Great Conclusion
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So the New Jedi Order has finally concluded with this 500+ page novel which I found to be easily the best of the serious, only slightly edging out Star by Star. Writer James Luceno takes his time with his plot, carefully building towards the climatic finale whicgh results in a well paced and engrossing story.
There are many nuggetts of insider EU nods in there for diehard fans and Luceno also creates the scale of characthers involved in each scene believable and informative. The conclusion of the saga is exciting and satisfying and leaves a hit and miss series on a definate bittersweet note.
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awesome ending to the great NJO series
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Awesome finale to the best Star wars books ive read. The Unifying Force is the extremely exciting end of the massive Yuuzhan Vong war chronicled throughout the New Jedi Order series and its a satisfying conclusion. The war is brought to a spectacular and drawn out close - very satisfying fights and easy readable description - Luceno has out done himself with this one - after the underwhelming agents of chaos duo.
The character arcs are fulfilled and its a great end - im kinda sad to see the end - no im not - after 19 books! i feel i deserve this ending and thankfully it had everything i wanted from it.
one of the strongest 4 books in the series 'the unifying force is a great read for any sw fan and an awesome end to a strong - but long - satisfying series!
9/10
what do i read now? :S
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Superb finale to a generally solid series
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The New Jedi Order series comprises 19 books published over 5 years. It concerns the invasion of the 'galaxy far, far away' by the Yuuzhan Vong, extragalactic aliens who seemingly have no connection to the Force.
The series showed a grittier side to Star Wars, and even killed off some major characters along the way.
The quality of the books wavered over the years, in my view. The five hardcovers that chart the main events in the story have been very strong. The Unifying Force is the best of these, and a real payoff after 18 books of build-up.
The book showcases the thrilling climactic confrontation between the Galactic Alliance and the Yuuzhan Vong. Beginning with an exciting POW-camp escape sequence, and concluding with a powerful battle between the key players of both sides, the book is full of action and suspense. We get balanced coverage of space battles, ground combat, various strike team missions like in the films, and the strategising of the Alliance and Vong leaderships. But it is not short on drama. James Luceno's characterisations of our heroes is excellent, and the new, more holistic explorations of the nature of the Force that have been a key factor in this series are deepened and rounded out in this book. The book is rife with 'unifying forces' and that makes for a very layered conclusion.
We get a real sense of closure here, not only the end of this series but it feels like the end of the adventures of Luke Skywalker et al, though that looks unlikely as there are loads more books released or soon to be released that continue the Star Wars saga.
If there are any criticisms to be made, one (and this is a flaw common among most Star Wars novels) is that much of the banter between characters feels forced and 'cheesy', for want of a better word. It's like the writers go out of their way to try and come up with contrived witty remarks. This is really not a big deal, as the characters do sound pretty much like we expect them to.
This series has been more like 'proper' sci-fi than traditional Star Wars, which was a mythical story of good vs evil. This is a story that questions whether that divide is real, and at times it doesn't feel like Star Wars. Well, a person shouldn't believe in something without having first questioned it, and that's what the Jedi are beginning to do after hearing the musings of the bird-like Jedi Vergere. It makes for interesting reading and I hear that it figures in the next few books too.All in all, this is a truly epic conclusion to a really good ending to a generally strong series of Star Wars books that show the heroes fighting 'the greatest threat to the galaxy since Palpatine'.
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An explosve finish!!
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This book is an excellent finish to the NJO series and is well worthy of 5 stars. The board is set and this is the final move, the Yuuzahn Vong have gathered an armada and intend to use it to destroy the Galactic Alliance once and for all. In this book Luke and the other Jedi are trying to convince Zonama Sekot to join the battle and help the Alliance get rid of the Yuuzahn Vong. With the Alliance fleet gathered at Mon Calamri to counter the armada, Zonama Sekot makes its desision and the Alliance makes a final bid to win back Coruscant and deliver a blow to the Yuuzahn Vong. This book is brilliant as it has a lot of fighting and space battles. If you have been following the books you MUST read this as it provides a very worthey end and is truly brilliant.
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A wholly satisfying ending
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The Unifying Force is the final installment in the dramatic saga that has been the New Jedi Order. There have been births, a hefty amount of deaths and some of the most tense and exciting scenes and developments found in the Star Wars universe outside of the films. The book answers all of the questions regarding Zonama Sekot and the Yuuzhan Vong's origins, and their fate is well handled, although they deserved more punishment in my opinion! The reader also discovers the true antagonist behind the Vong's genocides and merciless slaughtering. The book ends on a bittersweet note with a lot of departures, reunions and farewells, and leaves our favourite characters in a good place. It superbly brings to a close the entire series on a grand scale. Overall, a triumph.
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