Product Description

A journey takes place three years after the events of The Phantom Menace. It stretches from the farthest reaches of known space to the battlefield of a young boy's heart, where a secret struggle is being waged that will decide the fate of millions.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #125587 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's an unexpected combination: Greg Bear, author of so many ambitiously complex SF novels, writing about the colourful simplicities of the Star Wars universe. He carries it off well enough, with a mix of action-adventure and thoughtful world-building that entertains while keeping to the spirit of Lucas's saga.

A few years after the events of The Phantom Menace, young Anakin Skywalker is getting restless--sneaking away from Jedi Temple training to gamble his life in a flying game that's much more bizarre and dangerous than the movie's podracing (even before an alien "Blood Carver" assassin intervenes). Anakin's character is taking shape now:

But above all, he loved winning.

To turn his frustrated energy to useful ends, the Jedi Council has Obi-Wan Kenobi take Anakin to investigate the remote, enigmatic world Zonama Sekot, whose organic technologies produce magnificent spacecraft and where a Jedi apprentice has vanished without trace. Secretly pursuing them is a battle squadron captained by the weapons designer who has already blueprinted the Death Star and is being double-crossed by his employer Commander Tarkin.

Rogue Planet's action climaxes as the Jedis learn to grow their own spaceship: the Blood Carver strikes and two heavily armed fleets converge on helpless-seeming Zonama Sekot. Every faction has secret cards up its sleeve--and Anakin's is a very dangerous wild card indeed. There's final victory and heartbreak but also loose ends (including even stranger, deadlier aliens) that suggest sequels to follow. Bear does a solidly workman-like job. --David Langford

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Customer Reviews

Fantastic read, stuffed with character detail.
If Episodes I and II lacked in character development and emotional depth, this book goes a long way towards making up for it. Obi-Wan and Anakin head out on their first real mission together, a trip intended to channel Anakin's energy and pain, getting him away from the rocky path he's been walking during his first three years at the Temple. Although perhaps not the most original plot, this mystery and adventure story is gripping enough, sowing the seeds of both the Empire and the men that Anakin and Obi-Wan will become. Most importantly this book allows the characters to stop and reflect; on Qui-Gon Jinn, gone but not forgotten; on the choices they've made and on the sacrifices and trials yet to come. Obi-Wan struggles to be the Master Anakin needs, while Anakin struggles with himself. The author has brought a sensitivity and depth of characterisation to the Star Wars novel-universe that so often gets lost in a hammer-and-tongs plot. A balanced, absorbing and satisfying read.

An ambitious novel, well written.
THE STORY:
Set three years after Episode I, the Jedi Council assigns Obi-Wan and Anakin a mission in the hopes of curbing the youth's thrill-seeking nature. The mission takes them to the mysterious world of Zonama Sekot where they must investigate the disappearance of a Jedi Knight and discover the secret of the planet's way of life. Meanwhile, two clever and power-hungry men are also en route to Zonama Sekot.

WHAT'S GOOD:
This book is an excellent read for fans of the New Jedi Order series as features a planet recovering from the Yuuzhan Vong's early incursions and reveals some of the past of the enigmatic Vergere. The story stands well alone two, beginning with a fast paced and energetic garbage pit race, continuing with the gradual exploration of Zonama Sekot's unique ecosystems and ending with a spectacular space battle. We get to see some of Obi-Wan's development as a teacher and discover that Anakin's fall towards the dark side is due in part to his inability to contain the great power within himself. There's a few interesting cameos, including Raith Seinar (maker of the Empire's TIE-Fighters) and Wilhuff Tarkin (aka Peter Cushing in 'A New Hope'). It's in the Seinar/Tarkin scenes that this book really excels, as each man attempts to gain strategic victories against the other. There's also a great moment when Seinar tells Tarkin about his idea for a moon-sized battlestation, later reinforced by Tarkin's fascination with a planet capable of hyperspace travel (can you say 'Death Star'?).

WHAT'S BAD:
The story does slow down to a snail's pace at times on Zonama Sekot and you get sick to death of hearing about boras before long. Also, because it was written before Episode II, the scope of events that Bear is allowed to play with is a bit limited.

This book is brilliant!
This is one of the best star wars books I have ever read and considering that I read the book in one day without putting it down says just how much I liked it . The story shows Anakin Skywalker three years after "The Phantom Menace " in his training to become a jedi knight but he is restless and seeks thrills outside the jedi tempel to escape his inner pain . The story shows some of the steps Anakin must take to deal with this inner pain but he fails to control it in the end and ends up killing the blood carver, Ke Daiv, who was trying to kill Anakin . The story also shows Obi-Wan Kenobi and how he has to train and deal with his padawan,Anakin. The planet, Zonama Sekot were the main plot of the story is set, is very intresting to read about especially at the end of the book when giant engines come out of the planet and make it move out of it's original orbit. That was some thing I never expected to happen and those little seed partner things, which were used to make living space ships, sounded cute. I expect that more books will be written about Anakin and Obi-Wan during the ten year break between the first and second movies maby even trilogy books to show more about Anakin Skywalker and his life in jedi training because we don't know what he did with Obi-Wan straight after the first movie we instead get a book three years afterwards so it will be intresting to see that gap filled in. I look forward to the next book about Anakin and Obi-Wan.