Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order #5

by James Luceno

A string of smashing victories by the forces of the sinister aliens known as the Yuuzhan Vong has left New Republic resources and morale stretched to the breaking point. Leia Organa Solo, estranged from her husband, Han, oversees the evacuation of refugees on planets in the path of the merciless invaders. Luke Skywalker struggles to hold the fractious Jedi Knights together, even while one of them undertakes a bold but reckless undercover mission. Manipulating their alliance with the amoral Hutts, the Yuuzhan Vong leave a cunning trail of vital information where New Republic agents are sure to find it-information the desperate defenders cannot afford to ignore: the location of the aliens' next target.Then Han Solo stumbles into the dark heart of a raging battle, thus beginning a furious race against time that will require every skill and trick in his arsenal towin

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera, War, Science Fiction Fantasy

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 3, 2000

About the author

James Luceno is a New York Times bestselling author, best known for his novels and reference books connected with the Star Wars franchise and the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and novelisations of the Robotech animated television series. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife and youngest child.

He has co-written many books with Brian Daley as Jack McKinney.

Reviews

[CS · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this what being ADHD means?

Han Solo and Droma continue their quest to find his family amidst a billion other plots including, but not limited to: Droma's refugee family, the Yuuzhan Vong politicking with the Hutts, Viqi Shesh being a duplicitous politican (but what politician not with the last name "Solo" or "Organa" isn't?), Leia rubbing elbows with the Hapans, and the Solo boys going to Centerpoint to do absolutely nothing.

NOTE: Based on audiobook and novel.

I'm sorry if my summary sounds rather caustic. This novel was rather caustic on the mind, and I figured if I can't throw a bit back at my audience, I will likely self-combust. Either that or start tearing into my iPod. And since I don't have the money to replace the iPod, I figured that putting my thoughts out in word form is less expensive. Monetarily.

Now that I've finished "Agents of Chaos II", I want to apologize for my review of Agents of Chaos I. When you read both novels back to back, you see that the first is light years better than the second. At least, after reading the first, I didn't want to scour my brain with a Greenie. I almost have no idea where to begin, there is so much that made me want to pull out my hair.

Let's start with characters. That's usually a good place to start. Well, if you didn't like the tight focus on Han and his predicament, you are in luck. Luceno decided to drag up every character from the last 10 years of Star Wars EU and throw him in the pages. Oh, AND give that person a point of view. I thought this book was supposed to focus more on Han and his healing, but apparently, I lost that memo. While some of the characters were interesting to see again (Ebrim and Marcha), others made me bang my head on my desk (Oh, great, in this expansive, DEVASTATING war, Roa's STILL ALIVE). In fact, I think I DID bang my head on my desk. That would explain the ripping headache I have right now.

Instead, we focus on some random planet with Leia attempting to herd the refugees off. This was the first time I realized it, but does anyone else think it odd that there has only been one real victory for the Yuuzhan Vong--the one at Ithor? Every other "victory" has been alluded to (as in "Oh noes, the Yuuzhan Vong are advancing!") or offscreen. If this is supposed to be the part of the story arc where the Yuuzhan Vong are conquering, shouldn't more of the books end with, oh, I don't know, maybe some planets being CONQUERED? You know, a few losses for the New Republic? But, no, Vector Prime ends with Helska kerblooey, Ruin ends with victory, Agents of Chaos I ends with Elan dead, and Agents of Chaos II is still victory (sorry to somewhat spoil). Onslaught is the only book with a modicum of victory for this foreboding "conquerors".

But I am getting off topic. Characters. Han is decent, Leia returns with more snap this time (though, spoiler again, they are still not back together by the end of this novel), but all the other characters are EPIC FAIL. Droma fails to impress, and the only thing I like about him is how he is dumped off at the end of the novel (frak, another spoiler, sorry). Jacen and Anakin resort to bickering like children: "Don't touch that!" "I want to!" "MOM!!" Viqi Shesh, as stated above, slips more into Dirty PoliticanTM. And no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find Luke and Mara for the life of me.

Storywise, there are some good threads. Hutts siding with the Yuuzhan Vong? Yuppers, that's good (reminiscent of the prequels too!). Wurth Skidder getting some time to expand his character? Yeah, I could get behind that. Centerpoint station coming into play? Definitely. Someone on the inside leaking secrets to the Yuuzhan Vong? Oh, yeah. All of these plus more? FRAK NO! OMG, what happened? Did Luceno have ADD? Did he hear complaints about the Han focus of the previous novel and decide to drastically change the second? I'd MUCH prefer the former to this scatter-shot mess. Remove the stupid plotline with the refugees (which was 100% padding), move some of the plots for further novels and expand the remaining ones, and you'd have a fair novel...

If there wasn't this stupid commentary about Anakin, somehow the only person who can use Centerpoint corrently, using the frakking weapon. Yeah, he's not supposed to use it, so someone else can and kill thousands of friendlies. Where is the logic in that? Someone needs to bash in Jacen's head for convincing his brother from using it. At least someone was smart in using it (and I LOVE how the news praises the one who does!!).

If there wasn't some dumb lines about planets of billions being unable to hold a measly 10,000 refugees. Sure, maybe that's a lot for a country, like the United States, or a state, like Louisiana but THINK BIG. This is a galaxy, not a planet or a country.

If Leia didn't get upset about Wurth acting like he could save the galaxy single-heartedly, when she acted that way when she was younger and fighting the Empire.

If Luceno didn't write strange sentences like "Death pursued the shuttle to the edge of space". In fact, much of Luceno's writing smarts of overwriting, from thesaurus showoff ("Lookie! I found this word 'rictus'!") to over-describing to transcribing space battles funny (never would I ever consider a space battle "pretty" as people are DYING).

If everyone didn't meet up in the EXACT SAME SYSTEM withOUT coordinating their efforts.

If Luceno didn't feel the need to show off his knowledge of the EU world. "Let's throw in some of 'Courtship', some early NJO, and some 'Corellian Trilogy'!"

If the book wasn't called "Jedi Eclipse" even though the Jedi BARELY REGISTER in the book.

I think I've worn myself out. If you've managed to get through that, you deserve brownie points.

I can definitely say, of the first five NJO books, this is the worst. There is too much going on with too little focus on any one thing. An editor should probably have gone through, crossed out a few plot lines. If he or she had, I know we'd have had a much better story. And you wouldn't have had to read through this review.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intergalactic warfare is hell on a marriage. This is the take-away message of James Luceno's second book in his Agents of Chaos duology, "Jedi Eclipse".

I'm not sure at what point the Star Wars Expanded Universe went from being a space opera to a soap opera, but I'm pretty sure it happened somewhere around this book.

As the book opens, we learn that Princess Leia is currently "separated" from her husband, Han Solo. Months of being apart---both physically and emotionally---have taken its toll on the Solo marriage. Of course, it doesn't help that there is a war raging against a most vicious and formidable enemy, the Yuuzhan Vong.

Both Leia and Han are out there doing their own things: Leia, helping refugees from conquered worlds find hospitable planets to temporarily settle on; Han, galavanting across the galaxy in his freshly-painted Millennium Falcon with his new-found friend, Droma, searching for Droma's lost family. Obviously, there's still love between the two, but both Han and Leia are beginning to drift apart.

Unlike Luceno's first book in his duology, "Hero's Trial", which was a very Han Solo-centric book (a plus), "Jedi Eclipse" jumps around among several different storylines involving a huge dramatis personae, almost too many characters for a book its size (a minus). Luceno may have been better off expanding his duology into a trilogy, if only to give certain characters their due.

One storyline involves a Jedi Knight named Wurth Skidder who allows himself to be captured by the Yuuzhan Vong in order to wreak havoc on the Yuuzhan Vong's warship from within. Another storyline involves a Hutt named Randa, who makes a deal with the Yuuzhan Vong to conquer some planets within its system while leaving others alone.

Both characters are interesting, and both deserve more story than they have been given.

Not that "Jedi Eclipse" doesn't have all the requisite action, suspense, and fun that one comes to expect from the SWEU. It does. It just also happens to have a whole lot more sappiness and "soap opera"-ness to it.

Take the return of Prince Isolder, for example. Leia tries to persuade the Hapes Consortium to join the fight with the New Republic, and she reunites with Prince Isolder (see Dave Wolverton's cheesy novel "The Courtship of Princess Leia"), with whom Leia shared a few minor sparks and almost married before being wooed by Han. Luceno handles the reunion tactfully, but the scenes with Leia and Isolder practically ooze with awkward silliness and a contrived attempt at providing temptation for Leia. It's a brazen and ridiculous scenario to see if Leia will succumb to adulterous yearnings or hold true to her one true love.

There's also the return of Han's psychotic cousin, Thrackan Sal-Solo (see Roger MacBride Allen's Ambush at Corellia trilogy), newly-released from prison and supposedly "rehabilitated". I don't know why, but this whole storyline feels like an episode of "All My Children".

I give credit to Luceno for trying to reintegrate some narrative threads from other authors's series, and, for the most part, he handles it well. Occasionally, though, his attempts lapse into melodrama rather than actual drama, which, I realize, sounds almost ridiculous when levied against the SWEU.

Still, the New Jedi Order series started by R.A. Salvatore and Michael A Stackpole was a worthy attempt to bring an edginess and a dark realism to the fantasy realm envisioned by George Lucas. Luceno's duology, while fun, seems to be backtracking.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good...but not great.

[Caleb Likes Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay entry in the New Jedi Order series—a bit disapponting after the last book, which may be my favorite, but still a decent one.

In general I found all the plotlines here to be just okay. Han’s plot, which I loved in the first book of the Agents of Chaos duology, is decent here and is probably my favorite part of this book. Leia gets a good amount of time to shine as well, and while I didn’t love her parts I did think they were decent. Other characters like Kyp, Ganner, Anakin, and Jacen get some time here too.

Overall there’s not a whole lot to say about this one for me. There are some cool tie-ins to other EU books—some of which I recognize from books I’ve read, and others from books I haven’t read but am familiar with—which is always cool to see. But otherwise, it was just an okay read.

Rating: 6.5/10

[Lance Shadow · Rating 2 out of 5]

I Special thank you to my goodreads pal Crystal Starr Light for sending me this entire book series!

Alright. Let's wrap up the doozy of boredom and misery that the Agents of Chaos duology gave me with the second and (THANK KRIFFING GOD) final entry, Jedi Eclipse. When it comes to the New Jedi Order so far, I actually enjoyed the first three entries, Vector Prime, Dark Tide I: Onslaught, and Dark Tide II: Ruin. None of those were perfect, but they still managed to set up the narrative well enough that I was able to get invested- which is a particularly impressive feat because I never read any of the novels from the Original Star Wars Expanded Universe that took place after Return of the Jedi, outside of Timothy Zahn's classic Thrawn Trilogy.

While Agents of Chaos almost destroyed my motivation to continue reading this series, I revisited my review of Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial and tweaked it to remove some of the harsher language and bumped up the rating slightly.
I mentioned in that previous review my opinions toward James Luceno as a star wars author, both in legends and in canon: I can see why other people connect with his writing style and his stories, but he isn't my cup of tea. Most importantly, unlike with other Luceno SW novels like Darth Plagueis, I couldn't pick out enough examples of him playing to his strengths in Hero's Trial to consider it a good book, even setting aside my personal disconnect with his style and approach to the Star Wars universe. But after I put out a shortened review of Hero's trial on some facebook groups I actually got some comments from people saying that they actually liked if not loved Hero's trial. More people than I expected actually DID connect to Luceno's writing and his approach to the NJO in Agents of Chaos 1. I also thought back on the book and I think I didn't give its good stuff enough credit. Finally, especially when using Jedi eclipse as a point of comparison, I can at least give Hero's Trial credit in that it did actually delivered a story within the NJO that had a smaller scale, more narrowly focused character study compared to the large scale ensembles that the first three novels were.

And now, we get to Jedi Eclipse in full. Pretty much anything good I had to say about Hero's Trial is toned down to such an extent in Jedi Eclipse that it might as well have been completely thrown out. Not only does Jedi Eclipse replace it with more of the most problematic elements from Hero's Trial, it also throws in a ton of disconnected filler on top of that.

THE STORY...?: There's so much going on that I'm not even sure what to call this clusterkriff.
Given that this is an Agents of Chaos novel, the plotline that seemed most important follows Han and Droma as they fly around the galaxy looking for Roa and Droma's lost family, both of whom have gone missing. At the same time, Roa, Fasgo, and jedi knight Wurth Skidder are trapped on a Yuuzhan Vong warship and try to escape.
There's also a subplot showing us what's going on with Droma's family, so I suppose a case can be made for its relevance (even if I didn't get it).
Over half of this book is taken up by subplots that don't connect to Han's journey very well, if even at all. One involves Leia helping refugees and trying to secure an alliance with the Hapes Consortium, while another has a bunch of New Republic military leaders and politicians trying to figure out what they can do against the Vong. Nom Anor takes up some pages trying to be an important villain (and failing) by forging an alliance with the Hutts. Finally, Anakin and Jacen are roped into this thing involving Centerpoint Station. Oh, and Talon Karrde fits in there somewhere too... did he encounter Han Solo at some point...?...I think he did, but who cares. YAWN, lets get this over with, I checked out of this snoozefest long ago.

THE BAD: Well, the descriptor of BORING fits this book perfectly just like the last one, only multiply that by over a hundred. All of the problems that I have with most of Luceno's novels apply here: boring action scenes, over explaining and excessive info-dumping, and bland characterization when the focus moves away from the protagonist(s). But that's pretty much what I have come to expect when I try to read a James Luceno Star Wars novel, so what else doesn't work?
Let's start of with Han Solo. While I didn't think he was out of character by any means taking into account what has happened to him in this series so far, my god did his story not work for me here. It was bad enough that Han's storyline and POV really doesn't get much page time in this novel (due to the overabundance of subplots and characters), but the way his arc concludes in this book ensures that it was not worth my time. He goes through little to no character growth in this book and his place in the NJO narrative is basically the same as it was at the end of Hero's Trial. Not only is Han not very interesting, Droma is just as uninteresting as he was in Hero's Trial; hence, the connection between the two was not strong enough for me to carry what little page time we actually did have devoted to Han Solo. I would have been more forgiving if the book actually took more of that time to further explore Han's emotional state and if/how it has changed from the first Agents of Chaos, but I only found ONE SINGLE SCENE that actually addresses his state of grief. After the endurance test that this book gave me, that is unacceptable.
Leia is just as bad as Han in this book if not worse. Although she isn't out of character either, she's not interesting and there's a story contrivance in the first 100 pages that instantly could have solved 50% of the driving storyline that caused this novel to drag out farther than the point of agony Leia encounters Droma's lost family in the first chapter of the book while evacuating refugees. Then she catches up with Han but does not tell him that she encountered Droma's clanmates. WHAT THE ACTUAL KRIFF. Did Leia just forget that Han was traveling with Droma? Or was she so annoyed at him that she pulled a STRESSED AND SUFFERING FAMILY into their petty relationship squabbles? Seriously, F*CK OFF, LEIA! . To make matters worse, Leia's plotline goes away from helping refugees to ANOTHER GODDAMN DIPLOMATIC SEARCH QUEST FOR ALLIES. Are you kriffing KIDDING ME? This bit got old TWO BOOKS AGO- it was already feeling repetitive in Dark Tide 2! Seriously, did they think Hapes fanservice was enough to make this work? Even if I actually read the bantam era novels between the Thrawn Trilogy and the NJO, I would not have let this slide.
I didn't care one iota about the other subplots that happened in this novel. Droma's family is just as boring as Droma. It's not saying much (or saying a lot, from a certain point of view) when Nom Anor actually doing stuff actually is an upgrade from Nom Anor in Hero's Trial, but this is where we are. His personality stays consistent (in that, he has none), but it still seems out of character for the vong and Nom Anor's role as a villain. The Yuuzhan Vong throughout the series have been portrayed as merciless conquerors; Nom Anor hasn't been portrayed as a warrior, but he was always an infiltrator who destabilized the Vong's enemies to soften them up for conquest- why is he all of a sudden acting as a diplomat? Especially when a decision among some other Vong characters retroactively makes Nom Anor's efforts pointless and they decide to just be merciless conquerers. The politician characters (one of them being Viqi Shesh, people say she plays a big role in this series) are also really boring and they barely register. I don't know why their storyline had such a big presence in this book, because it's not dealing with Han's grief; if it's supposed to set up other stuff later on in the series, they should have put it in another book. Anakin and Jacen's storyline probably would have been more interesting if it took place in the Dark Tide novels or Balance Point. Technically speaking Anakin and Jacen are both done pretty well when they are all of a sudden given a bunch of focus in the last third, but even beyond the boring action sequences (oh yeah, I almost forgot that there was a big space battle at the end), I couldn't get invested in them here because WASN'T THIS BOOK SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT HAN SOLO BEING DEPRESSED?
Speaking of the Vong, it's worth noting that the New Jedi Order goes through yet another book without a complete victory for the Yuuzhan Vong, but that's honestly the least bothersome problem with Jedi Eclipse.

THE GOOD: And finally, we have made it to this important footnote in my review.
That single scene where Han addresses his grief and works through his emotions with Droma is the best moment in this entire book, probably because its the type of moment that Agents of Chaos was supposed to be about.
However, I can also give credit to a scene in the middle where Leia takes a chance to think about Han while she is hanging out with the Hapans. Although it wasn't focusing on Han, it does feel like it connects with the main story and was a genuinely nice, if brief, moment.
Honestly, the most consistently good thing I can say about this book is that it handles the tie-ins to the Bantam Era of the Expanded Universe better than I thought it would. Don't get me wrong, it was still overexplained and almost never relevant to the plot, but at least Luceno didn't leave readers completely high and dry expecting them to have closely followed the bantam era. I was rather frustrated by the use of Roa in Hero's Trial because Luceno makes his relationship with Han a central aspect of Han's journey- but he didn't offer any context and relied on the reader having read The Han Solo Adventures to be invested in their connection. One of the final moments in Jedi Eclipse relies on the Han-Roa bond as well, but I can forgive Jedi Eclipse for it because it was specifically relying on the buildup from Hero's Trial.
When it comes to EU references introduced in Jedi Eclipse, none of them are used in an interesting or plot-relevant way, but they are at least given enough context to work on their own. You get Prince Isolder and Ta'a Chume from The Courtship of Princess Leia, and Tenel Ka who first appeared in the Young Jedi Knights books while Leia visited the Hapans; Zahn creation and EU regular Talon Karrde makes an appearance as well. Thrackan Sal-Solo and Centerpoint Station make a return after their introduction in The Corellian Trilogy when the book shifts focus to Anakin and Jacen Solo. While it all felt like shoe-horned fanservice for the sake of it, at least it doesn't leave the uninitiated completely in the dark. My problems here come from how none of this fanservice connects with the story or gives the characters brought in any sort of memorable personality or arc.

THE CONCLUSION: Final rating is 1.5 stars. I'm rounding up just in case I get responses from EU fans telling me they actually liked this one and to take into account my negative biases toward Luceno's writing, but I have to make clear that I'm being more generous than ever on this one.
I've had multiple people tell me they enjoyed the relationship between Han and Droma, and I wouldn't be surprised if hardcore EU fans got a kick out of all the Bantam Era fanservice in this book.
Otherwise, I can't mince my words and sugarcoat them any longer; I hated this book. I consider Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse not only the worst Luceno novel by a wide margin, as well as the worst New Jedi Order Novel so far; it's also one of the worst Star Wars novels I ever read between both canon and legends; right up there with Phasma, The Force Awakens novelization, and Fatal Alliance. It didn't ruin any characters or portray anyone incorrectly, but the overabundance of parallel plotlines and Luceno's dense writing turned this into a painfully boring mess that stretched out my Agents of Chaos reading experience to roughly 3 months of agonizing tedium. I can't believe I wasted a quarter of a year on these two novels. I could have gotten back into Star Wars: The Old Republic (the MMO), or I could have gone through another joyous reread of John Jackson Miller's Knights of the Old Republic. Or I could have made some serious progress in catching up on the canon novels and comics. Needless to say, Agents of Chaos has left me 100% exhausted. I struggle to figure out why even the most hardcore James Luceno fans wouldn't call Jedi Eclipse anything but a misfire. While the entire Agents of Chaos Duology was torturous to read, Jedi Eclipse was particularly bad. I may have been left bored stiff by Hero's Trial, but at least that one had a vision: it wanted to use Han Solo's grief and depression to temporarily change things up in terms of pacing and plot scope for the New Jedi Order book series, and I can at least respect Hero's Trial for attempting that. Jedi Eclipse was an unsalvagable clusterkriff of nothing: I would guess Han's POV is only focused on 25% of the book at most, and in that page time I don't know what the events of Jedi Eclipse were supposed to do for his character. The other characters and their subplots were either boring (like Leia's) or pointless (like Jacen/Anakin), often both (like Nom Anor).
At the end of my reviews for Dark Tide 2: Ruin and Agents of Chaos I: Heros' trial, I alluded to the behind the scenes development that Dark Tide: Siege was cancelled so Agents of Chaos could be stretched into the two books. Was it worth it? HELL NO! This story should not have been two volumes. While I still stand by my opinion that reducing Dark Tide to a duology from a trilogy might have been a good call, expanding Agents of Chaos was probably the worst reason to do so. James Luceno was originally tasked with writing a single novel, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was told to turn the story into a duology at the last minute, because it feels like that's what happened with Agents of Chaos II. My guess is that Luceno couldn't come up with enough for Han and Droma to fill up an entire book, so he haphazardly thew together jettisoned plotlines from Dark Tide: Siege and padded it out with EU fanservice once he found that he still didn't have enough material for a feature length novel.

I don't think there's anything else for me to say. So let's end this snorefest with a quote from Jedi Eclipse on page 344:
"Anyway, it's a long, boring story."

[Mogsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the New Jedi Order series being one that comprises about 20 books, I guess I can't be too surprised when I hit a slump or two. Jedi Eclipse wraps up the Agents of Chaos story, and while I liked it better than Hero's Trial, I can't say I really enjoyed these two books. Many of the subplots were too dry, and the one involving the Ryn felt more like a gimmick than something actually meant to draw you in. At times I really felt like I had to force myself to finish the novel.

I would have given up and never looked back if I didn't know better stories are in store for me in this series.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

The new Jedi order completely outpaces anything in the Starwars genre. This series was Dark, exciting, fast paced, and inspired. The writing was fantastic and the level of philosophy and force history was unparalleled. If your a fan at any level of the Starwars Universe than this series is a must read. It is on my top 5 of all time for a series and I treasured every moment I spent in that time. But beware, this isn't your typical Starwars book, be ready for a level of intensity that you've never seen. May the force be with you.!

[Meggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

For 2021, I decided to reread Del Rey’s first attempt at a multi-author book series in the Star Wars universe: The New Jedi Order, which was published between 1999 and 2003. This shakes out to 19 novels, two eBook novellas, three short stories, and a tangentially-related prequel era novel.

This week’s focus: the second book in the Agents of Chaos duology, Agents of Chaos: Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno.

SOME HISTORY:

James Luceno had experience overseeing and co-writing a multibook saga in the Robotech universe, so it makes sense that Del Rey and Lucasfilm would hire him as a consultant during the planning of The New Jedi Order series. He expanded a map of the Star Wars galaxy with author Dan Wallace, wrote a "series bible" to coordinate all of the story arcs, and was eventually contracted to write Agents of Chaos: first as a single novel, and later as a duology. Agents of Chaos: Jedi Eclipse made it to number ten on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of October 22, 2000, and was on the NYT list for two weeks.

MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:

I remembered Leia going to the Hapes Consortium and Jacen & Anakin heading off to Centerpoint Station, but I remembered nothing of Han’s plotline.

PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME COUNT:

Do the Hapan duelling uniforms count? Han had some notable outfits when he rescued Droma on Ruan, but otherwise not much from Leia herself.

A BRIEF SUMMARY:

A string of victories by the Yuuzhan Vong has left the New Republic stretched to the breaking point. While Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo pursue separate paths, one of Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Knights undertakes a reckless undercover mission in the heart of the Yuuzhan Vong. And allying themselves with the Hutts, the Vong leave a purposeful trail of information for New Republic agents: the possible location of their next target.

THE CHARACTERS:

After Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial focused so heavily on Han’s grief and emotional turmoil, I expected Jedi Eclipse to do the same. But instead, Han is just one of many characters that Luceno choses to follow: Han & Droma are in search of Roa and Droma’s family; Leia has to leave her refugee work with SELCORE for a diplomatic mission to Hapes; Jacen & Anakin Solo are sent to try and get Centerpoint Station up and running; Wurth Skidder allows himself to be captured by the Yuuzhan Vong so he can learn more about them; Talon Karrde teams up with the Jedi to uncover where the Vong will attack next; Viqi Shesh of Kuat continues to scheme; the New Republic military attempts to lure the Vong into a trap; the Hutts play both sides; and the Vong use misdirection on everyone. That sounds like a lot of subplots to follow, and it was!

Han runs around a lot here, so while he’s physically very active, emotionally he doesn’t make much progress. He’s trying to track down both his old smuggler buddy and Droma’s family, which leads to the Millennium Falcon (now painted black so it’s incognito) going here and there and everywhere. They find part of Droma’s family, and the rest + Roa are rescued by Kyp Durron and Ganner Rhysode; however, Han’s still angry with Leia and has made no attempt to reconcile. Droma’s family being in two separate places (both on Ruan, and on the Yuuzhan Vong ship) felt both realistic--everything is in upheaval!--and another symptom of this book’s fragmented vibe.

Leia starts out the novel on Gyndine, evacuating as many people as she can before the planet falls. She’s then sent to Hapes, in hopes that she can convince them to send a fleet and help out the New Republic. Leia frequently interacts with Prince Isolder, her old flame from The Courtship of Princess Leia, but their scenes are awkward. I also wondered where all the prominent Hapan women where, especially when Leia never interacted with Queen Mother Teneniel Djo at all. She talks to Ta’a Chume, Tenel Ka is there, but that’s it. Hapes is a matriarchy, yet the most significant scenes involve Isolder and another male Hapan noble dueling over Hapes’ response to the NR.

I also wish that Leia had spoken up about her vision--it was vague, and “the future is always in motion,” but she had such a bad feeling about sending the Hapan fleet! Why was she so passive here?

Anakin & Jacen head off to Centerpoint Station in the Corellian system, still arguing about the role of the Jedi in the galaxy. Jacen’s been all over the place with his philosophical questioning, and he absolutely infuriated me here. Anakin had no problem with using Centerpoint defensively (ie, turning on the interdiction field). When they realize that the Vong were attacking Fondor, Anakin later says that he could have fired Centerpoint and precisely hit his target. But he asks Jacen, Jacen says no, and then we get Thracken Sal-Solo (!!!) taking control and making an absolute mess of things. Yes, he destroys half the Vong fleet, but he also annihilates three-quarters of the Hapans in the process. JACEN NO!!

I find it hard to care about these new Jedi characters when they keep dying after only a few books! (Miko Reglia: we meet in Vector Prime, and he dies; Daeshara’cor: we meet in Dark Tide II: Ruin, and she dies). At least we knew a little about Wurth Skidder before Jedi Eclipse: mainly, that he’s a hotshot and someone in agreement with Kyp Durron’s philosophy. But it still felt like the book expected me to care more about his fate than I actually did.

Talon Karrde appears in this book! I wish I liked his plotline better. He’s intuited from the Hutt shipping patterns that they might have insider information on the Vong strategy, and Kyp Durron & Ganner Rhysode (??) head off to help. They’re in the right place at the right time to rescue the captives off the Vong vessel, but Wurth Skidder still dies. (Which, I know he was dying, but surely they could have still removed him from the ship instead of leaving him to die alone!)

The Hutts have allied themselves with the Yuuzhan Vong. Well, sort of--they’re still trying to play both sides here, and leak information to the NR. Little do they know that the Vong have played them as well! The Yuuzhan Vong plot works pretty well here, and would have succeeded if it weren’t for Thracken (why did they let him out of jail??).

ISSUES:

Once again, there were a number of juicy thesaurus words strewn about the book. Mephitic? Nidor? Botryoidal? At least they’re all descriptors, so you can skip them and not miss out on too much.

The story as a whole felt uneven/scattered--many of the plot points are completely unconnected, but then they all meet up during the Battle of Fondor. I liked the battle, but the idea that so many characters just happened to be in the same place at the same time didn’t entirely fit with everything that came before.

And while Hero’s Trial had a tight focus on Han, Leia, and the Yuuzhan Vong defector plot, there’s so many plot threads running through this story that I felt like some of the subplots (like Han!) were given short shrift. I wish that some of the viewpoint sections could have been pruned a little, so that other aspects of the story were fleshed out a bit more.

Like with the Peace Brigade in Hero’s Trial, I like the concept of the Hutts allying with the Yuuzhan Vong yet still trying to play both sides, but the actual execution leaves something to be desired. So much of the book boils down to “we have this information: can we trust it?” and everyone dithers endlessly about it.

I also wish we had a better sense of which worlds have fallen to the Yuuzhan Vong, and when. In Jedi Eclipse, we see the fall of Gyndine and Tynna, but other losses are implied or offscreen. I’ve been trying to follow along on my map of the galaxy, and I feel like I’m missing some battles or something because all of a sudden the Vong have advanced much closer to the Core.

galaxy map

IN CONCLUSION:

After Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial, I was looking forward to another book focused on Han’s emotional journey. But Luceno opens up the story to a lot of other characters and viewpoints, and it felt scattered as a result.


Next up: the second hardcover release, Balance Point by Kathy Tyers.

My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/JeHXXWS43cA

2001 interview with James Luceno: https://web.archive.org/web/200502050...

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Han Solo centric Star Wars NJO Agents of Chaos continues. Han and his new companion for now, the Ryn, Droma, search the galaxy for Droma's missing Ryn clan. Leia using her previous friendships with the Hapans and Prince Isolder to join forces against the Yuuzhan Vong.

The new Jedi Order, Jacen and Anakin, ascertaining getting the Centerpoint Station (a superweapon - previously written about in earlier novels) online to use against the Vong, while debating its use at all, so a small conflict between brothers. Kyp Durron, and Ganner search for Wurth Skidder who infiltrated a Vong Vessel, in order to sow discord between the Vong and the Hutts, by using the force.

Missing for much of the book are Luke and Jaina.

Despite this, this is one of the best so far from this series, possibly second behind the first book in the series Vector Prime. Luceno does a great job setting the scenes, catching the mannerisms of the familiar characters, while building the newer ones.

There is plenty of action, and could see this playing out very well on film. The last few chapters with the battle in space, and a surprise, that Leia kinda foresaw coming happening, kept you on the edge of your seat.

Again, the New Republic powers that be in the Senate, continue to screw up in terms of underestimating the Vong or making poor decisions, instead of leaving it up to the military strategists. The Hutts being involved added a "who do you trust" as they seal a deal with the Vong, to be able to trade spice to worlds not impacted by their invasion, but at the same time, sending info to the New Republic on where the Vong are planning to hit next.

Honestly, you need a Star Wars galaxy map to figure out where everyone is.

4 stars, as the Vong characters and hierarchy can be confusing of who is in charge, and trying to picture all the different pieces that make up their ships, fighters and creatures they use. Basically turning to the internet to search for references.

As mentioned in other reviews with this series, this knocks out anything Disney created recently regarding Star Wars.

[Cody Hyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

5 books into the NJO and this was probably my least favorite. That being said this book was still enjoyable and good! There’s just something about the Yuzong Vong that I thoroughly enjoy.

Here are my thoughts that I had while reading this book.

Ch 1 way too many big large words that I don’t understand. Starting off strong, fire breathing heavy organisms. Wild.

Ch 3 matte black falcon?! Immediately looked up pics to see if there was any fan art. Was not disappointed.

Ch 6 great quote on free will

Ch 11 Isolder winning in the large stakes sparring match was intense. Very much enjoyed the fight. Curious to see if Hapes will actually be drawn into the conflict or not.

Ch 14 wurth skidder’s plan backfired rather spectacularly. Outed himself as a Jedi. Probably gonna die just like Miko.

General - Han and Droma search for the missing Ryn.

Ch 24 the Druid uprising was cool. Built upon C-3PO worries from past books

Ch 27 really good thing that Analin didn’t fire center point station. That thing is stronger than a Death Star it seems. Leia had the premonition that the Hapans would be destroyed if they joined the fight. Crazy chapter.

Ch 28 I can kinda see how Disney got the idea that Han and leia had gotten divorced. They’re basically off doing their own things and not really living together. Wonder if Droma is gone now that he’s with his clan mates. Viqi Shesh is gonna be a huge problem for the New Republic. You can just feel the weight when reading her chapters. I like the intrigue around her and that we don’t know everything. The mystery is fun

[Michael Astfalk · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Fair warning, while you typically don’t NEED to have read most prior EU books to read NJO (I’ve certainly been missing out on quite a few EU tie-ins) I do strongly suggest reading the Courtship of Princess Leia as some of the characters from that book do reappear and it helped to to know a little bit about them. I actually found Han’s subplot in this one to be the least compelling to me and found myself favoring Karrde’s storyline with the Vong and the Hutts. Overall a decent addition to the NJO, I think I liked this one better than Agents of Chaos I, although I almost wish the book had focused even more on the Yuuzahn Vong. Again, not Luceno’s best work but not his worst. I was disappointed to see characters like Jaina and Ganner take the back seat in this one.

[Steve Holm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mediocre at best, pretty forgettable. Just felt like a mishmash of random povs of new unknown characters trying to set up some plotting which ended very abruptly and underwhelmingly. Not every SW book needs to have storylines with Luke, Leia, or the Solo kids in it to be great, but this was supposed to be a bit of a Han Solo duology(previous book was pretty good tbh), but it feels like he's barely in this one.

Did not like it that much, but it hasn't put me off from continuing with the New Jedi Order as I enjoy the overarching story of the Yuuzhan Vong War.

[Adam Kiewel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was my favorite since book 1. Very enjoyable, I will say that I'm not sure I understand the direction they're taking with han and leia. I'm not necessarily against it, we shall see how it goes. My only complaint is the ending with Jacen and anakin. They say one thing (after the fact) yet do another thing completely. Not only do they go against their words, but its completely illogical. Baffling. Seemed like there's some plot convenience at play, but how and why?

[Jesse Fleet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 4 star book, just a bit slower in pacing than it's predecessors. Still good though! Particularly love the conniving characters, they can be so infuriating, plus the deep-cut references to other Legends stories are awesome!

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The weakest entry in the 'New Jedi Order' series so far. Convoluted plot, new characters introduced with little purpose, and then a sudden climax out of nowhere and the book ends abruptly.

[elef · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'm only giving 2 stars for leia and anakin's povs, rest of them were boring af

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was about 1/3 throught this book I was actually thinking it might end up with 5 stars. Leia was being given a spotlight in the story, blending politics and action. The introduction of the Ryn characters (even if their culture itself is a little...unsubtle) made for a good B plot. And Han's story managed to be interesting since he wasn't moping around the whole time.

But man did I forgot how messy the EU could get. First we have the Hapans, with some weird 17th century European court culture that feels a little at odds with Star Wars. They're also supposed to be some super cool matriarchy, yet the only Hapan characters who seem to get any "screen time" or actually do anything are two men. I'm not sure the Queen even ever had a speaking line.

Then Leia suddenly does a 180 and starts being all overwhelmed and woozy and does nothing else for the remainer. There are a lot of characters throughout the NJO mega-story, so I don't mind that some characters like Jaina, Mara, and even Luke didn't really appear (or at all). But Jacen and moreso Anakin had a major part to play yet only were in about 3 scenes in 350 pages.

However, the Vong captives scenes were good, and I enjoyed the mind games with both sides trying to figure out what the other side knew and planning their next move. The conclusion was well written and engaging, yet the Han-Leia relationship drama continues...maybe next book.

[Adhara Black (Clara Carvalho) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuando minha releitura da New Jedi Order...

A conclusão desse arco do Han é muito bem construída. Ok, uns trechos com os Hutts me deram um sono danado mas fora isso, o livro é incrível.

Todo o enredo dos refugiados de guerra com a Leia encabeçando é tudo pra mim <3. A mulher é determinada e vai conseguir sim dar um jeito nessa bagaça. Ela tendo que ir atrás da galera de Hapes foi maravilhoso. Convencer uma galera que tem um ódio profundo pelos jedi (e ainda guardam ressentimento por ela não ter casado com o príncipe deles) a entrar na guerra é um conflito excelente e os vislumbres de toda a politicagem do Consórcio fazem o sangue ferver (Tenel Ka calando a boca de tudinho sendo a futura rainha e jedi ainda por cima é tudo pra mim).

As discussões de Anakin e Jacen sobre a força e sobre usar ou não o poder da Centerpoint Station são ótimas e eu amo o desenvolvimento do relacionamento deles principalmente considerando o que o futuro aguarda para cada um deles e como o Jacen muda depois da morte do irmão e o tempo que passa com a Vergere

A Ordem Jedi continua um cabaré sem Luke conseguir botar ordem na bagaça né, mas ainda bem que eu sei que isso muda no futuro. A sensação é o que os jedi tão só olhando a galáxia pegar fogo nesse últimos dois livro, o que faz até sentido se considerarmos que o foco dessa duologia é o Han. Ainda assim, talvez valesse um ponto de vista ao menos do Kyp Durron, que até tá melhorzinho nesse livro mas ainda continuo achando ele insuportável

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd classify our situation as desperate verging on hopeless. Other than that, we're in fine shape.

Well, after how much I enjoyed James Luceno's Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial, I'm sorry to say that its sequel, Jedi Eclipse, is indeed the noticeable step down others have talked about. There are great elements here, and I still enjoyed the read overall, but the pacing and some of the characterization decisions make it fall short of the NJO standard.

Like DT: Ruin, Jedi Eclipse is a densely packed novel, and just like Ruin, I think the pacing suffers as a result. While its core premise - Han and Droma taking part in a quest to save the latter's relatives - is followed up on, I can't help but find the adventure a bit redundant. Sure, the two go on a typical Han Solo Adventure with lots of action and intrigue and possibly maybe another Daley character cameo but the lack of personal development on either character's side just makes it seem like a glorified coda to HT's events. Han has already gotten over his grief by this point so he's just following what was set up previously, whereas Droma's been relegated to the role of side character. What feels even less well developed is the Anakin/Jacen subplot. I'll get into the characterizations later but just the way it's structured confuses me. You set up this plot point early in the novel as if it will play an important role only to not come back to it for the next 200 pages? It should have been on the forefront of JE's many subplots but ultimately feels like the weakest of them all. Its conclusion is an anti-climax, too: There's a difference between making an event feel like a pointless diversion to the characters involved and having the same effect on the audience's reading experience, and I don't think Luceno managed to achieve the former here, sadly. Perhaps if the novel had been given more space to flesh both subplots out it would have worked better. It's only ~350 pages long, with a generous typeset, after all. Maybe having Han meet up with the Anakin/Jacen team at Centerpoint Station would have helped: the connections have already been previously established and there's one Luceno call-back in here which I am surprised didn't involve Han at all. Alas, maybe in Balance Point or some other future NJO work...

Speaking of the Centerpoint plot: Jacen's characterization is the weakest part of Jedi Eclipse, in my opinion. Though he'd ostensibly reached a new insights into his struggle with pacifism and war by Ruin, subsequently only making a cameo appearance in the Agents of Chaos I, here he's back to his Vector Prime self. Jacen and Anakin are arguing about whether it's moral to make any strategic pushes, even if it's in defense, again - as if the events of Helska, Belkadan, and Dantooine hadn't happened. Jedi Eclipse's Jacen is no longer the well-meaning and confused young man who wants to understand the world but can't; instead, he has returned to his holier-than-thou attitude of days long passed. What a shame. Mind you, I wouldn't have been against the idea of Jacen voicing dissent at making use of Centerpoint if the way he's portrayed hadn't been so disappointing. Anakin fares better but even he managed to get on my nerve near the end by blaming Jacen for what happened at the climax despite the fact it was Anakin who brought them there. I really enjoyed Jacen in the first three novels so it's a shame that, with regard to this novel at least, I can see where his detractors are coming from.

But Jedi Eclipse has some great stuff in it, as well. Like with Ruin (there seem to be a lot of comparisons to the second Dark Tide book in this review, huh), the Yuuzhan Vong side of things proves to be the most enjoyable part of this story. First up, a tale of redemption: Wurth Skidder had, so far, proven himself the most brash and reckless of Kyp Durron's jedi faction. Constantly acting out of order and making a fool of himself, Wurth was more of a liability to the jedi than an asset. Not in Agents of Chaos II, though, as the story follows his letting himself be captured by the Vong in order to infiltrate their ranks, save refugees, and deal a decisive blow against their side. Though he still has to struggle with the temptation of seeking revenge for his late friend Miko, he manages to come out a better person by the end in a memorable sequence of events. The Yuuzhan Vong themselves are great, too. Though the Vong characters specific to this novel aren't as interesting as those who came before, JE does wonders at further fleshing out both their culture and previously established characters. We see a statue of Yun Yuuzhan, the highest Vong deity, get to see ceremonies and more intrigue, and have the Supreme Commander Nas Choka finally take charge. Nom Anor is at his best here, too, constantly scheming and taking advantage of the Hutt, whose depiction here is the best since A.C. Crispin's Han Solo trilogy. Though Vergere doesn't make an appearance in this one, Luceno utilizes another character with dubious connections to the extragalactic invaders in the elusive Viqi Shesh, who appears to be playing both sides. The political/military conflict is fun to read about, too. The YV are what makes the NJO as great as it is.

Finally, what is up with that cover? Barring the fact that it looks 50% randomly generated and 50% photoshopped to oblivion, Tsavong Lah doesn't even personally make an appearance outside one scene through a villip, much less play an important role in opposition to Han. I like Rick Berry's Agents of Chaos I cover but this one's doesn't do it for me.

Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse is the weakest New Jedi Order entry so far. Great elements such as the political power plays are juxtaposed with a weaker "main" adventure than what came before and baffling characterizations. Though fun, it is a disappointment after Luceno's debut Star Wars work. Still, I would recommend checking it out for the Skidder/Hutt/Vong stuff and important plot beats alone. I'm in the minority with loving Hero's Trial as much as I do, so maybe this novel can have the same effect with others.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is where I have to comment on the one thing that requires a high level of suspension of disbelief: Somehow, these few main characters, in an absolutely massive galaxy with billions of stars, just happen to always be present at all major events in this invasion?

That also brings up another odd idea, especially when you look at the galaxy map provided: How small is this galaxy? Why are there only a few dozen "relevant" worlds when there are BILLIONS of stars? The idea of hyperspace "lanes" existing helps that a bit, but the entire thing is ridiculous if you think about it for too long.

That said, Luceno is one of the better authors in the series, and there is a lot less soap box preaching in place of dialogue. The Yuuzhan Vong finally get some more nuance and detail beyond "we want to kill everything", and this is where this series becomes what I loved so much almost 20 years ago.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember at the end of this book being left realizing that the NJO was going to be prolonged for as long as they wanted to with pointless setbacks. Homies had to make that dolla, I guess. And I don't get to judge since I gave it to them.

But seriously, there are a small number of points in the NJO where the New Republic or an allied force suffers some senseless loss just to keep the war going and not for any narrative purpose other than that. The Battle of Fondor from the end of this particular book is the biggest instance of this. It's like they actually sat down and said, "OK, how can we deal the biggest blow to the Republic here?" and that's what they did.

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

A novel that takes place in the EU universe during the New Jedi Order series. Out of the whole series, this book so far is the worst one. I was going to give this only one star but the last 50 pages bumped it up to two stars. Until the conclusion, this book's plot was about military strategy and trying to implement them. It was boring and did not feel like Star Wars. Finally, when the action starts it had the feel of Star Wars. If you plan on reading the whole series this is a must read because this book does set up some things that will probably be explored in future books. If you are not reading the whole series, I would pass on this one.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd probably push this closer to 3.5 stars, as it is a much more packed and busy book than volume one...so much so that it occasionally feels like too much. That said, James Luceno's fantastic writing style holds it together, whether it be in the superb character work, or the construction of a devastating conclusion that is literally a giant bolt from the blue.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing what has felt like an uptick in the quality of the series. Here's to hoping it keeps going.

[Zan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review on Twitter

https://twitter.com/serswjm/status/12...

(Spoilers)

[Anakin Targaryen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,75⭐️

[Todd Selby · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Luceno continues the Agents of Chaos duology and introduces new plot elements, some of which build off of the plot of Hero's Trial. Han is still a major player, but he shares the book more evenly with several other plots, from his wife asking the Hapans for military assistance to the treachery of the Hutts, against both the NR and the Vong.

While Han was the main focus of Hero's Trial, here his story is more on the side, while still tying into the main plot, which is split in two ways: the strategizing of the New Republic, and the story of Wurth Skidder. Wurth has been a minor Jedi throughout the NJO so far, so it was interesting to see him in the limelight. Similar to Ganner he is brought down a few pegs while in Vong captivity, though he never really loses his brash arrogance. He thinks too much about striking against the enemy when he should be focusing on helping those around him and not making matters worse, or something. IDK. Either way, his approach is juxtaposed against the approaches of Jacen and Anakin as they struggle with the usage of Centerpoint in the coming battle. Anakin figures it's not right to stand by and let evil creatures kill others when he has the ability to stop them, while Jacen argues that it's not his responsibility to make such judgements. In the end it's not really clear which of them is right, but one thing is clear: the Jedi need to seriously think about their role in the war and then do something about it.

Luceno examined the responses of two diverse cultures to the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong. It shows that he is very good at using the galaxy and it's denizens to their fullest extent. While the Hutts decide to seemingly ally themselves with the Vong, the Hapans believe they will be safe in their nearly impenetrable region of the galaxy. I liked the politics behind both cultures' choices and I thought Luceno portrayed the scenes with them well. It was clever to have the Hutts cease spice flow in the systems the Vong were likely to attack. Naturally the Vong anticipated this and use it to throw off the NR. Their attack against Fondor comes out of right field and nearly throws the NR for a loop. Luckily the Hapans pledged to lend military assistance and are the closest to Fondor. Unluckily Han's favorite cousin Thracken fires Centerpoint when Anakin doesn't and wipes out a large portion of the Hapan fleet, along with half of the Vong fleet. They really seem to be pushing for the tragedy angle a lot in this series. First Chewie, then Ithor, and now friendly fire on a massive scale. At least not everything is so dark in this book. Droma is finally reunited with his family, Roa is saved, though Wurth dies. Han and Leia seem to have found something they can both do to help the citizens of the galaxy during this terrible conflict.

This book was a little all over the place with the multiple plots. The scenes with Han and Droma seemed like filler, though they were entertaining, especially when Han collaborated with the droids on Ruan. Talon Karrde shows up a few times to make the connection between the Hutt spice trade and the pattern of the Vong attacks. The one really interesting part of this book was the deception of Viqi Shesh. Right now her motives seem all over the place, and I'm sure she will continue to be a major factor in the war. Almost seems to be the antithesis of Leia, who btw was portrayed pretty well here. She even has a force vision that's relevant to the plot! Also Randa the Hutt was pretty badass in the end when he plowed down several Vong with his girth.

I give this a 3.5/5 for another interesting NJO book from James Luceno. And lol at Han painting the Falcon black and acting emo.

[diane skinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read but lacked reasoning

Again, I praise the writing from James luceno, I found myself engaged by his writing and what the characters were working through even the rambling. Han and Droma are still on the hunt for the ryns clanmates going through and far between planets like Ruan,making it look like there's no hope for these characters to meet but eventually they do but in a horrific warzone...
On the topic of the ryn particularly Droma, I felt like they were going too far with him and Hand relationship, this was one of my fears as I didn't want them to try to replace Chewie and for the most part it didn't work. As well there wasn't much chapters on the pair even though it's supposed to be a two parter on Hans adventures, it felt more like a book souly for the Yuuzhan Vong.
Yes there was interesting details on the Vong and their culture but I have to say I generally dreaded a chapter of there's because it slowed the pace down.
For a book that has Han as the centre character, there wasn't many chapters on him or his ryn friend. I don't know, I guess I just expected him to be in it more haven't a clue why...
What I didn't get also is why Rogue squadron wasn't a bigger part of the main battle. It was baffling that the top New republic squadron wasn't at a key battle such as the battle of Fondor, are they trust scratching their asses somewhere, wondering what to do (Jainas probably getting a manicure somewhere to try and impress Jag fel) or are they being saved for another rainy and slightly horrible day?

Another problem I have is how little Luke or Mara is in the book, I like to have updates people, not one paragraph! I like to know what there doing and how they are getting on, in that way it is a solo oriented book but come on Mara was just given an apparently life saving tear from a dinosaur (yes a dinosaur, I'm standing by it) and is cured. I don't know about you but that's a pretty BIG development for both character's...I hope the next book, Balance point, changes this
Centerpoint station was an interesting and different type of space station than the one we're used to and genuinely had a bit of mystery around it (reminded me of attack of the clones and the mystery behind sifo dyas asking for the clone army from the kaminoans). As usual I enjoyed Anakin solo as a character but again there wasn't enough chapters on him!
Also, I was finding it hard not to laugh when they were all saying "do it boy! " (reminded me of Palpatine egging the og Anakin on) when Anakin had the choice to fire the stations fields and save the fighters at Fondor. I also found it a bit meh when apparently Anakin was the only one who could activate Centerpoint (I haven't read the other book where Centerpoint was first introduced) and then Sal-Solo comes out of no way, smacks Anakins cheeks and fires the station with no aim assist (maybe that's why it went so wrong for the Hapes forces but who knows)

Through all these criticisms, I thought it was a decent book when it comes to the verdict, just very misleading in some cases. GIVE ME MORE MARA AND LUKE CONTENT IN BALANCE POINT DAMN IT!

[Mark Oppenlander · Rating 2 out of 5]

The massive and complicated New Jedi Order series lumbers along. Several storylines are woven together, in this fifth installment.

Han Solo works with his new friend and co-pilot Droma to find Droma's family members, who have become refugees as they flea the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. As part of the search, they wind up on the agricultural planet of Ruan, where they discover that the ruling class plans to destroy their droid workers to appease the Yuuzhan Vong and use refugee labor in the fields instead. Meanwhile, Leia has been sent to the Hapes Consortium to try to win their involvement in the war and the New Republic is trying desperately to determine what planet will be the next target for the Vong. The Hutts have cut a deal with the invaders and are helping them attack which complicates things immensely. The New Republic decides to fortify Bothawui, assuming that the Vong actually want to take Corellia, a planet that appears undefended, but which has the secret weapon of Centerpoint Station at its disposal. A separate storyline has Jedi Knight Wurth Skidder intentionally allowing himself to be captured by the Yuuzhan Vong so that he can gather intelligence that might serve the New Republic. All of the storylines (yes, all of them) converge in a final climactic battle.

As usual, this book reads somewhat unevenly. I enjoyed certain threads of it much more than others. For example, I thought that the Wurth Skidder story was one of the more interesting parts of this novel, perhaps because it represented a new idea in the series. We haven't seen Jedi work as undercover operatives before. Some of the other pieces aren't as compelling. Leia returning to the Hapes Consortium to meet her old flame, Prince Isolder, for example should have provided some emotional stakes, but I found those scenes uninspired. But the largest amount of time is spent on Han Solo's tale, a story which is modestly engaging but seems designed primarily to get him out of his doldrums and back to work as an action hero. It is workmanlike, but not outstanding.

The final climax of the book brings horror and devastation, all while setting up future stories. The plot twist at the end presents the kind of ambiguous moral and tactical situation I usually love to explore. Here, it simply made me want to move on to the next book to see what happened in the aftermath. As a standalone novel Jedi Eclipse proves to be disjointed, but as a chapter in a much larger story, it is adequate.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admittedly, Jedi Eclipse wasn’t nearly as terrible as I had originally anticipated. In regards to other Star Wars novels, it might not be very good but compared to Hero’s Trial and the rest of the New Jedi Order series, it’s not that horrible.

Yes, nearly every novel after Salvatore’s Vector Prime (so far) in the NJO arc hasn’t really been nearly as good as they could have been, and yes, Luceno’s previous novel Hero’s Trail took the cake in the worst of them up to that point, but Jedi Eclipse does seem to be getting the series back on track. There’s plenty not to like in this book, though I’ll give credit where it’s due and say that there were far more enjoyable parts here than in the previous installment.

The story bounces around a lot, juggling way too many plot points of varying consistency, but at least most of them were enjoyable or had enjoyable elements. Leia’s recruitment of the Hapes consortium and the inner workings of the Hutt/Yuzhaan Vong Alliance made for decent storylines and added some depth that was definitely missing in Hero’s Trial. Still don’t like Droma and how he replaced Chewbacca, but Luceno did make his appearances at least mean something here and giving Han some heart to rescue him when the time came also helped.

I’m Still feeling frustrated that the Vong continue to be bitplayers in their own drama. They’re supposed to consuming the galaxy and yet when they show up in this book, it’s just a bunch of soap opera type dialogue and action. They’re also inconsistently defeatable. On one hand a whole bunch of them get cut down by Blasters in like 3 seconds flat, but on the other, they can’t be brought down by lightsabers.

I Also wasn’t a huge fan of the constant callbacks and references to previous novels I haven’t read. I get what Luceno is doing, and I’m all for using the rich heritage of Star Was to make stories stronger and, hell, prove to readers that you’re a fan, however, it’s kind of hard to really understand everything when those readers sometimes haven’t read everything that proceeds the NJO series.

I’ll close by saying that I’m somewhat content Jedi Eclipse wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Though I’m also getting kind of annoyed that this series isn’t cracked up to be the greatness it is supposed to be. I’m staring to understand why the New Jedi Order was, And still remains, so decisive amongst fans. Oh well, on to the next one I guess.