STAR WARS: NEW JEDI ORDER Force Heretic II: Refugee

[Editor's Note: This is a combined review with FORCE HERETIC III: REUNION.]--The New Jedi Order Star Wars novels, of which these books are Numbers 16 and 17, follow the adventures of Han and Leia Solo, and Luke Skywalker and his wife, Mara--as well as their various grown children--two decades after the events of RETURN OF THE JEDI. "Refugee" has Luke Skywalker and his nephew, Jacen Solo, searching for the living planet of Zonama-Sekot, while Han, Leia, and daughter Jaina find conflict on Bakura. In "Reunion," the Jedi Knights, having found the sentient planet, must convince it to join them against the Yuuzhan Vong. Jonathan Davis's excellent reading and the superb engineering and sound effects are wasted on story lines that get bogged down in confusing and irrelevant details. Whether the fault lies with weak writing or sloppy abridgment, listeners are not likely to care whether the Yuuzhan Vong destroy the New Empire. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 04]