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Rogue Planet (Star Wars)

Rogue Planet (Star Wars)

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $20.37
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Greg Bear writing Star Wars! Very good.
Review: 'Rogue Planet' is sort of an anomaly. It is much more of a stand-alone story than other Star Wars novels, yet manages to fit snugly into the timeline all the same.

Where most other novels in the series focus on key historic events - and some of the more popular characters' places therein - 'Rogue Planet' takes us on a trip away from the Republic and almost even away from the known Galaxy. Far away from that chewy centre, Bear still succeeds in presenting us Anakin and Obi-Wan, Tarkin and Sienar - even Vergere and the Vong! (Albeit cameos, it must be said.) He manages to continue their stories fluently and convincingly.
Moreover, as the story unfolds, and the secrets of Zonema Sekot (the Rogue Planet) are slowly being unfolded, you know you're reading an exceptional addition to the Star Wars story cycle.

However, the real eye catcher is Greg Bear himself. His writing is fluent and exciting, he makes you want to turn page after page. He manages to fit the events in his novel into the greater scheme as if he owns it all, while usually Bear's stories are far from the techno-myths that Star Wars is made out of. No event and character seems forced and uneasy in its position; something that cannot be said for all other "Old Republic" Star Wars novels.

'Rogue Planet' is a breather, the pearl in a string of beads. My favourite "Old Republic" novel by far.

This one gets four stars.

Bram Janssen,
The Netherlands

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A well-written and thoughtful effort
Review: Greg Bear is someone that I respect, but this novel read like an attempt to make Star Wars into hard Sci-fi. I normally write reviews that are paragraphs in nature but the following is the best way to describe this book.

Did Bear do a good job? Yes

Is this an interesting book? Yes, somewhat.

Does it feel like Star Wars? No, not even close.

Does it do much to expand the Star Wars world? Not really.

Does it have any redeeming qualities? Yes, It gives an explination as to why Qui-Gon didn't fade away in EP 1, and they build a cool ship with neat technology.

Would I read it if I weren't a Star Wars Geek? Probably NOT!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not that good
Review: I don't read Star Wars novels, and after reading that one I don't think I will again. Now don't get me wrong, the book started off great with the sewer race that was cool and actually got me into the book but as I got deeper into the book the slower it got. I don't recommend it to anyone

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of the best I've read!
Review: I had relatively few problems with this book, and even those were minor: the extremely short chapters (why did Bear feel the need to start a new chapter so often?) and aside from being a semi-clever means to get to see Tarkin without looking into his thoughts too deeply to contradict something GL might have in mind later on, I didn't really see a point to Raith Sienar. His chapters were the only ones I had any trouble getting through. This is a primarily character-centered book, with not a whole lot of action (which is a big problem for some people), but that didn't bother me: I love character stories. I also love Anakin, and this novel provided some of the best insights into his character I've seen: a very realistic portrayal of the conflict within him, and the wonderful foreshadowing hints of his future as Vader literally gave me the chills, particularly in the seed-partner burning scene and the end of his battle with the Blood Carver. I would have liked to see a bit more of Obi-Wan, but what there was of him I say pretty much the same as I did for the Anakin portrayal: dead on, good job of addressing his internal conflicts about whether he believes he's a good master for Anakin-- and I can very easily see this man becoming the wise-mentor type he is in Episode IV. I loved the way Bear handled Anakin/Obi-Wan's relationship; we really saw very little in TPM, none of which was really positive-- and it was very nice to see an elaboration on it, and showing the two *didn't* hate each other as many so previously thought. I waited years for something to shed a light on their relationship, and I was not disappointed. :) Overall, probably one of the best SW novels I've ever read.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Looks Good
Review: I haven't been able to read this book since I've had it. It looks good but, I just don't read. Now I have a book project something in my English class. So I figure I'll finish what I've started. I am now looking foreward to reading it. It looks good.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Good Book That's A Perfect Follow Up To Phantom Menace
Review: I love this book. It is my favorite Star Wars book I have read. The book has wonderful details that let you explore the world of Zanoma Sekot and see how Anakin reacts to different things. Rogue Planet shows the begginings to the long relationship of Anakin and Obi-Wan. It has several intriging elements and is exciting to read.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A big change from recent SW books that's not for the better
Review: Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I found the first half to be a bit of chore. The second half of the book - when Obi-Wan Kenobi and his now 12-year-old Padawan, Anakin Skywalker finally get to Zonama Sekot - moves along a lot better. Zonama Sekot is a fascinating place and what Anakin experiences there gives you a few clues as to his eventual transformation into a Sith Lord.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Mediocre addition to the Star Wars Universe
Review: There are 2 different ways of viewing Rogue Planet. The first way is the most common, as a stand alone story taking place after Episode I where we slowly start to see Anakin Skywalker descend into the dark side. In a very slow and tedious way. Or the book can be viewed as a prequal to the New Jedi Order series. In this viewpoint, Rogue Planet comes off very well. It introduces Vergere and really helps the reader to understand why Sekot could be important 40 or 50 years after Rogue Planet takes place. The relationship between Anakin and Obi-wan is inconsistantly written. There are times when Bear seems to get lost in his story and forget how is characters act. OVerall, the first time I read Rogue Planet I found it filled with unnecessary characters, overblown dialogue and pointless plot. Now, when I view the book in light of the NJO series I find that many of the characters are still unnecessary and the dialogue is still overblown but some major plot points now make sense, something very important when you are reading a book. Yet, this book for all its relevance to the NJO series is still a slightly above average addition to the Star Wars Saga.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not Good
Review: This book was not good. Nothing happened, nothing was explained, by the end I was just reading every other line to get through. I had to finish it because I had already invested so much time in it. If you are going to start reading Star Wars, start with something else. Something by Timothy Zahn, James Luceno, or Troy Denning. Not this.
By the way---where is the character development?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: not bad, i wanted to know more about Sekot
Review: This Star Wars novel is set several years after the events of "The Phantom Menace." To better place it in relation to the two prequel films, Anakin Skywalker is 12 years old. He is the Padawan apprentice to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi is no longer the reckless apprentice that he was when he served under Qui-Gon Jinn. Kenobi has found his center of peace, but Skywalker is even more reckless than perhaps Obi-Wan once was. Anakin sneaks out of the Jedi temple to seek dangerous races. The novel opens with one such race (which I still don't quite understand the logistics of), but as the race begins (and Obi-Wan tries to find him), Anakin is attacked by one of the racers, an alien race called a Blood Carver. This begins an exciting chase that Obi-Wan joins shortly after it begins.

Anakin Skywalker has a lot of energy and he is frustrated by the lack of responsibility given him by the Jedi Council. To channel this energy, the Council sends Obi-Wan and Anakin on a mission to the strange (strange because next to nothing is known about it) planet Zenoma Sekot to investigate the planet's organic spaceships, and also to investigate the disappearance of the Jedi Vergere, who was last heard from on that planet. At the same time as the Jedi mission to Sekot, we also see Tarkin (a younger version of the Grand Moff Tarkin from "A New Hope") plotting his own deeds in regards to that planet and we see Tarkin's continuing rise in the Republic (not yet the Empire).

For a Star Wars novel, this one was pretty good. I enjoyed the story, found it interesting and I wanted to know more about Sekot and the battle that occurred on that planet (though I understand this ties in better to the New Jedi Order series that comes much later), and I got to see Anakin develop a little bit more so that I could better understand his anger, his frustration, and how he develops into the man that he does. Sure, every novel that has Anakin Skywalker as a boy/young man will show shades of the future Darth Vader, but a novel that didn't would seem a little strange, to not hint at it at all. This was a well done Star Wars novel, though I'm not sure it would work quite so well without the shape of the Star Wars universe and the preceding (and later) novels.


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