Customer Reviews

Edge of Victory II: Rebirth (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, No. 8)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The much-awaited sequel to Keyes' Conquest, Rebirth is worth reading even as a stand-alone. In this novel, Han and Leia (seem to) patch things up and the death of Chewbacca is now a quiet ache in both their lives. Anakin explores his relationship with Tahiri, and takes Corran Horn, who went into hiding after the Ithor disaster, along for the ride. Jacen comes to grips with his views on the Force, seeing just how arrogant he was, fighting alongside his mother and father in their own war against the Peace Brigade, the galaxy's most vengeful collaborators. On the Vong side, Nen Yim, disgraced shaper adept, has been exiled to a ship of disgraced Yuuzhan Vong, a ship that is now dying. However, she receives a visit from a Master Shaper who is more than he seems, leading Nen Yim further on the path towards murder and greater heresy. Also, Vergere returns...but not to the New Republic. She boards the Sunulok to meet with Warmaster Lah in an attempt to capture Jacen Solo aboard the Millenium Falcon. And not to be outdone, Mara comes to term with her pregnancy (literally) and with the birth will either be a new hope, or a greater darkness than the Jedi currently face. Nonstop action, coupled with Keyes' elegant prose, makes Rebirth the standout novel of NJO so far. Highly recommended to the fans of The New Jedi Order and those who just like things the way they were.

After reading the first several books of the New Jedi Order I found myself looking for a book more epic in scope, similar to Timothy Zahn's first trilogy and the first book of the series, Vector Prime. Balance Point and Edge of Victory I were both very close to this mark, but couldn't seem to break through.

In comes Gregory Keyes's new book Edge of Victory II: Rebirth, with its multiple plot lines that keep you enthralled. My favorite part of the book was the scenes with Luke and Mara, they seem to be ignored in some of the more recent books. In this book Luke is shown as caring and prudent character, not as a super-powerful Jedi Master. The action occurs basically in the all the rest of the scenes with the various other main characters, especially with Anakin, Jacen, and Jaina. Lots of star fights and some hand-to-hand combats keep the book interesting, while vague chapter ending keep you eagerly wanting more. The book ends with a couple twists that should make for a more interesting saga through out.

Take note everyone this is the way a Star Wars book should be written, talk about the new characters, while not forgetting the old characters that made the original so memorable and popular. Excellent read, and though it is a page turner, I would not exactly call it an epic, though it sets up the series to become epic in scope. Hopefully the next book will be as good as this, and I will definetly continue reading. Defintely recommended for fans and non-fans alike.

Unlike it's predecessor, Conquest, this book dealt with multiple plotlines, but the author handled all of them excellently, especially considering the book's short length. Luke and a very pregnant Mara are awaiting the birth of their son, but just as Mara's Yuuzhan Vong disease begins to effect her again, they are forced to flee Coruscant to avoid arrest. Anakin, Tahiri, and Corran go on what should be a simple supply run for the Errant Venture, but run into the Peace Brigade and must flee into hyperspace. Kyp convinces Jaina and Rogue Squadron to help him destroy a new Vong superweapon located at Sernpidal. Han, Leia, and Jacen are on a mission to set up a system to bring people and information out of occupied territory. And meanwhile, among the Yuuzhan Vong, Nem Yim continues her heresy. In my opinion, this was one of the best books from the New Jedi Order series. I especially enjoyed reading about Luke, Mara, and their child, and Anakin and Tahiri's growing romance was very cute. I reccomend this book to all Star Wars fans.

Continuing from his previous novel in the New Jedi Order (NJO) series, Greg Keyes furthers the New Republic's and, more importantly, the Jedi's struggle against the Yuuzhan Vong. It is a dark time for the Jedi, taking a large toll on their ranks. In accord with the Vong's demands, the Jedi are being rounded up and given as appeasement to the Vong. The view of the Jedi in the New Republic further deteriorates, as Luke and Mara have arrest warrants issued by the Senate. As in the previous books in this series, much focus is given to the younger Jedi, Jacen, Jaina, Anakin, and Tahiri, in particular. We also get a nice return in the presence of Corran Horn as he attempts to rein in two of the kids. There are also the requisite battle scenes between Jedi and Vong, although on a much lesser scale than earlier parts of the series. This is mostly due to the Vong maintaining the present state of the invasion and not furthering their conquest. A pivotal point of this book is Mara's plight. She learns that the synthesized medication she is taking is dangerous for her unborn child, so she must decide whether to save herself or her baby. I'm sure you can guess her chosen path. Her importance not only to Luke, but to the kids as well, is underscored very well in this respect. Another side quest is the search for a safe haven for the now-hunted Jedi, especially the children from the academy. Though we are not privy to the search itself, the nature of the chosen destination is revealed, and seems like a nice choice, given the pattern of Vong (and Republic) thought. I have to say that I recommend this book as a nice contribution to the NJO series. It seems to me that something big is building, and the crescendo is coming soon. If you like Star Wars, and especially any of the NJO series, you will appreciate this one too.

Edge of Victory is a descent adventure book, but will not live up to its predecessor in the two book series. The plot centers on Anakin, again, but it also includes Kyp Durron, and the New Republic's lack of trust for the jedi. The story begins as Borsk Fey'lya orders the arrest of Luke Skywalker. Luke and his wife Mara go into hiding, with Mara's illness coming back again, harder this time. This is not really a part of the book, but it's pretty clear it will be important for the story line of the New Jedi Order.

Jaina Solo and Kyp Durron's plot is actually quite interesting, probably the best big part of the book. It centers around a new Yuuzhan Vong shipyard that is far larger than even the Death Stars of old. They enlist the help of a few others in the Republic military in an effort to knock out the weapon before it becomes operational. While the "surprise" ending to that plot is a little bit incredible and not particulary interesting, the parts leading up to it are very well written and the book becomes quite difficult to put down during those sequences.

Anakin, meanwhile, has gone off with his old friend Tahiri in search of supplies (Corran Horn follows them the whole time, but his part in the book has been reduced to rattling off little lessons that Anakin needs to learn).This part of the book was moderately interesting, but the ending was extremely disappointing and a bit inconsistent. The buildup to it was just not worth the trouble. When you consider that their little side trek could just as easily have been removed from the entire book without damaging the plot much it becomes apparent that Keyes wrote it either to take up space or because he was forced to.

Han's morality lessons with Jacen were remarkeable only for their incredible lack of impact on anything. Joined by Leia, those two characters did almost nothing for the entire book, and their arguments rapidly became trite. I found their whole subplot boring and unimaginative. Their dialogue (especially noticeable with Han) was off, never really capturing their characters, and they had little impact on much of anything.

Even with its flaws, Rebirth still does deliver things that make it worth buying for dedicated fans of the series. For one thing, its plot does seem to be very important. Many of the characters change during the course of the book, and for that it is worth reading. Nen Yim's (the shaper adept from the first one) plot was actually very interesting, and occasionally humorous. The character interactions (with the exception of Han/Leia/Jacen) were very good, and despite the disappointing ending on Givin that part of the book is worth sitting through.

It is clear that Rebirth is intended to be a Rubicon for many of the characters in the Universe. Luke's "great river" may be seen as a metaphor for irrevocable decisions that several of the characters are forced to make. Their actions during such sequences are quite interesting. In spite of this, only people following the NJO should pick up the book. It fails to deliver the plot and generate interesting enough characters to justify picking up for someone who is only mildly interested in the series.

If you have not yet started reading the NJO, pick up Balance Point or Vector Prime. Maybe even read Conquest just to see if you like it. If you don't, save some money on this one. If you do, great. Pick up Rebirth, too. You won't get a great read out of it, but you will advance the plot for the next series of books to follow.

this is one of the best books of the first 8.a lot is going on in this one for such a short book.the republic want the jedis in exile.luke is on the run so as not to be arrested.his "unsactioned military actions" were acryaly the rescue and relocation of thousands of slaves.luke decides the jedi,being wothout friends,should band together like in the long long ago.the bounty hinyers going after the jedi are gargantuan so they randomly jump through hyperspace without rhyme or reason to avoid capture.mara jade skywalker finaly lets luke help her fight off the disease that is killing her to better save thier unborn child.jaona solo struggles with her place in rogue sqaudrin as it is hard on her.mara jade and lukes method works and she has a baby boy they named ben after obee who called himself ben while in exile.the peace brigade kill a jedi named kelbis nu.however anakan and tahiri chase them off before they can kill more jedi.anakan and tahoti are arrested as local police think they did it.jacens older brother and father could barely take down one gammorrean.[anakan once took 4 on alone].han,jacen and leia take the millenium falcon up and chase down the peace brigade and a big battle ensues.jacen decides to use thr force freely again after a important character from the movies gets thier legs hacked up and he needed it.jacen gets a crush on a 40 year old twi'lek[blue chick with tentacles for hair].anakan,the always busy builds remote droids that fight like the vong to pracrice against.although he has visions of tahiri going evil he treats her no different.anakan saved corrans life[a master jedi].soon enough they are in the space battle too.bad news for the vong as their world ships are getting old.a story is told of the reckless kyp durron once blowing up a planet a week after becoming a jedi.wedge antilles comes out of retirement and into the space fight too.kyp and jaina flirt a lot despite shes nor even legal at 17 and hes like 40.she is almost killed but not scared.however by books end she tells kyp "of you were dying of dehydration on tatoonie i wouldnt spit on you".so either thier courting is off or she really likes him.the vong sacrifice thousands of people a day to thier gods.dissention finaly breaks in the high levels of the vong.since they embrace death they use kamikaze type methods to fight with sometimes.a new vong female gets into the fray at the end who us some sort of seer.she sees the 8th vortex which only 4 people ever have seen,2 of which were gods and one was told by one of those gods.she predicts"now my shaping truly begins and the universe shall tremble at what i create".anakan challenges and kills a vong war captain-just another feather in his cap.he and tahiri share loves 1st make out errrrrrr kisses i mean.this was one of the best books of the series.it ties up a lot of unanswered questions and is really incredible from a sci fi fans point of view.everything youd want in a sci fi novel.

With Edge of Victory II: Rebirth, Greg Keyes continues his salvation of the New Jedi Order series of Star Wars books. Keyes manages to create situations and characters that entice the reader to keep moving, to plow through his books as if there were nothing else in the world you could possibly conceive of doing. While Rebirth isn't quite as good as Conquest, it more than holds its own with the other books in the series. Unfortunately, Keyes bites off just a little too much and, with the limited page count, the book feels a little cramped.

I have just one word to say about the ending of Rebirth. Hallelujah!!! While I do have some issues with how many separate plots Keyes jammed into this 290 page book, I am very pleased to say that he avoids having them all end up in one place! He avoided it last book, too, but that was mainly because there was only one main plot. This time, there are several, and Keyes avoids the coincidence. On the other hand, because there are so few pages, the book is kind of hindered by them ending separately, as they feel a little diffuse. Still, I was thrilled to see it.

Surprisingly, even none of the plot lines feel like their neglected too badly, other than the Luke/Mara one. Keyes mainly avoids this by having the assault on the Vong world ship not take up too much room in the narrative. As much as other authors would use this as a high point, with a lot of space ship action, juking and jinking, explosions, and the like, Keyes makes this more about the relationship between Kyp Durron and Jaina Solo, as well as his relationship with the rest of the Jedi. There is still plenty of action, but there aren't a hundred pages of it, which was refreshing. As for the rest of the threads, Keyes is the master of making a small amount of space go a long way, making each thread feel like it's taking up more space than it actually is.

Even with all of this going on, we get a lot of wonderful characterization. There's the return of the old Han and Leia, with the banter between them back to the sarcasm hiding deep affection that characterized their relationship for so long before Chewbacca. They're still a little unsure of each other, and the hurts between them have not disappeared, but both realize that they love each other and they are stronger together than apart. They even have some bonding time with their son, Jacen. The scenes between all of them are wonderful, especially the one between Jacen and his mother in the docking bay, where she's wondering if he's going to leave them. There are deep philosophical differences between the two male Solos, but both are able to put them aside to do what they know they have to do.

It was also nice to see the return of Corran Horn, even if Michael Stackpole wasn't writing him. I've wondered about him since Ruin and I was hoping we'd see him again. He does a great job of mentoring Anakin, trying to curb some of his impulses. Anakin appears to have learned some from his experience on Yavin 4 (in Conquest), but he's still liable to go off half-cocked. The relationship between Anakin and Tahiri also takes an interesting turn, and with her feeling like a Vong at times, this should be fascinating to watch develop. I have my ideas on where this might go, but I'm probably wrong. The interaction between the three of them was almost perfect. As for the rest of the characters, I can't go on forever, but again there is not a hint of mischaracterization anywhere in this book. Greg Keyes, I bow down to you.

On the other hand, there were a couple of faults in this one, bringing it down from the stellar heights of Conquest. First, I am getting a bit tired of our heroes stumbling upon Vong plans. The attack on the world ship is perfect, because the information comes from intelligence gathered by Kyp. However, Corran and the others just randomly find the Vong attack on Yag'Dhul in a desperate hyperspace jump. So while Keyes avoids the coincidental ending, there's still just a bit too much happenstance for my book.

Secondly, the Luke/Mara plot is very truncated and almost deserved its own book. The birth of a Skywalker child, especially with all of the things happening to Mara, should have developed more. Luke and Mara do have some scenes, but they mainly consist of Mara denying she needs help or finally allowing Luke to help her, and then WHAM! The baby's born. Keyes could have made an entire book (or at least half of one) about Luke and Mara running from the New Republic government, which has just put an order out for their arrest, having the situation worsen in stages as Mara gets sicker, and then go on from there. What we got was fine, but it didn't seem to be enough. At the very least, the book could have used a few more pages to do something more interesting with these two.

That being said, Edge of Victory II: Rebirth is yet another standout Star Wars book. The series really seems to be moving into high gear, with authors like Keyes. With Keyes having written the penultimate book in the series, I feel a lot better about James Luceno writing the finale.

David Roy

I wasn't a big fan of the first book in this duology, Conquest, so I didn't have high hopes for Rebirth. Luckily, Greg Keyes surprised me. Rebirth is a very readable book--the combination of short chapters, interesting plotlines, and well-written characters kept me turning the pages. I was very impressed with the plot involving Jaina and Kyp; Keyes intelligently develops a rather convoluted interaction between the two characters over the course of the entire book and does a great job of giving Kyp a distinctive voice. Anakin and Tahiri are quite dynamic, and they've both become a lot more interesting since the last book. I was also pleased to see Jacen and Corran written with sensitivity. All in all, the way Keyes handles the characters--making each distinctive, with his or her own internal psychology--is the greatest strength of Rebirth.
The book does have some weaknesses. Though it's fun to read, the writing isn't as polished as that of authors like Zahn or Troy Denning. That's only a minor complaint though; I don't expect all Star Wars authors to be up to Zahn's level, and compared to many of the other NJO books, this one is beautifully written. My more major complaint is that Keyes seems to have run out of energy at the end. Two of his otherwise logical and careful plots just sort of dissolve. He more or less completely drops the Jacen-Han-Leia storyline, never providing closure for it. And the Mara-Luke story truly fizzles, ending with a "We don't know how everything got fixed, but isn't it truly beautiful?" which was a little too sugary and insubstantive for me. If Keyes had put a little more work into the last fifty or sixty pages of his book, I would have considered giving the book one more star.

First of all, those who say this book is no good frankly don't know what they're talking about. Sure, maybe the writing style wasn't as good as some of the previous ones, but the characters were well developed and true to themselves, the battle scenes are capable of making you feel as though you're there, and is there anything else that really matters in a Star Wars book? Ha! If I wanted a perfect work of art, I'd go read Shakespeare! Anyway, while this book is by no means perfect (and I like it that way), Mr. Keyes has once again created a fine window into the Star Wars universe, wide enough (unlike Conquest) to include many characters in several intertwining plots. The first, and most important IMO concerns Luke and Mara. Our favorite Jedi couple is days from expecting their firstborn, so when Fey'lya manages to secure an order for their arrest, it could not have come at a worse time. To make matters worse, as they are preparing to flee, it becomes abruptly clear that Vereger's Tears, which had been keeping Mara's disease safely away, are a danger to her unborn child, and she must decide (and quickly) whether to take the Tears and save herself, or protect her child as best she can with the Force, while sparing little to protect the rest of her body. Of course, if you know anything about Mara Jade, it's fairly obvious what she chooses, so she and Luke head for the Errant Venture, where most of their students are in hiding, while Mara's health gradually deterierates... Luke, realizing that with the galaxy's hateful attitude against Jedi, he can no longer afford to have them divided between himself and Kyp, sends Jaina to find him and try to convince him to return to the rest of the Jedi. When she gets there, there is some decidedly...creepy dialogue and interaction between them, Kyp and Jaina that is (am I mistaken or is this former darksider, massmurdering, sneaky, manipulating jerk of a thirty five year old man trying to hit on seventeen year old Jaina?), and through the course of this it he manages to convince her that the Vong have grown a massive super-weapon, and that she should use her influence with Rogue Squadren to go defeat it. You'll have to read the book to find out what comes out of this situation, but tell you right now, it ain't pretty. Meanwhile, Han, Leia and Jacen are on the Millenium Falcon trying to create a networking "underground railroud" for Jedi and young students in danger from the rest of the galaxy. Han and Leia gradually repair their broken marriage, something that will definitely please you if you're a fan of this couple, while Jacen continues to struggle with his inner confusion on how the Force should be used, and what his place is in the universe. At the same time, Anakin (now sixteen), Tahiri, and Corran Horn head out on a simple supply run, only to find themselves at the mercy of the Jedi hunting Peace Brigade. During the course of this, Anakin and Tahiri begin to come to terms with their changing feeling for one another. I know, I know, though I myself am their age my first thought was, They're too young, but actually it is quite well done, sweet, heartwarming, and not overly mushy, just one kissing scene. Anyway, this was a great book and one of my favorites so far. I recommend it to any Star Wars fan, if for no other reason than you get to find out what Luke names his son. (trust me, the book is worth reading just for that scene.) I was very nearly in tears during the scenes with Mara and Luke; I simply cannot believe the amount of agony Mara went through for that child, I can honestly say I would have given up. Anyway, read the book, love it, and try to ignore spoilers.

No one could call this book a classic, but it's a fun read all the same. There's plenty of action, a bit of romance, and even some humor to lighten the dark mood of the NJO.
My biggest problem with this book is it's inconsistency. It has many different plot lines, all completely independent of one another, but this in itself is not so bad. The problem is that some of these plot lines, such as the one following the work of Nen Yim, and the one in which the long awaited skycrawler is born, are boring or anticlimatic, while others, such as the plot lines following Jaina and Anakin, are action packed, edge-of-your-seat star wars style with plenty of intersting twists. In other words, you'll be reading about a fast paced space battle with Jaina, Kyp, and the rogues (all great characters)when suddenly the chapter ends and you find yourself being bored to death by Nen Yim's dying warship or the now old plight poor sick Mara. It took all of my self control not to skip ahead back to the intersting stuff.
For the book as a whole, I look at it as something to tie us over until Star by Star comes out in octobre, and in that light it serves it's purpose well. I can't help but wish Keyes had done a better job with the birth of Luke and Mara's son, as that is actually important for the series as a whole, but the parts that were well done in this book were extremely well done.
For those of you who are die hard star wars fans, I probably don't even need to tell you to buy this book because you'll already have it. For those of you who like the series a lot but aren't obsessive, I'd say buy it but don't expect another Vector Prime. That way, you won't be disapointed. For those of you who are already lossing interest in the NJO, save your money for Star by Star.