Yes.

It has ended. The credits are rolling and the critics are lined up.

Star Wars is over.

Well, in a way.

I have just finished reading Star Wars: New Jedi Order- Unifying Force

This the final installment of the NJO series (something like the 14th book, i'd have to look in the front but i am too lazy) and quite possibly the end of Star Wars Timeline. (Of course, with Episode 3 still not out there is still some Star Wars to discover.... and the past is still quite a rich evnironment for EU writers)

I will say, I have not read ALL of NJO, but I have read a large portion of it, with my noted exceptions being Vector Prime and Star by Star along with a few other minor books. I have however read from both the beginning and the end of the series (started with the Dark Tide mini series and read the last 5 or 6 books in chronological order)

So. Yeah.

What i really wanted to know was what other who have read in NJO think. I have had mixed feelings about the series as a whole, but the Unifying Force was it saving grace, along with its prelude, The Final Prophecy. Unifying Force is a great ode to Lucas's first creation, even ending with a great line that harks back to the first thing we ever saw in a Star Wars movie: In a Galaxy far far away.

The book ties up some of the series loose ends, and brings a few of the core characters back into the limelight. It mixes in great writing (James Luceno redeems himself from his Agent of Chaos duology.) an good mix of fleeting, and the lightsaber battles which made Star Wars such a classic. Luceno uses a good number perspectives, allowing us to get a different view on the same situations. Most of the characters are portrayed in the light which seems to fit them, a change from some eariler books.

It does however, leave some unfinished measures, and a few story 'plots' never really developed. The whole situation with the Ssi-Ruuvi from a few books back never found its way to full completion, and the Insiders group formed was never really used much.

Others complain about the deatsh in the series, including:
Chewbacca
Anakin Solo
The Yevethans
The Empire as an 'independant group'
Admiral Ackbar
An others who I just currently forgetting.

So what does everyone think.

Like?

Dislike?

Not even care?

Hate with a passion?

Or something in between?

Not read it yet.

But I did just finish The Final Prophecy, which was good. Except for Nom Anor... please tell me he @#%$ finally died.

The problem with NJO is that it's to big - it's nearly impossible to cooridinate that many authors into such a large project.

Hence the loose ends: the Insiders, the Ssi-Ruuk, the Chiss (?), the Ryn Network (it vanished and then was suddenly picked up again).

And so on.

But I suppose I'll read it, sometime.

BTW, Star by Star is actually one of the best books in the series (imo). It's worth the read.

SPOILERS!!!!

































Drayson, Nom Anor does die at the end of Unifying Force.
Now that I have gone back and reread some of the books for hints that Shimrra was a puppet of Onimi, I did find some hints about that in the very end of Destiney's Way.

Yeah, as for the deaths I am upset about, mainly:
Chewie's death (I would at least have loved to see him wrestle with some vong before he died)
Yevetha deaths (I wanted to see that fleet in action, not littered in pieces, with no hint of enemy casualties)

Personally, I didn't like what the did to the storyline. They just wrought too much destruction for there to be the "clean" ending it seemed to have.


Omini disappointed me greatly.


Nom Anor I liked in the beginning I did not like what they did with his character over time.

I've stopped reading NJO. It's just @#%$ gay.

The fact is that there are FAR too many authors to effectively coordinate a unified set of themes, making NJO little more than a scattershot set of relatively meaningless stories glued together by the thin thread of an invasion threat.

If someone, however, could tell me how it all wraps up in a PM I'd be appreciative.

Personally I liked Nom Anor more toward the end of series...

The twist with Onimi was quite unique, changing him from a comic foil to a major character.

Actually my favorite book of the whole series is Destiny's Way . I'm partial to Admiral Ackbar, which is probably why.

NJO did have too many authors, but it was too long for just 1 or 2 authors. The mini series idea was good, but the authors chosen probably hurt the series, as several had never written star wars novels.

I was always surprised not to see Timothy Zhan's name on any of the books. He would have kept everything straight.

I never read the series, but I gathered plenty of information on it seperately, and as far as I can tell, it's the last hurrah before the star wars universe rides off to its' happily ever after. On the bright side, at least it will make interpretinf the star wars universe easier.

If they really wanted to do that right they should have just picked Timothy Zhan and told him to do it all. Michael Stackpole wouldn't have been bad either.

When did Ackbar die? I thought he was still alive.

I think the Star Wars films will be the only thing i'll be getting into.

I must go along with Theren on this. The NJO series is just a bore to me. I only got as far as 'Star by Star' and then wrote off the series.

The Thrawn Trilogy and the other novels written by Zahn were the best ones in the SW series.