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jmyodafriend's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
4.25
Really good! Interesting story development and character growth. Some intriguing unanswered questions. Look forward to part 2!
s_g_dorrity's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
adamkor's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
hstapp's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book, the only complaint I have is that is is divided into 4 parts instead of chapters. In my old reading days such a long space wouldn't have mattered. Currently I am frequently interrupted and having to stop without a chapter handy bothers me a bit. This is not one of the most exciting Star Wars books, but it promises a good setup, and has an interesting story line.
alphaalexis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
euchre_king's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
siria's review against another edition
1.0
Dear Mr Williams and Mr Dix: epithets are our friends; good friends which, when used correctly, can make writing easier. But don't use them constantly, or you'll wear them out. Poor epithets! "Anakin's mother", "the middle-aged stateswoman", "the former rebel leader." See how tiring that is to read? See how it's possible just to use "Leia" instead? Trust me, it makes things a lot less, well... leaden.
Oh, and not having a character's internal monologue read "as he had thought in his earlier analogy" makes things a lot less, well... inane. No one thinks like that. Trust me.
Oh, and not having a character's internal monologue read "as he had thought in his earlier analogy" makes things a lot less, well... inane. No one thinks like that. Trust me.
yak_attak's review against another edition
2.0
Review/Thoughts on Twitter
https://twitter.com/serswjm/status/1259838982394953729?s=20
(Spoilers)
https://twitter.com/serswjm/status/1259838982394953729?s=20
(Spoilers)
blacksentai's review against another edition
3.0
I wish the empire was a little better. They're hard to get behind here and that could be handled better.
blancwene's review against another edition
2.0
For 2021, I decided to reread Del Rey’s first attempt at a multi-author book series in the Star Wars universe: The New Jedi Order, which was published between 1999 and 2003. This shakes out to 19 novels, two eBook novellas, three short stories, and a tangentially-related prequel era novel.
This week’s focus: the first book in the Force Heretic trilogy, Force Heretic: Remnant by Sean Williams and Shane Dix.
SOME HISTORY:
Sean Williams and Shane Dix first met when they were both writing short stories for Australian fanzines, and by February 2003 they had published over six novels together. Williams would write the first draft, Dix would edit it, and then Williams would do a final polish of the text. Their last collaboration was in 2006--Williams is still writing, but Dix doesn't appear to have an online presence. Force Heretic: Remnant made it to number ten on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of February 23, 2003, and was on the NYT list for two weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
A confession to make: I never finished the Force Heretic trilogy, and I'm not sure I even read all of Remnant! I read [b:Destiny's Way|320370|Destiny's Way (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #14)|Walter Jon Williams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331430021l/320370._SY75_.jpg|311123] in 2002, but then I missed most or all of the 2003 paperback releases.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
From the ashes of the New Republic, the newly formed Galactic Alliance has risen--but first the Yuuzhan Vong must be defeated. While Han Solo and Leia Organa head towards the Koornacht Cluster to investigate communication outages, Luke Skywalker and other Jedi leave for the Unknown Regions, in search of the mythical world of Zonama Sekot. Yet the Jedi’s mission has barely begun when they stumble onto the Imperial Remnant under attack...
THE CHARACTERS:
In Remnant, our heroes split up, so we jump back and forth between the Solos on one mission, the Jedi on another, and Nom Anor ingratiating himself into a Shamed One community on Yuuzhan’tar.
Han Solo, Leia Organa, Jaina Solo, and Jagged Fel (along with Tahiri Veila, who is decidedly not doing well) head off for Galantos, to check on the status of the Koornacht Cluster. (And in the audiobook, they promptly vanish from the narrative!) Compared to Luke’s mission to find Zonama Sekot, Han and Leia’s mission seems less important. They tie up loose ends from the Bantam era books, but they’re not accomplishing anything vital here. As we've seen in the past few books, Han and Leia's relationship has improved and grown. They still argue with each other, but it’s not malicious; you can still tell that they have fond feelings for each other, and they honestly enjoy arguments!
Jaina, Twin Suns Squadron, and Jag are assigned to accompany Jaina’s parents; Jaina thinks this is a ruse to take her off active duty, and in a way it is--Jaina hasn’t had many chances to decompress after everything she’s gone through, and on the surface her parents’ mission looks like a simple, calm expedition. Jag is rather suspicious of Tahiri--he's not sure of her motives, so he accompanies Han and Leia down to Galantos to keep an eye on her. But he also approaches this mission as an opportunity to spend more time with Jaina, particularly after they were separated for most of Destiny’s Way.
Tahiri has gone through a lot: being captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, shaped by Mezhan Kwaad and Nen Yim, and then watching Anakin die on the Myrkr worldship starts to take a toll on her psyche. There are a number of scenes in Tahiri’s mindscape, where she’s running from something with her own face named Riina, who in turn is being chased by some scary reptilian figure. Han and Leia bring Tahiri along to keep an eye on her, and she has several catatonic episodes in this book. It will be interesting to see what happens with Tahiri in the rest of the trilogy, and whether she’ll be able to reconcile this other part of herself.
However, Luke Skywalker decides that the Jedi must track down the living world of Zonama Sekot, and assembles a group consisting of himself, Mara Jade, Jacen Solo, Danni Quee, Saba Sebatyne, and Tekli to investigate those rumors. Their first stop is the Imperial Remnant’s capital of Bastion, where they discover the Imperial Remnant in chaos. Luke has a very strong feeling that Zonama Sekot will be the key to solving the conflict with the Yuuzhan Vong, and Mara is the pilot (they’re on the Jade Shadow, after all), but they take a backseat to the other members of the team. Danni is interested in a mission to find Zonama Sekot, even if she doubts it exists, and the romantic tension between herself and Jacen makes a reappearance here. Jacen is trying to figure out the role he wants to play within the Jedi Order, and ends up serving as negotiator between the Jedi and the Empire.
The prologue opens with Saba Sebatyne returning to her homeworld of Barab I, only to discover that it’s been devastated by the Yuuzhan Vong. She takes out her anger on a few Vong ships, only to realize that one of them was a slave ship containing her people. Saba is heartbroken by the role she played in their deaths, and doesn’t think she’s worthy of this mission. But Luke insists, and Saba is an integral member of the team. The final climatic rescue of Imperials aboard another slave ship all comes down to Saba: what she’s willing to risk, and what she’s able to accomplish in the end.
Nom Anor is always an interesting fellow, because he doesn’t subscribe to the Yuuzhan Vong’s stark, fanatical viewpoint. Nom Anor doesn’t believe in their religion or their hierarchy or their politics, he just believes in himself. He’s willing to backstab anyone and everyone to get what he wants, and after the trap in Destiny’s Way that destroyed Tsavong Lah’s forces, he retreats into the depths of the old Coruscant. When we run into him again in Remnant, he needs help (granite slugs are not a balanced diet!) and fortunately ends up in a community of Shamed Ones. He gets a really good look at the Jeedai heresy that sprang out of Anakin Solo’s actions on Yavin IV--which are interesting to me, because they’re such disparate stories that have survived solely through word of mouth--before that community is destroyed...not because of the heresy, but because of thefts. His plot line concludes with Nom Anor deciding to track down the source of this heresy so he can get back into Supreme Overlord Shimrra’s good graces, and taking the new name of Yu’Shaa—"The Prophet.” We encounter other Yuuzhan Vong in the other subplots, but Nom Anor is our main focus here.
Han and Leia’s mission concerns the planet Galantos: they haven’t had any communications from them, and they’re awfully close to the Koornacht Cluster, home of the uber violent Yevetha of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. The Fia on Galantos are not very helpful; Jaina and two of the Chiss pilots investigate what’s going on with the Yevetha, and find that they’ve been completely destroyed. Apparently the Fia made an agreement with the Vong (destroy our enemies and we’ll side with you), so the Yevetha have been annihilated. I wish we could have seen that attack, because learning about their fate offpage feels like a bittersweet end to their species, but it makes sense to me that the Vong would get rid of the Yevetha. The Yevetha’s mindset is very similar to the Vong--they’re xenophobic and incredibly violent--and I can’t see the Yuuzhan Vong allowing someone like that to live in “their galaxy.”
The Imperial Remnant is in bad shape: Bastion is lost, and Grand Admiral Pellaeon is grievously wounded during the fighting. He’s only saved through the help of Tekli--and side note here, but multiple characters called Pellaeon by his first name (“Gilad”) and it felt really rude to me! He deserves your respect! Jacen’s role as negotiator shows how much he’s picked up from his mother, even if I wondered why a more senior Jedi wasn’t filling that role. Saba saves the slave vessel; Pellaeon and the Jedi defeat the Yuuzhan Vong fleet; Luke leaves them with important information, and Pellaeon pledges his support for the Galactic Alliance. Luke and company finally leave for the Unknown Regions, so I guess book two will depict the Jedi meeting the Chiss.
ISSUES:
Remnant is divided into a Prologue, 4 Parts, and an Epilogue. But there are no chapters, just scene breaks. That’s usually not a problem for me--I have read a lot of Terry Pratchett books sans chapters, and there are much odder stylistic quirks to adopt. (Looking at you, Cormac McCarthy…) But at the same time, I was reluctant to put down Remnant until I could get to the end of a Part, because I felt uneasy stopping after a scene break--like I was going to miss something, or not be able to reorient myself in the story when I picked the book back up.
Remnant also felt a little slow to me. Our heroes split up around the 100-page mark, about a quarter of the way through the story, but the pace didn’t subsequently take off for me. Han & Leia’s mission seems to be about tying up loose ends from the Bantam era; which is an interesting concept, but doesn’t feel particularly vital to the Yuuzhan Vong war effort. Luke and co. are in search of Zonama Sekot, but they’re just leaving for the Unknown Regions by the end of book 1. Again, I think that seeing the Imperial Remnant under attack by the Vong--and thus forced to join the galaxy at large, after twelve books of isolationist strategies--is an important development to the series, but it’s a side quest compared to the Jedi’s real goals.
IN CONCLUSION:
As Remnant ends, Han and Leia and co. leave for Bakura, thanks to information from the mysterious Ryn; Luke and the other Jedi are headed towards the Unknown Regions, hopefully to meet with the Chiss; and Nom Anor has remade himself in an attempt to dig deeper into the Jeedai heresy. While I thought that all these separate journeys were interesting, I questioned the structure that Williams and Dix chose, and I also struggled at times with this story’s slow pace. But the authors stated in interviews that they enjoyed writing [b:Force Heretic II: Refugee|261087|Force Heretic II Refugee (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #16)|Sean Williams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386923224l/261087._SY75_.jpg|2307451] the most, so I’m hoping that book 2 takes things up a notch.
Next up: a short comic from [b:Star Wars Tales (1999-2005) #21|28270175|Star Wars Tales (1999-2005) #21|Jeremy Barlow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1450835786l/28270175._SY75_.jpg|48316866], featuring Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors: “Equals & Opposites” by Nathan P. Butler and James Raiz.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/4OAnFhmptmg
February 4, 2003 TheForce.Net interview with Sean Williams and Shane Dix: http://theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/williamsdix.asp
December 23, 2003 TheForce.Net interview with Sean Williams and Shane Dix: http://theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/williamsdix2.asp
This week’s focus: the first book in the Force Heretic trilogy, Force Heretic: Remnant by Sean Williams and Shane Dix.
SOME HISTORY:
Sean Williams and Shane Dix first met when they were both writing short stories for Australian fanzines, and by February 2003 they had published over six novels together. Williams would write the first draft, Dix would edit it, and then Williams would do a final polish of the text. Their last collaboration was in 2006--Williams is still writing, but Dix doesn't appear to have an online presence. Force Heretic: Remnant made it to number ten on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of February 23, 2003, and was on the NYT list for two weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
A confession to make: I never finished the Force Heretic trilogy, and I'm not sure I even read all of Remnant! I read [b:Destiny's Way|320370|Destiny's Way (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #14)|Walter Jon Williams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331430021l/320370._SY75_.jpg|311123] in 2002, but then I missed most or all of the 2003 paperback releases.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
From the ashes of the New Republic, the newly formed Galactic Alliance has risen--but first the Yuuzhan Vong must be defeated. While Han Solo and Leia Organa head towards the Koornacht Cluster to investigate communication outages, Luke Skywalker and other Jedi leave for the Unknown Regions, in search of the mythical world of Zonama Sekot. Yet the Jedi’s mission has barely begun when they stumble onto the Imperial Remnant under attack...
THE CHARACTERS:
In Remnant, our heroes split up, so we jump back and forth between the Solos on one mission, the Jedi on another, and Nom Anor ingratiating himself into a Shamed One community on Yuuzhan’tar.
Han Solo, Leia Organa, Jaina Solo, and Jagged Fel (along with Tahiri Veila, who is decidedly not doing well) head off for Galantos, to check on the status of the Koornacht Cluster. (And in the audiobook, they promptly vanish from the narrative!) Compared to Luke’s mission to find Zonama Sekot, Han and Leia’s mission seems less important. They tie up loose ends from the Bantam era books, but they’re not accomplishing anything vital here. As we've seen in the past few books, Han and Leia's relationship has improved and grown. They still argue with each other, but it’s not malicious; you can still tell that they have fond feelings for each other, and they honestly enjoy arguments!
Jaina, Twin Suns Squadron, and Jag are assigned to accompany Jaina’s parents; Jaina thinks this is a ruse to take her off active duty, and in a way it is--Jaina hasn’t had many chances to decompress after everything she’s gone through, and on the surface her parents’ mission looks like a simple, calm expedition. Jag is rather suspicious of Tahiri--he's not sure of her motives, so he accompanies Han and Leia down to Galantos to keep an eye on her. But he also approaches this mission as an opportunity to spend more time with Jaina, particularly after they were separated for most of Destiny’s Way.
Tahiri has gone through a lot: being captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, shaped by Mezhan Kwaad and Nen Yim, and then watching Anakin die on the Myrkr worldship starts to take a toll on her psyche. There are a number of scenes in Tahiri’s mindscape, where she’s running from something with her own face named Riina, who in turn is being chased by some scary reptilian figure. Han and Leia bring Tahiri along to keep an eye on her, and she has several catatonic episodes in this book. It will be interesting to see what happens with Tahiri in the rest of the trilogy, and whether she’ll be able to reconcile this other part of herself.
However, Luke Skywalker decides that the Jedi must track down the living world of Zonama Sekot, and assembles a group consisting of himself, Mara Jade, Jacen Solo, Danni Quee, Saba Sebatyne, and Tekli to investigate those rumors. Their first stop is the Imperial Remnant’s capital of Bastion, where they discover the Imperial Remnant in chaos. Luke has a very strong feeling that Zonama Sekot will be the key to solving the conflict with the Yuuzhan Vong, and Mara is the pilot (they’re on the Jade Shadow, after all), but they take a backseat to the other members of the team. Danni is interested in a mission to find Zonama Sekot, even if she doubts it exists, and the romantic tension between herself and Jacen makes a reappearance here. Jacen is trying to figure out the role he wants to play within the Jedi Order, and ends up serving as negotiator between the Jedi and the Empire.
The prologue opens with Saba Sebatyne returning to her homeworld of Barab I, only to discover that it’s been devastated by the Yuuzhan Vong. She takes out her anger on a few Vong ships, only to realize that one of them was a slave ship containing her people. Saba is heartbroken by the role she played in their deaths, and doesn’t think she’s worthy of this mission. But Luke insists, and Saba is an integral member of the team. The final climatic rescue of Imperials aboard another slave ship all comes down to Saba: what she’s willing to risk, and what she’s able to accomplish in the end.
Nom Anor is always an interesting fellow, because he doesn’t subscribe to the Yuuzhan Vong’s stark, fanatical viewpoint. Nom Anor doesn’t believe in their religion or their hierarchy or their politics, he just believes in himself. He’s willing to backstab anyone and everyone to get what he wants, and after the trap in Destiny’s Way that destroyed Tsavong Lah’s forces, he retreats into the depths of the old Coruscant. When we run into him again in Remnant, he needs help (granite slugs are not a balanced diet!) and fortunately ends up in a community of Shamed Ones. He gets a really good look at the Jeedai heresy that sprang out of Anakin Solo’s actions on Yavin IV--which are interesting to me, because they’re such disparate stories that have survived solely through word of mouth--before that community is destroyed...not because of the heresy, but because of thefts. His plot line concludes with Nom Anor deciding to track down the source of this heresy so he can get back into Supreme Overlord Shimrra’s good graces, and taking the new name of Yu’Shaa—"The Prophet.” We encounter other Yuuzhan Vong in the other subplots, but Nom Anor is our main focus here.
Han and Leia’s mission concerns the planet Galantos: they haven’t had any communications from them, and they’re awfully close to the Koornacht Cluster, home of the uber violent Yevetha of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. The Fia on Galantos are not very helpful; Jaina and two of the Chiss pilots investigate what’s going on with the Yevetha, and find that they’ve been completely destroyed. Apparently the Fia made an agreement with the Vong (destroy our enemies and we’ll side with you), so the Yevetha have been annihilated. I wish we could have seen that attack, because learning about their fate offpage feels like a bittersweet end to their species, but it makes sense to me that the Vong would get rid of the Yevetha. The Yevetha’s mindset is very similar to the Vong--they’re xenophobic and incredibly violent--and I can’t see the Yuuzhan Vong allowing someone like that to live in “their galaxy.”
The Imperial Remnant is in bad shape: Bastion is lost, and Grand Admiral Pellaeon is grievously wounded during the fighting. He’s only saved through the help of Tekli--and side note here, but multiple characters called Pellaeon by his first name (“Gilad”) and it felt really rude to me! He deserves your respect! Jacen’s role as negotiator shows how much he’s picked up from his mother, even if I wondered why a more senior Jedi wasn’t filling that role. Saba saves the slave vessel; Pellaeon and the Jedi defeat the Yuuzhan Vong fleet; Luke leaves them with important information, and Pellaeon pledges his support for the Galactic Alliance. Luke and company finally leave for the Unknown Regions, so I guess book two will depict the Jedi meeting the Chiss.
ISSUES:
Remnant is divided into a Prologue, 4 Parts, and an Epilogue. But there are no chapters, just scene breaks. That’s usually not a problem for me--I have read a lot of Terry Pratchett books sans chapters, and there are much odder stylistic quirks to adopt. (Looking at you, Cormac McCarthy…) But at the same time, I was reluctant to put down Remnant until I could get to the end of a Part, because I felt uneasy stopping after a scene break--like I was going to miss something, or not be able to reorient myself in the story when I picked the book back up.
Remnant also felt a little slow to me. Our heroes split up around the 100-page mark, about a quarter of the way through the story, but the pace didn’t subsequently take off for me. Han & Leia’s mission seems to be about tying up loose ends from the Bantam era; which is an interesting concept, but doesn’t feel particularly vital to the Yuuzhan Vong war effort. Luke and co. are in search of Zonama Sekot, but they’re just leaving for the Unknown Regions by the end of book 1. Again, I think that seeing the Imperial Remnant under attack by the Vong--and thus forced to join the galaxy at large, after twelve books of isolationist strategies--is an important development to the series, but it’s a side quest compared to the Jedi’s real goals.
IN CONCLUSION:
As Remnant ends, Han and Leia and co. leave for Bakura, thanks to information from the mysterious Ryn; Luke and the other Jedi are headed towards the Unknown Regions, hopefully to meet with the Chiss; and Nom Anor has remade himself in an attempt to dig deeper into the Jeedai heresy. While I thought that all these separate journeys were interesting, I questioned the structure that Williams and Dix chose, and I also struggled at times with this story’s slow pace. But the authors stated in interviews that they enjoyed writing [b:Force Heretic II: Refugee|261087|Force Heretic II Refugee (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #16)|Sean Williams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386923224l/261087._SY75_.jpg|2307451] the most, so I’m hoping that book 2 takes things up a notch.
Next up: a short comic from [b:Star Wars Tales (1999-2005) #21|28270175|Star Wars Tales (1999-2005) #21|Jeremy Barlow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1450835786l/28270175._SY75_.jpg|48316866], featuring Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors: “Equals & Opposites” by Nathan P. Butler and James Raiz.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/4OAnFhmptmg
February 4, 2003 TheForce.Net interview with Sean Williams and Shane Dix: http://theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/williamsdix.asp
December 23, 2003 TheForce.Net interview with Sean Williams and Shane Dix: http://theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/williamsdix2.asp