Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #793530 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 544 pages

Customer Reviews

Superb finale to a generally solid series
The New Jedi Order series comprises 19 books published over 5 years. It concerns the invasion of the 'galaxy far, far away' by the Yuuzhan Vong, extragalactic aliens who seemingly have no connection to the Force.
The series showed a grittier side to Star Wars, and even killed off some major characters along the way.
The quality of the books wavered over the years, in my view. The five hardcovers that chart the main events in the story have been very strong. The Unifying Force is the best of these, and a real payoff after 18 books of build-up.
The book showcases the thrilling climactic confrontation between the Galactic Alliance and the Yuuzhan Vong. Beginning with an exciting POW-camp escape sequence, and concluding with a powerful battle between the key players of both sides, the book is full of action and suspense. We get balanced coverage of space battles, ground combat, various strike team missions like in the films, and the strategising of the Alliance and Vong leaderships. But it is not short on drama. James Luceno's characterisations of our heroes is excellent, and the new, more holistic explorations of the nature of the Force that have been a key factor in this series are deepened and rounded out in this book. The book is rife with 'unifying forces' and that makes for a very layered conclusion.
We get a real sense of closure here, not only the end of this series but it feels like the end of the adventures of Luke Skywalker et al, though that looks unlikely as there are loads more books released or soon to be released that continue the Star Wars saga.
If there are any criticisms to be made, one (and this is a flaw common among most Star Wars novels) is that much of the banter between characters feels forced and 'cheesy', for want of a better word. It's like the writers go out of their way to try and come up with contrived witty remarks. This is really not a big deal, as the characters do sound pretty much like we expect them to.
This series has been more like 'proper' sci-fi than traditional Star Wars, which was a mythical story of good vs evil. This is a story that questions whether that divide is real, and at times it doesn't feel like Star Wars. Well, a person shouldn't believe in something without having first questioned it, and that's what the Jedi are beginning to do after hearing the musings of the bird-like Jedi Vergere. It makes for interesting reading and I hear that it figures in the next few books too.

All in all, this is a truly epic conclusion to a really good ending to a generally strong series of Star Wars books that show the heroes fighting 'the greatest threat to the galaxy since Palpatine'.

An explosve finish!!
This book is an excellent finish to the NJO series and is well worthy of 5 stars. The board is set and this is the final move, the Yuuzahn Vong have gathered an armada and intend to use it to destroy the Galactic Alliance once and for all.

In this book Luke and the other Jedi are trying to convince Zonama Sekot to join the battle and help the Alliance get rid of the Yuuzahn Vong. With the Alliance fleet gathered at Mon Calamri to counter the armada, Zonama Sekot makes its desision and the Alliance makes a final bid to win back Coruscant and deliver a blow to the Yuuzahn Vong.

This book is brilliant as it has a lot of fighting and space battles. If you have been following the books you MUST read this as it provides a very worthey end and is truly brilliant.

A Must Read For Star Wars Fans!!!
This book is a must read for Star wars fans, it gives the final struggle for piece for Luke, Leia, Han solo and the Solo Kids. It depicts the Struggle against an extra-galactic threat that distabilises the Political infrastructure of the planet and leads to the creation of the Galactic alliance a rebirth of the republic of old.
This book tells the story of what secrets have been discovered on zonama sekot, the living planet, and the links between the planet and the alien menace known as the yuuzhan vong and their biological monstrosities.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves star wars and has read the previous New Jedi Order series books as it ties everything up nicely.