Product Description

HAN SOLO and LEIA ORGANA-SOLO work - unwittingly - at cross-purposes to help refugees flooding in to the planet Duro from the Rim worlds where the dreaded Yuuzhan Vong aliens have invaded. The Yuuzhan Vong choose Duro as their next target - one they intend to use to deliver a horrifying message to the people of the New Republic. And JACEN SOLO, working at his father's side, finds himself torn: how to reconcile using the Force as a tool for Good, yet still fight the evil invaders. If he doesn't make the right choice, the future of his family - and possibly of the New Republic itself - hangs in the balance...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82293 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

About the Author
Kathy Tyers is a New York Times bestselling novelist and has contributed several novels to the STAR WARS series in the past. She is also the author of the Firebird series. She is married and has one son.

Customer Reviews

Continuation of an excellent series
The second hardcover of the New Jedi Order series significantly advances the series, whilst keeping up the high standard which had been shown in previous novels.

Balance Point follows in the style of Vector Prime and the Agents of Chaos series than the novels by Michael A Stackpole. Balance Point concerns itself more with the actual characters than action; we see the natures of the Solo children particularly surface, showing three very separate natures, compared to the unifomly wellbehaved, innocent children of the original books and earlier in the series. Jaina appears as a young warrior, consumed and changed by her time with Rogue Squadron, whilst her twin, Jacen, is portrayed as a procrastinating philosopher-prince, sharing his mother's diplomatic skills. Anakin seems the most like their father, as a hot-headed and impatient youth.

The plot of the series is significantly advanced by Tyers, without using too much actual action. It is still a very revealing novel, and well worth reading by those who have read the other novels of the series.

An excellent read!!!
Having read all of the other NJO books so far and finding them on an average-good level compared to some of the earlier ones (mentioning no names), I had high hopes for this one, having read other SW work from Kathy Tyers before. (Truce at Bakura for one: *****) I was certainly blown away by all the little details woven into the story for those who might be newer to the series, and was certainly impressed by how much the 'older cast' of characters got to do here, (Luke, Mara, Leia and Han)whilst still letting the newer characters (Jacen, Jaina & Anakin Solo) come into their own amidst all the action, developing well as characters with their own, individual traits and personality quirks. Definitely worth a re-reading , and with a few, serious developments for the future, I wait with baited breath to see further chapters and find out 'what happens next'?

Light, dark...what's the difference?
Up until now, the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series has been cosmic in scope, with characters moments taking place on a backdrop of world after world falling to the villainous Yuuzhan Vong. With Balance Point, Kathy Tyers gives us a bit of a break from that. Sure, the Vong are still ravaging every planet in sight, but the events of the book are limited to one planet with all of the characters involved being there. It’s a bit more intimate in scope in one other way, too: the main point of the story is young Jacen Solo’s quest to discover just what his place in the Force is. It’s a nice change of pace, but the presentation is a little boring and the characters sort of lie there on the page.

I have to admire Tyers’ attempt to do a Star Wars novel with very little starship combat, though there is a fair share of juking and jinking to be done. However, what we’re left with flies off the page like a Tie Fighter with one solar panel missing. It’s sad because this is a novel that sets up a lot of the books to come (or appears to, anyway). Coruscant is threatened, Han and Leia may be back together and Han is acting more like himself after what happened in the last few books. Jacen comes to a crossroads and appears to make the correct decision, and there’s plenty of personal action. Yet for some reason, none of this stuff seems to move. Droma gets very little characterization, and what there is of it is carried over from Luceno’s novels (Hero’s Trial and Jedi Eclipse). He is clearly not taking Chewbacca’s place, but I can’t tell if that’s because he’s not supposed to or because he’s just characterized badly.

The regulars are decent, but bland. The reunion between Han and Leia should be electrifying, but it just limps along (granted, they are in decontamination, but still…). It’s nice to see them working together and caring about each other, but it would have been nice to have better dialogue for them. Jacen’s relationship with his sister, Jaina, takes a nosedive as Jacen reveals that he won’t use the Force, even to rescue their mother. Thankfully, Jacen realizes that not using the Force but relying on others to use it is kind of hypocritical, but then he never does anything with that realization. When Jacen makes his final decision about his destiny, it all comes about in a fairly clichéd way, with a loved character being in danger forcing him to decide. The answer is, of course, predictable.

We are introduced to Warmaster Tsavong Lah, a Vong who appears to be an ongoing character in this one, as well as meeting Nom Anor yet again. Anor is actually getting a bit irritating, so one can only hope that he will soon be vaped accidentally by one of his own troops. He’s a spy, infiltrating the New Republic in various guises, showing up in book after book in another role, serving the Vong god of Tricks rather then the god of Violence. While it looks like this dynamic could be interesting in future books, Anor as a character has never achieved anything more then reader annoyance in my book.

As I said before, the plot is a lot more intimate and less star-spanning then previous books, which does make for a tighter book. I really liked the way the book didn’t jump all over the known galaxy and stayed in one place pretty much. Of course, it’s a stretch that they all end up in the same place yet again, but it’s a given with the Star Wars books, so I should probably stop complaining about it. I also really liked the relationship between Mara and Anakin, and to a lesser extent, Luke. A momentous event in Luke and Mara’s relationship occurs in this book, and I hope it leads to even more interesting things. In the meantime, though, Mara and Anakin make a wonderful pair. Mara’s the experienced one and Anakin is eager to learn at her feet. He learns a bit about espionage as well as more about using the Force. He’s also shown to be a bit of a hot shot, and I hope this leads to a lesson in future books.

All in all, Balance Point is a perfectly acceptable Star Wars novel. It has some excitement and some good character moments. I just wish there had been more of them. If you’re reading the series, it’s not really one you can skip (though hopefully future books that rely on it will tell you enough about it if you do decide to pass it by). It’s also good enough to get through if you have to. But if you’re picking and choosing, give this one a miss.

David Roy