Star Wars: The New Jedi Order

The New Jedi Order (also NJO) books are a series of novels set 25-30 ABY. The primary plotline follows the invasion of the Star Wars galaxy by the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong, who through the course of their war deal previously unseen damage. Across the series, institutions like Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Order, the New Republic and the relationships of the Star Wars heroes are stretched, changed and tested.

The series was planned by Sue Rostoni and Lucy Wilson of Lucas Licensing, Shelly Shapiro of Del Rey Books and James Luceno in 1998. The group sketched out the general storyline, created a "series bible" and began contracting authors to write each book.

The series, published from 1999-2003, is a collaboration by the following authors: R.A. Salvatore, Michael A. Stackpole, James Luceno, Kathy Tyers, Troy Denning, Greg Keyes, Elaine Cunningham, Aaron Allston, Matthew Stover, Walter Jon Williams, Shane Dix, and Sean Williams. Various parts of the series have been published in novel, comic, magazine and e-book format.

Further details of The New Jedi Order storyline may be gained by accessing the entries below.


 * Vector Prime (1999)
 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught (2000)
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin (2000)
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial (2000)
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse (2000)
 * Balance Point (2000)
 * Recovery (2001)
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest (2001)
 * Edge of Victory II: Rebirth (2001)
 * Emissary of the Void
 * Star by Star (2001)
 * Dark Journey (2002)
 * The Apprentice (short story) (2002)
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream (2002)
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (2002)
 * Traitor (2002)
 * Destiny's Way (2002)
 * Ylesia (2002)
 * Force Heretic I: Remnant (2003)
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee (2003)
 * Force Heretic III: Reunion (2003)
 * The Final Prophecy (2003)
 * The Unifying Force (2003)

Reactions
Though a somewhat financial success, fan reaction remains mixed. Supportive fans enjoy the new direction and willingness to take bold steps in the storyline. Detracting fans compare the Yuuzhan Vong to Star Trek's Borg or Species 8472 and decry the series as lacking in artistic merit. A serious source of controversy&mdash;both praised and detracted&mdash;was the high number of the deaths of major characters througout the series. Critics of the New Jedi Order series complain that the characterizations of the characters of older works like the Original Trilogy, the Junior Jedi Knights  and the Young Jedi Knights were altered beyond recognition, and that important Jedi Knight promotions were overlooked (e.g., Leia Organa Solo had already become a Jedi Knight before the events of the New Jedi Order). Sales reports after the book series finished also lay claim to the drop in popularity; over half of the audience that Lucas Books enjoyed during the Bantam era stopped buying as the books went on.

Several authors affiliated with Lucasfilm have also gone on record as decrying the New Jedi Order: Timothy Zahn, because he felt the series was too dark and straying from the "feel" of Star Wars, and Randy Stradley, who alleges that Del Rey stole the invasion idea from Dark Horse and took it in directions they did not intend. Michael Stackpole, just after the publication of his NJO Dark Tide books, when asked what his new BattleTech books would involve, responded,  "An alien invasion? No, a thousand times, no." However, author John Ostrander read and enjoyed the series.

In an interview published in The Unifying Force, Shelly Shapiro, the Editorial Director of Del Rey, expressed some regret over the "grimmer" aspects of the series and the Yuuzhan Vong themselves, as well as the timing of the novel Star by Star, coming so soon after the September 11 attacks.