) because it was a genocidal weapon. I'm sorry, when exactly did the Jedi start interfearing with official Republic business? Since when did anyone in the SW universe have a problem using WMD (their ships are WMD for crying out loud). This isn't the best part though, get this, the Jedi (who no longer believe in light vs dark anymore) destroyed the germ because they feared that using it would push the alliance over to the dark side! The book can't even keep its own convaluted storyline correct within a few pages of itself. Apparently this fear arises due to the Vong which were apparently stripped of the Force (by some Force gods?) for being an evil race and misusing their mighty organic technology. This is the biggest load of crock I've ever seen. I can't believe Lucas let them do this to his universe.

 

I loved it. I like Boba's appearance, I loved Jacen's 'one with the Force' scene, I loved the huge display of Luke's budding power (he's supposed to be the most powerful, after all), and I absolutely lived off the huge scale of the battles. It was a great way to wrap it up!

I just hope that the post-NJO trilogy will be as good as the NJO

 

Counting 67 reviews: 614.133/67 = 9.166/10

 

AMAZING!
15/10!!!!
Honestly, this is the best book I've ever read. The last paragraph in the NJO series is the most emotional paragraph I've ever read! I nearly cried because it was all over! AMAZING!

 

Counting 68 reviews: 624.133/68 = 9.18

 

7.75/10

 

Counting 69 reviews: 631.883/69 = 9.16

 

Does that score include us vips?

 

I never got registration to work before so..finally, here is my review.

Bloody brilliant!

This is possibly the best piece of star wars Lit. I've ever read! Great, imaginative space battles, great characterizations and references, an intriguing plot...James Luceno did great with his books like Cloak of Deception -(he even mentioned Virazo Shipping) but this is just outstounding.

The NJO couldn't have finished in a better way.

10/10

 

Does that score include us vips?

If you rate it in this thread, yes.

 

Oh, well, huh, in that case...

Scott's 3.5 = 8.75

My 3.8 = 9.5

Reviews here.