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A review by jaredkwheeler
Rogue Planet by Greg Bear
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #81
Background: Rogue Planet was written by [a:Greg Bear|16024|Greg Bear|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1223822211p2/16024.jpg] and published in May of 2000. It is Bear's only foray into Star Wars, but he is well-known as a successful science fiction writer in his own right, with several best-sellers to his name and multiple prestigious awards, including the Hugo and Nebula awards.
Rogue Planet is set 29 years before the Battle of Yavin, when Anakin Skywalker is 12. He and Obi-Wan are the main characters. The Fosh Jedi Vergere also plays a significant role, along with Wilhuff Tarkin and Raith Sienar (of Sienar Systems, designer of the TIE Fighter). Most of the novel is set on the planet Zonama Sekot.
Summary: Although he has been an apprentice for nearly 3 years, Anakin still struggles to fit in among the Jedi, tinkering with droids and looking for thrills in Coruscant's illegal racing scene to counteract his boredom with temple life. Hoping to channel his energies in a more productive direction, the Council sends Anakin and Obi-Wan on a mission to a planet at the far edges of known space, supposedly inhabited by the builders of the galaxy's fastest starships. But sinister forces are also interested in these technological marvels, and they don't care what happens to anyone who gets in their way.
Review: So, let's start by acknowledging that Greg Bear is a great sci-fi writer, and a great ideas guy. Neither of those things is the problem here. And, in fact, when he gets going down the right track, Rogue Planet really has its moments. The opening sequence is quite exciting, and has some great character moments. The climax is even better.
It's just that there's this really long middle bit that is soul-crushingly dull. This is actually the 3rd time I've read it, but it's been quite awhile, and as I began I couldn't remember why I had such an unfavorable recollection . . . And then everything just kind of stopped dead for a couple hundred pages and it all came rushing back to me. There are two main kinds of boredom happening for me here:
First, there's wheel-spinning. Bear spends the whole novel hopping back and forth from Anakin and Obi-Wan's point of view, to Raith Sienar's, and he does this even though Sienar doesn't actually have much going on for most of the book. I don't know why he felt like it was really important, particularly at the beginning, to alternate dutifully every other chapter or two back to Sienar as his subplot continued to not advance. There are multiple near-identical chapters that just hit the same story beats again without moving anything forward, and it's quite dull.
Second, there is an overabundance of vague technical detail. A large percentage of the middle portion of the novel revolves around the Sekotan technology and the construction of their ships. And even though it is described in intense and exhaustive detail, I still struggled to visualize it in any meaningful way, which made it all rather tedious. Now, maybe this is my problem and not Bear's. Like I said, he's an idea guy, and a brilliant one. He clearly went out of his way to invent some cool ideas for this story, not just on Zonama Sekot itself, but also among some of the aliens that populate the story, both of which are unique and crazy and in their own way reinforce the themes and ideas of the novel. Part of me wishes he had used a few more established creatures, but I'm also glad he made the Star Wars sandbox somewhat his own.
Finally, the ending feels a bit contrived. Bear set up a situation that would be something of a game-changer, for the galaxy in general, but particularly for Anakin's character. But because it doesn't fit with a bunch of later stuff, he has to undo it all by the end. And that just makes it feel even more like nothing really happened for 330+ pages.
C
Background: Rogue Planet was written by [a:Greg Bear|16024|Greg Bear|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1223822211p2/16024.jpg] and published in May of 2000. It is Bear's only foray into Star Wars, but he is well-known as a successful science fiction writer in his own right, with several best-sellers to his name and multiple prestigious awards, including the Hugo and Nebula awards.
Rogue Planet is set 29 years before the Battle of Yavin, when Anakin Skywalker is 12. He and Obi-Wan are the main characters. The Fosh Jedi Vergere also plays a significant role, along with Wilhuff Tarkin and Raith Sienar (of Sienar Systems, designer of the TIE Fighter). Most of the novel is set on the planet Zonama Sekot.
Summary: Although he has been an apprentice for nearly 3 years, Anakin still struggles to fit in among the Jedi, tinkering with droids and looking for thrills in Coruscant's illegal racing scene to counteract his boredom with temple life. Hoping to channel his energies in a more productive direction, the Council sends Anakin and Obi-Wan on a mission to a planet at the far edges of known space, supposedly inhabited by the builders of the galaxy's fastest starships. But sinister forces are also interested in these technological marvels, and they don't care what happens to anyone who gets in their way.
Review: So, let's start by acknowledging that Greg Bear is a great sci-fi writer, and a great ideas guy. Neither of those things is the problem here. And, in fact, when he gets going down the right track, Rogue Planet really has its moments. The opening sequence is quite exciting, and has some great character moments. The climax is even better.
It's just that there's this really long middle bit that is soul-crushingly dull. This is actually the 3rd time I've read it, but it's been quite awhile, and as I began I couldn't remember why I had such an unfavorable recollection . . . And then everything just kind of stopped dead for a couple hundred pages and it all came rushing back to me. There are two main kinds of boredom happening for me here:
First, there's wheel-spinning. Bear spends the whole novel hopping back and forth from Anakin and Obi-Wan's point of view, to Raith Sienar's, and he does this even though Sienar doesn't actually have much going on for most of the book. I don't know why he felt like it was really important, particularly at the beginning, to alternate dutifully every other chapter or two back to Sienar as his subplot continued to not advance. There are multiple near-identical chapters that just hit the same story beats again without moving anything forward, and it's quite dull.
Second, there is an overabundance of vague technical detail. A large percentage of the middle portion of the novel revolves around the Sekotan technology and the construction of their ships. And even though it is described in intense and exhaustive detail, I still struggled to visualize it in any meaningful way, which made it all rather tedious. Now, maybe this is my problem and not Bear's. Like I said, he's an idea guy, and a brilliant one. He clearly went out of his way to invent some cool ideas for this story, not just on Zonama Sekot itself, but also among some of the aliens that populate the story, both of which are unique and crazy and in their own way reinforce the themes and ideas of the novel. Part of me wishes he had used a few more established creatures, but I'm also glad he made the Star Wars sandbox somewhat his own.
Finally, the ending feels a bit contrived. Bear set up a situation that would be something of a game-changer, for the galaxy in general, but particularly for Anakin's character. But because it doesn't fit with a bunch of later stuff, he has to undo it all by the end. And that just makes it feel even more like nothing really happened for 330+ pages.
C