 "The New Jedi Order continues to impress" | 2007-09-14 |
| - Reviewed By justinsgaines |
Rebirth is the eighth volume in the massive New Jedi Order saga, and the second book in author Greg Keyes' Edge of Victory duology. Unlike the first book (Edge of Victory I: Conquest (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 7)), which was primarily focused on Anakin Solo, Rebirth reads more like a classic Star Wars adventure, with different groups of characters off on separate quests yet working towards the same goal.
Rebirth follows Han, Leia, and Jacen Solo as they embark on a campaign against the Yuuzhan Vong's Peace Brigade collaborators. At the same time, Anakin Solo, Tahiri, and Corran Horn infiltrate a Yuuzhan Vong invasion force to try and stop the next planetary conquest. Jaina Solo teams up with Kyp Durron and Rogue Squadron to take out what can only be the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of the Death Star. As these conflicts occur, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker must battle for the very existence of their unborn son. Rebirth also marks the return of the mysterious Vergere to the NJO storyline.
Despite the numerous subplots, Keyes weaves them all together quite skillfully, showing both a real understanding of what makes this diverse cast of characters tick as well as the ability to tell a great story. He also continues to give readers a better understanding of the Yuuzhan Vong invaders, further developing characters like Nom Anor (don't you just love to hate this guy?), Nen Yim, and introducing (finally) Supreme Overlord Shimmra.
This is the second of two exceptional books by Greg Keyes. I think Conquest was a better book overall, but Rebirth is as good if not better than any other book (so far) in the NJO series.
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 "One of the Best of the New Jedi Order" | 2007-03-23 |
| - Reviewed By presypclhs |
Greg Keyes' Edge of Victory II: Rebirth is one of, if not the,best of the New Jedi Order novels. It featured strong writing, a good storyline, a wider focus than its predecessor and was also very important to the storyline.
First, I want to discuss the quality of the Greg Keyes' writing. One of the greatest flaws with the massive collection of Star Wars novels on the shelf today is that the writing is inferior. The novels tend to rely on famous and popular characters and, with some exceptions such as Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole, tend to push quality writing aside. Star Wars novels may be written well enough for children but the actual merit of the writing will disappoint most adult readers. However, Greg Keyes' novels are a huge exception to this rule. He writes extremely well. His narration is top notch and his dialog is snappy and realistic. His writing is intelligent and engaging and pretty out of the norm for Star Wars novels.
Although Rebirth focuses heavily on Anakin Solo as its predecessor Conquest did, Rebirth widens its focus to include more of the galactic war. Keyes managed to make me like Anakin, even though the young Jedi was still portrayed as a way-too strong and intelligent young Jedi. I have always thought that Anakin was one of the weakest parts of the New Jedi Order series. He was too powerful, too-smart, he learned too quickly and adapted way too well. Aside from youthful overconfidence, he was an utterly perfect character, which lends an air of unrealism to the series. But Keyes works hard to make Anakin more human, even if he does not make any strides towards limiting Anakin's power.
The plot is rather typical of the New Jedi Order. Luke, Leia, Han and Mara are trying to rally the Jedi who are becoming more divided as pressure from the New Republic and the Yuuzhan Vong cause them to reach their breaking point. Despite the many redeeming qualities of this book, it is not a particularly important one, from the point of plot-advancement. However, it offers excellent character development and a solid build up for the next novel in the New Jedi Order series, Star by Star, which is probably the most important in the series. |
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| "edge of victory is great" | 2006-08-02 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| Greg keyes did a good book he finally gave luke his son,Anakin is growing stronger and the battle with the yuuzhan vong continues,and thanks to mara's baby she is saved ,Han and leia were not mentioned much in this book and the Jacen Danni relation ship was over though it would have been good to become fruitful overall this is a great book read it and read the whole njo installment it's really good |
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| "#8" | 2006-05-03 |
| - Reviewed By sebasto20002002 |
| this is one of the best books of the first 8.a lot is going on in this one for such a short book.the republic want the jedis in exile.luke is on the run so as not to be arrested.his "unsactioned military actions" were acryaly the rescue and relocation of thousands of slaves.luke decides the jedi,being wothout friends,should band together like in the long long ago.the bounty hinyers going after the jedi are gargantuan so they randomly jump through hyperspace without rhyme or reason to avoid capture.mara jade skywalker finaly lets luke help her fight off the disease that is killing her to better save thier unborn child.jaona solo struggles with her place in rogue sqaudrin as it is hard on her.mara jade and lukes method works and she has a baby boy they named ben after obee who called himself ben while in exile.the peace brigade kill a jedi named kelbis nu.however anakan and tahiri chase them off before they can kill more jedi.anakan and tahoti are arrested as local police think they did it.jacens older brother and father could barely take down one gammorrean.[anakan once took 4 on alone].han,jacen and leia take the millenium falcon up and chase down the peace brigade and a big battle ensues.jacen decides to use thr force freely again after a important character from the movies gets thier legs hacked up and he needed it.jacen gets a crush on a 40 year old twi'lek[blue chick with tentacles for hair].anakan,the always busy builds remote droids that fight like the vong to pracrice against.although he has visions of tahiri going evil he treats her no different.anakan saved corrans life[a master jedi].soon enough they are in the space battle too.bad news for the vong as their world ships are getting old.a story is told of the reckless kyp durron once blowing up a planet a week after becoming a jedi.wedge antilles comes out of retirement and into the space fight too.kyp and jaina flirt a lot despite shes nor even legal at 17 and hes like 40.she is almost killed but not scared.however by books end she tells kyp "of you were dying of dehydration on tatoonie i wouldnt spit on you".so either thier courting is off or she really likes him.the vong sacrifice thousands of people a day to thier gods.dissention finaly breaks in the high levels of the vong.since they embrace death they use kamikaze type methods to fight with sometimes.a new vong female gets into the fray at the end who us some sort of seer.she sees the 8th vortex which only 4 people ever have seen,2 of which were gods and one was told by one of those gods.she predicts"now my shaping truly begins and the universe shall tremble at what i create".anakan challenges and kills a vong war captain-just another feather in his cap.he and tahiri share loves 1st make out errrrrrr kisses i mean.this was one of the best books of the series.it ties up a lot of unanswered questions and is really incredible from a sci fi fans point of view.everything youd want in a sci fi novel. |
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| "Good book" | 2006-02-13 |
| - Reviewed By aleku |
| I loved this book. Thought it was better than Conquest. I really did not like Mara's birth being felt by half the family. That is my only issue with it. |
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| "Life and hope among death and destruction" | 2005-05-16 |
| - Reviewed By ludahai |
The Jedi are on the run. The Solos are in the middle of the fight and are drawing scorn from the appeasers in the Senate and the Peace Brigade. Mara is doing all she can for the safe birth of her child despite the ravages of the Vong biotoxin. This is the setting that sees the beginning of this volume of this epic series.
This novel goes all over the place. It traces the exploits of Han Solo, Anakin and his brother and sister, Mara and Luke. This book gives us an overview of the Jedi and their evolving stance toward the brutal invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong. We also get even more of an insight into Yuuzhan Vong culture, with an amazing development concerning the heretic shaper by the name of Nen Yim.
This entire series has been more than just a war. We have seen the explanation of an alien culture with some depth that would not be possible in a shorter series. We see the development of the Solo children into battle hardened adults, much as we did with Luke Skywalker in the original movies. We see the politics and appeasement confronting those who would like to take the war to the Yuuzhan Vong. All of this combines to create a setting that is rich and deep. This has depth that is uncommon in this genre, and this book is but a small, important part, of the integreted whole. |
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