Star Wars the New Jedi Order the Unifying Force

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order #19

by James Luceno

At long last, the New York Times bestselling series that launched the Star Wars saga into the next generation and into thrilling new territory reaches its spectacular finale. Side by side, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, their children, and their comrades in the Galactic Alliance rally for their last stand against the enemy that threatens not only the galaxy, but the Force itself.The Galactic Alliance’s hard-won success in countering the Yuuzhan Vong onslaught has proven all too brief—and the tide has turned once more to the invaders’ advantage. Having overcome the sabotage strategies of the Jedi and their allies, the marauding aliens have pushed deeper into the galaxy and subjugated more worlds in their ruthless quest for domination. Coruscant has been remade into a Yuuzhan Vong stronghold. The remnants of the resistance are struggling to form a united front. Luke, Mara, and Jacen are missing in action. Clearly the stage is set for endgame.Now, as Han and Leia receive the chilling news that hundreds of high-ranking Galactic Alliance prisoners face slaughter in a sacrifice to the enemy’s bloodthirsty gods, Luke and his team try desperately to convince the living world of Zonama Sekot to join the Jedi’s final campaign against the Yuuzhan Vong. Yet even as they speak, a lone space station is all that stands between Alliance headquarters on Mon Calamari . . . and wave after wave of ferocious enemy forces waging their most decisive assault.At the same time, the Jedi’s alliances throughout the galaxy are being tested—and the chances of victory jeopardized—by rogue factions determined to deploy the lethal weapon that will exterminate the Yuuzhan Vong . . . and perhaps countless other species. And among the Yuuzhan Vong themselves, the threat of revolt has reached a boiling point—as the oppressed underclass and powerful officials alike fear their Supreme Overlord’s mad actions will provoke the wrath of the gods.Ultimately, for both the forces of invasion and resistance, too much has been sacrificed —and too much is at stake—to ever turn back. And now, nothing can stand in the way of seizing victory . . . or facing annihilation.

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

548 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2003

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

[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.!

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

The Good: At long last, I've finished the New Jedi Order series, and what a ride it was! This satisfying conclusion wraps things up nicely, and has plenty of what we've come to expect from the franchise in general: action/adventure scenes, likable heroes, despicable villains, heroic acts, etc. Though it wasn't the complete end of the Star Wars saga--after all, oodles of books that take place after this one have been published since--it still made for a nice ending to the series. One of the final scenes even ties in with a dramatic event from the first book.

The Bad: Nothing to complain about, really.

Content Concerns:

• Sex: None. 5/5
• Nudity: None. 5/5
• Language: None. 5/5
• Violence: Sci-fi action violence abounds, including one scene with a beheading. 2/5
• Drugs: Poisoning is mentioned; one character nearly dies as a result of an injection. 3/5
• Frightening/Intense Scenes: Some emotional intensity; a character nearly dying; the beheading. 2/5
• Other: The usual flaky Force theology; if you're familiar with the series, you know what I mean! 4/5

Score: 5/5

[Dexcell · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride that was. I started this series back in March and finally finished it. I loved it over all. The ending was rather quiet and bittersweet, but it felt like a proper end of an era.

After going forward and reading the rest of the Legacy era books, this is where the Legends Star Wars timeline ends for me, everything after is way too grim and bad.

[M Hamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

it has been a long way


but it ended Not with a bang but a whimper

[CS · Rating 4 out of 5]

"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand, there is no going back?"

And here, at the end of the 19 book long series known as the New Jedi Order, I end with a "Return of the King" quote that seems somewhat fitting, considering all the trials that our characters have had to endure.

As if things weren't bad enough, the war is escalating to a new level. The Galactic Alliance has deployed Alpha Red, a biological weapon that wipe out the Yuuzhan Vong completely, at Caluula. And Shimrra unleashes the full wrath of the Yuuzhan Vong war machine at Zonoma Sekot. It is down to the wire...will our heroes win? What is winning, if it means the decimation of an entire species?

NOTE: Based on novel and audiobook.

WOW. This has been a long, arduous journey, but I'm glad I've made it to the end. And let me tell you, I'm both excited and sad to be at this point. Excited, because Keyes' "The Final Prophecy" was a great setup for the finale, and sad, because who isn't sad at the end of the era (when this comes out, it will be the evening before the release of the final Harry Potter movie and I know many who have that same sense of excitement/sorrow)? I have full intentions to review the series as a whole, but I would prefer to do that in a blog type setting (trust me, it's gonna be novella length). Instead, this is just concerning "The Unifying Force".

Honestly, way, way back when this was first released, when I first found out James Luceno, who wrote the mediocre (in my opinion) "Hero's Trial" and "Jedi Eclipse", I was worried. I didn't particularly like the author, his writing was hugely dense, he spent way too much time on EU-dumping, and overall, I didn't think he could handle the end to such a large series. However, both then and now, at the end of the audiobook, I will admit, I was wrong.

Luceno's heavy writing is definitely still present. We get a recap of the last book (somewhat understandable), a recap of the major events of the ENTIRE series (honestly, if you haven't been keeping up, why bother?), filling in details that the other books left out (such as the deaths of HALF the Jedi, the deaths of over 300 TRILLION people, etc.), the call signs of EACH and EVERY pilot, a description of EACH and EVERY person in EACH and EVERY location (which ends up sounding like a grocery list: "And standing next to Leia, was the furry haired Bothan, the large headed Mon Calamari, a female Barabel, a male Barabel, Jaina, Jacen, Luke, Mara"...you get what I mean?) just to show that, yes, all the bajillions of characters from the previous books are still here and valid, and tons of details in the middle of the story. This was REALLY bad in the first half, which threatened to grind the entire story to a halt. I found myself constantly bored and finding other things to do than listen to the audiobook. Oh, I have to shuffle papers, can't listen while doing that. Oh, I have to slurp some coffee, better turn off the iPod, might miss something as I'm slurping. Oh, my ears hurt, I don't really want to put the earbuds back in. And so on. And so forth.

Fortunately, the second half saves the book and bumps the rating from the inevitable three stars to four stars. With all the characters, backgrounds, recaps established, Luceno can focus on tying up all the loose threads. And frak, that's what he's best at. Luceno must have this like photographic memory, because he remembers to wrap up pretty much any question a person may have. (And the questions he doesn't wrap up, I am pretty sure he couldn't wrap up because of Lucasfilm or whomever is pulling the strings up there.)

The fight on Zonoma Sekot, with Kyp and Corran, was great. I love how Corran is like, "Why do we have these stupid ships, if they won't fire?! What are we supposed to do, look pretty?" Perfect characterization.

As for the Coruscant battle...WOW! I knew the outcome, I knew the BIG SECRET, but I was STILL impressed with the execution. Jacen gets an AMAZING scene that ties back into "Balance Point"; Luke gets to kick some royal @ss; Mara gets a chance to be something other than stereotypical Kick @ss GirlTM.

And the conclusion was, again, brilliant and well-executed. At the end, Sekot has a "Let's tell the audience what the hell is going on" scene, but for once, I actually appreciated it and wasn't annoyed at all. Nas Choka gets to be a real sentient, instead of a Yuuzhan Vong stereotype, the mystery of Zonoma Sekot revealed, and the galaxy is "set right". But don't think that everything is rosy, posy. Not once did I get the feeling that everything went back to roses and sunshine the day after this book. I get the feeling they would be spending quite some time cleaning up this mess.

Other than Luceno's writing, the only other complaint I have is that there are very few real character moments (other than with Jacen). The characters pretty much just push along the plot to its conclusion. Again, it wasn't bad, you pretty much expected it from the onset, but I did want to warn that this isn't like "Conquest" or "Traitor".

If you have been following the New Jedi Order since "Vector Prime", you definitely DO NOT want to miss out on this. Unlike a lot of other series, this IS a REALLY good conclusion to the series, written by someone who is more than capable of tying up the complicated threads of 19 books.

[Meggie · Rating 3 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 final hardcover release in the New Jedi Order series, The Unifying Force by James Luceno.

SOME HISTORY:

James Luceno didn’t know that he’d be writing the final volume of the New Jedi Order series, but as an integral member of the NJO group (he created the series bible and worked with the editors on the direction of the series), he emerged as the default choice to wrap up the series. Easier said than done, though, as he related in a 2003 interview that after completing his first draft of The Unifying Force, he received a three-page list of plot threads that still needed to be closed. The Unifying Force made it to number ten on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of November 23, 2003, and was on the NYT list for two weeks.

MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:

I remembered a fair bit of the last third of The Unifying Force, but not much of the build-up to that final section.

A BRIEF SUMMARY:

The Galactic Alliance's success in countering the Yuuzhan Vong onslaught has proven all too brief—and the tide has turned once more to the invaders' advantage. As Han and Leia receive news that hundreds of Alliance prisoners face slaughter in a sacrifice on the former Coruscant, Luke and his team are stuck as the living world of Zonama Sekot hurtles through hyperspace. And wave after wave of enemy forces arrive to assault Mon Calamari, as the Alliance decides to make one final push to recapture Coruscant…

THE CHARACTERS:

If the last few books felt more limited in focus--in that we had less characters and a select number of subplots—The Unifying Force has a lot going on. But that makes sense, because this is the series ender that has to somehow wrap up everything. There aren't a lot of quiet moments or moments of character development, but a lot of that character development has happened in the previous eighteen books of the series. It’s pretty much non-stop action from start to finish, and there's very few chances for it to slow down and for characters to think and reflect.

So we have Luke and company stuck on Zonama Sekot as it draws closer to Known Space and discovering that Harrar survived being thrown off a cliff in the last book; Han and Leia running a number of missions for the Alliance, and behaving in a surprisingly reckless manner; Nom Anor back in Shimrra’s good graces but eventually regretting it; the Galactic Alliance planning a major offensive against Coruscant/Yuuzhan’tar; the Yuuzhan Vong attacking Mon Calamari; the Alliance Intelligence deploying the Alpha Red toxin with dire consequences; and finally, the Alliance and Jedi assault on Coruscant.

So there’s a lot of action here; we’re told at the end that over the whole span of this invasion, 365 trillion people have died and 5 million people alone died in the final assault on Coruscant. But while we know that Wes Janson and Gavin Darklighter and others are flying, they all make it out OK--the actual deaths are faceless pilots known only by their callsigns. It doesn’t have the same feeling of other NJO battles, where people are dying and you know them. Instead, it’s like a lot of collateral damage that adds up to lots of tragic ends, but it’s not the same feeling that Vector Prime or Star by Star gives you. But again, this is the triumphant end of the series--they may have lost a lot of people along the way, but our heroes are finally able to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong. There’s no major character deaths, because that’s not what this book is for.

Boba Fett shows up for a whole five pages. (Yet still manages to make the Japanese cover of The Unifying Force part one. Marketing, I guess?) He fights the Yuuzhan Vong with a bunch of Mandalorians, saves Han and tells him that he was just business and his real beef has been with the Jedi, then jets. This development would not have happened without the release of Attack of the Clones in 2002, because Bantam-era Boba Fett was much different: a weird loner with no connection to Mandalorian culture beyond the armor he wore. His appearance here is one of the first attempts to retcon him closer to the prequels.

Once Zonama Sekot arrives in the Coruscant system, a lot of the Jedi are given ships (as in Star Wars: Rogue Planet, living ships that bond with their pilots), and they end up defending Zonama Sekot against the Yuuzhan Vong. Corran has one, Kyp has one, and they struggle to get their ship to work with them. Except they’re not really necessary in the end--Zonama Sekot takes out the Alpha Red poisoned Vong vessel entirely on its own.

More Jedi are sent to Coruscant, and they break off into different groups. Tahiri Veila, Mara Jade, and Kenth Hamner are sent to one place, and they encounter Nom Anor (who is fighting on the side of the Shamed Ones, except it’s complicated because it’s Nom Anor). I was expecting this to be an intense fight, Mara vs. Nom Anor, and Mara being able to wreak some retribution, but it was a one-sided fight: Mara basically beats the crap out of Nom Anor, but she doesn’t kill him. She realizes that a Jedi wouldn’t do that, and he’d be useful to them elsewhere. I really enjoyed that subversion of the image of Mara as a cold-blooded assassin; instead, she’s able to step back from the situation, admit that Nom Anor’s absolute garbage, but that he doesn’t need to die by her hands.

Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and Jaina and Jacen Solo ascend Shimrra’s citadel to confront the Supreme Overlord. Jaina felt less utilized than Luke or Jacen here--all three fight against Shimrra’s Slayers (who went from overpowered fighters to redshirts in just one book!), but once they’re taken out, Jaina takes off after Onimi while Luke and Jacen face off against Shimrra. Luke is able to kill Shimrra, but at the cost of being poisoned by his amphistaff. Jaina, meanwhile, is knocked out by Onimi and reawakens to find herself hanging on the wall, the recipient of Onimi’s villain monologue. Jacen appears, Onimi villain monologues some more, and then Jacen and Onimi have a standoff. It’s less a physical fight, and more like Jacen fully opening himself to the Force and becoming so strong and full of light that Onimi dissolves into a venomous puddle of goo.

It sounds silly, but I really liked this section! Jacen has been scared of taking action, but what the Force wanted from him was to just stand firm: to become the weapon by opening himself fully to his potential and allowing the Force to use him. He experiences something he never has before--and probably never will again--and he’ll be chasing that feeling for the rest of his life. Luke has always been a physical person (piloting his starfighter, dueling his father), but Jacen has been cerebral. So it worked well for me that Luke’s big battle was dueling Shimrra, whereas Jacen gives himself up fully to the Force, and no weapon is required because Jacen is the weapon.

But with two strong stands on the part of Luke and Jacen, I was disappointed by Jaina. She pretty much exists to get Jacen in the right place at the right time; Jaina doesn’t have a pivotal role to play here, but instead feels lesser compared to some of the other Jedi characters. Jacen’s arc has been about knowing himself and knowing when and how to stand firm; Jaina’s arc has been about realizing that the Dark Side is bad and she shouldn’t be fatalistic, but that was resolved books ago so she feels less developed here.

But what about Nom Anor? In a very typical move, Nom Anor tries to betray our heroes while escaping Shimrra’s citadel escape pod, and when they realize what he’s done he’s just like “Yeah, I don’t want to live through any of this” and choses to go down with the ship. That felt like a fitting end to him: he never chose death previously because there was always something he wanted to attain (higher rank, Shimrra’s approval, power and consequence), but in the end, he doesn’t want to go out fighting and wants everything to be on his own terms.

And finally, we learn the truth behind Zonama Sekot, the Yuuzhan Vong’s history, and Supreme Overlord Shimrra. The reason that the Yuuzhan Vong are so vehemently opposed to technology is because they were attacked by a technological/mechanical race. (Future reference materials identify them as the droid species from the Lando Calrissian Adventures and the Droids cartoon, which amuses me.) The Vong homeworld of Yuuzhan’tar gave them the ability to convert the things around them into weapons, and after they defeated the technological race the Vong went on a destructive conquering spree that ruined their own galaxy.

We also learned the secret behind why the Jedi can’t sense them in the Force: like Callista in the books by Barbara Hambly and Kevin J. Anderson, or like Ulic Qel-Droma in the Tales of the Jedi comic, they’ve been stripped of the Force. (I wish someone like Luke had said “oh yes, we’ve encountered this before” but nothing.) Still, it’s a logical explanation for why they seem to be outside the Force, because as an entire species they’ve been stripped of it. Their homeworld was presumably destroyed, and they created their gods and this weird masochistic culture has evolved out of an attempt to explain this essential lack they feel.

Zonama Sekot is so familiar to the Yuuzhan Vong because it’s the seed of their ancestral homeworld; as Yuuzhan’tar was dying, it had a baby, and that baby entered the Star Wars galaxy and gained sentience. I’m a little confused how the seed of a planet can go from one galaxy to another, but it works. It’s a good explanation to wrap up the mystery of Zonama Sekot, and provide a place to repatriate all the Vong at the end.

And Shimrra is so powerful partially because the shapers made him that way, but mainly because he was being manipulated by someone else. He never had weird telepathic skills, and was instead being used by the Shamed One Onimi. This was a bit where I wish we had gotten some foreshadowing in advance, since we didn’t really meet Shimrra until Destiny's Way and first met Onimi in Edge of Victory II: Rebirth. We know that Onimi is underestimated by those around him, and that he’s able to disguise himself to be someone else, but here we learn that he was a shaper who experimented on himself--grafted yammosk cells to his neural pathways or something--and became a Shamed One, but also regained his Force ability. He learned that he could telepathically manipulate people, and has been doing it via Shimrra ever since. Unfortunately these revelations are delivered through the form of a cackling villainous monologue he delivers to Jaina and Jacen at the end; I wish someone had figured out he was the power behind the throne beforehand, but it works OK.

ISSUES:

So while I think that Luceno did a great job wrapping up the series, there were definitely some elements that I can complain about. Instead of listing all the big thesaurus words that Luceno loves to trot out, I thought I would nitpick another issue: long lists of character names. Han and Leia will be at a military briefing, and we get a lengthy list of all the important officers who are present. (Cool...but do I need to know they’re all there? Maybe call a few out by name, but you don’t have to list ten of them.) And this happens a lot. Instead of saying that some of the Jedi were chosen to receive Zonama Sekotan ships, we get a list of every...single...Jedi...involved. And I don’t care what Octa Ramis or Waxarn Kel are doing--they’re not important to me!

There were a number of unnecessary descriptions as well; at this point, I know that Saba Sebatyne is a female Barabel, so I don’t need to be constantly reminded of that fact. Or during the part where Nom Anor sees Mara and Tahiri and Kenth Hamner fighting alongside the Shamed Ones and the Alliance troops, he describes Mara as “the red-golden-haired Skywalker.” I appreciate when authors get her hair color right, but “red-golden-haired” is super awkward phrasing when you can just say “the red-haired woman.”

I also wish there was a little more setup for some of the revelations, but I can’t really fault Luceno here or the authors that came before him. In contemporary interviews, you get a sense that the New Jedi Order was an absolute madhouse to work on: people were turning in books late, multiple people were turning in books at the same time, and while they tried to keep things consistent, that intense book release schedule (up to five books a year between 1999 and 2003) meant that plot elements were sometimes abruptly dropped. The Agents of Chaos duology raised the idea of droid sentience and droid independence, only for that idea to get dropped since they needed to desperately focus on Anakin before Star by Star. The NJO gets messy at times, because it was written by twelve authors in such a short time span.

IN CONCLUSION:

The Unifying Force isn’t in my top-tier of NJO books (that would be Edge of Victory I: Conquest and Traitor), but I think it did a really good job of wrapping up the series in a logical, coherent way. Our heroes were never going to condone genocide, but the Yuuzhan Vong would not stop--and yet Luceno brought the Vong arc to a satisfactory conclusion that closes off this chapter of galactic history and ends a vast number of disparate plot threads.


Next up: a short story from Star Wars Gamer issue 7, set after Vision of the Future and before Vector Prime: Red Sky, Blue Flame by Elaine Cunningham.

My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/k-quJrw9-Hg

Interview with James Luceno (November 2003): https://web.archive.org/web/200502041...

[Steve Holm · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Luceno was given the very hard task to close out a nineteen book series, tying up all plotlines and making sure all characters received a satisfying ending to their arcs. How well did he do? First I will discuss this book alone and then the New Jedi Order as a whole.


And of course Luceno absolutely nails it, he is no doubt one of my favorite Star Wars writers. Almost double the length of most other NJO books except for one, it held my close attention from the first pages to the last. The last act in particular is very good, many scenes described by Luceno had me going like: “This is hype as shit, would love to have seen this in movie format”. He really does well at putting the pictures in your head.

This book has everything a final act of a long series needs: big epic space battles, lightsaber fights, some scheming and a couple surprises too. And of course not surprising, a deep study of the Unifying Force. Luceno also has a flawless balancing of storylines and character povs, giving all the important ones the right amount of page time.

Overall I really enjoyed this final book of the New Jedi Order and I am a bit sad that it's over, but I know there is still more for me in Legends timeline to explore.


So about the New Jedi Series as a whole, was it worth the nineteen book journey?

For me it absolutely was. I really enjoyed the Yuuzhan Vong as the antagonistic species and the Vong war as a whole. It was something very different from Jedi vs Sith or Rebels vs Empire. They did a really good job at making the Vong feel like aliens from a distant galaxy.

The series contains some of the very best Star Wars books there is, and it was absolutely worth working through all of the mediocre to poor ones to get to read them. The second half of the series, starting with Star by Star was really strong. The first book Vector Prime also does an amazing job at introducing the Yuuzhan Vong and setting the tone for the rest of the series.

One of my few complaints of the series though is that the first half was mediocre, a lot of the books felt very similar and uninteresting, too many of them had that sidestory feel to it and not enough time was put in establishing the overarching main storyline. Looking back now I can hardly remember what happened in some of them, so it was obviously some forgettable ones.

Also though that for a series called New Jedi Order, there wasn't all that much “New Jedi Ordering” going on, I feel like it should have been even more focused on some of the newer characters, and less on the old heroes like Han/Leia/Luke. I get it, they are the most important characters in the Star Wars universe, but I was hoping they would be a little more in the backseat and let the new blood take over even more.


Here's my top 5 in no particular order:
Vector Prime
Conquest
Star By Star
Traitor
The Unifying Force

If you have somehow read all this and are still wondering if the series is worth it, I would say anyone who calls themselves a reading Star Wars fan should at least read it once.
I am very happy I read it and excited to continue past the NJO some time in the future, but first I feel like taking a little timeline detour.

Not really easy to give an overall series rating but I think it would be around a strong 4.

[Lance Shadow · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's over... it's done! After almost four years, I FINALLY completed the New Jedi Order series. I never thought this day would come.

Was this a good ending? And most importantly, did I enjoy the NJO???
Let's back up a bit.

THE STORY: The war against the Yuuzhan Vong is finally coming to a close- but things are not looking good for our heroes. The Galactic Alliance Headquarters on Mon Calamari come under attack, and a Vong Victory seems to draw near. Zonama Seekot is finally on its way, but will it arrive in time? and most importantly, will its efforts be enough?

THE BAD: By far the biggest issue I had with "The Unifying Force" is the author that was chosen to write it. On the one hand, James Luceno wrote the series bible and knows its continuity inside and out. He's also written some of the most popular Star Wars novels, including Darth Plagueis. On the other hand, he's also an author with a very particular skillset- one that happens to not be a good fit for a novel like "The Unifying Force", which has more characters than I care to count and packed with action.
Unfortunately, my biggest concerns going into this book came true. The action sequences and big battles were a slog. It should have been epic and exciting, but I was bored for about 60% of this novel's word count; in particular, I remember almost nothing from the first half. There were so many times throughout "The Unifying Force" where I just pictured the exact same sequences happening but written by another author, and imagining how much better they could have turned out. If this book had been written by Walter John Williams, Aaron Allston, Matthew Stover, or Greg Keyes, I have a feeling we would have gotten a better paced and more satisfying final novel that would close out the series on a higher note. There was too much tedius actionand not enough of the smart dialogue and deep introspection that James Luceno excels at.

I would be more forgiving if the only problem was the execution of the final battle(s). However, there were some choices that still would have majorly ticked me off even if this novel had a better fit of a writer.
When I learned how Nom Anor's obnoxiously dragged out story ended in this series, I facepalmed and blurted out "Really? THIS is how they ended it?" This series made me wait 19 books for the MOST UNDERWHELMING POSSIBLE WAY THAT THEY COULD HAVE WRAPPED IT UP? The series refused to commit to anything too substantial. He doesn't get a satisfying villain comeuppance or a fulfilling redemption arc. He just stubbornly stays stuck in his ways and then we get the "go without me! I must stay here and die!" garbage . He is one of the most boring and obnoxious characters I have ever seen in this franchise. I have never encountered a villain in fiction who writers refuse to develop for THIS LONG. Nom Anor has comfortably taken the #1 slot for my most hated villain in the whole franchise. This character SUCKS!
The climactic hero-villain confrontation(s) left A LOT to be desired. I've seen plenty of reviews hyping up Luke's big heroic badass climactic swordfight, but... frankly, I was unimpressed. It was both narratively and descriptively underwhelming. Luke Skywalker vs. Shimraa might be the most overhyped fight in the EU. This fight feels so lazy, only there out of obligation because the authors feel the need to give Luke-Kriffing-Skywalker the final fight scene against the Big-Bad-Evil-Guy. While I don't want to call this character assassination for Luke, it feels anticlimactic and... just OFF... in multiple ways. First, Luke shows no remorse for beheading Shimraa. sure he was seriously injured and killing him in this instance was more out of self defense, but Luke never reflects on the outcome. More importantly, Luke never at any point in the fight reasons with Shimraa and gives him a chance to surrender. And this is AFTER Harrar switches sides, so Luke knows that the Yuuzhan Vong have the capacity for change by this point. Sure Shimraa is OP, but so is Luke- he could have very easily changed his tactics and found time during the fight to try and negotiate if he wanted to. I would be able to let this slide somewhat if the exchange was at least a fun fight sequence, but because James Luceno wrote it... NOPE!
The other final confrontation may have been EVEN WORSE. First off, the Onimi twist was so forced. I'm not saying it came out of nowhere, but it basically amounted to cheap shock value and an excuse for one more video game boss fight because Shimraa was already used up on the obligatory Luke Skywalker fight scene. That being said, if the battle was fun, it would be easier to forgive- but somehow Luceno screwed it up in the worst ways. Jaina getting captured and requiring Jacen to come rescue her is ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC. Based on Luke's description of what the Sword of the Jedi is supposed to be on page 311 of Destiny's Way, it was setting Jaina up to be a badass fighter, but this outcome honestly spits in its face. WHAT A RIPOFF! Again, it would be somewhat forgiving if Luceno wrote it in a way that was fun to read, but just like the rest of the action in this book, Luceno makes it boring through his writing.

THE GOOD: For the most part, I really like what is going on in this book on a conceptual level in this novel.
Everything in terms of the sequence of events and how the big battles play out largely feel fitting and compelling. The buildup is steady, Luceno brings together just about every element from previous books in the series in a coherent way, and the battle of coruscant is suitably massive. Again, I just think it would have been more satisfying to read if an author who was better at handling massive battle scenes and jumping between a ton of different character POVs was handling it. But in terms of creative direction? It mostly works!

Most importantly, the best this book has to offer is saved for last. After the tedious battles and the slow dry buildup, the final fourty pages are great- they actually allow James Luceno to play to his strengths and he ends things off on a surprisingly strong note. I love how this ending feels conclusive from a narrative and character standpoint, but from the POV of the actual people in the galaxy, it is made clear in every way that the aftermath of the war is going to be difficult to move past. The final scenes consistently range from compelling to poignant.
We finally learn why this series is called the "New Jedi Order", as the jedi prepare to change how they operate. It works well as a conclusion to the events that the order as a whole went through in these books.
As for the characters and how their stories end, it ranges from just fine to pretty good. Jacen gets a very compelling conclusion to his arc, and I like how his new outlook was affected by Vergere without leaving off with the idea that Vergere was actually correct. Jacen basically resigning himself to whatever the force wills, be it for good or for bad, is a perfect fit . Jaina's arc throughout this series was a complete mess, but Luceno found a way to end her story in probably the most fitting way he could given the circumstances.
I love how Tahiri's story ended. I heard her character gets ruined in later series but as far as the NJO is concerned, it feels right. I would have liked to see the conclusion come from HER POV, but the way Luceno wrote it is serviceable enough.
I didn't feel substantial growth out of Luke, Mara, or Leia, but their endings are nice and cozy, so... whatever. Same goes for Han Solo- I don't think the series overall did a good job with his character following Star by Star, but for what Luceno had to work with, it was solid.
Lastly, there's the Yuuzhan Vong. While Nom Anor's character arc ended in the LAMEST WAY POSSIBLE, Nas Choka finally gets to be an interesting character with the excellent speech he gives. Shimraa and Onimi were boring and generic, but this book actually turned Harrar into my favorite Yuuzhan Vong character in the whole series I'm actually really happy that his death in The Final Prophecy was a fakeout . His character arc feels like classic star wars- and this extends to the rest of the Yuuzhan Vong faction as a whole. While most of the villain characters themselves left little to no impact, I do think the Vong as an entity were handled great. This brings me to my one final point about conclusions: Zonama Seekot. The final reveals in the last 40 pages were great, and finally allowed me to appreciate this horribly squandered Star Wars concept after 4 truly terrible novels (Rogue Planet and the Force Heretic trilogy), and another mediocre one (The Final Prophecy).

THE CONCLUSION: Final Rating is 3.5 stars. Despite how tedious the majority of this book was, the ending was strong enough to save it. In addition, I can genuinely understand other people liking this book more than I did if they have an easier time getting into James Luceno's writing style.

However, I'm rounding down based on how I feel about the New Jedi Order series as a whole. This was a compelling conclusion and everything mostly made sense by the end. However, I'm not sure this is was a series that I actually enjoyed overall. For the most part, I liked the concepts and ideas this series was going, but the experience of reading all 19 novels has left me tired and exhausted. There weren't any overarching creative decisions that left me angry or derailed the story, but the way it played out felt way too long and stretched out. The New Jedi Order DRAGS AND DRAGS, and this final book while good, was not amazing enough to compensate. Most of the character arcs were acceptable in the way they contribute to the lore of the original Expanded Universe, but I didn't feel any emotional investment when most of them ended.

My recommendation? If you've already gotten this far in the New Jedi Order series, you might as well read "The Unifying Force", because its the last book and afterwards you'll be done with the whole series.
As for reading the New Jedi Order? That's complicated. You're either going to be interested in a story that does something completely different with the Star Wars franchise that utilizes a ton of Bantam Era Expanded Universe lore, or you're going to be completely turned off by how ungodly long it is. I don't think I can convince you one way or the other.

As for me? I'm mostly just really proud of myself for sticking with these books for so many years and seeing it through to the end. I feel so accomplished as a Star Wars reader, and I'm honestly more interested in the rest of the post Return of the Jedi EU books than I have ever been. Before reading the NJO, my level of interest was ZERO. There was too much, and by the time I started reading more Star Wars books, it all got discontinued and rebranded as "Legends". Now however, it all feels much less daunting- I made it through by far the longest series in it, how hard could the rest be?
That being said, I'm taking a long break from Legends. There's not only a few novels from the new canon I want to read (or reread), but I have also become more interested in other, not-Star-Wars novels as of late.

But for now, I'm going to go get some sleep.

For all of you who followed my New Jedi Order reviews for the past four years, thank you.
Good Night, and May the Force Be With You.

[Ernest Solar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadly, but happily it took me 17 years to read the Star Wars: New Jedi Order 19 book series. As I finished the last sentence of The Unifying Force I felt that James Luceno nailed the final book in the series. Luceno pulled in every possible thread and Star Wars historical reference into the Unifying Force to wrap up a tale that was truly magnificent. What I loved the most about the New Jedi Order series was that our heroes had to figure out how to defend a galaxy against a new threat. The series created and defined new characters and personalities. Our old favorites suffered and grew alongside new family members and friends. Jacen, Jania, and Anakin Solo, Mara Jade Skywalker, and countless others became a part of the Star Wars Universe as strongly as Han, Chewy, Leia, and Luke.

A part of me is truly sad that the New Jedi Order series is no longer considered Canon, because for me the “Expanded Universe” is an extension of the Original Trilogy, which is an extension of my own childhood. I anticipate the new Canon books will be equally a part of the next generation of Star Wars fans. But for me, the Expanded Universe and the New Jedi Order has defined and created a mythology for me that is as real and vibrant as everyday life.

New fan or old fan of the Star Wars Universe I recommend everyone read and savor the New Jedi Order, especially The Unifying Force which brings everything together.

[Caleb Likes Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this long journey is finally ended. Reading NJO has been an absolute treat, and the final entry definitely delivered.

My biggest hope going into this book was that it would be a satisfying, fitting, and cohesive ending to the series—which I think it absolutely succeeded in, and is the book’s biggest strength, in my opinion. It brings everything to a close so well. Character arcs come to satisfying conclusions, past hints of things to come are fulfilled, events of past books are tastefully referenced, and so on and so forth. I also think this is a very, very strong “moments” book, if you will—meaning that while the whole is good, the thing it really succeeds in are having strong and memorable singular moments. The latter half or third of the book is chock full of them, with a lot of specific scenes that I expect will stay in my memory for a long time. I also really enjoyed the twists and turns in the story here. They’re not quite unpredictable—I predicted some myself, a few books back—but they’re satisfying and fitting for the series. Also, I just have to say that the last scene of the book… so good, and such a great way to bookend the series.

As for negatives, I do think the early portions of the book are not quite as engaging as the later stages. The book feels very much like the second half is everything the series had been building to, and while the first half is good, it definitely felt like more setup rather than being truly engaging. Still, the whole book is good, but it definitely improves as it goes.

Overall this is a fantastic end to the series. It’s not quite the strongest entry, though it’s fairly high up there, but it concludes the series very well and does so in an incredibly enjoyable and satisfying way.

Rating: 9/10

[Jeff Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Unifying Force is an incredible finish to the New Jedi Order series. It's filled with twists and turns. But mostly, it's filled with climactic fighting. Nothing less should be expected from a series that stretches on for 19 volumes.

As far as story goes, this book does a nice wrap-up of all of the individual stories. There are quite a few of them, but it doesn't seem to get so caught up in those individual stories that the reader is constantly wondering what's going to happen with the larger story - that of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion.

Characterization is somewhat less in this book than it was in others, particularly Traitor and Dark Journey, but that's not what this book is intended to do. What this book does is take you through the last stages of the story arc, and melts your face off while it's at it. For that job, James Luceno was a good choice. I didn't remember reading much of his, but I am now looking forward to reading more of his writing. The battles he writes are intense, and the characters respond how you would expect them to.

The only concern that I still have about this book is the philosophical edge of it. Anytime you have Jacen Solo in a book, it's going to be cerebral. This is no exception. Sometimes throughout the series, the philosophy about the Force went over my head - maybe it's because I read late at night. But in this book, the author tries to wrap that up, too. It just doesn't work as well as his wrap-up of the story. By that I mean that I'm still a little confused as to what all the philosophical debate meant. I am able to grasp most of it, but if you're looking for a resolution in that arena, you may get it if you are a lot smarter than me.

My two cents.

[Daniel Stalter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ran a bit too long, but did what was needed. It’s not easy to tie up a sometimes messy 19-book series this neatly, so that feels like a feat on its own.

[Jay DeMoir · Rating 2 out of 5]

highly disappointed with this one.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a bit for this book to pick up, but it got there in the end and was a very great conclusion to the New Jedi Order series. I feel so happy to finally be finished this series as, although I enjoyed it immensely, sometimes it felt like I would never reach the end. 😅
I loved all the character growth throughout and am excited to continue on in all of their stories (although slightly dreading it also because I already know some of what is happening...). I haven't decided if I'll add in a few other SW books I've been meaning to read first, but the Legacy of the Force series will definitely be coming up this year for me!

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conclusion of the Vong war is about what I expected...a novel packed with too much, yet occasionally feeling anti-climatic. There are many glorious high notes, mixed in with dull patches that could be cut, and the Vong themselves are never as interesting as our heroes. This final novel sums up all my feelings about the Vong storyline: it was good (in fact, better than I remembered), but it could have been better.

[Darth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nie spodziewałam się dokładnie takiego zakończenia, ale czułam że fabuła pójdzie w tym kierunku.
Tylko mam jedno ALE. Śmierć postaci, która przewijała się przez całą serię (19 tomów) nie została potwierdzona, ani nie zostało pokazane, że przeżył. Moim zdaniem ta postać zasługiwała jednak na konkretne zakończenie.
Poza tym bardzo dobre zakończenie 👍😁

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still a tad confused how they actually won the war and Luceno’s not the best at really delving into the characters (except Threepio—he’s a GENIUS at Threepio), but on the whole I still enjoyed it. And I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment for having finally finished NJO.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

11/10

[Jonathon Donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

few of these books are individually very good but they combine together into a unique reading experience that’s intensely involving

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn’t a huge fan of the Vong series but the book ends it fairly well. Nothing too mind blowing happens. Ends just about how you would expect.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This day has been years in the making. What we do from this moment forward will test our fealty to the Force in a way that the Jedi haven't been tested in more than a generation.

James Luceno was tasked with the impossible. How do you conclude 19 novels worth of plot threads, character growth, and world building? How do you cap off the continuous development of not just one, but two entire fictional philosophies, cultures, peoples? And how do you do all of that while keeping your novel a thrilling ride throughout, a tale worth being thought of as not just a satisfying ending to the entire Star Wars story, but also a damn fine book all of itself? The answer: The Unifying Force.

There's a lot I want to talk about with this novel, and I reckon the best way to do so is to go through in chronological order, part by part. Spoilers are in full effect throughout the entire review; if you haven't read this book, I recommend you do so before reading any of what I have to say. Onto the first part.

Part One: Across the Stars

The book starts in a somewhat surprising manner, with a prison break scenario. Following the battle near Bilbringi in The Final Prophecy, C-list EU characters Pash Cracken and Judder Page alongside their crew are held in a POW camp on the backwater planet of Selvaris. Upon being given important information about the Yuuzhan Vong's newest plans, one prisoner manages to escape the prison compound and flee the planet with the help of the Millennium Falcon in a truly awesome and Daley-esque speeder bike chase; thus setting up the next in a line of smaller, introductory adventures. Though merely a drop in the bucket of TUF's larger plot, there's nevertheless a good amount of things to talk about here. Firstly, what I found fascinating was the way the prisoners interact with their YV captors: there's little to no respect for or fear of the Vong; rather, everyone seems quite mutinous, self-assured, even, from the start. While this does tie into the actual plot later on, I think the intended message for the reader is even more clear. The YV might still be at large, holding the galaxy hostage, but the era of one-sided oppression is long over. Things are about to go down, and one way or the other, we're going to see this conflict come to an end soon.

What immediately caught my eye were the multitude of references to past events and characters in The Unifying Force. If you go on the Wook and look up any Yuuzhan Vong-related concept that made even just one appearance in this series, there's a good chance it will either make an appearance or, at the very least, be mentioned in this novel again. How great it was to see my precious blood-sucking ngdins again! I can see why people might not like this, though. If it's been some time since you last read the earlier novels, or indeed if you skipped a couple of the paperbacks here and there, Luceno's love for listing off things might seem alienating. I think it works better here than it did in the Agents of Chaos books, mainly because the references are to the other entries in this very series, rather than vaguely related, older EU works. Consider the Yuuzhan Vong themselves: the previous novels already went out of their way to bring back some of Luceno's own YV characters with the likes of Drathul, or, more recently, both Harrar and Nas Choka, and the man himself completes that cycle with the return of Malik Carr. I distinctly remember reading the Agents of Chaos novels and feeling that this YV warrior got the short end of the stick, so it's great to see him actually contribute to the plot. There are some callbacks to previous EU in here, though, too. Consider the part in which Han and Leia are stuck on Caluula Station during a Yuuzhan Vong raid. Seemingly out of nowhere, Boba Fett and what appears to be a troupe of Mandalorians hijack this plot to save the day. A great section, and one which does actually work, as Fett makes a physical appearance as opposed to just being mentioned. "The Unifying Force", it seems, has more than just an in-universe meaning.


Part Two - Force and Counterforce

Yuuzhan'tar, meanwhile, is facing a crisis of Biblical proportions - no, really, it's raining insects. Among all the problems with the dhuryam, the persisting rumors about Zonama Sekot, and the growing Jeedai heresy, Shimrra himself adds fuel to the fire by assigning his Shapers to create a new kind of Yuuzhan Vong, the Slayer. Seemingly a cross between Priests and Warriors, Slayers are not just a threat to the Galactic Alliance, but also to Yuuzhan Vong culture at large, a deliberate subversion of the caste system which hammers in once and for all that Shimrra is anything but an ardent believer in his religion. In fact, the Dread Lord even goes out of his way to disclose to Non Anor, now Prefect of Yuuzhan'tar, that he believes the Gods have betrayed his people. Whereas Mezhan Kwaad denied their existence altogether, Shimrra reckons his war goes just as much against the Gods as against the Galaxy. Nom Anor's personal assessment that Shimrra might have gone insane, then, is not just hilarious but also quite true. What an interesting character Shimrra turned out to be. While I have to maintain some of my gripes with Tsavong Lah (and to be fair, his incompetence actually gets acknowledged more than once in this book!), the Supreme Overlord himself does not disappoint. A constant presence from Edge of Victory through Destiny's Way and up until the very end, he ultimately amounts to an utter wildcard, laughing maniacally as Shamed Ones are mass-slaughtered as retaliation for rescuing hundreds of Galactic Alliance POWs from being sacrificed to the gods. Even his jester Onimi seems taken aback by Shimrra's actions here, almost as if he knows more than he's letting on...

Zonama Sekot is still wandering through the galaxy, and it is during this downtime that the Priest Harrar, who is - gasp! - alive after all, realizes the truth about his species. The Yuuzhan Vong are not innately separate from the Force; rather, they were collectively stripped of it as punishment for their turn to savageness and brutality. The pain worship, then, developed as a coping mechanism to reach that Force-induced state of being again, as I understand it. A perfectly fantasy-y explanation for this series-long mystery, one which paints them in a much more sympathetic light than I could have ever imagined during Ithor or Duro. I suppose this is that very epiphany Nen Yim had in the previous book. On the topic of Force-related epiphanies: Luke comes to the realization that Vergere was wrong, that the dark side is real because evil actions are real, that the Force by itself is completely neutral; the dark side, then, is perpetuated not through the influence of the force, but by our all's inner darkness. Well. It seems like Luceno misunderstood what Vergere's point was, as what Luke says here is... identical with what Jacen learned through Vergere in Traitor. As others have said before me, Luke creates a strawman out of Vergere and refutes it by repeating exactly what Vergere herself said. Yeah, if there's one problem I have with TUF, it's this. A truly baffling scene to be sure, though it doesn't matter much in the long run, as the characters do learn the right lesson, I suppose. Still, I would have wished Luceno had gotten the end of this series-long debate completely right.

This second part ends with Zonama Sekot finally resurfacing, and in the same solar system as former Coruscant, no less. Thus, the stage is set: The YV elites are gasping in fear, the Shamed Ones, in exhalation; Warmaster Nas Choka is preparing for the final stretch of the war, so is the GA's military; Jacen and the gang are back in the galaxy, unaware of what they're in for, as a Slayer Ship that has contracted the resurging Alpha Red virus is making its way to the living planet...


Part Three - A Time to Every Purpose

This entire section deals with the climactic Battle of Yuuzhan'tar, the NJO's final confrontation. Upon ostensibly losing his last bit of sanity, Shimrra orders the World Brain to initiate planet-wide earthquakes and wildfires with the goal of destroying the planet before the GA could recover it. These natural disasters, accentuated by the combat taking place on foot and in the air as well as the re-emergence of the two giant bioengineered kaijus from Balance Point, create a truly atmospheric setting. In the midst of all of that, another battle between Shamed Ones and Warriors, this time led by Nom Anor, is taking place. It is during this fight, upon realizing that Shimrra is responsible for all the planet's needless destruction, that something in the former Executor snaps. Proclaiming himself the Prophet Yu'shaa once more, he officially switches sides and embraces his role as the avenger of the oppressed... until he sees the recently dispatched Tahiri Veila and Mara Jade Skywalker in the crowd, realizes they saw him, too, and immediately attempts to flee the scene. Oh dear. This doesn't work out; Nom is cornered by Mara and loses a minor scuffle quite badly, but is ultimately spared - Mara deeming him potentially useful for the rest of the battle. So they meet up with Han and Leia, finding out the two managed to pacify the dhuryam, and Nom brings them to Shimrra's Citadel, where just a couple of pages earlier Jacen, Jaina, and Luke faced off against the Supreme Overlord and his Slayers. The aftermath is shocking: Shimrra and his goons dead, a paralyzed Luke on the ground after being poisoned by Shimrra's amphistaff, and Jacen, Jaina and Onimi nowhere to be found. Could it be that there's more to Onimi than meets the eye?

Jaina ends up being the one to verify that theory, though only after being called the weakest of the three by the narrative, getting knocked out by Onimi, and being chained to a wall, naturally. Ugh. And she was doing so well post-SbS, too! In fact, there's a scene earlier on in this book in which Jaina, unlike the other Jedi who have now reached ZS, is unable to attract any seed-partners for a Sekotian ship. She is said to be fated to play a different role in the conflict, but as I said, she doesn't actually do anything. What a shame that Jaina is denied her moment in the spotlight.

Onimi, it turns out, was the mastermind of this entire invasion all along, a former Shaper with a seething hatred for the Gods, them having supposedly disfigured him for daring to risk thinking outside his societal box. Implanting himself with yammosk cells and thus not just gaining some of his species' latent force sensitivity but also the ability to control others' minds (see: Shimrra), he wishes to destroy all of this galaxy's life in a misguided attempt at bringing salvation to the Yuuzhan Vong. Thus the final confrontation begins, Onimi and his toxins - another side-effect of the yammosk cells, it appears - against the lone Jacen Solo. It is here that Jacen, much like Anakin and Ganner before him in this series, gives his entire being to the force and achieves a one-time higher state of being, a sense of oneness. Onimi, then, is hit by Jacen's Beam of Pure Force-ly Light and seems to revert back to his pre-Shamed self, only to immediately melt away like this is Raiders of the Lost Ark due to his "normal" body being unable to withstand the lethal toxins contained within his body. Jacen has fulfilled his destiny, becoming the hero and deciding the war without directly resorting to violence - Onimi was devoured by his own darkness, his shadow. A perfect thematic climax. Nom Anor, upon finding out and reconsidering everything that happened in the past 24 hours, chooses to die right there with Onimi while the others flee the now-unstable place, deeming himself and the Shamed One two of the same kind, both outcasts who don't fit in with either of the two "sides". A perfect end to the former Executor... or is it? We never see a body, so it could very well be that Nom somehow lived to die another day. Gotta love ambiguity. Either way, I really grew to love this character in this series' last third. Always a scene stealer no matter what, Nom Anor is one of, if not the very best Star Wars villain I can think of.


Part Four: The New Order

The final forty pages are a Return of the King-esque epilogue which both brings things to a definite close while also planting the seeds for potential future stories - the Yuuzhan Vong are exiled to Zonama Sekot and thus bringing their story to a close, but the Bothans are still trying to exterminate their species. Jacen has become the de facto hero, but chooses to spend his next fear years roaming the galaxy in search for other groups of Force users. Luke still is the figure head of the New Jedi Order, but, in another Lord of the Rings parallel, remains scarred by the wound he received from fighting Shimrra. It's just as bittersweet as it is triumphant, as saddening that the whole journey is over as it is comforting to know everything went well in the end. You really got to know these characters over the course of not just these 19 novels and ancillary material, but the entire post-ROTJ timeline. A great way to wrap things up.

The Unifying Force is a triumph. An expertly crafted novel from beginning to end, it manages to bring most every subplot left unanswered after The Final Prophecy to a satisfying close, conclude the series' philosophical and thematic machinations in a superbly high note, and provide what is, for all intents and purposes, a great possible end to the original Star Wars timeline. It's not perfect - the strawmanning of Vergere and lack of things to do for Jaina are unfortunate - but still so impressive that it deserves to be remembered as one of the greats. My second favorite novel in this series and perhaps even second favorite Star Wars novel as a whole, just below Traitor. A great ending to this great series.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Luceno---whose previous contributions to the Star Wars New Jedi Order series (“Agents of Chaos I and II”) were mediocre to decent at best, in my opinion---was picked to write the final installment of the series in “The Unifying Force”. Surprisingly, it is a spectacular and more-than-satisfying conclusion to an excellent series.

The action never really lets up in this, the nineteenth book in the NJO series, and it culminates in an amazing climactic final showdown between Galactic Alliance forces and the Yuuzhan Vong on the planet Coruscant (now called Yuzzhan’tar by the alien occupation) and the help of the living planet, Zonoma Sekot.

Luceno manages to bring together every major storyline introduced throughout the series, tying up many loose ends and providing closure to storylines that never had a chance for proper closure, and he does it all extremely well. There’s almost too much plot to summarize, so I won’t even try. Not to mention the last-minute plot twists and spoilers I might accidentally give away.

Needless to say, the gang’s all here, minus a few. (Rest in peace, Chewbacca and Annakin...) There are space battles and land battles galore, as well as the obligatory lightsaber battle finale, so there is certainly plenty here to satiate the die-hard Star Wars fan.

A great conclusion for a great series. On to the next series: The Dark Nest trilogy.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally, it ends.

In all seriousness, I've enjoyed the NJO series - I don't want to talk about my feelings on the whole thing here, but I posted a blog entry on it at http://theorangemonkey.livejournal.co....

So, anyways, The Unifying Force. In this volume we see an end to the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong; there are lots of big actiony scenes as a result, and because it's the last volume in the series, absolutely every character that's been in the series so far shows up. The result of this is that there isn't much character growth or quiet moments in this book, but as most of the individual character arcs have been wrapped up already, that's not too much of a complaint.

In retrospect, the series ends in the only way that it really could have, but it's done in a satisfying way - a large part of the concluding message is "our enemies are more like us than we ever gave them credit for", which is the kind of moral that could have easily come across as cheesy, but Luceno does a good job of preventing it from being so.

[Aigars Sokolovskis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took almost two years to read whole series. I really loved that story. Loved all different writing styles and how each author made a signifacant touch to each character so that in all 19 book-long story every character feels important. I'm happy that James Luceno got the honor to write the last novel of these series. He finished it perfectly, in my opinion. Novel wrapped unfinished story arcs and in the end we get to know everything about Yuuzhan Vong. I even felt a little bit sorry for poor Nom Anor and I think his story ended just the way it should have. Maybe the only sad thing about NJO is that it is in Legends now, but characters still feel more real to me than in new movies, so I suggest every fan of Star Wars to read these stories and uncover an alternative way, how story could have unfolded.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Descent conclusion to the NJO series. There was a lot going on in this book and some of the story arcs could have used more story and others less. The book did seem to answer the remaining unanswered questions/close arcs on occurrences that happened during the NJO series The NJO series did see some changes to some popular EU characters and The Unifying Force reintroduced everyone's favorite, long thought dead, character (omitting their name to avoid spoilers). Luceno did a great job (as usual). 4.5/5

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

19 books to get through this series! Phew! I do enjoy reading about the main characters in Star Wars... but dang, there is so much going on in the Star Wars series it’s hard to keep track of it all. I’m glad to be done finally!

[Adam Kiewel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ill be reviewing 'the unifying force' first individually, and then the series as a whole (because a series this long needs an overall review) the series review will contain spoilers for the NJO series

The unifying force

As far as conclusions go, it wasnt bad. Weirdly enough, I think it was a good conclusion to the series, but not the war. The war (and some characters) ending feels so anticlimactic espe whwn you . I think there had to be a better option in several instances.

The other plot points in the novel actually weren't bad, although some of it became a tad convoluted. While many things finally came together in satisfying ways, their explanations completely ignore vongsense and how it ties in.

I would like to applaud the author, who did such a fantastic job with the continuity that at times it feels like hes showing off. It must have taken an immense amount of work to make sure he got every planet and character correct


The NJO series as a whole: spoilers ahead.

The bullet points would be that the series had many ups and downs. Overall i walk away with a sour taste in my mouth because not only did they paint themselves into a corner as far as the next stories go, the following stories were negatively impacted because of it.

Many of my qualms were explained in the finale and the interview with the creative team. Thats too late to pull everything together in such a long series.

Im relieved it's finally over.

This series was bold, and brought many new and interesting ideas forward. Some of these ideas were really interesting. Some I really wish weren't apart of this universe. There were so many ups and downs, and ironically the series suffers the reverse of many other stories. The middle was the best part.
I think it suffered from having too many authors.

The interview about outlining the series was profoundly interesting, especially because most of the worst parts of the series were things the creative team actively tried to fight against. Unfortunately, they lost seemingly all of those fights and yielded several flawed results.

The creative team mentioned that there were several things they could have smoothed over better given more time. I desperately wish they could have done so. Going from book to book with different authors occasionally led to very confusing results- such as the degree of communication given by the force. the differences in prose and ideas gave for a much less enjoyable experience as well as what I would consider a worse foundation for the universe story wise

Going back to rehash several bad ideas from the early bantam books was a huge mistake, and that, along with other creative choices, ended up taking so much focus away from the war and story itself. The series could have been much shorter, focused more on the actual events of the war, and would have been much better off for it.

One of the biggest problems i have is how grim and over the top the vong can be. It ended up feeling like it just didnt belong. Continuing, I feel like the vongs force issue wasnt really resolved in a complete way. Not when the vongsense exists.

The romance throughout was extremely odd. Many were poorly set up (Danni and Jacen.) Others were just terrible ideas (kyp and jaina??? Who thought of that?) And others were inexplicably killed (jag and jaina, jaina and zekk, Jacen and tenel ka, anakin and tahiri) and of course there was that comment made by anakin in the early books that was such an awful decision to include, it still makes my skin crawl.

[Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six and a half years ago, in a galaxy far, far, away (ok not so far, my house is after all on planet Earth), I started reading the New Jedi Order 19-book series. I finished the 19 books series (plus extra short stories from various Star Wars magazines and novel bonus sections, and also I count Star Wars: Rogue Planet which turned out to be a surprise prequel to the series!) last night.

I gave the first installment 5 stars ( https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). I gave 8 other installments 5 stars. The rest were 3 or 4 stars. That's a lotta stars. Well it is Star Wars after all.

The point is, reading the closing chapters of this 19th and final installment gave me an emotional feeling I wasn't expecting. Yes I was expecting the close-out of the series and all its plots, and was not disappointed. Yes, the series ends with epic space battles, epic duels, thrilling chases by land and air, and surprises almost to the very end. But I wasn't expecting the emotions that welled up as I finished. There's a wonderful set of closing scenes, circling back to Vector Prime in one, and in another, a meet-up of the surviving Jedi, newly introduced in this series and others from previous novels or short stories.

This could have been the end of the entire Expanded Universe. It gives closure, not so much final closure, but enough to satisfy the "what happens next?" feeling. Of course I know there's another 11 years of stories in the Expanded Universe that come after (or before) this until the year 2014 when Disney ended the EU with its purchase of Star Wars. But had I read this book when it came out in 2003, I might have been tempted to say, "Ok, this is good enough. I can stop here and rest easy. 135 Star Wars books is a good stopping point!" I may try and enjoy this feeling of "finally finished" for a while before picking up another Star Wars book, of which there are a plenty on my TBR shelf, literally and digitally!

For those who may have run out of steam, I think the way Luceno wraps up the "New Jedi Order" plot is worth you trying again, picking up where you left off. Or, just read novel summaries on Wookieepedia to catch you up to The Unifying Force and then read this last novel. Of course you'll be missing out on some 5 star books if you skip ahead but to each their own!

At first I was scared to even start this series, since I wasn't collecting them when they came out but only finding them later at my favorite local independent bookstore (Read It Again books - read-it-again.com of course!). Even after I finally got them all, I was hesitant to start, since I knew I was in for a long slog. But I'm glad I started, and glad I finished. A great deal has happened to me and my family in the last 6.5 years. Many things I suppose remained constant even as many things changed in my life. It is bittersweet to say good-bye to this companion of mine, this 19+ book adventure that has kept me company through many difficult days and crazy real-life events. Such is life--we go through it, carrying our friends, family, and books along the way with us.

Rating: 5 out of 5 wroshyr tree-embedded lightsabers!

[Ben Briles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of the best Star Wars books I've ever read alone, and an even better ending to this fantastic series that I've spent the last five or six years reading but had been fascinated with for years beforehand. I understand now why so many people consider this the true end point for Legends. I have every reason to believe that I'll love LotF and FotJ, but I don't know if they will succeed in feeling as satisfying. I initially wasn't stoked to find that Luceno was chosen to write this one because while I love his Star Wars, it isn't usually my favorite Star Wars, and I would've chosen someone else. That was, of course, completely misguided thinking because he absolutely sticks the landing.

His ability to tie everything together and make throwbacks to things that routinely made me chuckle with how obscure they seemed added charm and character to what is already a very compelling narrative. I do think the book took a bit to bit going, and that's evidenced mostly in the thoughts of "I've read 18 books. Why does this book have anything left to set up??" that I had at first, but I quickly fell into the rhythym. When the book takes off, it doesn't really stop until the end. Even in the last few chapters of what were essentially epilogue, my eyes were glued to the page and nothing was going to stand between me and finishing this book there and then!

At the same time, however, this book makes me sad. Not because of anything the book itself does, but because of my own knowledge of what comes next, vague though it may be. I've grown up with these characters as well as carried them through my entire adult life, and they all just want and deserve peace so badly. But as anyone with a brain can see, there are two more long series of galactic conflict left for them to soldier through. Peace doesn't make for great storytelling, after all.

But that's beside the point, which is that the New Jedi Order is likely my favorite bit of Legends. The scale is beyond impressive, and the emotional impact it had on me will be felt for a long time. Honestly, I'm not ready for it to be over. That being said, however, if it had to end, I'm glad it ended this way.

[Riley Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

So finishes my journey with NJO. There were times I had to power through certain books, but never with “The Unifying Force,” for it was a ride that kept building momentum and intensity right up until the war came to its in. There were fun surprises, heartfelt moments, incredible character beats, twists and turns, spectacular space battles, and some of the most awe inspiring displays of lightsaber and Force proficiency ever in anything Star Wars.

I started NJO as a fan both disappointed with what Disney did with the sequel trilogy and rather uncertain about what I had heard about the Yuuzhan Vong, for I felt they were out of place for Star Wars. While they are certainly unlike anything in the galaxy far, far away, they find their place and truly grow on you in my opinion. The series did not disappoint with providing a satisfying story following the Original Trilogy, and I recommend it to any fan who, like me, has been feeling a haze of apathy after the sequel trilogy.

And therein lies what I think is the most important thing about The New Jedi Order: It made me fall in love with Star Wars all over again.