The last in the Star Wars New Jedi Order trilogy, "Force Heretic".
Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic III: Reunion
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Sean Williams and Shane Dix are the bestselling and award-winning coauthors of the Evergence series. Their last novels were Echoes of Earth and its sequel Orphans of Earth. Individually, both have numerous short story credits, and Williams is a successful author in his own right. His novels include Metal Fatigue and The Resurrected Man. His fantasy series, The Books of the Change, concluded in December 2002.
Williams and Dix both live in Adelaide, South Australia, a city Salman Rushdie once described as the ideal setting for a horror story. Dix lives with his wife, Nydia, and has two children from a previous relationship. Williams lives with writer Kirsty Brooks and DJs in his spare time.
For more information, please visit www.seanwilliams.com.au. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Williams and Dix both live in Adelaide, South Australia, a city Salman Rushdie once described as the ideal setting for a horror story. Dix lives with his wife, Nydia, and has two children from a previous relationship. Williams lives with writer Kirsty Brooks and DJs in his spare time.
For more information, please visit www.seanwilliams.com.au. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Leia literally took a backseat during the flight to Esfandia. Trying to compete with her husband and Droma was too exhausting, and, ultimately, pointless. At times it seemed their affinity wasn’t entirely amicable, but it was perfectly natural. They’d hardly stopped talking since the Ryn had come aboard. Bringing each other up to date on events since they’d parted at Fondor, they covered everything from sneaky tactics to Anakin’s death. After the latter, Droma had left the bridge for a while, to sing a plaintive lay in a language Leia didn’t understand, but then he’d returned with a story about one of his exploits in the Senex sector. The tale was as tall as a Bolenian hillspinner,
but it served its purpose by easing the pall of melancholy that had engulfed the Falcon.
“So they started taking apart the tanker module,” Han
was saying now, relating one of his own stories to Droma,
his mood far removed from the grief that had consumed
him earlier.
“Which you said was filled with liquid hydrogen.”
“Yeah, but destroying the tanker didn’t stop the hydrogen.
If anything, it spread out a little, exactly as
planned.”
“Why?” Droma asked, frowning. “Hydrogen won’t
burn without oxygen.”
“That’s what Goldenrod said. That’s the trouble with
droids: no imagination. As our shields failed, I told Leia
and Jacen to punch holes through the cruiser’s hull with
our quads. Before I could tell those scarheads to eat ions,
there was more than enough oxygen for the hydrogen to
react with. The cruiser went up so fast we had a tough
time dodging the pieces. After that, it was just a matter of
getting out of there. The few skips we left behind weren’t
putting up much of a fight.”
“Understandably. I hear Vong skips are useless once
they’re cut off from their yammosks.”
“Well, they’re not completely useless,” Han said, “but
it does give you an advantage.”
Droma shrugged. “Speaking of yammosks, I’ve heard
some stories about them that would make your tail stand
on end!”
Leia listened to the banter but offered nothing toward
the conversation. Instead, she concentrated on the information
Droma had provided them: communications had
indeed been lost with the Unknown Regions. The destruction
of the base on Generis and the attack on Esfandia appeared
to be the source of the disruption. A free-floating
proto-world, Esfandia had long since cut free from whatever
star had given birth to it, but still had enough radioactivity
bubbling in its core to sustain a liquid atmosphere.
It wasn’t the most hospitable of places, but it didn’t need
to be. A skeleton crew of about a dozen people, mainly
technicians, normally inhabited the relay outpost, which
had been hastily converted from a scientific station at
the beginning of the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. Since
Luke’s mission had entered the Unknown Regions, the
Galactic Alliance’s military presence around Esfandia had
been upgraded to two squadrons of X-wings and a frigate
by the name of Corellian Way. What had happened to
those forces was unknown. The relay staff only had time
to broadcast a message alerting their superiors on Mon
Calamari that they were under attack by the Yuuzhan
Vong before all communications had been lost.
That wasn’t necessarily a sure sign of disaster. The
relay base was designed to resist such attacks. Imperial
AT-AT technology had been adapted to the cold soup of
Esfandia’s environment, creating a giant, mechanical, crablike
construction capable of moving from place to place
at a slow but steady pace. Such mobility was an advantage,
given that most of the world was studded with
receivers sensitive enough to detect transmissions from
deep in the Unknown Regions. The base was designed to
circumnavigate the globe, maintaining the receivers, while
the technicians remained safely inside. That the ability to
move made it easier to hide when attacked was a bonus.
The base, therefore, could have simply gone to ground,
tucked away in a crevasse or under the thick silt of the atmospheric
soup. If it could be found, it could be reactivated.
Assuming, of course, that the Yuuzhan Vong hadn’t
found it first and destroyed it for good.
Leia sent her thoughts outward, far beyond her location
in hyperspace, beyond Esfandia and whatever awaited
them there, to her brother, Luke. The last message Cal
Omas had received from him suggested he’d found a
promising lead and was setting off to investigate. He
hadn’t specified what that lead consisted of or where he
was headed, and now there was no way they would know
unless they repaired the communications outage. Leia
had no doubt that, were anything terrible to happen to
him, then she would know about it. She would feel it,
just as she had in the past. Nevertheless, she was concerned.
So much was invested in his mission—personally,
and on a galactic scale—that if something were to go
wrong, it would be a disaster of unimaginable proportions.
The conversation between her husband and his old
friend shifted as the Falcon’s console began to beep and
flash, announcing that they were nearing their destination.
“Right on the nose,” Han said proudly, flipping switches
in readiness for the return to realspace.
“And we didn’t even have to get out and push,”
Droma said dryly.
“Yeah, that’s real amusing,” Han returned without
smiling. “Now you want to move your funny, fuzzedup
self out of that chair so Leia can come forward and
help me?”
“No, that’s all right, Han,” she said as Droma began
to stand. “I’m sure Droma can manage.”
She couldn’t say that she was enjoying the break from
routine, but it was interesting to watch Han’s interaction
with the Ryn. Memories of the terrible time when Han
had pulled away from her while grieving for Chewbacca
still stung, but only Droma had witnessed how low Han
had really sunk back then. If having the Ryn aboard did
remind Han of those painful times, he certainly wasn’t
letting it show.
“You remember how to operate the copilot’s board?”
Han asked Droma without looking up from what he was
doing.
“Follow orders, and curse when something goes
wrong,” Droma replied with a smile. “Which it invariably
does.”
Han affected an indignant expression on behalf of his
beloved freighter. “Hey, she may be old—”
“But she’s still got it where it counts, right?” Droma
said.
“What have I told you about doing that?” Han said
irritably.
Droma laughed. “Anyway, it’s not the age of the ship
that worries me,” he said, flicking a couple of switches of
his own. “It’s the age of the pilot I’m more concerned
about.”
The navicomputer bleeped, cutting off any retort Han
might have been about to offer. Both faced the front just
as the sweeping streaks of hyperspace dissolved into a
cold and distant starscape. There was no primary to dim
the stars with its glare; the nearest inhabited system in
this section of the Mid Rim was more than ten light years
away, and the nearest star of any kind was half that
distance. There was nothing for trillions of kilometers
but space dust, and the tiny bauble that was the lonely
world of Esfandia.
Or so it should have been. As Pride of Selonia along
with Twin Suns Squadron emerged from hyperspace alongside
the Falcon, Droma’s eyes checked the sensor console
for the orphaned planet. The Falcon’s sensor suite was
still ahead of standard tech, and it soon acquired the target.
It was covered with thick clouds, and glowed a burnt
orange in artificial colors that looked wrong to Leia’s
eyes until she realized what was missing: because Esfandia
had no sun, its sole source of heat lay at its core. And
with no orbit to follow, that meant it would have no seasons,
either—which in turn meant no icy poles, and no
broiling equator. It would be the same temperature all
over.
Closer scans, however, revealed that not to be entirely
the case. There were at least six hot spots on the hemisphere
facing them, and even as they watched, another
blossomed into life.
Droma zoomed in closer to examine the cause.
“Aerial bombardment,” he said. “Someone’s dropping
mines from orbit.”
“They’re taking out the sensors,” Leia said. “The Yuuzhan
Vong are still here!”
Han’s eyes darted across the displays in front of him.
“I’ve got a strong presence in close orbit. Seven capital
vessels, nine cruisers. Not many skips detached, though.
No sign of the local defenses, or the reinforcements from
Mon Cal.”
“I think I can guess why not, too,” Droma commented.
Leia knew exactly what he meant. The Yuuzhan Vong
force in orbit over Esfandia was enormous by any standard.
Against the two squadrons and one frigate Esfandia
had possessed, plus the two squadrons Mon Calamari
had dispatched to investigate, it was almost obscene.
Overkill didn’t cover it.
“I thought the Vong’s resources were stretched,” Droma
said.
Han just grunted. A crackle of information flowed
across newly reopened communications lines. Captain
Mayn and Jag were looking for instructions.
... --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
but it served its purpose by easing the pall of melancholy that had engulfed the Falcon.
“So they started taking apart the tanker module,” Han
was saying now, relating one of his own stories to Droma,
his mood far removed from the grief that had consumed
him earlier.
“Which you said was filled with liquid hydrogen.”
“Yeah, but destroying the tanker didn’t stop the hydrogen.
If anything, it spread out a little, exactly as
planned.”
“Why?” Droma asked, frowning. “Hydrogen won’t
burn without oxygen.”
“That’s what Goldenrod said. That’s the trouble with
droids: no imagination. As our shields failed, I told Leia
and Jacen to punch holes through the cruiser’s hull with
our quads. Before I could tell those scarheads to eat ions,
there was more than enough oxygen for the hydrogen to
react with. The cruiser went up so fast we had a tough
time dodging the pieces. After that, it was just a matter of
getting out of there. The few skips we left behind weren’t
putting up much of a fight.”
“Understandably. I hear Vong skips are useless once
they’re cut off from their yammosks.”
“Well, they’re not completely useless,” Han said, “but
it does give you an advantage.”
Droma shrugged. “Speaking of yammosks, I’ve heard
some stories about them that would make your tail stand
on end!”
Leia listened to the banter but offered nothing toward
the conversation. Instead, she concentrated on the information
Droma had provided them: communications had
indeed been lost with the Unknown Regions. The destruction
of the base on Generis and the attack on Esfandia appeared
to be the source of the disruption. A free-floating
proto-world, Esfandia had long since cut free from whatever
star had given birth to it, but still had enough radioactivity
bubbling in its core to sustain a liquid atmosphere.
It wasn’t the most hospitable of places, but it didn’t need
to be. A skeleton crew of about a dozen people, mainly
technicians, normally inhabited the relay outpost, which
had been hastily converted from a scientific station at
the beginning of the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. Since
Luke’s mission had entered the Unknown Regions, the
Galactic Alliance’s military presence around Esfandia had
been upgraded to two squadrons of X-wings and a frigate
by the name of Corellian Way. What had happened to
those forces was unknown. The relay staff only had time
to broadcast a message alerting their superiors on Mon
Calamari that they were under attack by the Yuuzhan
Vong before all communications had been lost.
That wasn’t necessarily a sure sign of disaster. The
relay base was designed to resist such attacks. Imperial
AT-AT technology had been adapted to the cold soup of
Esfandia’s environment, creating a giant, mechanical, crablike
construction capable of moving from place to place
at a slow but steady pace. Such mobility was an advantage,
given that most of the world was studded with
receivers sensitive enough to detect transmissions from
deep in the Unknown Regions. The base was designed to
circumnavigate the globe, maintaining the receivers, while
the technicians remained safely inside. That the ability to
move made it easier to hide when attacked was a bonus.
The base, therefore, could have simply gone to ground,
tucked away in a crevasse or under the thick silt of the atmospheric
soup. If it could be found, it could be reactivated.
Assuming, of course, that the Yuuzhan Vong hadn’t
found it first and destroyed it for good.
Leia sent her thoughts outward, far beyond her location
in hyperspace, beyond Esfandia and whatever awaited
them there, to her brother, Luke. The last message Cal
Omas had received from him suggested he’d found a
promising lead and was setting off to investigate. He
hadn’t specified what that lead consisted of or where he
was headed, and now there was no way they would know
unless they repaired the communications outage. Leia
had no doubt that, were anything terrible to happen to
him, then she would know about it. She would feel it,
just as she had in the past. Nevertheless, she was concerned.
So much was invested in his mission—personally,
and on a galactic scale—that if something were to go
wrong, it would be a disaster of unimaginable proportions.
The conversation between her husband and his old
friend shifted as the Falcon’s console began to beep and
flash, announcing that they were nearing their destination.
“Right on the nose,” Han said proudly, flipping switches
in readiness for the return to realspace.
“And we didn’t even have to get out and push,”
Droma said dryly.
“Yeah, that’s real amusing,” Han returned without
smiling. “Now you want to move your funny, fuzzedup
self out of that chair so Leia can come forward and
help me?”
“No, that’s all right, Han,” she said as Droma began
to stand. “I’m sure Droma can manage.”
She couldn’t say that she was enjoying the break from
routine, but it was interesting to watch Han’s interaction
with the Ryn. Memories of the terrible time when Han
had pulled away from her while grieving for Chewbacca
still stung, but only Droma had witnessed how low Han
had really sunk back then. If having the Ryn aboard did
remind Han of those painful times, he certainly wasn’t
letting it show.
“You remember how to operate the copilot’s board?”
Han asked Droma without looking up from what he was
doing.
“Follow orders, and curse when something goes
wrong,” Droma replied with a smile. “Which it invariably
does.”
Han affected an indignant expression on behalf of his
beloved freighter. “Hey, she may be old—”
“But she’s still got it where it counts, right?” Droma
said.
“What have I told you about doing that?” Han said
irritably.
Droma laughed. “Anyway, it’s not the age of the ship
that worries me,” he said, flicking a couple of switches of
his own. “It’s the age of the pilot I’m more concerned
about.”
The navicomputer bleeped, cutting off any retort Han
might have been about to offer. Both faced the front just
as the sweeping streaks of hyperspace dissolved into a
cold and distant starscape. There was no primary to dim
the stars with its glare; the nearest inhabited system in
this section of the Mid Rim was more than ten light years
away, and the nearest star of any kind was half that
distance. There was nothing for trillions of kilometers
but space dust, and the tiny bauble that was the lonely
world of Esfandia.
Or so it should have been. As Pride of Selonia along
with Twin Suns Squadron emerged from hyperspace alongside
the Falcon, Droma’s eyes checked the sensor console
for the orphaned planet. The Falcon’s sensor suite was
still ahead of standard tech, and it soon acquired the target.
It was covered with thick clouds, and glowed a burnt
orange in artificial colors that looked wrong to Leia’s
eyes until she realized what was missing: because Esfandia
had no sun, its sole source of heat lay at its core. And
with no orbit to follow, that meant it would have no seasons,
either—which in turn meant no icy poles, and no
broiling equator. It would be the same temperature all
over.
Closer scans, however, revealed that not to be entirely
the case. There were at least six hot spots on the hemisphere
facing them, and even as they watched, another
blossomed into life.
Droma zoomed in closer to examine the cause.
“Aerial bombardment,” he said. “Someone’s dropping
mines from orbit.”
“They’re taking out the sensors,” Leia said. “The Yuuzhan
Vong are still here!”
Han’s eyes darted across the displays in front of him.
“I’ve got a strong presence in close orbit. Seven capital
vessels, nine cruisers. Not many skips detached, though.
No sign of the local defenses, or the reinforcements from
Mon Cal.”
“I think I can guess why not, too,” Droma commented.
Leia knew exactly what he meant. The Yuuzhan Vong
force in orbit over Esfandia was enormous by any standard.
Against the two squadrons and one frigate Esfandia
had possessed, plus the two squadrons Mon Calamari
had dispatched to investigate, it was almost obscene.
Overkill didn’t cover it.
“I thought the Vong’s resources were stretched,” Droma
said.
Han just grunted. A crackle of information flowed
across newly reopened communications lines. Captain
Mayn and Jag were looking for instructions.
... --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Finally Over,
By A Customer
This review is from: Force Heretic III: Reunion (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 17) (Mass Market Paperback)
Holy cow I am glad this series is over. Almost nothing happend in the entire series. That to me was the most annoying part. And I personally didn't care for the authors syle of writing. I prefere chapers as opposed to lenthly sections. And I have never been so frustrated in a book as this one. About half way through the book, he (the author) would write a few paragraphs of what is going on with these people get it all good and then jump to a totally different story line with different people. I don't mind that so much if you space it out some, but "blah blah JUMP!, blah JUMP, blah JUMP, bl__ JUMP! I was going nuts. You have to read the first few maby one inbetween and last few pages out of 40 or so to find out what happend to anybody. Heaven forbid you do a entire story about what happend to this person at this time and then go on to another person/story. Very frustrating Like I said in my title, thank goodness this series is over; worst 3 books in NJO.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Ouch. What more is there to say?,
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Force Heretic III: Reunion (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 17) (Mass Market Paperback)
If you thought Star Wars couldn't get any worse than Kevin J. Anderson, you were wrong. Majorly, majorly wrong.Force Heretic III is a book without purpose, plot, or character. The Solo-Skywalker clan is still split up, with Luke, Mara, and Jacen out in the Unknown Regions, searching for a planet that they believe can end the war with the Yuuzhan Vong- though they have no clue how. Suffice to say that Vergere, the Old Republic Jedi teacher of the irritating and insufferable Jacen, told him about it. Leia, Han, Jaina, and Jag (along with Twin Suns Squadron) are still on their pointless journey through...comm black-spots? The Force Heretic series is such that by the third book, I'm really not quite sure what any of them are supposed to be doing by now. Tahiri, the Jeedai-who-was-shaped, is still struggling with her Yuuzhan Vong alter ego, Riina Kwaad. WHY exactly Riina has just now shown up is explained, albeit weakly. Riina/Tahiri's new peace with herself (which occurs after many pointless mental arguments) is over-exaggerated, with the reader being reminded constantly of it throughout the book after it finally occurs. Another point to me that seems confusing is that after her new "mental-melding" Tahir keeps the name, "Tahiri." I find it rather hard to believe that a Yuuzhan Vong like Riina would allow her name to be so easily cast aside in favor of the infidel Jeedai's. Of course, all of Tahiri's, and Jaina's(who is constantly fainting and being wounded), and Jag's and Leia's and Han's exploits are like the work of Zahn when compared to the Barbara Hambly-like stupidity of Jacen and co. on Zonama Sekot. Personally, I feel that Zonama Sekot should NOT have taken up three whole book of the series, especially as we still have NO CLUE of what the heck its purpose is (if it has one at all). And the constant praising of Jacen Solo (whom I hate), of how smart he is, and how moral, and Danni throwing herself all over him has not helped one bit. Luke as a Jedi Master is esentially ignored in favor of this hermit-wannabe and Mara is made out to be nothing more than a grumpy red-head lacking the brains to make sense of the "brilliant" plans Jacen comes up with. Which, when you think about it, to NOT be able to figure out Jacen's plans doesn't indicate a lack of a brain so much as the existence of one. I'm rambling, I know, but this book was so impotently infuriating in its sheer idiocy and pointlessness that I'm really at a loss for sensible words. All in all, a stupid book, one you really don't need to waste your time on, especially if you're a fan of Luke and Mara as I am, since they are so grossly IGNORED in this book. Simply know that Zonama Sekot is found, Leia and company are called back to Mon Cal, and Jag has not yet proposed to Jaina, and move onto the next book in the series, The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes, who, despite the vomit-inducing cover of the book, is a GREAT author. He wrote Ben's birth and Anakin and Tahiri's Yuuzhan Vong exploits, didn't he?
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Finally everybody arrives somewhere and this trilogy is over,
By "arnoldogarza" (Monterrey, NL, Mexico) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Force Heretic III: Reunion (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 17) (Mass Market Paperback)
This is the 17th Book in the The New Jedi Order saga, or 19th if you count the 2 e-book only stories. Only two more books to go.The third and last book in this story by Sean Williams and Shane Dix, is the more entertaining of the three books, but that's not too hard to achieve. And don't get me wrong, there's plenty, I mean, lots of cinematic action around... but most of it makes little sense. The book continues with the 3 stories of the last two books: the search for the living-planet Zonama Sekot by Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, Jacen Solo, Saba Sebatyne, Tekli, Danni Quee and the group of the Imperial Remnant helping them. Guess what? They finally found it. I have to repeat my recommendation to read another SW book, not part of the New Jedi Order: "Star Wars: Rogue Planet" by Greg Bear ... It's not very good, but you can understand the importance of Zonama Sekot, the interaction with the Jedi Vergere and Anakin Skywalker role in the history of this planet. If you think this idea of a sentient planet, I'll have to refer you to Marvel Comics, where "Ego, The Living Planet" has been around for some decades. Crazy, I know. I'm sure there must be a prior work in the SciFi literature somewhere. The best part of this story (and maybe the book) must be the narration of Zonama's flora and fauna. You can get to imagine this wonderful world, full of life and the Force. The problem with this part is all the secondary story, this rebel group in Zonama, and the decisions of Jacen Solo. It's really exasperating. It's almost as if Jacen is returned to his pre-Vergere thinking. And it's not fully explained (or at least satisfactory) the decision Luke makes. Finally, the story ends very weak, you can see Zenoama Sekot endured a lot of problems when it was travelling around the galaxy, but now the Ferroans have some technology which will prevent that of happening again, if there's going to be another "tour". Yeah, right. And then there's this news bulletin Luke gives to his sister in an insecure comm channel, when just some lines before Leia was making that evident to another person. You would think you'd like to be sure there are no information leaks. Another storyline is the one with Nom Anor and his rebellion among the Shamed Ones, which leads to nowhere. We continue to see Shimrra, and the Yuuzhan Vong finally appeared, but as another reviewer said, the Yuuzhan Vong are being dumbed down, they are not that formidable force we have seen in the first 14 books. And it's not that they have changed for the worst, it's only part of the storyline plan, I guess. There's no way the editor(s) could allow this very different (bad?) representation. The other storyline is about the party from the Galactic Federation of Free-Alliances formed by Han and Leia Organa Solo, Jaina, Jag Fel, etc. There's a lot of action here, but also, many holes in the story, or not fully explained things, or things handled with a degree of levity. There's one part of the story where you see both warring parts are expecting something to happen in the surface below, and you can't see clearly why one side of it want's so badly to be there. "Don't worry", it's "explained" at the beginning of the epilogue. It doesn't make much sense, really. Now, this is the book from the three-part "Force Heretic" that I read quicker and maybe I enjoyed most, but it must be beacause I already invested in the previous two books. This is the weakest books of all the New Jedi Order series, and it's a shame they dedicated three books to it. The last two books must be a great deal better than these last three to leave a good taste to the entire series. I really hope so.
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