Force Heretic I: Remnant

After a very long pause in the publication of new material in the New Jedi Order series, Sean Williams and Shane Dix bring us the first chapter of the Force Heretic trilogy, Remnant.

Aptly titled, most of this novel takes place in the Imperial Remnant, who has fallen under attack by the Yuuzhan Vong, and is very nearly destroyed. A large amount of the novel also revolves around Nom Anor, as he struggles for survival in the under levels of Yuuzhan'tar, previously known as Coruscant.

Overall impressions of this novel are quite positive. Though not necessarily as memorable as many of the other books in this series, it stands very well as not only a single novel, but doesn't fall victim to the trilogy effect. The book actually has one of the most satisfying endings of the New Jedi Order.

The first notion that this book may be a slightly different read than normal is the lack of chapters. The story is divided into four parts, no doubt the result of having two authors working on it. We can assume that both authors wrote two parts.

However, this novel doesn't fall prey to many of the traps that others in the series has similarly not been able to avoid. There are no annoying repetitions of various terms or phrases, no scenes that simply don't make sense, with the exception maybe of Tahiri's dream scenes.

Unfortunately, the book is not completely without fault. There is very little humor, and rarely will the reader more than grin at some cliché line, or an inside joke. The space battles are adequate, but lack the vivaciousness of other NJO novels.

Though the Expanded Universe has not always followed the movies, or George Lucas's explicit word, it was especially disheartening to read that C-3PO was built by Cybot Galactica, when we know he was, in fact, assembled by Anakin Skywalker from spare parts. While an explanation probably exists, this reviewer has yet to see it.

Tahiri's scenes were quite odd, and if they continue in the same manner throughout this trilogy, it will be a frustrating series. However, it is a good possibility that Tahiri is the Force Heretic that the series title implies.

Other than those small problems, there are no major issues with this novel. Despite not being an exceptionally memorable book, Remnant holds up quite well. After reading this book, the titles Refugee and Reunion, the two remaining chapters in this series, become obvious, and we can look forward to a decent series.