The Unifying Force
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| Author | James Luceno |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The New Jedi Order |
| Subject | Star Wars |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
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Publication date
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Hardcover: November 1, 2003 Paperback: August 3, 2004 |
| Media type | Hardcover & Paperback |
| Pages |
Hardcover: 544 Paperback: 576 |
| ISBN | (hardcover) (paperback) |
| Preceded by | The Final Prophecy |
| Followed by | The Joiner King |
The Unifying Force is the nineteenth and final installment of the New Jedi Order series of books in the fictional Star Wars expanded universe written by James Luceno.
Hardcover editions of the book included a CD with the first book of the series, Vector Prime, a round robin interview with some of the people involved with the series, and the Yuuzhan Vong 'bible'- a collection of source material on the Yuuzhan Vong created and used by the authors. The round robin interview was printed in some versions of the paperback release.
The novel begins on the Yuuzhan Vong prisoner-of-war camp planet of Selvaris. Four prisoners, a Jenet named Thorsh and three Bith, memorize a complex mathematical code smuggled in by a member of the Ryn Syndicate, and they make their escape. Two of the Bith are killed by the pursuing Yuuzhan Vong forces while one of them is captured, but Thorsh escapes Selvaris thanks to the Millennium Falcon. The surviving Bith is interrogated by the camp's head, Malik Carr, and the Bith reveals the mathematical code, unknowing of what it actually means. The Bith is killed as a result.
The Millennium Falcon brings Thorsh back to the Galactic Alliance where he is debriefed and recites the mathematical code to a Givin member of the Alliance. The code reveals that Selvaris will be the last pickup point for a Yuuzhan Vong-Peace Brigade convoy that will be taken to Yuuzhan'tar (Vongformed Coruscant) for a grand sacrifice. So an Alliance fleet ambushes Selvaris and rescues many prisoners, although some manage to get away. However, the Millennium Falcon, badly damaged from the battle, is forced to make an erratic jump into hyperspace that transports it to Caluula. As it turns out, the inhabitants of the Caluula system have been fending off the Vong for quite some time now, but they are able to repair the Falcon. Some of the prisoners leave the Falcon's company in order to help the residents of Caluula continue to fight the Yuuzhan Vong while the Falcon returns to the Alliance with what prisoners they have left.
As Zonama Sekot travels through hyperspace back to known space, it turns out that Harrar survived his confrontation with the treacherous Nom Anor in the previous novel. And through him, he and the residents of the living world discover that the Yuuzhan Vong exist outside the Force because they had been stripped of it, most likely by their homeworld of the original Yuuzhan'tar back in the Vong's home galaxy.
On Yuuzhan'tar, things are not going well for Shimrra's order. Even with all of the advancements they made in the war against the Galactic Alliance, problems continue to plague the Yuuzhan Vong's capital planet thanks to the World Brain, and the heresy espoused by the Shamed Ones is still as strong as ever, even without Nom Anor's leadership. Nom Anor himself has been inducted back into the elite as Prefect of Yuuzhan'tar thanks to his actions on Zonama Sekot, but even he can't quell the fire that he sparked in the Shamed Ones as Yu'shaa, their Prophet. As for the sacrifice that had been partially foiled thanks to the Battle of Selvaris, the Yuuzhan Vong are able to compensate with captives from other contested worlds following Selvaris. But the sacrifice is spoiled thanks to a riot caused by the Shamed Ones, who save many of the Galactic Alliance captives much to their own detriment as Shimrra has many Shamed Ones and workers executed as capital punishment. Nevertheless, despite the thwarting of the sacrifice, Shimrra gives Warmaster Nas Choka the go-ahead to prepare his fleet to invade the Galactic Alliance's capital of Mon Calamari.
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