Edge of Victory I

[This is book 7 in the Star Wars: New Jedi Order Series.]As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I like to switch genres from book-to-book, or at least basic themes. You can't get further away from Charlie Huston than a good "old fashioned" Star Wars book. One of the biggest upsides to the New Jedi Order books is that they function well as stand-alone (or two-parters, as in this case) parts of the whole. Another is each story being peppered with conversational recaps of the most important points of previous series. Not everything that has happened (thankfully), but that which directly affects the current tale. The result is you can come back to them after years of absence and pick right up without missing a beat.

The publishers summary:

No longer content with the destruction the Yuuzhan Vong have already sown, Warmaster Tsavong Lah has demanded the heads of all the Jedi. Now the Jedi Knights are in terrible danger—and none more so than the young students at the Jedi academy on Yavin 4. Already the sympathizers known as the Peace Brigade are in the Yavin system—and a Yuuzhan Vong fleet is not far behind.

At Luke Skywalker's request, Talon Karrde mounts an expedition to rescue the young students. Anakin Solo has his own ideas. Impatient, and figuring that forgiveness is easier to come by than permission, he takes off for Yavin 4 in his X-wing.

When it comes to confidence, courage, and raw Force talent, Anakin has few peers. But when his friend Tahiri is separated from the other academy kids and captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, even Anakin may be in over his head. For the aliens have a different future in mind for Tahiri, and they will stop at nothing to achieve their horrific ends.

This is Anakin's tale, and any story featuring the young offspring of Han and Leia usually works well. His confused feelings for his young female friend Tahiri shows what any teenager struggles with, backdropped against his life-and-death struggle to save her from being changed forever by the Vong.