Greg Keyes: Rebirth



Story:
3/5
Characters:
4/5
Humor:
2/5
Action:
4/5

In Edge of Victory II: Rebirth, Keyes juggles five plot lines. Anakin, Tahiri and Corran go on a supply mission for the Errant Venture but are, of course, drawn into some Yuuzhan Vong plot. Jaina heads out in order to find allies for Kyp Durron who has located a Vong super weapon. Jacen helps his parents creating a refuge for Jedi; he gets second thoughts when they start pirating ships supplying the Yuuzhan Vong. Luka and Mara leave Coruscant, forestalling an arrest warrant. They head for the Errant Venture since their child is due. Last but not least, a Vong shaper introduced in Conquest struggles with her exile and questions her case’s dogmas.

I do not know why they sold Conquest and Rebirth as a duology; they do not have that much in common. In Conquest, the big plot around Anakin is concluded and only one minor line is really continued in Rebirth. Here, instead of focusing on only one story, Keyes spreads barely 300 pages over multiple plots. He actually manages to get away with it since the individual plots are small adventures rather than wannabe epics. Keyes writing is, again, to my liking although I liked the more focused style more. I guess you just cannot tell the tale of a galaxy-spanning war with as many characters as in The New Jedi Order without losing focus. Therefore, I think the respective authors should have taken more space, that is more pages, to give each plot line its time and credit.

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