tarmstrong112's review against another edition
4.0
3.5/5
This has been the strongest book in The New Jedi Order series for me so far. I really enjoyed the moments that weren't action, the philosophical moments for Jacen and the relationship building between Luke and Mara Jade. It was maybe too long which I think has plagued this series as a whole so far, but it has reinvigorated my interest and I look forward to the next book in the series.
This has been the strongest book in The New Jedi Order series for me so far. I really enjoyed the moments that weren't action, the philosophical moments for Jacen and the relationship building between Luke and Mara Jade. It was maybe too long which I think has plagued this series as a whole so far, but it has reinvigorated my interest and I look forward to the next book in the series.
yak_attak's review against another edition
2.0
Review on Twitter
https://twitter.com/serswjm/status/1221508929957646338?s=20
(Spoilers)
https://twitter.com/serswjm/status/1221508929957646338?s=20
(Spoilers)
lustrs's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
blancwene's review against another edition
3.0
For 2021, I decided to reread Del Rey’s first attempt at a multi-author book series in the Star Wars universe: The New Jedi Order, which was published between 1999 and 2003. This shakes out to 19 novels, two eBook novellas, three short stories, and a tangentially-related prequel era novel.
This week’s focus: the second hardcover release in the New Jedi Order, Balance Point by Kathy Tyers.
SOME HISTORY:
Of the twelve New Jedi Order authors (well, thirteen if you count Michael Jan Friedman), nine were newcomers while three were familiar faces from the Bantam era. (There were also only two female authors, a proportion that I side-eyed a bit--for comparison, the Bantam era featured five female authors out of fourteen total contributors.) Kathy Tyers was one of those familiar faces, having written 1993’s [b:The Truce at Bakura|302618|The Truce at Bakura (Star Wars)|Kathy Tyers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1326718249l/302618._SY75_.jpg|591520] as well as several stories for the Tales collections and The Star Wars Adventure Journal. Balance Point made it to number thirteen on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of November 19, 2000.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
For weeks after the book was released, Kathy Tyers answered questions on the Jedi Council Forums--her username was Shmi52. Obviously she couldn’t say anything about upcoming releases or plot points, but I remember reading through her answers, and it was fun to encounter a Star Wars author in the wild!
Of the actual book, I remembered Mara’s Big News as well as the Solo family’s decontamination-required haircuts, but not much about the conflict here.
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME COUNT:
I expected Tyers to give me lots of outfit description, and she delivered. We have Luke, Mara, and Anakin’s Kubaz disguises; the Solos’ various hats and headscarves after their haircuts; Mara and Jaina’s Kuati disguises; Jaina’s visor thing; jumpsuits for the poor shaved Ryn; I could probably keep going but I’ll stop here.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
There is nowhere to channel the flood of refugees fleeing the Yuuzhan Vong but the overcrowded planet Duro. Under the watchful eye of Leia Organa Solo, SELCORE works to restore the planet to health, while Han, Jacen, and Droma arrive in another refugee camp. They are unaware that Leia is already on Duro…and that Luke, Mara and Anakin are also headed their way, searching for a missing Jedi apprentice. And none of them realize that the Yuuzhan Vong have chosen Duro as their next target...
THE CHARACTERS:
In Balance Point, we have multiple characters already on Duro, arriving on Duro, or heading towards Duro. SELCORE has gotten the Duros government to agree to housing refugees in domes on the surface, in exchange for their scientists working towards reversing and repairing the planet’s incredible industrial pollution. Leia is supervising these squabbling groups, and is flying somewhat under the radar--Luke and Mara know that she’s on Duro, but not Han or her children or the New Republic military. She felt slightly more active here than in previous books, and I loved the gesture she made with her hair; as an Alderaanian, she’s also a refugee without a home, she doesn’t want special treatment, and her hair will grow back.
For the first half of the book, Han is estranged from Leia, supervising another refugee camp on the surface and still hanging out with Droma. He’s progressed past his revenge quest in [b:Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial|836080|Agents of Chaos I Hero's Trial (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #4)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522548l/836080._SY75_.jpg|311083], though, and is committed to helping both the Ryn as well as other refugees he’s acquired along the way. He’s a good leader, trying to keep the best interests of everyone who depends on him, which is a welcome return of the reformed good guy we knew.
Of all the Solo kids, I am most worried about Jaina right now! During the Battle of Kalarba, she loses her astromech Sparky and goes extravehicular, and remains temporarily blinded for the rest of the book. She’s a little bundle of anger towards everything and everyone, but especially her mother: the NR military couldn’t track her down, and she blames her mother’s career for the Solo kids’ upbringing. She works through some of her issues, but there’s still a lot of anger and resentment boiling under her surface.
Once again, I was frustrated with Jacen for a good chunk of the story. He’s confused and doubting himself after the debacle with Centerpoint Station (as he should! I agree with Anakin there), so he left Coruscant, joined his father and Droma on Duro, and is questioning his use of the Force at all. As Wookieepedia puts it:
He later has a conversation with his uncle, where he explains how hard he’s finding it to lessen his use of the Force. Luke tells him that he either needs to accept and use his talents, or forego using the Force completely. Jacen replies that he’s going to suppress his Force abilities for the rest of his life. JACEN NO?!? In the climax, he realizes that he can’t save his loved ones without the Force, and once again hears the voice saying “stand firm.” He does take a stand, and wins, but it took a lot of extended dithering before he was able to get there.
Remember Randa the Hutt from [b:Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse|157984|Agents of Chaos II Jedi Eclipse (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #5)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522545l/157984._SY75_.jpg|152469]? He’s stuck in Han’s refugee settlement, he wants to get home but also wants to harry the Vong forces like Kyp Durron’s squadron. He’s struggling to do good, but he’s inherently selfish, so he ping pongs back and forth between betraying the Solos to the Yuuzhan Vong, alerting the New Republic to the presence of Vong on Duro (except he tells this to Viqi Shesh, oops), and then ultimately sacrificing himself for Leia. He’s a Hutt, but he tried to do better.
Luke and Mara initially start out on Coruscant; Luke has been holding informal meetings, since the NR government won’t sanction the creation of a Jedi Council, and intelligence leads to Mara and her nephew capturing a Yuuzhan Vong agent. This is both important and revealing: the Vong have agents already in place in the capital, and the agent kills herself rather than speak with them. Mara receives some very unexpected news (she’s pregnant!), Luke and Mara talk about it, and then they head off to Duro with Anakin in search of a missing Jedi apprentice.
After multiple books of Mara struggling with her illness and being sidelined from the narrative in favor of other characters, I'm so happy that she's doing well and that she's expecting a child. In [b:Heir to the Empire|40604754|Heir to the Empire (Star Wars The Thrawn Trilogy, #1)|Timothy Zahn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529605994l/40604754._SY75_.jpg|1133995], Leia is pregnant before the book even starts, but here we get to see Mara's initial reaction and developing feelings. I think I'm glad that we have a female author for this book, because I'm not sure a male author would have been as interested in interrogating Luke and Mara's thoughts here, and they both get several sweet scenes.
I like Anakin, but he’s much less in focus in Balance Point--perhaps explaining why Lucasfilm and Del Rey were so desperate to add the Edge of Victory duology before [b:Star by Star|35448|Star by Star (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #9)|Troy Denning|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331005005l/35448._SY75_.jpg|349891]. He’s still continuing to figure out how he wants to approach the role of a Jedi, and he both takes directions but is willing to think ahead.
Nom Anor moves around a lot, and very quickly--improbably quickly? We saw him at the end of [b:Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse|157984|Agents of Chaos II Jedi Eclipse (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #5)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522545l/157984._SY75_.jpg|152469] talking to Viqi Shesh, and now he’s been masquerading as a Duros on Duro for the last two months?? He confirms that Mara’s illness is Vong-related (which the reader knew, but the characters didn’t), and while he claims to serve the Trickster Goddess he’s mostly just out for himself.
I don’t have much to say yet about Warmaster Tsavong Lah. He’s obsessed with the Jedi, he’s a threat to our heroes, he’s a fair bit conniving himself, and he issues a game changing ultimatum at the end of the book. This is the first time we see him for an extended period of time, so he doesn’t feel completely fleshed out yet.
Side note: [b:Vector Prime|192214|Vector Prime (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #1)|R.A. Salvatore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412181316l/192214._SX50_.jpg|2799032] featured multiple female Vong in warrior roles, but the subsequent books either didn’t seem to include any female Vong at all (Dark Tide duology) or only included a few in more stereotypical professions (Priestess Elan in [b:Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial|836080|Agents of Chaos I Hero's Trial (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #4)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522548l/836080._SY75_.jpg|311083]). I was excited to see the inclusion of more female Vong in Tyers’s book, as we see everyone from a female agent to the Priestess Vaecta to female crewmembers on Lah’s flagship the Sunulok.
ISSUES:
Pace: I felt like the first 90-100 pages were well-paced, then I started to lose interest a little. The last 50 pages likewise picked the pace back up, but the middle felt slow. The “missing Jedi plot”--AKA the whole reason for Luke & co. to come to Duro--didn’t really go anyway, and seemed to primarily exist so they’d be in the same place as the rest of their family.
I found the initial premise--that Leia was on Duros at the same time as Han, Jacen, and Jaina, but they didn’t know--hard to swallow. Han has no Force ability, true, and Jacen was cutting himself off from the Force, but surely Jaina and Leia could have sensed each other? After they’re reunited, every Force sensitive character seems able to sense each other wherever they are, at least enough to keep track of people once the YV attack. *hand-wave shenanigans*
Huge conflict back when the book was released: the Luke/Mara fans were ecstatic, while the Han/Leia fans felt like they’d been shortchanged. And I can see their point… Luke and Mara have multiple scenes together, while Han and Leia’s reunion mostly happens offscreen. And Mara finally receives some good news after multiple books of struggling with her illness, while Leia is tortured and grievously wounded.
I’m also repelled by torture in books, so Leia’s scenes upset me. I can understand that Jacen wasn’t going to act unless the fate of someone he loved (like his mother) was in the balance, but Leia seemed reckless in the scenes leading up to her capture. And while there is a precedent for torture in Star Wars--Leia in ANH, Han in ESB—leaving Leia’s life and continued health in the balance (ha) was perhaps a step too far for me.
This book also made me realize that I had been operating under an absolutely faulty assumption: I knew that Friedman’s Knightfall trilogy was cancelled so that Greg Keyes could write the Edge of Victory duology and focus on Anakin Solo, and that the NJO planning team initially wanted Anakin--not Jacen--to be the overarching hero of the series. So I assumed that Anakin’s fate wasn’t solidified until the series was underway, which explained Jacen’s arc from [b:Vector Prime|192214|Vector Prime (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #1)|R.A. Salvatore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412181316l/192214._SX50_.jpg|2799032] to [b:Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse|157984|Agents of Chaos II Jedi Eclipse (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #5)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522545l/157984._SY75_.jpg|152469]. But no! The team had settled on Jacen as the hero before the first book was released, which makes his philosophical journey baffling at times to me.
IN CONCLUSION:
Balance Point was the first NJO book to end on a decided loss for our heroes: Duro has fallen, the Yuuzhan Vong are even closer to the Core, and the whole galaxy is now hunting the Jedi Knights. What held it back from being a great read for me, though, was the dragging pace of the middle of the book, not enough focus on Han and Leia, and even more dithering from Jacen to wade through.
Next up: a short detour to the first eBook release in the New Jedi Order series, “Recovery” by Troy Denning.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/etvWLvRLaXY
Jedi Council Forums - Balance Point Q&A with Kathy Tyers: https://web.archive.org/web/20100618045742/https://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=1224749&replies=51
Interview with Tyers on Roqoo Depot: http://roqoodepot.com/2014/12/08/interview-kathy-tyers-talks-balance-point-the-truce-at-bakura-star-wars-legends/
This week’s focus: the second hardcover release in the New Jedi Order, Balance Point by Kathy Tyers.
SOME HISTORY:
Of the twelve New Jedi Order authors (well, thirteen if you count Michael Jan Friedman), nine were newcomers while three were familiar faces from the Bantam era. (There were also only two female authors, a proportion that I side-eyed a bit--for comparison, the Bantam era featured five female authors out of fourteen total contributors.) Kathy Tyers was one of those familiar faces, having written 1993’s [b:The Truce at Bakura|302618|The Truce at Bakura (Star Wars)|Kathy Tyers|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1326718249l/302618._SY75_.jpg|591520] as well as several stories for the Tales collections and The Star Wars Adventure Journal. Balance Point made it to number thirteen on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of November 19, 2000.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
For weeks after the book was released, Kathy Tyers answered questions on the Jedi Council Forums--her username was Shmi52. Obviously she couldn’t say anything about upcoming releases or plot points, but I remember reading through her answers, and it was fun to encounter a Star Wars author in the wild!
Of the actual book, I remembered Mara’s Big News as well as the Solo family’s decontamination-required haircuts, but not much about the conflict here.
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME COUNT:
I expected Tyers to give me lots of outfit description, and she delivered. We have Luke, Mara, and Anakin’s Kubaz disguises; the Solos’ various hats and headscarves after their haircuts; Mara and Jaina’s Kuati disguises; Jaina’s visor thing; jumpsuits for the poor shaved Ryn; I could probably keep going but I’ll stop here.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
There is nowhere to channel the flood of refugees fleeing the Yuuzhan Vong but the overcrowded planet Duro. Under the watchful eye of Leia Organa Solo, SELCORE works to restore the planet to health, while Han, Jacen, and Droma arrive in another refugee camp. They are unaware that Leia is already on Duro…and that Luke, Mara and Anakin are also headed their way, searching for a missing Jedi apprentice. And none of them realize that the Yuuzhan Vong have chosen Duro as their next target...
THE CHARACTERS:
In Balance Point, we have multiple characters already on Duro, arriving on Duro, or heading towards Duro. SELCORE has gotten the Duros government to agree to housing refugees in domes on the surface, in exchange for their scientists working towards reversing and repairing the planet’s incredible industrial pollution. Leia is supervising these squabbling groups, and is flying somewhat under the radar--Luke and Mara know that she’s on Duro, but not Han or her children or the New Republic military. She felt slightly more active here than in previous books, and I loved the gesture she made with her hair; as an Alderaanian, she’s also a refugee without a home, she doesn’t want special treatment, and her hair will grow back.
For the first half of the book, Han is estranged from Leia, supervising another refugee camp on the surface and still hanging out with Droma. He’s progressed past his revenge quest in [b:Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial|836080|Agents of Chaos I Hero's Trial (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #4)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522548l/836080._SY75_.jpg|311083], though, and is committed to helping both the Ryn as well as other refugees he’s acquired along the way. He’s a good leader, trying to keep the best interests of everyone who depends on him, which is a welcome return of the reformed good guy we knew.
Of all the Solo kids, I am most worried about Jaina right now! During the Battle of Kalarba, she loses her astromech Sparky and goes extravehicular, and remains temporarily blinded for the rest of the book. She’s a little bundle of anger towards everything and everyone, but especially her mother: the NR military couldn’t track her down, and she blames her mother’s career for the Solo kids’ upbringing. She works through some of her issues, but there’s still a lot of anger and resentment boiling under her surface.
Once again, I was frustrated with Jacen for a good chunk of the story. He’s confused and doubting himself after the debacle with Centerpoint Station (as he should! I agree with Anakin there), so he left Coruscant, joined his father and Droma on Duro, and is questioning his use of the Force at all. As Wookieepedia puts it:
Jacen has a Force vision of missing a lightsaber tossed to him by his uncle Luke and letting the galaxy fall to the Vong's clutches, followed by a voice telling him to ‘stand firm.’ This leads him to believe that by using the Force any further, he will ultimately tip the galaxy to the Yuuzhan Vong's favor.
He later has a conversation with his uncle, where he explains how hard he’s finding it to lessen his use of the Force. Luke tells him that he either needs to accept and use his talents, or forego using the Force completely. Jacen replies that he’s going to suppress his Force abilities for the rest of his life. JACEN NO?!? In the climax, he realizes that he can’t save his loved ones without the Force, and once again hears the voice saying “stand firm.” He does take a stand, and wins, but it took a lot of extended dithering before he was able to get there.
Remember Randa the Hutt from [b:Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse|157984|Agents of Chaos II Jedi Eclipse (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #5)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522545l/157984._SY75_.jpg|152469]? He’s stuck in Han’s refugee settlement, he wants to get home but also wants to harry the Vong forces like Kyp Durron’s squadron. He’s struggling to do good, but he’s inherently selfish, so he ping pongs back and forth between betraying the Solos to the Yuuzhan Vong, alerting the New Republic to the presence of Vong on Duro (except he tells this to Viqi Shesh, oops), and then ultimately sacrificing himself for Leia. He’s a Hutt, but he tried to do better.
Luke and Mara initially start out on Coruscant; Luke has been holding informal meetings, since the NR government won’t sanction the creation of a Jedi Council, and intelligence leads to Mara and her nephew capturing a Yuuzhan Vong agent. This is both important and revealing: the Vong have agents already in place in the capital, and the agent kills herself rather than speak with them. Mara receives some very unexpected news (she’s pregnant!), Luke and Mara talk about it, and then they head off to Duro with Anakin in search of a missing Jedi apprentice.
After multiple books of Mara struggling with her illness and being sidelined from the narrative in favor of other characters, I'm so happy that she's doing well and that she's expecting a child. In [b:Heir to the Empire|40604754|Heir to the Empire (Star Wars The Thrawn Trilogy, #1)|Timothy Zahn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529605994l/40604754._SY75_.jpg|1133995], Leia is pregnant before the book even starts, but here we get to see Mara's initial reaction and developing feelings. I think I'm glad that we have a female author for this book, because I'm not sure a male author would have been as interested in interrogating Luke and Mara's thoughts here, and they both get several sweet scenes.
I like Anakin, but he’s much less in focus in Balance Point--perhaps explaining why Lucasfilm and Del Rey were so desperate to add the Edge of Victory duology before [b:Star by Star|35448|Star by Star (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #9)|Troy Denning|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331005005l/35448._SY75_.jpg|349891]. He’s still continuing to figure out how he wants to approach the role of a Jedi, and he both takes directions but is willing to think ahead.
Nom Anor moves around a lot, and very quickly--improbably quickly? We saw him at the end of [b:Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse|157984|Agents of Chaos II Jedi Eclipse (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #5)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522545l/157984._SY75_.jpg|152469] talking to Viqi Shesh, and now he’s been masquerading as a Duros on Duro for the last two months?? He confirms that Mara’s illness is Vong-related (which the reader knew, but the characters didn’t), and while he claims to serve the Trickster Goddess he’s mostly just out for himself.
I don’t have much to say yet about Warmaster Tsavong Lah. He’s obsessed with the Jedi, he’s a threat to our heroes, he’s a fair bit conniving himself, and he issues a game changing ultimatum at the end of the book. This is the first time we see him for an extended period of time, so he doesn’t feel completely fleshed out yet.
Side note: [b:Vector Prime|192214|Vector Prime (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #1)|R.A. Salvatore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412181316l/192214._SX50_.jpg|2799032] featured multiple female Vong in warrior roles, but the subsequent books either didn’t seem to include any female Vong at all (Dark Tide duology) or only included a few in more stereotypical professions (Priestess Elan in [b:Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial|836080|Agents of Chaos I Hero's Trial (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #4)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522548l/836080._SY75_.jpg|311083]). I was excited to see the inclusion of more female Vong in Tyers’s book, as we see everyone from a female agent to the Priestess Vaecta to female crewmembers on Lah’s flagship the Sunulok.
ISSUES:
Pace: I felt like the first 90-100 pages were well-paced, then I started to lose interest a little. The last 50 pages likewise picked the pace back up, but the middle felt slow. The “missing Jedi plot”--AKA the whole reason for Luke & co. to come to Duro--didn’t really go anyway, and seemed to primarily exist so they’d be in the same place as the rest of their family.
I found the initial premise--that Leia was on Duros at the same time as Han, Jacen, and Jaina, but they didn’t know--hard to swallow. Han has no Force ability, true, and Jacen was cutting himself off from the Force, but surely Jaina and Leia could have sensed each other? After they’re reunited, every Force sensitive character seems able to sense each other wherever they are, at least enough to keep track of people once the YV attack. *hand-wave shenanigans*
Huge conflict back when the book was released: the Luke/Mara fans were ecstatic, while the Han/Leia fans felt like they’d been shortchanged. And I can see their point… Luke and Mara have multiple scenes together, while Han and Leia’s reunion mostly happens offscreen. And Mara finally receives some good news after multiple books of struggling with her illness, while Leia is tortured and grievously wounded.
I’m also repelled by torture in books, so Leia’s scenes upset me. I can understand that Jacen wasn’t going to act unless the fate of someone he loved (like his mother) was in the balance, but Leia seemed reckless in the scenes leading up to her capture. And while there is a precedent for torture in Star Wars--Leia in ANH, Han in ESB—leaving Leia’s life and continued health in the balance (ha) was perhaps a step too far for me.
This book also made me realize that I had been operating under an absolutely faulty assumption: I knew that Friedman’s Knightfall trilogy was cancelled so that Greg Keyes could write the Edge of Victory duology and focus on Anakin Solo, and that the NJO planning team initially wanted Anakin--not Jacen--to be the overarching hero of the series. So I assumed that Anakin’s fate wasn’t solidified until the series was underway, which explained Jacen’s arc from [b:Vector Prime|192214|Vector Prime (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #1)|R.A. Salvatore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412181316l/192214._SX50_.jpg|2799032] to [b:Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse|157984|Agents of Chaos II Jedi Eclipse (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #5)|James Luceno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320522545l/157984._SY75_.jpg|152469]. But no! The team had settled on Jacen as the hero before the first book was released, which makes his philosophical journey baffling at times to me.
IN CONCLUSION:
Balance Point was the first NJO book to end on a decided loss for our heroes: Duro has fallen, the Yuuzhan Vong are even closer to the Core, and the whole galaxy is now hunting the Jedi Knights. What held it back from being a great read for me, though, was the dragging pace of the middle of the book, not enough focus on Han and Leia, and even more dithering from Jacen to wade through.
Next up: a short detour to the first eBook release in the New Jedi Order series, “Recovery” by Troy Denning.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/etvWLvRLaXY
Jedi Council Forums - Balance Point Q&A with Kathy Tyers: https://web.archive.org/web/20100618045742/https://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=1224749&replies=51
Interview with Tyers on Roqoo Depot: http://roqoodepot.com/2014/12/08/interview-kathy-tyers-talks-balance-point-the-truce-at-bakura-star-wars-legends/
samtherat17's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
caedo06's review against another edition
3.0
This book is...fine. I don't mean bad, it really is just exceptionally mediocre. It felt that every positive aspect was balanced by a negative, but none of the negatives were REALLY bad- and none of the positives stellar.
It was nice to see more of Jacen's inner turmoil and struggle with how to use the Force and what the role of a Jedi should be. But once he made the decision to abandon it, it would have been more interesting to see that play out for more than 2 scenes before he decides to use it fully again. Either by continuing it into the next book, or having that decision come earlier.
It was also nice that Luke got more page time. But he was also just there to fill in the role of husband or Jedi Master. He never really got any real character exploration. Mara too, despite getting more time than any other book in the series thus far, felt pretty boring. Honestly, I would say Tyers probably is the weakest at writing Mara (of the writers thus far at least). Yes, she is a strong female character...she's also a complex individual, she doesn't have to be so one-demensional "I AM STRONG, I DO EVERYTHING MYSELF, I WILL NOT ACCEPT PITY OR COMPASSION!"
Ultimately Balance Point serves more as a transition in the story. Moving from the "unknown alien conquerors/escape with the refugees" storylines to "the Vong are here and we know what they want/how do we really fight back" storylines.
It was nice to see more of Jacen's inner turmoil and struggle with how to use the Force and what the role of a Jedi should be. But once he made the decision to abandon it, it would have been more interesting to see that play out for more than 2 scenes before he decides to use it fully again. Either by continuing it into the next book, or having that decision come earlier.
It was also nice that Luke got more page time. But he was also just there to fill in the role of husband or Jedi Master. He never really got any real character exploration. Mara too, despite getting more time than any other book in the series thus far, felt pretty boring. Honestly, I would say Tyers probably is the weakest at writing Mara (of the writers thus far at least). Yes, she is a strong female character...she's also a complex individual, she doesn't have to be so one-demensional "I AM STRONG, I DO EVERYTHING MYSELF, I WILL NOT ACCEPT PITY OR COMPASSION!"
Ultimately Balance Point serves more as a transition in the story. Moving from the "unknown alien conquerors/escape with the refugees" storylines to "the Vong are here and we know what they want/how do we really fight back" storylines.
alphaalexis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
verkisto's review against another edition
2.0
The problem with these lengthy series is that some volumes in the series have to be strictly exposition to set up future books. I'm used to seeing that in graphic novel series, but since few book series run that long (save for, say, Discworld or James Bond, but those don't really have an overarching story like these do), I don't see them often in narrative book form. It's one thing to read a graphic novel that's mostly exposition, since they only take a couple of hours to read; novels, though, take far longer, and it's hard to shed the feeling that nothing's happening.
It's not Tyers' fault that she drew the short straw in this series, but boy howdy, was this book boring. What she sets up has the potential to be worth it, but having to get through it all was a chore. It didn't help that I struggled with some of her turns of phrase, or the setting of her scenes (there were a handful of times I got lost going from one sentence to another because of the way she seemed to shift characters at the wrong time), but the biggest frustration had to be Jacen. What Tyers is trying to do here is admirable -- showing someone struggling with the responsibility that comes with using the Force -- but she presented Jacen in the worst way. He was an insufferable teen, facing down the extinction of an entire race, and refusing to use his strengths to help ANYone. It was enough to make anyone want to shake and slap him into doing something useful.
I gave it two stars because the book wasn't bad, but it could have been so much more.
It's not Tyers' fault that she drew the short straw in this series, but boy howdy, was this book boring. What she sets up has the potential to be worth it, but having to get through it all was a chore. It didn't help that I struggled with some of her turns of phrase, or the setting of her scenes (there were a handful of times I got lost going from one sentence to another because of the way she seemed to shift characters at the wrong time), but the biggest frustration had to be Jacen. What Tyers is trying to do here is admirable -- showing someone struggling with the responsibility that comes with using the Force -- but she presented Jacen in the worst way. He was an insufferable teen, facing down the extinction of an entire race, and refusing to use his strengths to help ANYone. It was enough to make anyone want to shake and slap him into doing something useful.
I gave it two stars because the book wasn't bad, but it could have been so much more.
aliendaydreamer's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
2.25
Meh… solid 300 or so pages of mostly cabin fever. Think the only thing that stood out was Mara
huitzilo2012's review against another edition
3.0
My least favorite of the NJO series so far. But I will say I did enjoy Jacen's character arc, it was by far the most interesting.