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The Traitor (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order) by: Matthew Woodring Stover

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Rating: - One of the best books in the whole of the NJO series

A story in which Jacen Solo's loyalties are questioned and tested. And, in my opinion (which I seem to have a lot of), one of the best books in the whole of the NJO series. Any person reading this book whom doesn't feel even slightly "touched", should get glasses, seriously. One of my friends (not a Star Wars fan) has complained to me about Star Wars being all lasers and explosions, well, he should read this book. The story is a lot quieter then the rest of the series and really makes the reader wonder whoms side they should be on. Brilliant book, increases the standard of the whole series.

Rating: - the most profound star wars book by a mile!

this is a superb book - completely different to any other star wars book. it is really profound and introduces completely new viewpoints on the force and the jedi - even if there is a light and dark side at all. very intriguing and interesting.
There isn't a whole lot of adventure but the profound, deep, stance changing convos between Vergere and Jacen are sooo interesting it doesn't need the action. And when the action does happen it is really epic and exciting.
Everything is ultra believable and u dont question motives as they are so well explained. Stover is a deep, profound writer and after NJO i might haveta check his other stuff out.
Deep and dark - Jacen takes his more profound and reasoned steps into a darker future.
9/10 Destiny's Way here i come!

Rating: - A Light in the Dark...

The fairly good Enemy Lines 1 & 2 (the 2 previous NJO books before this one) were fully packed with space battles, lightsaber duels, star destroyers ramming worldships & so on... love it, but at times it gets a bit OTT (I don't think Lord Nyax brought much to the bigger picture of NJO).

So the more intimate approach of Traitor, fully focusing on Jacen's captivity and relationship with the ever mysterious Vergere got me a bit worried & excited at the same time. And God did Matthew Stover do well with it!

Part 1, mostly describing the Embrace of Pain that Jacen experiences, is slow... and painful indeed! But the stratagem is revealed when it all concludes with the near destruction of the Seedship's Nursery, in a glorious firework of gore, blood & guts from warriors, shapers & New Republic slaves alike. All of it orchestrated with somber grace by Jacen himself.

Trust me, trying to mentally visualise that very scene will send shivers up your spine (depends how much imagination you have though... I, for one, have a lot!). Take the best, darkest elements of Akira, Resident Evil, Event Horizon & Alien altogether, shake well and add a hint of the most gorish horror movies out there to see how sick it could look if someone was to ever produce an adult animated/film version of it. At last, Jacen comes of age...

The rest of the book tells the story of Anakin slowly coming back to Life (or does he?).

Slowly but surely, helped by the masterful "non-answers" of Vergere to his questions, the young Jedi's grasp of the true Nature of the Force is revealed to him...

Slowly but surely the shaping of Coruscant into Yuuzhan'tar, the new Yuuzhan Vong's Homeworld, is revealed in all its shining glory..

And slowly but surely the entire New Jedi Order series gets a welcome new breath of fresh air, definitely for the best...

I "hear" that later, after the conclusion of the New Jedi Order series and somwhere within the "Legacy of the Force" series, Jacen turns to the Dark Side and dons his own "Darth" title... I wonder how much of a role (if any) his life-changing experience on Yuuzhan'tar plays in such a fateful event... To be continued!

Rating: - Jacen Solo comes of age

The New Jedi Order series of Star Wars books has been pretty dark, but the last couple were full of adventure, even if it was tinged with a bit of black. However, with Traitor, we're back to the darkness and the character development as Jacen Solo finally grows up. He's been the most emotionally torn of the Solo children as he's continually wondering what his role as a Jedi is, even wondering what the role of the Jedi Order itself is. This is the story of Jacen's imprisonment, torture, and reemergence as a force in the universe, and it's a masterful tale. For the first time in this series, there is only one main character, and it's an immensely personal, and rewarding, tale. I don't know if I can say it's the best of the series so far, but it is definitely up there.

Traitor begins just after Jacen's capture. He's hooked up to the "Embrace of Pain," a device holding him horizontally just above the floor, his arms and legs extended so far that they're almost out of their sockets and his ankles grinding together. He awakes to the sight of Vergere, the bird-like creature that is ostensibly on the Yuuzhan Vong side, yet who has helped the New Republic before (she provided the cure to Mara's disease). They engage in a discussion about what pain is and how important it is to life, and to the Vong, and how important struggle is to life. She asks vagues questions and gives vague answers to Jacen's own questions, until finally she is satisfied enough that he is taken out of the device and moved onto other things. Though sometimes, these other things are even worse. Just what does Vergere want? She is in a league with the Vong Executor, Nom Anor, but is she really on their side? Or anybody's? And will Jacen survive his ordeal long enough to figure out what her game is, or to hatch the plan that could change the course of the Vong invasion forever?

On first glance, Traitor seems to be not much more than a series of philosophical discussions between Vergere and Jacen, and that's what it is at first. Amazingly enough, though, I wasn't bored by this because they are interesting and Vergere is such an enigmatic character that I really wanted to know what her angle was. I admit I had been partially spoiled about what happens in this book, so I had a better idea of what Vergere was going to end up doing, but I had no idea how she would get to that point. It was fascinating to see. Is she helping Jacen? Intentionally hurting him? Or trying to make him see that he has the power of choice in his life, something that he always seemed to be denying himself as he agonized over what the true role of the Jedi is in the universe. I found her an intriguing character as we see her plot with Nom Anor and then come back and almost be friends with Jacen. Then she would do something that would seem so hideous at first glance that I would wonder how she could ever be a friend.

Part of the effectiveness of these last sequences is because Stover usually has Vergere's action be right at the end of a chapter, and the next chapter would begin with Jacen already in his next place and having to remember back to what happened. While I do believe this added to the intensity of these sequences, I think that Stover used this technique a bit too often. It lost some of its impact as the book went on.

While I think Vergere is the star of the book, Jacen comes off really well too. He comes into the book a whiny brat. While I didn't dislike him, I could have done without him. Vergere is the forge that the book uses to shape him into the man he becomes, and it's an extremely interesting journey for him. As he's freed by Vergere, he is still being taught by her, and his horror at what Coruscant has become is shared by any reader that has been following this series. His final destination when Vergere says he's free to go anywhere on the planet is obvious in hindsight, and when he gets there, we share his disappointment. I also loved his increasing confusion during his discussions with Vergere, with his frustration palpable when she won't give him the straight answers he wants.

The only real problem I had with Traitor was Nom Anor and the whole plan involving Jacen. Ostensibly, Vergere and Nom Anor are trying to turn Jacen to the Vong way of thinking, then he will attract Jaina Solo and complete the ritual combat of the Twins that the Vong find so holy. Anor complains a lot when it looks like Jacen's not turning out like he should be, but he really doesn't do anything about it, and he seems to fall for Jacen's ruse at the end way too easily. Yes, he has his doubts, but they should have been strong enough for him to take more precautions. Instead, I almost began to wonder whether Anor was in on the whole deception. That's not good. Also, it would have been nice if Vergere's intentions had been a *little* bit clearer. I don't want them spelled out to me, but I'm still not sure whether everything was part of what she planned, or whether she adapted to circumstances as they happened. Yes, at the end it's obvious that she's learned from Jacen as well, but it's still unclear how much was her plan to begin with.

Otherwise, Traitor is a masterful book, and it may have big implications in the rest of the series. But it's a very personal book, and I found it all the more powerful because of that. Definitely worth a read.

David Roy

Rating: - A More Rewarding Read

This book is a radical departure from all the previous books in the New Jedi Order Series. Enjoyable as the series has been, as it progressed I always had this feeling that some of the deeper elements of the story were being overlooked. You've had some pretty spurious arguments on the nature of the force and how it should be used by Luke, Kyp Durron and Jacen but little more.

This book goes into detail on everything you've ever wanted to know about the nature of the Force and the Yuuzhan Vong. More, this book discusses how self-knowledge can be the route to wisdom, how a lesson is not learnt unless it is purchased with pain, and how the darkside is a part of our nature, not some irrelevant philosophical perspective. Almost every page is full of brillaint conversations between Vergere and Jacen and that is something else very refreshing about the book, it's small group of characters. You would think that this would limit the book in scope but the opposite is true. Jacen is transformed kicking and scraming from the annoying, ineffective intellectual into one of the most important characters in the series. The character Vergere is filled out without destroying her mysterious quality. In fact it is a little dissapointing in subsequent books seeing the influence of such a powerful and interesing character curtailed and marginalised again by other authors.

Even when Matthew Woodring Stover does introduce other characters he does it brilliantly, showing Ganner Rhysode reconciling his heroic tendencies with the responsibilities of being a Jedi Knight.

Read this book, it is by far and away the best of the series!

The only negative point is that this book is bound to raise your expectations unreasonably high for the forthcoming books in the series!

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