Star by Star (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 9)

I have been working my way through the NJO series and, for the most part, greatly enjoying them. This book has reached a new level, however. I had been enjoying the devolopment of Anakin Solo as a character and also his relationship with Tahiri (which I appreciated that it was underplayed - making it more intriguing). Anakin's fate left me breathless and - like another reviewer - I found myself in a state of disbelief and even flipping pages to find out if I had somehow misunderstood. This is the first Star Wars novel (and one of only two sci-fi novels ever) to elict a real emotional reaction from me (I had been deeply looking forward to seeing Anakin and Tahiri both continue to evolve as characters). At the risk of indulging in bathos, I must admit I was even mildly depressed for a couple days after reading said book. I am moving on in the series (as soon as Dark Journey arrives in the mail) and I can only hope that in addition to exploring Jaina and Jacen's fates that Tahiri will not be discarded undeveloped.

This is one of the most powerful books in the New Jedi Order series, not least of all because of the major twists it introduces to the series' plot arc. As a result, readers are sure to be torn as to whether to love or hate it. Star by Star does start slowly, and some apparent errors occur in the opening chapters (Jaina's status with Rogue Squadron is altered from the last book, for example). The scenes with the adult characters are often slow throughout the book, and in some places Denning insufficiently explains events, leaving the reader wondering how the story got from point A to point B. These are my only trifles with Denning's writing. His character development is good and he manages to breathe life into a number of the rather flat Jedi from Kevin J. Anderson's young readers' series. He also creates an exciting new group of characters--the Barabels, whom we meet in the e-book Recovery (included in the paperback). In addition, Denning writes excellent action scenes. Every chapter about the mission of the young Jedi is a page-turner. This is a blessing in a 600+ page book. On the whole, I think Denning is one of the most skilled writers in the Star Wars franchise.In part because Denning writes so well, some of the plot is hard to swallow--bad things happen, and Denning emotionally involves the reader in them. Despite the book being a page-turner, I had to read it slowly because I found that the only way for me to deal with how upsetting the events in it were was to take them in small doses. At one point I even wished I could un-read what I had read because it was so depressing. Star Wars fans who prefer to see the franchise's characters cleverly work their way out of tough situations will really dislike this book. However, I appreciated both the realism of what happened here, and Denning's ability to involve me in it. I have read too many Star Wars books that have made me roll my eyes at supposedly significant events and that have left me emotionally indifferent, so I give kudos to Denning for doing just the opposite. Star by Star is a difficult read, but it's worth the trouble.

I recently reread through the NJO series again in order to prepar for the next novel, and just as the first time, Star By Star stood out in my mind the brightest. Ive seen many people totally panning this novel for its use of dark themes and for killing a major character, but these people obviously arent understanding what this series is about. The New Jedi Order series was created in order to take the Star Wars series in a whole new direction. No longer do we have the old enemies coming back and creating anothe huge weapon only to be foiled by Luke and co. again. We have a new enemy, an incredibly powerful enemy, and this enemy IS winning. These are dark novels, they arent the happy novels like before. Everyone is not invulnerable, people do die, people do grieve, and people arent perfectly mentally stable. This is exactly what the Star Wars universe needed.I am a disappointed as any about Anakin dying, I had a lot of hope for the character, but how often do people in real life die at a convienient time? This was done masterfully by Denning, he created a very well written book. Besides, anyone who has truly understood the New Jedi Order up until now knows what I know and isnt completely in despair.If youre an idealist who only enjoys fairy tales with a happy ending, you wont enjoy this book. Its not supposed be for you. The whole NJO series isnt for you. If you have a deep love for the Star Wars universe though, and have a realist view upon the world, you should love this book as much as I have.

According to fellow NJO author R.A. Salvatore, one of Troy Denning's strengths is that he "can tell a BIG story, keeping control of all the side details, as well as anyone." And he's right. Star by Star is one of the three biggest SW novels ever, perhaps THE biggest, and it is also, quite simply, the best. Star by Star, marking the beginning of the third year of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, is an important novel in the New Jedi Order arc in that it's the centerpiece of the series. This book doesn't center on any one character, but instead gives all the main characters (The movie characters, Mara, the Solo twins) approximately equal time. He gets all the characters in character, except for one, but more on that later.Before I continue this review, I think that something needs to be cleared up. Yes, there is a major death in this book. Yes, it is sad. What people don't seem to understand, though, is that Denning didn't arbitrarily decide to kill this character, any more than Salvatore arbitrarily decided to kill Chewbacca. The New Jedi Order series is something new in Star Wars literature - a story arc. The major plot points are planned and decided, by a committee of authors and editors, well in advance of the writing of the individual novels. The reason this character was so built up in previous books was so that, like the death or hate it, the audience would care, would feel the impact. The death was not randomly thrown in as "shock value" or to piss off the fans. They are trying to show that this is war, and in war, people die, especially those who undertake suicidal missions. I applaud the NJO creative team for not shying away from such a move.As to the characters and situations, I was very pleasantly surprised. Both sides of the conflict showed remarkable innovation in tactics and technology that had been, for the most part, sadly lacking in many of the previous books. The political scenes were some of the strongest I have read in a Star Wars novel - in fact, Borsk's first scene in this book is one of my new favorites. For the first time, and perhaps the last time, we actually get inside Borsk's head - and you might actually like what you find there. Unfortunately, he is the one character who was slightly out of character, but I loved him all the more for it. Lando, who's been neglected in the New Jedi Order series, is back in best form, as is the enigmatic but interesting Vergere, Danni Quee, Ganner, and many other old faces. The Yuuzhan Vong characters are getting better fleshed out then ever - I even found myself feeling for Tsavong Lah at times. The Jedi enter the fray with some finality, and the space battles were on a magnitude never before seen in Star Wars...simply amazing.Despite all that this novel has going for it, there are a few flaws. The Voxyn, the new Yuuzhan Vong creations, were obviously more than a little influenced by the Aliens from the film of the same name, and several scenes from the book felt right o

This book is the longest in the New Jedi Order series yet, at 606 pages, and it's also the best. In spite of the long length, there's not a single boring moment. In fact, the book sucked me in from page one. Early on, we learn that the Yuuzhan Vong have developed vornskr hybrids, called voxyn, that hunt Jedi. When the Jedi discover all the voxyn are queens, Anakin Solo proposes a mission to go behind enemy lines and destroy the original voxyn, so that no more can be created. Anakin leads a strike team that includes Jacen, Jaina, Ganner, Tahiri, and several characters from the Young Jedi Knights series. They arrange to be "captured" by the Yuuzhan Vong, as that is the only way to get behind enemy lines. The mission to kill the voxyn queen is the main plot in the book, but there are also several other plot lines, including one focusing on Han and Leia, and another on Luke and Mara, who are determined to protect their infant son Ben. To go into any more detail would most likely spoil this amazing book, so if you've been following the New Jedi Order series, I'll just recommend that you read this book. It's so vital to the overall storyline and full of tons of unexpected plot twists. There was really only one thing I didn't like, and that was the death of a major character. While the death was certainly well-written and heroic enough, the choice made of which character to kill was a poor one. Other than that, the book was superb. My only other complaint, besides the death, is that the next book, titled Dark Journey, won't be out until February. Star Wars fans will not want to miss this thrilling book.