Don’t Make Choices: Meaningless Reviews in a Galaxy Even Further Away
Before Disney rebooted the Star Wars Universe, there were a bunch of dog-eared paperbacks describing the adventures of Luke, Leia, Han, etc in the years following the events of the movies. This is a review of one of these stories, which is itself one of nineteen in a series. For the rationale behind such an ill-advised quest, click here. For the previous entry in the series, follow this link here. In this edition, Very big (in)decisions are made….
The character links and images are from the Star Wars wiki. Click on them at your own peril.
The original Star Wars movies were designed around a concept known as “used future.” Instead of spotless, gleaming technology, the universe sported buildings and ships that were rusted, chipped, battered, or sometimes entirely beat to shit. This had the effect of making the galaxy feel lived in.
In the latest installment, the motif is expanded to include whole planets and entire groups of people.
Duro is the planet, an inhospitable rock that long ago succumbed to the environmental disasters caused by runaway mining and industrialization. Good thing that it’s just a story, right?
The people are refugees, the same ones the previous four books have been following, dwindling in number and increasing in desperation, the group has been pushed so far to the brink that the rehabbing of Duro appears to be the only option available to them. Despite the nature of the planet, they are still unwanted there. Again, it’s a good thing it’s only a story, right?
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Balance Point is the name of this novel. It was written by Kathy Tyers, and published in 2000. Below is the plot, in less than 140 characters, for your enjoyment:
The players: Characters I’ve already described are noted by an asterisk.Balance Point marks a milestone, as all major characters have been described for the first time since I started this thing. My notes on these characters can be found here:
The Jedi:
Luke Skywalker
The New Republic:
Han Solo
Leia Organa Solo
The Yuuzhan Vong:
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Developments: This book is unfortunately written in large part from Jacen Solo’s point of view. That means that most of the novel is told from the point of view of an indecisive teenager. I’ll spare you the details of this indecisiveness and instead provide you with this handy flow chart:
Oh, sorry about that. Computer, enhance that image:
That’s better, still not great though. Computer, enhance again:
As the war continues to go poorly for the New Republic, people increasingly begin to look to Anakin Solo — one of the few Jedi who manages to fight the Yuuzhan Vong without messing everything up — as a kind of messiah. It’s going to be an important subplot of the next few novels. Anakin repays this perception by going absolutely apeshit in this one and wreaking havoc on the Yuuzhan Vong at every possible opportunity.
Jaina Solo returns after a two book absence. The best pilot of the three siblings, she’s been flying with Rogue Squadron, in the thick of all the fighting, and destroying everything in her path. She’s put out of commission early in this one, when she flies too close to an exploding warship and is temporarily blinded. She spends most of this one sulking and trying to heal.
It turns out that Luke’s wife Mara Jade is pregnant. This being a Star Wars novel, they can’t out and out state that Luke and Mara have been having sex, so there’s a lot of innuendo. This book also features a lot of Luke being rather horny, which is weird.
The Yuuzhan Vong warmaster Tsavong Lah is given his first extended run as a character. He’s brutal, and has scale armor literally growing out of his body. He’s primarily focused on gathering enough sacrifices to please his gods. Jedi sacrifices apparently command a higher value.
The Yuuzhan Vong capture the planet Duro, opening up the Core worlds of the galaxy to conquest, including the seat of the New Republic, the planet Coruscant. Having done so, Lah declares a cease fire on the condition that all Jedi are hunted down and turned over to the Yuuzhan Vong, which is not unlike when you castle to begin your endgame in chess.
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Nom Anor Hot Seat Ranking: As a spy and an instigator for the Yuuzhan Vong, the executor is one of the most influential characters in the entire series. He’s also one of the most nakedly ambitious, seeking nothing more than the promotion of himself. To that end, Anor scored some early points by founding the Peace Brigade, starting a couple of civil wars, and bringing the Hutts and the New Republic Senator Viqi Shesh into the fold.
Unfortunately, his actions also ensured the destruction of the first group of Yuuzhan Vong to enter the galaxy, the demise of a high ranking priestess, the elimination of half a battle group, and the displeasure of his superiors.
All of that is to say that Anor is constantly on the brink of either promotion or demotion, sometimes simultaneously. I’m going to rank his job security on a scale of one to seven, with seven indicating promotion and one indicating demotion.
Hot Seat Ranking prior to Balance Point: 2
Anor begins in exile, marooned on a barren and inhospitable planet for his actions described above. With a lot of hard work and some tinkering with biotechnology, Anor is able to (almost) deliver three Jedi to his warmaster, and (almost) kills two of them. For his (almost) success, he is no longer exiled, but he isn’t promoted, either.
Hot Seat Ranking after Balance Point: 5
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Death Star Watch:
People in the galaxy must be awfully used to planets getting destroyed
Balance Point wastes precisely no time before wasting a planet. It’s literally in the first chapter. Kalarba has one of its moons pulled down on it, in a replay of what happened in the first novel of the series. Weirdly, no mention is made of it afterwards.
Death Star Count for Balance Point: 1
Death Star Count for The New Jedi Order: 4.25
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Cliches from far, far away:
It’s weird that they have the same idioms as us
This one features the old standby “bull in the china shop,” transformed into, “Hutt in a Mon Cal meditation pool.”
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Final Thoughts:
We are now a third of the way through the series. Balance Point is a stand alone story that resolves several major plotlines of the first third, while opening up new ones for the next portion of the series.
The series had largely followed the plight of the refugees fleeing the Yuuzhan Vong, while also detailing the estrangement of Han from the rest of his family following the death of Chewbacca. Both are largely (though not totally) resolved by this entry.
The story of the mysterious sickness of Luke’s wife Mara Jade has now become the story of her pregnancy, largely wrapping up that particular plotline (thank heavens, as that storyline was very tedious).
If you’re along for the ride, you’ll need to read this one.
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This has been Meaningless Reviews in a Galaxy Even Further away, in which I read through the entirety of The New Jedi Order and write about it.
