 "Coruscant: post-apocalyptic wasteland" | 2007-10-05 |
| - Reviewed By justinsgaines |
Rebel Stand, the second volume in Aaron Allston's Enemy Lines "duology" finds the author in a very familiar setting, namely alternating storylines featuring both starfighter battles and covert action teams. Both of which should come as no surprise to fans of Allston's previous work on the X-Wing: Wraith Squadron series.
In Rebel Stand we finally get a chance to see what has become of Coruscant since the Yuuzhan Vong's takeover of the planet. The former capitol of the New Republic is now a toxic, post-apocalyptic wasteland populated by traumatized survivors and cannibalistic tribes, both of whom are constantly hunted by Yuuzhan Vong Raiding parties. Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker lead a team of Jedi and Wraith Squadron operatives to the planet in order to start a resistance movement, only to find that a monstrous 9-foot tall dark Jedi is wreaking havoc on the populace. Meanwhile, Wedge Antilles prepares his grand attack against the Yuuzhan Vong forces arrayed against him at Borleas.
Both major plotlines in Rebel Stand are absolutely compelling. The Borleas story is great because it pits two master strategists - General Antilles and former Warmaster Czulkang Lah against each other in a grand confrontation. The Coruscant story is fascinating in that it shows just how quickly the galaxy's greatest metropolis can be brought to utter ruin. The "Lord Nyax" subplot was a fun twist as well, and one that serious Star Wars readers should be able to figure out. Allston does a terrific job closing out his "series within a series" and marking a turning point in the galactic struggle against the Yuuzhan Vong. As devastating as the Vong invasion has been, we now start to see a few glimmers of hope that our heroes might just survive the conflict after all. Though if previous New Jedi Order volumes are any indication, not everyone will make it out alive.
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 "book 12" | 2006-08-29 |
| - Reviewed By sebasto20002002 |
| a new bad guy is on the loose-lord nyax.hes so bad he tries to get mara jade skywalker to hate,since hate leads to suffering,the last step to the dark side.luke goes to coruscant to find him.hes so bad ge tried to get luke to kill himself.the vong get out thier last jedi sniffing voxyns.and whatta ya know?they sniff lord nyax too.so i guess its high conbentrations of matachlorians they really smell.not that bothers him.i cant say all what he can do but he was conditioned from birth to be the most evil sith ever.nuff said?a high up person gets killed.they wont let me say who but at least hes a bad guy this time.sheeesh!the vong bring out an old favorite weopons employed by the hutts in the ever fearsome rancor!!!!!lord nyax is so bad he can cause whole communities to riot! of course im not telling all the real bad stuff.i cant say who,but someone commits suicide.also there will be a major turn in the war.wedge launches one of the biggest military assaults in history.a lot of cool stuff goes on.definately check it out. |
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| "Bringing the adventure back to the New Jedi Order" | 2006-03-20 |
| - Reviewed By hist |
Rebel Stand completes the two-part "Enemy Lines" duology by Aaron Allston, bringing his own distinctive touch to the New Jedi Order series. And what a story it is. Allston provides all the action and humour that he's known for from the X-Wing series of novels, yet doesn't drag the series too much away from the darkness for which it has been known. Walking that line very closely, Rebel Stand is everything a Star Wars fan could want, especially those turned off by the depressing tone of the previous books.
Luke Skywalker and his wife, Mara, lead a clandestine force back on Vong-occupied Coruscant. The force's main purpose is to set up some resistance cells among the populace, though the changes that the Vong are making on the planet indicate that mere survival may be all the remaining populace can hope for. Meanwhile, Luke and his fellow Jedi are there to investigate a massive presence that's full of Dark Side power. What they discover may make them, at least temporarily, ally with the Vong against this nightmare that comes from Leia's past. And getting off the planet may be the least of their concerns. Meanwhile, Han and Leia continue their journey from planet to planet to facilitate other cells on planets whose governments may be leaning too close to capitulating to the Vong. And General Wedge Antilles plan to buy his people time and perhaps get a major victory against the Vong comes to fruition, tricking the Vong at every turn. But will it be enough against the massive fleet that the Vong have sent to Borleias? And will Wedge survive to even see his victory, if it happens?
Before I say anything else, I have a bone to pick with the back cover copy-writer. The description talks about Han and Leia being "trapped on a small planet whose rulers are about to yield to Yuuzhan Vong pressure to give up the Jedi rebels." This does happen in the book. But it's just one relatively small (but effective) sequence in a bigger storyline for them. Rebel Stand shows them on a couple of missions, including getting involved with the politics of another world to prevent a Vong-friendly woman from being elected to head the planet's government. It's a bit misleading (but then, isn't that what cover copy is for?) That being said, the sequence the cover describes is very cool, reflecting back to the old swashbuckling days of the earlier movies. The droids (especially Artoo) are very effective, even as Threepio is constantly complaining that he's not cut out for rescue and deception. Heck, there's even a trash compactor involved!
Once again, Allston gets most of the characters perfectly. Jaina Solo is a lot more comfortable with herself, now that she's gotten over the depression and Dark Side flirtation that she has been dealing with. She's been afraid to form relationships with anybody because in this horrible war, it was very likely that the person she gets close to would just end up dying. In fact, given what has already happened with her brothers, she was ready to just die in the fighting, alone. Over the course of this series (though mainly in Rebel Dream), Jaina has grown a lot, even to the point of allowing somebody to get very close to her. I really like what Allston did with her.
I can't rave enough about Han and Leia as well (and I already have, and it's really nice to see these two characters in love and teasing each other again), so I'll move on to Luke. We already know that Allston can write terrific starfighter combat and action from the X-Wing and Wraith books. But what really impressed me is his handle on the Jedi action and character. Luke is much more "hands-on" in the Enemy Lines duology, not as much the quiet philosopher as he has been in the past. When they discover the truth behind what's happening on Coruscant, he, Mara, and Taheri jump into stopping it rather than fret about it. The action scenes as they fight this evil are quite good, showing us that Allston is good at more than just spaceships. But he also gets the reflective parts down pretty good, too. There's a bit too much of an infodump when one of the Wraiths explains what happened to create the monster, but it's mitigated by the fact that it's an infodump for the rest of the characters as well. All in all, the plot on Coruscant was just as well-done as the Borleias part.
The threat itself is quite intriguing, bringing back a relatively obscure character from one of Bantam's Star Wars novels in an interesting fashion. I did find the design a bit weird, though. Lightsabers coming out of his knees and elbows? I also liked how Allston used Taheri, especially what's happened to her in past books to come up with a unique solution to the problem.
The only annoyance I had with this book (and the previous one, though I didn't mention it) was Viqi Shesh, the ex-Senator who was in a league with the Vong. While I can't say her characterization was off in either book, I can say that she was actively annoying. Her preening and self-centeredness was especially irritating, making her pass from the "villain you love to hate" and graduating to "villain you hate." I found what happened to her very satisfying, however, and appropriate to the character and its independent nature.
The "Enemy Lines" story brings the entire series back to its roots a bit, with humour, adventure, starships juking and jinking, and great character moments. The action is furious, and extremely well-written. I loved every moment of it. Rebel Stand was even better than the first book, and I can't wait to read Allston's next Star Wars book.
David Roy |
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| "On many different fronts, is there any hope?" | 2005-09-12 |
| - Reviewed By ludahai |
The capital of the New Republic has fallen, the Vong are preparing a massive assault on Borleis and a mysterious force, a Force sensitive power, has been found on Vong-occupied Corescant. This is the 12th installment of a series that has taken us from the rim to the core, with New Republic defeats all along the way.
Here are the highlights: Luke is leading a team into the stronghold of the enemy; Wedge is trying to hold on to an impossible situation as assigned to him by a fleeing government; Han and Leia are trying to restore a rebellion-like series of cells and contacts.
While the writing is not as effective as some previous volumes in that the transitions seem choppy and disjointed at times, there is plenty of background information for those who have read the series all the way through to be able to follow what is going on.
Even with small victories, it seems that there is no hope for the remnants of the New Republic. In classic Star Wars terms, this is near the end of The Empire Strikes Back in that there is seemingly no hope for the galaxy but to be completely enveloped by this alien vermin.
The storyline itself is engaging, with heroes, battles, and politics, not to mention an intriging variance in the force, and more involvement with a completely alien Vong culture.
I wouldn't recommend reading this book in isolation. Read the rest of the series. Otherwise, you will have no clue what is going on in this volume. |
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| "4 and a half stars... an enthralling work on behalf of A.A." | 2004-07-07 |
| - Reviewed By aidanhailes |
| Out of all the New Jedi Order books so far, this one kept my attention the best throughout, for a variety of reasons. First was the rapidly shifting plots and points of view - rotating through Jaina, Luke, Wedge and a variety of others, Allston takes careful time to flush out the storyline that each character finds themselves embroiled in. Of greatest interest to me was the Lord Nyax-Luke Skywalker story on Coruscant; for once an actual Jedi-on-Jedi contest, even if Nyax really couldn't be considered a Jedi, Allston's portrayal of him as a mute, hugely powerful and crazed individual was perfect. The display of power he puts on through the Force is also quite well described and explained. As well, throughout the story I came to greatly appreciate the military tactics that Allston described in the defence of Borelias - the time and thought obviously put into each situation shows itself well. More than anything though, I think Allston deserves credit for setting up the bridge between the two Solo books - Dark Journey and Traitor - a task not easily performed in that events throughout the Enemy Lines are related to what is happening in those books. All in all a great read, and a fine progression in the New Jedi Order series. 4.5/5 |
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| "Excellent" | 2004-03-03 |
| - Reviewed By pba47lp |
| This duology was excellent. I thought that after Star by Star this series would get back on track. Then came Dark Journey, possibly the worst NJO book I've ever read. But this duology saved the series. |
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