Balance Point

It's quite possible that the disappointing nature of the last book helped make this one feel like such a breath of fresh air. But this might be a divisive review, as I've seen much negativity for this book, whilst I absolutely loved it.

It has some vital moments to the overall story so far, develops the characters quite a lot, finishes off some of the leftover plot threads from the last novel, sets up some really important stuff that I can tell will be vital later, has some fantastic action, and a thankful little amount of space fighting stuff!

It finally brings the focus back to the main characters, and is a little more personal than the last few books, focusing truly on the “MAIN” characters, Luke, Mara, Han, Leia, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin. Which is a godsend after the last book decided to barely feature any of them!

Firstly, quite shockingly, Mara is pregnant! As her and Luke are my favourite characters, this makes me very, very happy, and I love how it is changing their characters already.

Mara herself has some exceptional moments in this novel, fighting Yuuzhan Vong in disguise on Coruscant, wearing a glamorous disguise to confront Nom Anor, lots of brilliant dialogue with Luke, I loved her having such a large focus.

Leia was exceptional here, and had one of the sickest moments of the novels so far. I always cringe saying the word, but she had a frankly badass moment with the Warmaster ‘Tsavong Lah' and Nom Anor, where she questioned their religion, enraging them, and preaching that life, not death, is the highest truth. It leads to her being critically injured, but I adore her bravery, and love how she preaches her views on life and the universe. She is written magnificently.

Han and Leia finally heal, getting some fantastic war time-like moments as they finally make up whilst helping refugees. I love their relationship and their love together.

Kathy Tyres seems to just get love, writing romance brilliantly between Luke and Mara, and between Han and Leia that I really find to be lacking with a lot of other writers. Just the general banter and moment-to-moment little romantics conversations and thoughts you have with or about your partner.

There were so many moments that come to mind for me, like Mara admiring Luke whilst slightly dishevelled, Han thinking about Leia still being gorgeous even without her hair, little stuff that you think about your partner, or do or say with them in general life and conversation, stuff that, like I said, tends to be missing from these novels!

I also found her writing style really easy to read. The description, my God, so clear, so concise, never feeling like it dragged, never getting down in the dirt about unimportant stuff I don't care about, even making the ship fighting action simple and easy to read and keep track of almost all of the time, even managing to make most of this action a bit more personal, something I usually find to be missing from these battles.

So generally, I really enjoyed her writing. It has made me consider giving ‘The Truce At Bakura' another chance one day. Not for a long while though.

I do love seeing the Yuuzhan-Vong's side of things, but I often find their chapters a bit complex and less interesting, as Stackpole and Luceno tried to craft more Yuuzhan-Vong characters for us to follow. But none have matched Nom Anor, and I've really loved how Kathy Tyres has treated the warmaster Tsavong Lah.

They are both excellent, and their chapters have been an easy read, good even. Easier to follow than usual, cool, fun insights on their society and beliefs, and two just really fun characters throughout the story. Loved their moments and never dreaded their chapters or found myself desperate to get back to the heroes.

I constantly flip between liking and hating Jacen's conflict, deciding whether or not to abandon the Force, and I do get it. He's a conflicted kid. But I am not wanting it to go on much longer, and I'm happy that it seems to be done for. It was interesting while it lasted, and I get how it came from his worry. Sometimes he was very frustrating, but I'm glad he seems to have come around now.

Jaina was much better in this book, possibly the best she has been since ‘Vector Prime' finally getting a bit more of a focus, and I loved Kathy taking sections of this book to heal the relationship between her and Leia.

Anakin was still very good, he's so mature and such a powerful Jedi for his age, he's still probably my favourite Solo kid. But he hasn't been treated as well by a writer as Stackpole since Dark Tide. But he was much better here than he was with Luceno.

Generally, I loved this book. I've heard a lot of mixed things, but I found it to be a blast to read. I read it over three days, took my time, but still read quite a bit whenever I was reading it, and I loved it.

Kathy Tyres' writing style is perfect for me, and I love her treatment of the characters, and focus on relationships, trauma, and healing, whilst doing a better job of refugee commentary than Luceno with the last book.

I almost don't want to hear what people don't like about this so it doesn't spoil it for me!