Traitor

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order #13

by Matthew 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 Froce can be devastating. And there are others watching Jacen's progress 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...

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

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 30, 2002

Reviews

[CS · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Is it what the teacher teaches? Or what the students learns?"

Where is Jacen? Is he alive? Dead? What happened to him after the mission to Myrkyr? Well, if you were curious, if you wanted to learn more about the Force and the mysterious Force presence Luke and Mara felt under the location of the former Jedi Temple, this is the book you want to read.

NOTE: Based on audiobook and novel.

Wow. Just wow.

That is a good wow, by the way. A very good, pleased wow.

Let me be frank, the NJO hasn't been a bad series up to this point. Sure, I went nuclear around "Jedi Eclipse" and other than the brilliant "Conquest", I haven't really loved any of the books, but really, these books are no worse than the Bantam cousins. In fact, in many ways, the worst of NJO are only as bad as the "meh" of NJO. Which is pretty frakkin' impressive in my book.

This book totally makes all the other books (minus the brilliant "Conquest") look like "The Crystal Star" or Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy. No, really, I'm serious. This is a damn fine book, period, Star Wars or otherwise.

"That's a bold claim, Crystal. How can you justify that?"

I thought you'd never ask.

Firstly, Stover keeps a narrow focus, which I've found to enjoy far more than the broader scope books. The cast contains only four people: Jacen, Vergere, Nom Anor, and Ganner. That is it. Oh, sure, there are nameless Yuuzhan Vong that Jacen fights at one point, but our major characters are the four listed above. And of those, three have points of view. I love this because we can finally delve deeply into our characters, to probe the extents of their mind, understand how they work, understand what they feel, and concentrate on their growth throughout the book.

Secondly, Stover writes well. Damn well. Brilliantly well. I loved the book-end approach (the introduction mirrors the conclusion). OMG, it was so brilliantly (frak, I need a thesaurus!) written, so evocative, so creepy and wonderful that I wanted to cheer and applaud and whoop when I finished the book. Stover is able to write in third person past and third person present AND use it perfectly. He switches back and forth adeptly to showcase Jacen's turmoil and struggles, and I thought it was--you guessed it!--brilliant.

For being a newbie to Star Wars, you might be afraid that he will A) ruin the characters or B) ruin the world. Bah, not Stover! He shows he is able to do his research by providing us with characters that feel like their previous incarnations (in fact, I think Ganner is BETTER in this book than in the book where he debuted!), with knowledge of the world, with an adept understanding (and new insight) into the Force. If only all new authors could take a page out of his work!!

The story itself is one that we've been aching for since "Star by Star". What happened to Jacen? Jaina felt his death, but Leia is sure he is alive. Who is right? What happened? What about Vergere? Who's side is she on? Expect some serious answers to these questions. Stover definitely gives us some closure to stuff that has been bothering us from the beginning (or at least, for a long time). I love his new view of the Force (I wish it had been used better in the Dark Nest books...), I love where he took Vergere, I love how Jacen FINALLY gets to learn what the frak his purpose is.

In short, this book is amazing, a pure joy to read. It is one of the best novels of the NJO and only Stover's own Revenge of the Sith novelization and Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy passes it for best novel in the entire Star Wars series (for me). Even if you don't like NJO, I recommend you at least give this a shot.

[Albert Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to read a lot of Star Wars books as a teen. This was the one that made me realize reading Star Wars books wasn't good. Not that they were bad, just that they didn't provide or even strive for the things we want from literature. This one strived, and maybe even got there. I read a few more Star Wars novels after this, but I stopped getting anything from them and soon moved on. I tracked down Matthew Stover's Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle, and those books led me to Hemmingway (who I mostly loved) and Heinlein (who I mostly didn't love) and a bunch of other classic and SFF writers, and reminded me of my love of Greek myth, and got me thinking about history, anthropology, and philosophy as literature.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've read the later books and wondered how Jacen ended up the way he did, this book shows you what led to his tragic fate. Chilling, but still good reading.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars
This is easily the best book in the New Jedi Order that I have read thus far. I think Matthew Strover is probably the best Star Wars author I've read and, once again, he did not disappoint. This book has some dark and rather disturbing moments for a Star Wars book. The character work was fantastic and the ending made me very excited to keep reading the series.

[Shane Amazon · Rating 5 out of 5]

After decades of books, movies, cartoons and all the other incarnations of Star Wars we finally get a grown up intelligent book that explores the Force. Don't get me wrong I love epic battles and lightsaber snap-hissing but I have been waiting ages for someone to sit down and delve head first into the mystical power that surrounds everything. Adding in a compelling storyline with Jacen and his teacher/tormentor, Vergere, Stover produces an incredible tale.

After living through the Embrace of Pain, Jacen must find a way to regain himself and also mature into the person he has to be in order to survive. As his story progresses Jacen becomes ever stronger in the Force and uses his new understanding to free himself from his burden. Coming through on the other end the reader is left wondering which path Jacen will follow. Will he become the savior of the Republic or will he bring it to its knees. As the last words touch the page, Stover leaves us wondering if it could be both.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Star Wars book of all time set smack in the middle of the Yuuhzan Vong war focused of the character of Jacen Solo (Han and Leia's son) and his capture. This is were the plot of continuing Star Wars book took a socking twist. Read and you will love even if your not a major Star Wars nerd. If you want the whole story read the other books before it starting with Vector Prime. Anyways it was a great work with twists and turns and amazing character development.

[M Hamed · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Red-gold slimelight pulsed through the smoke from the Well archway. A figure solidified in that archway: a silhouette approaching lazily through the smoke, haloed by the slimelight.
A human silhouette.
Bonelessly powerful: a sand panther, out for a stroll. Relaxed but alert. Poised.
Predatory.)


-deep psychological star wars books need good writers ,not any one can pull that off,greatness is needed
-this is my best star wars book
-WoW

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily my favorite Star Wars novel ever. Close to my favorite NOVEL ever. Matthew Stover, like Chris Avellone and the other writers at Obsidian Entertainment, is amazing at pulling on the loose threads in a setting and playing on your assumptions. The first half of the book reminds one of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, in that it is an extensive character study first and foremost, and a philosophical treatise on pain and suffering second. My only complaint with the book is that since I read it before any other expanded universe fiction, it set my standards far too high; nothing else in the New Jedi Order series is even close to this good.

[Steve Holm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well that was damn good. Hard to say too much about this one without going into spoilers for this and a few previous books so I will keep it brief.

Easily one of the top contenders for best of the New Jedi Order series. Matt Stover really is a master at breaking down a character to its pure core and taking it on a journey of self reflection and regeneration. I also really like how he describes and teaches us about the force, all sides of it.

One of the easiest 5 stars of the series.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jacen Solo, twin to Jaina and older brother to Anakin, is alive. This is, unfortunately, news to only the readers of the New Jedi Order series. The only other character who believes he is still alive is his mother, Leia. Not even his twin sister feels him within the Force. Sadly, Leia’s protestations have been dismissed as the denial of a grieving mother.

Matthew Stover’s novel, “Traitor” is the thirteenth book in the NJO. It is the first time that we, the readers, are given confirmation that Jacen is alive since his capture by the Yuuzhan Vong in Greg Keyes’s novel “Star by Star” (book # 9). Up until now, Jacen has been considered M.I.A. and presumed dead.

Stover’s novel is, essentially, a P.O.W. novel. There is very little action, as most of the novel is set within the constraints of Jacen’s prison walls and his own mind. It is perhaps the most philosophical and cerebral novel in the series, carrying on ideas introduced in Troy Denning’s novel “Edge of Victory 1: Conquest” about the spiritual nature of the Force.

Jacen has been cruelly tortured by the Yuuzhan Vong. He is also the unwitting subject of an experiment by Yuuzhan Vong scienists. His only source of “comfort” is the mysterious alien slave, Vergere, whose intentions and loyalties have been unclear since she was introduced early in the series. One thing that is known is that she is extremely Force-sensitive, which makes her an anomaly among the Yuuzhan Vong, who do not use the Force and are seemingly invulnerable to it.

As the novel progresses, Jacen learns more about Vergere, who may have been, at one point, a Jedi Knight, and alludes to the fact that she once knew Jacen’s grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, long before he became the Sith Lord known as Darth Vader. While he still does not trust her, he begins to suspect that her cryptic “lessons” are actually meant to help him.

He also begins to learn more about the Force and the limitations that he and the Jedi philosophy has put upon it. The Force, he realizes, is much bigger and more complex than anyone has ever suspected. Sadly, it was his younger brother, Anakin, who first began to realize this, and with his death was the potential loss of an integral tool in the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. Now, Jacen must deal with the knowledge that the fate of billions depends upon him.

“Traitor” is one of the better books within the NJO series. It also helps to be a sort of “redemption” for Jacen, who has always been portrayed as a whiny ineffectual brat. Jacen was, until this novel, an ascetic Jedi. He didn’t believe in the misuse (or any use, for that matter) of the Force, which, according to him, meant any form of aggression, including self-defense. His philosophy was pacifism to a ridiculous extreme, and it nearly cost him the lives of his loved ones.

Several major events happen in “Traitor” which will clearly have a repercussions in the books to follow.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The issue I have with the Force is that the movies made everything so black and white. Give in to your hate and passion and poof, you’re dark side. The Sith have their code about killing all the things and power, and the Jedi have their code about not having sex and only killing all the things when you really, really have to. Both are annoying opposites and their philosophies and drama grow tiresome after a short time, more so when the struggle for every Jedi in the Star Wars universe includes going dark and staying dark, or going dark and finding redemption.

Thankfully, my recent gaming adventures into the Old Republic have renewed my faith in the Star Wars universe by providing numerous characters and stories that go deeper than the black and white/good and evil trope.

Jolee Bindu started me down the path in KOTOR. In KOTOR2, Kreia, my beloved and hated master, truly broke this trope, and then Traitor took it all one leap further, with the help of a Jedi chicken named Vergere who was once a source of ridicule for me, but is now a subject of respect, curiosity and maybe even some awe.

I initially had trouble with the New Jedi Order series – though I only read the first book – mainly because of the new enemy, the Yuuzhan Vong. While I liked the idea of a dominating race outside of the Force, I got a little tired of the “organic app for that” way the YV could deal with every single thing (except Lando’s pocket world melters and those pesky Jedi kids). The events on Sernpidal (and ohgawdChewieeeeeeeeee!) broke the Star Wars bubble of heroes (not including Jedi Masters who need to motivate their padawans) never die and set the tone for the subsequent series.

I skipped several books to pick up Traitor, as recommended by my fandom hero, Beccatoria. That bubble breaking continued (though I’d already spent enough time on Wookieepedia to know that) and we now have Jacen Solo dealing with his “death” with the help of Vergere who robs him of the Force, tortures him with pain and forces him to question everything he is and everything the Force is and is not in order to find his own path that surpasses both the darkness and the light.

It is a very personal journey that we get to go on with Jacen that initially had me at about three stars, but once all was said and done and Vergere revealed her pride in her student/teacher, I found myself overwhelmed with curiosity about what this means for the future of the Jedi and Sith through Jacen’s enlightenment.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Clearly I’m in the minority here but Traitor is an awful novel, both by general and Star Wars works.

A huge part of that is Matthew Stover whose writing is pretentious and far too literary for a simple Star Wars story. I’m an English major so I get the use of descriptive and flowery language but it’s definitely not necessary for a book of this type. 292 pages never felt so long.

It’s also not necessary to needlessly plod on and on and on with Jacen’s emo side as he whines and complains about the Force and questions his place in the universe.

The NJO series is far from a great work of fiction, but with Traitor it hits a new low.

[Tomislav · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Star Wars book and one of my favorite books of all time.

The story centers on Jacen Solo, a very introspective Jedi Knigt who is seeking to understand how a Jedi can respect all life and seek the path of non-violence while at the same time fighting as a warrior.

Now he is captured and tortured by the Yuzhaan Vong and their mysterious "pet" Vergere, who's goals seem to be a mystery even to her "masters". What follows is a combination of fantastic event, intense action and, above all, a simple yet very deep philosophical debate leading to a journey of self-discovery unlike any that I have ever read in a sci-fi book.

[navu · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a slow, strange, self-indulgent, brilliant, beautiful book. it pretty much transcends genre & i think it's the best star wars book out there, even if i don't agree with all the author's positions. it's hard to separate my feelings on the book from its personal importance to me, so maybe four of the stars are justified and the last is just for love.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matthew Stover is probably the best writer to grace the EU, and I'm not sure if that's in spite of the relatively small contributions he makes to larger lore, or because of it. Shatterpoint and Shadows of Mindor are one-off stories that expand on characterization and philosophy with small impacts on nearby continuity. With the RotS novelization and Traitor, he jumps into other peoples' stories and elevates their climactic moments to transcendent heights. This makes Traitor a bit weird to read on its own. It's a short book, and it really makes you want to experience the context. When you realize what the context is, it's not that hard to restrain yourself, but nonetheless, it feels a bit isolated.

The core of the book consists of didactic philosophy dialogues about the nature of the Force. Vergere has much in common with Kreia from Kotor 2, and indeed, the themes explored here are largely the same: pain and suffering, and the nature of the Force and its influence over our destiny. “If the Force is life, what is life without the Force?” Jacen ponders. They discuss the Jedi philosophy on violence – it is remarkable that Zayne Carrick stands out for being a Jedi who never murders anyone in pursuit of his goals. Like Meetra Surik, Jacen murders plenty of people in this book, and Vergere confronts him with it: “You can do whatever you want, so long as you maintain your Jedi calm? So long as you can tell yourself you're valuing life? You can kill and kill and kill and kill, so long as you don't lose your temper? Isn't that a little sick?”

Vergere's Socratic rhetoric is rich, full of humor and sadness and irony and nuance, most of which seem to be lost on Jacen. He is a bit of a sad sack in these conversations: he tells Vergere that “none of those questions are new. Jedi have asked themselves all of them since the fall of the Empire,” but is quickly forced to admit “We don't have a very good answer.” Really? Why not? Nor is it entirely clear where Jacen arrives through his very apparent development throughout the book. As Vergere puts it, he doesn't find an answer, but instead lives an answer. He obtains a sort of aloof maturity, an attitude that projects the internalization of the inevitability of suffering and the ambiguities of moral decision-making in wartime. Again like Kreia, Vergere doesn't seem to have any particular goals. She delights in the process of forging her student's mind, of freeing him from the safe, stultifying dogmas that cocoon him from the consequences of his actions and inactions. In this, both stand in stark contrast to Yoda, who is very deliberately training Luke to fulfill a single mission, even at the expense of all he is and loves. Kreia and Vergere would probably not think much of Yoda as a teacher – he doesn't appreciate his student enough, an expression of his communal orientation and their individualism.

It's impossible not to join in Vergere's pride and joy as Jacen conquers the trials set out for him. The action is sparse and measured, carefully applied at key moments to illustrate and realize Jacen's lessons. They are majestic and theatrical set pieces that have carefully thought-out, but not unsubtle, links to character. Jacen wins his battle on the seedship through communication, empathy, and alliance, measured with the willingness to sacrifice, to act with conviction, which he has lacked for so long, a crucial element that Vergere has finally given him. Ganner's epic None Shall Pass moment is the perfect combination of wish-fulfillment and revelation for him. In order to get what he wanted, he has to realize how stupid he was to want it in the first place. Ganner's arc is much shorter than I remembered, and it seems like he's actually only there to give Jacen a normal Jedi against whom to contrast his growth away from the Order's dogma.

Jacen never really explains his new beliefs. Vergere, like Kreia, never simply says what she believes, so it's not as though Jacen has simply adopted her dogma. But that's a good thing, since the whole point of these explorations is to encourage the reader to think about the Force in new ways themselves, and to enjoy the dialogue itself. It would have been too heavy-handed for Stover to come down anywhere in particular in the debate. The problem is that few other EU authors are really capable of handling the nuance of this sort of philosophy. So while Stover has taught Jacen a lesson, it's not clear how much it really stuck with him.

As delightful of all of this is, I do need to say how unfortunate it is that Vergere's relatively straightforward deconstruction of the light-dark moral dichotomy seems so revelatory, both in-universe and out. It's unfortunate that George Lucas literally wrote his moral compass into the fabric of the Star Wars universe, but that doesn't mean that characters living in it need to lack basic insight as well. The Jedi spend a lot of time meditating on the nature of the Force and pondering tough questions in applied ethics. They couldn't exist as they do for so long without giving some serious thought to the responsible application of their tremendous power, much less to the nature of evil and its relationship to what they term the Dark Side. And indeed, most writers treat these issues as though there have been discussed, in-depth, but offstage.

Like an amnesia event, the Jedi Purge gives the New Jedi Order a clean slate for character development. With thousands of years of tradition, it gets hard to convincingly make the issues characters grapple feel fresh, to maintain a horizon of knowledge for them to explore. So it's perhaps reasonable for Jacen to be substantially more lost than, say, Obi-Wan should have been at his age. Nihilism and moral relativism should be as old-hat, as primitive and fundamental to the Jedi as nuclear weapons and slug-throwers. But of course it's one thing to learn about and even accept those ideas in the abstract, and quite another to confront them in a moment of personal crisis. I'm glad Jacen can still find utter just-give-up nihilism fresh and startling, since it provides a really wonderful scene, as Jacen just doesn't gaf while Vong-life spiders slowly encase him in web. Nonetheless, it's still a bit embarrassing that all Jacen can come up with when pressed is that he “knows the Dark Side when he sees it,” and that intentions and emotions make as much difference as pragmatic consequences in the journey to it.

I suppose these are just the growing pains inevitable as an IP grounded in popcorn adventure serials matures and begins to explore what it can be. Traitor says much more about the evolution of Star Wars writing and its audience than it does about the nature of the Force (which is, more so than many things in SW, highly sensitive to what the author wants it to be). Stover has signaled a new era of depth and contemplation for Star Wars writing, raising the bar forever. Hopefully more writers recognize it and rise to the challenge.

[Caleb Likes Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredible book, no doubt one of my favorites in the series—perhaps even taking Star by Star’s place as my favorite thus far.

I loved everything about this book. First, the character work was incredible. We finally get to see Jacen Solo again, after a few books away, and this book single-handedly made me love this character. Jacen’s journey and arc throughout this book was fascinating to see. There’s also Vergere who, again, I loved because of this book. She’s an interesting character and I enjoyed her interactions with Jacen; she reminds me a bit of Kreia from KOTOR 2 in her philosophy and crypticness. Ganner Rhysode also appears for a bit towards the end, and he was great as well. Lots of Yuuzhan Vong in this book also, who are good as usual. One of my favorite things about this book was how interesting and thought-provoking the dialogue and themes were. To go back to the KOTOR 2 example, I don’t think I’ve seen such a fascinating exploration of the nature of the Force, morality, the relationship between the two, and more since that story. The third and final thing (three isn’t many, but these are big things!) that I loved was the story itself. Lots of interesting things happen, both on a personal level for the characters as well as progressions for the overall story. I’m curious to see how they play out in future books and how other characters respond to them. A fourth, smaller thing I loved is the writing itself. I don’t often discuss style and prose but the way Stover writes made all this hit so much harder. I can’t wait to read more of his work!

No negatives to point out here. This was an absolute treat from start to finish. I loved it.

Rating: 10/10

[Lance Shadow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that's another novel in the NJO series finished!
Without a shadow of a doubt, "Traitor" is the novel in the New Jedi Order that I was looking forward to the most, and for one reason: author Matthew Stover. He is one of my all time favorite Star Wars authors- Shatterpoint and Revenge of the Sith are two of my favorite SW novels ever written, I consider both of them to be masterpieces. While Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor was a big step down from both of those, I still enjoyed it and there were parts of it where Stover's touch of brilliance shone through.

And now, the final book that I had yet to read in Stover's Star Wars lineup happens to be his first- 2002's "Traitor". This is one of the most highly regarded books in the entire New Jedi Order, so that begs the question- does it live up to the hype? I would say yes, for the most part. It's not a perfect masterpiece, but I still thought it was pretty good and one of the better books in the series at this point.

THE STORY: After being absent for three books, it's finally time to check back in on Jacen Solo, and what he has been up to since the ending of Star by Star. Jacen has been subject to excruciating pain both in the body and the mind- he has been on a small Yuuzhan Vong vessel floating through space in the Embrace of Pain, an elaborate torture device. He has also been subject to the "teachings" of Vergere, which end up being more like convoluted mind games for both our protagonist and the reader. Will Jacen Solo be able to survive this ordeal and remain intact as the person he once was? Or will he succumb to Vergere's words and lose himself to the enemy?

THE BAD: This book was ALMOST a really unique experience that I could have walked away and said, "yes, this is indeed a masterwork". Unfortunately, Matthew Stover makes one major misstep that broke my immersion and prevented me from getting fully into what he was trying to do with this story and the character of Jacen Solo.
This misstep would begin in the last third- while most of the book is strictly following Jacen (with a couple of quick scenes cutting to Vergere and Nom Anor), the last third is told largely from the point of view of Ganner Rhysode, and this book goes from pretty interesting and suspenseful to boring and disappointing. The book eventually recovers at the very end to deliver a decent sendoff, but the entire time we were following Ganner I couldn't help but think "WHY AREN'T WE IN JACEN'S HEAD RIGHT NOW"? At the end of part 2, Jacen switches sides and joins the Yuuzhan Vong. This was a risky choice but I still was engaged in the book and wanted to see what Matthew Stover was going to do with this- he already had my trust from his other Star Wars Novels I had already read as well as the first two thirds of "Traitor". Unfortunately as soon as "Part 3- The Gates of Death" begins, this is where the book loses me until the very end. I wanted the book to stay inside his head, because THIS was even more of a critical time to see Jacen's thought process as he went from choosing to join Nom Anor and Vergere to ultimately forging his own path that isn't light or dark, isn't New Republic or Yuuzhan Vong. This is an endpoint that makes sense for this book and this character, but it didn't leave as much of an impact as it could have if I had seen Jacen's inner thoughts leading up to this ambiguous choice
And Nom Anor... Yeah he's still a very lame and boring villain. Can't this guy just be axed already? I think there's no hope when it comes to making Nom Anor interesting or impactful. Even Viqi Shesh was able to be elevated into something more interesting- heck, I even found her somewhat sympathetic by the end of Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (thank you Aaron Allston!). But not even Matthew Stover could salvage this lost cause of a character, even after giving long needed character development to the stagnant Jacen and the bit character Vergere- so I think this series needs to just cut its loses already and bring another villain to the forefront.
I also had a problem with Jaina Solo in this book, despite what basically was just a cameo appearance. It's not that she wasn't interesting, she was- It's that her portrayal in "Traitor" feels inconsistent with the ending of "Dark Journey" and the go-lucky, quipping badass she was in Enemy Lines . If anything, it left me with a sense of frustration as to why Matthew Stover was able to write a more interesting version of "Jaina on the edge of the Dark Side" in a single scene than Elaine Cunningham in an entire book. But I already expressed my issues with Dark Journey when, well, I reviewed Dark Journey.
Lastly, I just didn't find Ganner Rhysode very interesting here- and he especially falls short for taking the focus off of Jacen. I think Stover's characterization worked, and I understood him better than I had for the entirety of the NJO series before this, but I'm pretty sure the traits that Stover portrayed Ganner with could have been conveyed just as effectively through the eyes of Jacen Solo.

THE GOOD: While "Traitor" definitely wasn't the masterpiece people told me it would be (or the masterpiece I hyped myself for), I still thought this was a pretty good book that mostly succeeded on what it was trying to do.
Starting off with Jacen Solo, this was by and large the tightly focused character study for him that Dark Journey failed to be for his twin sister, Jaina. It plays really well into Jacen's character arc that has been ongoing since the very start of the New Jedi Order in Vector Prime. I also do like the conclusion to his character arc, or at least the endpoint reached in this novel- even though I'm not always agreeing with the decisions Jacen is making, it feels fitting for the character that these books have presented. It also strikes a much better balance than Dark Journey in accomplishing enough to feel like a complete novel. Unlike the "Dark Journey" where the book didn't accomplish enough and I felt empty, "Traitor" left me feeling satisfied while still leaving room for continuing growth for Jacen in the final stretch of the series.
As for Vergere, I liked her, even if Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords handled the same character archetype significantly better in Kreia. While I absolutely did not agree with Vergere's philosophy, this wasn't a mark against the character, and I'm pretty sure part of the point was that you weren't supposed to agree with her. I think the two marks against Vergere that I had were that she was a) largely a background character at this point, so this philosophical side didn't have much setup , and b) she was working for the one-dimensional evil villain Nom Anor. With Vergere, it was harder to tell if her philosophy was genuine or if it was just a ploy to turn Jacen to the Vong side (compared to Kreia, who's arguments felt like they had more conviction behind them). None of this makes Vergere bad- I'm just trying to understand for myself why I didn't find her point of view as engrossing or effective as Matthew Stover may have wanted me to.

Stover's writing and approach to Star Wars feel a bit unrefined in "Traitor", especially compared to "Shatterpoint" and the novelization of Revenge of the Sith. It actually reminds me alot of what reading Agents of Chaos felt like. That was also a first outing for a Star Wars author who would start in the New Jedi Order, and then go on to become a fan favorite and write other books acclaimed by Star Wars fans. However, unlike James Luceno's awkward and clunky opening novel(s), Stover's debut mostly worked quite well. The action scenes and dialogue were pretty solid, but for me, my favorite part about this book is something that I haven't seen talked about all that much- how Stover writes the Yuuzhan Vong.

This is the first time that the Yuuzhan Vong truly felt DISTINCT and ALIEN to me- this is what I think the Vong were always intended to be for readers of the series, but "Traitor" is the first time I think that was fully realized. Aside from R.A. Salvatore, who had the benefit of introducing the Vong and their biotech to readers for the first time in Vector Prime, practically every other author in this series so far has written the Yuuzhan Vong like they would write any other faction in Star Wars- they used the established buzzwords and jargon, but in their approach and descriptions it was pretty clear what every bioengineered creature, ship, and/or weapon was analogous too- it felt like I was seeing the Empire or the Sith or the criminal underworld, but with a thin coat of Yuuzhan Vong paint. Stover, however, made them feel so UNIQUE and DIFFERENT in this book, and I LOVED it as a result. In his descriptions (along with a degree of ambiguity), I felt like I was in a ship that was truly out of this galaxy. I FELT like Jacen Solo and Vergere were walking on the surface of a truly exotic world. This made the terraforming of Coruscant so much more impactful and effective. It made the fall of coruscant feel far more complete and apocalyptic than Star by Star and even Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand ever achieved. By the end of "Traitor", Coruscant actually FELT like it was gone, and I was seeing Yuuzhan'Tar instead.

THE CONCLUSION: Final rating is 3.5 stars, rounded up.
This book may not have been as perfect as the internal and external hype made it out to be, but I still thought "Traitor" was a pretty solid effort both as Matthew Stover's debut Star Wars book and for the New Jedi Order as a whole.
The last 3rd definitely hurt this book, killing the momentum that the first 2/3 of was slowly and suspensefully building up. While the book eventually recovers in the final 10-20 pages, it didn't do enough to bring everything together in a way that made up for the mistake of switching the POV from Jacen to Ganner- especially at the point of the story where it was most critical to keep the point of view on Jacen.
That being said, I think a good portion of what people say about "Traitor" is still true- Matthew Stover's writing is solid, Jacen Solo and his character arc work pretty well, and Vergere serves as an interesting foil. If anything, I'm surprised that Stover doesn't get more praise for his take on the Yuuzhan Vong- it's far more interesting than any other portrayal of them I have ever seen, and I'll probably leave these novels with more appreciation for them because of it.

Well that about does it for now, I'm taking another break from the New Jedi Order. Despite these last few books actually being pretty good, I've been feeling burnt out again after another 7 novels in a row. Honestly, my biggest complaint with the NJO overall is that there's to many novels and its too damn long. I've been feeling that way since Star by Star. I've been able to get past that because of the refreshingly short length of Dark Journey and the overall awesomeness of Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream. While Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand and "Traitor" were both good, they weren't good enough to shake off my increasing exhaustion with the series. I want to sit back have a bit of rest so I can be rejuvenated and more excited for the series again before I go into Destiny's Way.

But at the end of the day, I want to make clear that the overall burnout I'm starting to feel for the series does not make "Traitor" a bad book. It might have been a factor in the length of time it took me to read it, but it wasn't a mark against this book's quality. I still enjoyed the experience when I found the time to read it, and it firmly solidified Matthew Stover as a top tier Star Wars author for me.
"Traitor" may be on the lower end of my Matthew Stover Star Wars book ranking-

4. Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
3. Traitor
2. Revenge of the Sith
1. Shatterpoint

-but at the end of the day, a "bad" Star Wars book from Stover is merely an average one. And "Traitor" is still above average, so it's already quite impressive for a Star Wars debut- and most importantly, it's still fairly strong as a New Jedi Order novel.

[elef · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

the writing was good but i feel like i read it on the wrong time + jacen's stupidity annoyed me most of times

[Adam McPhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Star Wars novels were a double-edged sword in junior high. I loved them (though I'd never admit it to my peers) and must have read dozens. Anything with Star Wars on the cover, from the Thrawn Trilogy to the New Jedi Order. They're partially responsible for turning me into a reader. The problem was that I never wanted to read anything else, except maybe history books and some nonfiction and whatever I was reading for school. That's why I'm so thankful for Traitor.

The book and the online buzz about the author interested me in other, non-media tie-in books by Stover, and those books (Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle) got me interested in Tolkien and Hemingway and PKD and Nietzsche and medieval epics and of course this new reading material sparked my interest in dozens of other writers. Before long I was done with Star Wars and reading "real" novels, though I don't regret my time spent in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. I just wish there had been more Stovers.

[Dexcell · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You only dark side you need fear, Jacen Solo, is the one in your own heart."

Man, I love this book. It's so beautiful, and easily on par with Revenge of the Sith, but without all the context it'd be confusing.

But this was the turning point for Jacen Solo, and for most of the series he was uncertain about his place, and even the Jedi Order as a whole. This book really took a deep dive into the philosophy of the light and dark sides of the force in Star Wars and I like the conclusion it came to. That there were no sides to it. Only your own intentions and heart.

Of course the whole unifying force thing went out the window once the Denningverse came about, but it was good for the short time we had it.

I personally thought this was the highest point of the series, and that the rest of the NJO wasn't as great and dragged on a lot, but it still ends the Star Wars history on a high note. (I tend to ignore everything after this series as it was ultimately unfinished and far too grimdark in time.)

[Andrew Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are 19 books in the NJO. Without having read any that follow Traitor (at the time of review), I can comfortably say that this is the pinnacle. Matthew Stover understands Star Wars and how it relates to the reader better than any other author I've read. This book is, and I don't use this term lightly, a masterpiece.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm kinda waffling over 2 or 3 stars, because a book of nothing but philosophical riddles is boring AF, but the character development of Jacen is pretty impressive. Stover's narrative being arrogant and condescending doesn't help that much, either.

We need half stars, Goodreads!

[Meggie · Rating 4 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: a Jacen-centric novel by Matthew Stover, Traitor.

SOME HISTORY:

By 2002, Matthew Stover had written a historical fantasy duology (Heart of Bronze: Iron Dawn/Jericho Moon) as well as the first two books of his Acts of Caine cycle: Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle. Traitor would mark his first of four Star Wars novels over the next few years, and plays to Stover’s interests: tons of philosophical discussions and a handful of intense, violent action scenes. Traitor made it to number nine on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of August 18, 2002, and was ultimately on the NYT list for two weeks.

MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:

Circa 2002, I remember there being multiple arguments on theForce.net forums over Traitor: mainly, agreements or disagreements about Vergere’s motivations and her revelations about the Force.

A BRIEF SUMMARY:

The capital world of Coruscant has fallen to the Yuuzhan Vong conquerors, and Jacen Solo is now the ward of Vergere, a Vong accomplice with mysterious motives. She has much to teach Solo, including a new way of perceiving the Force — but at what cost?

THE CHARACTERS:

Right off the bat, Traitor’s dramatis personae lets us know that this won’t feature a sprawling cast like previous books. Six characters are listed; of those six, two are minor characters here (Tsavong Lah and the Master Shaper). That leaves us with four characters: Ganner Rhysode, Jacen Solo, Nom Anor, and Vergere. We get POV scenes from three of them, but Vergere’s motivations remain a mystery both to those around her and to the reader.

We are in Jacen’s head the most (which makes sense, since this is Jacen’s book). Unlike Dark Journey, which took Jaina on a more traditional journey, I found Traitor a lot closer to Greg Keyes’s Edge of Victory I: Conquest in that Jacen is thrown into an alien environment, forced to survive and forced to re-evaluate his way of thinking. The prologue and the first chapter deal with Jacen in the Embrace of Pain; Vergere strips him of his Force sense, and he suffers horribly. From there, he is sent to work in the dhuryam nursery on the seed ship, and he both gains a way of sensing the Yuuzhan Vong and causes utter mayhem. He ends up on the former Coruscant, now the remade Yuuzhan’tar, and journeys across the surface until he finally reaches the Solos’s old apartment. Vergere and the Vong recapture him, and then the final section is primarily from Ganner’s POV but also from Jacen’s as well.

We see how far he’s gone, and how much he’s changed and grown over the course of this book. Jacen's only eighteen, but he matures a lot--perhaps too much, because when Ganner sees him Jacen looks like someone prematurely aged, who's gone through horrific things that have changed him both emotionally, philosophically, and physically. Jacen still complains and questions things, but I find it easier to accept in Traitor since I can't see anyone else going through Jacen's ordeal without whining and complaining and questioning it along the way.

Vergere’s methods are harsh, and her motives are completely unknown to us. At the end of Star by Star, she handed Jacen over to the Yuuzhan Vong, but everything we see her do could have multiple interpretations behind it. Is she actively involved in Jacen’s torture in the Embrace of Pain, or is she trying to mitigate it? She guides Jacen across the surface of Yuuzhan’tar, but she also leads him straight into the hands of the Vong on multiple occasions. Vergere’s actions are confusing, but her words are even more so. She constantly reiterates to Jacen that "Everything I tell you is a lie. Every question I ask is a trick. You will find no truth in me." But at the same time, she does reveal things about the Force that change Jacen’s way of perceiving it. (More thoughts in the Issues section.)

Nom Anor also has viewpoint sections here, but his POV scenes make him come across as a moron. Nom Anor doesn’t believe in the Yuuzhan Vong religion, he only believes in himself. Yet it felt like he was overly credulous and far too willing to accept what Vergere and Jacen said. I would have expected a bit more skepticism from him.

Ganner Rhysode goes out in a blaze of glory, a moving ending for the character. When we first met Ganner in the Dark Tide duology, he was pompous and thought very highly of himself--but he was quickly humbled, and realized that the galaxy was a lot more complicated than he had realized. Ganner starts out as someone desperately playing the hero, only to change his mind and try to dial back that aspect of himself. He investigates this rumor that Jacen Solo is still alive even though he doesn’t like Jacen, and he walks right into a Vong trap. Ganner doesn’t trust Jacen; Ganner thinks that Jacen is a traitor to the New Republic and the Jedi. But in the end, Ganner realizes that he can be a hero, that perhaps this was his destiny all along. I love Ganner’s last stand before the doors of the old Senate building; I love that he maybe gets the highest kill count of anyone in the Yuuzhan Vong invasion; and I love that what he did was so memorable that it becomes part of the Yuuzhan Vong mythology, living on in a garbled, distorted way long into the future.

SETTING:

The world of the Yuuzhan Vong is distinctly alien here--in some of the books, they just felt like biological versions of existing Star Wars tech, but Traitor’s Vong creatures and organisms are strange and off-putting. In trying to remake the Yuuzhan Vong’s lost homeworld, Coruscant’s familiar features have slowly been stripped away and usurped. It’s not Coruscant anymore, it’s Yuuzhan’tar.

ALLUSIONS:

Traitor also features a few nods to other works--some subtle, some less so. In the prologue, Vergere tells Jacen that he is dead (“forever lost to the worlds you knew”) and strips away his connection to the Force. His torture in the Embrace of Pain, his service in the dhuryam nursery on the Seedship, and his journey through the alien jungle of Yuuzhan’tar are reminiscent of a journey through the underworld--and like Heracles and Orpheus (the fortunate few), he ultimately returns to the land of the living. I also get Inferno vibes from Traitor: like Dante, Jacen is lost “in a dark wood,” although his guide is not half so helpful or benevolent as Virgil. Jacen also sees a lot of horrors along his path, but whereas Dante sees horrors that reinforce what he already believes, Jacen sees these things that make him question and look deeper into what he believes and why.

Vergere’s repeated “Is it what the teacher teaches? Or what the student learns?" reminds me of “Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?” from Sabriel by Garth Nix. So much of the impetus is on Jacen here--not just to listen, but to process what Vergere says and decide if he believes it or not, and whether he's willing to incorporate her ideas or not.

Ganner’s speech before his last stand ("I am Ganner. This threshold is mine. I claim it for my own. Bring on your thousands, one at a time or all in a rush. I don't give a damn. None shall pass.") feels heavily inspired by Gandalf’s speech on the bridge of Khazad-dûm in The Fellowship of the Ring. In the book, Gandalf says “You cannot pass” which became “You shall not pass” in the 2001 film. (And the ur-source: Tolkien, a World War I vet, may have been influenced by the French slogan from the Battle of Verdun: “Ils ne passeront pas” or “They shall not pass.” So in a way, Ganner saying “None shall pass” has its roots in French propaganda from WWI.)

ISSUES:

First, the minor issues: If I complained that James Luceno overuses big juicy thesaurus words, Stover does as well. On a scale from flat to purple prose, some sections tip firmly into purple prose territory (especially the beginning of each section), yet I didn’t mind too much because they fit with the overall feel of the book.

I felt like the structure of the story as Jacen moved deeper and deeper and deeper into the world of the Yuuzhan Vong worked very well...except for Chapter Nine. Chapter Nine is “The Belly of the Beast”: after running from Vergere’s revelations at the former Jedi Temple, Jacen is accidentally swallowed by a gigantic Yuuzhan Vong beast. He finds other people within the belly of the beast, and then the chapter ends. We don’t get any of his thoughts about the situation (or the resolution of the incident itself) until Chapter Ten, “Home Free.” I don't think that sequence was really needed, and I might have liked it better if he fled straight to the Solo apartment instead.

My biggest issue with Traitor is Vergere's philosophy of the Force. There were so many bits where she'd say something and I’d 100% agree, but then also bits where she would say something that I instantly disagreed with and sided with Jacen instead. As far as I can find in interviews, Stover never got into the specifics of Vergere’s beliefs beyond saying that he wanted to bring our view of the Force back to the more nebulous concept that we had gotten in 1977's A New Hope. If anything, he wanted the changes that came out of his novel to be for Jacen (and others) to look deeper within.

If I had to summarize Vergere's philosophy of the Force: the Force is neutral. There's no dividing line between the Light Side and the Dark Side. There is good and evil, but it comes down to the individual: the actions that they take, their motivations, what's inside them makes it Light Side or Dark Side. But the Force, at its heart, is neither.

Yet back when Jacen and Vergere were journeying across Yuuzhan’tar, they came to this giant crater. Even without the Force, Jacen had this great sense of unease about it. There are predators killing prey, and Vergere says that they’re of the Dark Side. But I have to agree with Jacen here! The Dark Side isn’t natural; what makes the Dark Side so alluring is how easy it is. If you do something selfishly, or as a result of corruption or malice, that’s the Dark Side. But predators are simply part of nature.

It sometimes felt like Vergere was all over the place--she confirms that "If your surrender leads to slaughter, that is not because the Force has darkness in it. It is because you do" and I totally agreed with that! But then she also said that what the Jedi perceived as the Dark Side was just the raw, unrestrained power of the Force, and I don’t buy that. I agree that in trying to make a framework to explain how the Force worked, the Jedi would de-emphasize the sheer power aspect of it. But making Light Side vs Dark Side ultimately come down to your motivations doesn’t sit right with me either. (People with “good motivations” have done horrific things!)

Mainly, I'm upset that I'm re-reading Traitor now, because I would love to see what other people think of this. Almost 20 years out from the book release, most of the reviews online just come down to if people liked it or not, and there's fewer discussions of the ethical and philosophical ramifications of Vergere's revelations. I like this concept that the Force itself is not good or evil but it's how you approach it and what you do with it--with the caveat that I think that this can be debated in great detail. This is both Traitor's greatest weakness and greatest strength for me; that it introduces this new way of using the Force--you may agree with it, you may not--and I find myself somewhere in the middle. Some of the parts felt revolutionary, but some of the other parts did not sit right with me.

Ultimately I think Vergere teaches Jacen that he is not at the mercy of some external force. Up to this point, Jacen had always viewed the Dark Side as something outside of himself that he feared that would affect him. I think a lot of the Skywalkers and Skywalker-adjacents have had to deal with the ramifications of Darth Vader's legacy in some way, and Jacen viewed it as this external thing that would drag him under or influence what he did. The most important thing that Vergere taught him was that it's not anything like that; if you blame everything on an external force, you're not taking responsibility for what you do and what you feel inside.

IN CONCLUSION:

It’s easy to rush through Traitor, because the story is structured that way--but I think there’s also something to be said for taking the book slowly and thinking critically about Vergere’s various revelations on the nature of the Force. It’s short, it’s dark, what happens to Jacen is horrific. But I think it’s in my top 3 of the NJO books (thus far) because I loved how alien the Yuuzhan Vong world felt, and I’m interested to see how other authors will use Stover’s developments in the books to come.


Next up: the fourth hardcover release, Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams.

My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/izU1mB-7TQg

2002 TheForce.Net interview with Matthew Stover: http://theforce.net/jedicouncil/inter...

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be a long drawn-out book about Jacen's torture at the hands of Vergere and the Vong. However, it had a pretty good story going. Plus, I really loved the ending, and it set up the basis for the next book.

[Chris Comerford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last night, I erected a new bookshelf and finally got all my Legends books out of storage; a friend's collection I saw the other night prompted me to rescue my own from the depths of my garage. Putting beloved (and some accursed) books on the shelf made me remember things. Most of those stories were as crucial to my childhood and teens as Dragonball Z, the internet and English muffins (though not all at once). Of all the books I put on the shelf, spanning several decades of narrative and publishing history, Traitor was one of the ones that stuck out to me the most.

Matt Stover should've absolutely been allowed to write more Star Wars books than he did. His four bites at the apple are fantastic, with Traitor probably being the biggest and juiciest. Of all the writers from the now-Legends canon who made bigger names for themselves in a galaxy far, far away, Stover would be right at the top of my list of authors - alongside Karen Traviss, Timothy Zahn and Drew Karpyshyn - who should have a crack at writing in the new canon.

It's been a number of years since I last read Traitor, but I feel confident enough in my recollection of it to say that it is, quite simply, unlike any other Star Wars books I've ever read. It's weird. It's metaphysical. It's (at times overwhelmingly) philosophical. It's got action. It's funny. It's heartbreaking. It has probably the smallest Dramatis Personae of any Star Wars book, and certainly of the entire New Jedi Order. What Stover accomplishes in terms of character and plot development in 300-and-change pages' worth of novel is the kind of feat that authors like Kathy Tyers (Balance Point) and Troy Denning (Star by Star) couldn't quite accomplish with their respective NJO entries.

This almost feels like the Star Wars equivalent of an artsy play; minimalist cast, few settings and a largely straightforward plot based predominantly on dialogue and character interactions. Jacen Solo, held captive by the Yuuzhan Vong following the fall of Coruscant and the events of Star by Star, is interrogated/questioned/taught/enlightened/mentally screwed with by Vergere, the mysterious Fosh Jedi/Sith/Force user/something else altogether. This happens while the Vong deal with owning the planet at the heart of the galaxy and their own internal struggles. Oh, and Ganner Rhysode shows up for reasons. Not that I don't like the character, but their immediate inclusion felt odd - until you reach the book's third act, and the entire thing becomes staggeringly clear.

I've loved Stover's writing both in Star Wars and his own books - Heroes Die is a particularly great example of his ability to switch styles and tenses at the drop of a hat - and Traitor represents what I consider his best work in Lucas's universe. Every character is written with confidence, and Stover pulls off an excellent balancing act between Vergere's enigmatic nature and her more blatant, philosophical side. It's tough to walk the line between good and evil that characters like Vergere and Nom Anor inhabit, but Stover manages it seemingly effortlessly.

It's funny that, despite all my gushing praise above regarding plot movement and character development, Traitor is really more of an interlude, a calm between storms. NJO readers had just gone through Aaron Allston's great Enemy Lines duology, itself on the heels of Star by Star (and the damnable Dark Journey). Traitor was the breath before the plunge that led to Destiny's Way (one of my other NJO favourites), The Final Prophecy and the excellent conclusion of The Unifying Force. But even as a bridging story between narrative acts, Traitor does enough that it works as its own self-contained story.

Granted, you'll be lost in parts if you're not flush with the NJO's backstory, and it's not an entry-level book for new Star Wars readers. But if you approach it with an open mind, prepared to have your interpretations of the Force, the Jedi and the Sith turned inside out, then you'll have (what I remember is) a richly rewarding narrative experience. I still remember Traitor very fondly years after reading it; even after divorcing my nostalgia for it and having a quick flip through once again, I can tell that it's still great.

Now bring Stover into the new canon, please.

[Ben Briles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was... challenging for me, to say the least. Anyone that's ever talked to me about or heard me talk about Star Wars knows that I think the foundation of the franchise is built on the fundamental conflict between Good and Evil, and that the Force reflects that. There is no "gray" as far as the Force is concerned. There is Light, and there is Dark.

Well, through the vehicle of my favorite Solo kid/one of my all-time favorite characters, this book flies right in the face of all of that. "Good" and "evil" are all relative, and the Force is just that. "Choose, and act." Who are you? The nuance all lies in personal choice and what one chooses to do with their power/gifts.

Having some passing knowledge of the general of the major plot points in the NJO and onward through Star Wars cultural osmosis, I knew going into this book that it contained some Force stuff that was decidedly much more ambiguous than what we'd had in the past, and that concerned me. I've really enjoyed the NJO up to this point, and I didn't want it to turn into edgy, morally ambiguous nonsense (as most fan interpretation of anything "gray" in Star Wars tends to be). And honestly? I don't hate it. When people have described what they call a "Gray Jedi" to me in Star Wars, it's always just someone that can use both sides of the Force with no consequences, which truly IS edgy, morally ambiguous nonsense. It's stupid. However, Vergere's point of view as taught to Jacen is that Force is simply the Force, and has no sides.

And honestly? I don't hate that. I don't LOVE it by any means since it kind of flies in the face of the OT, but by this point in time Star Wars had had to evolve. That was kind of the whole point of this series ("let the past die," as it were). The slight difference between "the Force has no sides" and "I can use both sides of the Force with no issues!" is actually super important to me, I guess. Again, still not my favorite thing in Star Wars, but I'm not blinded with rage whenever I read it.

All that being said, Matthew Stover freaking killed it with this book. I started out thinking his prose was very flowery and over-dramatic, but by the end, I was completely lost in it. I felt that he handled Jacen very well, and that the ambiguity he was trying to convey came through without making Jacen out to be some sort of villain. He still ends up doing the good and right thing, he just doesn't do it in the way that one might expect.

In summary: I get the hype, and I look forward to hitting Traitor on my next time through this series. Hell, I wanna read it again right now because I can't help but feel that I've missed some stuff that might need unpacking.

[Frank Mikes · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I like the series, I'm afraid this book is not a winner and I'm surprised that so many that like it. My biggest problem which is of the central character of Vergere, who is a complete Mary Sue who's powers including, but are not limited to, being able to cut a Jedi off from The Force with a touch and 'cry' any chemical including drugs and 'magical' healing ointment at will. Most annoying though is that she only talks in riddles and then the plot train moves along to make her seem wise and prescient. Her real gift though is getting people to trust her despite continually proving that trusting her will not yield the desired results. It is hard to tell if Nom Anor or Jacen is the bigger fool for continually falling for this.

The plot has four parts, the first is Jacen being tortured and learning to 'embrace the pain.' Next comes him working in a Yuuzhan Vong nursery with a bunch of other slaves and playing along. Third, he is on Coruscant, reshaped into the new Yuuzhan Vong capital and finally, is a reasonably well written climax.

Indeed, the writing is generally of very high quality but it is the unanswered questions and assumptions behind that writing that I have a problem with. Why does Ganner Rhysode work so hard to find Jacen, in complete secrecy when he says later that he doesn't even really like the guy or believe he is alive? Why is he sick one minute and then fighting off entire legions of Yuuzhan Vong the next, something shown to be pretty much impossible in previous books? Does Jacen see Anakin's 'force ghost', a hallucination or just Vergere screwing with his mind (she appears to have that power as well).

This is the 13th book in the series and, with the details on the reshaping of Coruscant, it is probably essential for anyone that wants to read further to wade through this book. You have my sympathies.

[Roz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I truly and completely loathe this book. It is pretentious, cruel, selfish, pointless drivel wrapped up in the most obnoxiously over-the-top writing style. I hated every second I was forced to read about that stupid, manipulative chicken bitch. Everything she said felt like listening to alt-right morons pontificate on how "logical" their disdain for and dismissal of other people is. Just fuck everything about this book.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now we're talking. This is probably the best of the series so far. Stover wrote the novelization for 'Revenge of the Sith', which was also well-done and does a great job here too. I hesitate to say much for fear of spoilers, but this tells a story that needed to be told: it does so in a way that even makes you think, not simply zone out like the other Star Wars novels.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The only dark side you need fear, Jacen Solo, is the one in your own heart."

Where do I even start with this one? No matter how I approach this review, no matter what parts I focus on and what I cut for length or convenience, there is just no way to do it justice. Matthew Stover's Traitor is the Expanded Universe's biggest surprise, its greatest success, its single most engaging piece of literature. There is just nothing else like it. It's my new favorite piece of Star Wars media, and I hope the following few paragraphs will be able to articulate exactly why.

Part One - Descent
Allow me to begin by mentioning some of this Traitor's more stylistic aspects. First and perhaps most defining is, well, what it focuses on: Unlike most other EU novels, which are sprawling with action sequences - most commonly space battles - Traitor mostly takes a step back from that stuff. Indeed, a good chunk of its short 292 pages is devoted to conversations and introspection. The entire thing seems stripped back, in a sense: compare Rebel Stand's sprawling, two and a half page long Dramatis Personae to Traitor's mere six highlighted characters (two of which having a minimal presence to boot). I reckon this is a good choice. Looking back, wasn't it the smaller adventures, your Hero's Trials and Conquests, which stood out as series highlights compared to their rather bloated, unfocused peers? Now, if anything Traitor is a focused work. After Edge of Victory and Dark Journey, Stover finally gives Jacen the opportunity to shine as he goes through the 9 Circles of Hell, his personal hero's journey. Accompanying him is the enigmatic Vergere, advisor to the warmaster Tsavong Lah and, gasp, a (former) jedi! As enigmatic as her past is the way she talks; poor Jacen has to contend with her constantly speaking in riddles, never ceasing to be ambiguous in her dialogue. "Everything I tell you is a lie." For lack of a better term, Traitor is a very "artsy" book. There is an abundancy of metaphors, from the directly spelt out (Vergere's shadowmoth analogy) to the more subtle (Jacen's status as a dead man, plus how it and his aforementioned journey mirror Dante's Inferno) as well as some strikingly purple prose. The latter especially could frighten off some readers or be construed as "pretentious", but I didn't mind it at all. Stover's language not just matches the particular mood or message a given scene is going for, but also enhances it. Beyond all the philosophical waxing, this also applies to the vivid imagery he manages to create. I previously lauded Dark Tide I: Onslaught for its striking settings and imagery, but Traitor goes even further. From grotesque biotech to the unmatched beauty of purple skies and rainbow-colored rings, there is never a visually dull moment in Traitor. From its conversations to its setting and atmosphere, Traitor's prose really resonated with me. One of the biggest strength that comes with a multi-author book series is the wide variety of writing styles each writer brings to the table, and Matthew Stover happens to be my favorite of this series, so far. Writing compelling stories and characters is one thing, but making the act of reading itself a pleasure is another. What a great experience Traitor was.

Ever since Vector Prime, Jacen Solo has been a controversial character, to say the least. "Why doesn't he just go out and DO something, y'know, like Anakin would? Why does he always have to be so... indecisive, so frustrating, so un-Jedi-like," the fans cried. A shame, since I have been a fan of his since day one. Jacen is the antithesis of what we expect a Jedi, no, an action hero protagonist to be. He is philosophically-minded, reserved, and, in what is perhaps is lowest point narratively, infamously Refuses the Call in Balance Point, more or less cutting himself off from everything around him. I can certainly understand some of the frustrations people have with him. He does get more proactive after Balance Point, but even in Star by Star Jacen's reserved nature gets him into conflict with the others. So, after slaying the voxyn queen and being captured, what direction does Traitor take the character in? Though the entire New Jedi Order story appears to be his hero's journey, this novel in specific could also be construed as just that. To start off, Jacen is in such a horrible predicament. Held hostage behind enemy lines and constantly being tortured via the Embrace of Pain (one of many nice callbacks to the Dark Tide duology), he has to go deep within himself to find out who exactly he is. Balance Point might have been Jacen's lowest point as the narrative hero, but he goes through worse personal strife in here. Still, despite all the torture and all his misgivings ( There's only one answer when the universe hates you, [...] [h]ate it back. ), he comes out of it a better, stronger person. To hell with this idea that the NJO's Jacen is this detached person who does not resemble the Young Jedi Knights' jolly Jacen anymore. Traitor's Jacen Solo still retains all of his inherent empathy and love for life, even in the face of everything that happens to him. Just think of the Nursery and the dhuryam. It's this empathy and his desperate struggle to understand the world around him, typical of so many young people, that make Jacen into such a compelling character for me. He laughs, he cries, he is frustrated, but then he understands, he fails, he wins. He dies, he lives. Put it simply, he grows up and with him the Expanded Universe.

Part Two - The Cave
So what exactly is it that Jacen learns? As with the character himself, there appears to be some contention over Traitor's ultimate 'message'. Spoilers from here. Central in this fan conflict is Vergere, Jacen's mentor. To be fair, I can see why some would find her dubious, or even confusing. She was introduced as a companion to an antagonistic Yuuzhan Vong character and, despite some overtly good deeds, remained on the villains', and even the warmaster's side for the time being. She speaks in riddles, is aware of (though never complicit in!) Jacen's torture, and gives off somewhat weird 'vibes'. I very much appreciate her weirdness, though; the way her feathers change color, her explicitly feline movements, and other oddities underlie her presence on page before she even utters a single word. To put it simply, Vergere is quite unlike any other Star Wars character. I think it is ultimately mostly that very nature which leads people to misunderstand her teachings. I might be totally off-base with my interpretation here, but Vergere's lessons are almost all directly repeated (and thus explained) by Jacen during the course of the novel: "Everything I tell you is a lie" means the truths of the world are not something that can be contained in mere words, but rather has to be discovered by oneself. "There is no dark side" and "isn't that a little sick?" are not harbingers of some sort of twisted moral relativism, but statements that again direct Jacen to the self. Vergere's insight on the Force, of it just... being, and everything light and dark instead acting as a representation of one's inner machinations is pretty much lifted directly from The Empire Strikes Back's Dagobah Cave scene. There is no radical break with Lucas' portrayal of the force here - if anything, Traitor might be the closest representation of exactly what Empire was portraying it as, instead. Vergere's spiel on intention in the context of eliminating another life is not trying to assert that intention does not matter at all, merely to question the morality of an "ends justify the means" approach to conflict. In the end, her every point comes back to the self. Jacen is a dead man, he is no Jedi, he is a gardener, etc. Read: Jacen is stripped to his bare essentials, made to go deep within himself and understand who he is, with only the reminder that yes, his every action or inaction does matter as a deliberate choice - as a hypothetical example I just thought of: no matter whether complete and utter pacifism like in Balance Point is followed up on with the prevention of war, thus preservation of life, or if it is followed by utter calamity, even not choosing to do anything he still chooses, and his decision has consequences. Vergere's goal in Traitor, as far as I understand it, is for Jacen Solo to come to terms with whatever truth he finds about his role in the universe and thus act upon it.

Traitor is thus a very thorough book. Another thing which I felt Traitor explored as thoroughly as none before is the Yuuzhan Vong. Character-wise, there is only really one notable presence here to speak of -- Nom Anor. No matter who writes him, he is just such a delightfully arrogant and slimy guy. His apathy towards and soft rejection of his people's religion leads to some hilarious moments, especially when he's paired up with the pious warmaster. I think Nom's role in Traitor is of at least a semi-comedic tone, too. The way he constantly gets trolled by Vergere and otherwise flustered makes for perhaps the funniest scenes in here. The Master Shaper Ch'Gang Hool on the other hand has a very distinct physical appearance, but doesn't stand out as a character at all. No, more focus is put on their culture. Much like in Vector Prime, this novel does a lot to establish some fundamental basics, a necessity for the sake of the story now that the villains are ostensibly on the road to victory. We get an insight into the three maxims of their conception of existence - life, pain, death; we are shown their ultimate goal with Coruscant and what place it has in their shared history; we bear witness to holy rituals. I think the most stand-out section here, and this very much ties into Stover's richly detailed prose, is the Nursery. Firstly, there's just the mere image of it, a striking image consisting of an artificial bog under an artificial sun. More interesting are its inhabitants, however. Alongside the seemingly perfunctory amphistaff polyps are the dhuryam, beings which play an important role in the Yuuzhan Vong's ultimate plan. Dhuryams are described as lifeforms which are not necessarily self-aware, but not non-sentient, either. Edge of Victory: Conquest already made the first step in this direction with its heretics and Shamed Ones, but Traitor finally established it as fact: like all other beings, the Yuuzhan Vong and their bio creations constitute as life. No matter what "their" ultimate intent for entering this galaxy is (which itself is a superficial way of looking at things. does Tsavong Lah necessarily represent the interests and thoughts of a Shamed One or Worker?), do they all count as weeds? If not, how exactly are our heroes supposed to approach them? This brings us to Traitor's final act.

The Gates of Death
Jacen Solo has gone through unfathomable torture, has discovered things about himself and the world he would never have considered previously. He has grown up. So it is all the more surreal to see him interact with the bumbling figure who is the last of our quartet of main characters, Ganner Rhysode. Introduced in the Dark Tide duology as a vain thrill seeker in Luke's New Jedi Order, he is ultimately humbled in battle and forced to completely change his outlook on life. Disappointingly, this was pretty much it for Ganner for much of the rest of the NJO. Sure, he might have appeared in a Jedi meeting or two and might have participated in the Myrkr mission as nothing more than the decoy leader, but the authors after Stackpole mostly ignored him. Not Stover, though. We are told that Ganner fell into an identity crisis after getting his ego shattered, not sure what to do now that his dreams of being an accomplished celebrity/hero failed miserably. So, in trying to investigate the rumors of Jacen Solo still being alive, he is ultimately captured by double agent Jacen himself and "shipped" to Coruscant to be sacrificed in a ritual. Ganner's absolute hysteria at being undone by "traitor" Jacen Solo, the exact man he was looking for, is absolutely priceless, so is his confusion at what exactly it is that Jacen is trying to accomplish. Seems like the tables have turned a second time; now Jacen is completely in the know and someone else is being spoonfed cryptic answers. So Ganner reaches the lowest point in his life, too, until he too undergoes an epiphany and finally understands his role in the universe. He is a warrior, he is The Ganner. What follows is, without a doubt, the single most epic moment in the New Jedi Order, a self-sacrifice of the highest magnitude. Ganner Rhysode builds a fortress of the dead. Chills. I just wish we had more new side characters like Ganner who undergo development like this and live to tell the tale... Jacen Solo, now given the opportunity, talks to the dhuryam that has become central to the YV's plot. Utilizing his innate ability to soothe other life, they had previously established a mutually beneficial connection in the Nursery, one which now reaches its climax. Jacen and the dhuryam, the World Brain, have become friends. Thus comes the ultimate lesson that Jacen has learned. He had chosen to meet the Universe with love, and was astonished to discover that it can love him back. The single most heartfelt, hopeful message I have ever come across in this franchise. I liked Jacen a lot beforehand, but this novel finally cemented him (and Vergere for that matter!) as one of the all-time greats.

Who would have expected this seemingly fillerish paperback to become the Expanded Universe's biggest triumph? Now, there are a lot of other things I could have talked about, like the slave seed or the worm, but... everything I tell you is a lie. Traitor is best experienced by oneself and not through someone else's second hand account. I hope others can get as much out of it as I did.