Customer Reviews

Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 12)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Allston again writes an excellent addition to the NJO series. Rebel Stand is more concentrated then Rebel Dream, with the subplots focussing more clearly on the main characters. While he adds in a few returning faces (Wes Janson makes his NJO debut), Allston never loses focus of his story. Every NJO author writes a specific character better than others, Stackpole writes Corran Horn the best, Keyes wrote Anakin the best, etc, Allston wrote Han and Leia the best in this book. No other author in the NJO series so far has captured the essense of who Han and Leia are, not merely legend they represent. I am trying not to give any of the plot away, but the scene where Han and Leia escape from the Peace Brigade is pure Star Wars. Luke and Mara are not forgotten on Curuscant, and though again nothing is mentioned of the captured Jacen Solo, an old enemy is resurrected, and general chaos reigns. Its really great stuff. Allston also focuses on the tactical side of the war with the Vong, his depiction of Wedge Antilles is masterful, as is the battle plan presented. Jaina Solo comes into her own, no longer under the influence of the Dark Side, and healing from the losses of her brothers. Overall after the darkness of Star by Star and Dark Journey, Allston's two books have been a welcome change, and are simply excellent. Perhaps he will write again for the Star Wars universe, and if he does, I will be among the first to buy the book. Rebel Stand is highly recommend, not just as a great addition to the NJO series but as a Star Wars book in general.

THERE BE MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

Rebel Stand was a lot of fun, but not as good as Rebel Dream, and a lot of it seemed incidental. There were three main plots:

Han/Leia: This was the most fun, and the best, plotline of the book. Their banter was fun, the politics were fun, the daring escapes were fun.

Luke&Co on Coruscant: This was very strange. The Wraiths were fun, but this whole part of the story just seemed not to have much to do with anything. I'm all for bringing characters out of limbo, but why this particular character? Still, Nyax was really cool, and has many of the features that I used to toy with in all the fanfics I never finished. Who wants to bet that this "force well" under the Jedi Temple is going to come into play in a big way in Traitor?

The defense on Borleias: This was really downplayed here from the last book, with only a few Wedge and Jaina scenes. Janson was a welcome addition, but he unfortunately got barely more than a cameo. There's a great scene in which Wedge is again established as the greatest pilot in the galaxy. And I think that Allston has a fetish for creating inventive ways to scrap SSDs.

It was nice to see Tarc out of the picture in a satisfactory was, and equally a pleasure to get into 3PO's head again, as we did in (I think) Jedi Eclipse and to a lesser extent Rebirth, seeing how he actually is petrified of destruction and seeing how he's learning that to be a hero means to have fear in the first place. Unfortunately, Lando doesn't show up, but YVH-11A has a big part in 3PO's little epiphany, so that's okay. I thought that Viqi's demise was somewhat anticlimactic, but it was also completely in-character, and fitting. And Tahiri's little revelation towards the end about pain sounds suspiciously similar to Jacen's same revelation in the Traitor excerpt...

The space battles were okay but certainly not phenomenal, and were definitely lacking an "OH SH!T" factor. I think that the exact aim of Emperor's Spear should've been kept secret from the reader until Czulkang finally figured it out; it would've been more impressive that way.

Overall, this was a lot of fun to read, quite fulfilling, but some of the plotlines seemed kind of irrelevant; a lot of the book was devoted more to character growth and situational setup towards a future payoff rather than moving the plot itself forward. Not Allston's best effort but definitely worth the read.

Ok. simply put, this book was awesome. It had it all: Romance, intrigue, tons of action, humor, and it finally showed the Luke of old: the Jedi master who could kick some ... . This book takes off as Luke and Mara and the Wraiths traverse through Coruscant on a mission to set up resistence cells. Besides fighting Vong, they have a very interesting subplot with an evil ultra-Jedi. Luke and Mara are as cool as ever and Tahiri steps up as a matured Jedi as well. On Borealis, the New Republic finally starts going on the offensive, and the battles that ensue are riveting and page turning. Jaina and Jag's romance is brought up as well. Han and Leia look like their old selfs again, and the plot lines between them are hilarious at times; such as when they get captured on a backwater planet and threatened w/ torture, they both take it lightheartedly, telling their captor how they have both been tortured by Darth Vader how the captor should try to do better. The cockiness of them both is very funny. A new and hilarious part in this book is R2D2's conversations. This little droid is very funny in his logic, and finally we get to see what all those sad, jovial and sarcastic bleeps and whistles mean.
And finally, as the battles at Borealis in both Rebel Dream and Rebel Stand show, the Vong are not as invincible as they seemed while the New Republic forces, w/out the burden of the politicians, finally are showing some muscle and brain.
While the book ends rather abruptly, it does what its meant to: it leaves you thirsty for more. It took me 3 hours to read, and i didn't want it to end. I definitly recommend this book whole-heartedly.

Rebel Stand is a great sequel to Rebel Dream and a superb installment to the Yuuzhan Vong war and New Jedi Order series.

Whereas Rebel Dream focused on our heroes recapturing the planet Borleias previously lost to the Vong, Rebel Stand branches out on many fronts which really gives the feeling of a larger war going on and pays attention to our main characters...all this with nonstop action.

1) General Wedge Antilles and Tycho, in charge of the resistance at Borleias continue to develop new strategies and a secretive weapon to deliver a devastating blow to the orbiting Vong worldship. The use and development of Wedge here is great and gives him a push as an important player in the war. His climatic battle scene was great and had shades of the old Rogue Squadron novels here.

2) Han and Leia (leaving young Tarc behind) begin a series of secretive missions to other planets hoping to start a network of resistance cell sites for the war. The action described in their parts is a great throwback to the original Star Wars and it is clear that Leia has not given up her political ways or Han his 'scoundrel' habits.

3) The Jaina Solo, Kyp Durron, and Jag Fel triangle is explored further with new revelations from Kyp. Though not as deep as I would have liked, there is plenty of action when this trio hits the skies to take on the Vong Corralskippers.

4) The traitorous Senator Viqi Shesh is sent to Coruscant with her Vong captors to capture the wayward Jedi. Again, we see how manipulative she can be...too bad the Emporer is no more, she would have been a great addition to the Empire.

5) Tam Elgrin (the recovering Holocam operator used against his will by the Vong), young Tarc and Wolam Tser continue their exploits.

6) Warmaster Tsavong Lah and shaper Nen Yim uncover a conspiracy amongst the Vong priests and take matters into their own hands. Cool to see Tsavong get down to business and show his merciless side.

7) Finally, Luke, Mara, Tahiri and a few others end up on Coruscant for some covert operations. Here they cross paths with Viqi Shesh and her handlers, and a new threat to both the Vong and Jedi. It seems that there is a disturbance in the force, unlike that that Luke or the vong have ever faced. Do the Jedi and Vong form an alliance to rid Coruscant of this new dark side threat? This was probably my only really complaint with this novel was the introduction of Lord Nyax. His origin and development seemed a bit silly to me, as was the climatic battle between Luke, Mara, Tahiri and new baddie Lord Nyax. If author Allston would have handled this a bit differently, I would have given this novel 5 stars, but the silly factor for dramatic sake only was unwarranted. Other wise this was one of the better book in the whole New Jedi Order series.

I enjoyed Rebel Dream, and I was very impressed by this book. Not only did Allston confirm his standing as one of the greated Star Wars authors of all time, he continued the NJO story very precisely. He presents a new mencace, Lord Nyax. His power and strength seemed almost unstoppable.

On Borleis, it was interesting to see a Yuuzhan Vong warrior go after Jaina Solo in an attempt to capture her. Allston acutally gives the warrior credit and character, and makes him almost admirable.

Han and Leia of course, come back in full force. Their long-lost wit and battle ready attitudes bring memories of the original trilogy, of how they battled the Empire.

And as for the book's romantic side? Like in the book before it, there was enough of it to bring a smile to your face but not get you annoyed with too much kissing up. The plot is excellent. A well-deserved five stars.

Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand was nothing short of what I expected it to be. I expected it to pick up on the heels of the action in Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream, and it surely did. We finally begin to see the setup of the resistance cells that were mentioned in the first book in this duology. Some characters begin to change their views on the war, such as Luke. And for once in the series something is finally proven that hasn't been proven thus far: the Yuuzhan Vong are NOT invincible, and they do have weaknesses. With battles that keep you on the edge of your seat(or wherever your reading the book) and other elements of suspense, you won't be able to put this down, guaranteed. This is a great read while waiting for the next book, Traitor.

At some points I was sleeping through the book or just skimming through all the needless and repetitive content. At other times I was very interested at the edge of my seat. Nonetheless, Han and Leia escaping incredible odds, Jaina Solo's and the rest of the star fighters inventive often highly improbable ways to develop new weapons and strategies to fight off the Vong and the jedi tricks are all getting old and stale. These battles can only be exciting so many times before you get sick of them. Sometimes I feel like I have Jedi abilities when I predict the future and the outcome of the book. Recently the Vong have been portrayed as more or lesser version of the Vong that we all first met in the first book. The dialogue was rather bland, with a few sparks of humor, which I applaud. Overall I think the NJO series could really benefit from some creative writing. The readers need new concepts and new visions to keep this series moving along.

This book was even better than Rebel Dream. It's definately one of the best books in the NJO series. Aaron Allston did a great job with Han and Leia. Finally, finally, they are being written as the great couple we fell for in the movies. I hope the next authors follow suit and we don't have anymore of that skinky garbage we got in the beginning. Tahiri, Wedge, Jaina, Jag were also super in this book. The action was fabulous, and so was the suspence at the end of the book. I highly recommend this book.

My faith in the New Jedi Order is restored! After several incomprehensively stupid moves on the part of the series creaters, (the death of Anakin Solo comes to mind) I was starting to feel rather depressed about the whole thing. I still eagerly awaited each new book, but I also dreaded the consequences of the events in them. This book, while still carrying out the series' dark storyline beatifully, also manages to convey a sense of comfort and lighthearted fun that's been missing for a while. I still miss Anakin, but I can see now something I couldn't before this book; the Star Wars universe can live without him. Jacen is still nowhere to be seen, but anyone who still thinks he's dead can't have been paying attention to the indications otherwise.

There are three main storylines of the book, the first and possibly most important being Luke and Mara's mission to Vong occupied Coruscant. The strange tension that seemed to be between Luke and Mara in Rebel Dream is gone here as well, and I was pleased to see that author made an honest effort to get Mara's character right this time. As for the mission itself, just seeing the capitol world so ruined is chilling by itself, never mind what they find there. Tahiri is in her element as well, finally coming out of her "whimpering weakling" phase she was in for a while after Anakin died.

The second storyline centers around Han and Leia, comfortable with each other once again, though still deeply grieving for their youngest son, as they try to inspire resistance against the Vong.

Jaina is still a key character in her own storyline, (the defense of Borleias), though less so now, as other characters begin to take center stage. She's mostly recovered from the dark compulsions of the dark side, though still determined to make the Vong pay for her little brother's untimely death. Jaina and Jag are apparently considered a true couple now, and there is some romantic interaction between the two. Being a Zekk fan myself, I found this repulsive and annoying, but those of you who prefer Jagged will probably enjoy this aspect of the book.
Altogether, I'll say I can say happily that I greatly enjoyed this one, and eagerly await Traitor and (hopefully) Jacen's return.

Rebel Stand was good but could have been a little bit better. The reason that I say that is mainly due to the long, drawn-out Coruscant mission storyline. This would have been a more entertaining book if that had been edited down some. Thankfully the wraiths added some much needed humor that provided some zip to that storyline.

Han and Leia had the best storyline and the best action. I was only disappointed that they didn't get more screen time. The spark and banter between them is still the driving force behind their relationship and is still great fun to read about. R2-D2 also had some of his best EU moments in this plotline.

There was also some more Jaina/Jag/Kyp action. I feel that it's about time that plot move along a little faster. It's starting to get old.

Wedge didn't get much screen time in this novel, but what's there is very good and probably provided the best tension in the book.

Overall, it was a fun book to read. It's so nice to be able to say that reading a Star Wars book is fun again. I have missed feeling that way since the NJO series had begun.