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Rating: 
Summary: Wow!!!!!
Review: All I can say is, this book is worth twice what it costs. From the moment I picked it up, to twenty-three hours later when I finally finished it, I lived in the Star Wars universe. The author really nailed just about all the characters perfectly, developed the plot quickly and efficiently, and all the while kept me on the edge of my seat from page one to three-hundred and one. Star by Star was extremely, almost exheedingly dark, and while Dark Journey doesn't entirely abandon that thread, it's a bit lighter, faster paced, and folows up on the events of Star By Star very well, dealing not only with Anakin's death and Jacen's disappearance, but more importantly the surviving characters reactions to those things. Dark Journey opens almost exactly where Star By Star ended, with the nine surviving members of the original Jedi strike team racing out from behind enemy lines in a stolen Vong ship that Jaina struggles to fly, while struggling with her own grief and guilt over her little brother's demise, as well as fear for her captured twin. Because of a desperate need to make her brother's death mean something, Jaina is filled with a lust for revenge, that she is more than willing to use the Darkside to fulfill. The interesting part of this aspect of the story is that in most Star Wars books when a character turns to the dark side it is portrayed as a terrible mistake, but here, even when Jaina is doing things like shooting dark side lighting out of her fingers, all of it is made to seem perfectly rational and even sensible; I know I would do the same thing if my brother was killed in front of me. Anyway, come out of hyperspace near Coruscant, only to discover the terrible truth; the capitol world has been nearly destroyed by Vong attacks and the government is in shambles. Jaina makes the descision to fly to Hapes instead, a temporary haven she deams safe because of Tenel Ka's status there. What she doesn't take into acount, however, is the amount of malice and hatred that many Hapens still feel towards the Solos, on account of the destruction of the Hapen fleets at Fondor at Anakin's hand... Anyway, I won't give away the rest of the plot, but I'll tell you right now, it's one heck of a ride! However, if you're looking for major overall plot changes, you might as well just skip this one, since nothing really changes at all as far as the war goes, and this is primarily a character driven story, with many sweet touching scenes, but little progress. We learn how much Jacen and Tenel Ka loved each other, but anyone who's read Young Jedi Knights knew that already. We learn who Jaina really loves as well, (a MAJOR dissapointment for me) but really we that already as well. Also, the previous generation has almost no part in this story. Anyway, if you're into Star Wars and this series, I gaurentee you'll love this book.
Rating: 
Summary: This new installment of the NJO series take a different view
Review: Dark Journey, the newest book in the NJO series, is different than the others in this series. Unlike the previous books, and especially unlike the most recent books, "Dark Journey" deals mainly not with the ongoing 'Vong invasion as much as it deals with the internal conflict of Jaina Solo. With their daring escape off of the worldship above Myrkr, the Jedi under Jaina's command return with Anakin dead, another Jedi kidnapped, and Jacen captured by the Vong. Further along in the story, Jacen is presumed dead, but not everyone is so sure. With the "deaths" of her siblings, Jaina is sucked into the dark side and takes a temporary apprenticeship with Kyp Durron. They story then takes them to the Hapes system, where a scheming ex-Queen Mother has her own plans for Jaina. The Dark Journey takes you through the ordeals of Jaina Solo and how she deals with the Dark side and her own destiny. While it contains less action then previous NJO books, this installment continues this ongoing saga excellently.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the Force Lightening???
Review: I had been looking forward to this book since the day I finished the cracking "Star By Star" many months ago, unfortunately it didn't live up to my anticipation. The plot was quite involved, but I don't think that it was as hard to figure out, as Elaine Cunningham believed it was. Without giving anything away, the fact that the whole book was focused on Jaina made it quite predictable as to which way the story would move.
Fast paced as the story was, Jaina's dark side battle was far too cerebral to be exciting, my feeling was she was flirting with the dark side more than actually being tempted by it. Where were the displays of Dark Side force powers that happened at the end of the previous book? I wanted people being fried with force lightening, not a "Will I, Won't I" discussion in Jaina's head! Her attitude change wasn't very believable and came across as forced, the climax was disappointing, a sterile portrayal of the battle scene, which was unfortunate as these are the very scenes that have made this series so enjoyable, but there were enough developments in the Yuuzan Vong war effort, to make this still worth buying.
Rating:
Summary: Redeption
Review: In this newest Star Wars, Jaina is struggling with the question of what her path is. She is dubious in what the Jedi can and should do to stop the Vong. With the death of her broher and the loss of another, she no longer knows who to turn to, in her quest to get revenge, she finds help in the Hapes Cluster, by the former Queen Mother, to get revenge on the Vong. She has lost all control of actions and doesn't listen to others when they give her advice. To keep her friends away she says that she will be Kyp's apprentice. She makes a daring plan to fight the Vong.
I thought that this book was well written and very well told. Also in this book Kyp finally gets redemmed, and it tells how Jaina falls towards the Dark side.
I hope that you enjoy the book as much as I did, I could not put it down, until I was finished.
Rating:
Summary: Okay entry to the series, but not terribly interesting.
Review: Star Wars books seem to come in two types: ones that break new ground and create interesting characters and situations, and ones that simply mark time (and make money) until the next good book. Dark Journey is an example of the latter type. The same people who are screaming at George Lucas to eliminate Jar Jar Binks and other superfluous characters should also scream at the Expanded Universe writers that we are sick of reading about Jedi turning to the Dark Side and back. Whatever happened to the Dark Side "forever dominating your destiny" if it's so easy to turn back to the good side? When I finished Dark Journey, I realized that nothing had really happened since Star by Star (unless you count the possible death of one character). The battle scenes were vague and unconvincing, and the action frequently jumped awkwardly, dumping the reader into a new situation with no setup. The book was readable and held my interest, but I left it with a sense that it could have been much better. It's too bad they can't have Michael Stackpole and Greg Keyes write the rest of the series by themselves.
Rating:
Summary: A welcome change of pace...
Review: With the previous book of the New Jedi Order series, Star by Star creating so much havok in the Star Wars Universe, Dark Journey is a welcome reprieve from the massive undertakings described in Troy Denning's novel.Written mostly from Jaina's perspective, but allowing for Kyp, Jag, Tenel Ka and Lowie to also develop, the novel basically tells of Jaina's wandering towards the dark side after the loss of both her brothers. Becoming nearly obsessed with playing out the role of Yun-Harla the Yuuzhan Vong goddess of trickery, she continually baffles Harrar, the Warmaster's favorite priest, and the commander of Harrar's naval force. Though the characterization of Jaina was better than most, it still seemed a bit construed and misguided at times, and for a book with a very obvious central character (much like Jacen's, Traitor, by Matthew Stover) it seemed to meander through too many other character's own personal motives. In the end though, Jaina's travels seem well documented, and add a good focusing point for other characters as well, most importantly Kyp and Jag Fel. Extra points go to Elaine Cunningham for finally pointing out what most readers of the Young Jedi Knights series knew all along - Tenel Ka and Jacen were in love and are meant to be together. I personally enjoyed seeing Lowie and Tenel Ka recieve some more important roles, which they deserved after Kevin J. Anderson's great portrayal of them in the Young Jedi Knights books. All in all not a bad book by any stretch, though not a great one either. 3.5/5
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