Conquest: Edge of Victory I (Star Wars, The New Jedi Order #7) Review

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(More customer reviews)`Conquest' is the shortest novel in the New Jedi Order line thus far, but don't let that discourage you - it's also in many important ways one of the best. Like `Hero's Trial' before it, `Conquest' follows only one character, Anakin this time, through the bulk of the book. Though it is short, this entry reveals more to us about the Vong as a people, as a culture, than any three novels before it. In addition, it's nice finally to see a New Jedi Order novel that actually focuses on the Jedi. Greg Keyes certainly isn't the best author who's been inducted into the Star Wars fold recently, but he definitely *is* one of the most engaging. At times, Keyes' style seemed a little "fan fiction-ish" rather than "profic." The sentence structure and word choice sometimes just didn't feel professional, but that is easily overlooked because it didn't detract from the novel, it was just different.
The plot is straightforward: Several months after Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Tsavong Lah's offering to end the invasion if all the Jedi are turned over to him, the Peace Brigade, as well as planetfuls of desperate people near the path of the invasion route, are out hunting Jedi - pretty much completely unhindered by the New Republic government. Because of this, the schism that has been growing between the Jedi deepens drastically. Figuring that Yavin IV, home of the Jedi Academy, will be a Vong target, Luke sends Karrde to evacuate the trainees, but Anakin knows he won't get there in time, and rushes off, against Luke's direct orders, to help his friends. He arrives in the Yavin system to find that Karrde has not yet arrived, but the Peace Brigade has. Thus begins Anakin's trials and tribulations, which will last the rest of the book. As his quest continues, Anakin teams up with a renegade Yuuzhan Vong, a "Shamed One" who has apparently lost the favor of "gods and family" (although he quite vehemently denies it), through whom the young Jedi really begins to understand what the Republic is dealing with. Meanwhile, Tahiri, Anakin's best friend, has been captured by the Vong and is being brainwashed by members of their "Shaper" caste who want not only to understand what the Force is, but also want to have their own, Vong, Force-user.
Previously, many Star Wars fans have complained that the New Jedi Order sequence has been to dark, too gruesome for their tastes. Despair not!, for `Conquest' is much more upbeat both in terms of tone, style, and content. There is a little Vong brutality, but it mostly happens off-camera, and what is shown is handled tastefully, not in the over-the-top manner which we have seen so often previously. As I said earlier, Keyes is a very engaging author, with an easy-to-read style that allows you to fall right into the book. The action and suspense are gripping, but instead of following the move-by-move descriptive formula favored by R.A. Salvatore and Michael Stackpole, Keyes tended to focus on what the characters involved with the action were thinking and going through. In many ways the style of this novel would feel more at home in the Bantam or Young Jedi Knights series than in the New Jedi Order.
In fact, character is what Keyes seems to do best. Luke, Mara, and Borsk all acted (or didn't act, as the case may be) in character, although sometimes their dialogue didn't sound quite right, but all the other characters were perfectly portrayed. And there were quite a few characters, mostly Jedi and others hailing from the Young Jedi Knights and Junior Jedi Knights lines of YA novels. The twins, Anakin, his best friend Tahiri, and others were all perfectly on-target in terms of characterization and attitude, and some previously unremarkable characters, such as diminutive Jedi Master Ikrit and Dorsk 82, were completely salvaged. In addition, look for a cameo by Corran Horn.
As I have noted, this is an "Anakin novel," in much the same way that `Balance Point' was a "Jacen novel." In fact, in many ways this book feels more like a follow-up to `Balance Point' than it does a prelude to the events of the next novel, `Rebirth.' In BP, Jacen essentially went on a journey of self-discovery, and while at it he learned much about the nature and balance of the Force. `Conquest' builds on that, and complements it. Here, Anakin, while working to help his fellow Jedi, also "finds himself," and through his interaction with the Yuuzhan Vong begins to understand them, their actions, and their place in the Force.
Yet although this is very much a character-driven novel, there is plenty of action in this book. Anakin starts the novel with the highest Vong hand-to-hand kill count, and that number rises drastically over the course of this novel. We get to see various offensive and defensive measures of the Force, some of which we have seen previously and some of which we have not, but all of which are quite interesting. As well as ground combat, there are plenty of aerial and space-born skirmishes and battles to keep even the most impatient of readers happy. And if Anakin learns a lot about the Vong, we as readers learn a whole lot more through the eyes of one of their Shapers."
On the down side, Lando still has not showed up, and also notably absent are Han and Leia. Overall, Keyes is an extremely entertaining author with a fun style and a good grip of the Star Wars universe and the characters he was dealing with. This book was tight, fun, suspenseful, and very rereadable. Although 'Conquest' is not quite as good as `Hero's Trial' or `Balance Point,' it's a far cry above the abysmal `Ruin' or the less-than-great `Jedi Eclipse.' I can't wait for the next book. Definitely buy this one, even (or especially) if you have been feeling skeptical about the direction this series is taking overall.

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