The Final Prophecy

I thought this book would be excellent as it is by Greg Keyes, and anything can seem a masterpiece after the Force Heretic trilogy, but I was still surprised at how good this is.

Keyes continues to write phenomenally, writing exceptionally interesting dialogue and brilliant action, focusing a lot more on ground combat than fighter combat which I prefer, but with a still good story for the fighter squadrons and Jaina.

Although I don't think it quite reaches the heights of the first Edge of Victory novel, it proves how good a writer Greg Keyes is for Star Wars and is just a brilliant novel all round.

Shimrra has been slowly built up in the last few novels, and I'm really hoping we get a fight of some sorts between him and the Jedi. I'm becoming more and more suspicious that he is aware of the Force and uses it in some kind, and that we might quite possibly get a larger reveal around the Vong's absence in the Force.

I love the hints we are getting about Shimrra's rise to power, that he got there through rather nefarious methods even for a Yuuzhan Vong, and he is just a really interesting character I hope we find more out about in the final book.

Nen Yim has always been an intriguing character, especially when written by Keyes, but she really shines here. It pains me to think we still don't truly know what she found out about the Yuuzhan Vong, the ‘truth' that she discovered, but I hope we find out soon! Her death was absolutely brutal, and continued to make Nom Anor extremely despicable (why I love him so much) and the reveal that HER memories were used to make Tahiri shaped was shocking. At least she lives on in some way through Tahiri.

Speaking of Tahiri, she always shines when written by Greg Keyes, but she was brilliant here in her new form, and I have to admit, I have grown to love Corran throughout this series even though I wasn't sure of him at first, and now I really like that Corran has become Tahiri's master. They are a brilliant pair and were really good here.

Nom Anor's story was truly just fantastic here, I cannot wait for him to get what's coming to him! The subterfuge, the constant lies, the obsession with self-preservation, the gripping, extremely tense fight scenes where he JUST manages to slip away, it all just continuously adds to the hatred the reader is meant to feel towards him and I love it. He ran away from Anakin many books ago, and he's still running now. An absolute coward and I love it.

Overall, this book is just so fucking good. It's great to have another stunning novel after the Force Heretic trilogy which wasn't too bad, just overly long and boring.

Keyes' writing style is something I have praised before and I praise it again here. It's a shame he doesn't write anymore Star Wars after this because I could praise his characterisation of characters like Tahiri and Corran forever and the way he structures a book perfectly to be extremely gripping and action-packed just makes his books so easy to read quickly. It is hard to stop.

I didn't mind my favourite characters mostly being absent, as the way everyone else was written here was so good, but I did like that Luke, Mara, Jacen, and Saba arrived towards the end and helped fight a bunch of Yuuzhan Vong. Zonama Sekot continues to be an interesting planet and I am still baffled as to the true importance of it!

I loved this novel through and through and I am so excited to finally finish the series with ‘The Unifying Force'. I just pray it lives up to the extremely high expectations I am trying to keep under control!

8.5/10

This is not the kind of novel that's going to set the world on fire. What it is, though, is the penultimate book in the New Jedi Order series, which means it's in charge of making sure that all of the pieces are properly in place for the finale. And that, I have to say, it does fairly well.

The plot: The Jedi are contacted by those within the Vong who would challenge Shimmra; Tahiri and Corran Horn are conscripted to take Nom Amor and Nem Yim to the living planet of Zonama Sekot to try to advance the cause of peace, while Wedge Antilles and Jaina start another push against the Vong's military presence in an effort to win back the galaxy.

There was a lot in here for me to like: Corran's one of my favourite Jedi, I'm really fond of Zonama Sekot as a setting, and I really like how they've allowed the new generation of Jedi to take centre stage. I would have enjoyed it a lot more, though, if it felt like it was an essential part of the story, rather than just filler moving everything in place for Luceno's The Unifying Force, which will (thankfully) see the end of the Yuuhzan Vong invasion story.