Hello everyone!

As I mentioned in a previous blog (I believe it was the last one, but I'm too lazy to look it up...), I've finally started to read The New Jedi Order. I finished Vector Prime in just over a week, and I loved it. I can see this series to be excellent.

My overall impression of the opening of NJO was that R.A. Salvatore did an superb job in introducing the new threat (obviously the Yuuzhan Vong) - explaining their culture to the extent that we understand, yet still have questions about it, most of all. Although I feel like I now the Yuuzhan Vong by now, I know that the surface of their beliefs and culture has just been scratched. I'm so excited to learn more about them and how their peoples' differences from those in the GFFA will alter the fate of the galaxy.

[spoilers ahead...] I was also incredibly impressed with the way that Chewbacca died. For such a terrible and changing event, I couldn't help but stop and admire the finesse that his death was written with. The rift that formed between Anakin (are they going to start calling him Ani?) and Han was excellently done. Even better was the way that Han finally forgave his son, when he did the same thing he was angry at his son for doing - leaving behind a friend (in this case Luke) for the good of the many. It was great to see Han have some actual emotions... to my knowledge (or maybe it's just what I've read) this is the first time that Han was genuinely upset and torn about something. It was great to finally do something radical and different with SW.

But by far, my favourite part of Vector Prime was Chapter 26 - the last one - titled Eulogy. Han's reflection, talking with Leia, was so touching and revealing. The way he admitted that he had built up "a bubble" around him, his wife and kids, Luke and Mara, Lando, and "even the stupid droids". I loved how this so expertly set the scene for the rest of the series, saying how the bubble was gone, and how "the galaxy suddenly seemed a more dangerous place by far". That chapter was so beautifully done... I have to say that of the SW books I've read, this is the best one by far, and the last chapter surpassed all of this book.

That said, the NJO has some pretty big shoes to fill, and I just hope that the quality of writing and the radicalness of the plotlines continues... having already read several chapters of the next book, I think my expectations will deffinitely be fulfilled... or maybe even surpassed.

May the Force be With You, Happy 30th Anniversary, and see you at Celebration IV in ONE WEEK!!!
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(I figured that this quote works well, what with the mysteries presented with the Yuuzhan Vong, and how the heroes of the GFFA will tire and how they will be forever be changed by the coming events...)
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
- I Corinthians 15:51