Customer Reviews

Force Heretic I: Remnant (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 15)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This was the first of the NJO series that I just couldn't finish. I kept putting the book down. The authors couldn't keep my attention. I guess I'll have to force myself to re-read it, if I'm going to endure their next books. Maybe this would have been better if only one author had worked on it, rather than the tag team of Williams and Dix.

I noticed there were some parts that I really enjoyed, like the story about the slave transport in the prologue, and the Imperial Remnant. There were other parts, like the story about Nom Anor and the Shamed that weren't very interesting, nor were they plausible. I just wish they were able to write the rest of the book with as much passion as they put into the prologue. Maybe this reflects the strength or weakness of the authors? Perhaps they each wrote different parts of the book, rather than collaborating on the entire novel?

I bought the book based on the teaser about Luke and Mara searching for Zonama Sekot. I wish I had opened to the last page to read that, even at the end of the book, Luke has not found the "force" planet. You get to read the next one or two or ten books to find out what happens.

Argh! I've followed the NJO series from the beginning. I don't mind waiting, but this is a new low. If you're going to tease us like this, at least let him find the planet, even if it takes another book to flesh out the story. I realize that maybe this isn't the author's fault. Perhaps I should get mad at the editor or publisher. Still, after 400 pages you expect that some part of the teaser will be resolved!!

I can understand stretching out the Vong story for 10 or 15 books, although my patience is starting to wear thin. However, trying to write 2-3 books about the subplot of Luke and the force planet, or Nom Anor and the Shamed Ones just won't work. There just isn't enough there to keep you entertained.

If the original trilogy had been done like this, "Star Wars: A New Hope" would have been written as a series of 10 books... the back cover would have a teaser about the destruction of the Death Star, and the last page would end with "Luke Skywalker turned off his targetting computer and trusted in the Force. Would he be able to destroy the Death Star? Whatever it took, he was going to do it. THE END"

While I love the Star Wars series of novels, this latest is really lacking in comparison with the earlier releases. (To be honest, in my opinion, none have matched the level set by Stackpole in the beginning of the NJO.) For most of the book, the characters are wooden, as the authors relate large amounts of the previous installments to explain the current emotional states of the characters and the political status of the galaxy. Almost nothing new happens in the first half, and if you've read the earlier books, it reads like a re-run.

There are two separate missions that are followed, plus the exploits of the persistent Nom Anor. The first of these (arbitrarily chosen) has Luke, Mara, Jacen, and some others trying to find a lead on the location of Zonama Sekot (the world from Rogue Planet). To do this, they journey to the Imperial Remnant to ask for information. Of course, they get embroiled in combat, as the Empire finally decides to fight the Yuuzhan Vong. That is really the only development in this entire novel, and the only part that kept me interested.

The second mission has Han, Leia, Jaina, Tahiri, and Jag, plus some not-so-noteworthies, investigating the breaks in communication to old members of the New Republic. In this, we see an end to the Yevetha (from a pre-NJO terrible set of books) and some really boring scenes of the small force wiping out a minor group of Yuuzhan Vong. We get a lot of focus on Tahiri, as Jag is suspicious of her, and she is apparently dealing with the resurfacing after-effects of the Yuuzhan Vong attempt to shape her MANY novels ago. There is an attempt to breed mystery and suspense, but it flops badly (again, Stackpole leads the way in such intrigue and action).

In the third thread, Nom Anor on Yuuzhantar (Coruscant) links up with a group of shamed ones and hides from the real members of their society. Again, there is little accomplished in this vein of the story, though it seems that perhaps Nom Anor is the Force Heretic of the title, and not NECESSARILY Tahiri Veila, though it could be both.

So, as I mentioned earlier, there is little to no development of any of the characters. There are no new characters introduced who are worth any mention. I did like the confrontation of Pellaeon with the Moff Council near the end, but other than that this novel is really below par for the series. Succeeding the good inroads made two novels ago, with Traitor, after a repetitious series of similar stories, we are given THIS. Also, the setup of this book has no chapter divisions, simply break lines where the story line switches. Not really unacceptable, but certainly noticeable. Also, it seems that during the writing, the authors would hook onto a juicy long word, and use it three or more times in a few pages, then never use it again. If you read it, you'll see what I mean. Overall very poor writing. And considering that this is among the longest of the series (400+), I had hoped for good things to happen, not to get a lot of fluff.

It's far more interesting to read a book by a guy who knows how to capture your interest and create a great story (that makes you want to stay up reading it rather than get some much-needed sleep), than it is to read hundreds of minute detail-references to previous Star Wars novels to prove that the author has been following along with the franchise.

These guys know their Star Wars Expanded Universe extremely well, and it shows that they have done their research. The dialogue for Han Solo especially is often very good.

BUT... that's the extent of the positive aspects of this book - and the whole "Force Heretic" trilogy.

The problem is that these guys seem to be trying to stretch this story into as many pages - and books - as humanly possible!

The whole "Force Heretic" trilogy could have easily been one book. And it would have made for a far more engaging story!

What I hated most about it was that they repeat certain phrases all the time! Phrases like, "You have to admire their..." were used on nearly every single character in the book! How realistic is that? And there are at least two or three other phrases that are abused in the same way.

But the worst problem with this book is that I didn't care at all for the characters. I was so caught up in the bad writing that I didn't care at all about Tahiri's torment with her alter-ego, not did I care even slightly about Luke and the gang's mission to find Zonama Sekot. In fact, I found the whole "living planet" scenario to be more like a bad episode of Star Trek than a major story-line in a Star Wars novel. It just didn't seem very "George Lucas" to me. Sure, you have that kind of thing in Marvel comics, and in other Sci-Fi material, but Star Wars is supposed to be "Fantasy" not "Sci-Fi" in my opinion.

Anyways, suffice it to say that this entire trilogy by Sean Williams & Shane Dix is complete rubbish and brings the entire "New Jedi Order" series to an all-time low!

The only book from the series that I would compare with these (in terms of being able to skip it entirely without missing anything at all) would be "Dark Journey" about Jaina's near fall to the dark side.

If you haven't read the trilogy yet, do yourself a favor and skip it. There are plenty of reviews that summarize it well enough for you to get the jist without having to suffer through the poor writing style of these clowns.

I was waiting for the book. The aftermath of the downfall of Tsvong Lah and how the enemy would regroup. Nothing. I plot and undetstanding what their goals are is unclear. Why are Mara and Luke stikcking around in a fight witha slaveship when they could be off in the unknow regions for the last month?? Poor Ben will never get to see his scatterbrained parents that way...I would like to see Jaina and Jag develop or die away and I wish someone would come along for Kyp, just like they did for Lando. It is definately a one step forward two step back novel..I would have been really mad if I had had to pay for hardcover on this.

It is important to remember that when reading Remnant, you are reading book 1 of a trilogy as well as book 15 of a series. There have been complaints about the wrapping up of surprises in the book, but take in mind that this is all groundwork for the rest of the respective journey for our characters. Jacen, Luke and Co's journey to the Unknown would not work without the framework given here, and Im sure Saba will be integral to that part of the storyline. I was worried where they were taking her character as she has been a consistant point in the series. Jacen has developed into a well rounded character, taking in the lessons from Vergere, but also from those around him. Palleon makes the point with his observations of Jacen. The return of the Grand Admiral is one of the strongest points of the book, esp when one takes into account his character arc throughout the EU.

The story line regarding Han, Leia, Jaina and Jag, and Tahiri is also important groundwork. The authors, while far from the best the Expanded Universe has used, bring in a mix of past worlds and challanges. The description of Han's feelings of returning to the Yevetha is well played, as is Jaina's desire to stay on the front lines. Jag is slighty off character, but as his relationship with Jaina progresses, it would make sense. Even the strongest of male leads turns out of habit when women are int he picture in a romantic sense. Tahiri's story should show good results by book 3. But bear in mind, it may take that long to develop the arc.

As for the Nom Anor story line, this is a must. The quote at the beginning of the book shows how important this is to the overall NJO picture, and this is bound to play a major part in the internal strength and in its exploitation of the Vong.

Overall, while not the best book in the NJO, Remnant is a good introduction to set the stage for the final act of an interesting series. Character development over a 19 book series is difficult at best, but the NJO has expanded on some wonderful characters, as well as introduced many new ones. Bringing back enemies of old, and not just the Empire, has connected the NJO to the rest of the pre-Vong Star Wars universe, and showed a truly Galactic struggle. A good read, and a must read for the rest for the rest of the series.

Of all the New Jedi Order books I've read, I must say this is by far the worst.

Where to begin? Well, the plot itself isn't really that bad - Luke and company go to find Zenoma Sekot, while Leia, Han and the others go to round up support for the Galactic Alliance - as I said, not bad. Even this has problems though. Based on the occurences in the novel, the Yuuzhan Vong are obviously expending a fair amount of resources to defeat possible attackers on their borders - and what is the Alliance doing while this is going on? Nothing. No offense, but after scoring a huge victory in Destiny's Way, the Alliance appears to be back to the New Republic's way of sitting there and doing nothing until they are attacked. The logistics just didn't make sense to me, and it wouldn't have been that difficult to include a new section devoted to say Wedge or Cal Omas or even Admiral Ackbar.

As the plot is really the work of LucasArts though, and not of the writers themselves, any failings in the overall story department can be forgiven. What really made the book dissapointing for me was the writing style of the authors.

In my opinion writing teams rarely work, as authors simply have different views, goals, opinions and thoughts - combining the work of two authors into a single book (or set of books) is a bad idea, in my mind. This is just the start of the problems however.

Firstly, there were no chapters in the book. I can't understand the purpose of this besides forcing the reader to see the "Part" that they are currently reading as a single collection of actions and thoughts - which they really weren't. The lack of spacing between the four sections (not to mention a long prologue and longer epilogue) was offsetting to me, and I missed the deliberate pacing of chapters that all the other New Jedi Order books have. Heck, most books have them. As I said, unless it was some failed attempt at novel artistry, there was no point to it, and just aggravated me.

Secondly, the book went far too much in spurts and stops. Almost useless portions of the plot would be given huge amounts of space, while the conclusions to battles and character depth were rushed, barely mentioned, or forgotten altogether. While I did enjoy the burgeoning love relationships between Jag and Jaina and Jacen and Danni (though I still believe Jacen and Tenel Ka should be together), nothing else really seemed all that well done to me, almost as though the writers were looking to find a niche in the story where their talents could shine.

Thirdly, I found it nearly impossible to follow the flow of the writers words. A paragraph of character thought, for example, would follow normally through a pattern of logic, then suddenly, the character would arrive at a totally different conclusion than I would have ever thought of, or what I thought Williams and Dix were leading me towards. It felt as though the two writers were either confused in the writing of the book, or still attempting to discover their characters and those characters' place in the novel. A prime example (on a larger scale) is with Saba, who, from the prologue, I thought was going to be a main character throughout, but eventually only showed up in any importance at the very end, once again, like the writers just weren't sure what they wanted to do with the characters. For such an important area of the arc plot (ie. finding Zenoma Sekot and possibly dooming the Yuuzhan Vong), it was dissapointing to see the writers meander their way through.

Lastly, the imprecise battle tactics. I had absolutely NO understanding of what was going on during the space battles. None whatsoever. It was really quite sad that the only description of the battles was "The Empire was winning," or "they were on their heels" (those aren't real quotes obviously). It really hurt the book on the whole, as it was practically a nail in the coffin.

I have several other points which also bothered me, but there is a word limit to this review and there's no real point in going on, as anyone reading this will get my point. I didn't enjoy the book at all. I'm almost certainly going to skip over the next two novels as well and pick up with The Final Prophecy, in the hopes of some restoration of the series before Dix and Williams completely destroy it. No offense intended.

I generally agree with a lot that's been already said. My biggest criticism with this book is that the author's bring aspects from some of the worst books in the expanded univers. Who cares about Zonoma Sekot. Rogue Planet was terrible. We get a return of the Yevetha from the horrible Blackfleet Crisis trilogy. The only good thing about this is that the Yevetha are now dead so we'll never have to deal with them again. The books ends with Han and Leia heading off to Bakura. Maybe someone should remind the authors what a terrible book Truce at Bakura was. What's next? We'll run into Callista on Ansion? Or better yet, Mimban. This book also has a few inconsistancies. Maybe I missed something, but I thought Jag and Jaina's relationship was at the serious stage. This book gives them an ambiguous, more-than-friends kind of feel. I agree with some of the other reviewers regarding their opinions of Danni. She needs to be fleshed out, killed or stuck in some lab where she won't bother us. Overall this book was alright, but it doesn't hold a candle to many of the other books in the series.

Following the events of NJO: Destiny's Way, the heroes of the Star Wars universe go on separate missions to find a way to keep pushing back the Vong invasion. I will not go into great detail for those who have not read the book, but the basic storyline revolves around the Solo twins, Jag Fel, Tahira and their respective mission personel. First I wish to state that I was a bit dubious about the Force Heretic trilogy. Destiny's Way did not reach my expectations for the series, but Force Heretic: Remnant pleasantly surprised me. It is the longest of the soft cover NJO books, in fact, it's probably the second longest of all the NJO books, but its exceedingly well written. Williams and Dix have a great grasp on the characters, and though the storyline moves quickly and is fluid, character development and emotion are not in any way compromised. It was good to see characters like Jaina and Admiral Pelleon written true to their previous characteristics. The Pelleon in Destiny's Way was a fat complacent old man, in Remnant, Pelleon has returned to the personality given to him by Zahn's books. In Destiny's Way, Jaina had taken on the characteristics of a cyborg which did not reflect the changes that had taken place within her during Allston's NJO books. The NJO characters who seemed to have been growing stale in Destiny's Way are rejuvenated by Remnant. It is a superior NJO book and clearly in the top five books of the series. I would definitely recommend this book to any NJO fans, and I look forward to the next 2 installments of this trilogy. The only complaint I have, is that important characters like Wedge Antilles, Lando Calrissia, Lowbacca and a few others do not show up in the pages of this book. However, this is understandable because of the directions Williams and Dix are taking the NJO in.

Warning: This review will contain spoilers. While Force Heretic I: Remnant wasn't the best in the NJO, I hardly think it was the worst. To start with, the cover art for both this book and the others in the Force Heretic trilogy is beautiful and the synopsis on the back is certainly very intriguing.

Unfortunately, and much to my dismay, both the cover and the summary are very deceiving in terms of what actually happens in Remnant.

The plot is broken into three separate stories: Luke, Mara, Jacen, Danni, Saba, and Tekli looking for Zonama Sekot; Leia, Han, Jaina, Jag, Tahiri, and the Twin Sun Squadron venturing into regions of the galaxy that have been cut off from the rest of the universe via communication problems early in the war; and Nom Anor joining a Jedi faction on Yuuzhan'tar in hopes that he can overthrow Overlord Shimrra and regain his previous position of power.

First and foremost is Luke's quest for Zonama Sekot. This is the story that is advertised on the back of the book and the story that should make up most of the book. However, what is advertised on the back of the book, the search for Zonama Sekot, isn't exactly what the reader gets. Instead, this story line focuses on Luke and friends stumbling into a battle between the Imperial Remnant and the Yuuzhan Vong. While the battle and interactions between the Imperials and Skywalker's team were well written, it was a bit disappointing to not get what the back of the book promised.

On the note of the Yuuzhan Vong attacking the Imperial Remnant, it seemed a bit coincidental that Luke and friends just happened to stumble into the heat of things just as the battle was turning the favour of the Yuuzhan Vong. Coincidence seems to be a rather large part of the Star Wars universe, but I think some authors get a bit carried away with it. A lot of this book seemed based on coincidence.

For a more favourable comment towards the Luke/Imperial Remnant plot, the interactions between the Imperials and Luke's team were, in my opinion, very well done. It was nice to see the familiar face of Pallaeon enter the NJO scene once again, even if he was in a bacta tank throughout most of his appearance. His interactions with Jacen especially stood out as well written and thought out. The Grand Admiral seemed a bit off in the last book he appeared in, but he was back to the leader we all know and love in Remnant.

The plot regarding the Solos and their various friends seemed unimportant in the grand scheme of things. It struck me that the authors were just giving the Solos something to do. Perhaps this story line will gain importance as the trilogy continues. While learning about what happened to the Yevetha during the Yuuzhan Vong war was certainly interesting, at this point, the Solo plot seemed more like filler than an actual, relevant story line.

And then there was Tahiri.

The whole point of the Solo quest seemed to be introducing the conflict with Tahiri. I'm torn between what to think about this new conflict. Tahiri's shaping took place over five books ago, during Edge of Victory I: Conquest. Since then, it appeared that she moved on, only running into an emotional obstacle when her more-than-friend Anakin Solo was killed by the Yuuzhan Vong in Star by Star. In the books that followed, Tahiri seemed to accept the fact that her best friend (and probably more) had become one with the Force and, having fulfilled her purpose, moved out of the spotlight. To bring her back into the limelight struck me as a bit, well, unnecessary. I mean, I personally like the Tahiri as a character, but, at the end of the day, she is just a minor character. It seems a bit random to bring her up out of the blue to become the main conflict and point of the Solo story line. Regardless, I'm interested to see where this Tahiri issue goes. Perhaps it will end up playing a key role in ending the NJO, even if bringing it up now seems sudden and a tad unnecessary.

The third and final plot line is the story of Nom Anor and his involvement in the Jeedai heresy movement. To me, this is where Williams and Dix really shine. They do a fine job of portraying the Yuuzhan Vong characters and culture. They allow the reader to look deeper into the Yuuzhan Vong and see them as a race with culture and customs and not just as the bad guys of the New Jedi Order. Nom Anor has, so far, been one of the few constants of the Yuuzhan Vong, making an appearance and playing a role in more or less every NJO book. He made some character advancements in Remnant, even going as far as to show a shred of compassion (however selfish his motives were). Yet, he remained the Nom Anor we've come to know and, to an extent, love. He remained focused on his goal of overthrowing Shimrra and ensured that every action brought him one step closer to achieving that goal. Some may complain that focusing on Nom Anor and his plot for power was unnecessary, but I feel that, as a character that has appeared in almost all of the NJO novels, the Executor was long due for a chance in the spotlight to build in character and become deeper than just being the bad guy. My only complaint here is that there wasn't enough time spent on developing this story line.

Williams and Dix have obviously done their research and know a great deal about the Star Wars galaxy. That much is obvious. It was nice to see references made to earlier books and events, which not only enhanced the story, but also served as a reminder or the other events that have place in the Galaxy Far Far Away up to this point. However, I highly doubt the tale told in Remnant will ever be remembered as being highly significant in the Star Wars timeline. There just isn't enough important substance to the book. Most of it ends up seeming like filler more than significant story.

To the authors' credit, they don't have a bad writing style. Their refusal to use chapters was really annoying, as it makes finding a good stopping point significantly difficult. But, other than that, I have few complaints. Though it wasn't the best writing in the NJO, it was easy enough to understand and flowed well enough...even if the authors had the tendency to randomly switch perspectives just when the story line was getting interesting.

This was hardly the best book in the New Jedi Order so far, but it also wasn't the worst. The writing style wasn't bad and the parts of the plot that were significant (and not just filler) could have some interesting conclusions. However, Remnant seemed more like a teaser trailer for what is to come in the later books than a novel on its own. Not horrible, but also not amazingly good.

While I am refusing to BUY any SW book that comes on the time line after SBS, I was able to get the Abridged Audio Tapes of these three books, and have now listen to the tapes of all 3 books and read books 1 and 2. I had seldom seen authors slammed so harshly since Children of the Jedi, Planet of Twilight, Crystal Star and the Black Fleet Crisis books. On the time line years 12 through 17 were a time of mostly very bad books.

I have now finished the FH trilogy abridged audio books. Up front I must say that the Audio book editor must have agreed with many of the negative reviews. It seems that a lot of the stuff that miffed the some readers was deleted from the audio. I will disagree with some reviewers in that this first book is the most interesting of the 3. In book 2, you can just read the Bakura story and not miss anything. Then it switches, and in book 3 you need only read sentient planet story line.
The Skywalker stuff was the most heavily deleted. I am not sure we can blame the authors. There has been a tendency for writers to "get rid" of Luke on some meaningless, boring mission. He has gotten to powerful, especially when teamed with Mara. So Luke is often written as if he is insanely stupid and self indulgent. In short, they may have been ordered to include Luke, since this is the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, but get him out of the way of the plot.

After editing the books to fit into 2 ½ hours of audio, we are left with a real good, fast paced story. In FHII, the story that is left after editing is almost entirely the Bakura story. Again, the end result is a vast improvement over the original the unabridged story.

I therefore praise and highly recommend the audio versions of this trilogy for those who like to listen while they drive, like me. (PS the big complaint with Shatterpoint is the long boring parts also. But they edited that down to a 6 hour audio book and it is awesome!)

Big disconnect between the Book jacket-cover and the actual story. Those who have noted this disconnect in other reviews are correct.

How have we advanced the story? Is a sentient planet going to come to the rescue? Will Jacen continue on his slide into complete stupidity? Will Jaina regain any meaningful place in conflict? Will Luke and Mara continue to be written out of the important stuff? Where is Kyp? Where is Corran Horn? Will Tahiri evolve into a new life form? Will the alliance with Pellaeon last? Stay tuned.

I have generally been displeased with much that has been the NJO. The "Prequel" books are another matter. I have liked them all so far. I especially liked Tatooine Ghost, a new addition to the Classic Era, which ties us back to the Prequel Era. The disconnect has two explanations, Laziness or willful misrepresentation. Only the Del Rey people know for sure. Shatterpoint, which is a 6 hour audio, book is tremendous. All is not mediocrity in the EU, just here in NJO.