How good are these New Jedi Order books?

¦Agents of Chaos I - Hero's Trial by James Luceno
¦Agents of Chaos II - Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno
¦Balance Point by Kathy Tyers
¦Recovery by Troy Denning
¦Edge of Victory I - Conquest by Greg Keyes
¦Edge of Victory II - Rebirth by Greg Keyes
¦Star by Star by Troy Denning
¦Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham
¦Enemy Lines I - Rebel Dream by Aaron Allston
¦Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand by Aaron Allston
¦Traitor by Matthew Stover
¦Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams
¦Force Heretic I -Remnant by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
¦Force Heretic II - Refugee by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
¦Force Heretic III - Reunion by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
¦The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes
¦The Unifying Force

Even though I'm not gonna buy all of them all at once I just want to know if I should get Agents of Chaos parts 1 and 2 and then get whatever after that?

 

Don't part-time The New Jedi Order. Read the whole thing. It's a collaborative masterpiece of storytelling that the modern EU tries in vain to live up to, and, although not quite seven years past, already has me longing for the "good old days".

Agents of Chaos always has been, in my opinion, the most underrated piece of SW storytelling ever. James Luceno is essentially the first author of post-Return of the Jedi novels who a) understood and b) knew what to do with Han Solo. There's character development, there's growth, there's challenges to his personal relationships, there are throwbacks to his smuggling days --- this is the Han that every other author wished they could write. And framing this Han-centric story is a the continuing Yuuzhan Vong Invasion, with which Luceno does very well at continuing the momentum established by Vector Prime and Dark Tide. The invaders continue to gain ground, and we get interesting looks at the important Yuuzhan Vong figures of Nom Anor and Harrar. The prose is excellent, and the second book of the duology expands well beyond Han to weave multiple plotlines together into the scope of one over-arching question: How far should one go to stop evil?

It's wonderful stuff. I can't recommend Agents of Chaos highly enough. Don't skip anything in the NJO; do it justice, and you'll thank yourself later.

 

I've heard so much mixed reception for the NJO; I've heard it called a collective masterpiece, I've heard it called bloated and over-ambitious, and everything in between. I look forward to reading them, once I get to them (going by roughly publication date, won't get to them for some time).

 

If you needed to skip one you could probably overlook Dark Journey (it's the weakest of the novels IMO) but it really is a treat to take the time to read the whole series from start to end. The whole thing is truly epic in a way the EU has never been before. It was certainly the high-point of Star Wars outside the movies for me.

It's a real shame they didn't mark that as the most forward in time the EU would ever go because what has been written since has, I think, substantially de-valued the significance of the events and developments of the series.

 

The NJO is by far my favorite series. I break this out every now and then for the reader that is too intimidated by the whole of the NJO to embrace the entire series without reading any of it yet. These are my favorite books and most are actually really worth reading. An "essential" list would be a bit shorter. I'll mark the books that are more "essential" though I maintain that essential doesn't necessarily mean "the best" in the NJO.

 

I enjoyed Force Heretic because it recapped what had happened to Bakura and the Ssi-ruuvi, and it also delved into what the Empire had been doing during the invasion, and it also had Pellaeon being awesome.

 

workin my way through njo right now. on star by star and it is getting GOOD. so far my favs r dark tide duology and edge of victory duology. vector prime was also great. agents of chaos was ok and balance point was bad, i wish i would have skipped it bc i feel it couldve been a short story. i cant wait 2 finish workin my way through the series. i am goin 2 read all of the books. pretty good tho

 

Manisphere the reason why I didnt mention Vector Prime and Dark Tide Parts 1 and 2 is because I already have the books and read them.

its the other New Jedi Order books that I am asking about.

 

all the books were good except dark journey. dj was one of the worst star wars books ever imo.

 

Read it all but I'd suggest the following if have to do the a short version:

-Vector Prime
-The Dark Tide duology
-Star by Star
-Traitor
-Destiny's Way
-The Unifying Force

 

I assume you've read Vector Prime and the Dark Tide books...?

¦Agents of Chaos I - Hero's Trial by James Luceno
¦Agents of Chaos II - Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno

An oddly disconnected pair of novels - not really a duology, more like sequential episodes which happen to involve two consecutive adventures for Han. I remember people loving the first one for the Brian Daley continuity references and Han-on-the-loose action; I preferred the second one, which I thought had better descriptive prose, and a more rounded plot...

¦Balance Point by Kathy Tyers

Characterization-heavy, with a particular focus on Leia, Mara and their marriages. Also one of the best-grounded continuity novels in the series, far less obtrusive and showy than AoC...

¦Recovery by Troy Denning

E-book - published in the back of the paperback of Star by Star; a good lead-in to Star by Star, and can be read just before it....

¦Edge of Victory I - Conquest by Greg Keyes

Quite simply, this is my favourite Star Wars novel. A perfect little "hero's journey" adventure focused on Anakin Solo (and Tahiri Veila).

¦Edge of Victory II - Rebirth by Greg Keyes

Sequel to the above, drawn on a broader canvas - Corran gets one of his best outings alongside Anakin and Tahiri, plus added plots for Jaina and Kyp Durron, Jacen and Han/Leia, and Luke and Mara...

¦Star by Star by Troy Denning

The masterpiece of the series - massive, majestic, and brilliant.

¦Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham

Overshadowed by being the "aftermath" book for Star by Star, slower and more intimate - but for a lot of people, this is the book that MOST gets its rating revised upwards in hindsight...

¦Enemy Lines I - Rebel Dream by Aaron Allston
¦Enemy Lines II - Rebel Stand by Aaron Allston

Allston's duology are a lot of fun, with great combat action, and effortless continuity pickups from the main Bantam sequence; a zombie cyborg Dark Jedi is a major antagonist, which is weird, and completely out of left-field, but fun...

¦Traitor by Matthew Stover

Jacen Solo gets tied up and tortured by an alien... and likes it. Probably the Star Wars novel that changes its readers the most.

¦Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams

This felt at the time like a book that didn't know what to do, largely because the characters don't. The YV have won, the NR are still fighting wherever they happen to be, and it all seems a bit weird. Maybe that's deliberate, but it also means that the characters feel like agents of the underlying plot.

Partially, this may be because Williams had to replan Jaina Solo's entire POV due to her character arc going places he hadn't anticipated at the start. The associated e-book Ylesia, which is printed in the back of Dark Nest I: The Joiner King, is probably a better action story, as the characters have more agency. And Han's fascist cousin rocks.

¦Force Heretic I -Remnant by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
¦Force Heretic II - Refugee by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
¦Force Heretic III - Reunion by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

These three books have a very odd pacing, and I'm still not quite sure what's going on with that. I find them more straightforwardly enjoyable when I reread the individual plotlines separately, but maybe that isn't the point.

Some of the continuity details annoyed me a lot at the time, but some of it is also very good - the Yuuzhan Vong, especially...

¦The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes

Another book by Keyes; suffers slightly from the same sense as the preceding four books, that the characters aren't in control of the plot, but for me it's still the best NJO novel in the back end of the series...

¦The Unifying Force

The big climax of the series. Praised at the time for being a satisfying ending that tied up all the major points, although exactly how the characters are poised at the end is something that maybe isn't as straightforward as it seems...

- The Imperial Ewok

 

I JUST SAID I ALREADY HAVE VECTOR PRIME AND THE DARK TIDE I AND II BOOKS. STOP RECOMMENDING THEM

I just want to know which other New Jedi Order books after the Dark Tide books that I should get.

I already have the first three New Jedi Order books and read them like twice also.

 

I finished the entire NJO series about two months ago and truly enjoyed most of the books. I recommend reading the entire series, since the later books often reference earlier events. The series took me about nine months to read through. I'm a theatre teacher, so it was a nice read through the school year since I get really busy and often don't get to read everyday. I save my more serious reading for the summer, so NJO was a nice, breezey read.

As others have mentioned, Traitor was by far the best, but if you enjoyed the first three, all the books warrant your attention. Also to quote the others, Dark Journey was rather weak as well as the Force Heretic books, but they are still important to get the overall feel for the story. I was somewhat new to the SW EU, so the entire series was a great introduction.

Happy reading!

 

Wow, I've always heard lots of bad things about the NJO novels. Now I'm excited to read them, after reading the ohter post-ROTJ novels first.

 

As someone who just read Vector Prime as my first foray into the NJO, I appreciate the comments about the Dark Tide books, and comments about VP are useful for me as a baseline.

Of course, if we just want to make this The Advice For JediMasterKendo Thread, then I s'pose no one should talk about those three. But if we want to broaden it out and make it beneficial for others, as well, then my vote is to keep feedback on all NJO books coming.

 

So read the suggestions that aren't Vector Prime and Dark Tide. There are a few.