In 1991, Timothy Zahn released the first book of his Hand of Thrawn trilogy, and kicked off an explosion of new additions to the Star Wars Expanded Universe. As I previously posted, about seven Star Wars books a year have been produced since that time. Zahn's books and many thereafter followed a typical pattern- a trilogy, set soon after Return of the Jedi, involving former Imperial remnants taking on the newly-founded New Republic. Generally, a super weapon was involved. Not great literature, but entertaining.
In 1998, the team at Lucasfilm got together and decided that they needed to break the mold. Rather than a trilogy, they conceived something that became epic in many ways- a 19-book series (by 13 different authors, released from 1999-2003) collectively called the New Jedi Order, set ~20 years after Return of the Jedi, dealing with an extragalactic invasion by a species called the Yuuzhan Vong. The Vong were severely organic (flying living ships, firing living weapons, even wearing living armor), viewed technology as blasphemy, and somehow existed outside of the force- so Jedi could not affect them directly (they viewed the Jedi as heretics, too). The stage was set for something crazy to occur.
Something happened in their galaxy which forced the Vong to look elsewhere, and they managed to land in the outskirts of the Star Wars universe and wreak absolute havoc. The basic plot follows their invasion into, and domination of, the Star Wars galaxy, and the attempts by the Star Wars regulars (like Han, Leia, Luke, etc, and their children, in some cases, as this is set 20 years after the movies) to repel them. Even "minor" characters from the movies and previous books feature prominent roles, and Lucas allowed things to happen that were normally off-limits in the Star Wars universe- main characters died, entire planets were destroyed or poisoned, and more. The series had a truly different feel from the previous book entries.
Without giving too much of the plot away, I'll give my feelings as best I can. I put off reading this series for years (I didn't start until 2005, after it was written in its entirety), because I didn't think I could commit to a 19-book arc. I was pleasantly surprised by the first 9 books of the series- the galaxy really did get 'shaken up,' which I thought was refreshing. New characters were introduced and developed well, the conflict lasted years, which made for some interesting sub-plots. However, after the first half of the series, the invasion force overextends itself, the odds even out, and things slowed down a bit. The series had some continuity problems, which you'd expect, given that 13 authors were involved. Not large problems, but writing style differences, some plot holes, and more starting tarnishing the promise of the epic. Finally, no matter how good it is, 19 books is a lot, and I found myself wanting to just 'get it over with already' around 75% of the way through the series. Lucas learned from the experience- two subsequent story arcs have followed a 9-book cycle; a pleasant balance between the original 3-book and this 19-book saga.
Because the series was set 20 years after Jedi, I thought it would be a suitable finale for the main movie cast- Han, Luke, and the rest were in their 40s, and should be looking to get out of the constant war business. And, for the first half of the series, it felt as though it really was a finale, complete with cameos and bit parts from beloved minor characters. But, in the second half, it took a few steps backwards, and it became clear that not as much would be shaken up as I had hoped. It was like the authors got scared and retreated back to the safety of the standard Star Wars adventure. In the end, the galaxy was changed forever, but not nearly to the extent that it could have been.
Overall, it was decent but too long, and not enough happened. Reading novels set soon after New Jedi Order, it confirms my thought that more should have occurred over these 19 books. In post-New Jedi Order writings, things are getting (more) ridiculous. Han & co are now in their 50s, 60s, even 70s, and still going strong. Authors will throw in lines for the main characters like "I'm not what I used to be," acknowledging the age, but they still have an amazing penchant for survival and success on the battlefield. At this point I've stopped reading novels set in the post-New Jedi Order universe. As long as people will pay, they'll keep producing stories with Luke Skywalker, but, as they say in The Dark Knight, "you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain." Retire the main cast, Lucas; they're getting too old for this.
Series Rating: B+
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