The New Jedi Order: Star by Star

Star by Star, part of the New Jedi Order series, is a novel by Troy Denning, published by Del Rey in 2001. The paperback version includes the short story Recovery, previously available in eBook format only, as well as a preview of Destiny's Way. Narration for the audio version was performed by Alexander Adams.

American

 * ISBN 034542848X; October 30, 2001, Del Rey, 624-page hardcover
 * ISBN 0375419357; October 30, 2001, Random House Audio, Abridged cassette
 * ISBN 0345428676; October 3, 2002, Del Rey, 605-page paperback

Foreign

 * ISBN 185686605X; October 31, 2001, Gardners Books, UK abridged cassette
 * ISBN 0099410389; October 3, 2002, Arrow Publishing, 560-page UK paperback
 * ISBN 2258053404; October 3, 2002, Presses de la Cité, French paperback (Le nouvel ordre Jedi: Étoile après étoile)

Back cover
In the shadows of a treacherous enemy, the Jedi Knights reach their darkest hour&hellip;

Inside flap
The New York Times bestselling Star Wars series The New Jedi Order'' enthralls readers with its epic drama and thrilling adventure. Now readers will pierce the very heart of darkness, as those fascinating figures in that galaxy far, far away—Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, as well as their children—spring to vivid life to battle their deadliest adversaries.''

''It is a solemn time for the New Republic, as the merciless Yuuzhan Vong continue their ruthless campaign of terror and destruction. The brutal enemy has unleashed a savage creature capable of finding—and killing—Jedi Knights. And now Leia Organa Solo faces a terrible ultimatum from the mighty alien foe determines to conquer the galaxy. If the location of the secret Jedi base is not revealed within one week, the Yuuzhan Vong will blast millions of refugee ships into oblivion.''

''As the battered but still unbroken Jedi scramble to deal with the newest onslaught, Leia's son Anakin lays out a daring plan. A Jedi strike force will allow itself to be "captured" by the Yuuzhan Vong and taken to their stronghold in the realm of darkness, where the Jedi will sabotage the evil empire's deadliest weapons. The leaders of the force are the three Solo siblings. The risks are tremendous. Can the Jedi fight a ruthless enemy without becoming ruthless themselves and falling victim to the dark side?''

Paperback
''It is a solemn time for the New Republic, as the merciless Yuuzhan Vong continue their campaign of destruction. The brutal enemy has unleashed a savage creature capable of finding—and killing—Jedi Knights. Now Leia Organa Solo faces a terrible ultimatum. If the location of the secret Jedi base is not revealed within one week, the Yuuzhan Vong will blast millions of refugee ships into oblivion.''

''As the battered but still unbroken Jedi scramble to deal with the newest onslaught, Leia's son Anakin lays out a daring plan. He will lead a Jedi strike force into the heart of enemy territory in order to sabotage the Yuuzhan Vong's deadliest weapons. There, with his brother and sister at his side, he will come face-to-face with his destiny—as the New Republic, still fighting the good fight, will come face-to-face with theirs&hellip;''

Plot summary
Jedi sisters Alema and Numa Rar are attacked by the Yuuzhan Vong`s newest creation, the voxyn, which can can hunt down Jedi through their Force presences. Numa is killed by the voxyn, but Alema escapes with her corpse.

The New Republic actually began to gain victories in Vong battles on planets outside of Coruscant`s solar system, and Lando Calrissian creates Yuuzhan Vong Hunter battle droids that are designed to look similar to Vong warriors to mock them, and they come equipped with weapons powerful enough to destroy the Vong`s vonduun crab armor. Meanwhile, the Jedi learn of this new voxyn threat and through research done by Cilghal realize that the voxyn are coming from a Vong worldship in orbit around Myrkr. In order to stop it Anakin Solo suggests and Luke Skywalker agrees to send a Jedi strike team to the worldship at Myrkr to destroy the voxyn cloning lab. Lando gives the strike team two Yuuzhan Vong Hunter droids for assistance. The members include Jaina, Jacen and Anakin Solo, the latter the leader of the whole strike team, and they are accompanied by Alema, Lowbacca, Tenel Ka Djo, Tahiri Veila, Ganner Rhysode, Tesar Sebatyne and a few others.

Lando, acting as a traitor to the Republic, convinces the Vong that he has brought them Jedi in exchange for his homeworld's safety. The Vong take the Jedi who after passing behind enemy lines escape and use the ship to reach Myrkr. Ulaha Kore is lost during the team's escape, staying behind to hold back the enemy, as is one of the YVH droids. After landing they encounter the captured Dark Jedi Lomi Plo and Welk who agree to assist them after being freed. Through encounters with Yuuzhan Vong forces several of the Jedi are killed as is their other YVH escort. Using their knowledge of the worldship, Lomi and Welk guided the strike team, but were perturbed when they discovered the nature of the mission. In order to escape, they stole the Tachyon Flier, injuring Lowbacca and abducting Raynar Thul in the process. Anakin becomes severely injured during one of their many confrontations with Vong forces and ends up sacrificing himself to hold off the warriors while the remainder of the team goes after the voxyn queen, right after achieving complete oneness with the Force. Jacen, replacing Anakin as leader, orders the remnants of the strike team to steal one of the Vong's coralskippers and escape the worldship while he kills the voxyn queen, who is being cloned several times to produce the voxyn. With the help of Vergere. Jacen confronts the queen and kills it, however, he is then captured by Nom Anor and Vergere.

On Coruscant, Viqi Shesh, traitor to the New Republic for the Yuuzhan Vong, attempts and fails to kidnap the infant Ben Skywalker. Leia Organa Solo senses Anakin's passing and is deeply grieved at the loss of her youngest child. The Yuuzhan Vong invasion on the city planet begins. During this, Viqi is chased down by Leia after her failed attempt at kidnapping Ben, but Viqi nevertheless escapes and regroups with the Vong. Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker get shot down during the Battle of Coruscant and are almost killed had it not been for the Millennium Falcon saving them. Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya meets his end when Vong forces raid the former Imperial Palace and he sacrifices himself with a proton bomb blast, taking twenty five thousand Yuuzhan Vong with him.

Behind the scenes

 * Anakin Solo and Borsk Fey'lya become the first major Expanded Universe characters to die in the New Jedi Order series. These two deaths caused a great deal of controversy, though not nearly on the scale of Vector Prime.
 * Kyle Katarn was originally slated to be killed off, but this scene was removed at the last minute in order to leave LucasArts free to do what they wanted with him in the next game in the Jedi Knight series they had just announced.
 * Many fans were very upset that the audio book for Star by Star was so abridged. Major events such as the Fall of Coruscant were not even mentioned.
 * In an interview published in The Unifying Force, Shelly Shapiro, the Editorial Director of Del Rey, expressed some regret over the timing of the novel, with the Fall of Coruscant coming so soon after the September 11 attacks.
 * Borsk Fey'lya's death was marked as part of Star Wars Insider's "20 Most Memorable Moments of the Expanded Universe."
 * Originally Jacen Solo was intended to be killed off during this novel rather than Anakin Solo