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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #138731 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

Synopsis
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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Customer Reviews

very poor and uninteresting im afraid
As star wars books go this is a pretty big let down - strange because Greg Bear is such a talent outside Star Wars.
Rogue Planet is the story of Anakin and Obi Wan's mission to the living planet of Zonama Sekot looking for the missing Jedi Vergere. it is a precursor of the planet's origins before it is used extensively in The NJO series.
The problem is the complete lack of any interest to the story - there is no real villian (the blood carver is rubbish) and the novel is treated as anakin's first use of the dark side to kill - but the way the plot gets to that point is convoluted in the extreme.
You also spend half the book with tarkin and his cronies attacking the planet - with no purpose of any kind. it doesnt lead anywhere.
What would have made a better book about Zonama Sekot would be to write about the time Vergere arrived and the Far Outsiders attacked - no Anakin and Obi Wan malused!
Anyways - rant over - probably not a good place to start reading SW novels and a bad use of a tie in novel. Avoidance is probably your best policy.
5/10

The Force was Strong with this One but it Turned to the Confused Side
'Rogue Planet' starts of in the first third as the best Star Wars novel that I have read. Set three years or so after 'The Phantom Menace' Anakin is currently being taught the ways of the Jedi by Obi-Wan. When not studying, Anakin is sneaking off to join illegal street races. With his sense of adventure becoming too strong the Jedi's decide to send Obi-Wan and Anakin on a mission to investigate the disappearance of a missing Jedi on a far away planet. Can they discover the missing knight and do they know that they are being followed by a mysterious assassin?

There are many elements of this book that work really well. It's just unfortunate that they are all in the first third. The action at the start is better than the last three films and the characters of Obi-Wan and Anakin are interestingly explored. Add to this an interesting insight into the politics of the New Republic and you have a well written and thoughtful sci fi book.

However, things fall completely apart once they reach the mysterious planet as the book descends into a snorefest. The middle third is as poorly written and slow a narrative that I have read in a long time. The third section does pick up a little, but is confused and you may not care by then. I think this book is 2 stars and not 3 because I am really disappointed that Bear threw away some really good ideas.

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.