Authored by Troy Denning, Star by Star: The New Jedi Order is a Star Wars Legends narrative. As the ninth installment in the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series, it initially saw publication on October 30, 2001, courtesy of Del Rey.
The gripping drama and exhilarating adventures of the Star Wars series, a New York Times bestseller titled The New Jedi Order, captivate readers. Now, prepare to delve into the heart of darkness as iconic characters from that distant galaxy—Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, and their offspring—come alive to confront their most formidable adversaries.
The New Republic faces a somber period as the relentless Yuuzhan Vong persist in their campaign of terror and devastation. This merciless enemy has unleashed a vicious creature with the ability to locate—and eliminate—Jedi Knights. Now, Leia Organa Solo is confronted with a dire ultimatum from the powerful alien force seeking galactic conquest: reveal the location of the secret Jedi base within a week, or face the annihilation of millions of refugee ships.
Amidst the chaos, the resilient Jedi struggle to address this new threat. Leia's son, Anakin, proposes a daring strategy: a Jedi strike force will intentionally allow themselves to be "captured" by the Yuuzhan Vong and taken to their stronghold in the realm of darkness. Once there, the Jedi will sabotage the evil empire's most destructive weapons. Leading this force are the three Solo siblings. The stakes are incredibly high. Can the Jedi combat a ruthless enemy without succumbing to ruthlessness themselves and falling prey to the dark side?
The narrative commences with R2-D2 joining Jaina Solo and Mara Jade Skywalker to retrieve two Twi'lek Jedi, Alema and Numa Rar. However, the twin sisters are attacked on the Nebula Chaser by the Yuuzhan Vong's latest creation, the voxyn, which is capable of tracking Jedi through their Force signatures. The voxyn slays Numa, leading Alema to flee with her sister's body.
The New Republic's military begins to secure victories against the Vong in battles on planets beyond the Coruscant system. Lando Calrissian invents Yuuzhan Vong Hunter battle droids, designed to resemble Vong warriors, as a form of mockery. These YVHs are equipped with weapons strong enough to shatter the Vong's vonduun crab armor, making them an important asset in the war against the invaders. Meanwhile, the Jedi become aware of the new voxyn threat. Cilghal's research reveals that the voxyn are clones of a genetically altered beast originating from Myrkr. To counter this threat, Anakin Solo proposes, and Luke Skywalker agrees, to dispatch a Jedi strike team to the worldship on Myrkr to destroy the voxyn cloning facility. This idea is met with resistance, particularly from Han Solo, who correctly assesses the mission's danger and hesitates to send all three of his children into Yuuzhan Vong territory. Ultimately, Luke Skywalker, as the leader of the Jedi, makes the decision, believing it to be their only option, and volunteers himself for the mission. Anakin rejects his offer, citing Luke's importance to the New Republic and the Jedi, as well as the risk of the Yuuzhan Vong capturing him alive due to his strength and significance. Instead, Anakin volunteers himself, and others follow suit. Lando provides the strike team with two Yuuzhan Vong Hunter droids for support. The team includes Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin, who leads the entire operation, along with Alema, Lowbacca, Tenel Ka Djo, Tahiri Veila, Ganner Rhysode, Tesar Sebatyne, Krasov and Bela Hara, Ulaha Kore, Eryl Besa, Raynar Thul, Jovan Drark, Tekli, and Zekk.
Lando, feigning betrayal of the New Republic, convinces a Vong force under Duman Yaght that he is delivering Jedi in exchange for his homeworld's safety. The Vong seize the Jedi, but the latter, after infiltrating enemy lines, escape with the assistance of their YVH companions, YVH 2-1S and YVH 2-4S, and commandeer the ship they were captured on, the Exquisite Death, to reach Myrkr. Ulaha Kore and one of the YVHs are lost during the escape, sacrificing themselves to delay the enemy. After landing on the Vong worldship where the voxyn are being cloned, known as the Baanu Rass, they encounter the captured Dark Jedi Lomi Plo and Welk, who agree to help them after being freed from the Vong's control. Encounters with Yuuzhan Vong forces result in the deaths of several Jedi and their remaining YVH allies. Plo and Welk guide the strike team using their knowledge of the worldship, but are alarmed to find that the Jedi lack an escape plan. To escape, they steal the Tachyon Flier, injuring Lowbacca and kidnapping the wounded Raynar Thul and M-TD (Lowbacca's translator droid). Anakin sustains severe injuries during one of their many confrontations with Vong forces and ultimately sacrifices himself to hold off the warriors while the rest of the team pursues the voxyn queen, immediately after Anakin achieves complete oneness with the Force. Jacen, succeeding Anakin as leader, directs the remaining members of the strike team to seize one of the Vong's frigate ships and flee the worldship while he eliminates the voxyn queen, who is being cloned repeatedly to produce the voxyn. With the aid of Vergere, Jacen confronts and kills the queen within a basal-comb. However, he is subsequently captured by the forces of Nom Anor and Vergere.
On Coruscant, Viqi Shesh, a traitor to the New Republic working for the Yuuzhan Vong, attempts to abduct the infant Ben Skywalker for Warmaster Tsavong Lah. Leia Organa Solo senses Anakin's death and is deeply saddened by the loss of her youngest child. The Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the city-planet commences. During this, Leia pursues Viqi after her failed attempt to kidnap Ben, but Viqi escapes and rejoins the Vong. Luke and Mara Jade are shot down during the Battle of Coruscant and narrowly avoid death thanks to the Millennium Falcon. Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya meets his demise when Vong forces led by Romm Zqar raid the Imperial Palace, and he sacrifices himself with a proton bomb blast, initially intended to kill Tsavong Lah. However, Vergere foresees the plan, and Tsavong Lah avoids Coruscant at the time of the explosion. Fey'lya eliminates approximately twenty-five thousand Yuuzhan Vong in the process. The adult Solos, Skywalkers, and their allies flee Coruscant, seeking a brighter future in the war despite the catastrophic loss of the New Republic capital.
In the years 1997 and 1998, an earlier invasion storyline was in development. It explored a different narrative compared to what would later become the New Jedi Order series. This initial concept centered around Anakin as the main character, depicting his near corruption by the dark side through a female villain (who would also be a romantic interest). This corruption would lead to a final confrontation with Jacen and Jaina in a battle fueled by "intense sibling rivalry," ultimately resulting in Jacen Solo's death after a conflict with an extragalactic Sith species. George Lucas reviewed this story concept in May 1998 and felt that many elements lacked originality and mirrored the prequels too closely. Among other suggestions (including those that led to the creation of the Yuuzhan Vong), Lucas proposed changing the primary character from Anakin to Jacen. Following this, the series pitch underwent a complete rewrite and significant changes, eventually evolving into the New Jedi Order story.
In the revised story pitch, the New Jedi Order team decided to center the story around Jacen Solo's development and planned to use Anakin as a false protagonist, leading to his death midway through the series. It was at this point that the novel outline for Star by Star was drafted. George Lucas approved this pitch in 1998, and development of the series officially began. Despite the persistent urban legend that George Lucas later intervened during the production of the series to have Anakin killed, this is untrue. Troy Denning later confirmed in a radio interview that before Vector Prime was written, the series' story bible already slated Anakin to die in Star by Star, confirming that this was the NJO story team's intention before the series' publication.
Denning reflected on writing the novel in 2014, stating, "It was a little bit intimidating, but not only that -- Coruscant falls, which was, to my mind, almost as big a deal as killing Anakin. So it was a big surprise, and it was intimidating, but also, I took one look at the list of plot points that they had in the original story bible, and I realized it was going to be a big, big book -- and big in terms of being pivotal, so I was really exciting about doing it," regarding the scale of the novel as his first Star Wars project.
Star by Star achieved a spot on the New York Times Bestsellers List upon its release, debuting at #11.
Shelly Shapiro, the Editorial Director of Del Rey, expressed some regret over the timing of Star by Star's release in an interview. The novel, which portrays the Fall of Coruscant, was published shortly after the September 11 attacks.
- ISBN 9780345428486 ; October 30 , 2001 ; Del Rey; US hardcover [1]
- ISBN 9780345428677 ; October 2002 ; Del Rey; US paperback [12]
- ISBN 9780307795571 ; June 28 , 2011 ; Del Rey; US eBook [13]
- ISBN 0099410389 ; October 3 , 2002; Arrow Books Ltd. ; UK paperback
- ISBN 2258053404 ; October 3, 2002; Presses de la Cité ; French-language paperback
- ISBN 9788025214145 ; March 16 , 2010 ; EGMONT ČR ; Czech-language paperback