This book starts out fine, but I definitely agree that by the time it's over it really feels like nothing substantial actually happens.

I don't like really like the way Tarkin is used here, and the other villain included is absolutely forgettable.

The best part of this novel for me was seeing how a still young Obi Wan went about training Anakin, who I thought was written very interestingly for a book that came out before AOTC.

The worst sin of this book is that it really feels quite forgettable, even though I enjoyed moments of it during the reading process, I'm sure in a month I won't remember what happened.

2.5/5 stars

3.5/5 Anakin, Obi-Wan, Tarkin? Sounds pretty sweet. And, as a matter of fact, it is. Bear gets all the characters beautifully right, every dialogue feels true to them, and, more importantly, every chosen action too.

I was worried because many feel like the planet concept is a bit too much for Star Wars, but it didn't feel like that at all. It's clear the novel tries to tie in the later novels, but it can still stand on its own. Seeing young Anakin is delightful and the image of Mace Windu being annoyed by Anakin constantly repairing broken droids and letting them loose in the Temple is just beautiful. However, most aliens never appear in the film, and seldomly are there aliens which actually appear in them. A minor thing, but somehow a bit unhelpful for immersion. That being said, all the characters have distinct personalities and soul, which can never be taken for granted in any novel.

At its best, you get a true Star Wars experience which is able to create the coolest pictures in your head. At its worst, sadly just like in the beginning, it gets too chaotic. It sometimes seems like Bear has a clear, massive picture in his head, but in his quest for explaining all the small details of a fast-paced action sequence I get lost and just have to create my own stuff, kinda ignoring his ideas. Which is not ideal.

I get that many things have been ignored in the following prequels (book was released in 2000), but since I perceive SW novels more like something told from the future, these contradictions don't do any harm to me.

I'd say read it if you're a massive Obi-Wan/Anakin dynamic fan, because that's arguably the most interesting part of the novel. Otherwise, you do no harm in skipping it, even though you miss out on some cool things (for some reason, I love everything about the character Charza, but shhh) which aren't that connected to the overall universe.

For reference of my taste, my vague ranking of read SW novels so far (not so far in the past), this being on #2:

1. Cloak of Deception (4/5) -------------James Luceno
2. Rogue Planet (3.5/5) -----------------Greg Keyes
3. Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void (3.5/5) ---Tim Lebbon
4. Lost Tribe of the Sith (3/5) ------John Jackson Miller

i wanted some anakin/obi-wan before it all went vader shaped and i got that which was sweet. the entire plot was kinda weird though and not very interesting, like the chapters with the other characters and all that stuff about the seed things were just... i don't know. i was on a star wars high and wanted some more of their master-padawan relationship so i'm happy about that but it wasn't a very good book overall.

I’ve always seen Rogue Planet as a bit of an oddball entry into the Expanded Universe. It’s a standalone plot that isn’t part of a trilogy, and yet it draws on and references The Phantom Menace and also the Yuuzhan Vong plotline. And yet it’s not essential to either. If you skipped reading this one, you would be able to understand the Vong series later on perfectly well. In fact the Vong series is so much further down the line from Rogue Planet that the references here are really little more than easter eggs, despite the fact that most of the plot is centred around them.

I think a lot of what makes this book so kooky is when it was written. It’s got a publication date of 2000, and we follow a young Anakin and Obi-Wan some three years after The Phantom Menace. It’s also around this time that the Vong series was being written, but was still a ways off completion, and it was before we had any idea what Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith would be like. As a result, the book references heavily from TPM and the Vong series, and uses pre-Ep II Expanded Universe lore about the years in between. So Raith Sienar and Wilhuff Tarkin are described here as the first two people to push for the Death Star design, even though this is never mentioned in AOTC and had to be later retconned to shove the two ideas together (and as for the supposed ‘new canon’, just throw everything out of the window). Rogue Planet also has Sekot weirdly referring to itself as only newly achieving sentient consciousness… but by the end of the Vong series we knew that

Spoiler

Sekot had exiled the Vong long ago.

See how it doesn’t quite match up? And sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. Sometimes re-reading this book feels like you’re in a slightly different alternate Star Wars universe where nothing is quite right. Sometimes, especially for classic original trilogy and Expanded Universe fans, it feels like coming home when all the rise of the Empire ideas come out of the woodwork that the EU had before the prequels were made – and as one of those people who actually liked those ideas and thought the prequels’ vision of the Clone Wars didn’t make nearly as much sense, I find this to be welcome.

Rogue Planet seems at times to be remarkably well-written, but at other times distinctly less so. The world-building in the beginning is great. The garbage pit race, the Jedi Temple, Charza Kwinn, the arrival at Zonama Sekot – they all feel like interesting new material but more importantly that they slot neatly inside the established universe. The story holds my attention well during the first half, and for sure the language has excellent fluidity and flair. It reads smoothly and engagingly – it’s not amateurish or pedestrian or functional; I can’t stand that kind of tedious language in my reading choices. The language quality holds throughout, but the storytelling quality dips in the second half if you ask me. Obi-Wan and Anakin spend an awful lot of time on the planet just going along with things and not investigating what they’re supposed to be investigating. It wasn’t frustrating from a patience point of view, but because it was one of those things where it could all be solved in fifteen minutes if only the characters would come out and have an honest conversation. And the climax of the story is a super-chaotic skirmish during which I’m not entirely sure what happens. Just to be clear – I have read and re-read this book probably more than five, less than ten times over the years; but I am still unclear on what Sienar was assigned to do, what Tarkin wants to do, and the general chaos of the final skirmish.

As a result of all of the above, I’m never quite sure how to rate Rogue Planet, or even whether I should keep it in my True Canon Ultimate Cut. It’s genuinely interesting and enjoyable at times, but its conclusion is confusingly chaotic. It draws upon classic pre-prequel notions about the rise of the Empire, but doesn’t mesh well with the ending of the Vong series or the actual AOTC and ROTS. It heavily references and draws upon other stories… but it really isn’t essential to any of them.

6 out of 10

"They love their secrets"
Obi-Wan and Anakin are in the rocky part of their relationship, trying to figure out the Master and Apprentice thing when Mace Windu sends both on a mission to find the missing Jedi Knight, Vergere. Vergere had left for the "rogue planet" Zonoma Sekot over a year ago and hasn't made contact since then. Meanwhile, Tarkin and Raith Sienar have plans to advance their station and secure a niche for the future.
NOTE: Based on audibook and novel.

I Liked:
Greg Bear really does a fine job penetrating the minds of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. This is perhaps the absolute best part of the novel: the exploration of who both is and how they behave to each other. At the beginning, Anakin has a thirst for thrills and a yearning to eradicate the pain and dreams he experiences. Obi-Wan frets about how he treats his Padawan. Is he too harsh? Too lenient? Anakin is so talented...but why then does he act so immature? We also have hints about Qui-Gon speaking to them, something revisited in later movies/materials, which is always neat.
The second great thing about this book is how it really ties in with NJO. I enjoyed reading about Vergere, the beginnings of the Farsiders (the Yuuzhan Vong) and the mind planet (which was a weird concept, but it makes sense with the Yuuzhan Vong). Greg Bear did a superb job with intertwining it, so kudos to him.
Lastly, Bear did me a great favor and put our favorite Imperial, Tarkin, in the spotlight. I love how weasley he is and how, even at this time, he is big into driving people to fear him. And then, how Raith Sienar contrasted with him. Very nicely done.

I Didn't Like:
Anakin doesn't act anywhere near twelve. He acts probably about 18. I didn't like how at this age he started having all these uber creepy, demonic dreams. Honestly, it really lessens the blow when we hear it in Attack of the Clones. I mean, if Anakin has been having bad dreams since 12, when Anakin reveals it in Clones, Obi-Wan's response would be like, "So?" All in all, I am not a big fan of every novelist going, "Ooh, Anakin becomes Darth Vader, let's throw in some darkness randomly so people can see it as foreshadowing!" Lame.
Some people really liked the beginning action sequence. For me, it felt out of place. Anakin randomly decides to garbage pit race, a race barely described and highly confusing, just for the thrill. And then Obi-Wan follows him because...? Can we say, "Out of character"? And excuse me, but where did Anakin get the money for the wings? Jedi give allowances now?
Every single alien is brand new from Charza to the Blood Carver. This isn't a bad thing, but couldn't we have at least one tie-in that isn't a stereotyped alien (e.g. Twi'Lek slave girl, Rodian bounty hunter, Hutt crimelord, Wookie soldier, etc.)?
I also felt that Bear spent way too much time on the minor subplot of creating the seedship and not enough on the real reason that Anakin and Obi-Wan were on Zonoma Sekot in the first place (to find Vergere, remember?). They don't do any real investigating, even after their hosts realize they are Jedi. Instead, they are all "wizard" over making a super-fast ship that is going to be destroyed by the end of the book anyway. And when they do learn what happened to Vergere, it is basically handed to them on a silver platter, no investigating necessary. Geesh, what a let down!
Speaking of endings, this had to be the oddest one, with the coda portion. It felt out of place and non-Star Wars.
In fact, much of the novel felt decidedly non-Star Wars. I mean, there were good parts (the shipbuilding WAS interesting, even if it served no purpose to the main plot, the planet WAS interesting, etc.).
I loathed the character of Thracia. I mean, she can leave the Jedi Order, marry, have kids, return, and then jibe Mace Windu, calling him an idiot and becoming the 13th member of the Jedi Council? Can we say...Mary Sue? (Thank God she's not in the book too much.)
And what was the deal with the Blood Carver trying to kill Anakin? Did I miss it or forget?

Overall:
Greg Bear is noteworthy for his hard scifi. This fact makes it extremely odd that he would have written Star Wars, one of the softest of soft scifi franchises. Bear writes some memorable scenes with Anakin and Obi-Wan, explores their relationship, and truly has some intriguing ideas, but I think he just is writing outside his area of expertise. The novel just doesn't feel like Star Wars. Good author, but not the best book I've ever read.