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Title: Destiny's Way (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 14) by Walter Jon Williams, Jonathan Davis, Walter Jon Williams ISBN: 0553713787 Publisher: Random House Audio Pub. Date: October, 2002 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 5 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.71
Rating: 5
Summary: Destiny's Way is a true turning point
Comment: Throughout the previous 13 New Jedi Order Novels, The New Republic and the Jedi have been repeatedly battered and destroyed by the unrelenting onslaught of the vicious Yuuzhan Vong alien race. It seemed that, despite developing a greater understanding of the Vong and their technology, all the Jedi and/or New Republic were able to do was gain a few minor, pyrrhic victories. A few books earlier, the horror of the falling the of galactic capital, Coruscant, and the suddenness of the death of Anakin Solo drove home exactly how futile this war had become. Would there be any chance that the tide could possibly turn in the favor of the good guys? With the return of Jacen Solo from his horrific captivity at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong, the answer is definitely 'Yes!'.
"Destiny's Way" is the first novel that really gives hope to the Star Wars reader that there may be a chance to win this genocidal war. Also, instead of relying on stock situations that have become prevalent throughout the NJO series, "Destiny's Way" focuses on areas of political intrigue and personal relationships that have been left untouched in recent novels. For starters, what was the New Republic has regrouped on the planet Mon Calamari and have begun to set plans in motion for the structure of a post-war government, should they be fortunate to survive to that point. The idea being that the very bureaucracies that doomed the New Republic (and its predecessor for that matter) to failure should not be repeated this time around. Embracing the New Jedi Order, putting less power with the bureaucrats who impede the government, and the encompassing of the galaxy as a whole ruling body are the key elements of the new Galactic Alliance. The political intrigue that goes into to the development of this government is the some of the best to be committed to the pages of the Star Wars universe since the days of then-Senator Borsk Fey'lya's power plays against the administration of Mon Mothma.
Intrigue doesn't just take place in Galactic Alliance, though. Among the Yuuzhan Vong, infamous executor Nom Anor uses all of his political skills to save face in the midst of his failure with Jacen Solo. The growing reverence among the Shamed Ones caste of the 'jeedai' beginning to be perceived as a heresy that threatens the very existence of the Vong, as well. In addition, there is inter-governmental intrigue between the Alliance and the Imperial Remnant, where the Alliance is trying to impress upon the Remnant the need for them to get involved in the war with the Vong. It's really nice to see the Empire back in the picture again, and it is even more welcome that Grand Admiral Pealleon has returned to the fold. On top of the politics, its even more appreciated that a greater focus is being returned to certain personal relationships: Jaina Solo with Jag Fel, and Jacen Solo with just about everybody following his return, to name a few.
All of these elements, along with the best space battle to visit this series since the final battle of "Vector Prime", are what make "Destiny's Way" one of the truly stellar novels in the New Jedi Order. Knowing that only five more books will follow before this series comes to a conclusion, its refreshing to see it stop stagnating and start heading in new directions.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Turning Point...
Comment: Well, I've just finished reading Destiny's Way (the fourteenth book in the ongoing New Jedi Order series). I finished the book feeling that, while overall an entertaining read, it suffers from a plot has no true focus; it seems to be compiled of a number of events that could of taken place between books. The whole "turning point of the war" (sorry if I spoiled anyone, but come on, we all knew the good guys would start winning sometime) that author alludes to, seems more like "the prelude of the turning point of the war". All the main character running around, setting up things to come in future books, or finishing tasks started in books past. It never has a big event that, the other hardcovers, mainly Vector Prime and Star By Star, had.
Now I do like this book, though it may seem otherwise. It has some good writing and does have some important events: Jacen's return, the election of a new Chief of State, the reestablishment of the Jedi Council (it's called the High Council now), and the deaths of a few main\semi-main characters (as happened in the other three hardcovers of the series) and finally a book that's based on Luke! Though Han and\or Leia fans will be a bit disappointed; the two are absent in most of the book.
The book also has the introduction of a handful of new characters:
Supreme Overlord Shimrra, (sorry if it's spelled wrong) who probably have the most impact in future books, A few new senators, an alderaaian senator, Cal Omas, will have the most impact of these, and some new governmental (and Vong) officials.
Overall I think this is a good edition to the series, though it could have been the best if the plot was more centralized.
Rating: 3
Summary: A Mixed Bag
Comment: I liked the way the plot carried on in this episode of the NJO series; the sensationalism has been cut back a lot since Elaine Cunningham produced the truly awful Dark Journey. These authors need to be briefed on the difference between character development and melodramatic nonsense before they start a project. Despite the improvement, Williams went a little overboard with Jaina and sometimes the other Jedi here. He, and anyone else writing NJO books, should go read Timothy Zahn's take on Jedi power (he tries not to make even Luke omnipotent). For that matter, George Lucas should go read some Zahn before making any more Star Wars films. I'd also like to see some attention to Stackpole's style here, meaning real character development accomplished so that the dramatis personae seem like real people. This is more a general complaint than something specific to Williams, though. In Destiny's Way, Williams continues the good writing around Jacen and manages to convey many well thought out events in a reasonable space. Considering the above comments, I would have given a rating of 4 stars.
The real problems come in Williams' seeming lack of full proficiency in modern English. I wonder if English is his second language, or perhaps he is from a nation with a non-American and non-British connotative dictionary of the language, because some of his awkward phrasing is truly distracting. Additionally, redundancy was common fare. It was distracting enough for me to dock a point, but I would have preferred to leave give it 3.5 stars seeing as I did like the book.
Finally, I have another general complaint, this toward almost all of science fiction, though the problem manifests itself frequently in this book. Air, when exposed to the vacuum of space, does not freeze! If it did, Earth's outer atmosphere would be entirely composed of frozen air crystals. It is not. Go look at a pressure vs. temperature diagram for air. At extremely low pressure, there is no temperature at which it can leave the gas phase. Also, I notice a lot of references to a substance exposed to vacuum "instantly" freezing. Think about this one, as well. On a cold winter day, an exposed object loses heat quickly. If the weather includes wind, the rate of heat loss greatly increases. This is because the main mechanism for heat loss from an object at about room temperature is convection. An object has to get up toward the thousands of Kelvin before radiation becomes fast enough to be significant. As a general guideline, we can assume that only visibly glowing things are losing a lot of overall energy through radiation. I'll get back to my point. In vacuum, there is no convection. Therefore only radiation is available to carry away heat. This makes heat loss much slower than it would be on a cold day in atmosphere.
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Title: Force Heretic I: Remnant (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 15) by Sean Williams, Shane Dix ISBN: 0345428706 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Force Heretic II: Refugee (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 16) by Sean Williams, Shane Dix ISBN: 0345428714 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Force Heretic III: Reunion (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 17) by Sean Williams, Shane Dix ISBN: 0345428722 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Traitor (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 13) by Matthew Woodring Stover ISBN: 034542865X Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 30 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 12) by Aaron Allston ISBN: 0345428684 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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