Customer Reviews

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Balance Point

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This book has a reasonably simple plot which is quite easy to understand. In the complicated political world of Star Wars, this was a much welcomed breather. Basically, the entire Star Wars family ends up taking many paths to Duro, which is the Yuzzhan Vong's next target in their push toward Coruscant. The true heart of the story comes in character development, such as relationships between Han and Leia, Han and Droma, Jacen and EVERYONE, etc. These developments are also a great break from previous NJO books. Overall, in these aspects, the book is like the author's other Star Wars novel, Truce at Bakura. However, the book falls short of being great in the same way as TB, just not as much. Because of the simple plot in the novel, the action scenes (which are very short), can be confusing at times. One example which comes to mind is when Jacen and Jaina are flying through the orbital city in a vehicle. Fast readers might have problems understanding what is going on, so slowing down the pace is needed at times. Also, the character development goes to far and makes the plot predictable. The focus is Anakin deciding to stop use the Force. In the end, he must decide whether he should continuing using the force in order to save a loved of his. These sort of things become predictable, and the plot begins to fizzle at the end. Overall, the most memorable impressions I had were that of the recurring secondary characters. The scenes with Randa the Hutt, Nom Anor, & Droma were done particularly well, saving the novel from becoming pointless. I recommend this book, but not highly.

Up until now, the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series has been cosmic in scope, with characters moments taking place on a backdrop of world after world falling to the villainous Yuuzhan Vong. With Balance Point, Kathy Tyers gives us a bit of a break from that. Sure, the Vong are still ravaging every planet in sight, but the events of the book are limited to one planet with all of the characters involved being there. It's a bit more intimate in scope in one other way, too: the main point of the story is young Jacen Solo's quest to discover just what his place in the Force is. It's a nice change of pace, but the presentation is a little boring and the characters sort of lie there on the page.

I have to admire Tyers' attempt to do a Star Wars novel with very little starship combat, though there is a fair share of juking and jinking to be done. However, what we're left with flies off the page like a Tie Fighter with one solar panel missing. It's sad because this is a novel that sets up a lot of the books to come (or appears to, anyway). Coruscant is threatened, Han and Leia may be back together and Han is acting more like himself after what happened in the last few books. Jacen comes to a crossroads and appears to make the correct decision, and there's plenty of personal action. Yet for some reason, none of this stuff seems to move. Droma gets very little characterization, and what there is of it is carried over from Luceno's novels (Hero's Trial and Jedi Eclipse). He is clearly not taking Chewbacca's place, but I can't tell if that's because he's not supposed to or because he's just characterized badly.

The regulars are decent, but bland. The reunion between Han and Leia should be electrifying, but it just limps along (granted, they are in decontamination, but still...). It's nice to see them working together and caring about each other, but it would have been nice to have better dialogue for them. Jacen's relationship with his sister, Jaina, takes a nosedive as Jacen reveals that he won't use the Force, even to rescue their mother. Thankfully, Jacen realizes that not using the Force but relying on others to use it is kind of hypocritical, but then he never does anything with that realization. When Jacen makes his final decision about his destiny, it all comes about in a fairly clichéd way, with a loved character being in danger forcing him to decide. The answer is, of course, predictable.

We are introduced to Warmaster Tsavong Lah, a Vong who appears to be an ongoing character in this one, as well as meeting Nom Anor yet again. Anor is actually getting a bit irritating, so one can only hope that he will soon be vaped accidentally by one of his own troops. He's a spy, infiltrating the New Republic in various guises, showing up in book after book in another role, serving the Vong god of Tricks rather then the god of Violence. While it looks like this dynamic could be interesting in future books, Anor as a character has never achieved anything more then reader annoyance in my book.

As I said before, the plot is a lot more intimate and less star-spanning then previous books, which does make for a tighter book. I really liked the way the book didn't jump all over the known galaxy and stayed in one place pretty much. Of course, it's a stretch that they all end up in the same place yet again, but it's a given with the Star Wars books, so I should probably stop complaining about it. I also really liked the relationship between Mara and Anakin, and to a lesser extent, Luke. A momentous event in Luke and Mara's relationship occurs in this book, and I hope it leads to even more interesting things. In the meantime, though, Mara and Anakin make a wonderful pair. Mara's the experienced one and Anakin is eager to learn at her feet. He learns a bit about espionage as well as more about using the Force. He's also shown to be a bit of a hot shot, and I hope this leads to a lesson in future books.

All in all, Balance Point is a perfectly acceptable Star Wars novel. It has some excitement and some good character moments. I just wish there had been more of them. If you're reading the series, it's not really one you can skip (though hopefully future books that rely on it will tell you enough about it if you do decide to pass it by). It's also good enough to get through if you have to. But if you're picking and choosing, give this one a miss.

David Roy

Reading through many other reviews, there seems to be a mix of opinions as to Ms. Tyers' talents and writing style. Not having read "The Truce at Bakura," this was my first experience with her as an author. However, after reading more than 200 pages of this novel, I don't feel very compelled to also read "Truce."

I loved the way the book opened, basically with a summary of all that has happened in the world of NJO in the first 5 books. Having read those books over several months, it's easy to forget a few details, so that was a welcome addition to this novel.

The story got off to a very dramatic start with a dogfight. I've noticed that such action sequences have been pretty limited since the opening chapter. We're left not knowing what happened to Jaina.

(I hope not to give away too many spoilers, so skip this part if you haven't read the book. I mostly mean to make arguments about what disappointed me and point to specific portions of the book that support my assertions.)

The deeper I got into the book, the more I wondered why these characters seemed so different from the ones I've grown to love (in the case of those from the movie trilogy) and many who weren't created by Tyers seemed to fall victim to mischaracterization. One scene that's been pointed out by many other reviews is the Han/Leia "reconciliation." I was antcipating much more, after the huge build up of alleged verbal fights that had happened between those two after the conclusion of Agents of Chaos and before the beginning of Balance Point.

Furthermore, Jaina's anger at her mother completely caught me off guard. To this point, Jaina has seemed like she wanted to be in the military (maybe exhibiting some of Han's wrecklessness) despite her parents' reservations. She has one serious accident, and suddenly, "You weren't there for me mom!" Oh, boo hoo! The irony is how Jaina and Leia were indeed on the same planet and never knew until later in the book.

Some attention is paid to Luke and Mara once again, which was very welcome. However, I found Tyers' style in terms of writing dialogue highly distracting. You will be trying to follow the actual words, and descriptions keep getting thrown in the middle. Now I'm trying to picture someone pursing their lips or lifting an eyebrow, rather than concentrating on what's being said. With Mara, aren't we talking about the Emperor's former assassin? And she's paranoid about a disease that's gone into remission? When she does find out what's going on with her body, rather than the natural instinct to become protective, she's more than ready to put her life on the line again. Strangely enough, that is the real Mara.

How about the Vong? They are personified as sadistic killing machines who embrace pain and don't fear death. Why is there a scene in this book where one actually runs from a fight? I truly hope Tyers does her homework when writing future books in the SW expanded universe.

The book does have its strong points, but also some glaring weaknesses, and just doesn't seem to flow well with the books that came before it. I wonder how certain details are vital to the plot. Kathy must have some fascination with hair or concentration camps. The strange part is, we're talking about refugees who've already been diplaced, on the run and humiliated beyond reason for months or maybe years. What did that plot twist do for them, other than destroy their already suffering morale?

I am mainly reading the rest of this book so I'll know what's going on in the Edge of Victory duology. Maybe the cliffhanger that's been mentioned as happening at the end will redeem the book a bit for me.

I wasn't impressed with this novel. I felt like it was missing something. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but the book felt empty. I will say that of the two women authors in the series Kathy Tyers beats Elain Cunningham by a long shot. But still...it could use some tweaking.

Book six of the New Jedi Order series, Balance Point, could not be better. Kathy Tyers (author of the excellent Truce at Bakura) returns to the Star Wars Universe to write an extremely satisfying novel.

Like James Luceno's Jedi Eclipse, Tyers' book has a vast number of stories to follow, but unlike Luceno, Tyers does it well. The extra storylines have a reasonable purpose, unlike Luceno's, and everything is well-told and suspensful. Leia is still working to help refugees and Jacen and Han (no longer whiny and moping constantly) go to help, aswell. The two do not realize that Leia is close to them and, indeed, whether she is even alive. Jaina is severely injured, and recuperating, battered, scarred and blind, after having to go ev (extravehicular) during a battle. Anakin is, as he has been in the New Jedi Order, annoyingly competent. Tyers also examines Luke and Mara's relationship, which hasnt really been done since the Hand of Thrawn duology by Timothy Zahn.

All of the characters show development, but none more then Jacen, who is still struggling to come to grips with his role in the force. At what point does fighting become of the dark side? While Jacen does not answer that question, or most of his many others, in Balance Point, he does finally realize that sometimes one must fight to protect their loved ones, even if that means violence.

Overall, Tyers puts together an excellent story, and a refreshing change from James Luceno and his subpar duology. Maybe it's just coincidence, but the New Jedi Order authors with prior Star Wars experience seem to write the more enjoyable novels, or at least up to this point in the series.

Many issues and plotlines that were built up in previous books were not resolved in a satisfactory way. In particular, Han and Leia's reconcilliation was far too short. Kathy Tyers admitted on several occasions she let her personal bias disrupt what she was supposed to write, and I find that extremely unprofessional. This book reads like one long Mary Sue fanfic of how great and beautiful Mara is, and how much Luke and Mara love each other, while other characters are pushed to the sidelines and simaltaneously degraded. On top of that, this book started a cliffhanger of torturing Leia that was ridiculous to add when Tyers knew all the horrible events that would occur later on in the Solo life. I found this book extremely disappointing and would not recommend it to anyone. I'm glad I only checked it out of the library.

Although it was good overall, I have read more exciting books. This is the first "The New Jedi Order" book I have read, but, I have read other Star Wars books. Like I said, this book is good but I just wish that it did not skip around so much. See, I think that that is a big problem with all books. I did like how it followed the main characters though.
In this book Jacen is torn between using the force and thinking that it would led to evil and just give up using it. But I wish that it would have spent a little more time on Jania and the story line between Luke and Mara. Something happens between them and it is a very important thing and I feel that the author did not spend enuff time on that part.
All in all this book is basicly about Jacen and it really gets on my nerves when one person takes all the glory for everything. I mean the main characters that are usually in book hardly have any part, like Han Solo. I dont want it to sound like I am just bickering about all the bad points becouse it had some really good ones that made you not want to put the book down even though the teacher said so.
All I am trying to say is that it could be better on some fronts but that is just my way of thinking. I dont want you to not get this book becouse of what I wrote becouse the only person to make that decison is you. But I would still get it, even though it had some bad point is really is a great book.

This is the first book in the NJO that I read, and I really enjoyed it. I can see how some people wouldn't, but in my opinion it depends on what your expectations are:
If you like a lot of characters, lots of battles, and a more general view of the NJO, you'll probably be disapointed, but if you enjoy reading about the Solos/Skywalkers, and like good character interaction, this book is definetely for you. This book focuses mainly on Luke, Mara, Han, Leia, and the 3 solo children, and most of it takes place on the same planet. My favorite thing about this book is the character interaction. It was good to see Mara and Anakin working together again like they did in Dark Tide I, and overall Mara and Anakins personalities are well written. Luke was somewhat of a disapointment and didn't do much of anything except worry about his wife, but not being a huge Luke fan, I didn't mind it too much. Jacen was written pretty badly, and since I read this book first, it gave me the impression that he was a wimpy little punk. That didn't prove true in the other books, and I learned to appreciate Jacen's thinking, I just think Tyers did a bad job explaining it. I did like the scenes with both Jaina and Jacen, Tyers did a nice job with them together. Jaina was written alright, she lacked the toughness and eagerness to fight in this book. Now about the thing with Han and Leia: It was well written, but way too short. Delete a Luke/Mara love scene and give it to Han and Leia, PLEASE. I also think Leia was rather poorly written, she lacked personality. Han was also not too good, he wasn't the risk-taker and "scondrel" we've all grown to like. As I did with all the books, I skipped the parts with the Vong, so I don't have much to say about them.
Overall, it was a great book, and I'm glad I read it first. If your looking for a book with characters like Lando, Karrde, the Horns, and lots of movement and battles, this book probably isn't for you. In my personal opinion, it was good, but I think it would have been better as two novels with more of a focus on everything else.

Balance Point is a welcome return to high-quality, thoughtful writing in the New Jedi Order series. Kathy Tyers achieves what James Luceno does not: she tightly focuses her plot around the Skywalker-Solo family group, handling their internal and interpersonal turmoil in a manner that shows this family's struggles to be representative of the macrocosmic struggles of the galaxy. She could have added another chapter at the end or a few sentences or paragraphs here and there making the connection between the Skywalker-Solos' tale and the rest of the galaxy more explicit--or at least to enhance the sense of an over-arching plot through the NJO series, but there is a certain artfulness in the way Tyers leaves it to the reader to draw out these sorts of connections.

Balance Point's success is largely the result of Tyers following a diverse enough cast of characters that each individual can fill in an important niche within the plot, and of her attention to detail in her writing. By following Jedi of a variety of persuasions, refugees and those assisting them, and active pilots and warriors, Tyers avoids having to describe important events without being able to follow them from the point of view of one or more main characters--the mistake that killed Luceno's battle scenes. It similarly allows her to avoid inserting "filler" characters who must show up to play a role in the plot, but never receive any sort of characterization. In fact, attention to details--particularly characterization--is one of Tyers' greatest strengths in this book. She strikes a comfortable balance between Michael Stackpole's internal-dialogue drenched mode of characterization and Timothy Zahn's more subtle indication of personality through nuanced action and speech. This combination of techniques works particularly well on Mara Jade Skywalker, who is written perhaps better than she's been since Zahn last dealt with her. Though I think that Stackpole's approach is preferable for Jacen because he is a character with a lot of internal dialogue, Tyers does well with him, too. She focuses on his sensitivity as the driving force behind his character, offering some hint at the sources of his sudden anti-action stance, though perhaps not enough. Jacen is certainly meant to be a bit frustrating in this book, and that he is, but I think the frustration may be more at a gap in the series' writing than at his character's actions. Perhaps I would have liked to see a Stackpole book between Jedi Eclipse and Balance Point (or just a better author for the Agents of Chaos duology) that gave an even more psychological account of Jacen's progress. This is not Tyers' fault, though, and she deserves to be commended for her Jacen, who is once again the interesting and dynamic young man of the first three NJO books.

Tyers' attention to detail also shines through in her handling of the Yuuzhan Vong and in her succinct but evocative descriptive language. The Yuuzhan Vong are once again the severe and distant religious fanatics of the earlier books, and Tyers even manages to explain the inappropriate flippancy Luceno ascribed to Nom Anor, as well as his correct pronunciation of "Jedi." She avoids Luceno's tendency towards melodrama and exaggeration. This is particularly apparent in her descriptive language. She ditches the overwrought vocabulary of Agents of Chaos in favor of clarity. The result is settings like the Coruscant tapcaf where Anakin and Mara go after a potential Yuuzhan Vong agent: it is vivid and memorable, but its description doesn't impede the flow of the writing, and the book continues apace. This simplification of language makes Balance Point more engaging than the James Luceno books. In Agents of Chaos, I always had the impression that Luceno was writing lots of filler-words for the sake of making his story long enough to be a book. Most of what he wrote didn't seem to matter, and I got bored with it. Not so with Balance Point, where clarity and straight-forwardness make the book seem cohesive and interesting.

Balance Point seamlessly combines the strengths of Stackpole and Zahn to create a brilliant new chapter in NJO, returning the series to the high level of quality at which it began.

I got this book thinking it was going to be the best in the series up to that point, but I was dissapointed. This was a good book, but it could not beat out the 2 by Michael Stockpole. I found this book was slow paced, and the action only picked up towards the end of the book. I would still buy this book because it has alot of plot issues that will play into future books, but IMO it was not as good as some of the others.