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Force Heretic I: Remnant (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 15)
by Sean Williams, Shane Dix
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Del Rey (2003-02)
ISBN: 0345428706
EAN: 9780345428707
Dewy Decimal #: 813
Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
Release Date: 2003-02-04
SKU: MM2600
Condition: Good
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
As the bloodied and weary galaxy faces battle once more, the Jedi take on the formidable task of bringing the last of the Empire into the light. . . .
From the ashes of the New Republic—torn to shreds by the savage Yuuzhan Vong forces—the newly formed Galactic Alliance has risen, determined to bring peace to the entire galaxy. But first the Yuuzhan Vong must be contained once and for all. And so Luke Skywalker seeks a world long lost to legend: Zonama Sekot, a sentient planet believed to have repelled an invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong decades ago. Deciphering the enigmatic secrets of Zonama Sekot just might turn the tides of a relentless war.
Aboard the Jade Shadow, Luke, his wife Mara, Jacen Solo, and other Jedi head off into the Unknown Regions, where rumors and clues suggest Zonama Sekot might be found. Yet the mission has barely begun when the searchers stumble into a horrific battle. The Imperial Remnant, in retreat from the mighty Yuuzhan Vong, is about to be destroyed. It would seem those aboard the Jade Shadow have little choice but to leave the Empire to its fate. But these are no ordinary space travelers, they are Jedi. . . .
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Customer Reviews
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More of a Teaser Trailer than Anything Else
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-11-18
Warning: This review will contain spoilers. While Force Heretic I: Remnant wasn't the best in the NJO, I hardly think it was the worst. To start with, the cover art for both this book and the others in the Force Heretic trilogy is beautiful and the synopsis on the back is certainly very intriguing.
Unfortunately, and much to my dismay, both the cover and the summary are very deceiving in terms of what actually happens in Remnant.
The plot is broken into three separate stories: Luke, Mara, Jacen, Danni, Saba, and Tekli looking for Zonama Sekot; Leia, Han, Jaina, Jag, Tahiri, and the Twin Sun Squadron venturing into regions of the galaxy that have been cut off from the rest of the universe via communication problems early in the war; and Nom Anor joining a Jedi faction on Yuuzhan'tar in hopes that he can overthrow Overlord Shimrra and regain his previous position of power.
First and foremost is Luke's quest for Zonama Sekot. This is the story that is advertised on the back of the book and the story that should make up most of the book. However, what is advertised on the back of the book, the search for Zonama Sekot, isn't exactly what the reader gets. Instead, this story line focuses on Luke and friends stumbling into a battle between the Imperial Remnant and the Yuuzhan Vong. While the battle and interactions between the Imperials and Skywalker's team were well written, it was a bit disappointing to not get what the back of the book promised.
On the note of the Yuuzhan Vong attacking the Imperial Remnant, it seemed a bit coincidental that Luke and friends just happened to stumble into the heat of things just as the battle was turning the favour of the Yuuzhan Vong. Coincidence seems to be a rather large part of the Star Wars universe, but I think some authors get a bit carried away with it. A lot of this book seemed based on coincidence.
For a more favourable comment towards the Luke/Imperial Remnant plot, the interactions between the Imperials and Luke's team were, in my opinion, very well done. It was nice to see the familiar face of Pallaeon enter the NJO scene once again, even if he was in a bacta tank throughout most of his appearance. His interactions with Jacen especially stood out as well written and thought out. The Grand Admiral seemed a bit off in the last book he appeared in, but he was back to the leader we all know and love in Remnant.
The plot regarding the Solos and their various friends seemed unimportant in the grand scheme of things. It struck me that the authors were just giving the Solos something to do. Perhaps this story line will gain importance as the trilogy continues. While learning about what happened to the Yevetha during the Yuuzhan Vong war was certainly interesting, at this point, the Solo plot seemed more like filler than an actual, relevant story line.
And then there was Tahiri.
The whole point of the Solo quest seemed to be introducing the conflict with Tahiri. I'm torn between what to think about this new conflict. Tahiri's shaping took place over five books ago, during Edge of Victory I: Conquest. Since then, it appeared that she moved on, only running into an emotional obstacle when her more-than-friend Anakin Solo was killed by the Yuuzhan Vong in Star by Star. In the books that followed, Tahiri seemed to accept the fact that her best friend (and probably more) had become one with the Force and, having fulfilled her purpose, moved out of the spotlight. To bring her back into the limelight struck me as a bit, well, unnecessary. I mean, I personally like the Tahiri as a character, but, at the end of the day, she is just a minor character. It seems a bit random to bring her up out of the blue to become the main conflict and point of the Solo story line. Regardless, I'm interested to see where this Tahiri issue goes. Perhaps it will end up playing a key role in ending the NJO, even if bringing it up now seems sudden and a tad unnecessary.
The third and final plot line is the story of Nom Anor and his involvement in the Jeedai heresy movement. To me, this is where Williams and Dix really shine. They do a fine job of portraying the Yuuzhan Vong characters and culture. They allow the reader to look deeper into the Yuuzhan Vong and see them as a race with culture and customs and not just as the bad guys of the New Jedi Order. Nom Anor has, so far, been one of the few constants of the Yuuzhan Vong, making an appearance and playing a role in more or less every NJO book. He made some character advancements in Remnant, even going as far as to show a shred of compassion (however selfish his motives were). Yet, he remained the Nom Anor we've come to know and, to an extent, love. He remained focused on his goal of overthrowing Shimrra and ensured that every action brought him one step closer to achieving that goal. Some may complain that focusing on Nom Anor and his plot for power was unnecessary, but I feel that, as a character that has appeared in almost all of the NJO novels, the Executor was long due for a chance in the spotlight to build in character and become deeper than just being the bad guy. My only complaint here is that there wasn't enough time spent on developing this story line.
Williams and Dix have obviously done their research and know a great deal about the Star Wars galaxy. That much is obvious. It was nice to see references made to earlier books and events, which not only enhanced the story, but also served as a reminder or the other events that have place in the Galaxy Far Far Away up to this point. However, I highly doubt the tale told in Remnant will ever be remembered as being highly significant in the Star Wars timeline. There just isn't enough important substance to the book. Most of it ends up seeming like filler more than significant story.
To the authors' credit, they don't have a bad writing style. Their refusal to use chapters was really annoying, as it makes finding a good stopping point significantly difficult. But, other than that, I have few complaints. Though it wasn't the best writing in the NJO, it was easy enough to understand and flowed well enough...even if the authors had the tendency to randomly switch perspectives just when the story line was getting interesting.
This was hardly the best book in the New Jedi Order so far, but it also wasn't the worst. The writing style wasn't bad and the parts of the plot that were significant (and not just filler) could have some interesting conclusions. However, Remnant seemed more like a teaser trailer for what is to come in the later books than a novel on its own. Not horrible, but also not amazingly good.
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NJO is excellent.
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-10-15
I didn't get this far in the series yet, I am a slow reader. But what I've read and reviews I've read have nothing bad to say about the New Jedi Order series.
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Holding pattern
Rating (3)
Date: 2007-10-26
At this point the long-running New Jedi Order series had reached a familiar pattern. Every book of major importance would be followed by a book of equal unimportance. Star by Star (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 9) was followed by Dark Journey (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 10), and now Destiny's Way (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 14) is followed by Remnant, the first book in Sean Williams and Shane Dix's Force Heretic trilogy (and 15th book overall in the NJO series).
After winning a resounding victory against the Yuuzhan Vong and finally putting the invaders on the defensive, the heroes of that conflict are sent to...check on some communications outages. Seriously, this is the best they could do with characters like Han, Leia, and Jaina Solo? At least Luke, Mara, and Jacen have a somewhat more important task - heading to the Unknown Regions to locate the living planet of Zonama Sekot (of Rogue Planet (Star Wars) fame), which may hold the key to defeating the Yuuzhan Vong forever.
The Solo storyline seems totally unimportant, other than to establish a conflict with Tahiri, who had previously undergone physical and psychological torture at the hands of the Vong shapers. I always thought the consequences of that action were underdeveloped, and it looks like Williams and Dix are correcting that oversight. The Skywalker storyline is slightly more important in that it finally draws the Imperial Remnant into the fight against the Vong. There is also a sub-plot involving Nom Anor's fall from grace on the planet formerly known as Coruscant.
Perhaps the Force Heretic series just takes some warming up, but I wasn't terribly impressed with Remnant. Aside from a few skirmishes with Yuuzhan Vong forces, the greater conflict is largely neglected in favor of these two smaller quests. Hopefully the series will get back on track soon.
PS - And whatever happened to the so-called Rebellion from the Enemy Lines series anyway? Are we supposed to forget about that?
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the lowest rating ive given one yet book 15
Rating (3)
Date: 2006-10-13
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
ok,first of all,im still po/d that the most dangerous sith ever was introduced 3 books ago and still hasnt been used by book 15.so i guess either the new writers have no respect for the previous books in the series or for some reason they chose not to use a god-like sith .this goes back to my points from before.everybody loved anakan solo and chewbacca.both get offed.and both of the solo twins went down the dark side earlier but the dark side was gone by the next book.not worked out just simply dismisssed.thats why i gave this book a lower rating than the previous 14 books in the series.the republic and empire are working together in this one.but theres a ton of poliyical bs they have to bore the reader with 1st to get to that point.jacin solo and a much older danni start a romance.the vong are out being vongs and blowing up planets and sacrificing prisoners.tahiri is still very much depressed over anakan solo even to the point of having schizophrennic-like episodes.nom anor is realizing some mind blowing truths about the vongs spiriyual beliefs the hard way.a lot of interesting stuff happens with him in this book.there is a search going out for a living planet.a new characheter is introduced.hes chewbaccas son,lumpawarrump.not that that makes them killing chewbacca in book 1 ok.an air battle pitting the republic and empire vs the vong goes down along with 3 battles for planets.the vongs lowest caste "the shamed ones" began questioning the truths about the vong gods,threatening to destroy thier most fundamental beliefs.so the vong began slaughtering them.thats about it.of course.I LEFT YOU MANY SUPRISES.anyhow,this book is really hust a jumbled mess.its somewhat interesting but not all that exiting.its a 400 plus page story that couldve been told in 250.and its slow to read,as was book 14.i hope this isnt a trend developing.with only 4 books left,somebody better start picking up the slack or i will be very disappointed.
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A new front for the war against the Yuuzhan Vong
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-11-29
I really enjoyed this book. Sure, there is some review in the beginning of the book, but not as much as some reviewers would have you think. There is plenty of new material as the main protoganists go off in two different directions on two very different missions, but both designed to ensure the survival of the newly formed Galactic Alliance.
Leia is leading one expedition to reconnect severed links to the Galactic Alliance. They will find surprises on the way. The suspense is evident in several instances through the first stage of this mission and a familar enemy along with a stange alien will make their presence felt.
On the other side of the (not the MLS champion L.A.) Galaxy, Luke is leading another expedition to the Unknown Regions with a stop at the Imperial Remnant. Surprise, surprise, they too will meet with a familar enemy. Political intrigue and a very Latin Americanesque approach by the Grand Admiral typify the reaction of the Empire to the unwanted visitors.
Along the way, we see the continued struggles of Tahiri as well as the development of the young Jedi. There is some repetition of information worked into the story in the form of informing new protoganists of what is happening. However, if you haven't read previous books, you will really miss out on much of the storyline.
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