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Star Wars: Rogue Planet Audible Audiobook – Abridged

Greg Bear (Author), Michael Cumpsty (Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
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Five CDs, Approx. 5 hours

Obi-Wan Kenobi and his 12-year-old Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, embark on an unexpected adventure when they find themselves in a strange world full of mystery and power.  But evil ship designer Raith Seinar has his own greedy uses for the planet they are visiting, and they must rescue the world or have untold lives on their hands--if they survive at all.  Obi-Wan and Anakin have been uncertain allies until now--when they must forge a true working relationship that can carry them into the future!
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  1. Part of series
    Star Wars - Legends
  2. Listening Length
    5 hours and 20 minutes
  3. Author
    Greg Bear
  4. Narrator
    Michael Cumpsty
  5. Audible release date
    February 9, 2007
  6. Language
    English
  7. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  8. ASIN
    B000NJXFOQ
  9. Version
    Abridged
  10. Program Type
    Audiobook
  11. See all details
Next slide of product details

Product details

Listening Length 5 hours and 20 minutes
Author Greg Bear
Narrator Michael Cumpsty
Audible.com Release Date February 09, 2007
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Abridged
Language English
ASIN B000NJXFOQ

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
519 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the storyline great and excellent. They appreciate the interesting insights and cinematic concepts that keep the pace brisk. Readers also describe the writing style as well-written.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

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StorylineConceptsWriting styleStory pace
26 customers mention "Storyline"20 positive6 negative

Customers find the storyline great, entertaining, and simple. They also say it's a great book for Star Wars fans.

"I really enjoyed this book! Cool story about a funky mysterious planet on the edge of the galaxy...." Read more

"...become one with the Force (i.e. Force Ghosts), it was still a really interesting book...if you've already read the New Jedi Order...." Read more

"Great story to begin to bridge together The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clone." Read more

"...It is weakened in that the story itself tends to feel transplanted from a non-Star Wars novel, and the story's principal elements have little payoff..." Read more

7 customers mention "Concepts"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the concepts in the book interesting, cool, and unexpected. They also describe the book as a fascinating addition to the Star Wars universe and a distinct entry in the Expanded Universe. Customers also say the storyline is wonderful and keeps the pace brisk.

"...and the manner of the Carver's death at the book's end is genuinely unexpected and creepy...." Read more

"...It offers interesting insights, like how Obi-Wan planned on taking a hermitage on a desert planet after he finished training Anakin as a reward...." Read more

"...the novel, with its interesting culture and biology, and the well-paced revelations about its connections to the force...." Read more

"w wonderful storyline I really liked Anakin much better as a youth and I think that when he betrayed Amadala it was such a weak reason that was not..." Read more

6 customers mention "Writing style"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style very well written and the pages nice and thin.

"...Zonama Sekot, the titular entity of Rogue Planet, is a well-realized and thoroughly explored locale...." Read more

"This is probably the best written Star Wars book I've ever read...." Read more

"...Other than that it was in good condition, and the pages were nice and thin...." Read more

"...I can't say much more about it except that it is well-written and fits seamlessly in the overall story of Star Wars...." Read more

3 customers mention "Story pace"0 positive3 negative

Customers find the story pace of the book slow.

"Good story that kept me interested. Only complaint was that it wrapped up too quickly. Good filler between the first and second movie." Read more

"Might be the worst Star Wars book I've read. Slow and plodding pace, uninteresting plot, and is entirely too inconsistent with canon...." Read more

"This is a bad book. The story is slow, the characters are bland and the outcome was totally predictable...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

J
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating addition to the Starwars universe.
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2021
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I really enjoyed this book! Cool story about a funky mysterious planet on the edge of the galaxy. I liked that this book filled a gap between Ep.1 and 2. Never got to see or read much about little padawan Annie. I liked the dialogue and interactions between master and apprentice, gives a little more insight to how hard training Anakin must have been. Not an action book (more of a mystery), but did have plenty to satisfy. If you are reading the books chronologically as I currently am, then you should definitely add this to your book list!
2 people found this helpful
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B. Bartkowicz
4.0 out of 5 stars A good book
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2005
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While I think that this book ended up causing some continuity discrepancies regarding the origins of the Death Star plans and the ability to become one with the Force (i.e. Force Ghosts), it was still a really interesting book...if you've already read the New Jedi Order.

I realize that this book is meant to be read before you get into the last 5 or 6 books of the New Jedi Order but I can see where this book might get a little tedious if you don't understand the importance of what is happening on Zonama Sekot and how it will affect events 55-60 years later during the New Jedi Order.

Sure, you lose some small element of surprise but it's not really all that important in the overall scheme of things since we already know the fate of the main characters.

Aside from the Zonama Sekot aspect, this book does contain some very nice moments between Obi-Wan and his 12-year old apprentice. Obi-Wan is still only about 28 years old and trying to deal with the still-recent death of his own master, Qui-Gon, as well as with his role as a Jedi Knight and master to Anakin. Having always been a bit wary of Anakin, he is finding that the boy has become quite special to him.

The main threat to Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Zonama Sekot is none other than Commander Tarkin (who will become Governor Tarkin - the one "holding Vader's leash" in Star Wars: A New Hope) and we get to see the first meeting between Tarkin and the boy who will become Darth Vader.

***Spoilers ahead***

If you've finished reading the New Jedi Order and you enjoyed it as much as I did, you may really enjoy this book for what you learn about the shaping of the Sekotan ships as well as the incident mentioned to Jacen - "Anakin killed the Blood Carver without a lightsaber." I really loved the New Jedi Order and I loved the moments on Zonama when Luke is speaking to Sekot in the form of Anakin Skywalker while Jacen speaks to Sekot in the form of Vergere. I also loved that there is now a connection between the prequel era and the New Jedi Order mostly through Zonama Sekot, Vergere, and Jabitha, who is one of only a handful of characters who knew both Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker and was able to speak with Luke about his father.
2 people found this helpful
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Jordan Jimison
5.0 out of 5 stars Rogue Planet (Star Wars)
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2023
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Great for my bookshelf
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Ethan Mattingly
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2023
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Great story to begin to bridge together The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clone.
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Andrew P.
3.0 out of 5 stars Unusual story set between Eps I and II.
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2006
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Greg Bear brings some very notable writing credentials to the Star Wars universe, including multiple Hugo and Nebula awards. His book Rogue Planet is a notch headier than many of the EU novels, both in the prose itself and in his character-driven focus. The story of this one is unusual in that much of it ties closely to the New Jedi Order saga, which comes decades down the timeline.

Obi-Wan is struggling to be the perfect mentor for his brilliant student Anakin Skywalker, who may be the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy. The book is set three years after The Phantom Menace, putting Anakin right on the cusp of adolescence. Bear does a great job exploring the relationship between these two central characters. Anakin shows boyish flashes of enthusiasm very much in keeping with the boy we met in Episode I, spontaneously hugging his master at one point (much to Obi-Wan's chagrin) and generally leading Obi-Wan on a merry chase just to keep up. He also shows signs of the much more troubled man he will become, still unable to let go of his attachments and striving to contain the immense power he carries within.

It is also a treat to follow Commander Wilhuff Tarkin throughout the story. This young incarnation is venal and ambitious, willing to align with any forces necessary to ensure his star continues to rise unhindered. He "partners" with Raith Sienar, a young weapons designer key to the creation of the Death Star and the soon-to-be-ubiquitous TIE Fighter. (Bear mentions vehicles in Chapter 2 which sounds suspiciously like larger TIE prototypes: "Each was twenty meters wide, with broad, flat cooling vanes terminating their wings. The compartments were compact, spherical, hardly luxurious."

Zonama Sekot, the titular entity of Rogue Planet, is a well-realized and thoroughly explored locale. A quibble I have with it and this storyline is there is something elemental about it that does not have the "Star Wars" feel - perhaps it is the organic technology that pervades the planet (although the Gungans went a bit in that direction). At times I felt like the book could easily have been some other science-fiction story and didn't need to be Star Wars at all. There are a few chapters in the middle dealing with Sekotan ship-building where the book bogs down in details of the process and the biosphere. However, this difference in focus also makes it an intriguing addition to the EU.

It's interesting to note how at times Obi-Wan and Anakin both feel Qui-Gon Jinn is speaking to them from beyond. The book seems to conclude that this is not the case, but Revenge of the Sith establishes that Qui-Gon does manage to contact Yoda, so what communication there is in this book could be subject to a different interpretation.

A couple of other thoughts: garbage pit racing made a great opening chapter. Anakin's assault on the Blood Carver and the manner of the Carver's death at the book's end is genuinely unexpected and creepy. I like how Bear uses wildly varying chapter lengths - the progressively shorter chapters in the climax are very cinematic and keep the pace brisk.

Rogue Planet is a well-written and distinctive entry in the Expanded Universe. It is weakened in that the story itself tends to feel transplanted from a non-Star Wars novel, and the story's principal elements have little payoff without reading the nineteen-book New Jedi Order, in which Zonama Sekot and the "Far Outsiders" play a central role. Depending on what Lucasfilm outlined to Greg Bear, it is likely neither of these flaws are something he could change. Additionally, the middle of the book lingers overlong on the ship-building storyline.

I would like to see more stories written focusing on this critical early stage of the Obi-Wan/Anakin relationship and also would be intrigued to read another entry from Greg Bear.
6 people found this helpful
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Jafnhár Neff
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it.
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2016
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This is probably the best written Star Wars book I've ever read. It's vivid descriptions of alien races and the imaginative ways it manifests really tie everything together. It offers interesting insights, like how Obi-Wan planned on taking a hermitage on a desert planet after he finished training Anakin as a reward. The Star Sea Flower is really an amazing starship, with a function ecosystem that I'd never really considered before. I understand that there are some troublesome concepts expressed in the book that some fans take issue with, but those same concepts are pretty much disproved by the end of the book.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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IlSolitoRedz
3.0 out of 5 stars Affrettato
Reviewed in Italy on March 6, 2020
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Non tra i romanzi più riusciti della galassia lontana lontana. Primi capitoli lunghissimi, mentre i finali solo di una o due pagine, come se la conclusione fosse scritta in fretta e furia.
Si collega alla saga del The New Jedi Order.
2 people found this helpful
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シーバ
5.0 out of 5 stars ただ楽しい
Reviewed in Japan on January 29, 2021
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知らないキャラの多さをはじめ、

チャーザの船内や、

スターシップを作るとこなどの描写
これらが、
複雑かつ、かなり奇想天外で、文章読んで頭のなかで、映像をイメージするのが難しかった。

それでも、アナキン修行時代の、師弟の２人は愛すべき人物。会話のシーンだけでも楽しい。
One person found this helpful
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Old Grim's Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars A decent Prequel Era novel
Reviewed in Australia on May 16, 2019
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Set a few years after the Phantom Menace Rogue Planet shows us the early years of Obi-wan and his Padawan, a young Anakin Skywalker. While not the greatest EU novel or even Prequel Era story it is still a decent read and another book I am thankful to Amazon for giving me the opportunity to purchase a brand new (yes, read correctly) hardcover of a book that is 19 years old to add to my EU collection of Star Wars books!!
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Client d'Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Jeune obi
Reviewed in France on May 3, 2016
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Il est jeune le obi wan et l'un de s'est plus grande missions, chevalier ou padawan, super aventure bien que très courte.
Pierre
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Monty
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in Canada on April 10, 2023
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Not as good as some of the Legends series but worth the read.
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