Customer Reviews

Vector Prime (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 1)

5 star:		(154)
4 star:		(110)
3 star:		(57)
2 star:		(36)
1 star:		(74)

 

 

[...] I've read all the Star Wars novels also, and I liked most of them, didn't like some, and some I thought were fantastic. Tim Zahn, for instance has 5 brilliant novels. This novel is great too. [...] Aren't you tired of the Empire making ANOTHER comeback? Aren't you tired of the Jedi kids getting kidnapped again? Aren't you tired of another Superweapon? Then this is a fantastic step in the right direction. The writing is very fast paced and is gripping. Many readers complain of "no plot movement". I beg to differ. It moves along at a fine pace, and there is another thing to consider. This is the FIRST book in a continuous story arc of a TWENTY-FIVE book series. Do you want everything resolved in one book? Give me a break. I think the Yuuzhan Vong are a very interesting race, and will make for some great books. Also, you people that can't handle Chewie's death, get a life(By the way, I found his death was classy and well done. I was nearly brought to tears, and he went out a hero). For so long now, our SW characters were invincible. The books lose some intensity when you KNOW the main stars can't die. This move wasn't a publicity stunt. It was bringing something fresh and new to the Star Wars universe, and I welcome it. There was also a comment about this being a DARK novel. I agree. It is more dark and foreboding than others. But, I must say after "Phantom Menace" seemed to target the 10 and under audience, I'm very happy to see the SW universe take a more adult view, without losing the "feeling" of this great place. You want more cute stuff, go read Ewok adventures or something. One criticism I agree with was the portrayal of Mara Jade. Her character was rather flat, and I expected much more from the firey red-headed Jedi. Of course, she kind of has her reasons for being so subdued. Finally, I'm sending a challege to all Star Wars fans that bashed Vector Prime. Go to theforce.net and read the MASSIVE interview with R.A. Salvatore in the interview section. He addresses many of the criticisms of his novel, and really explained everything you could possibly want to know about the new direction of the novels. Including the Chewie issue and many others. I GUARANTEE upon reading this, some will change minds about this novel. Hopefully I haven't offended anyone too badly, for we all love Star Wars, and I just get upset when my SW brothers and sisters can't handle change. I think more highly of us as readers. I'm off my soapbox now.

This is not the Star Wars we all grew up with. I have read all the books, all the collected comics etc, and this is something very different. The art on the cover gives you an idea of what's inside. Two things that are outstanding; 1. a Map of The Star Wars Galaxy, 2. and a Time Line of the books, that while not going all the way back, covers 99% of what should have been included years ago. THANK YOU! Mr. Salvatore adapted to this saga very well, and without the one-liners that have gotten so annoying from the original 3 movies. He didn't use any crutches, and created amazing new life forms, organic weapons etc. Excellent story, well-paced, never slumps, keeps the tension high, so plan on a late night or two. The "IT" that others refer to bothered me, as I feel it was unecessary. That type of written device usually props up a weak story, and this book is anything but weak. But be prepared, this is a grim New Republic, many of our favorite characters are angry, very angry.Teenagers kill, with justification, but it's one more reminder that this "New" series is very new and very dark. If it were a movie, they would have to work hard and cut alot to not get an R. Still it's outstanding. Don't give up on "IT", a crack in that door was left open, and fans will kick that door in. Enjoy!

It was with a bit of trepidation that I started the first book in the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series, Vector Prime. It's been a long while since I've read a Star Wars book, and the ones I had read before weren't the greatest. However, I've heard good things about this series, so I decided to pick the first one up. And I am glad I did. While it's not an outstanding book, it is a very good one. It's well-written with lots of action scenes, and brought back a bit of a feeling of the movies.

There are many good things about this book. The Empire no longer exists, but the Yuuzhan Vong seem like they will be a formidable enemy for Luke and his friends. They have that seemingly unstoppable quality about them that brings to mind the Empire, but they are different enough that they don't seem like retreads. The Vong are a very organic species. They use living things as their ships as well as many of their weapons. Insects that are bred to cut through the metal of ships or that cut through flesh with the slightest touch. I found them a very interesting species, and I think they will be an intriguing enemy for the New Republic to fight. I look forward to reading more about them in subsequent books.

The main characters are well done. They are the same characters we know and love from the movies, but they have changed enough to acknowledge that they are older and wiser now. They seem a little bit more resigned to their battles, not glorying in them as they used to. Han and Leia, with teenage children now who want to be in the thick of the action, realize that their kids are becoming what they were all those years ago. Luke and his wife, Mara Jade, are also very interesting. Luke's dilemma about the Jedi Council seems like something that will come up in later books, as he doesn't have a lot of time to think about the idea in this one. It adds to the feeling of a series, as the reader gets the idea that more is happening than just what is going on in the story itself. Mara is fighting off a mysterious illness that seems to be infecting some people sensitive to the Force, and while she continues to battle hard, it's a battle that it looks like she may lose. The main characters are given interesting problems to deal with and it makes them people you want to read about.

The death of a major character is stunning (unless, of course, you've heard all about it already), and it bodes well for this series. You will never know whether or not a character who is in danger will actually die. This really sets the tone for the entire series, one that will be dark and where anything can happen. But don't worry. There are numerous light moments in this book as well, despite the foreboding feel of the plot. The good-natured competition between the three Solo children is great, and the interplay between Lando and the others is quite good as well.

One of the major problems with this book is Danni Quee and the other characters who are at the edge of the galaxy, monitoring. They are the first ones to notice the Vong coming, though they think at first it's just an asteroid or something. However, the problem is that these are some of the most uninteresting characters I've read about in awhile. They go through the motions of what they are supposed to do, fulfilling their functions happily but not engaging the reader's interest at all. Whenever they appear on the stage, the story grinds to a halt. They don't even register much when they meet their inevitable fate. Danni gets off better than the rest, but that's because she has more of a function. It's almost like Salvatore needed some characters to have Danni play off of, but otherwise didn't want to expend much effort in them.

Another problem is that the book is overwritten a bit. One thing I hate is when exclamation marks are used by the narrator. I think that it's an attempt to add false tension and excitement to a book, and it really turns me off. Salvatore does that a few times in this book, and it brought me up short each time. It's annoying, and I wish authors would stop doing that. The book was exciting enough without this. Salvatore really has a good sense of the action scene, and it seems he went to the Michael Stackpole school of writing about space battles. Ships are flying all over the place, some blowing up, some not. The pace is fluid and never dull. It's hard to do something like this in prose, but Salvatore does a good job. The tension never lets up during these scenes, a sign of a good action writer. I was very impressed. The battle at the end of the book is especially breathtaking.

All in all, though, this is a great start to the New Jedi Order series. It sets the scene very well, sets the mood, and introduces all of the characters. A lot of the main characters were introduced in previous books, but Salvatore presents everything you need to know about them. Their histories are not told completely, so there are some subtle nuances that long-time readers will see that newcomers won't, but it doesn't hurt the book at all. A large part of the plot is dependent on coincidences, but that's par for the course in the Star Wars universe, so it didn't bug me that much. If it bugs you, then you may find a few too many "yeah, right" moments. But for me, it's a good start, and I can't wait to read more.

When talking about Star Wars books, there are two different scales: the universe of Star Wars fiction, and the universe of general fiction.

For Star Wars fiction, this really isn't too bad. We've got a new enigmatic enemy, and the relatively new characters of Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin. The plot is not the traditional Rebels vs. super-weapon-wielding (ex) Imperials. Sure, Salvatore is in way over is head when trying to have his characters work with the philosophy of the Force or deep emotional crises, but it still reads OK. If you just want to read a Star Wars book, this is reasonably good. It's no Greg Bear, Timothy Zahn, or Kathy Tyres, but you could do a lot worse.

Ultimately, though, this reads like a weak Star Trek episode: 43 minutes of meandering plot followed by 5 minutes of resolution, all with no character development. Sure, lots of (sometimes traumatic) stuff happens to the characters, but they hardly develop as people. War of the Rats had vastly better and more believable characters, and that was only a couple steps above pulp itself. The death of a major character is handled particuarly poorly, being both not very dramatic and too late in the book to have any meaningful influence on the characters; this whole plot line could have been written by a 12th grade English student, which leaves a sour taste in my mouth over the whole thing.

And then the final question ... is there nobody in the galaxy who doesn't have Skywalker DNA who is competant? I mean, we're talking 20+ years post-Star Wars, and the whole cast is still out there risking their lives to save the galaxy. I mean, haven't they done enough already? Luke is a Jedi Knight, so that's his job (maybe), but surely Han & Leia and their family deserve a break?

I'd recommend Greg Bear's Rouge Planet as a good Star Wars book. This is more readable Star Wars pulp. It's not bad, it's likely to keep you resaonably engaged for at least a few of the 390 pages, but there is way too much irrelevant stuff in there, the characters are much too weak, and it's not somthing I felt good about when I was done. By about page 280 I just wanted to be finished. I certainly won't be reading any of the following books.

I will begin this by saying that this book, Vector Prime, was quite good. There were all the great characters that we all know and love. Add to that an new evil threat that has one wondering about the future of the new Republic and you come out with a book that was good, but different. I think that it is the fact that there are hardly any trademark moments of humor or safe moments when you know everything is going to be okay. Don't the good guys always win? No, they don't and I think the galaxy far far away just got a little tougher. I also think the story line will definitely get more interesting thanks to what RA Salvatore has brought to the star wars universe. True, this book did not have some of the lighter side that is found in most star wars novels but it has on a whole made the saga a little bit richer. RA Salvatore is a great author and one of my favorites but I honestly did not how he would handle star wars. I'll admit I was skeptical when I read the first reviews but I was impressed by what I actually read. It was a solid read. Bottom line: buy the book now if you "just can't wait" but if you can wait, then do so for the paperback. It is good, but not the best star wars novel to date.

I was quite disappointed in this book. I thought that the publishers had finally figured out that the Star Wars readers really appreciated quality material but this is really a 2nd rate effort by the well known author RA Salvatore. I was looking forwarded to something that would rival the recent works we've been getting from Zahn, Stackpole and Allston. Instead we get a book that seemed to be written in haste and is almost completely devoid of the colorful detail and thoughtful description which makes the better books so enjoyable. The exception being a handful of fight scenes. I'm guessing Salvatore was contracted to do the work primarily because he has a well known name and could get it done on time. It's painfully obvious that quality took a distant backseat.

Salvatore, a popular fantasy writer, has only a cursory understanding of how things `work' in the Star Wars universe and this is most evident in his plots and portrayal of space battles. His ignorance of basic science was embarrassing and some of these details were key to the outcome of the book. Salvatore does get the characters right, for the most part, but with Lando portrayed as too much of a `techie' instead of the egotistical gambler and ladies man we've known for years. On the positive side, the Solo kids were finally something other than precocious brats and this was nice to see. Use of The Force in this book, however, was quite poor with the Jedi seeming to `forget' they were Force sensitive at times. One Jedi would be in life-or-death combat with another, just a couple rooms away, having no clue that anything was going on. Also, things that were blatantly obvious to the reader were completely unknown to Force users in the story. Frustrating.

I suppose what bothered me the most was the complete lack of chemistry between the characters, most notably the newlyweds Luke and Mara. The reader finds out in the first chapter that Mara is quite ill with a mysterious disease and Luke does nothing to try to help heal her even though The Force is the only thing that seems to work and Mara uses it to hold back the disease almost constantly. Why not combine their efforts? Maybe they tried this and it wouldn't work? Well, the reader has no idea as it's sadly never addressed. Luke doesn't even suggest anything that would be obvious such as seeking help from the Jedi healer Cilghal.

The Yuuzhan Vong aliens that are the new villains in this series aren't terribly impressive but since many of the better ideas have already been done I can see why they were introduced. A few other readers have described the `organic' nature of these aliens from another galaxy as merely a gimmick not unlike the overused `superweapons' of past books. I would have preferred a novel dealing maturely with the difficult political situation facing the New Republic but this plot is barely mentioned. It remains to be seen what Michael Stackpole can do with this mess in his forthcoming book "Onslaught" due out in a few months. Hopefully, he can get me interested in this series as this kick-off book failed at the task miserably.

If you haven't bought Vector Prime yet: DON'T. Go directly to the listing for Michael Stackpole's new Star Wars novel "Dark Tide Book One: Onslaught" and purchase it instead.

Vector Prime is a poorly constructed mish-mash of a book that bears little to no resemblance to the Star Wars universe as we know it through earlier books.

Looking for your favorite characters? You won't find them here. Oh, their names are the same, but the personalities are one-dimensional.

Looking for a tightly plotted story? It ain't here, either. Instead, characters fly off willy nilly solely as it suits the author, with little to no explanation given for the enormous coincidences that are the only engine driving this plot.

In a word, this books -- well, it's the word used to describe how you are able to drink through a straw.

It's incredibly disappointing.

But if you ARE looking for a terrific Star Wars novel, go directly to "Onslaught." There you'll find the characters we know and love, with a story that is very well told indeed. You don't need Vector Prime at all -- Stackpole does a great job summing up everything you need to know, with a far greater emotional impact than Salvatore was capable of.

Trust me. You'll be much happier -- and you'll save a few dollars!

Admittedly, Salvatore's work is superior to K.J. Anderson's, but this book left me unsatisfied nevertheless. A shame, too, because it had great potential.

Finally the New Republic/Jedi dyad meets a significant challenge instead of yet another pushover ex-Imperial warlord. The Y. Vong make cunning villains. The author does an admirable job of weaving the various newer characters in with the old standbys, too. BUT...

We are led to believe that Chewbacca is killed by a crashing moon? No way. This alone ruined the book for me. If he really is gone, Salvatore might as well have written off Anakin, too. To tag Chewie out instead of the interesting-as-cardboard Kyp is at least an oversight, if not an outright travesty. Denying readers the pleasure of seeing Miko get in a decent swing at the war coordinator is also maddening.

In a 387-page novel, we are asked to accept that our heroes figure out to dry-freeze the Y. Vong's planet-base all in one chapter, via a casual afternoon discussion? And they pull it off with a mere handful of shieldships? Sorry, that's too easy, and not very convincing. They master the use of the "mysterious technology" gnulliths and oogliths quicker than you can say "what luck." The Y. Vong come from an entirely separate and unknown galaxy (why didn't we learn more along the way about their galaxy and their motivations for taking over the SW one?), yet C-3PO has absolutely no difficulty pulling their extra-galactic language off his hard drive? Please.

Boba Fett escaping the Sarlacc was more believable than this. Yes, it's fiction, I know, but presenting the heroes with the solution on a silver platter leaves one disappointed.

I wish Brian Daley, who probably rolled over in his grave when those "Hurry up--gotta do something R.L. Stine-like" Galaxy of Fear books came out, could return and set things straight. Perhaps Mr. Stackpole puts us back on course with his follow-up to this novel. Heck, crash the next Y. Vong worldship somewhere in Ssi-Ruuk controlled space!

While this book has its moments, it is unsatisfying on the whole, and I am led to conclude that Salvatore is more adept with the gnomes, golems, and trolls of the D&D world.

I knew the big surprise when I read this book (I'm not telling you if you have yet to hear it) and I still thought it was well done. There were a couple of scenes when you thought 'OK, this is IT!' but it wasn't.
The surprising thing about this book was that it was Star Wars from the female perspective! Leia, Mara, Jania and Dani (the new chick on the block) were the core characters! Many readers (espeically those who were fond of the Thrawn trillogy) may find that the most difficult thing about the book. The girls save the universe while the men show genuine emotion and bond (some even have a breakdown or two).
I thought the characters were well fleshed out and matured (this story happens 25 years after Return of the Jedi, so yes Han, Leia, Luke & Chewie did act differently; their personalities were NOT frozen in carbonite all these years!).
Overall, a VERY good read (I couldn't put it down). It makes me want to start reading the Star Wars books again (I had stopped after half way through Heir to the Empire). Go get this book, it is an awesome story!

First things first. For those of you who hated the book becasue of the death of a main chraacter, let me say that the last time I checked, the star wars characters aren't immortal. I believe that Salvatore brought to an end a very heroic death for one of the greatest heroes of the New Republic and a great ally to the Star Wars universe. IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON!... That aside, I believe that this book is a great way to start the New Jedi Order series. The whole gang is back and now the Solo children are older and are developing thier own Jedi abilities. Great start to what I believe will be a great series. However, I do believe that the New Jedi Order series is more "adult" and darker, so the whole nature of a happy ending and the good guys always winning may upset some younger readers. In these books, the good guys will not always win and some of the books may not have happy endings. The Yuuzhan Vong are vile hideous creatures with no respect for life and they will no doubt bring some darkness within the books. So if fans are not interested in this sort of thing, better stay clear.