Lit Reading NJO...Again

So, Guardians of the Galaxy 2?

 

And I have finished Force Heretic III: Reunion and here is the rest of my chapterization of this trilogy.

III. Abduction

9. The Lost Jedi
Tahiri has one of her lost moments again. And I see that the reptilian god went dead. When did that happen? I didn't get this from FH II, when I flashed back. Then the merge with Riina:

Maybe it was that ominous thing, the Keeramak in FHII was speaking of and C-3PO was unable to translate. No wonder Riina became that active on Bakura to save lives.
Jaina comes in and doesn't know what to do, while her brother tries to follow the abducted Magistra and Danni.

The chapter ends with:

10. Something Of A Standoff (Pellaeon's words)
Here we have commander B****h Vorrik again as bland as a YV commander can be, while Jacen can't convince Senshi to let his hostages go.

The chapter ends with:

11. Awakening
Jabitha and Tahiri wake up. And so does Nom Anor.

Shoon-mi told Nom Anor about him being a good perhaps. Something very poetic in a wider meaning, but I doubt that Shoon-mi was that philosophic in the end.

The chapter ends with:

12. Renegade
We hear from Darak that there are Boras gone wild. And Meewalh informs Leia that Ennikar, the Noghry chief of security at Esfandiar, is distanced from his people on Honoghr. Here we see for the first time a more differentiated Noghri. In all the other NJO books so far, this species was degraded to be the robot-like followers and guardians of Leia and her family.
Tahiri meanwhile (why is she not calling herself Riiri or Tahiina after her merge?) is bluffing at and coaxing Vorrik into his doom.

The chapter ends with:

13. Disbelief
Senshi and his henchmen still doubt Jacen's good intentions, while nobody understands why Luke wants to let go that coral skipper from the third moon of Mobus. Pellaeon teases Vorrik again and here we see, that the Yuuzhan Vong did indeed learn something from Pellaeon since their first encounter over Bastion:

Wouldn't Pellaeon rejoice at these words of that subordinate warrior of Vorrik? Especially because they are so very true?

That chapter I stretched into the fourth part of the book.

IV. Revelation

Nom Anor can't believe that the story about Ekhm Val and Sonama Sekot is really true, while he is doubting anything anyway after the failed coup d'etat or is it rather a coup de sect?

The chapter ends with:

14. Persuasion
It turns out that Sekot did with the Jedi the very same thing like Kunra does when selecting suitable candidates for spreading The Message or for infiltration of all ranges of the Yuuzhan Vong society at all. And Jaina, after being injured, gives in to stop fighting and to let herself become evacuated.

The chapter ends with:

15. Fighting And Fleeing
Ennikar reveals his true nature while Sekot is talking about him/herself. Sekot did develop all that organic stuff alone in those three months after the Far Outsiders invaded the planet for the first time? I thought all those organic vessels and gadgets were developed since the first Magister Leor Hal came to Zonama Sekot and invited the Ferroans to join him. That would have been enough time to develop all that. And Hal was also a Jedi. Why wasn't he able to bring Sekot to live just after the arrival of ZS in the Tingel Arm? And what about the Langhesi? Wookieepedia says:

That makes much more sense than Sekot's tale here in FHIII - rushed in every way. I'm glad that Greg Bear did flash out that more in Rogue Planet.

Do you remember here Vector Prime? The very same situation - Jacen rescues a maiden in distress - using almost the same words afterwards. And also the fight for a communication tower a bit afar at Esfandia reminds me of the fight between Yomin Carr and Garth Breise at Belkadan's com tower. Nice recap!

The netting beetles: Actually I thought Jaina could use their web to close the holes in her damaged suit, but while she can suffocate the openings of the plasma cannons of the tsik seru flier, this is yet impossible to her.

And my hope that Ennikar's supposed treachery wasn't but a red herring was heard and answered.

The chapter ends with:

16. Villip Of Treason
Jacen on Zonama Sekot is recalling his meeting with Wynssa Fel at Csilla:

Wynssa Fel: A speech template for the Duchess Satine in TCW?

Finally the traitor at Esfandia station is found.

Sure, a grim look definitely reveals a membership in the Peace Brigade! The authors should have outlined that amorphous resentment much more in the previous volumes.

Ah, yesss! Where the heck did I see such ragtag fleet on screen recently?

I find your lack of imagination distubing! Rrroooarrrrr!

The chapter ends with:

That was a really creepy moving scene. What a screensaver - never ending.

17. Epilogue

Gron and Marrab - Does somebody remember these two? I had to search Wookieepedia for that. See here - Gron Marrab.

I don't think so. I still think, that this Ryn network does also some jobs for Nom Anor. That story of the tracker at the beginning of "The Last Prophesy" to Tahiri sounds a bit odd, but perhaps I just do harbor too much disbelief after all those conspiracies at all.

And that is my summary. I'll post here a more concise chapterized summary of the whole Force Heretic trilogy without my personal comments that you may find all the things together at one place and put in into my signature as well then.

 

I like the chapter title Villip of Treason.

So what did you think of the trilogy over all?

I must admit to finding a bit of a waste of time, too long as well could have cut a book.

 

And he had an appearance already in Hero's trial, as Wookieepedia says. That Mon Calamari was really carefully kept around.

I think this trilogy gave a necessary insight into developments in the galaxy and into the characters. For character suckers like me, that trilogy is a jewel. I find it also a good pace to take some breath before the next great victory is achieved after Destiny's Way.

Nom Anor needs some time to build up a new base in the underground. That can't be done in just two or three months. Also Tahiri's recovery and melting with Riina - a long and tedious process. We also see some places, handled in previous trilogies and books - an organic development, when you are expanding and deepening an existing universe a solid way. I don't know the Koornacht books nor the Bakura crisis, but Sean Williams and Shane Dix did handle this a way, I could adapt easily without being spoilered too much for reading the former books later.

Also, after Destiny's Way, you can't expect any side to reconciliate with the other one too soon. First you need to get closer. But before coming close and putting aside the war, you must change yourself. And that process of changing inside the Yuuzhan Vong themselves is a grave matter not to be rushed.

Tahiri with Riina is just a foreshadowing about what is yet to come. And the time span from the first contact between the Jedi and the Yuuzhan Vong in a more mutual understanding way in Edge of Victory: Conquest (Vua Rapuung) until The Last Prophecy - is it two years? - was long enough to start over.

Now, that many the Shamed Ones have fresh or even more self-confidence, I'm looking forward to a cooperation lasting longer. I can really see Nom Anor being disgruntled that his underlings are so flourishing now, thinking of Shoon-mi in open rebellion and Kunra not bowing in the manner Nom Anor deems necessary. But he has opened Pandora's box and now he has to deal with it. I'm really excited to read about that now.

Do I have some complaints? That Battle over Esfandia was a bit long-stretched, but that may be just me. And I still don't know the secret, why the Yuuzhan Vong desperately wanted to defend that base. That time in the epilogue, when Leia talked with Cal Omas, I was wondering, if Nas Choka isn't overhearing it all, giving the GA a hard and believable victory, while he himself established another technical base to spy at all the com there now. We'll see if there is something coming later.

Then the way, Sekot's development was rushed from Vergere's to Anakin Skywalker's arrival on the Rogue Planet. Is Sekot an unreliable narrator? But these are things to correct easily in head-canon or fiction and Greg Bear did also some pioneer work there already.

 

Just found this online and... it's perfect!

 

image not loading.

So maybe it it?

 

to me its showing fine. I have the same problem as you though with some browsers that pics in topics do not show. sometimes it works with firefox sometimes not even. hmmm

 

@CFD,
I still don't see it. Do you have a link?

And I started The Final Prophecy now. That book is such an pleasent read.

This is by far the first NJO book, where you have more Yuuzhan Vong stuff than NR/GA themes. The Mon Mothma/Jaina arc is nearly as small as in Michael Stackpole's Dark Tide was the theme of Shedao Shai. This is strangely joyful and I really feast this book.

I guess the Yuuzhan Vong courier service is better than DHL, whose subordinate ushered my down four floors again to deliver my package to me - allegedly due to Corona, but I know better.

There are some things I don't get really, for instance that the Jedi don't check the prophet more well before getting head over heel into that Zonama Sekot mission. Alone these riddles:

I may see it for alone, for myself. Why are the Jedi not asking him later about this? And why is Tahiri the only one, asking Yu'shaa about his mask openly. Why not Harrar or Nen Yim too?

Why are the Jedi not some days more with the Shamed Ones, before going to that mission? Just to see, how the prophet is behaving with his own people?

Nen Yim reminds me here on Rapunzel. She is caught in the Damutek and suddenly a prince comes to free her and she has some adventures. I really imagine Nen Yim to be astounded happily after setting a foot at a real world like Yavin IV before, and now at Zonama Sekot. Do you remember that scene in the Tangled Disney film, when Rapunzel is setting her bare foot on the green grass for the very first time?

This passage, in the light of what I already know to come, reminds me so much on that scene in Desperate Housewives, where Paul Young is asking Martha Huber to aid her in bringing her purchases from the supermarket into her house.

What an irony, that in the movie Tangled, it is Rapunzel hitting the pan several times on the prince's head to make him unconscious, while in The Final Prophecy it is vice versa! Aaagh! This Nen Yim's fate and Nom Anor's revelation came far too fast! I but planned so many things happening between their encounter in the prophet's hideout and the meeting of the other Jedi already on Zonama Sekot.

And why is neither Corran nor Tahiri equipped with the means to reach the Widowmaker or the Jade Shadow, including Luke Skywalker and the others already on Zonama Sekot much earlier? That is so strange regarding how uneasy and unsecure this mission on Zonama Sekot was assessed already. Are Luke and Mara even informed about new Jedi coming to Zonama Sekot? Why can't Tahiri and Corran just send some emergency call via the Force, when Tekli is around?

Wild planets, Harrar sais. Did he mean "Rogue planet". So are there un-wild planets too?

 

I really liked TFP, I wish this had gotten to be two books.

 

And I still don't know when Nom Anor and Nen Yim did meet that once for the first time before that Zonama Sekot expedition, as he told her after she is recalling his name. Is that a continuity error?

 

For those that did not see the pic above in my post, here it is again... and if it still is not working, I edited the link with spaces, thus remove spaces and copy into browser to see it:

https://i.ibb.co/Gc0L. q25/70913304. -p2-master1200.jpg

 

I'd love have that shirt.

 

If I was a boy, me too, but a morning coffee mug would do it for me - or a for my supper dragweed broth.

I have finished The Final Prophecy.

Fatal attraction:

I love that introduction of Yu'shaa to Nen Yim. I always wondered if she would have liked him, would she have known his true identity from the start. And she knows he is wearing a mask. Perhaps it is his status as a prophet that this fact was not questioned any further neither by Nen Yim nor by Harrar. How would you interpret that animal look at her?

In my previous posting, I did cite the wrong quote concerning that scene in Desperate Houswifes, where Martha Huber was asked by Paul Young to help her with the purchases to be brought inside her house. The correct quote was:

Grisly!

Agreed. I miss some insights of Harrar too. I mean, Nom Anor knows Harrar since Hero's Trial. There must be some recalling, some development in assessment. There was so much introspective of Harrar in Hero's Trial and later in Dark Journey. Why not here?

At ease. I stumbled over this phrase already in FHII: Refugee, when Chief Navigator Aabe told this commander Irolia. In German they do translate this with "Do you stand comfortably?" At first I thought, it is a Chiss thing, but now Pellaeon says likewise to Han Solo, so I learnt something new from the Collins Dictionary.

Then that dialogue between Tahiri and C-3PO:

I just imagine C-3PO said this to Nom Anor at Rhommamool too.

Then I realized that since FHIII: Reunion, here we have two more cases Nom Anor is using the Plaeryn Bol. I have waited for this for so long since it was mentioned in Vector Prime. Now he really is using it quite frequently.

That sentence, when Pellaeon did speak about his son's view on Han Solo, was funny:

Me too. I always wondered what Star Wars films had been shown in-universe - from both or even three sides.

I hope Mynar Devis is not Pellaeon's only child. Maybe he sired some more children throughout the remnant-imperial fleet.

I really didn't expect that Zonama Sekot is not only able to repair its hyperdrive but also is jumping at the very same time. Is Zonama Sekot itself following Nom Anor now? Did Zonama Sekot let Nom Anor escape willingly to follow him? That is the only explanation Sekot did hinder Corran and Tahiri in catching up with and hunting down Nom Anor. Did Sekot learn that from Luke who let Ekhm Val's yorik-trema escape from the third moon of Mobus too? Otherwise Sekot could have frightened Nom
Anor at the depths of the hyperdrive in the shape of Nen Yim or worser, Vergere.

And what would Tsavong Lah had thought after Nom Anor did kill his savior Nen Yim and tried to do likewise with his dear friend Harrar later? That would have been the time to reveal that the late warmaster was a Quorealist too, when the assumption of @Thrawn McEwok in former posts is true. Then it would be obvious that Tsavong Lah did spread the troops so widely at purpose, that the goal of subjugation of the galaxy may not be achieved truly.

When Nom Anor speaks to Nen Yim:

I think Nom Anor is truly concerned to lose himself here.

In the epilogue I missed a scene when Nom Anor comes to Shimrra. Did Phaa Anor really die for delivering the message? Or Ushk Choka and his men? I just imagine Nom Anor coming to Shimrra's court telling the Overlord: "Here I am and - you did search for Zonama Sekot and so ...", he points at the sky where the forbidden planet pops out of the dark room, "... here it is."

 

Spoiler

Legacy of the Force: Revelation implies that Vitor Riege, the shuttle pilot from New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant, was another one of Pellaeon's sons. With Fate of the Jedi: Ascension making reference to him being essentially a younger Pellaeon by Daala.

 

Well that was one side, the other is Crispin/Daley.. and a third one ?

Great idea... I kinda imagine it like the Death Star eclipse shot from Rogue One over Jedha... as Zonama Sekot eclipses the sun on the Yuuzhan Vong looking up dreaded for the first time.

So the mother of one was...

Spoiler

Daala?

 

I started to read The Unifying Force.

And ... finally ... after eight volumes ... mentioned in Dark Journey by Khalee Lah, James Luceno managed to keep that remark alive, making an arc out of it, and ... now we have the bissops in action!

Now, after the first Selvaris episode, I imagine the bissops to be just like Basti, the half crocodile-conversed dog of Mrs. Schlotterbeck in "Der Räuber Hotzenplotz" from 2014.

 

A last remark about The Final Prophecy:

Tahiri can feel Nom Anor now with her Vong sense. Since when does she has such? In FH I: Remnant, Jacen did ask her about that and Tahiri didn't have a Vong sense, what I was surprised about. Suddenly she gets it. Is this Zonama Sekot's marvellous influence or the result of Tahiri's true merge with Riina?

The Unifying Force

Selvaris: Officer S'yito speaks Basic and some prisoners do speak the Yuuzhan Vong language too. I can remember that in earlier books, the Yuuzhan Vong were upset about infidels speaking their elevated language. That reminds me of the South African Boers (Afrikaners/Afrikaander). At the time of the Apartheid they were not willing to speak with foreigners in their language. When I visited South Africa thirteen years ago, our tour guide told me that the Boers now are very happy that some tourists are eager to learn their language. I have seen the barbed wire-surrounded blocks of them in the cities. And I bought a CD with Boer music with the title: Ons sing you taal (We sing your language). Can you imagine such a title for English language? A clear sign of feeling forlorn IMHO.

Then the food: James Luceno is telling us that the Yuuzhan Vong food is not eatable for the prisoners. But Vergere and Jacen did eat it very well, didn't they. And Dr. Eicroth in Hero's Trial told us that the Yuuzhan Vong were mostly compatible with Humans. So why this difference now? There may be likewise food inconveniences between other humanoid species from the very same galaxy though. And, what I'm interested in also: Can the Yuuzhan Vong eat Human Food? Does S'yito nibble clandestinely on the Ryn's food?

At the first moment, I thought Judder Page is a converted Human, serving the Yuuzhan Vong now.

That Selvaris episode shows clearly how far the integration of the Yuuzhan Vong into the new galaxy has truly come already.

I really would like to know what Luke, Mara, Jacen, Danni, Saba and Tekli did do at Zonama Sekot during all the time, Tahiri, Corran, Harrar and Nem Yin were in such a danger. It still feels strange, that Mara and Luke did show up that late. Despite the mabugat kan, who digested the deep-space communication arrays, Sekot and the Force should provide excellent communication. And what about comlinks? Don't they cover a whole planet in range?

The lav peq net and the vangaak - Nice repeat from NJO 7: Edge of Victory I: Conquest.

And I still wonder why the Yuuzhan Vong did defend Esfandia so fiercely. That mystery was not solved yet.

Nom Anor: Finally I get some scenarios from his head, what he would have done in case, Vergere and Jacen wouldn't had left him behind at the shaft of the world brain. It is interesting that at that time, he could imagine himself wearing an ooglith masqueur for all his remaining life and later he couldn't anymore.

Also his decision that he prefers to be an underling of Shimrra instead of ruling a state of Shamed Ones.

Onimi is not only ugly here but he is also twitching all the time. He is not spared anything of plight.

And Shimrra is declaring:

Ah, I see, the New Order - with new Yuuzhan Vong Jedi! Now I know what that book series title is about - finally. And Shimrra's unterstanding of the gods is now nearing, what the Vagaari did have with their own gods.

That volume is quite sloppy edited in German. There are not only spelling and translation errors, so that I have to take resort to the English pdf-version to understand some sentences. Onimi's rhymes are not translated as rhymes either, which makes the riddles odd to read. That was really handled better in the previous volumes.

 

the Supreme Overlord really gets into it in this book. The Slayers are also a combination of ALL Vong 'tech', it shows how they are all genetically compatible and closely linked (I think they even make some comment to that affect). Also interesting that the Cast-mixing is not going over well (might be why GA propaganda claimed they were human)

 

Courtesans? And that I get to know only now?! O.k. so I don't have to open a thread about what Shimrra is doing in all his free time when he is not holding court, attending sacrifices or sleeping.

But ... what a feeling now watching the cover of TUF ... straaange!

How comes that Nom Anor becomes prefect for whole Yuuzhan'tar while all the other prefects got only a part of it, see Ash'ett for the Vishtu district? High prefect is only one, right? And we still don't know what a consul as the rank between Executor and Prefect is about. That is really a missing link I imagined James Luceno to fix, because he brought the consul up in Hero's trial.

 

haha well everyone needs..... love, right?

I honestly think it was just the whim of the Supreme Overlord. Since all titles come from him, he might have just decided to give it all to Nom. Also maybe to further some other of his aims.

 

So a bit of a question about Nom Anor, I’ve always seen him as a Littlefinger sort of figure in being ambitious, and desiring to rise to the height of Vong society.

With that in mind, what would everyone say is more important to Nom Anor. Surviving another day, or one day, ruling over his people(and perhaps the galaxy?).

Also-what would a Yuuzhan Vong society ruled by Nom Anor look like? Would it become more pragmatic, less fanatical and doctrinaire? Or would he retain those elements?

 

In a nutshell, Nom Anor is like Murphy from "The 100" tv show...

Not truly a bad guy, more a survivor, and while at odds with everyone at first a loyal hero in the end once figuring out his place in things to come.


That said, I like the Littlefinger comparison, that makes Vergere the "Spider" then as his counterpart by GoT characters, right? Certainly fits her in many regards, be it influence, intent, backstory, etc. all.

 

Just becouse you are a survivor don't mean you are not a bad guy. And based on what I have understod he did to survive I would say that he's a bad guy.

 

Eh given what we know of Vergere's alleged interests in reforming Vong society, and Varys agenda(in the books)-the comparison actually does fit.

LF's defining quality is his ambition though, though Anor is more cautious and not as willing to gamble to get ahead like Littlefinger is. Though he clearly does want to "climb the ladder".