Old Friends: The List is really long in this one - lots of Jedi, New Republic Military, and Yuuzhan Vong, as well as a few civilians, same cast and crew as Rebel Dream, the 1st book in this duology.m Synopsis: This book is the continuation of Rebel Dream, the first of the Enemy Lines books. Following the unexpected defeat of the Vong at Borleias (unexpected by the Vong at least), and a few other developments that cause some twitchy fingers and bad manners (read the first one for more details), the story moves on to a resounding finish with our side doing some serious damage to the Vong, but at some cost. Review: The thing I like best about this series and this book in particular, is that it is written by Aaron Allston, one of my favorite SW authors. He has managed, after all these years, to keep the spark going in his keen crafting of dialogue, his immense knowledge of the Classic Trilogy characters, and his dedication to the written word of Star Wars, no matter who the author is. He does his homework, he keeps the story line going, fast and furious, he is organized, clear and concise, and he writes a darn good space battle too. The book involves 4 set pieces: Wedge Antilles and his military group faking the defense of Borleias to buy time for the refugees of Coruscant (as well as taking it to the twerps who used to be the Senate and Ruling Council on Coruscant before they bailed out onthe planet) ; Luke, Mara and the Wraiths on Coruscant tracking down a Dark Side problem (this is the only weak part of the book - hence the 4 star rating); Jaina and her squadron taking her Trickster Goddess role to new heights and really ticking off the Vong; and Han and Leia still hard at work building a safe network for fleeing Jedi, refugees and victims of Vong attacks. The book is structured in such a manner that within the chapters, locations define the action and the characters. There is quite a bit of jumping around from place to place as the action in this one takes place simultaneously, with all our friends and enemies acting and reacting at pretty much the same time, but not in the same place. And actions and reactions do affect outcomes not necessarily where they initially happen. Having said that, the best advice I can give you if you want a real rollicking Star Wars "let's go kick some Vong butt" action, fun and smart remarks, read this one. But do yourself a favor and read Rebel Dream first! Rebel Dream starts the process that eventually ends the war - and no one could have done this better than Aaron Allston.
Title: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand |
09/06/2005
