Destiny's Way (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 14) Audio CD – Abridged, Audiobook

I remember when this series first came out and hearing the hullabaloo about an unmentionable event that happens to one of the characters and the outrage and controversy that ensued. At that time I really had no interest in reading it. Fast forward to my state of mind almost 20 years later and I was PRIMED to try this series. Why? Because after seeing The Last Jedi in December I have no interest in the current films or any other forthcoming project based on the Star Wars canon that Kathleen Kennedy, Disney, and Rian Johnson are creating. Disney has no interest in respecting the characters or universe that George Lucas created. Lucas said it himself. He had story treatments for episodes 7-9 and Disney threw them out. I have been a lifelong Star Wars fan since I saw Episode 4 in the theaters when I was a child. Rian Johnson turned the latest episode into a cross between a Marx Brothers comedy and a Shakespearean tragedy, and I don't mean either comparison as a compliment. I wanted an alternative to the Johnson narrative. One in which everything about the original trio of heroes isn't painted in dark colors of death and destruction. I had remembered the New Jedi Order as set 20 years after Return of the Jedi and also knew there are books set even further in the timeline, almost when the new film episodes are happening. So I decided to give these books a shot and boy, I'm glad I did!

In the universe of the New Jedi Order, the beloved cast members from the original film trilogy are all alive and well. Luke Skywalker is married to Mara Jade, who once worked for the Emperor, and they are happily in love. The only negative in the relationship is that Mara is suffering from a mysterious terminal disease that only her force powers are keeping in check. Luke is also struggling with the thought of creating a new Jedi Council because currently Jedi are pretty much roaming vigilantes wandering the galaxy righting whatever they think are wrongs with no command structure in place. And yes, you read right, Luke isn't the pouty sad last jedi in this book. There are some Jedi scattered across the universe, but very few of them are considered "masters" or close to Luke's skill level.

Han Solo and Princess Leia are married and active in the New Republic and have three teenage kids who are all training to become jedi! Of course, there is no Han without his brother in arms Chewie! And yes, Lando is around too, running an asteroid mining operation.

The remnants of the Empire haven't coalesced into anything like the First Order in the new movies. The threat in this book comes from OUTSIDE the galaxy. An alien race, known as the Yuuzhan Vong have infiltrated planets of the New Republic and are stirring up unrest to make the republic ripe for conquest, which seems to be the Vong's only goal.

The Yuuzhan Vong reminded me of a cross between the Klingons of Star Trek and the Engineers from Ridley Scott's Prometheus movies. The Vong are great warriors and can fight one on one against Jedi even though they have no Force abilities. In fact, they are Force RESISTANT. The Prometheus connection is that all the "tech" the Vong use is organic and alive. Their starfighters are pieces of living coral and are sentient. They even use creatures to shapeshift to look more like humans. They also have technology that causes the shields of starships to fail.

The Vong don’t really have to try very hard to cause chaos and division in the New Republic because its corrupt bureaucrats are already doing that. I wouldn’t say that the government is quite as bad as when Palpatine seized power but its getting close.

I’ve been depressed about Star Wars ever since I saw The Last Jedi back in December and was hoping these “Legends” would somehow give me an alternative to hating and abandoning the franchise. Thankfully, it has. The new movies are just about killing off the old cast and sending “progressive” messages about society, sex, and race. Star Wars was always about good vs. evil, at least to me. Not about black vs. white, rich vs. poor, gay vs. straight, etc. It was about oppression vs freedom. Now with the arrival of Kathleen Kennedy, the original idea of Star Wars no longer matters.

At least these books were written with the approval of Lucas and maybe portended where HE wanted the series to go, along with the original Timothy Zahn books. Lucas didn’t envisage Luke as a bitter old man no longer even interested in his friends and family! You don’t have to turn people into walking basket cases to make them human. In this book, Luke feels fear, he even thinks about yelling and arguing with his wife! He feels doubt. He’s not an all knowing Jedi master with god-like abilities. He doesn’t even know if making a new Jedi Council is the right move to make. You don’t have to turn him into a murderous fearful Gollum like Rian did.

We also get a lot of scenes with Luke, Leia, and Han together. That’s something that will never happen in the new movies. What a squandered opportunity by JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan, moreso than Rian Johnson. You KNOW if George Lucas had written Episode 7, he wouldn’t have felt intimidated or felt afraid to write scenes with the original trio. I think that was the major problem with the new movies. They weren’t written by talented or imaginative people. Luke was originally going to be in Episode 7 a lot more but he kept on taking over the movie from the new cast….that’s really a good indicator of how weak the new cast is.

Another thing I loved about this book was Han and Leia’s kids, who are all around 15 years old and are training to be Jedi under Luke and Mara. Jacen is the oldest and perhaps the most Kylo Rennish. Not that he’s shown any evil or dark tendencies. But he believes that the Jedi are smarter than normal people and should be in charge and be allowed to do whatever they want in pursuit of justice. Maybe he’s more young Anakin from Attack of the Clones than Kylo. And yes, the youngest son is actually NAMED Anakin and he’s cocky, confident, and idealistic. More like Luke from A New Hope. And then there’s Jaina, who’s the best pilot of the siblings. The kids are great. I really enjoyed their scenes. They are just as important as the old cast, but not at the EXPENSE of the old cast.

From what I understand there are 19 novels in this series, which is followed by other series set further on in time in this Star Wars universe. So I should have plenty to read instead of going to see any new Star Wars movies. I’d rather live in a fantasy world of noncanoncity than accept the swill Kennedy and Johnson concocted, along with Abrams. If you hated The Last Jedi and would like to see Han, Luke, and Leia not become losers, you should definitely try reading Vector Prime. And don’t worry about it if you haven’t read any of the other Star Wars Legends books. I’ve only read a couple myself and had no problem understanding anything. This book was WRITTEN to be a jumping on point for new readers.
Next up on my reading list is the novelization of The Last Jedi. I’m still trying to make sense of that awful movie. A lost cause, I think.

I've been going through the New Republic era books and have been largely disappointed by poor release after poor release. I decided to skip ahead to the NJO and this book was amazing. The author's writing moves along at a swift pace with minimal to no distracting digressions that make other books so weak. I'm curious to see how the series pans out, and I might find myself missing Salvatore since I've not really cared for what I've read from Stackpole or Luceno.

VP came out in 1999. The Phantom Menace was about 18 months old. All we knew about the Jedi was the obstinate antics of Qui Gon Jinn, and his equal parts brash and serious student Kenobi. The Jedi Council is briefly seen acting aloof to the world around them. Besides this footage, we had the knowledge of Star Wars Prime; endless reminders by Kenobi and Yoda pounding into Luke's head what the Force is and is not. How a Jedi should act, and should not act. Though never really seeing this idea materialize until an unarmed, very non-action Luke maturely declines an offer for life on the dark side.

Enter the release of Vector Prime; a new Star Wars novel series that was to last for many years. It even had its own commercial; which is unheard of for a Star Wars book. This was to be a new turning point in the Star Wars saga. Things were going to change...

I purchased Vector Prime in hardcover October of 1999. I read about half of it, and I put it down. Why? I, like so many SW fans of the day, were starting to wholeheartedly embrace the Prequel era. We had questions about the upcoming movies, EU adventures, how does this fit with that, etc. A fresh sequel era storyline was really the last thing many fans wanted in 1999. We wanted more film, more cinematic answers about the origins of the Sith, what were all the tricks in a Jedi Knight's power arsenal, how does Palpatine become Emperor, etc. Another negative factor that I didn't appreciate at the time was my age. I was in my late 20's. I was married with a one year old.

As an early 40's man now, still married with the one year old in HS, and another sibling pushing middle school, with the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney and Sequel trilogy coming up, I decided to give Vector Prime another shot. Why? Though it's safe to say JJ Abrams won't be following the New Jedi Order novel series, I saw this as a last chance to experience something that may never happen again as far as Star Wars is concerned. A line of books written literally in a Wild West era of the franchise; an era closely guarded by Lucas himself while he still vacillated between making the Sequel Trilogy or not. When George had decided Return of the Jedi was going to be the end of the film franchise, he then allowed this era of Star Wars to be written. This series of books is soon to be OBSOLETE. The new films will change not only this 25+ year past ROTJ, but will also spawn new EU novels that will completely change the dynamic of what is still there right now.
Being an older, more seasoned man, I really appreciated Salvatore's capturing of the main characters in middle age with grown children. The fight still within them, yet the yielding to the anxious young is a nice touch to show the characters are human, not wind-up toys that perpetually fight and cannot be destroyed. This is an element of the novel I had not appreciated when I was younger. I guess you could say I didn't get the point back then.

Specifics on the story:

Jedi Squadron hunting "smugglers"? Really? Even teenage Jacen Solo sees the fallacy of that pitiful attempt at Galactic Justice. Why doesn't Kyp Durron take the fight to the suppliers of the contraband? He is a Jedi Knight after all? Luke took down Jabba while being the equivalent of a padawan. Smugglers feature heavy in the Star Wars universe primarily because of Han and Chewie. Thanks guys! I wonder if Han had been a shoe salesman with a fast ride parked out back, if the galaxy would then be filled with metro-sexual individuals hocking footwear? But I digress....

I thought the idea of Ex-Gal 4 was very cool. I enjoyed the entrance of the alien race from outside the galaxy, and all the mayhem on the two planets, Belkadan and Helska 4. The aliens are very original indeed. The agents inside the New Republic are interesting. Nom Anor a bit too similar to Palpatine; though personality-wise he's the opposite in public. The teenage bantering wore thin at times, but was necessary for plot advancement. The action scenes and the heroes in action again were nice and age appropriate.

The main characters in middle age are nice to see. I connected more with them at this stage of my life than I would have otherwise. Without spoiling too much for anyone out there not familiar with the specifics of this novel; you have to start somewhere. It didn't matter who wrote this first NJO novel, toes and feelings were going to get stepped on. The intent of the series was to take the SW franchise in a new direction, and that it did. This first book is a set up for many more. If you like SW books, but have shied away from this series because of bad reviews, time is running out before this all goes away. There is a very dim mystique here, a production created by Lucasbooks and Del Rey. Here's a chance to read (at the time the definitive) future for the SW universe that was sanctioned and approved by Lucas himself a long, long time ago, in a decade far, far away...

Force Unleashed was an excellent story, but im sad to say that the novel falls a bit short of bringing it to life.
Pros
1 Great Game. Like I said, the game was amazing, the story was good.
2 Starkiller. I love Galen Merik, hes the dark jedi who needs redemption i have been waiting for.
3 Darth Vader. We really get to see some of how twisted Vader has become.
4 Great gap filling. This story really fills some of the void left between episode 3 and 4

Cons
1 Poorly adapted. As was already stated in other reviews the book does tend to read like a summery rather then a novel.
2 Confusing flashbacks and out of place events. There was allot of this especially with Starkiller and Juno Eclipse.
3 Really poorly written fight scenes.
4 Starkiller is a bit too powerful.
5 Because the author writes things more like a summery especially the fight sequences things pass way to fast and you can easily find yourself lost or saying, wait what did i miss?

Overall I would recommend it as a good bridge and a good story outline, but as for a well written novelization i would say it falls short of being great. Still if you love the video game this is a great companion or if you like me are a completest then this is a must for your collection.