Traitor: Star Wars Legends

by Matthew Woodring Stover

From the depths of catastrophe, a glimmer of hope

After the capture of Coruscant, the mighty heart of the New Republic, a stunned galaxy fears that nothing can stop the Yuuzhan Vong. Still, that crushing defeat produces one small Jacen Solo is alive. Yet he can scarcely imagine himself in stranger circumstances.

The young Jedi Knight is in the care of Vergere, a fascinating creature of mystery and power, her intentions hard to fathom, her cruelties rarely concealed. But this master of inscrutable arts has much to teach the young Jedi . . . for she holds the key to a new way to experience the Force, to take it to another level—dangerous, dazzling, perhaps deadly.

In the wrong hands, the tremendous energies of the Force can be devastating. And there are others watching Jacen’s process closely, waiting patiently for the moment when he will be ready for their own dire purposes. Now, all is in shadows. Yet whatever happens, whether Jacen’s newfound mastery unleashes light or darkness, he will never be the same Jedi again. . . .

Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

Genres: Star Wars

322 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 28, 2011

About the author

Matthew Woodring Stover is an American fantasy and science fiction author. He is perhaps best known for his Star Wars novels -- Traitor, Shatterpoint, Revenge of the Sith and Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. He has also published several pieces of original work, such as Heroes Die, which Stover described as 'a piece of violent entertainment that is a meditation on violent entertainment'. Stover's work often emphasises moral ambiguity, psychological verisimilitude and bursts of intense violence.

Stover is deeply interested in various forms of martial arts, having trained in the Degerberg Blend, a concept that utilises the thought behind Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do as its foundation.

Reviews

[Nick Antonoglu · Rating 5 out of 5]

REREAD ENDING 9/5/26

9/10

Yeah, this is still one of the best Star Wars stories out there. I was also shocked to find that even reading this independently from the NJO, it 100% holds up as a somewhat standalone experience (barring some worldbuilding). I did notice a couple issues this time, but nothing more than nitpicks, honestly.

The thematic texture of Traitor is by far my favorite part. The last third of this book is such a smart, fulfilling way of tying up the themes of love and self-discovery, that I really can’t complain about any of it. Ganner’s Last Stand is still one of the best scenes in Star Wars, and is such a cathartic ending for the character, even in just his brief 100 page stint in this book.

Jacen is still the highlight, of course. His arc is wonderful, and it’s so impressive just how different he feels from the beginning of the book to the end. The way he adopts Vergere’s mentality and platitudes while adding his own spin is great, and I love, love, love how the climax of his arc is sharing a tender moment with a slime god. Lots of Star Wars stories choose violence as a resolution, and Jacen’s conclusion being a moment of pure peace in a story filled with pain is just so perfect for who he is, and makes Ganner’s sacrifice all the more meaningful.

Honestly, the back half of this book is just so good that I really have no complaints. I love how his descent on Yuuzhantar is just a straight fever dream, particularly I loved the cavern beast and the confrontation in the Jedi Temple. And everything involving Ganner is excellent, what a great utilization of a character that, honestly, I remember being not that impactful before this.

I really do still enjoy the first half and just how miserable it all is, especially given where things end up going, but I did find some issues with the first half. I did find the sequence in the Embrace of Pain to be weaker this time around, mainly due to the long elaborations and descriptions of pain. It became just a little too edgy for me. But, again, it’s really totally okay in the context of the story, and when Vergere is involved (which is during a lot of the first half), I was hooked.

Honestly, the main issue I have with this book is Nom Anor, a character I remember liking a lot. He is surprisingly stupid in this book, more than I remember him being, and while nothing pulled me out of this story, there were moments where he lost me. Particularly, he continually reiterates that he knows better than to underestimate Jedi, yet every problem Jacen causes is due to him underestimating him. The dhuryam massacre is the clearest example of this - he lets Jacen run rampant without direct intervention for FAR too long during the shaping ritual, and right after he says he knows better than to underestimate him.

While Nom Anor is a weak part of this story, it was never enough to hamper the experience. It’s easy to accept Vergere outplaying him as a perfectly reasonable excuse for his incompetence, and he’s not very important to the overarching plot anyways.

This was a great read, and one I’m glad I revisited. So much happens, yet the book flies by due to just how compelling it all is. I stand by my previous ranking of this book in the NJO - I just don’t see how it gets better than this. I would put this on par with Andor in terms of Star Wars stories worth visiting, and that makes me happy to know this held up a year and a half later.

READ ENDING 1/8/25

10/10

Stover did it again. The absolute madman wrote another 10/10 Star Wars book. Holy fuck this book was unbelievable.

There is so much to talk about here. For being surprisingly short, Traitor ended up being the densest and most interesting NJO book BY FAR. While I have really enjoyed reading other entries in this series like Star by Star and Edge of Victory I, this is the first book in the series that actually felt like it said something. It actually tried to be more than just a Star Wars book, and, in my opinion, completely and totally succeeded.

I’ll start with negatives, since there really is only one I can even think of. I think Stover’s prose, while overall phenomenal, at times can drivel on a bit too long. There are a few moments, particularly at the end of Part II, where Jacen’s mental breakdown was rather redundant in its description. Lots of lofty language that I honestly really liked, but it almost went too overused. Almost.

Okay, now why this book has easily become my favorite in the New Jedi Order series. To start, the worldbuilding and set pieces in this book are all, and I mean every single one, jaw dropping. Stover’s description of the environments aboard the seed ship, Yuuzhantar, the World Brain, the Crater, Embrace of Pain, and everywhere in between are so vivid and surreal. Colors and descriptions are well written and so wonderfully sci-fi that I can’t help but be filled with wonder and excitement. My personal favorite location is the Seedship, with its tiny sun and surreal structuring, and Jacen’s first sight of Yuuzhantar and the Bridge being a close second.

Quick side note, this book can be really fucking strange at times. The climax of this book revolves around the hero seducing and getting a kiss from an eldritch slime god in a red green slime pit at the bottom of the senate chamber. I LOVE how weird this book gets with its story, and it straight up improves previous locations like Yuuzhantar/Coruscant and the Embrace of Pain with Stover’s super gory and weird details. All of the Jacen stuff in Part II with the cavern beast and his mental breakdown in particular reads like a straight up fever dream, which it kind of is, and makes you question the narrator for the first time in the entire series. Let Star Wars be strange!

The characters. Oh my god. Jacen Solo turned from an annoying little kid I couldn’t stand in Balance Point to a supremely interesting and wise Jedi is my favorite character development of the series so far. By the time you reach the end with him and Vergere staring out the window of their ship, it hit me just how insane of a journey this book takes you on with him. The amount of stuff he goes through and learns is so dense and complicated that I feel like I need to reread this book 7000 more times. His ideology change, with the help of Vergere, is so fascinating and profound that I want to go back in and lick the words off the page just so I can understand them more.

Vergere, however, gets the first place award for most improved character. Her Agents of Chaos character was a shadow of her true potential. Vergere here is a character so ambiguous and mysterious that you can’t help but crave her presence while reading. It’s so hard to understand her motives and who she is, that I ate up every hint she dropped like it was water in the desert. Even by the end, I don’t even fully understand what she wants, and Stover implies that maybe that doesn’t even matter anyway. I can’t wait to see more of her, and her relationship with Jacen.

Oh and Ganner! Almost forgot to talk about him. What a way to write out a character! Ganner’s death is honestly perfect, and shockingly so considering he only shows up in the last third of the book. His monologue where he says “None shall pass” is straight up badass as all hell, and his final joyous stand is fucking awesome. I was also pleasantly surprised to see how well he tied in with the story’s message as well, about being who you are.


I don’t even know what else to say. The ideas presented are so complex that I need to go back and reread before I feel comfortable discussing them. All I know is it felt like every chapter I was writing a quote down for later, or I was smacked in the brain with a profound line that would have me put the book down and think for a moment. And this book is ONLY 300 PAGES. That in itself is this books greatest achievement. It has 100x as much as content as Balance Point in almost half the length. Basically, I now think Balance Point is even worse than before.

If this wasn’t book 12 in a 19 book series, I would instantly recommend it. Honestly, though, even if you don’t want to read the whole series and are craving a good Star Wars book, I think this one’s worth a shot (though you should read this series, it’s very good). As long as you know a decent amount of background Star Wars EU lore and read a quick summary of the previous books, I think you can still enjoy this one. Maybe not as much without the background on Coruscant and Jacen and the Yuuzhan Vong, but the story itself is pretty self contained. It stays focused on Jacen and Vergere pretty much the whole time (except the Ganner part at the end) and in my opinion, is the best Star Wars book I have read (well, maybe tied with Stover’s Revenge of the Sith).

Glad that one lived up to the hype and more. From what I understand that now we start on the phase of the NJO people collectively call the good stuff, with only a few hiccups left. I can’t believe how far in the series I’ve come at this point, and after finishing this book, I must say these books are a must read for Star Wars fans. God damn.

[Dylan Mucklow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of the series so far. It’s a really interesting read about the amount of effort needed to corrupt a Jedi that was already questioning the use of the force for fear of the dark side. It’s also a good story that extends the understanding of what the yuuzhan vong are capable of engineering. Fascinating the whole way through.

[Greg Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I appreciate the writing, the story was so singularly driven by the one character (the traitor) that I don’t feel it advanced the whole era in which it takes place.