Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse [Mass Market Paperback]

Regards from Guatemala

Luceno seems to go the opposite way he did during Hero's Trial, instead of focusing only on Han, he has story lines involving other characters this time around, still maintaining Han as the protagonist of the book.

Han's character is more frustrating in Jedi Eclipse then in Hero's Trial, he seems to mope and whine rather often, but he is still doing the same things; flying, arguing, being arrogant, and the like. Putting aside his irritating moping, Han Solo is in his prime.

The story of Leia and her eldest son Jacen is probably the most interesting one in the book. While Han is off galavanting about and moping simultaneously, Leia and Jacen are trying to help people displaced because of Yuuzhan Vong attacks. While working at a refuge camp, the two come into contact with some Hutts (who are all very much like Jabba) and they have to cope with the their treacherous behavior.

Jacen is very much a torn youth. He is a Jedi, but what, he asks himself, does that mean? How can he fight without going to the dark side? What is the dark side? Is his side even right? Jacen will continue to grapple with these questions for books to come. But in this novel, his torment is important because it affects his actions, and offers insight into his character.

All in all, this is a better effort then Hero's Trial, and it would seem that Luceno has learned something since. I did not particularly enjoy the Agents of Chaos series, and the duology nearly put me off the New Jedi Order series. When I later reread the duology, I found that I liked it a little better; but I thought the stories still paled in comparison to mostly all the later books.

Luceno crams a lot of story into the 348 pages of this book. Sometimes it seems to be bursting at the seams, with bits of story leaking from the holes. Some of the stories seem to get short shrift, like the Skidder story. This does play an important part in the finale, so it has to be in there, but I think Luceno could have spent a little more time on it, or found some other way for what happens to evolve. Actually, what I think could have been left on the cutting room floor, with more stuff added to other stories, is the in-depth scenes with the various refugee Ryn. A lot of time is spent on them and with not a lot of discernible effect. Sure, Luceno uses them to illustrate the greediness of the people trying to handle the refugees, and the ship on which they eventually end up plays a semi-important part in the finale, but I think too much time is spent on them.

There is another reason I think too much time is spent on them, though. I thought the characterization of them was very lazy. The Ryn are just stereotypical gypsies, and the numbers aren't even filed off. They are people who roam the galaxy, always suspected and persecuted, who dance a lot and play games. They are fortune-tellers who like to use cards in their telling. Droma, because he is characterized a lot more deeply by being partners with Han Solo, breaks out of this stereotype, though the elements are still there. He is actually made an interesting character. But his family and relatives who show up in this book don't do anything but act like gypsies. It would have been nice if they were at least slightly different. And since Luceno doesn't even make them very interesting people as characters, the scenes with them are slow and boring.

Another problem with the book is the very slow beginning. I really struggled to get through the first 100 pages or so. There are also various slow spots throughout the rest of the novel as well. This usually happens when Luceno decides to go into great, gory detail about previous books. When I say previous books, I'm not talking about previous New Jedi Order books either. There are so many references to previous series and books that I found it very distracting. Unlike Luceno's last book, where these references also were but he handled them a lot better and I didn't see them as worth mentioning in my review, this time it gets distracting. Luceno sometimes spends whole paragraphs explaining what happened in the previous books, making the story skid to a halt. The worst example of this is when Jacen and Anakin are brought in to prime the secret weapon in the Corellian system. A few years ago this weapon was the centerpiece in a potential rebellion of the Corellian system against the New Republic. Luceno describes almost everything about these books, and it really drags the story down with it when he does.

While most of the stories do a decent job of holding the reader's interest (except for the refugees, as explained above), the only really interesting story is the Han and Droma story. The book just kind of sits there when they aren't on the screen, and the book does suffer from it. Han and Droma play off each other very well as characters, and the interplay between them is wonderful. Luceno does a great job of making Droma slide right in as Han's partner, with only a few pangs at Chewbacca's absence. The events that happen to them are interesting as well. Han's daring rescue of Droma when Droma's been arrested on Ruan is a lot of fun, and the droid character that helps Han helps make the story even more fun. The action is non-stop, and vividly described by Luceno, and I have to applaud him for it. This story is wonderful.

While the other stories do just kind of sit there, I have to give Luceno credit for tying everything together. The climax is breath-taking, and makes up for the entire rest of the book. Unlike the previous book, there are valid explanations for why everybody ends up at the same place and I didn't find myself groaning once at the coincidence. Luceno still doesn't describe the space battle sequences very well, in my opinion, but he does do a better job than the previous book. There is a lot of tension in the action and it definitely held my interest. I think part of the success is because Luceno doesn't have to describe a lot of ship-to-ship action (though there is some). Instead, most of the ship-to-ship action is the Millenium Falcon and her adversaries. Luceno seems to be better at personal action, with the fight scenes in Han's rescue of Droma and in Kyp and Ganar's attempted rescue of Wurth being especially done well.

This book started out so slowly that I was convinced I would give it a worse rating than Hero's Trial, but it surprised me. It got a lot better, and while most of the stories didn't completely excite me, they held my interest while I was waiting for more Han Solo action. That's not bad. I have to say that Luceno did much better this time around, though I'm still not particularly happy that he's the author chosen to end the entire series. Still, we shall see.

David Roy