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This audio book is jam-packed with characters due to the inclusion of three story lines by the writers. Han and Leia tackle a variety of problems on Bakura where anti-Republic sentiment plays right into the hands of an alien culture determined to take over the planet. Jaina's visit to a young female prisoner lands her in trouble with the Bakura authorities when the prisoner's escape is blamed on her. A member of the rebel force Freedom, the girl vanishes with her comrades before the government troops can catch her. Jaina, though, is led into a trap by a Bakura spy working freely within the Freedom movement. Tahiri, a Jedi accompanying Princess Leia's party, is having her own problems due to memory flashbacks involving an earlier imprisonment by the Yuuzhan Vong. Tahiri must fight to remain herself when the personality given her by her captors attempts to take over her consciousness. Tahiri's story blends with that of Jaina when the young Jedi attempts to rescue Han and Leia's daughter. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and company engage in battle while searching for a mystical planet mentioned in an earlier book. At the same time, Nom Anor continues to spread his heretical views concerning the Jedi. The most interesting of the story lines concerns the potential takeover of Bakura. The Prime Minister's capture by Bakurans thought to be aligned with Freedom, coupled with his subsequent unconventional rescue, leads to an all out siege on the rebel forces. The members of Freedom deny any use of violence, but their knowledge of certain underhanded dealings by government officials assures that they'll be hunted down, if only to silence them and hide the corruption. Tahiri's story seems overblown and melodramatic, and the young Jedi is made to look weak and ineffectual as she deals with her problems. The humor seen is previous Star Wars books is markedly absent in this one, while the writing is often amateurish. The authors need to brush up on their English; their frequent use of the words "woken up" instead of "awakened" were especially grating on this listener's ears. Similar mistakes in grammar and slips in cohesiveness re actions by the characters could be found in other parts of the story. Tahiri's story dragged, slowed down by too much internal dialogue and the vaguely weak nature of her character. Jaina was a more robust character, but some of her actions belied her intelligence and training. Actually, none of the female characters were treated all that well by the authors. The aliens, on the other hand, are nicely depicted by Dix and Williams, who seem to do their best work with non-humans. Rabid fans of the series may or may not forgive the faults in this book. In this reviewer's opinion, it was not the best of the Star Wars novels.
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, June 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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