The New Jedi Order: Balance Point

The New Jedi Order: Balance Point was the sixth novel in the New Jedi Order series. It was written by Kathy Tyers and was published by Del Rey on October 31, 2000. Narration for the audio version was performed by Michael Cumpsty.
==Publisher's summary==
===Hardcover===
====Back cover====
In the aftermath of one tragedy, will a young Jedi's search for redemption lead to yet another?
====Inside flap====
There is no place to channel the flood of refugees fleeing the murderous Yuuzhan Vong but the overcrowded planet Duro, poisoned by centuries of technological excess. Fortunately a deal is struck: In exchange for a new home, the refugees will work to restore the planet to health, under the watchful eye of Leia Organa Solo''.
While tempers flare between the Duros and the New Republic, Han Solo, his son, Jacen and the Ryn called Droma arrive to keep the peace. They are unaware that Leia is on Duro…and that Luke, Mara and Anakin are on their way, searching for a missing Jedi apprentice. And none realize that the Yuuzhan Vong have chosen this embattled planet as the next target in their brutal coreward thrust.
Now, as the fragile stability on Duro threatens to collapse into violence, Jacen Solo must face his greatest dilemma: At what point does the use of power become aggression? Whatever he decides, his next step could tip the galaxy destiny toward the light or toward darkness—with the life of someone he loves hanging in the balance…
===Audiobook===
The epic, multi-part, New York Times bestselling Star Wars series, The New Jedi Order, continues with this second original hardcover adventure!
The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime, the launch book of The New Jedi Order, was a New York Times hardcover bestseller for four weeks, with nearly 200,000 copies in print and 25,000 copies in audio.
Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo work to help refugees flooding in to the planet Duro from the Rim worlds. However the dreaded Yuuzhan Vong have chosen Duro as their next target. Jacen Solo, working at his father's side, finds himself on the horns of a dilemma: how to reconcile using the Force as a tool for good, yet still fight the evil invaders. He must make the right choice, for the future of his family—and possibly of the New Republic itself—hangs in the balance…
===Paperback===
In the aftermath of one tragedy, will a young Jedi's search for redemption lead to yet another?
There is no place to channel the flood of refugees fleeing the murderous Yuuzhan Vong but the overcrowded planet Duro, poisoned by centuries of technological excess. Fortunately a deal is struck: In exchange for a new home, the refugees will work to restore the planet to health, under the watchful eye of Leia Organa Solo''.
While tempers flare between the Duros and the New Republic, Han Solo, his son, Jacen and the Ryn called Droma arrive to keep the peace. They are unaware that Leia is on Duro…and that Luke, Mara and Anakin are on their way, searching for a missing Jedi apprentice. And none realize that the Yuuzhan Vong have chosen this embattled planet as the next target in their brutal coreward thrust.
Now, as the fragile stability on Duro threatens to collapse into violence, Jacen Solo must face his greatest dilemma: At what point does the use of power become aggression? Whatever he decides, his next step could tip the galaxy's destiny toward the light or toward darkness—with the life of someone he loves hanging in the balance…
==Plot summary==
Taking place two months after The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse, Jaina Solo, who was on a mission with Rogue Squadron in a battle against the Yuuzhan Vong at the planet Kalarba, loses her astromech droid Sparky in the conflict and is forced to go EV; as a result, her vision is slightly impaired for a short time. Therefore, she is sent to the refugee planet of Duro on sick leave to meet up with her family, consisting of her father, Han, and her oldest brother, Jacen, along with the resident Hutt, Randa Besadii Diori, who was a survivor of the Battle of Fondor. While residing on Coruscant, Anakin Solo is still in guilt over his responsibility for the destruction of the Hapan Fleet at the Battle of Fondor, and Jacen has a Force vision of missing a lightsaber tossed to him by his uncle Luke and letting the galaxy fall to the Vong's clutches, and followed by a voice telling him to "stand firm." This leads him to believe that by using the Force any further, he will ultimately tip the galaxy to the Yuuzhan Vong's favor. So Jacen vows to suppress his Force abilities for the rest of his life.
But as the novel progresses with his story, he finds that the galactic tipping point in his vision is still falling to the Yuuzhan Vong's side. Meanwhile, it is revealed that, thanks to the healing tears of Vergere and regular relations with her husband Luke, Mara Jade Skywalker realizes that she is pregnant. After the capture of a Vong agent on Coruscant by Mara and Anakin, which ended with the agent killing herself when she found herself "tainted" by the infidelities of the galaxy's natives, Mara, Luke and Anakin go to Duro to investigate if CorDuro Shipping has any affiliation with the Yuuzhan Vong, and even Leia Organa Solo is head of Settlement Thirty-two's partner, the Gateway Dome.
Executor Nom Anor of the Yuuzhan Vong, who survived the events of Vector Prime and is posing as a New Republic scientist at Gateway Dome, unleashes a group of moths that chew on synthplas on Settlement Thirty-two, threatening to expose the refugees there to Duros' caustic atmosphere, leading to an evacuation of Settlement Thirty-two headed by Jacen and Han. The refugees of Settlement Thirty-two are placed in quarantine in Gateway to ensure that the moths do not infest Gateway too. Later, Mara and Jaina figure out that Nom Anor is impersonating a Duro scientist and confront him, only to be trapped under a cave-in while Nom Anor makes his escape.
During this time, Jacen goes to Duro's capital orbital city of Bburru to discuss to Vice-Director Durgard Brarun about undelivered supplies to those of the refugees of both Gateway and the destroyed Settlement Thirty-two. Brarun holds Jacen as a hostage, lying to him about being his guest in Brarun's guest quarters, in order to exchange a Jedi to the Yuuzhan Vong to appease them. In the end, the Vong attack Duro. During the battle, though, Leia is captured and meets up with the Vong's leader, Warmaster Tsavong Lah, and Randa is killed by Lah's subordinate, Priestess Vaecta, while trying to protect Leia. Before she can be executed, however, Jacen breaks his vow of never using the Force anymore and saves his mother from the warmaster. Jacen and Tsavong Lah fight, and Jacen defeats him when he once again hears the voice telling him to "stand firm" and he uses a Force wind to knock the Vong out of a window using the objects of Leia's office that they are fighting in.
When the Battle of Duro comes to its conclusion, the Vong have won again, as usual, and the New Republic saves what refugees it could, including Luke, Han, Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, Droma and his family, and the Solo kids. The remaining survivors are captured, some are sacrificed by the Vong while others are made slaves, and it is revealed that Tsavong Lah survived his fall, but permanently broke his foot and plans to replace it with a living prosthetic. After the Vong find a way to broadcast their living technology to all New Republic tech, Tsavong Lah announces to the galaxy, that if they surrender all the Jedi, or kill them, especially bringing him Jacen Solo, the one who crippled him, alive, the Vong invasion will halt, and they will not attack Coruscant.
==Media==
===Promotional Material===
File:BalancePoint Promo 2000.png|Promo
File:BalancePoint coupon.jpg|Coupon
===Editions===
====American====
*; October 31, 2000, Del Rey, 333-page hardcover
*; October 31, 2000, Random House Audio, 2 cassettes (3 hrs.)
*; July 3, 2001, Del Rey, 384-page paperback
====Foreign====
*; August 3, 2001, Arrow Publishing, 384-page UK paperback
*; 2000, Century, 333-Page AU hardcover
*; January 14, 2009, EGMONT ČR, 264-page Czech paperback (Nový řád Jedi. Bod rovnováhy)
===Cover gallery===
File:Balance Point art.jpg|Full cover art
File:BalancePoint HC.jpg|Hardcover
File:BalancePoint Ca Abr.jpg|Abridged cassette
File:Balance_Point_Cover.jpg|Paperback
File:BalancePoint-Legends.png|Legends
File:BalancePoint De.jpg|German - Planet der Verlorenen
File:Balancepointjc.jpg|Japanese - バランス･ポイント
File:Balancepointfulljapanesecoverart.jpg|Japanese cover art
File:BalancePoint Pl.jpg|Polish - Punkt równowagi
File:Balance Point Rus.jpg|Russian Hardcover - Точка Опоры
File:Balance_Point_Czech.jpg|Czech paperback - Bod rovnováhy
==Appearances==
==Sources==
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==Notes and references==
==External links==
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