7/10

This book is tough to talk about on its own, since it really just serves as the second half of the previous enemy lines book. To be honest, it might function better if it was just added onto the previous one. About as enjoyable as the last one I’d say.

The biggest strength of this book was the Coruscant plot. A post apocalyptic horror story with Jedi, weird force powers, and a likeable cast of characters? Yes please! The setting of ruined Coruscant is so cool, and makes for some really unique set pieces and story beats. Lord Nyax in particular stood out as a very unique addition to the NJO, but I do wish he ended up being a bit more of a threat. The battle was hard, yeah, but his death was honestly pretty quick considering how great his build up was. The scene where he’s smiling at Luke from a distant window? So good.

Viqi Sesh finally became an interesting antagonist in this book, unfortunately right at the end of her story (spoilers). Her motivations and mentality are much clearer here, and to see her struggle to survive amongst the Yuuzhan Vong and Lord Nyax was pretty cathartic considering how little punishment she had received in the series so far. I thought her death was very in character as well.

Han and Leia’s stuff was pretty good, if rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things. The prison break was a highlight, and a great callback to a New Hope. I also liked their resolution with Tarc and Tam, characters who I was pleasantly surprised to see get a happy ending.

My main issue with this book is that the final battle at Borleias drags on a bit too long for my liking. I like the Emperors Spear plan (inspiration for the Last Jedi??) but the build up took too long. And, while better explained here, I still feel like project starlancer was a bit of a let down. I get it’s supposed to be a fake, but why not make it work? It seemed like the lambert crystal not working as a super laser was an intentional design choice, but I don’t understand why. Wedge’s last stand was cool, but again, should’ve really ended after he rescued the freighter.

This duology was a fun and unique addition to the NJO. While the earlier books tended to feel formulaic towards the end of the first half of the series, I feel like these books actually tried to do something different (Nyax, the Resistance, Wedge/Borleias). I hope the next books continue this trend, because I like that this story felt distinct from the others, whereas now I couldn’t tell you if some plot points were part of agents of chaos or Dark Tide.

So the next book is a very hyped up entry. Some say it’s not only the best NJO book, but the best Star Wars book period. I may take a break and read something else beforehand, but I am very anxious to move on to Traitor by Matthew Stover (my goat).

Bloated yet entertaining due to Allston's experience and competency, Rebel Stand concludes an arc that distinguishes a major turn of hope for the good guys. Nevertheless I can't help but feel simultaneously awestruck, fascinated, and...disappointed by the Coruscant sequences, which are still arguably the most interesting bits of the book.

The heroes working their way through a leveled, alien Coruscant is extremely unique and likely something we'll never see again but having the dark side entity, Lord Nyax, turn out to be as vastly overpowered, incredibly ridiculous as he was is just as jump-the-shark as Kyp's blackhole maneuver. Having the good guys be hunted by a primeval dark force through the wastes of Coruscant yields such potential yet it boiled down to an edge-lord with lightsabers for knees/elbows/wrists. Lord Nyax and the surrounding elements are essentially a hollow rehash of Adam from Buffy the Vampire Slayer's fourth season. The duel on top of the Jedi Temple was extraordinary and another unique facet to the Coruscant experience here. It's nice to see legends finally marrying with the prequels in more concrete ways as the publication dates match up with the movie release dates. Glad to see Viqi Shesh finally meet her end, too.

The final escape from Borleias is extremely exciting and reminiscent of all heroic retreats in the saga - Hoth, D'Qar, etc. Interesting how well the Starlancer project has aged given that it and Starkiller Base essentially use technology relative to each other. However the escapades of Han and Leia seem completely unnecessary and feel more of an obligation to see what our other heroes are up to; their part could've been summed up in mere paragraphs instead of wasting valuable book chapters. Three cheers for the word anus being used for the first time in my memory in a Star Wars book. 3 1/2 organic building modules of 5.

4,9⭐️

It's been a while since I last waded in the Star Wars universe and I figured it was about time to finally finish reading the New Jedi Order series. This book was an interesting read which had some bizarre elements (Lord Nyax), some dead and tired ones (the Wraiths) but some good bits too (Luke, Mara and Wedge).

Still, it was an enjoyable read and Allston has certainly evolved in terms of his skills as a Star Wars writer. So for the most part I enjoyed this adventure - although it's really a 3.5.

Czulkang Lah is a force to be reckoned with, so why did Allston have to have the Lusankya ram his worldship? Hmmmm.

Honestly, Aaron Allston wrote all the best SW books. He incorporates his hilarity into his writing, which is a nice break from the forever-seriousness of some of the characters. (let's say...the ever-super-hottie Jag?)Jag & Jaina are so cute together. But that's a different topic. -- exciting, funny book. p-e-r-f-e-c-t.

Coruscant has fallen to the Vong. The planet is a wasteland now, but it is not entirely forgotten by the New Republic. A mission led by Luke Skywalker has returned, for two reasons. One, to reach out to survivors, to not only help them set up resistance cells, but also learn to survive until the world can be liberated. The other is a far darker, and older reason. A vision Luke had regarding a shadowy figure named Lord Nyax. Who he is, and what his past story is, concludes a story we first saw early on in EU books.

Meanwhile, Han and Leia are on a small world whose leaders are incredibly close to capitulating to the Vong, and giving up Jedi to them. It will take all of Leia's skill to try to prevent catastrophe. While all this is happening, Wedge, and the soldier on Borleais, are crafting a highly theatrical deception, with a purpose to use against the Vong. Finally, we see Jaina, Jag, Kyp and the other pilots in harrowing space battles, trying to make headway against the alien conquerors.

One of the many wonderful aspects of the New Jedi Order series is it's scope and complexity. Each book shows not only various plot lines from the New Republic point of view, but also a strong thread that is from the Vong point of view. We get to see both sides of the conflict, see both perspectives. Also, the fact that, within each book, so many seemingly disparate plots can weave together seamlessly, to create one amazing adventure after another, is a testament to the writers.

Definitely the best and most interesting duology in the New Jedi Order series so far (I won't say the best book, since Balance Point still tops them all I think) - there's just SO MUCH going on, so many twists, so many clever surprises; whether you're a fan of the military, the politics or the Jedi side of business, there's a bit of everything in Rebel Dream and Rebel Stand and the perspective shifts to keep you continually engaged, from the psychological warfare of Jaina's Trickster antics to the teeth-gritting Tahiri/Luke/Mara mission on captured Coruscant.
And then threaded through there's the drip-drip-drip reminder of 'what-happened-to-Jacen?'.

This book brings me back to what this series was like in the early days. Fighting against a terrible foe and with BIG battles on all fronts. The emotion and character development is still there and there are also some good tie-ins with what has happened previously.

The good: Well paced, characterisation that makes sense, epic battles handled well.

The bad: Some was a little too spectacular, and too neat, left hanging on a few issues. This and the book before (also by Aaron Allston) really need to be read together.

All in all, I was fairly please with this effort and look forward to reading more in the series again.

Rating: 4 - Great Star Wars Legacy books
I read The New Jedi Order pretty much all at the same time in one run years ago. So I'm going to give all the books the same rating and review until I reread them. From what I remember of this series the main star wars cast stepped back and the next generation came forward. To me this is what I thought the newest series of movies were trying to accomplish, but just didn't try? If you read this you'll actually see a lot of ideas from these old star wars series stolen and regurgitated. Did you like Kylo Ren? Then you'll probably love one of the characters in this book. When I saw The Force Awakens I was very pleased because I thought we were seeing Jacen Solo. The later movies showed me I was wrong, but reminded me of why I loved these books. Overall I would strongly recommend this series to any star wars fan and would still recommend them to general space opera fans as well.

I had a hard time making it through this one. I don't know if I'm getting worn out by the series or not, but I feel like the Vong technology-analog is getting thin. It seems like they keep making it make less sense. It also doesn't help that in this book there are several parts where Mr Allston breaks his own logic. For instance: towards the end of the book you have one Vong pilot complain they don't have voice comms in their starfighters, then, in the next chapter you have a lead Vong starfighter warn off the rest of his squadron to have a one-on-one dogfight with Wedge... Which is it? Another one: they supposedly determine ships by gravitic signature. I guess that's possible to some degree, but it'd be easy to manipulate. Switch ships, boom, different signature. Change load outs, boom, different signature. The gravitic signature is entirely dependent on the masses of the signature ship, the reading ship, and the distance between, so it'd vary based on distance, and would fluctuate based on mass. I think it's just becoming evident that they made the Vong a little overpowered, and now they're having to write themselves out of a corner. We're definitely heading towards the end of the series because the wins seem easier and more total. I think I might switch to audiobook for the remainder to get through it quicker...

My actual rating is 2.5 stars.

This is the second book of a duology and part of a bigger series. The previous books must be read before this one. In this one, our heroes are in place to strike back at the Vong. Up to this point the Vong has been winning the war and hopefully this is where the tide turns.

I love how the author handles the characters and their dialogue. He includes our beloved characters from the movies and he also utilizes characters from other novels. I had no problem picturing any of the characters as he remains true to their character. And he provides some laugh out moments with their actions and their dialogue. Who doesn't want to read a scene where R2 is flying the Millennium Falcon and relishing in it. The problem with this book is the story. Luke and others are on Coruscant and something is terrorizing the inhabitants. Why am I reading about something that has nothing to do with the war and I am twelve books into the series? This is the definition of filler. We didn't get to the war story into the final act.

There has to be strong characters for a book to succeed. This book accomplishes that aspect. My problem is the placement in the timeline. I liked the story but this would have been better served if this was a stand alone novel outside "The New Jedi Order" series.