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Star Wars: Rogue Planet | 
 enlarge | Author: Greg Bear
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
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Rating:  185 reviews
Sales Rank: 138244
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0345435400
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345435408
ASIN: 0345435400
Publication Date: May 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Good condition, wear from reading and use. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact and has some creases. The spine has signs of wear and creases. This copy may include "From the library of" labels, stickers or stamps and be an ex-library copy.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
It's an unexpected combination: Greg Bear, author of so many ambitiously complex SF novels, writing about the colorful simplicities of the Star Wars universe. But he carries it off well, with a mix of action-adventure and thoughtful world building that entertains while keeping to the spirit of Lucas's saga. A few years after the events of The Phantom Menace, young Anakin Skywalker is getting restless--sneaking away from Jedi Temple training to gamble his life in a flying game that's much more bizarre and dangerous than the movie's podracing, even before an alien Blood Carver assassin intervenes. Anakin's character is taking shape now: But above all, he loved winning. To turn the boy's frustrated energy to useful ends, the Jedi Council has Obi-Wan Kenobi take Anakin to investigate the remote, enigmatic world Zonama Sekot, whose organic technologies produce magnificent spacecraft, and where a Jedi has vanished without a trace. Secretly pursuing them is a battle squadron captained by the weapons designer who has already blueprinted the Death Star and is being double-crossed by his employer Commander Tarkin. Rogue Planet's action climaxes as the Jedis learn to grow their own spaceship, the Blood Carver strikes, and two heavily armed fleets converge on helpless-seeming Zonama Sekot. Every faction has secret cards up its sleeve--and Anakin's is a very dangerous wild card indeed. There's final victory and heartbreak, but also loose ends (including even stranger, deadlier aliens) that suggest sequels to follow. Bear does a solidly workmanlike job. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk
Product Description
MASTER AND APPRENTICE
The Force is strong in twelve-year-old Anakin Skywalker . . . so strong that the Jedi Council, despite misgivings, entrusted young Obi-Wan Kenobi with the mission of training him to become a Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan? like his slain Master Qui-Gon?believes Anakin may be the chosen one, the Jedi destined to bring balance to the Force. But first Obi-Wan must help his undisciplined apprentice, who still bears the scars of slavery, find his own balance.
Dispatched to the mysterious planet of Zonama Sekot, source of the fastest ships in the galaxy, Obi-Wan and Anakin are swept up in a swirl of deadly intrigue and betrayal. They sense a disturbance in the Force unlike any they have encountered before. It seems there are more secrets on Zonama Sekot than meet the eye. But the search for those secrets will threaten the bond between Obi-Wan and Anakin . . . and bring the troubled young apprentice face-to-face with his deepest fears?and his darkest destiny.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 180 more reviews...
 Very weak entry into the Star Wars Universe March 27, 2008
Greg Bear is supposedly an accomplished science fiction writer with such popular novels as "Eon" and "Darwin's Radio". However, I will never get a chance to find out. After reading Bear's foray into the Star Wars Universe with "Rogue Planet", I'm not inclined to try any of his other material.
I won't say the book was a total bomb like "Shield of Lies" or even a ponderous bore like the Barbra Hambly novels, but "Rogue Planet" clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding about the Star Wars Universe. More importantly, it shows a lack of understanding of the characters from this universe.
This book deals with an inter-prequel story (between Episodes I and II) where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have an adventure on the titular planet, Zonoma Sekot, and come in contact with Grand Moff Tarkin and New Jedi Order mainstay, Vergere. For how important a role Zonoma Sekot and Vergere played in the New Jedi Order, they are not very interesting characters in this book. The same holds true for the characterizations of Obi-Wan and Anakin. I couldn't be less interested in their story.
The worst is how Bear portrays Grand Moff Tarkin. It's as if he never watched the first Star Wars movie. Tarkin comes off as an overt, scenery chewing despot, as opposed to his more nuanced menacing portrayal in the film.
Bottom line is that I could not get through this book fast enough, and it wasn't because it was so good. I just wanted to be able to move on to my next book.
 anakin January 24, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am in the process of reading it now and am enjoying it very much. I like the hard bound books. it came in very good shape.
 Rogue Novel June 19, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Generally reviews are on the mark as a whole. I should have followed the trend for this book because the negative leanings are there for a reason. Any Star Wars novel will be read with a critical eye and is certain to have flaws. The weaknesses of "Rogue Planet" are much more profound than the strengths.
While Star Wars novels are far from fine literature, I was immediately aggravated by the structure of the chapters. Many chapter are literally less than a page in length and add little to the story. The story would have flowed better if some of the shorter chapters were combined. In terms of the plot, I found it humorous that certain elements of the story seemed to be similar to other movies. A powerful leader ruling from behind a mask of deception reminded me of "The Wizard of Oz". A planet where everything is alive reminded me of an episode of Star Trek gone horribly wrong.
There are some positive aspects of the story. The theme of Anakin's struggle with fear and anger is developed. Also, the young Anakin character is not nearly as annoying as he is in the movies. "Rogue Planet" also furthers the theme of Qui-Gon Gin being a rebel Jedi and having a negative impact on young Anakin is brought to light.
This is the first Star Wars novel that I really did not like. At times, the pace made it painful to read. A better plot would have also helped to develop the Anakin character. The living planet theme seems terribly out of place as a vehicle for developing Anakin.
Shockingly Great and the details....WOW June 13, 2007
I purchased the audio cassette because it was cheap. I listened to it and listened again and again. This book is one of the best in the Star Wars series. You wouldn't think it would be, but it is. It takes place on a living planet called Zonoma Sekot (which plays a huge role down the road in the Vong war). The description of the planet and the seeds that make the ships are awesome. Once you get past the oddities of it, it truly is genious. It is different and excellent. Not only do we see the very beginnings of Anakin's turn to the dark side, but we also get confusion and concern from Obi wan and an intro to the future Moff Tarkin and the designer of the first Death Star Seinar. There is even a reference to Darth Sidious. This book is exciting, original and entertaining. It can be had cheap right here on Amazon in any format (though the one penny CD might be your best value). If you love Star Wars, this is one to read or listen to right away
 rogue novel May 20, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This novel has a little action in the beginning, a long boring middle, and a little more action at the end. The middle was mostly composed of great details about the process of growing a living starship. You read that right, living starships. Now, I'm sure Greg Bear is a great sci-fi author. But the problem here is that Star Wars is NOT sci-fi! It is space opera, a very different genre. I feel the whole premise of this story was way out of place in the Star Wars universe. This book also lacked that galactic feel as it concentrated on this one, starship-growing planet.
Another issue is that parts of this story were contradictory to things established in Episode II, like the fact that Jedi are forbidden to get married and have children. The Coda felt tacked on and was also proven untrue by Attack of the Clones anyway. Now we know the TRUE origin of the Death Star project (Geonosians). And Episode II implies that Anakin's slaughter of the Tuskan Camp is the first time he has killed in rage. (It definitely makes more sense that way.)
The only nice touch in this book is that Anakin talks to the spirit of a planet, reminiscent of an earth goddess.
If you like sci-fi, like the idea of growing living starships, don't mind a sci-fi Star Wars story and don't mind all the contradictions to the movies, then you might like this novel. But I think it sucked and I don't recommend this book. The only book worse than this is one is Crystal Star. Instead of this book, I highly recommend the following 5-star novels that are much more relevant to the film series:
Cloak of Deception (Star Wars)
Shadow Hunter (Star Wars: Darth Maul)
Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars, Episode III Prequel Novel)
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (Star Wars)
Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars)
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