Old Friends: Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Yoda, Commander Wilhuff Tarkin, Chancellor Palpetine Synopsis: Three years have elapsed since the events of "The Phantom Menace". The Jedi Council has decided to let Obi-Wan Kenobi train the twelve year old Anakin Skywalker as a Jedi. Obi-Wan must help him bring balance to the Force. Anakin still has the scars of slavery and is not fully disciplined yet. Review: Anakin Skywalker has decided, after causing some mischief on Coruscant, that he needed a mission, something "real". He and Obi-Wan Kenobi are going on a mission to the planet Zonama Sekot. The purpose of the mission is to get a ship that will become Anakin's friend, and get him away from temple life for a while - all of this being beneficial in the process. A Jedi Knight, named Vergere, was sent to this planet on a mission as well, and to date, has not returned. Zonama Sekot is a beautiful planet and a source of the fastest ships in the galaxy. The ships are not constructed of durasteel alloys and armor plating, but of organic materiel. Well, most of it anyway, except for the engines. When Obi-Wan and Anakin arrive on planet, the are rejected and not welcome to purchase a ship. But that changes and they are allowed to stay on the planet for a while. Some other people are coveting these speedy ships. One of these people is Raith Sienar, an expert weapons and ship designer. Once Anakin's ship construction is finished, the planet is attacked by Wilhuff Tarkin's fleet. The small and underdeveloped planet can't hope to stand up against this threat. There are also more mysteries to be uncovered about Zonama Sekot than there appears to be, making this Rogue Planet even more mysterious. I looked at this book on the shelf and thought it might be an interesting one. I paid 23 dollars for it and I was kinda disappointed. There wasn't that much excitement in the book untill about page 240ish. Some of it, however, was quite interesting. I was interested in the ships made out of organic materiel, which is alot better and faster than ships made out of the usual stuff like transparisteel and metal. It looks like Greg Bear did some research before he started writing a Star Wars book. He also gave me the idea that Raith Sienar, who was a ship and weapons designer, founded Sienar Fleet Systems, which later on became a big starfighter manufacturer. Also, it hints that, at this time, Tarkin has begin planning to build his huge planet destroying superlaser known as the Death Star, which would show up in "A New Hope". But otherwise, I was disappointed. It was not exciting enough for my taste. But it is not fair that I give this book a rating of "1". This book probably wasn't made to be as exciting as the Thrawn Trilogy or the X-Wing series. It's a different kind of book. And some of you may enjoy it. I thought some of it was quite interesting. Therefore, I give this one a rating of "3". |
Title: Rogue Planet
Series:
Author: Greg Bear
Review by: CL5 Willyum
09/06/2005
