Vortex (Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi, Book 6) [Hardcover]

Troy Denning (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 30, 2010

In a stunning turn of events, Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, joined forces with members of the Sith armada sent to kill them—and turned their combined might against the monstrous being Abeloth. But with one menace dealt with, a new and even more insidious threat looms.

Now Luke and Ben must go on the run, taking along the inscrutable—and ever dangerous—Sith apprentice Vestara Khai. With a host of Sith warriors in hot pursuit, the Skywalkers soon find themselves trapped on the moon Pydyr, caught between their former allies and a mob of angry Fallanassi. A new truce may be their only hope. But can a Sith ever be trusted?

With the Jedi’s most famous father-and-son team outnumbered and outgunned, the countdown to galactic disaster has begun—and time is running out.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The sixth in a nine-part series finds Luke and Ben continuing their uneasy alliance with the Sith as they investigate the mysterious history of Abeloth, hoping to find out how she caused the Jedi to go mad and how she was freed from her prison. On Coruscant, Leia and Han lead a rescue mission to get the two Horns out of their carbonite prison, thus bringing the inevitable confrontation between the Jedi and Admiral Daala ever closer. Out on the Rim, the slave unrest looks like it might become an outright uprising. Denning does an excellent job moving the action forward, working with the multiple plotlines introduced in the previous five books and adding new elements that will excite fans eager for books seven, eight, and nine. As usual, there is plenty of action and excitement, with the drama evenly spread among the major characters. Sure to be a popular addition to all sf collections. --Jessica Moyer

Review

"Awesome, poignant and extremely action-packed. 8/10" Emotionally Fourteen "Die-hard fans will lap this up, and it's a good and enjoyable addition to the series" Civilian Reader --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine/Lucas Books; 1st edition (November 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780345509208
• ISBN-13: 978-0345509208
• ASIN: 034550920X
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Troy Denning is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost and Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Star by Star, as well as Waterdeep, Pages of Pain, Beyond the High Road, The Summoning, and many other novels. His most recent Star Wars novel is Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex. A former game designer and editor, he lives in western Wisconsin with his wife, Andria.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Feeling FOTJ Fatigue despite a fair entry December 20, 2010

By Jacen

Format:Hardcover

Vortex has a lot of action And Denning does know action. He does a commendable job not only juggling all of the various soap opera story-lines in FOTJ but he does so while giving us the feeling that things are really finally moving. Not happy with the Jedi Council lately? Denning remedies that. Thought Ben and Vestara were too cutesy in Allies? He tweaks that relationship too. So there was a feeling of resolution of several ongoing plots. Whether I agree with all of them is debatable.

Abeloth is more confusing and relentless than in Abyss. Why she's after Luke's old flames I don't know but I hope that goes somewhere. I really loved Denning's Luke. I haven't always in the past but Luke is as wise, powerful and understated as we want him to be. Denning creates with Abeloth something pretty un-Star Warsy. It's new. It's a Force driven David Lynch realm. But I mostly approve of the risks Denning takes by making the Force cringeworthy.

I won't call this a page turner as I didn't tear through it. I did however notice that it's more what the fans have been clamoring for in this series. There are definite consequences in Vortex. A fine entry in a fairly thin series.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars star wars vortex January 20, 2011

By Bradlee

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Maybe it's just me, but these very long star wars series really seem to be stretching their various plotlines out much too long. I think fate of the jedi has done a better job than legacy of the force at keeping my attention, but it still seems that each book in FOTJ hits long boring parts. It seems many of the star wars plot devices used before are just being continually recycled with slight tweaks. I understand that in order for a disaster to truly affect the great Luke Skywalker it has to be massively universe threatening. But it seems as if the whole universe leans on him a bit much. So I really do think having him step down as grandmaster was a fantastic step in the right direction to limit him calling on other jedi for help. Unfortunately he seems to have no problems solving every issue thrown at him.

That being said, the Luke/Ben storyline in this book was much more interesting for me than the previous book. But I found the Han/Leia sections to be extremely forgettable, including what was supposed to be their big action sequence in this book. And as much as I love star wars, I think the best books do not involve these galaxy spanning political problems. Not because I think politics are boring, but because I don't think any author has been able to introduce a political thread in star wars that can stretch through 6 or 9 books and keep it from becoming stale. I did like the fact that the jedi council finally showed some resolution in the deadlock they have been suffering through.

Overall I can't say this was a bad book, but I certainly didn't find it an overly exciting addition to the series. More of a place holder for a series that probably could have been formatted to fit 6 books allowing for a tighter more streamlined exciting series.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fate of the Jedi's best December 1, 2010

By James

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Well, first things first. Easily the best Star Wars book I've read in a long, long time. Anything that can almost bring me to tears (a 22-year old college student) I consider good stuff. Two scenes in particular (don't want to spoil it) made the book worth it. They were heavily emotionally written and worked extremely well.

Denning has shown that again he knows Star Wars. I realize that many people are upset about the direction Star Wars has gone, so if you view the book with those tinted-glasses, then you might be disappointed. But I feel that if you read it with an open mind, then you will enjoy it as I did.

One of the big complaints about the recent books is the lack of continuity between authors. I believe this has been fixed a great deal. Whether the authors are learning from mistakes or if the bigger gaps between books has to do with it I don't know, but you can definitely see the difference. Subplots from the previous book (slavery, the trial) are carried over and are written very similarly.

Speaking of the trial, that way of story-telling, along with the news reporting, are two things that help keep Star Wars fresh for me. It's not been done outside this series and I really like the way it is done.

Also, there is a lot that happened in this book. If you've been thinking that this series has just been meandering around without really having a point, then you'll really like this one. Allies was a lot of fighting, but in this one the Jedi actually "do" something after just sitting around for five books. So that definitely is a plus.

Overall, I highly recommend it. The Sith are well done, the Fallanassi are creepy as always, and the Jedi are just awesome.

One more thing: Wynn Dorvan = my new favorite character.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars @ Westphal February 18, 2011

A Kid's Review

Format:Hardcover

The Jedi losing their way and doing things like acting selfish is all a part of the story line. Their true leader, Luke, has been out cast so the Jedi no longer have a strong leader that they all trust. Hammer was choosen by Luke to lead in his stead because of his political skills and not his skills as a Jedi. He is there in an attempt to be someone the government may actually listen too and to be someone who may actually listen to the government. In the long run that's what the Jedi needs more then someone who woul put the needs of the Jedi over the needs of others like Kyp Durron would do.

The only complaint I have about the Star Wars series of late is all the short books they keep releasing. No book under 300 pages is worth the [...] they want you to pay retail. And the paper backs are delayed for a year or more so it's not like you can wait 3 months to get the paper back and save some money. A sub 300 page book is something for little kids. Look at some of the good Zahn books that could get to be over 600 pages long.