Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin Book Review

Welcome to Dark Tide Part II of The New Jedi Order Saga. Keep in mind this series has a set of duologies and trilogies. It’s confusing why they are not designated as the next chapter of a series but it is what it is. They wanted to go big, bold, and different than the usual standard Star Wars stuff they released back then. It was ambitious and commendable to a certain extent. Anyway, back to dark tides in the Star Wars galaxy.

Following immediately after Onslaught, the Yuuzhan Vong are still on the offensive in the Outer Rim. They have become a much deadlier force than the Galactic Empire. The Jedi can not sense their enemy through the force and their ranks are slowly unraveling. Their enemy’s brutal tactics have stumped the New Republic military, causing more dissolution within the government. As Luke Skywalker tries to rein the Jedi order, Jacen Solo and Corran Horn go on a reconnaissance mission to the occupied world of Garqi. They find a secret weapon that could send the Vong on their heels if they could last long enough to use it.

It is an alright and slightly predictable continuation of the previous book. One that has repercussions for the Jedi going forward. The New Republic along with the Imperial Remnant and the Chiss Expansionary Force tried their best to halt the invasion. Of course, there are many more books in the series, meaning their attempts failed again. After Jedi Master Horn kills the leader of the Vong Shedoi Shai in a duel, his lieutenant Deign Lan is now promoted as the new leader. Diegn Lan orders the planet of Ithor to be poisoned. Our heroes were successful in stopping Lan and her cabal, but Ithor was lost. This defeat causes the New Republic government led by Chief Bor’sk Fey’la to blame the Jedi–a narrative thread that will continue throughout this saga.

Dark Tide: II Ruin is the last of the Dark Tide duology. We move on from the usual characters to focus on Han Solo’s story in another duology series titled Agents of Chaos. This next set of books is more interesting than the last set I have been reviewing. We delve more into Han’s grievances about Chewbacca, a new set of characters, and a conspiracy plot involving the New Republic government’s bias towards the Jedi Knights. See you guys in the next book review!