A review of Star by Star by the Maestro of Middling detail *spoilers-duh*

A review in Nine Parts....

1. How were the main characters

In this mammoth tome which feels like the be end all of big character books there were quite a few character I'd not hesitate to call main (I'll deal with the Vongey pooh in villains below)

The first main character Leia was dealt with in the first time since the Thrawn trilogy (even Zahn forgot) that leia can be a <insert unpleasant female epitheth which is a complement for the bun haired one>.

I cheared at her treatment of Feylya and Nom Anor and only wished she'd flushed the doody completely in vacuum.

Also I love her focus on politics and without upfront saying it Leia is obviously finally becomming a Jedi Knight following the force....again.

Han's concern about his children was amazing and showed simultaneously the old rogue we knew and the concerned father he is. He sounded like a crook who'd become a father not either or.

Luke showed himself to be the wise but human man that is a rather flattering portrayal of him and a surprising amount of ingenuity from the man accused of "doing nothing".

Troy Denning destroys any notions of Luke being a pacifist in this book by systematically showing the tactical brillance that probably got Luke promoted to being a General.

* Luke is preparing biological weapons and nonbiological weapons on his Jedi academy world.

* Luke has been sending his Jedi out on missions obviously to stir rebellion on existing Vong worlds and wear them down from within.

* He has reigned in Kyp and company though not as well as I suspect.

Kyp is officially on the path to the Dark Side as he's finally passed the point of using the Force for attack. The open usage of the Force to destroy frigates and guide torpedoes is only a hairs bredth away from using force storms and lightning.

Borsk Fey'lya will now be remembered as the Richard Milhouse Nixon of the Star Wars world though in reverse. A corrupt man who went out in the blaze of glory. I can't say Fey'lya didn't have a wicked heart-he did but in the end his ruthlessness was overwhelmed by his duty to the state.

Adversity apparently does occasionally bring out the best.

Jacen Solo gets a reality check from one-armed girl (Dangit get the girl a prostesis even if just for common sense purposes!) and we see him take alot of proactive action for once....he doesn't like to fight and doesn't like death but he's finally just buckling under and killing with the rest.

It was heartbreaking to have his role reversed with Tenel Ka.

Jania Solo doesn't get much character development here but serves well in the character she was given before-slightly cocky, girlish, and very confident of her abilities. Her loss of Zekk's crush is unexpected (and show's Troy has done his homework) but appreciated as his playing up Jaggy fel.

Chewie as usual defended everyone admirably...oh wait sorry that was my inner Denial Troll....Chewie floated in a million micro-particles for most of the book around Serendipidal.

Jimmy SURVIVED the book! Anakin on the other hand...

Anakin showed himself to be a great Jedi master in training right up to the end and the making of another Obi Wan Kenobi or Qui Gon Jinn...headstrong, bold, valorous, and dangerous to the core.

I was surprised how easily he filled in the leadership roll at 17 and how good he was at it, a natural leader of men with quite a talent for subterfuge and strategy

It's a shame he never got to complete his training on camera or ceremony to acknowledge his status as a Jedi Knight.

I especially liked his concern for Tahari. He died as he wanted with an army of hoods before him, a curse on his tongue, and lightsaber swinging (A reference to the Punisher from Marvel Comics)

Mara Jade was especially well done here as we see her as a distinctly different personality type than Leia but completely redeemed....in effect I just realized she reminds me in a way of a female han....just as Han was a foil to Luke.

Her mothering/wifely attitude and sardonic sense was again well brought out and her comment that Lu

 

Good review, I can't wait to get this book. When will the other 8 parts be up?

 

More, more I need more!

 

Soon my friends.

2. How were the secondary characters.

Troy Denning wrote a crucible of Cyric the Mad which for those of you who've never read the Avatar Wars is a book which complements one of the most poorly executed intriguing concepts (The gods come to the Earth of Faernum without their powers) but does so in a way that depends on a beautiful supporting cast that the Crucible is one of the best if not THE best book ever written for Forgotten Realms.

Troy complements himself by adding NJO characters here IN MASSIVE amounts to replace the lost even as he is not stingy with the dead.

The Sisters Alema and Numa were an interesting pair of Jedi Knights and it is said that Troy killed off one of them so early, it was an excellently played dynamic between the two and Alema's comment on vengeance later on shows truly volumes.

Very three dimensional as was the insinuation these Jedi unlike Ganner and Wurth Skidder (two human men who could be twins) have a past....they are alluded to have been prostitutes in the Galactic equivalent of a crack den. Only time will tell if we see more of the later in NJO tales of some such.

Saba Sebatyne and her offspring/students was a another three dimensional character though it suffered some what that her students were somewhat like clones of her but it was nice to see another culture than humans present and the Barbels repsect for the Jedi is well documented. I felt I knew these people, their culture, their relationships and feelings and once again Troy provided a history, background, and face to his character.

Like Michael Stackpole and Aaron Alliston he is good with character making.

C3PO gets at least more to do here than his usual one liners and Troy at least allows him A Give an absolutely hilarious monologue about what the Yzzumng Vong are likely to do to Leia and Han's children before then and B Aid in a beautiful example of Noghri commando tactics....FINALLY we see they're worth something after all.

Eryl Besa, Rayn, and Lusa's deaths were all well touched upon and it's obvious Troy Denning has seen Aliens one too many times (more on that later) he knows killing characters without making you care about them first is stupid. Lusa's death while Dorsk on camera seems like a waste but it brought together the team and Raynar Thul's crush on the older woman made us get a feel for both.

Ganner was Ganner which is all I can say for the small part in the story.

A brief word on "Anakin's Commandoes" Frankly Troy had a monumetal task before him and I think he made a bit of a mistake creating a Jedi commando team....such a thing just feels wrong...however against such a foe it was very appropriate and I never felt ever the team in general was fighting less than Jedi skill or above it against their opponents.

17 minor Jedi managed to fight a Death Star and did well in it.

While Lando should be a main character I put him in supporting cast because of his absense in story arcs up until this points that led many authors to portray him even as borderline evil. In fact Lando comes through and it's obvious Troy loves writing Rogues.

Lando's "death commando" robots are written well (finally an investment that pays off! Unless of course that they are sold at less than they cost) as is Lando's part in the Jedi commando mission. It's also heatrening to know he and Tendra are married and not living in sin.

Oddly my guess is he is the only one who waited to marry his love.

Zekk and Tenel Ka's presence is a welcome one as we see the Young Jedi Knighthood books not only not ignored but openly have their history used.

Zekk comes off as a 3 dimensional character for among the first time at least as an adult and while I may not buy his leap from Dark jedi to bounty hunter to good guy again I do buy his distaste for the Dark Jedi and the fact he's wondering what's up with Jania...I doubt he was ever even aware she had a crush on him.

Tenel Ka however one thing bugs me...she flies an X-wing at one point during this stupid thing and she's still one armed. Dan

 

Kyp is officially on the path to the Dark Side as he's finally passed the point of using the Force for attack. The open usage of the Force to destroy frigates and guide torpedoes is only a hairs bredth away from using force storms and lightning.

Big disagreement. He didnt use the force to destroy frigates. The point of that was noone realised he was using Torpedoes. And Luke and Mara did the same later on. If you are going to fire a torpedo, how is using the force to do it the dark side?




Otherwise though, I agree with the points. Loved the Bat Cave

 

I'll get to that in my analysis of Star by Star's the Force.

3. The Villains

The Villains in Star By Star are numerous and powerful and I think some of Troy Dennings best work was dealing with them. One of the key aspects of course to any villain is to make them multi-faceted and in this case it is difficult because the Vong are "pure evil" but that doesn't mean a villain cannot be interesting nontheless.

Emperor Palpatine, Sauron, and many other villains throughout history have had no redeeming qualities whatsover.

Viqui Shesh is the villain that I shall first analyze as she was set up as the Palpatine figure during this whole debacle and I'm glad to see that Troy made note the galaxy is more than wise to such tricks this time around and Borsk made me feel that for once if a wicked man like he had been in charge Palpatine would not have rose to power and of course...Viqui you are no Palpatine.

While I don't approve of some of Troy's choices regarding Viqui (Do all attractive women have to have their sex preferences brought up in their characterization?) I did think ultimately we had one of the most evil women in Star Wars yet and my only regret is Leia didn't kill her in her Kick arse attack!

The Yzzmung Vong benefit most from Troy's outing as for the first time in the NJO I'm finally getting the impression that behind the villainous masks is a thriving culture. A culture that at last made me say "Hey the Vong are scary"

Especially effectively done were the torture scenes of the Yzzumng Vong which finally show the mindset behind the Vong's desire for it. It's about power for the most part...power to control, debase, and 'shape'

Another good point was where the Worldship of Mykrr was shown to be the size of the Death Star. It made me realize that the citazens of the Yzzumng Vong who were killed while on Kyp's little attack or who were going to be trasnported would just be a few thousand but potentially a few million.

Also the Vong are portrayed not as a small fleet invading but we truly get the impression this is a mass migration of a GALAXY's dominant species into our own world....as if the humans of the SW galaxy decided to pack up their bags and invade en masse another planet.

Now onto the Vongy babies.

Supreme Overlord Shimmra recieves some badly needed character development here (including his murdering his own twin brother) and we get the impression now more than ever that Shimmra is putting on over on the Vong entirely....if not completely atheistic he's more interested in results than gods.

Warlord Tsavong Lah becomes a slightly less Vader-esque character as we see some of the "Puritan" guilt and his fear about the God's dissaproval covering his every action. Furthermore High Priest Hatarr is revealed to have an almost fatherly like dominance over the warlord's thoughts.

The infection of his arm makes one wonder if soon Lah will become a Shamed One and suffer truly for his defeat.

Unfortunately there's a dynamic I don't like between Lah and Shimmra as they feel very much like Palpatine/vader respectively with one taking things on entirely political/military and different levels of seriousness.

Nom Anor I think comes across as exactly what his position as. A man highly respective for the decade or so of infiltration/destabilization/espionage he's performed but recently looking incredibly foolish with the Prateorite Vong and slowly losing it from there...

the fact he's been assigned a Pigeon as an equal has got to be humiliating....he'll either defect soon or get himself killed.

Vergere I put as a villain here because Troy really goes far in pointing that her character has joined the "dark side" of the Force and I'm fairly sure while she has a good reason (to kill Shimmra is my guess) I think that's danegrously dark side territory and the lengths she's willing to go arn't worth it.

Still I'd love to get a count on how many Vong are out there, Fey'lya killing 25,000 with only a mild comment by Lah says something

 

I loved it too but im on page 506 and plan to finish tonight.



Does Feyla die at the end?

 

WOW!!!! I had to skip all those spoilers, you got me drolling to look at them!, so can you answer a yes and no question for me without spoiling me?

1.Does Luke see much action I mean fight physicaly?

2.Is there much Leia/Luke scenes togther?

Thanks so much!

 

Great in-depth analysis, Charlemagne19.

chissdude10: Yes, in grand fashion.

Simone:
1 - Only in his x-wing.
2 - Not Really, although we see more of Han/Leia together.

 

da da dies.......(cries)

 

Gee thanks Verege!

 

I GOT SBS TODAY!!!! I am currently on page 243, and i hope to finsih it by tommorow. SO for from what i have read tho, all your points seem dead on.

 

Sorry for the delay all

4. How was the Force handled

The Force in Star by Star is an espeially sticky point where we must only wonder what the authors intent was.

Kyp Duroun and Anakin Skywalker-Solo (as I term him) seem to have very similar views on the Force which is strictly utilitarian. Anakin in Rebirth discovers "God" so to speak and thus loses I think a considerable amount of respect for the Force.

Kyp Duroun I think is rightfully weighing the idea that since the Force can't give them advice that they should use their own judgement and it as a power...in effect eradicating Timothy Zahn's ret-con with Mara/Luke.

Anakin makes a good arguement that were Star Wars based on real life I would be very quick to defend. The Force to kill is no different than using a blaster.

However SW isn't based on real life and I'm an RPG fan...the Force when used to destroy and attack is HIGHLY CORRUPTIVE. Whether you say it's because your opening yourself to power supplied by Satan (or the SW equivalent) or because you are twisting the very life force of the universe on itself I hate the idea of Kyp using the Force for attack and others without fear of consequence.

It's really downplaying the Dark Side's temptations if true and frightening in the power present. However I think Troy with his obvious love of the previous works (or just extremely thorough research) was just hinting Kyp is going downhill at a speed roughly accelerating at double per second.

I really loved the portrayal of the Force by the 17 Jedi because it was rather sad...really they had no real knowledge of it beyond the usage of their lightsabers, mind link, and a few more tricks

yet those tricks had them fighting potentially a million Yzzumng Vong warriors (Death Star Size) and more.

Luke, Leia, and the twins reactions were especially powerful and seeing Jania go off the deep end was a pleasant treat.

Using the force lightning pretty much proves to me I think that Troy knows using the Force for direct attack is a big no no even when defending others.

(Like I said it shouldn't make total sense-for instance how do Vorskyneers hunt ysalamari in the Force when they are invisible in it?)

I am curious however how fast Luke is pumping out these Jedi because also Dani Quea has had only two years at maximum of Jedi training yet somehow she's already being referred to as a Jedi....

AND IN TWENTY YEARS LEIA CAN'T FIND THAT EQUIVALENT?!

Sorry end rant mode.

 

Where does he make it clear Vergere is part of the dark side? I didn't seem to catch that part.

This book is still leaving me a little numb.

 

Well it probably should leave you alittle numb but I don't see why really. A few Jedi die, a planet falls, and the president is no more....but actually it seemed like the Jedi were more victorious now than ever.

5. How was the Technology?

The introduction of Jedi "Shadow Bombs" is a very interesting little innovation and I suspect Danni Quea and her gravitational studies had a large part in the hand of this particular work.

We finally get an understanding of what these new X-Wings are like and their capacities. It's good to give a group a title and as I understand it these are as powerful as Tie defenders...since a flight in TIE FIGHTER took out an interdictor that's saying something about the Dozen.

The YHV droids are an interesting introduction and again I cannot say how pleased I am that the Galactic republic is developing new weapons and technology to destroy the Vong. I'm curious why Troy chose the designation however...

The true name of God minus an H seems to be the allusion? Perhaps these droids are meant to represent the wrath of Light against an evil group of blasphemers?

One thing that does annoy me however is that no Star Wars author can seem to sustain any sense of how powerful weapons are and while it's obvious Troy knows what he's doing I wish the other authors did...

Thermal Detanators have been described as the most powerful hand weapon the Star Wars galaxy has and Han Solo and Bel Iblis prove they are mainly the weapon of Terrorists.

Yet they are deployed in Michael A. Stackpole's work as bombs and in Jedi Knight and now this book they are simply used as extremely powerful hand grenades.

Since I suspect thermal detanators can have their blast radius adjusted and the Force was helping Kyle and others then my guess is that they are simply a classification for a weapon. If you need a weapon classification come up with a new one like Ion bombs and Jedi Apprentice.

Still I enjoyed seeing Proton Torpedoes portrayed as the absolutely lethal weapons they are...Tie Fighter displays Proton Torpedoes as more powerful per capita than most atomic weapons and the sheer devastation a single one delivers onto Coruscant's ground forces is impressive.

I'm wondering why Borsk had it in his office however (obviously for this purpose) and if Proton torpedoes naturally do this much damage or have to have their circuitry altered slightly for this kind of destructive capacity.

I'll list Vong stuff here though it is debatable whether or not they should go under my traditional review section of Beasts.

The Voxyn is obviously an homage/rip off the creatures from Alien and the descent into the nest, spitting acid, gave a very Alien-esque feel...since the Wizard of Oz and Tarzan were homaged in Return of the Jedi and the entire Star Wars feel ows something to the Hidden Fortress...I'm not one to complain though I would have liked Jania to go ripley

Very dangerous creatures and obviously some of the Vong's best work though it's hard for me to believe Jedi would fall...the one we do see killed by them directly is unarmed.

We also get to see the insides of a Vong worldship which simultaneously shows us a trace of Vong life (they really are more like worlds than starships in a way yet reminencesnt of both to be fun) and just how powerful and desperate they are. If such an awesomely large vessel has been "marooned" above Mykyr you've got to wonder how much the Vong are still on their legs.

The ship fleet won't last much longer I think...a year or three at most.

I also like the reminders Vong bio-technology is up to snuff and their genetics basically mirrors galactic technology in most standard ways. People question how they can do this and that animal husbandry could never give rise to genetics but in an alien universe I say it's quite possible...

And my guess that all Vong bio-tech was originally manufactured by normal tools that were discarded

Lah playing chess on the holo-board was ironically one of the funniest things I've seen.

The interdictor innovations are qui

 

Sweet! Can't wait to get SbS.

 

A few questions...

So the planet that falls is Coruscant yes? if so what happens to it, I mean, the Vong would see Coruscant as the worst abominible thing they have ever seen it has too much technology for some of GFFA citizens liking...

Borsk Fey'lya dies? YES! how exactly

Ummm I dont quite understand this Jedi striketeam business. can you list the Jedi on it and what exactly they do?

I hear after feeling Anakin's death, Luke goes into a huge rage.... Luke? outraged? ummmm I dont quite understand this situation of Luke getting angry. What actually happens. I take it, Anakins death is at the end of the book.

 

I feel so dirty...

[So the planet that falls is Coruscant yes? if so what happens to it, I mean, the Vong would see Coruscant as the worst abominible thing they have ever seen it has too much technology for some of GFFA citizens liking...]

There is no sign the Vong are going to blast the thing out of orbit at this point. The reasons why likely may be that it may serve as an excellent hostage or they simply don't have the resources at this point or they are but it will covered next book.

[Borsk Fey'lya dies? YES! how exactly]

He sacrafices himself in a failed gambit to kill the Warmaster.

[Ummm I dont quite understand this Jedi striketeam business. can you list the Jedi on it and what exactly they do?]

No and No.

It's mostly younger Jedi knights that can slip under Vong radar unliek Luke Skywalker who'd they send the calvary after in order to destroy a Vong super weapon which will scour the galaxy of all force sensetives.

[I hear after feeling Anakin's death, Luke goes into a huge rage.... Luke? outraged?]

Not rage, a cry of grief and anguish that nearly kills his son before he's stopped by his wife.

[ummmm I dont quite understand this situation of Luke getting angry. What actually happens. I take it, Anakins death is at the end of the book.]

Read and see...alot happens.

Next part...

How were the Planets/Settings followed by an analysis of Politics, Description, Plot, and Miscellaneous (Easter eggs, didja knows, etc)

 

God help him, for in Hebrew (?) Jehovah begins with an I.

I'll go out and look sometime for this. Right about now I wish I had more free time.

 

Thankx

So Luke crys in anguish and the psychic link he has with his infant endagers Ben that makes a lot more sense.

So what was the failed plot to kill the Warmaster - who killed Borsk?

[No and No]

huh?

What about Veregere what has she been doing throoughout the book you say she is on the dark side... how? what makes you say that? what does she do


(Sorry I am very impatient I know, I just cant wait till Timetales or theforce.net does a review... LOL)

 

I read the book late, and didn't get a few things... Did Corecsant fall? Or was it just under attack. Admiral Akbar? They said he had a fleet. How big is the vong fleet. That is all I can think of right now...

 

[So Luke crys in anguish and the psychic link he has with his infant endagers Ben that makes a lot more sense.]
-He almost suffocates Ben by hugging him too long(Charlemagne draumatized it).

[So what was the failed plot to kill the Warmaster - who killed Borsk?]
-Borsky tries to arrange a meeting with Lah so he can blow him up with a proton bomb. Lah, doesn't, so Borsk detonates it anyway, destroying 25k of Vong and half of the Imperial palace.

[What about Veregere what has she been doing throoughout the book you say she is on the dark side... how? what makes you say that? what does she do]
-The whole Vergere storyline just gets more confusing. She seems to help the Jedi, but advises how to destroy the NR military.

[Did Corecsant fall?Or was it just under attack.]
Did it ever. Though it'll be interesting to see what kind of resistance the billions of people left behind will make. The Western Sea sprung a leak

[Admiral Akbar? They said he had a fleet.]
-They mentioned that he was on his way with a MonCal fleet. Not a chance he would've made it in time. The new map shows that MonCal is cut off by the Vong invasion route, so you have to make a long drive to get to Coruscant.

[How big is the vong fleet.]
-Roughly 10k capital ships. The NR was able to destroy 2/3 of in a precursor battle, but they still were outnumbered.

 

I think that was Leia....Ben was with Leia not Luke if my memory serves correctly.

As for how many Vong there are, Troy pretty much gives the first real description after Mike's that Vong seemingly are an endless wave of warships that keep comming...given they've conquered a fourth of the galaxy my guess is that they are as numerous as the Empire at their height.

Now on with the review...

How were the Planets/Descriptions?

Troy Denning gives us a new jedi homeworld on the planet Eclipse and I'm glad to see that the world is completely new instead of some retread of a past (Tatooine, Zoma Seskot, etc) and certainly the Jedi Academy can't remain on an Imperial Star Destroyer for the rest of eternity.

A Jedi needs the natural world.

Still we don't exactly know what's on that planet and whether it's swamp, desert, jungle, or all of the above...only that it is in the Deep core...heck it could be the ruins of Byss for all I know though that would be tacky (19 billion dead ghosts and all)

The Vong Deathmoon as I call it was an excellent setting and invoked truly the First real death star feel since the movies. Unfortunately i felt the Vong ship became a bit spotty as we didnt' real keep much of the immense feeling of the place upon entry again.

I hope they end up destroying this thing and crashing it into Mykyr....while I'll miss Mykyr it'll pretty much mean that any change of the Vong hunting the edi with Yllasamari and also it eradicates their huge worldship in a gigantic victory...even if it's only stationary that's quite a lot of Vong being killed.

The description of the Senate Hall was very well done from Borsk's perspective as we get a feel on exactly what's going on. The Core World's want to avoid a war at any costs and the other worlds are clamoring for blood....plus 100 senate seats (100 sectors of space is a sizabel chunch of galaxy) are leaving in protest of Ithor.

I liked the mentioning of how powerful the destruction of the world must be even if Corran Horn's plan probably saved the majority of the Ithorians.

The destruction of a world by Bio-plague again hints at just how ruthless the Yzzumng Vong are. Like all the world alluded to destruction during Palpatine and the Clone Wars era this will be affecting the galaxy from this point on for decades upon decades to come.

I'm not sure about what's going to happen to Coruscant but my guess is by the ammount of troops deployed that the Vong intend to grind the billions to dust rather than simply eradicate the heathen world. 217 billion people and all that metal (which their animals seem to feed on in some cases) is probably just a resource too practical to waste.

unless of course everyone is dead by thenext book, that's the trouble with NJO you never can tell what they'll do

 

Yea billions of people uprising. That's a problem.

 

did anyone else get annoyed with how tenel ka (name probably spelled wrong) talked in this book?
i havent read the other books she has been in but what is with all this "Fact" "Fact" nonsense
every once in a while is ok i suppose but she said it way to much
other than that little nit-picking, i thought the book was really good
it was a marathon to read it saturday and sunday, but that is good in my opinion
id say it is the best njo book so far, but i tend to think that with each book when it comes out
after a couple weeks maybe ill change my mind