Matthew Stover 2002 – Del Rey 28 years after The Battle of Yavin Site Rating =  Buy Now From Amazon.Com

SPOILER ALERT: This Will Spoil The Plot of the Book!

There is an area outside the known galaxy called hyperspace and within it is a single ship.   Inside this ship, Jacen Solo is alive and he awakens and finds himself trapped within the Yuuzhan Vong device known as the embrace of pain.  He is woken by his betrayer, the creature known as Vergere.  She tells him that he is already dead and that his family mourns his passing.  He opens himself to the Force and realizes that he can sense Vergere and she is alive within the Force, but with a flick of her wrist he blacks out.  When Jacen opens his eyes, he realizes that something has changed and Vergere tells him that she is taken the Force away from him.

Vergere continues to talk every time Jacen awakes, but none of it makes sense and all of his questions are met with additional questions.  Eventually he awakes and finds himself on the floor.  He asks her why the Vong are doing this to them, and she replies that perhaps they are trying to teach him something.  She taunts him that he is not a full Jedi.  She reminds him that everything she tells him is a lie and leaves the room as the embrace of pain again blanks Jacen into white.

Jacen begins to think about what pain is.  Pain can teach you things as Master Luke told him.  Pain can strengthen you and can be a bridge to other places.  He realizes that pain can be different things depending on who you are.  He wonders who exactly he is.  For weeks, Jacen has been a slave to the pain but now he begins to conquer it.

Nom Anor gives an update to Tsavong Lah the Jacen Solo project.  He tells him that Jacen has been able to thrive upon the pain that has been inflicted upon him and will eventually turn to the true way, but Tsavong Lah does not understand the significance.  Anor tells him that the Solo family, which has dominated the New Republic for nearly a quarter-century, plays a vital significance to the psyche of its inhabitants. He adds that if Luke Skywalker, Jacen’s uncle, had not destroyed the Empire the Vong would never have been as successful.  If Jacen now turns to the Vong side, the effect on the New Republic will be devastating.  Jacen will capture Jaina and bring her to the sacrifice himself and kill her.

Finally free of the embrace of pain, Jacen is taken by Vergere through the ship.  It is unlike anything he’s ever seen, and she tells him it is a seed ship that will create a new Yuuzhan Vong world.  A new planet will be formed and within only a few months it will be a completely and fully functional new home world.  Finally they enter a room that is vast in size and Jacen sees what thinks are herds of animals, but turn out to be groups of humans, Bothans, and other slaves all of whom shout and sob in miserable pain.  Vong shapers are testing the grass, water and trees that surround this amazing world.  They come across a pond like area filled with huge block containers that is heavily guarded by warriors.  Living inside these blocks are dhuryams, one of which will become the World Brain of the new Yuuzhan Vong home world.  Dhuryams are the infinitely more powerful versions of the yammosks that control the Yuuzhan Vong battles.  They control planets telepathically and this nursery is their playground to perfect their skills.  Jacen tells her his has nothing learn, but she says she has nothing to teach and stabs him the chest!

After living in the nursery for several weeks (or months as Jacen is unsure) he sees Vergere coming towards him and tells him that she implanted him with a slave seed that was once part of one of the dhuryams.  The seed allows the dhuryam to control him simply by inflicting pain in the appropriate areas.  She pokes at his chest wound, but he is no longer affected by the pain.  She then cries onto a cloth and uses the moisture to miraculously heal Jacen’s wound!  Jacen is stunned by this and she tells him that her species can have their tears become anything they want and since she can use the Force her ability is even more potent.  He begs Vergere to use her tears to heal some of the other slaves, but she refuses.  She explains that the beings there are like flowers and weeds.  Some have use while others do not.

She asks Jacen if there is no Force, how can there be life or will in the Vong? How can they live where there was no Force? As she leaves him, he begins to wonder and realizes that the Force is indeed there with him, but he just can’t feel it.  More importantly, if he had never had use for the Force would he really even know it when he saw it and therefore would the Yuuzhan Vong?  Jacen neglects to tell Vergere that he has reached an arrangement with his dhuryam.  Since he is not affected by the pain, he convinces the dhuryam that his ability to heal the others made them work harder for the dhuryam and therefore he is left on his own.

Jacen contemplates Vergere’s question and realizes that the Vong cannot exist without the Force and therefore they must exist within the Force in a way the Jedi haven’t learned yet.  He knows that he has always had an ability to communicate with many creatures and he delves deep into that ability to communicate with the slave seed inside him.

Vergere updates Nom Anor that Jacen is progressing well, but Anor is hesitant to give him any freedom.  The ship they are on is made up a Vong home world lost so long ago that no one remembers its name.  As a seed drop on the new planet is nearing, Anor has several warriors infiltrate the slaves to keep an eye on Jacen.

Jacen begins to help slaves controlled by other dhuryams which angers his own, but they reach an accord.  Jacen decides that all creatures in the nursery are flowers and he will set out to help them all.  After one of the slaves is killed by a Vong warrior, Jacen realizes that there may be some weeds in the nursery after all.

After much work by dovin basals, Coruscant’s orbit is changed and it now has a ring of moon debris around it.  It is now time for seed fall and the transformation of Coruscant into the new Vong home world.

The day arrives to decide which dhuryam will be used on Coruscant.  Jacen is able to hide inside a grove of amphistaff plants that do not attacking him.  Nom Anor sends warriors to pick him up and take him to his ship, but Vergere doesn’t think it will work so easily.  The unarmed warriors demand Jacen come out from the plants, but Jacen tosses one of them into the plants and they kill him.  Then all the amphistaffs move to cover Jacen and become his armor!  When he disappears from Nom Anor’s display, Vergere tells him that he is not running, but attacking.

Jacen uses his telepathic bond with the creatures in the nursery to attack the Vong warriors and leave himself unharmed.  Nom Anor looks on in horror as slaves chase down the remaining warriors and chop them up.  In the attack, Jacen severs the connections between all other dyuryams and their slaves except for his own.  As he takes the slaves into the pond to kill the dhuryams, Nom Anor sends Vergere after him because killing them all will kill the entire worldship.  Jacen kills them one at a time, but as he goes for the final kill his brain erupts in pain and he hears Anakin tell him that the final dhuryam is a friend.  He becomes furious when he realizes that it was Vergere instead of his brother, but she uses her tears to knock him unconscious.

Jacen wakes up on Yuuzhan’tar and marvels at its beauty.  He tells Vergere that he’s sure he touched the Dark Side during his rampage, but Vergere says he did what he had to do.  Jacen realizes that the planet he’s on was once Coruscant!  In the evening, Jacen tells her that he knows she is training him for something and that his slave seed has been removed.  He takes a corridor down deep into the planet.

As Jacen and Vergere inspect a large crater that she tells him is strong in the Dark Side, thousands of warriors begin dropping from the sky hunting for Jacen.  They head into the crater to escape.  Once inside, Jacen realizes that he can still sense the incoming Vong and turns as one prepares to kill him.  He tricks the amphistaff into thinking he is a friend and it goes limp and Jacen kills the warrior before meeting up again with Vergere.

Overcome with anger, Jacen lifts Vergere off her feet and wraps his hands around her throat, but he throws her to the ground without doing any real damage. She reminds him that this place is indeed powerful in the Dark Side.  Jacen apologizes and reminds her that his grandfather was a Dark Lord of the Sith.  Vergere recounts the time she actually met Anakin Skywalker in this very building, and reveals that this was once the Jedi Temple!   Vergere again tests his mind and he tells her that he is and will always be a Jedi.  She turns on the lights to reveal the ring of Yuuzhan Vong warriors along with Nom Anor around them.  Rage builds up inside Jacen and he blanks out.  He wakes to see the room destroyed and Vergere lying on the ground beside him.  He slowly remembers that he had unleashed the Dark Side on the room and pulled the walls down crushing the warriors around him.  Weakly, she asks Jacen why he thinks the Jedi would build their temple above a wealth of Dark Side energy.  The answer of course is that they would not.  The real secret of the Jedi is that there is no light in dark side.  There is only the Force.  She tells him that what he calls the Dark Side is really just the raw force.  The only Dark Side Jacen needs to fear is the darkness in himself.

Distraught at his actions, Jacen seeks solace in his old family home, but Vergere and Nom Anor find him and Anor urges him to give up the Force and embrace the Truth.  He offers Jacen a lightsaber which he accepts as he agrees to their offer and joins the Yuuzhan Vong!

Throughout the galaxy, large floating camp ships litter the skies.  They are home to hundreds of millions of refugees that have been displaced after Vong attacks on their planets.  Life in the camps is difficult as no planet will accept them for fear they contain spies for the Yuuzhan Vong.  Ganner Rhysode has been searching the camp ships chasing a rumor of Jacen Solo’s whereabouts.  He finally reaches an apartment and asks to speak with the person who had recently seen Jacen on Coruscant.  After a brief skirmish, Ganner reaches the man in charge who, after chastising Ganner, taps his nose and the creature covering him falls off revealing it to be Jacen!  Jacen incapacitates him using Vergere’s tears and tells the others that their plan has failed and to bring Ganner with them.  As they take him into an escape pod, Ganner’s only thought is that Jacen Solo is a traitor!

Still paralyzed, Ganner hears (or dreams) that Jacen asks Nom Anor if he can persuade Ganner to follow the true way as he has.  If not, they can duel to the death, much like he will with Jaina once she is captured.  For some reason, he senses Jacen is trying to send him a calming message.

Once Ganner wakes up, Jacen begins ordering him around in a very strange dramatic fashion. He raises his arms and all the vines watching them go to sleep.  He tells Ganner that he’s tricked the Vong into thinking he’s converted and he’s hoping to get next to the World Brain with this fake sacrifice.  As a sign of trust, he gives Ganner Anakin’s lightsaber.  Several people enter the room decorated in various garments including Nom Anor.  Ganner turns to the Vong and utters a phrase that he has been taught by Jacen that signifies he is now a believer and willingly goes to meet his demise.

They head towards the well of the World Brain through a maze of life that is still growing and will eventually protect it from any attack.   Ganner realizes that the well is actually inside the former Republic Senate.  At several points Ganner swoons under the stress and Jacen helps him along using the Force.  Ganner is humiliated at his failed quest to be a better Jedi and a true leader.  Jacen turns to address the throng of spectators gathered there and he uses the Force to open the doors to the chamber, but closes them after only he and Ganner have entered.  The Senate chamber is full of slime surrounding the World Brain.  Despite their history, the Brain is not pleased to see Jacen and begins reacting violently to his presence.  He points to a secret shaft that Ganner can use to escape, but Ganner is insulted saying he will remain as long as Jacen does.  Jacen explains that everyone has a part to play and this is his.  Realizing that he has found his path as well, Ganner ignites Anakin’s lightsaber.  The World Brain collects Jacen who willingly descends into the slime telling Ganner to stall the Vong for ten minutes.

Sensing that something has gone terribly wrong, the Vong blow open the doors to the chamber.  Nom Anor mocks Ganner as an unfit weakling, but Ganner flashes his lightsaber and returns the insult.  Warriors pour into the room, but are all turned away by his blade to the point where they must climb over the bodies of the dead to reach him.

Nom Anor berates Vergere on Jacen’s betrayal.  She tells him that unless he takes her along during his escape Tsavong Lah may blame him for the failure and that Jacen will steal his ship.

Jacen is taken inside the World Brain.  He opens up to the dhuryam and shares his entire being and his love of all things within the world.

Anor takes Vergere into his escape pod, but she holds him off with a lightsaber.  He suggests that the ship will only answer to him, but Vergere reminds him that Jacen can change the ship’s mind.

Ganner realizes that he has become everything that he had ever should be.  He is dying from all the poison in his body from the hundreds of attacks.  The structure begins to falter around him and he uses the Force to help it along.

Jacen and the World Brain are now one.  He thinks a short goodbye to it and then launches out of the slime pool.  He can hear Ganner laughing in the distance and wants to help him. Vergere tries to stop him, but when he insists she gives him back his lightsaber.  Suddenly, the structure begins to collapse onto the World Brain and Jacen hears (or at least thinks he hears) Ganner telling him to go.  Jacen follows Vergere to safety where they leave a bound Nom Anor cursing behind them.

As they head back to New Republic space, Jacen tells Vergere that he has convinced the World Brain to teach the Vong how to compromise, something they aren’t particularly accustomed to doing.  She is very proud of her student, who has now become a teacher.

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