Yuuzhan Vong poop heads

[The Grumpy Celt]

Can some one here make a good case for reading the New Jedi Order books about the Yuuzhan Vong conquest of everything?

Most of the stories in the Expanded Universe following the Return of the Revenge of the Dawn of the Very Personal Attack of Palpatine has left me feeling under-whelmed. There where a few interesting ideas in the Dark Empire I and II series, but the over all weakness of the story and atrocious art put me off of the series.

By comparison, Zahn’s stories with a similar theme – a renewed attack by the Empire and Evil Crazy-Butt Jedi© (Lucasfilm 2004. All rights reserved) – was superior.

Then after a number of ups-and-downs in the story, comes the Yuuzhan Vong in a story arc apparently destroying what the heroes of the Rebellion fought for – i.e. the New Republic and seemingly ignoring the serials feel of the movies.

Can some one here make a good case for reading the New Jedi Order books?

This all said, A long time ago, in a smallish California town far, far away…

George Lucas outlined a nine movie run. Currently is appears this will only ever be a six movie run. Which, to me at least, raises the question, what would the story of movies 7, 8 and 9 been about? Where would the tale have gone?

 

[Phoenix8008]

Last things first. Where would 7, 8, and 9 gone? Who knows besides Lucas. Not gonna waste my time typing guesses.

As to why I enjoyed the NJO series and therefore why you might like it too, I can say something there. To some degree, they lose what they fought for in the rebellion, yes. But in another sense, it is a repeat of that struggle.

The New Republic has gotten bigger and corrupt just like the Old Republic was. So when the Vong come, the response leaves much to be desired. The government actually turns against the Jedi for a while and they are exiles again, fighting for what they know is right whether or not they have help or support from elsewhere.

It's about sacrifice and war. Lots of personal sacrifices of characters that you really don't want to say goodbye to. And some very interesting realizations about the possible nature of the Force come to Jacen near the end of the series. It's also somewhat of a passing of the torch to a newer generation. Some people may be very turned off by this and only want stories about Luke, Leia, Han, and the rest from the movies. For me, it was a dose of realism that shooke things out of their normal rut of *go on adventure, have difficulties, lives at stake, find ultimate solution that saves day and gets everyone away in the nick of time!*... After a while, it just seems too unrealistic to keep getting away with it. So does it veer away from the old formula? Yep, bigtime right in the first book. But as much as those veerings felt lousy when they happened, after all was said and done I wouldn't have it any other way.

It opened up new facets of the characters personalities and shook them out of the ordinary. But don't worry too much. There is still a lot of dashing and derring rescues and heroics. Even more so in some ways, because the heroism is even more pronounced when there is a sacrifice to show how much it meant.

So that's my rant in favor of the NJO books. Also, if you decide to read this series, make sure you've read "Rogue Planet" by Greg Bear first. Won't say why, just do it and it'll make sense at the end.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

You know, Phoenix said it better than I ever could.

Though I will say you don't HAVE to read Rogue Planet. It's a nice little extra, but don't worry about it if you don't want to add another book in the mix.

Really, my like for the NJO was a mix of the change of the usual formula(though it honeslty didn't change THAT much), the Vong(heh, I liked em. Different than anything we'd ever seen, and once you get the whole story, its worth it IMO), and Jacen. Heck, I've always been a big Jacen fan, so the NJO books(especially the latter half) were just great for me. I especially LOVED Traitor. Probably one of the best SW books written, right up there with the Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology.

The only thing I wish they'd done is had Zahn at least write one of the books.

 

[mojo1701]

I especially LOVED Traitor. Probably one of the best SW books written, right up there with the Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology.

The only thing I wish they'd done is had Zahn at least write one of the books.

Yes, yes, and yes.

My only gripe with the whole series is

Spoiler

the death of Chewbacca

.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Can some one here make a good case for reading the New Jedi Order books about the Yuuzhan Vong conquest of everything?

Short answer, no. They suckz.

 

[Desdichado]

Two points: at ILM everyone has signed NDA's for movies 7, 8, and 9. There's a possibility they'll get made after all. Maybe.

And, I have not read the NJO books. They seem so far from the feel of Star Wars that I probably could never get excited about the entire premise of the series. Not only that, the first one is written by Salvatore, so how good can it possibly be anyway?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I am considering adding the NJO books to my amazon wishlist, but I have trouble figuring out what books are part of the NJO order, and I can´t figure out the order of the books either. I already own a few of them (the first two or three books, on German), so I want to avoid buying one twice...
Can someone give me a list of the book titles in order of their appearance/part in the timeline? Once I got a list, it will be a lot easier to find out which books I am actually missing...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Order of books:

Vector Prime
Dark Tide I: Onslaught
Dark Tide II: Ruin
Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse
Balance Point
Recovery(e-book, no 'essential')
Edge of Victory I: Conquest
Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
Star by Star
Dark Journey
Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
Traitor
Destiny's Way
Ylesia(another e-book)
Force Heretic I: Remnant
Force Heretic II: Refugee
Force Heretic III: Reunion
The Final Prophecy
The Unifying Force

 

[mojo1701]

Of course, you could always do what I did, and buy the New Jedi Order Sourcebook for SWRPG d20. It covers the first 10 books, and it gives you d20 stats for most characters.

 

[Phoenix8008]

Of course, you could also do what I did and get them all through the Science Fiction Bookclub so you have them all in hardback! Not to mention saving some money. How about all the books in hard back for $134.99! Thats 13 books (they combine all the duologies and trilogies into single hard backed books) for just over $10.00 a book! Check it out here: http://www.sfbc.com

Or if you only need some of the series, they usually run from $10 - $15 per hardback book. I think some of the earlier books in the series are getting close to running out though, so if you're interested you better check it out fairly quickly. Of course, they also have the clone wars books as well, usually for about $15 each. Hope others enjoy these deals as much as I did!