Gabriel

This book was a much slower read than the first, but not to a fault. It took more time to setup its story and justify the later action, including what was absent from the last novel, the perspective of the Yuuzhan Vong.

As always, it's interesting to get an insight into their culture, but also, it's usually quite necessary to show the enemy and their perspective of the story when telling a Star Wars story, and I find it harkens back to the original trilogy showing the perspective of Vader often.

Corran is much better in this novel, having a really interesting and personal journey, and a really well-written failure. I do find him a bit of a (male version of) a Mary Sue, as like with Finn in the Invasion comics, Corran is a weirdly vital character to these two novels, when he wasn't in the first, and doesn't really have very good a reason to be so important.

At times his focus detracts from the original trilogy characters, which is a little annoying when their plots were usually more entertaining. It is the final battle towards the end in which Corran's story suddenly becomes gripping, as he has a really good battle which, in the end, is for nothing.

I loved the way this book created a new loss for both Anakin and Jaina, especially Anakin. Befriending Daeshara'cor and developing her after her bumpy start, also making her less hostile and seeing her become a better Jedi really made me quite attached to her, so her death was tragic.

I wasn't nearly as interested in Anni, in all honesty, I didn't even know who she was when she died, but to see the importance of her to Jaina, and how upsetting she found it, finally being able to relate to Anakin, was a good choice for her character.

The duels between Vong and Jedi never get any less entertaining whatsoever, and I love a good big battle between a small group of Jedi and loads of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Anakin is becoming my favourite of Han and Leia's children. I adore how optimistic he is, so much like Luke, and he is desperate to change the meaning of his name. For people to associate Anakin with a hero and not Vader, it's an extremely tragic element to his character knowing what I already know, and I love it. He's a great Jedi, so ahead of his age, mature, and an amazing fighter against the Yuuzhan Vong.

I still love Jaina, but can't help but feel like Stackpole isn't very interested in her. She was so entertaining and likeable in ‘Vector Prime' and although she has had a lot of attention with Rogue Squadron, she's suddenly not as interesting as a Jedi, and often seems sidetracked.

Also, of course it's Stackpole, who wrote some of the X-Wing novels, who shoves Jaina in Rogue Squadron. Maybe it's because I'm the way I am about ships in Star Wars, but I wanna see her being a cool Jedi alongside being a sick pilot, it disappoints me seeing her relegated to flying in each battle now. At least she got to use her brilliant flying to her advantage and to have an enormous effect on the outcome of a battle in ‘Vector Prime'.

All in all, this was an exceptional novel which was a bit more gritty, slow-paced, and rewarding than the last.

However, the problems I have with Stackpole's writing remain. And I am pleased to be done with him for quite a while. The favouritism of Corran is quite clear sometimes, and the extra focus on ship stuff can bore me.

But he is still excellent at writing action and other characters, he makes duels particularly engaging, and actually did something interesting with Corran Horn here!

8/10

I thought this book would be excellent as it is by Greg Keyes, and anything can seem a masterpiece after the Force Heretic trilogy, but I was still surprised at how good this is.

Keyes continues to write phenomenally, writing exceptionally interesting dialogue and brilliant action, focusing a lot more on ground combat than fighter combat which I prefer, but with a still good story for the fighter squadrons and Jaina.

Although I don't think it quite reaches the heights of the first Edge of Victory novel, it proves how good a writer Greg Keyes is for Star Wars and is just a brilliant novel all round.

Shimrra has been slowly built up in the last few novels, and I'm really hoping we get a fight of some sorts between him and the Jedi. I'm becoming more and more suspicious that he is aware of the Force and uses it in some kind, and that we might quite possibly get a larger reveal around the Vong's absence in the Force.

I love the hints we are getting about Shimrra's rise to power, that he got there through rather nefarious methods even for a Yuuzhan Vong, and he is just a really interesting character I hope we find more out about in the final book.

Nen Yim has always been an intriguing character, especially when written by Keyes, but she really shines here. It pains me to think we still don't truly know what she found out about the Yuuzhan Vong, the ‘truth' that she discovered, but I hope we find out soon! Her death was absolutely brutal, and continued to make Nom Anor extremely despicable (why I love him so much) and the reveal that HER memories were used to make Tahiri shaped was shocking. At least she lives on in some way through Tahiri.

Speaking of Tahiri, she always shines when written by Greg Keyes, but she was brilliant here in her new form, and I have to admit, I have grown to love Corran throughout this series even though I wasn't sure of him at first, and now I really like that Corran has become Tahiri's master. They are a brilliant pair and were really good here.

Nom Anor's story was truly just fantastic here, I cannot wait for him to get what's coming to him! The subterfuge, the constant lies, the obsession with self-preservation, the gripping, extremely tense fight scenes where he JUST manages to slip away, it all just continuously adds to the hatred the reader is meant to feel towards him and I love it. He ran away from Anakin many books ago, and he's still running now. An absolute coward and I love it.

Overall, this book is just so fucking good. It's great to have another stunning novel after the Force Heretic trilogy which wasn't too bad, just overly long and boring.

Keyes' writing style is something I have praised before and I praise it again here. It's a shame he doesn't write anymore Star Wars after this because I could praise his characterisation of characters like Tahiri and Corran forever and the way he structures a book perfectly to be extremely gripping and action-packed just makes his books so easy to read quickly. It is hard to stop.

I didn't mind my favourite characters mostly being absent, as the way everyone else was written here was so good, but I did like that Luke, Mara, Jacen, and Saba arrived towards the end and helped fight a bunch of Yuuzhan Vong. Zonama Sekot continues to be an interesting planet and I am still baffled as to the true importance of it!

I loved this novel through and through and I am so excited to finally finish the series with ‘The Unifying Force'. I just pray it lives up to the extremely high expectations I am trying to keep under control!

8.5/10

Wow.

I'm starting this review with simply that.

For some context, last night I finished ‘Balance Point' and then because I had some time, I decided to start this novel. Before going to bed, I read a whole 95 pages.

Today... I read the rest.

Greg Keyes is a most welcome addition to the team of writers for this series. It's such a massive shame there are no more novels by him in this series because his writing is infectious, and incredibly hard to stop reading.

His writing style is quick, easy to read, and full of twists, turns, and constant narrative hooks that made it impossible for me to put it down all fucking day. If I'm reading in the morning, when free at college, at home before a drive, at home all day until I'm done, you've done a fucking good job.

It helps that this novel had such a good plot thread to continue from the last novel...

Since the Yuuzhan Vong declared that they wanted all of the Jedi, things have turned for the worst for the Jedi. And I fucking love it.

As someone passionate about stories, I always love when things get horribly wrong for our heroes. I'm not sure why, but when things take a darker turn, when all hope seems lost, when a moment like this happens that seems to utterly doom them and be a major turning point, I love it. And this entire novel works on from that.

Suddenly, everyone is their enemy. I fucking adored Luke's confrontation with Borsk Fey'lya, the way he finally seemed to give up on him, to know he is an enemy, and not an ally. And Mara's constant support for Luke was heartwarming. I love how whilst Luke is truly struggling and perhaps in the most despair he has ever been in since he lost his hand, Mara helps him pick himself up. I love them.

This novel focuses largely on Anakin, and my love for him has only continued. He is a troubled Jedi, but an incredibly righteous one, and I love him for it. I adored him under Stackpole and found him massively underrepresented since then. Not anymore of course!

His development has been magnificent, and he has undergone a massive transformation and lots of development. His relationship with Tahiri at first was decent, but ended up being really great. I loved her character, her determination, but also her mix of maturity and immaturity. Her and Anakin are very good for each other.

What I really found myself shocked by was how vulgar this book was. It is not for the squeamish. In fact, it is the grittiest, most uncomfortable novel so far. I love this kinda thing, and I even found myself incredibly uncomfortable at parts.

Everything that happens to Tahiri is vile, but she seems to come out of it stronger, and her and Anakin have various fantastic moments towards the end. But I'm glad that this novel returned to the sickly grit of ‘Vector Prime' which I had felt distinctly missing for some time, but still with the hope and optimism of Star Wars.

Luckily, I am without spoilers for the Yuuzhan Vong!

I truly know pretty much nothing about their galaxy or any of the mysteries around them. So this book was fascinating for me. I felt we got to understand their culture and their galaxy more than ever before, and I am so excited to learn more as the novels go on.

Vua Rapuung was absolutely incredible. He was always interesting, but as his story went on, he truly got so good. I loved how Greg Keyes used him as an immaculate insight into the truth behind the Yuuzhan Vong society, not all of them are perfect, devoted disciples.

His ‘redemption', if you can call it that in our terms, was magnificent, and I love how epic a warrior he was. I especially love the decision for Anakin's helping him inspiring an admiration for the Jedi with some of the Yuuzhan Vong. You can't keep an entire race thinking the same thoughts forever!

There seems to be some dissent in the ranks for the Yuuzhan Vong, and I can't help but feel like this is gonna contribute to some of their future failings.

I feel like I could go on and on about this novel.

It was fascinatingly good. Possibly the best so far. Such a tight-knit book, written so well, so engaging and tense, vile and bold, gritty and fantastical, hopeful yet inspiring so much despair.

Just another immaculate entry into this series.

Onto the next one!

9/10

It's quite possible that the disappointing nature of the last book helped make this one feel like such a breath of fresh air. But this might be a divisive review, as I've seen much negativity for this book, whilst I absolutely loved it.

It has some vital moments to the overall story so far, develops the characters quite a lot, finishes off some of the leftover plot threads from the last novel, sets up some really important stuff that I can tell will be vital later, has some fantastic action, and a thankful little amount of space fighting stuff!

It finally brings the focus back to the main characters, and is a little more personal than the last few books, focusing truly on the “MAIN” characters, Luke, Mara, Han, Leia, Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin. Which is a godsend after the last book decided to barely feature any of them!

Firstly, quite shockingly, Mara is pregnant! As her and Luke are my favourite characters, this makes me very, very happy, and I love how it is changing their characters already.

Mara herself has some exceptional moments in this novel, fighting Yuuzhan Vong in disguise on Coruscant, wearing a glamorous disguise to confront Nom Anor, lots of brilliant dialogue with Luke, I loved her having such a large focus.

Leia was exceptional here, and had one of the sickest moments of the novels so far. I always cringe saying the word, but she had a frankly badass moment with the Warmaster ‘Tsavong Lah' and Nom Anor, where she questioned their religion, enraging them, and preaching that life, not death, is the highest truth. It leads to her being critically injured, but I adore her bravery, and love how she preaches her views on life and the universe. She is written magnificently.

Han and Leia finally heal, getting some fantastic war time-like moments as they finally make up whilst helping refugees. I love their relationship and their love together.

Kathy Tyres seems to just get love, writing romance brilliantly between Luke and Mara, and between Han and Leia that I really find to be lacking with a lot of other writers. Just the general banter and moment-to-moment little romantics conversations and thoughts you have with or about your partner.

There were so many moments that come to mind for me, like Mara admiring Luke whilst slightly dishevelled, Han thinking about Leia still being gorgeous even without her hair, little stuff that you think about your partner, or do or say with them in general life and conversation, stuff that, like I said, tends to be missing from these novels!

I also found her writing style really easy to read. The description, my God, so clear, so concise, never feeling like it dragged, never getting down in the dirt about unimportant stuff I don't care about, even making the ship fighting action simple and easy to read and keep track of almost all of the time, even managing to make most of this action a bit more personal, something I usually find to be missing from these battles.

So generally, I really enjoyed her writing. It has made me consider giving ‘The Truce At Bakura' another chance one day. Not for a long while though.

I do love seeing the Yuuzhan-Vong's side of things, but I often find their chapters a bit complex and less interesting, as Stackpole and Luceno tried to craft more Yuuzhan-Vong characters for us to follow. But none have matched Nom Anor, and I've really loved how Kathy Tyres has treated the warmaster Tsavong Lah.

They are both excellent, and their chapters have been an easy read, good even. Easier to follow than usual, cool, fun insights on their society and beliefs, and two just really fun characters throughout the story. Loved their moments and never dreaded their chapters or found myself desperate to get back to the heroes.

I constantly flip between liking and hating Jacen's conflict, deciding whether or not to abandon the Force, and I do get it. He's a conflicted kid. But I am not wanting it to go on much longer, and I'm happy that it seems to be done for. It was interesting while it lasted, and I get how it came from his worry. Sometimes he was very frustrating, but I'm glad he seems to have come around now.

Jaina was much better in this book, possibly the best she has been since ‘Vector Prime' finally getting a bit more of a focus, and I loved Kathy taking sections of this book to heal the relationship between her and Leia.

Anakin was still very good, he's so mature and such a powerful Jedi for his age, he's still probably my favourite Solo kid. But he hasn't been treated as well by a writer as Stackpole since Dark Tide. But he was much better here than he was with Luceno.

Generally, I loved this book. I've heard a lot of mixed things, but I found it to be a blast to read. I read it over three days, took my time, but still read quite a bit whenever I was reading it, and I loved it.

Kathy Tyres' writing style is perfect for me, and I love her treatment of the characters, and focus on relationships, trauma, and healing, whilst doing a better job of refugee commentary than Luceno with the last book.

I almost don't want to hear what people don't like about this so it doesn't spoil it for me!

We are back on fucking track.

My first Aaron Allston book and the hype behind him was not overstated.

Usually when told writers for books or comics are funny, I find myself not jiving with it. Not sure why, but I'm apparently not in the mood for jokes when reading!

But Allston is the MAN at comedy.

It helps that he just GETS these characters, writes the BEST fighter action in novels I've ever read, makes everything easy to understand with a clear depth to his descriptions that aren't boring but help create a vivid image, and even makes up for the mistakes of the last book!

Wow, basically!

Firstly, the opener to this book goes back in time a little, making up for the stupid pause the last book took. Adding events previous in the timeline, we get an exceptional fight from the New Republic as under the command of Wedge, they take back Borleias.

The entire first hundred pages or so are before the events of ‘Dark Journey' and I think it helped a lot to take a break from angsty Jaina and horny Kyp. But when they come back, not only are they handled so well, Jaina becomes a standout in this book. But I'll talk more on that later.

Reforming the Rebellion, the main Rebellion characters are just incredible, and this is one of the best story beats of the series so far. Finally, they are taking charge and not taking no for answers, the Rebellion is back, and they mean business.

Constantly foiling the plans of the Vong, and successfully tricking them, the best ship action I've read in Star Wars helps add to the several gripping dogfights in the book, and the characters behind them are all excellent.

Developing Jag and Jaina further was the right move. They have incredible chemistry, and their romance is exceptional. When they finally kissed, I was so happy! I love these two, and no writer better EVER come back and try to do Jaina with Kyp again or I will be fuming.

Kyp is CORRECTLY characterised as an annoying, still bratty, but very WRONG Jedi. There is a moment where he seriously thinks he is better than Luke Skywalker, more powerful, and therefore can do something Luke has done before but better. He doesn't, of course.

There is an awkward explanation offered for Kyp's attraction to Jaina, and although kinda thrown in, I think it's better than the idea of Kyp flirting with a teenager since she was sixteen-ish, and finding her attractive.

Luke and Mara are great even if sparingly used, setting up their mission to Coruscant. I just love the idea of Luke going on an undercover mission, and the imagery of him in Yuuzhan Vong armour (even if a replica of it) is brilliant!

The internal struggle of Mara and having to fight a war with a newborn son needing to be taken care of is integral to her character and I love that. She's still the fierce warrior she has always been, but she adores her son, and is someone else completely for him. I love the way the transformative nature of becoming a mother/father is handled here.

I loved the Yuuzhan Vong storyline, seeing them constantly blunder and be defeated again and again is very, very rewarding after book after book of them succeeding. It's all to do with the Rebel Alliance again, this time, the ‘Insiders', putting the fight to them.

Viqi's story was solid, with the agent sacrificing himself in a really heartfelt moment I loved. It's a subtle story, but I'm glad it's there to remind the reader that Viqi is still lingering. I wonder when her plot is gonna be resolved!

I'm expecting Jacen to be addressed again in ‘Traitor', so his absence is felt! But it has done wonders for Jaina's character here. She finally gets to address her issues, and face them head on.

I love that her connection with Jag really helps her, as she allows herself to feel her emotions finally, finding some she felt she could open up to. I love that for those two. And I love that she finally got to heal her relationship with Leia, when they spoke after Jaina woke up from a rest I nearly got emotional.

Allston handles these characters so, so well. Jaina is one of my favourite characters again!

Overall, this is a little bit of a short review, not from laziness, but from the fact this book is kinda setting up the next one mostly.

But it still managed to be furiously entertaining. So gripping, I was constantly tempted to read it quicker, but I decided to spend a little time doing some other things I hadn't for a while, and I'm glad I took my time doing just one hundred a day.

Characters like Lando and his wife, Han, and Danni got really good little plots and characterisation, just the sorta writing that I have missed when reading the last book, and wasn't at the forefront for a little bit. I love the new Han and Leia, as pilots of the Millennium Falcon especially.

Generally, a fantastic book really. Bloody loved it.

8.5/10

I found this novel to have some really high points, and a lot of aspects I love, but I also found it a really slow read, and one that I kinda struggled to get through unfortunately.

The book favours espionage and the secrecy and hiding of the Sith over action, which I thought might be cool, but these plots aren't very engaging. There are a few really enjoyable ones, like Bane's struggle to make a holocron, but a lot are really uninteresting, essentially all of Zannah's plots unfortunately until later on.

Zannah's boring plots are made up for by a really good bit where she tests Bane and nearly gets him killed, but then she reverts back to not having much interesting to do sadly. However, I do find her a pretty good character, even if (so far) she pales in comparison to Bane.

I really liked all of the Jedi characters, but I did find their plot extremely predictable, and I found the Jedi's incompetence to be a little extreme and silly at a few points. Luckily, characters like Farfalla and Johun are excellent, and really make up for this. I loved these two, their relationship, and their development.

The pacing wasn't great, as the section before the ten year time jump is almost purely setup to explain how the characters leave the situation they were in at the end of the last book, and is a section I feel could've been skipped entirely

What makes this worse, for me, was how when they do the ten year time jump, they have to reintroduce pretty much everybody as all the characters except Bane have enormously changed and developed, and are all in different places doing different things, so it has to take another dive into exposition and reintroducing everybody, meaning the plot becomes a bit of a slog here.

I will say, though, that the battle between Darth Bane, Zannah, and the five Jedi is utterly fantastic. I love how fast it is, how intense it is, and how close it is. I also love seeing Bane's orbalisk armour in combat, and how almost invulnerable it makes him, and how it enhances his rage and power.

This scene is a shining example of the Jedi being very good even after years of peace, and I do love how fierce a battle it is, and how the Sith come so close to losing here. A theme of these books I continue to love is Bane and Zannah's constant failures and near misses, I love how lucky they get and how they keep having to learn and improve. The battle here is another example of this as they finally have a proper fight and get so close to losing.

Overall, it's a solid book, but I found it a bit of a struggle to read, and maybe it's because I slowed down a little over my birthday, but I found myself becoming disengaged with the plot and characters, and only managed to get back to my usual reading pace towards the end.

I'm sure that most people who enjoy the first novel will enjoy this one too, but I'd be surprised if anyone enjoys it as much, as it's clearly a little bit of a step down.

Rather than forcing myself to read the next novel straight away, to maximise my enjoyment, I'm taking a break to start “Legacy of the Force” for November as I planned, and I will return to finish the trilogy some time after, as I already own the third novel.

Not a bad book at all, but a step down in quality compared to the last, and it has some flaws and issues I really struggled with.

6/10

Pretty perfect early Spider-Man. A proper page turner.

Tempest is a good book that I feel a little mixed on.

For a book with Tenel Ka on the cover, whilst she is featured quite a lot, it is not as much as you'd expect, and I don't feel like we actually get much of a deep dive into her as a character.

Troy Denning continues to excel at probably his greatest attribute in my opinion, action, writing many exceptional action scenes, but there are quite a few boring sections of the book, enough so that towards the end I did skim through a few sections.

Whilst Jacen's time under Vergere is still given a very surface level interpretation in this series, the version they are going for they do a very good job at, but I feel like it sacrifices some characters to create tension.

Namely, my favourite couple, Luke and Mara. I thought Denning wrote Mara excellently in the Nest trilogy, specifically with the focus on them trying to break up the couple, to absolutely no success as their love and dedication is so strong it barely cracks their love.

However, there's a bizarre, forced tension between them, as it takes until towards the end of this book for Mara to accept the idea that Jacen might possibly be bad. I think a lot of it is that she doesn't want to accept the implications it has for her son and the various explanations they come up with, but I doubt she'd so firmly brush off Luke's concerns, especially with who he is and the faith she has shown to have in him. I'm just not sure I buy it.

Alema is a villain I actually really liked in the Dark Nest trilogy. I thought she was very different and interesting, and I still love her hatred of Leia for how she mutilated her. But I'm not sure I buy how she keeps surviving, and Denning seems to have to go through so many hoops to have Jacen keep her alive. That scene between them just felt kinda dumb.

And... Alema isn't that powerful, or shouldn't be. I don't think it fits her interpretation in the Dark Nest trilogy, and now she's putting up a good fight against Mara. I don't buy it.

Lumiya, however, has a brilliant, but brief fight with Luke, cutting off his robotic hand again. Like I said, I wish this fight was longer, but what we saw of it was brilliant. I'm glad they're making Lumiya really threatening and powerful, and starting off with this fight being so close and depressing for the Skywalkers is a good storytelling decision to make their next fight even more tense, if a little predictable.

Han and Leia are really good in this book. I love their conflict between not wanting to support the Galactic Alliance slowly turning into the Empire, but also not being able to accept the Correlians trying to get them to assassinate Tenel Ka. Things are going to be very difficult for them from now on.

Jacen decides to fire on them, becoming very “Vader-y” on the ‘Anakin Solo' - a Star Destroyer named after Anakin to “honour” him - choking a Hapan woman with the Force, shouting at people a little, and yes, deciding to fire at his own parents.

This leads to a really great, tense encounter between Ben Skywalker and Jaina, Zekk, and Han on the Falcon, where Ben nearly accidentally kills Zekk, and his dedication to Jacen really comes to bite him.

Now... I know he's thirteen, but I think there's often a stereotypical portrayal of young people being much dumber than they really should be in media, and I kinda feel that applies here. I can't wait for him to develop, because I know for a fact when I was his age I wouldn't have bought that so easily.

But... to defend it, he's a very emotionally complex person, and I imagine he must be traumatised from how sensitive he was to the negative emotions felt during the Yuuzhan Vong war, and he is kinda dependent on Jacen, so he finds it really hard to accept his absolute hero is becoming a monster.

So you know what? Maybe I like it. I'm just eager for him to start developing!

So, all in all, it's a pretty good book.

It has some pacing issues, and a few moments I really wasn't a fan of, such as aspects of Alema's character, and the treatment of my favourite character, Mara Jade here.

There's some exceptional action, such as Tresina Lobi's fight with Alema and Lumiya, and the big fight I mentioned.

However, the novel is a little predictable, and runs probably a hundred pages longer than necessary.

I'd still say it's an enjoyable experience, but I'm kinda just waiting for Jacen to properly become a Sith now. I feel like it has been built up for so long that I'm not sure how long I can wait before it drags a little.

I may have mostly stuck to writing my negative opinions, but I still enjoyed the book, it was just a conflicting read sadly! Not as good as either of the last two.

7/10

Traviss does a much better job with this book than her last, in my opinion.

Whilst a little slow, it's quite an enjoyable read although I think it focuses too much on not very interesting characters, and the Mando story, whilst good, is a little slow-paced and I'm not as interested in the other Mandalorians as I am with Boba, Mirta, and Sintas.

But, as I'll comment on more properly later, Traviss is actually incredible at writing Ben Skywalker, and his story is awesome in this book. His development in this series is truly one of the highlights.

Whilst I think Traviss' Mandalorian bias shows a little too clearly sometimes, she writes both Jedi and Mandalorians from their own perspectives quite well, and although I wish Jaina would bite back a bit more and prove the good the Jedi do to the Mandalorians, she does get the balance much more solidly.

“He missed Luke, and couldn't imagine why he'd spent so much effort in the past trying to escape his attention. He cherished every second with him now.”

Ben Skywalker is easily one of the best characters in the series, and Karen Traviss writes a lot of his best stuff, and does a superb job of it. His development from his defiance with his parents and desperation to get away from them, to now seeing his Master for who he truly is, and loving his father Luke and embracing the Jedi way properly has felt so natural and earned.

Every step of his journey felt very realistic and well-written, and I've loved how Traviss has handled writing most of his arc. The culmination of this arc has been him finally proving Jacen's murder of his mother, and whilst I do wish this story had been resolved earlier, it was written very well here and I enjoyed how it was handled, but I am glad it is done with now.

“Doing the right thing isn't something special. It's the minimum. It's where we start each morning, not where we try to end up one day in the future. You taught me that.”

Ben's development almost makes me emotional at times, and I love the connection he now has with his father. He is truly a lot like Luke, and he's so loveable and such a great person for it. Now, he's calm, collected, dutiful, and always does the right thing. He's honourable and far more self-assured, he's mature and a great Jedi.

Darth Caedus has truly finally transcended to being an open Sith Lord, his eyes are often the yellow, hate-filled eyes of a Sith, his apprentice is Tahiri, and he now goes by his name, Caeuds.

I agree with a lot of people that they could really do with writing more badass moments for Caedus. I do love seeing him be bested, but there isn't enough, so far at least, for me to truly believe he is as powerful or as threatening as we are being told, as he is constantly wiped the floor with. He's humiliated and made to look like a bratty kid a little too often, and could do with more epic moments.

However, I do enjoy the version of the Sith presented in this series. Rather than living on hate and revenge, they do believe they are better for the galaxy, and are doing what they think is right, rather than craving power or ownership, Caedus truly believes it is his destiny to rule the galaxy for justice and fairness. So slipping into falling for his hatred is part of his arc for this book as he controls his anger and masters the dark side.

Pellaeon is really good in this book, at the end of the road in his life, over ninety and still kicking arse like the legend he is.

I felt very sorry for him when he was murdered by Tahiri, especially how he was killed, but I love how he didn't stand down. The whole sequence where the GA was split between Niathal and Caedus, and Pellaeon turned on Jacen, dying knowing he had another trick up his sleeve was awesome.

I'm one of the few Jedi Academy enjoyers, and part of the even smaller crowd of Daala lovers, so I was so fucking shocked and excited when she returned. I do love that she's much more the tactical genius we were told in the Bantam era than what we saw her to actually be at that time - psychotic and desperate.

Now, she's ferocious and intelligent, with a million tricks up her sleeve. We get a hint at the incredible life she's lived since we last saw her, a husband (sadly killed), children, grandchildren, and I love how more tempered she is, but I also love her desire for vengeance.

She was exceptionally written by Traviss. I love how she managed to embrace the femininity that defined her in an almost uncomfortable, sexualised sense in Jedi Academy, this time written as a power she controls and utilises to her own ends, rather than mentally undressing herself and thinking about how attractive she is, she's powerful and knows it, and is unafraid to make use of it.

I love the relationship between her and Pellaeon, their care for each other, their secret code, the admiration and nostalgia between the two, it was a highlight of the novel and I love how she seeks revenge for Pellaeon, destroying most of the people involved in his death, and cleaning the Chimaera.

And oh yeah! She returned with the fucking Chimaera! How fucking awesome.

“Oh... sweetheart... you found me. You found me. Stay awhile.”

I tear up even writing about it, but I was so happy that after Ben saw the Force ghost of Mara earlier in the novel, Luke finally got visited by his wife.

It's beautiful that we didn't get to see the moment, just to know it happened, and I love how Luke reacts here, how Ben knows what is happening and doesn't interrupt.

As much as I wish Mara was still around, I have really enjoyed how her death has been written since, and I am elated to know not only does she live on in the Force, she got to speak to her son and her husband again.

I'm praying to see her ghost again sometime soon.

Although I have mostly positive things to say, the book is absolutely maybe even a hundred pages too long. It's a little boring at times, and I found myself skimming through large portions where little happened.
But when things did happen, they were great!

Mirta and Jaina's relationship is a highlight for me, I think I might even prefer Mirta to Boba Fett. I love her character, and seeing her marriage was lovely. The story with Sintas was also quite nice in this book.

Like I mentioned previously, Traviss' bias for the Mandalorians could be quite clear sometimes just in the lack of arguments Jaina would return the Mandalorians' critiques with, when they often said just wrong things about the Jedi and the Order.

But it was still a solid, good book with some incredible moments, it just ran on way too long and had a lot of filler. A good effort though, and an overall positively enjoyable read.

7/10

So, I'm finally here.

The infamous ‘Legacy of the Force'. It's finally time to see what I think of this controversial series, which has many lovers and many haters, not much in the middle.

I unfortunately have a lot of spoilers. A lot.

But I'm still eager. I've also taken on a bit of a different mentality, trying my best to enjoy these books whilst also addressing flaws I see, viewing it as an alternate universe as to not align with what we gleamed from the New Jedi Order series which the ‘Denningverse', as dubbed by many of its haters, seems to discard or just not understand at all.

Luckily, Aaron Allston is familiar territory for me, in fact, I really love his writing and he even makes me enjoy dogfighting a little better (even if I still don't really like it).

I thought this novel had its high points and its low points, but was still ultimately an enjoyable experience for me.

The opening, in my opinion, was the best part of the novel. Let's call it the ‘first act' even if I'm not the best at determining how long each act is, and when each one begins and ends.

There are various battles with all of the main characters, and the action is very snappy as we jump from person to person engaging in all sorts of fun activities (when reading). It's a really enjoyable segment that is extremely gripping and a blast to read.

I love how it jumps you in the middle of a conflict building up, and you have to piece it together from what you get here, and it works surprisingly well, and is in perfect Star Wars fashion, as George always loved jumping in with action.

As we get to the middle part of the story, it slows down a little, but is still mostly engaging. The plot gets kinda muddled in the politics of Corellia and the Galactic Alliance, and this is kinda where it lost me.

I found it very hard to grasp the politics here and to understand motivations or really what was going on at all. I went suddenly from feeling perfectly introduced, to being a little... confused.

From then on, I found dogfighting a struggle, as I ended up not really understanding why they were doing what they were doing, and as always, the usual struggles of reading a dogfight were present, if not, more prevalent.

There's some good action with the Jedi that is more fun, and I like seeing more of the Jedi again, but there were some important people absent, I felt. Like, as much as I am annoyed by the guy, where was Kyp Durron?

The climax of the story is much more exciting, a lot of the Jedi battles are really engaging, and the reveal of Lumiya being behind it all, whilst spoiled for me, was still really effective. I liked her in the comics, so I am actually excited to see her here, but I see how it might not have landed for some.

I found the Sith stuff in this a little confusing, like there being people taught by Palpatine who weren't part of the Bane lineage, and went off to train their own students? A little confusing. I know Lumiya says she was taught by Vader and Palpatine, but she still goes on about that one other Sith Lord.

The dogfighting towards the end of the book totally missed for me sadly. I was a little bored when reading Han and Wedge flying, and found myself wanting those bits over quite quickly. I do love their conflict, and I like the idea of neither side being truly “wrong” in this conflict, though.

Nelani being brutally killed by Jacen was really saddening, and his manipulating and using the Force on Ben again surprised me. I'm more than a little surprised at his actions here, but I do enjoy that he really doesn't feel good about them but truly believes he's doing the right thing.

I didn't actually expect Jacen to go back with Ben. I guess we're gonna see him lying to the Jedi some more, and I really thought he'd stay with Lumiya or something. For some reason, I expected him to be a true villain by the end of the book, but it continued to play with moral greyness and how uncertain things are in this war.

The big controversial decision other than Jacen's portrayal, is probably Vergere.

I can understand how a misreading of the New Jedi Order could lead to this interpretation, in fact, I might've felt this way if I hadn't had been educated on the Force and Vergere later by people as I started to get those books more.

But it feels like a very surface-level look on Vergere and her philosophy, and her intentions for Jacen. It's also pretty clear that it wasn't the original plan, as the authors have gone on record saying many times, and therefore it does come off as a little lazy.

I do like how they treated the reveal, it was well-written, but the idea is inherently flawed. They could omit that and I think it would help Jacen's turn rather than hinder it possibly, as it could be seen as a misreading of Vergere's teachings.

Now, let's get to Jacen's continually ever-inevitable fall to the dark side.

Starting with what I like.

Firstly, when viewing him as a different character, and also thinking of all that has happened to him, it is easy to see someone like him going bad.

Another point was a line in The Unifying Force, that Jacen would forever seek the power that he had in that moment against Onimi. It felt like that could be interpreted as a possible little hint or idea of Jacen seeking power in future.

I also like how the thing that made Jacen kill Nelani was not anger or hatred or even a strict “better for the future decision” even though that factored into his choice, it was the vision he had of him killing Luke. He saw that he would kill Luke in every timeline if he let her live, and decided to kill her to save his Uncle. It's hardly morally correct, but from his standpoint of doing what's better for the greater good, I can see a little where he's coming from even if I don't agree, and I really love how it was done out of his love for his Uncle rather than an even more out of character killing.

Lumiya also plays to Jacen's flaws very effectively and uses him expertly, which I really like as you can tell a lot of thought has been put into how she will use him and manipulate him. Her influence was quite good, and I actually like the idea of her playing a similar character to Vergere to tempt Jacen, the prospect of having another Master like Vergere perhaps sticking especially hard with his strangely firm attachment to Vergere that bordered on a little obsessive.

Jacen's conscience just doesn't add up with who he used to be. He was a pacifist through and through, and the idea that learning of different cultures didn't enhance this, but instead made him more ruthless just doesn't add up to me as who we knew him to be in the New Jedi Order.

I can accept that people change over time but the radical changes to his character off-screen (or off the page) just make this turn a whole lot less believable, as he repeatedly does things and justifies them mentally that you know go against his past presentations from other authors.

I don't need to spend page after page explaining why it doesn't add up, it is a character betrayal, that's all it is, and I'm just trying to not let it ruin these books for me. As I said, I can also see it in a way, even if I don't personally believe it'd happen.

I have to mention Jaina and Zekk again too. Never since Luke and Callista have I felt two characters so supposedly in love have absolutely zero chemistry. I cannot for the life of me see why they love each other, except for a childhood crush or lingering feelings.

They really just don't work at all and the longer they go on the more annoying they get. Luckily, they're less insufferable than they were in the Dark Nest trilogy, but they were sorta forced together by the Killiks, and the way the books refuse to acknowledge that so far really irks me.

I'm never going to like these two anyway, a much better relationship was in their lap for Jaina with Jag, and I'm not going to accept these two until that one is fulfilled unfortunately. I wish someone would write them as a compelling duo, but so far, I just cannot see it.

They're so unfit for each other, no one can even WRITE chemistry for them. It's insane.

Overall, it's mostly actually a really enjoyable book, with some proper good highlights that rise the score up for me a lot.

But it is let down by various things I didn't enjoy, and various ideas I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with.

I'm excited for the rest of the series still, especially some books, but I hope for more improvement in certain qualities as I pray that the aspects I enjoy most get more focus and the aspects I like the least are improved upon.

Generally, a more than solid entry with just a few niggles that bring down my enjoyment.

7/10

Another novel done!

This one was up and down for me.

Sometimes, Stackpole writes exciting action pieces with brilliant characterisation. Then sometimes, I find myself a little bored and skimming through a chapter, and finding certain moments odd.

For some context, I have zero interest in the spaceships, dogfighting, speeder stuff of Star Wars! Probably because I have an absolute lack of interest in cars, bikes, planes, or pretty much any vehicle in real life. I feel the same about Star Wars.

When first getting into these novels, I brushed off the X-Wing series as a little series for kids or something. I heard a lot of good things over time, and a month or two ago, I tried to listen to the audiobook of Rogue Squadron narrated by Marc Thompson.

And I just couldn't finish it.

Then I tried I, Jedi, and continued to like Corran as I did with the audiobook, but just found it retelling a story I already like, and I couldn't be bothered to finish it.

So it's safe to say I'm hardly a big Stackpole fan, or the biggest fan of Corran. But I do really like him.

I do think Stackpole seems to treat him as like a self-insert. He views him as really perfect, and it often feels like Corran is just so great and friends with everyone (even Mara!) and it does rub me the wrong way a bit. But then I like him too?

I gained incredible respect for Stackpole when Corran sacrificed himself. I loved his sacrifice. I adored it. Then it was a fake out. What? Are you kidding me? That was so good. I was really, really annoyed by that. So annoyed. I thought it was so bold, and so impressive to have killed off your own beloved character like that, I was thinking, “Holy shit. This guy has balls.” Then it was a dumb fake out. Come on...

But then... he just GOT the original trilogy characters. It was a shame to have Han pretty much out of the book. However, Leia was so good, Luke and Mara were maybe at their best here(?), Lando was really solid, and Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin just get better and better.

This novel is fucking brutal. The whole final battle around Dantooine is so violent and horrific at times, and it is so hopeless! The idea that the Yuuzhan Vong are still just testing them, that this is nothing yet, is fucking terrifying.

There were some incredible moments in this novel. Luke and Mara had so many lovely romantic moments that warmed my heart like a stereotypical young teenage girl with a crush (I'm pathetic for Luke x Mara)!

Luke taking Jacen's lightsaber, and using two sabers to fight three Yuuzhan Vong warriors was amazing. The fight was written really well, so gripping and entertaining, and just such a cool moment. Man I LOVE Luke!

So basically... it's a mixed bag. I love so many parts, find many boring, and there is a major element I disliked. But the good outweighs the bad. By far.

7.5/10

Not my thing, sadly.

Stover is one of the greatest authors to touch the franchise, but still... I don't have too much of an interest in Mace Windu.

I can't even act like I fully experience this, finishing it on audiobook instead of reading, I kept losing track of it. There were some good bits, I loved Nick and Mace, the odd fun scene, but I really just had to finish this for the sake of it.

I'll give it a proper read one day to make up for this.

This was a great book, although I was a little disappointed by the ending. It just seemed to come out of nowhere.

Christie Golden absolutely smashes it out of the park again with this novel, her prose is perfect for me - simplistic, character and action focused, and mostly fast-paced. I mean it in a good way when I say she doesn't try anything overtly experimental, doesn't break the pace of the series or anything, she very quickly steals the show.

This book has lots of the best moments of the series, but unfortunately, it spends nearly one hundred pages getting bogged down in the whole Lecersen shit, which luckily, finally comes to a head, and ends up an actually engaging and satisfying plot.

But this does take way too long for me!

Abeloth in this book returns to her more mysterious ways, to the point we actually lose track of who she is and where she is, before eventually she manages to become Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, Sith all over Coruscant.

I like how we've set the stage of Coruscant for battle, and I was more pleased to see Abeloth return to being more strange, different, and unknowable. It felt like we were getting to know her very well, and I now like how she's back to being mysterious again.

There's even a moment where she's a weird, blobby tentacle thing with a face that's growing knobbly legs and arms. Vile imagery.

The Lecersen and Daala build up ended up being mostly worth it, as there was a really exciting battle between Jag's forces and hers, as it is also revealed that the Empire of the Hand is back, and Jag assists help from the Chiss.

It's still a long battle that isn't over yet, but I like how they failed to assassinate Jag, and it does feel like a while since we've seen his intellect and capacity in a battle, especially a space battle on this level, possibly since New Jedi Order.

Vestara and Ben were a highlight of the book.

Well, THE highlight.

After a large battle where Luke and Jaina face six Sith, Ben against Three, Vestara against her father, she ends up having to kill her father, Gavar Khai, and not only is it a really exciting battle, it's very sad.

It's a major stepping stone for Vestara that suddenly makes her path to the light more believable, and Jaina being the one to comfort her, remarking how she had to kill her own brother, how she still misses him, and that Vestara will too, was a really sweet moment.

Eventually, Ben finds Vestara's notes to her imaginary father, Gavar Khai as a Jedi Knight, and herself as his apprentice, and it's a really upsetting but beautiful scene as he comforts her and they finally kiss. She even asks if she can be a Jedi!

But I am still so disappointed in Vestara. Before retreating to Coruscant, Vestara in battle against some Sith creature on one of the planets they are exploring, ends up killing the Jedi Knight Natua in order to save Ben.

It's complex because while I see, understand, and sympathise with why she did so, after all... in her position, I can see myself and many others doing the same, to prioritise the one you love. But it's another stab at her journey towards being a Jedi, and makes me think that possibly it will never happen.

Overall, it's a really good book.

Perhaps, for me at least, a touch overrated, as the book gets bogged down into politics after an explosive opening for quite a while, but ends up making up for it mostly.

Abeloth and the Lost Tribe have taken over the Galactic Alliance, poor Dorvan is being tortured and will probably die, Vestara will love Ben until she has to inevitably kill him...

Yeah, this was great!

8/10

I was shocked to find out the middle of this trilogy was just as good as the first (in my opinion, at least). I quickly got through this book, cherishing every page. I was immensely excited to read the finale. This book has some thrilling action sequences, and Joruus C'baoth really shines in this one.

This cover sticks out to me, and all I remember is not having much fun with it.

I will not have as much to say about this book as last time.

Unfortunately, a bit of a skim-read for me.

The problem with this trilogy so far is that the ideas are fine, and the story is fine, but it's just so light that it's dragged out for nearly 400 pages and isn't interesting enough to warrant the length.

Someone in my last review said Nom Anor's story is the best part of the trilogy, and I'll say that this time around, he was really good. Again, though, it felt a little sidetracked. There was a whole like nearly 150 pages where it was dropped and then we returned to him wayyyy after we last saw him and lots had happened outside of the pages.

Danni and Jacen were good enough. Wish I had more to say!

Sorry for the tiny review but there's nothing really to say about this book. I made sure to get through it really quickly to get it out of the way. Thanks for reading the shit review!

5/10

For the most part, this is a great book. Not only is the story rather gripping and thrilling, it includes some disgusting and unnerving imagery, which is always a plus for me as a horror fan.

Luke Skywalker is characterised spectacularly, and generally, all returning characters almost always feel especially well-written.

Leia especially, as she takes the initiative to chase after Han to go after Luke, rather than being left to face the ‘diplomatic duties' she is often strangely resigned to in these novels - not a snide comment, it is often done well and for good reason.

There is some really fun ideas thrown around in this novel, like the holothrillers that contain meta references, e.g. ‘Luke Skywalker and the Jedi's Revenge'.

Where it falters for me is the comedy that doesn't personally hit so hard, often the lines feel a little awkward to me like so many characters saying “flipping” made me cringe so hard, lmao.

But also, the insane language/terminology often used almost expects me to be living in the Star Wars universe to begin to understand. This is a genuine line from the book, “18cm aKraB clip-point vibrodaggers that could cut Mark III armour like rendered gorgan blubber.” What the fuck does any of this mean?

Also, this book has a lot of ‘dogfights' or bits in space. I know it is commonly said that these are hard to visualise, and I completely agree. But that's not even it for me. I don't like them. These moments are when my brain shuts off in the movies. It is when I am bored. So I hate reading them in the books, and that drags it down for me.

Overall, it's quite an engrossing story, that I could see myself reading all in one go if I was in the mood. But I did read it over quite a few days, I took my time with it.

I grew more fond of this over time with greater understanding and appreciation of what the book does for Jaina Solo's character.

Starts off slow and okay, but the story ramps up and up and completely breaks every barrier and challenges all of your expectations for a Daredevil story. Stunning art and narrative.

This was rubbish honestly.

I don't take any pleasure in being negative, the opposite in fact, and my negative opinions here are not purely because of how good the last book was, but this novel was pretty atrocious in my opinion.

The book decides to spend almost all of its time focusing on none of the main characters of not just the original trilogy, but of the New Jedi Order novels either.

For example, Han is relegated to about two chapters for the first two hundred pages, before getting a little bit of action towards the end, with Leia getting a big focus of almost exclusively diplomatic dialogue every now and then, Mara does not appear, and Luke is in a total of two chapters in where he tells a few people what to do and talks to Talon Karrde.

I was excited to see Karrde again by the way, what a disappointment! He did fuck all.

The craziest part might be how explosive an opener this novel had. Leia has to brutally pick between who to save in the midst of an absolutely insane battle, with the Yuuzhan Vong basically deploying their variation of a dragon, and an entire planet being decimated with many, many innocents being lost.

And then the book descends into almost pure dialogue for two hundred pages. I am not exaggerating. I cannot think of anything until around the 250 page mark that can be argued as an “action sequence.” I'm not really gonna count a small duel between two people either. It lasts like three pages.

Anakin and Jacen's development from their arguing in ‘Vector Prime' to the camaraderie they've regained has just gone. They are back to arguing the same old points again and any semblance of brotherly love has seemed to have just disappeared. They are both so flat here.

Poor Jaina is in like one page. She is mentioned and doesn't do or even (if I remember correctly) say anything!

It seems like Luceno was determined to write an entire novel without any semblance of an actual story, and to focus what elements of a plot there was on the most uninteresting characters possible, and to end it with a big ship fight of all things!

The tragedy that happens towards the end was not a surprise to me at all, and it seemed like we could expect it from the moment Centerpoint was even mentioned. It was really played up too and felt so rubbish.

A bunch of this novel is from the perspective of Droma's family as refugees, and I'm sure it's all great commentary on refugees or something, but it's just not even slightly entertaining to read whatsoever, and doesn't constitute anything of value to me and I doubt it will to many. The ‘drama' going on in this subplot is so predictable and again, flat. Then we never even actually get to see Droma reunite with his family.

The development I was hoping for Han to continue didn't happen. He just sorta goes around and does stuff. Are we seriously not gonna have a moment for Han and Leia to talk? Are we not going to finally address his behaviour and complete his redemption arc? Where did that entire plot go? Will someone else have to finish it for Luceno?

I'm honestly baffled. Did something happen behind the scenes? It doesn't feel like the same Luceno that wrote the last novel that was so brilliantly crafted and really made use of the slower pace and large list of characters.

He's also obviously trying to set up something with this Shesh character but my god they are so boring I kept forgetting who they were. I still am not entirely sure. I do not want to see most of the characters from this book return. I do not care about them.

The Kyp and Wurth stuff should've taken centre stage, but it didn't. It was more of a subplot which is a shame as it did more for Kyp's character, whilst exploring more weird Yuuzhan Vong stuff I love. But Wurth just dies after stuff is done to him off-screen, and I honestly kinda forgot what happened to Kyp lol.

So yeah, I'd honestly say this was kinda a shit novel. If Balance Point doesn't impress me much, I might have to take a break to not get burnt out, and I might take a break for a day or anything anyway.

I knew there was something off about this book at around 120 pages, so today, I decided to spend all day slowly making my way through it to get it out of the way.

So maybe a break is what I need.

A massive disappointment.

I know I didn't particularly have fun with this one.

Quite disappointing sadly.

The writing was actually solid, I loved Troy Denning's prose here, fluid, quick, and easy to read.

But the actual plot was boring beyond belief.

This is going to be one of my conflicted reviews.

The Joiner King is a mix of bad characterisation, brilliant characterisation, great characters, not-so-great characters, excellent action, boring plotlines, imaginative and interesting new creations, and also really strange, uncomfortable creations (not in a good way.)

Adding to this, is a really horny writing style that felt like I was reading a really good fanfiction with a perverted streak, made for a very conflicted read.

There was a lot I liked, which I will start with.

All of the fights with Jedi were incredibly fun to read, and led to some exceptional character moments.

Welk vs. Saba Sebatyne was an extremely engaging fight, and I love myself a lightsaber duel with great force powers, so it was really exciting to see Welk using Sith lightning, and a red lightsaber, whilst Saba gives such a fierce fight, that even after losing fingertips, a bit of her tail, and a bit of her head, she still lives on! The atmosphere of the fight taking place entirely in these sorta caves was really cool too.

The little side story about uncovering information about Revenge of the Sith is amazing. It's about time Luke and Leia learned more about their parents, and I love how it's a little bit of a mystery.

I really like the new Jedi Temple on Ossus, and it seems like a really nice place for them to learn. Nothing will probably ever beat the Praxeum for me. I loved Yavin 4, that academy, so much about that place was perfect for the Jedi.

Furthermore, Luke and Mara had some absolutely amazing fights with Welk and a bunch of the bugs. Mara using lightning, Luke cutting Alema's arm after a really exceptional battle, then force choking Welk, taking his lightsaber, having to fight cleverly, I'm just a sucker for Luke in a duel. And he even tried to give him another chance before having to kill him. Man, I love Luke.

Leia is finally becoming a proper Jedi, which is something I'm ecstatic about, and the best part is that Saba is her Master! I've loved Saba throughout the series, but she just grows on me with every book, her determination, her strength, her quality as a Jedi despite her nature often wanting other things, she's excellent and I love that she's going to train Leia.

However, I also saw a lot of flaws.

Why were pretty much all of the young Jedi insufferable?

Jacen came off as a rebellious, unhelpful brat, Jaina was just terrible, Zekk was favoured to an annoying degree, Jag was sidelined and treated poorly by Denning, Alema was written as nothing but an angry slut which is a shame - I always viewed her as fierce whilst absolutely owning the allure of a Twi'lek slave rather than letting that be all she is. I can go on.

There were also some fundamental misunderstandings. We're backtracking on the new Force philosophy. It's a shame. A lot of depth is now lost. However, I can put this aside and enjoy the new story, and try to appreciate it as a separate entity. What I cannot grasp is Corran being underserved.

“Prideful Masters like Kyp and Corran” excuse me. Corran? Prideful? He has his flaws, part of why he was so excellent in Dark Tide II, but prideful? You are thinking of the wrong person Denning! Do not compare him to Kyp. And Kyp has kinda gone back to how he was before the New Jedi Order series. All his development has gone again.

A lot of the bug stuff in this book was really imaginative and creative, but what totally spoils it is how insufferable they are, and how they are presented as right, and how we're almost expected to pity them.

I cannot pity a species knowingly hiding and ignoring information, and brainwashing Jedi. On the topic of brainwashing, are we gonna talk about how the Sword of the Jedi was not only easily brainwashed by them, but how she is comfortable with it? This leads to her sleeping beside Zekk in the ‘Harem Cave' (whilst still harbouring feelings for Jag) then with the hive mind it leads to her feeling Zekk's feelings for her, and Zekk feeling her feelings for Jag. What the fuck?

A lot of this seems written purely to drift Jag and Jaina apart in a really lazy manner to undo their excellent romance in the New Jedi Order series. Zekk does not deserve Jaina, and I can't possibly understand why Denning wants these two so insufferably inseparable. If I was in Jag's position, I'd be totally out if my girl was sleeping with a bunch of bugs (and Zekk) and now they are practically inseparable. I respect your culture but I'm not comfortable with that and it kinda changes my thoughts on you. I don't know how these two are gonna reconcile, but I hope Jaina does some apologising for being dumb! (Even though I truly blame Denning, not Jaina.)

The Sword of the Jedi becoming a Joiner and it being treated as right just really fucks with me in all the wrong ways. There's something far less consensual about this than Jacen's ‘enlightening' from Vergere that I took time to come around to, but understand much better as being through necessity, and Jacen coming to those conclusions himself, and coming out of it a better person. Now, Jaina is all touchy with Zekk and they finish each other's sentences acting like a love-sick thirteen year old couple. It makes me feel really uncomfortable.

The book also ends really suddenly after all that fighting. I get that this is a trilogy but the plots of this book didn't feel very well explained or concluded.

Overall, I have to admit it's a really enjoyable novel.

The writing is easy to follow, most of the action is really good, and a lot of the characters are great. There are some brilliant design ideas and the imagination of Troy Denning is wonderful.

But there's also some really poor characterisation, a lot of strange decisions, and some really uncomfortable, slightly sexist writing, such as the constant sexualisation of women and the surprising amount of sex and/or innuendo.

8/10

I remember this being mediocre.