| Title | : | Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0345428609 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780345428608 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 |
| Publication | : | First published August 1, 2000 |
Refusing help from Leia or Luke, Han becomes the loner he once was, seeking to escape the pain of his partner's death in adventure . . . and revenge. When he learns that an old friend from his smuggling days is operating as a mercenary for the enemy, he sets out to expose the traitor. But Han's investigation uncovers an even greater evil: a sinister conspiracy aimed at the very heart of the New Republic's will and ability to fight--the Jedi.
Now Han must face down his inner demons and, with the help of a new and unexpected ally, honor Chewbacca's sacrifice in the only way that matters--by being worthy of it.
Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!
Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, #4) Reviews
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The following review contains spoilers, so be forewarned. Actually, it contains one major spoiler, which---to fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe---isn't really a spoiler, since, apparently, everyone in the world knew about it except for me. In any case, I'm trying to be respectful to those fans who may have not caught the news and haven't read the books in this series yet, so, if you're one of those, you may want to skip this review as I will be revealing some big secrets of the SWEU and the New Jedi Order series.
When last we saw Han Solo, he was pretty despondent about losing his best friend and partner. He wasn't dealing well with grief, hopping cantinas and drowning his sorrows in alcohol, all the while his wife and children were off fighting in a war against an alien race bent on destruction of all life in the galaxy. So, yeah, he was being a bit of a dick. Understandably so, I guess, but still a dick.
In the last two books, Solo barely even made an appearance.
Thankfully, author James Luceno had the audacity and temerity to slap Solo in the face and tell him to snap out of his funk. Mourning-time's over, Han. Quit whining and get back in the fight. It's what Chewie would have wanted…
"Hero's Trial", the first book in Luceno's Agents of Chaos duology, is all about Han Solo, which is great, since he has been flagrantly absent from the New Jedi Order series. I'm not sure if Michael A. Stackpole purposely decided to omit Han from his "Dark Tide" duology or if he just wasn't sure how to deal with the tragedy of the death of Chewbacca and what that would do to Han, but his omission was felt tremendously. Not that the "Dark Tide" series wasn't great despite the loss. It was an excellent duology, don't get me wrong. It simply lacked a vital component of the Star Wars universe.
Luceno appropriately begins "Hero's Trial" with a funeral scene for Chewbacca. Set on Chewie's home planet, Kashyyk, the scene is handled deftly and is quite moving. It is emotionally uplifting without becoming too maudlin. All in all, Luceno handles an extremely important scene like a pro.
It also helps to set the tone for the rest of the novel. The funeral is closure on a particular chapter in Han's life. While still sad deep in his soul, Han knows that he has to man up now.
When an old smuggler buddy shows up with an opportunity to both help out in the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong AND possibly get into a hell of a lot of trouble, Han can't pass it up.
Apparently, a group of pirates and smugglers calling themselves, ironically, the Peace Brigade have been secretly selling information, supplies, as well as slaves to the Yuuzhan Vong. If there's one thing Han can't stand, it's slavers.
So, without telling his wife and kids or anyone else (of course), Han sets off on a solo adventure. (See what I did there?)
Adventure, of course, ensues, including a giant Yuuzhan Vong space creature that attaches to ships like a lamprey and sucks out the passengers; a luxury space cruiser being used to transport refugees that gets taken over Die Hard-style by space pirates; and a beautiful Yuuzhan Vong "defector" who may not be exactly what she pretends to be.
This book seems to be a temporary return to the pulpy B-movie fun of the original "Star Wars", but Luceno never quite lets the reader forget how serious the situation is for Han and the galaxy.
It's just really nice to see Han back in the saddle again. -
For this they killed Chewbacca?!
This was awful. Pointless. The whole Yuuzhan Vong thing is interminably boring.
Cover art is supposed to make you want to buy the book. The art on the covers of this series is so bad, it makes you want to look for a plain, brown wrapper. Is the guy on the left supposed to be Han Solo? -
[SPOILERS for The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime ahead.]
I’m really impressed with this entry. I’ve enjoyed The New Jedi Order a lot so far, but this is my favorite book in the series at the moment.
This one focuses a lot on Han Solo, which is the reason why this book is my favorite so far. He’s written really well and I very much enjoyed the adventure he goes on here. I especially appreciated how Luceno delved into his grieving over the death of Chewbacca in Vector Prime. That’s one thing I’ve wanted to see more of ever since the end of that book so I’m glad to have finally gotten it. That side of the story was written excellently, and as someone who recently lost a family member I really felt for him.
The rest of the book was well done, also, although not as interesting as the Han stuff. I enjoyed the parts from the Yuuzhan Vong POV, infrequent as they were, as well as Leia and Anakin Solo. I wasn’t as much into the Elan and Vergere stuff, however, so that’s mainly what brings my rating down a bit.
Overall I really loved reading this one. I’m excited to move on to the next book in the Agents of Chaos duology.
Rating: 8.5/10 -
Special thank you to my goodreads pal
Crystal Starr Light for sending me this entire book series!
*UPDATE: After reading
Jedi Eclipse and taking into account feedback I received from other EU fans on Facebook groups, I am going to slightly bump up my final rating for this review. I will also change some of the harshest wording in this review because my opinions have changed a little bit.
Remember how I mentioned in my review of
Dark Tide II: Ruin that it took longer to read simply because I started working again? Well with Agents of Chaos I, it took twice as long as Dark Tide II because I just did not want to read it. I had so much trouble building up the motivation to finish this book that I decided to buck up and read it during the week after a 10 hour day of working outside. Even when I sat down to read it, I could not get through more than one chapter at a time. Now that that little rant is over, lets go into more details.
I have to confess that I'm not the biggest fan of James Luceno's star wars work. I think he is a good writer and I can respect why other people love his books, but for me his style just isn't my cup of tea. He's great at getting inside a character's head and exploring every facet of that character, but his writing is a little dense for my tastes, and his action sequences are dull as sin. I can understand why the stories he writes are seen as refreshing and unique by not focusing on the usual star wars elements, but for me it tends to be to much of a slow burn. I can also see why others feel so rewarded by all the Expanded Universe references Luceno makes, but for me it often comes off as pointless and detracts too much from the story. The one time that I think Luceno's distinct Star Wars style landed pretty perfectly was his most popular Star Wars novel
Darth Plagueis (with
Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel coming close), but even Plagueis left me bored for many stretches of it.
THE STORY: This is finally the point in the series where we get to dive into how Han Solo gets over his grief after the galaxy-shattering events of
Vector Prime. Han went through a drastic character shift in the first NJO book, and Michael A. Stackpole pretty much pushed Han aside in the
Dark Tide duology. This book is the reason for that. It opens with a big funeral scene that leaves Han even more depressed than he already has been. Then he goes on a quest with an old smuggler friend that involves going after a group called the Peace Brigade that is actually in league with the Yuuzhan Vong.
We also are introduced to a new villain in the Vong faction named Harrar, a high ranking priest. Nom Anor also comes back and continuously proves to be a pointless villain.
We also have bit parts for Luke/Mara and Leia because we always need the rest of the Big 4 just for the sake of it.
THE BAD: I only need one single word to describe why I didn't like this book: BORING.
Holy crap this was a slog. I had some level of interest in this book because it was about Han and his mental state following the death of someone close to him, and James Luceno was the perfect choice for such a story. Another interesting behind the scenes bit is that this is Luceno's very first Star Wars novel ever. Sure he would go on to write such beloved entries in this universe like
Labyrinth of Evil,
The Rise of Darth Vader, and the aforementioned Darth Plagueis, but the New Jedi Order was where it all began for him. And like i said above, given the types of books he is known for, an introspective character study about Han Solo after a traumatic turn of events for him is a perfect story for Luceno to tell within the New Jedi Order Narrative.
Unfortunately, and also surprisingly, the book just doesn't spend that much time exploring Han's inner thoughts, and rarely allows for Luceno to play into his biggest strengths. Instead, most of this book is spent with Han simply going through the different beats of this very boring plot with pretty boring characters.
Which brings me to another big problem, all encompassed in the character of Roa. I know what Luceno was trying to do here: Brian Daley, the writer of
The Han Solo Adventures, was one of his best friends, and he wanted Agents of Chaos to be a tribute to Brian Daley and those novels. But that really doesn't work here. Luceno writes Roa in a way that expects you to have read the Han Solo Adventures, not really catching you up on the character at all. I would be more forgiving if he had a memorable personality like Corran Horn or Elegos Ak'la in the Dark Tide novels, but he doesn't. So I couldn't help but get annoyed that this book ran on the assumption that I read a series of Star Wars novels from the 80s that otherwise didn't really connect to what has been going on in the NJO. At least Gavin Darklighter was the commander of Rogue Squadron, an important group of New Republic Pilots. At least Corran Horn was a high ranking Jedi. Roa just feels shoehorned in for the sake of it.
None of the other characters left any sort of mark. We get to learn some interesting stuff about the Yuuzhan Vong through Harrar, but otherwise he has no personality in this novel. Nom Anor is even more boring and useless here than he was in Vector Prime, and Luceno decided to take away anything that he could have to do and gave it to Elan and Vergere, two other boring characters associated with the Vong. Reck Desh and Droma were also really boring.
The worldbuilding is also kind of messy, as well as how this plot connects to the bigger story. I'm honestly ok with the idea that Han Solo spent 6 months completely toasted and drunk due to his depression. That's actually the most compelling idea in this settup, as alcoholism is an oppressive addiction that can completely destroy someone (check out YouTuber Sean Chandler's video on his personal experience with Alcoholism, it was highly informative and eye opening). But why the kriff did the funeral for the character that was killed off 6 MONTHS AGO in the in-universe timeline of these books take this long to happen??
More importantly, I understand why they wanted to set everything in this book AFTER the dark tide books- one of the stated goals of the NJO was to have the timeline of the story coincide with the release order of the novels. But wow does it mess with the pacing here. It's rather jarring after the huge defeat at the end of Dark Tide II: Ruin to have this meandering plotline that doesn't even focus on the Yuuzhan Vong War at all.
THE GOOD: Based on my shear boredom, I would have rated this book lower had it not been for a couple of great moments. *UPDATE*: Also, because I legitimately understand why Luceno's Star Wars work connects with other readers, I also want to try to acknowledge why people seemed to like this book more than me.
When the book actually focuses on Han Solo trying to process his emotions and what he has been going through, it works great. He gets two scenes with Anakin Solo and I loved both of them, the first one in particular. It did a great job showing that the loving family man that Han Solo has grown into is still deep down in there, but most importantly for me it shows how much Anakin has grown from the start of this series. He demonstrates in his interaction with Han that he has taken the lessons to heart that he has learned both from Mara Jade in Dark Tide 1 and from Deshara'cor in Dark Tide II. I can't elaborate enough on how much I love Anakin in these books and so far I've been impressed by how consistently great his character is.
The other scenes where Han Solo thinks back on his past and tries to work through his emotions work pretty well too.
There's a scene towards the end that I didn't mention when I first wrote this review concerning Leia and her little arc in this book- while overall I don't think Leia was interesting in this book, she did have good moment that connected with Han's story towards the end where she comes to a nice little revelation that helps to tie the other subplots together, if only a little.
We also get a pretty interesting POV moment from C-3PO and a nice Luke/Mara scene.
I also really liked the funeral scene despite the strange timeline of it. It does do a good job setting up Han Solo's story in this book even if it plays out in a bland manner.
Finally, I did like the opening with Harrar and the Vong. We get to learn about the fascinating Yuuzhan Vong religion, as well as learning about why they are invading the galaxy beyond just wanting to take it over.
THE CONCLUSION: *UPDATE*: Final rating is 2.5 stars. I think my initial rating of a straight 2 was to low upon reflection, but I'm still rounding down on the goodreads scale because I personally didn't connect with this book and I stand by all of the problems that I mentioned in my review above.
This is the first NJO novel that I did not enjoy reading. Even though I've always found luceno's Star Wars books to be a bit slow for my tastes, I always found something interesting to latch onto. This one didn't give me anything substantial in that regard, despite the glimmers of greatness that occasionally rose out of the dry, dense writing that weighed down basically the entire book.
The funeral scene really should have been done in a flashback taking place before the Dark Tide books, but even the other aspects of the plot probably could have worked better had this story taken place concurrently with Dark Tide 1 and/or Dark Tide 2 instead of after. Instead of a refreshing change of pace that offered a smaller scale, introspective character study, I got a dull story that didn't feel as important to me as it should have. I can definitely spot the elements of this book that other people latched onto, but all I got was a disappointing dud full of squandered potential. -
Welcome back, Han Solo! We missed you!
The Yuuzhan Vong have a new plan to kill the Jedi: send Elan, a priestess of the Deception sect, into their midst as a defector and poison them. Meanwhile, Han Solo finally comes around and starts to come to terms with his grief.
NOTE: Based on audiobook and novel.
I find myself at odds trying to rate this book. On one hand, when I first read this, I was bored stiff. The language was too heavy, the plot too invisible, the characters too mediocre. On the other hand, the abridgement outdid the actual book (rare praise indeed!) and trimmed away the fat of Luceno's writing and left a pretty darn decent book.
Let me stop you now and say this: this review does spoil who died in Vector Prime (which you probably already know by now). So if you haven't heard who died and don't want to know, skip to the last paragraph.
The book opens with Harrar, a priest Yuuzhan Vong, debating life, religion, and the Jedi with a Gotal priest. It was really well done scene and definitely made me interested in the rest of the novel. The Gotal struck a nice balance of being independent, yet hopeful of the Jedi.
The introduction of the new character, Harrar, also opens the galaxy to religion, something that really hadn't been very prominent before (unless it was them crazy whackos kidnapping Leia's kids or somesuch galactic mischief). The Yuuzhan Vong have a very violent religion, and this is our first peek at it.
Then we move to Kashyyyk and Chewie's wake. I loved the ceremony but...why did it take 6 months to get around to his wake? Most religions have the wake sometime within the WEEK of a death. Is this a Wookiee thing? Were they unsure of his death? Luceno, tell us! Not to mention, Mara's absence because of her illness was stupid. Mara is family; she should have been there to commemorate Chewbacca's death.
It's about this time that I pick up on the Luceno-isms. Strange words like "arboreal" and "polyglot". Info-dumping (though I did like the continuity nods in some respects). And none of the characters, from Han and Leia to Luke and Mara feel authentic.
Let me be frank: this book is about Han coming to terms with Chewie's death. I am not going to diss too much on how long it takes for him to grieve (though 6 months of doing NOTHING does seem a bit excessive), but I will say this book should not have come after the Dark Tide duology. It should have been concurrent. While Leia is doing her shame dance to get Jaina into Rogue Squadron (btw, if you are a Jaina or Jacen fan, skip this book, they are barely in it), Han should have been out there with Roa, trying to find Reck, not at home at Coruscant drinking himself to oblivion. FOR SIX MONTHS. Apparently.
Han and Chewie were close, but I can't imagine him drinking for 6 months, suddenly becoming sober and THEN deciding to leave to avenge his partner. Talk about delayed reaction!
While I liked how Han and Leia endured difficulties in their marriage, both characters felt like they had to be warped in order for the separation to occur. I kept wondering why Leia was so sedate and meek; why doesn't she snap out at Han for his behavior? Yes, he is grieving and she knows this, but have people act like people! Lovers say mean things to each other, sometimes at their lowest points. Don't ruin Leia's character just to split our couple apart.
The other "couple" in this book is Luke and Mara, who are really only present to provide "tension" to the whole infiltrator plot. Oh, nos, Elan has poison and wants to meet the weakened Mara! Whatever will we do?! Their character is nothing like what has been established and Mara appears even more of a wimp than Leia.
But, let me stop stalling. Let me just get to the character everyone wants me to talk about. Droma. Ah, a more thinly veiled excuse for a sidekick replacement I have never seen! Firstly, Droma's species is the least convincing and most disturbingly similar depiction of a real world ethnicity (the Roma, more often known by the more derrogatory "gypsies") I have ever seen. Colorful, odd dress? Check. Fortune telling? Check. Nomadic? Check. Dancing and singing? Check. We can now add it to the following list:
Neimoidians -> Asian
Toydarians -> Jews
Gungans-> Blacks
Ryn-> Roma
Many apologies to all of the above ethnicities. I am embarrassed for each and every one of you. If it makes you feel better, remember: whiny, bratty, immature Anakin is Caucasian.
As if that weren't bad enough, I don't like how hard Luceno tries to make Droma Chewbacca's replacement. Han is taking Chewbacca's death so hard, he is separated from his wife and kids. Why do we need a poor excuse for a sidekick? Why can't we honor Chewbacca's memory without the chirpy insanity of a poorly drawn character?
Harrar isn't a bad new character, Vergere is great to see (love her bit of deception!), but does Elan have to be YET ANOTHER sexy female? Why is Yuuzhan Vong beauty so similar to human acceptable beauty? Shouldn't she be hideously scarred? But, oh, no, can't have anything like that! Women are objects meant to be manhandled and oogled at. I still have yet to learn my lesson.
As the fourth entry in the NJO, Hero's Trial is a great example of "too little, too late". We should have seen Han grieving much earlier. We should have had fights between Leia and Han earlier. We should have seen the priests a little earlier so it didn't feel like, once again, new author = new enemy. But still, it's got a decent story, and it's not often I can say that an abridged audiobook improved my perception of the book. I should probably rate this higher, as it is one of Luceno's best books in Star Wars EU, but I will knock down for all the above stated reasons. -
The new Jedi order completely outpaces anything in the Starwars genre. This series was Dark, exciting, fast paced, and inspired. The writing was fantastic and the level of philosophy and force history was unparalleled. If your a fan at any level of the Starwars Universe than this series is a must read. It is on my top 5 of all time for a series and I treasured every moment I spent in that time. But beware, this isn't your typical Starwars book, be ready for a level of intensity that you've never seen. May the force be with you.!
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In spite of the darkness inherent in the invasion storyline, this book is actually thrilling, fast-paced...and a lot of fun. This is Han Solo unplugged: older, more cynical, but still grouchy and witty in the way we all adore. If you're going to write a story where Han has to work out his grief and his feelings about the death of Chewie, then this is indeed the novel that should result from that effort. James Luceno even manages to throw in a joke that is a tribute to "Indiana Jones"...and if you're enough of a Harrison Ford fan, you'll catch it.
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The enjoyable Yuuzhan Vong war story continues and this time the tale veers away from the Jedi and instead revolves around Han Solo. He had been missing from the last couple of books other than cameos, because he was mourning the loss of Chewie.
He discovered, from an old friend, that a former colleague was helping out the Vong and he may have inadvertently helped the Vong destroy the planet in the event that killed Chewie. While hunting this colleague, Han discovered a plot to eliminate the Jedi. He also discovered a possible cure for Mara Jade's illness.
It was good to read a Solo story. A nice way to shake things up. I will say, however, that Luceno did not do a good job conveying the starship battles in space. I found them confusing and they often lost me, to the point that even re-reading sentences didn't help. -
Way too focused on Han's recovery, and the effect the invasion would have on ordinary folks. You can only capitalize on the emotional trama of chewy dying so much, and nearly a whole book being devoted to it was overkill. There was an overarching sense this was coming from how little a part Han played in books 2&3, and that sense of foreboding came to fruition in this one. It was hard to get invested in the plot and we were teased with only two chapters having anything to do Jacen, and the other solo children were also relegated to bit part roles. I recognize that having the story rely too much on force users can make it seem cheap, thus the need for grounding characters who don't benefit from special abilities, but this one and from my progress in the next book, spend too much time telling the story of the war from the perspective of people who will only play a bit part role in repelling the Vong. Sorely dissapointed with this and laboured to get through it in the hopes I'll be rewarded down the road.
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Welcome back Han Solo, who has been out of action the last two books, due to what happened in the 1st book of the New Jedi Order series.
This novel centers around Han Solo and Luceno captures his mannerisms and personality perfectly.
This story continues the Yuuzhan Vong challenge against the New Republic, as they try to infiltrate the Jedi, by sending a female Yuuzhan Vong as a defector. The Jedi are not as much involved with this story, as Han, along with some new faces and alien species. Namely, a Ryn, named Droma, who assists Hans for at least half the book.
Will Han and Droma, along with the New Republic be able to withstand the Vong as they edge closer to the Core. Another alien species, is also introduced, called a Fosh, resembling a bird-like species, which accompanies the female Vong. This Fosh, named Vegere actually may have something special, that could help someone close to Luke.
Overall, a fast paced story, with more dialog. Main issue, is all the different Yuuzhan Vong names, and titles, and trying to keep them straight. -
Lovable he may be, but Han is still a real asshole. He takes his frustrations out on every one else, and Leia lets him walk all over her. It's embarrassing to see him act that way, and it's frustrating to see that Leia won't call him on his bullshit.
I liked Hero's Trial a skosch better than the usual EU fare. For one, I was able to feel ACTUAL EMOTION over something in the book, instead of just seeing an author tell me some emotion was happening in the book; for another, Luceno knows a lot about the EU. In one way, it's kind of annoying, because he feels the need to reference everything he knows throughout the book, but it does add some authenticity to the story, and he manages to pack a lot of history into just a few sentences. It helps to feel like it's more rooted in the previous books than some of the other books I've read throughout this long reading project. -
Probably have to give this one a 3.6 as it is not of the same par as some of the other Star Wars books I have read and rated at 4 stars. That being said, it is by no means a bad Star Wars book. Without giving any spoilers, the majority of the book focuses on Han Solo and his struggles after the events of Vector Prime as Han tracks down an associate from his past who he defected to the Yuuzhan Vong.
What I felt was lacking most in this book was the introspection of various Jedi and the ongoing examination of what it means to be a Jedi that was present in Vector Prime and Dark Tide. Also missing was the exploration of the Yuuzhan Vong. Although there are many parts from the perspective of Yuuzhan Vong leaders, they mostly just discuss their plans without really diving into their philosophy, society, and religion as previous books did. I also have to say that while I liked following Han a little, other characters like Jacen and Jaina felt notably absent from the book although some of this might be explained in the next Agents of Chaos book. Overall, not a bad Star Wars book, but far from Luceno’s best work. -
Worst one of the series so far but that doesn’t mean it was bad. I still enjoyed it.
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Now we're talking. Suspense, intrigue, fast-paced, and STAR WARS from beginning to end.
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3.5 out of 5
I thought the story was interesting but a lot of chapters near the end were way too short. -
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 first book in the Agents of Chaos duology, Agents of Chaos: Hero’s Trial by James Luceno.
SOME HISTORY:
Brian Daley was the author of the Han Solo Adventures, the original Han Solo trilogy from 1979 and 1980 that detailed Han and Chewbacca’s escapades in the Corporate Sector. He also adapted the original trilogy into three excellent radio dramas, but died in 1996 of pancreatic cancer shortly after Return of the Jedi finished recording. James Luceno wrote the Agents of Chaos duology as a tribute to his late friend, and you can find many references to Daley’s books within Hero’s Trial and Jedi Eclipse. Agents of Chaos: Hero's Trial made it to number twelve on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of August 20, 2000.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I have to admit, I remembered the ugly cover but none of the book’s actual content. Um, Mara got magic healing tears, I guess?
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME COUNT:
We’ve got Leia wearing a “flowing skirt and sleeveless blouse” at Chewie’s funeral, but the most detailed costume description has to be Droma: “this one was sporting a soft, brimless cap of bright red and blue squares, worn at a rakish angle. [...] Han took in the rest of the alien’s brightly colored outfit of vest, culottes, and ankle boots.” (Chapter 15) It’s a look.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
In these dark times, the noble Chewbacca is laid to rest, and a grief-stricken Han Solo is left to fit the pieces of his shattered life back together. Refusing help from his family, Han becomes a loner again, seeking to escape the pain of his partner's death in revenge. When he learns that an old smuggling acquaintance is operating as an enemy mercenary, he sets out to expose the traitor. But Han's investigation will uncover an even greater evil, aimed directly at the Jedi...
THE CHARACTERS:
After spending very little time with Han Solo in the Dark Tide duology, Hero’s Trial turns the spotlight on his progression through the stages of grief. If the Dark Tide books showed a Han who was drowning his sorrows in alcohol and lashing out at others, Hero’s Trial shows Han completely disengaging from his family--both his biological family as well as his adopted Wookiee one. He absolutely won’t condone Waroo and Lowbacca assuming Chewbacca’s Life Debt; his relationship with Leia is decidedly strained, and he doesn’t believe that she can empathize with his loss (Han...she lost her whole planet…); and he still continues to blame and push away his youngest son.
After running into Roa, an old smuggling buddy, Han heads off to get revenge on the Yuuzhan Vong by uncovering the Peace Brigade, mercenaries turned Vong sympathizers. He leaves everything behind: his family, his friends, even the Millennium Falcon. He’s bitter, he’s snappish, and he’s frankly rude to a lot of people he meets. He’s going through a lot, though, which makes me sympathetic to his plight even when he’s being nasty.
Han heads off with Roa, who we last saw happily settled down in the Corporate Sector with his beautiful blonde wife. She died because of the Peace Brigade and the Yuuzhan Vong, though, so Roa is also out for revenge. He disappears halfway through the story, in a scene that mirrors Anakin’s pivotal decision during the destruction of Sernpidal, and Han swears that he’ll rescue him.
In the meantime, Han gains a new traveling companion in the form of Droma the Ryn. The Ryn are new species to us the Star Wars reader, and they’re blatant GFFA analogues to
the Romani: their homeworld is long forgotten, they’re despised and mistrusted by the galaxy at large, they have a vibrant artistic/musical community, and they also play up their fortune-telling/clairvoyance skills as well. I say blatant analogues, because Luceno admitted that he came up with the Ryn after watching a documentary about the history of the Romani people.
Droma ranks towards the bottom of Han’s traveling companions for me (Chewbacca is clearly #1, and Muuurgh the Togorian from
The Paradise Snare takes second place) because he mostly serves as Han’s punching bag in this book. Han is frequently verbally abusive to him, and Droma just takes it. By the end Han is more accepting of his new copilot, which will hopefully lead to a more equitable relationship between the two.
Leia continues to devote herself to the diplomatic side of things, and in advocating for other worlds to take in the Outer Rim refugees, she ends up in the same place as Han at the same time. C-3PO is having an existential crisis and questions his mortality. Anakin tries to make peace with his father, gifts him something from Chewbacca that ends up saving Han’s life, and has a nice short conversation with Han in the end. Luke & Mara’s plotline is wrapped up in Mara’s illness, which I’m getting a little tired of; fortunately some climactic developments temporarily fix that.
But the whole book can’t focus on Han and his family, so we also have a substantial subplot involving a Yuuzhan Vong defector, the Yuuzhan Vong forces, and New Republic Intelligence. The Vong decide to dispatch a “defector” to the NR, to ultimately murder the Jedi with a biological toxin (essentially, killer breath). The chosen defector: Elan, a priestess of the deception sect, and her familiar Vergere. We get no sense here that Vergere is a Jedi of the Old Republic; she goes along with everything Elan says, but she visibly responds to the mention of “Jedi Master Skywalker,” Droma shares that he’s seen her species before, and she provides the temporary cure of Mara’s illness. Her exact allegiance and status, though, remains unknown. Elan is less interesting, mainly because she strikes me as a stereotypical pulp fiction villainess: beautiful, falsely good, but ultimately murderous. There’s not a lot of depth there.
There’s a whole slew of New Republic Intelligence officials, both ones I remembered (Belindi Kalenda from the Corellian trilogy) and others I didn’t (Major Showolter). They’re not sure they can trust the Vong defector, but they also would have let her murder Jedi, so they don’t come off particularly well here.
The Yuuzhan Vong (the priest Harrar, Nom Anor, and the various Vong military figures) have a plan, enact that plan, and then everything goes awry. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I found the Peace Brigade more intriguing: residents of the GFFA who have decided to ally themselves with the Vong, and in the process are selling their own people into slavery, helping planets fall, and showing distrust about the Jedi.
ISSUES:
This is probably a contentious opinion, but I’m not super fond of James Luceno’s Star Wars books. I know Star Wars fans who love Luceno’s writing, love that he’s a walking encyclopedia of Star Wars knowledge, but! To me, his worldbuilding and continuity nods tend to overwhelm the story. In Hero’s Trial, we get sooo many throwaway references to Brian Daley’s trilogy, which is a nice gesture towards his friend but ends up bogging down the story. Instead of making me say “oh yes,
Big Bunji, I remember him,” I was just reminded of the fact that I’m not as familiar with
The Han Solo Adventures as Luceno seems to be.
He also seems to have a penchant for big thesaurus words. In my reviews of the Dark Tide duology, I ragged on Stackpole’s dialogue, but here my issue was more with the actual narrative. Since I was mainly reading Hero’s Trial as an ebook, this meant that I kept clicking on Luceno’s more esoteric choices to get a definition; when reading the paper copy, I mostly skipped over them (because they were primarily adjectives). In
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King suggests that “the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful," and I think that’s great advice.
I had some questions about the timeline as well. I can understand why the initial books of the NJO occur chronologically, but that means that six months elapse between Chewbacca’s death and his memorial service. With Han sidelined in the Dark Tide duology, I wonder if it might have worked better for the Agents of Chaos duology to happen concurrently with the former. Instead of Han hiding out on Coruscant, he could have been off on his revenge quest while the other characters fought the Vong on Dantooine and Ithor. It would have taken some rejiggering of the various battles, though, and at this point is useless speculation.
I felt Luceno did a good job depicting Han’s internal thoughts: his grief, his desire for revenge, his distance from his family, and his reluctance to open up to anyone. I found Han’s discomfort at Chewie’s funeral very poignant, and I liked his conversation with Anakin at the end, where he apologized to his son for the way he’d been treated. But I also felt like Han often took a backseat to New Republic Intelligence drama and Yuuzhan Vong plotting, and what plot we did get for him was pretty basic.
IN CONCLUSION:
Hero’s Trial featured some great insights into Han’s grief and emotional state, but it also came loaded with (at times) unnecessary references to other Star Wars works--which I found tedious in the end. Han’s made a little bit of progress on his emotional journey, but I’m not sure how often I’ll be revisiting this book.
Next up: the second book in the Agents of Chaos duology by James Luceno,
Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse.
My YouTube review:
https://youtu.be/Cy9dJ_0g9eQ
2001 interview with James Luceno:
https://web.archive.org/web/200502050... -
After 2 books of off-screen grief, moping, and light alchoholism, Han Solo finally is put front and center. Overall Luceno captures his characterization well, but there are just a few more blatant references to the original trilogy than was strictly necessary. Yes, we all know who this character is, no need to bludgeon is over the head with it.
That said, it's nice to see a character actually confront grief in star wars. From his turbulent relationship with Leia to (finally) mending things with Anakin, there felt like there was actually character growth achieved.
The introduction of Hrarrar, Elan, and more Vong players continues to flesh out their culture and we begin to get a look at the different factions and politics involved. And while I know she's going to be important later on, Vergere was basically just a Pokemon this book. Even more so by playing Pikachu to Mara's Ash at the end.
Yet Han is still soul searching, so hopefully that will be mostly wrapped up in the follow-up book, because I don't want another 5 books of him trying to figure his life out. -
Hero's Trial is a perfect example of what James Luceno is capable of as a writer. With incredibly rich character depth and compelling action sequences, Hero's Trial explores Han Solo better than any other book out there.
As we saw in the two books prior to this, Han has been racked by the death of his longtime friend and copilot, Chewbacca. Full of angst about the future ahead without Chewy, Han lashes out against his family and friends, and especially his son, Anakin, whom he partially blames for Chewie's death. Here, in Hero's Trial, Luceno is tasked with bringing Han out of the shadows of depression.
The Vong are still out there, taking and reforming everything in their path. One of the people the Vong have steamrolled over is the wife of Han's old buddy, Roa. But the Vong are not solely responsible for Lywll's death, a mutual friend of both Han and Roa has turned his back on the New Republic for both profit and extended life, and now it is up to Han and Roa to stop him before the trail of bodies is extended.
What I like most about Luceno's writing in this book is that he was able to give Han someone to latch onto without making the "new guy" a replacement for Chewie. It would have been easy for Luceno to mold Roa into a Chewie-like figure to soften up Han on his path to recovery and acceptance. However, Luceno never makes Roa a carbon copy of the big guy, rather a fellow pirate that Han can relate to and help bring some light to his darkened mood.
But the Han storyline is only one of many great story arcs in this book. The Vong continue their march across the galaxy and towards the core worlds, but Luceno delves deeper into the Vong intelligence and molds a story of deception by defection. Two enemy Vong break free and defect to the New Republic, but is it true, are they really defectors?
Luceno also opens the door for Mara Jade as well, as a little known species of avian-like race may hold the cure for her disease. The New Republic fleet is handed some much needed victories. Anakin makes progress on his road to forgiveness from his father. And C3PO explores what it means to be alive and dead.
Hero's Trial is a study in how to balance a book. Plenty of character depth offset by compelling and meaningful action sequences. Historical facts embedded into the story instead of just blurted out in the author's narrative. A linear layout that pulls the reader along without losing them.
All-in-all this is my favorite Luceno book and one of the better Star Wars books I've read.
Read it. Today. -
Ah, Han, whatever became of those days? Whatever became of chasing fortune and glory?
Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial is the biggest surprise in this New Jedi Order series so far. Though written by one of the most lauded EU authors in James Luceno, his Agents of Chaos duology appears to be one of the least popular NJO stories. So color me surprised that, despite some small blemishes, Hero's Trial is a series highlight so far.
After the shocking trauma he experienced in Vector Prime and his mostly off-screen fall into alcoholism in Dark Tide, Han Solo finally returns to the spotlight. Indeed, Hero's Trial is formly a Han Solo story in the vain of both Brian Daley and A.C. Crispin's trilogies: pulpy adventures on the fringe, high stakes sabacc games in seedy places, a colorful new ally to Han - and comparatively little to no focus on the jedi. Now, I can see why the relative lack of "new jedi order" in this New Jedi Order novel and the change in focus from Dark Tide could rub some people the wrong way. However, by this point I'm of the opinion that the rotating authors concept works to the NJO' advantage. It's a wholly linear series to be sure, but the change in authors allows for more diversity in terms of story, setting, and tone, which I appreciate. What helps is that Hero's Trial is possibly the best depiction of Han Solo in the EU. Though he was very fun to read in works such as the aforementioned two Han Solo trilogies, I've come to the conclusion that Han is the weak link of the post-ROTJ main cast. Sure, he always feels like himself, but unlike Luke and Leia there is just not much to him, development-wise. Barring his excellent stint as 'General Solo' in X-Wing: Solo Command, he just does the usual, tired smuggler shtick in most other EU works up until the NJO. This is why Luceno's depiction of him is so refreshing: He's still as nihilistic and crude as in Dark Tide, but by facing his smuggling past, having existential conversations with Threepio of all people, and doing some introspection all by himself, he is able to organically develop as a character. This excellent characterization alone is why Hero's Trial is worth a read.
James Luceno is known as the 'continuity god' of the old EU, and the connections he makes in this first Star Wars novel of his already warrant such a title. You can't go five pages without at least one reference to older SW material, with the military and intelligence characters featured here especially having originated in past works such as the Black Fleet Crisis or Corellian trilogies. The biggest focus in terms of referencing the past lies in Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures trilogy, however. A good friend of the late Daley and involved in the trilogy's writing process 20 years prior, Luceno apparently wanted to honor his work and thus crafted a story similar in tone and rich in references - ranging from the obvious (Roa) to deep cuts which I had to look up (Big Bunji). What I have to ask myself is how someone without knowledge of said stories would get by them. Sure, everything and -one that needs an explanation is given context, and everything else could just be seen as any other background story element, but would a less EU-savvy reader perhaps find the constant callbacks distracting? Would they be able to identify the inclusion of Roa - an old smuggler, all-around cool guy and acquaintance of Han's from Daley's trilogy - as a callback but distinguish him from the likes of Droma, a Luceno-penned character who too is an all-around cool guy, becomes Han's acquaintance, and has a suspiciously similar name to the former? Whatever the case, I can see why some might take offense to these constant references being thrown around. But personally, I didn't mind it at all, and actually found it interesting to meet some old faces like Belindi Kalenda and Etahn A'baht again.
Side note: Droma's species, the Ryn, are an incredibly obvious analogue to the real-life Romani people, who Luceno seemingly wanted to implement in this story after researching their suffering over the centuries. I wonder if there are other such cases of Star Wars species being modelled after real life cultures. Obviously there are the infamous allegations against some of the new aliens in The Phantom Menace supposedly being racist caricatures, but I'm not sure if those parallels were ever substantiated by evidence or further research. I suppose that'll have to wait for my eventual Prequel Era readthrough...
The last thing I want to focus on is, as always, the Yuuzhan-Vong. Whereas we have previously only seen politicians (Praetorite Vong) and warriors (Domain Shai), Hero's Trial introduces the priest caste as the next bigger Vong threat. There are many YV characters new and old who are named in this novel - Nom Anor finally making his return after a prolonged absence in Stackpole's duology, for one - but most of the attention is given to the priestess Elan, whose disguised form is also featured on the rather uncanny looking cover. Her mission is to defect to the NR with the pretense of offering information about Mara's disease to the jedi, only to murder them by using a bioweapon which horrifically butchers its victims. This subplot is quite interesting to see unravel and Elan, though not as interesting as Shedao Shai or Yomin Carr, makes for a decent antagonist. What is more interesting than Elan herself, though, is her relationship with Vergere. Yes, after being introduced in a hardcover only a couple months prior (August 2000 vs. May 2000), she makes her debut in this series to confuse the reader. I'm honestly not sure if I would be more or less confused about her character if I hadn't read Rogue Planet previously. This was all intended by Luceno, of course, so congratulations on a job well done. The mystery of Vergere only continues to grow after her suspicious first appearance: she is part of the Vong, being accepted as Elan's "pet", of sorts, in YV culture. On top of that, her tears apparently have healing powers like she's a mythological phoenix. Vergere is one of the most elusive characters in Star Wars by this point and I am excited to see how she will further develop and where her true loyalties lie.
All in all, Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial is an excellent entry in the New Jedi Order which does not get the respect it deserves. I am honestly not sure why exactly it's this derided among some folks - I think Onslaught remains my favorite NJO so far but Hero's Trial is not far off. I'm aware that the second half of Agents of Chaos, Jedi Eclipse, is even less well regarded, but if it's anything like Luceno's debut entry, I'm certain it will deliver. The New Jedi Order is on a roll. -
Releitura após mais de 10 anos.
E temos o retorno triunfal de Han Solo \o/
Apesar de achar estranho um funeral demorar dois livros para acontecer, a espera valeu muito a pena. A escolha do ponto de vista do C3P0 na cena foi genial, dando uma perspectiva diferente sobre luto e memórias.
Acompanhar o Han enquanto ele enfrenta o luto é interessante, ainda que frustrante. Han Solo é um personagem complicado, com seus defeitos e a relação dele com o Anakin ficou muito abalada depois dos acontecimentos de Serpindal. Ainda assim, adoro como a família inteira respeita o processo dele.
Impossível não rir das presepadas do universo já que o cara resolve partir numa missão troncha, sem dizer a ninguém e acaba envolvido nuns rolês super importantes kkkkkk
Como sempre, a história fica muito mais rica quando temos pontos de vista dos Vong. Toda a questão de desertores é sensacional.
Uma coisa que tô percebendo durante as releituras é como eu fiquei com a impressão que muita coisa só acontecia mais tarde. O aparecimento da Vergere já nesse livro foi uma surpresa pra mim, pois só lembrava dela em momentos mais na frente da história. Ela é uma personagem fascinante e tô ansiosa pra reviver os momentos épicos dela como: "Everything I tell you is a lie. Every question I ask is a trick. You will find no truth in me." Ela é uma grande fdp? Sim. Mas continua fascinante.
Achei o ritmo da história um pouco lento e alguns momentos foram bem entediantes mas no geral, o livro se sustenta e foi uma boa leitura. -
Man, there really is something weird about The New Jedi Order. None of them have been bad, but there's certainly a sense of a pendulum, back and forth. Vector Prime was a fantastic start to the series, but it's follow-up, Dark Tide I, felt more of a retread. Dark Tide's follow-up, Dark Tide II, was more on Vector Prime's level, showcasing the true scale of the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion, and doing a truly fantastic job of setting them up as potential arch-foes to not only the Jee-di, but the galaxy as a whole.
Unfortunenetly, Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial is once again an example of the pendulum swinging back, a novel where the Yuuzhan Vong invasion is continuing, but little overall is actually progressing the plot forward. There's good stuff here; Han's search for purpose in the wake of Chewbacca's death, and the Yuuzhan Vong's ploy to insert a spy into the Republic's ranks were fascinating to behold. But there's a lot of 'this character goes here, doesn't find what they're looking for, so they go here' -isms in Hero's Trial. It's a book that frequently feels like it's spinning it's wheels, never unenjoyable, but never really feeling like 'the next entry' in the story.
The New Jedi Order is a good series, but it's a little discouraging having every other volume doing a lot for the series, and the others just kind of half-progressing, half-padding the way. Hero's Trial isn't a bad book, but it's easily the first book in the series that I'd say felt a lot more 'filler' (god I hate calling things filler) then substance. -
This book effectively deals with Han's grief over the death of a friend, going back to his roots as a smuggler while unable to fully avoid his new life as a leader and father.
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A fairly good Star Wars Expanded Universe novel.
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Nothing in the series so far has been quite as good as vector prime was but I’m really liking the direction the story is going.
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After bumping into Roa, an old friend, Han Solo leaves his friends and family on a quest to track down and wipe out a group of Yuuzhan Vong allies called 'The Peace Brigade' and ends up in the middle of a New Republic Special Ops mission with a new ally, a Ryn called Droma.
Meanwhile, the Yuuzhan Vong has formed a plan to rid themselves of the Jedi menace by sending Elan, a Priestess to the New Republic under the guise of a defector with Vergere, her familiar. The Vong make it seem like they are high value targets but they are really on a mission to use a bio-weapon within Elan to kill all the Jedi at a meeting where Luke and the majority of the New Jedi Order will be present.
The Vong plot is thwarted when Han realised that the whole thing is a trap and manages to kill Elan with the bio-weapon she is carrying and lets Vergere escape, after the alien creature gives Han a vial of her tears. On her instructions, Han gives them to Luke to help cure Mara Jade of her life threatening illness.
I was in two minds about this book at first. Whilst I have enjoyed James Luceno's work in both the Legends and Canon timelines, I have often struggled with his books. I can't put a finger on why that is, I have thoroughly enjoyed the three other books of his I have read but I end up having to push myself through them.
The same was the case with this book, I ended up taking a few days at a time away from reading which isn't normal for me, I always seem to find time to read, even if it's only a chapter or two but once again I really enjoyed his work and am looking forward to the second part.
What I really enjoyed was that this book focused more on Han, who took a bit of a back seat in the 'Dark Tide Duology', left to wallow in his grief over losing Chewbacca in 'Vector Prime'. However, we get to see Han and the rest of his family as well as Luke attending a memorial service for our favourite Wookiee before heading home. Han is just pushing everyone away in his grief and it's so well written that anyone who has lost anyone will understand what Han is feeling and going through. His ire is especially directed at Anakin, his youngest son, who was with him when Chewie died on Sernpedial and was the one who flew the Falcon away from the planet as Chewie took his last stand.
With his friend Roa, a former Smuggling associate and teacher, who also lost someone, his wife, during the war, the two form an alliance on common ground and their sights are set on 'The Peace Brigade'. Following leads they end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, on a space station above Ord Mantell when the Vong attack the station, using a snake like creature to suck people from the station, Han is able to rescue refugees with Droma. Their initial bickering leads to an unlikely friendship that really drives their scenes in the second half of the book, luckily he doesn't become a replacement for Chewie but he does fill a hole for Han as a companion on adventures. After Droma saves Han's life, Han vows to help his new friend find other members of his species who have been scattered around the Galaxy.
The Yuuzhan Vong plot of fake defectors being used to kill enemies isn't a new one, but the way they play the New Republic into believing Elan has truly had a change of heart is interesting, by mounting two attacks to try to reclaim her and Vergere but feinting a defeat, something that goes against the Vong beliefs. It just goes to show how much they have begun to fear Luke Skywalker and the rest of the Jedi. It's fortunate that Han catches on to the plot which would have led to the majority of the Order killed and the Galaxy without the hope that they inspire.
I am pleased that Han is able to patch things up with Anakin by the end of this book, reading about how the two of them were at odds was pretty rough for both characters, especially when Anakin could have died numerous times in the 'Dark Tide Trilogy' with their relationship strained as it was surely would have been a nail in the coffin for Han as well. It's also great to get back to a more recognisable Han Solo.
If you have liked this review, head over to hit://
www.mystarwarslifedebt.com for more reviews and other Star Wars content. -
First off, I'm not one to skip books in a series. Having finished this one, however, I feel I could well have skipped the Dark Tide series. Everything major that has happened in these novels is mentioned here and while the others were often quite unnerving in their conveying of the main characters, this novel was rather enjoyable throughout.
Don't get me wrong, main plot wise nothing much happens here. We learn little new about the Yuuzhan Vong (only that they have a religion and their actions seem to be - at least in part - motivated by it). Compared with the previous installments there are only small conflicts and no huge devastating battles. Instead of an open military attack on some planet, the Vong aim to carry out a rather intricate, yet pretty obvious ruse that is meant to harm the Jedi whom they consider a real threat. It is almost funny to read how far they get with this plan as apparently everyone in charge expects the Vong defectors to be two-timing them and still they all seem to be waiting how things turn out instead of taking some action.
Despite this novel getting us no farther in the Yuuzhan Vong plot, it is my favorite of the New Jedi Order series so far. Quite frankly, I don't really care so much about this conflict but more about the main characters whom we have gotten to know and love through countless installments of the Star Wars series.
Here, finally, Han is dealing with Chewbacca's death (this is something that should have happened two novels ago). He does so by going out on some wild goose chase across the galaxy with an old smuggler pal, which sounds exactly like something he would do. Now we get to see something other than a useless grief-stricken Han who is drowning his sorrow and personally I really enjoyed being able to take a look inside his grieving head. On top of that the strain this tremendous loss has put on the entire Solo family and the tension Han's actions (or lack thereof) have caused are shown.
As for the conflict between Han and Leia, I think it has been a long time coming and was bound to happen sooner or later. Just the way it finally happened felt a little weird to me. In this whole conflict I think neither of them was acting in line with their character.
First off, there is Han's secrecy about his trip. I don't think Leia would have tried to stop him from going had she known what he was up to (not that she could have succeeded), so why not put her mind at ease and just tell her? At the same time it seems weird that she never snapped at him. His behavior definitely asked for it and it's not like she had never done so before. Also, her being so against his going to rescue his friends doesn't seem like her. Going on a rescue mission is the obvious thing to do and even something she probably would have done herself. And finally, they have been separated very often for longer stints of time throughout many years, so what makes this separation at the end of the novel any different? Why is it all of a sudden a problem to Leia? I certainly am curious how this separation pans out and of course hope they end up patching things up.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel more than its predecessors. It was superior in its portrayal of the main characters and on top of that I enjoyed Luceno's style of writing. His language is much more sophisticated than that used in many Star Wars novels, which I enjoyed a lot. Now I am excited about getting started with Jedi Eclipse and hope it will be a worthy successor to this novel.
