Rating: 
Summary: Best book I have ever Read
Review: To put it simply I love this book! It is hilariously funny, but not to the point of losing it's seriousness (I'm not quite sure how that is possible, I just know it happened). If you like Star Wars you will almost definitely like this book (I would have said you would like it but I sadly saw some bad reviews). If you don't like star wars you will probably still like this book. Jaina Solo joins the dark side in the only way that has ever made sense to me: revenge. She no longer cares what side of the force she is on, ("Spare me-I've heard all the arguments. Repeatedly.") as long as she fulfils her purpose. Her friends, save very few, are afraid of and for her, but she will do whatever it take to achieve her goal, no matter how many friends it costs her.
Meanwhile, Kyp Durron, former dark sider, leads his squadron of "Heroes or rogues or villains, depending upon whom you asked" into combat against the Yuuzhan Vong. Kyp and his droid trade hilarious insults/orders before combat and then fight. While other jedi try to help one another, Kyp uses the 'the ends justify the means' theory to justify all killing as many Yuuzhan Vong as he can.
At the same time, the Yuuzhan Vong plan to sacrafice Jaina and her twin brother to their gods, but first they need to capture Jaina.
Jaina's group consists of a few young jedi most of which are, or were good friend of hers. Jaina flirts and teases and orders this group of which she is the leader. Her best friends try to help her return to the light side, most of them having been dark siders at one time or another. In her grief over the loss of fellow jedi and family members she uses dark side energy many times ('"Hurling black lightning is one thing," Jaina muttered, "but quoting Kyp Durron puts me lower than I ever expected to get."'). Kyp had lost Jaina's trust long ago, when he had her slaughter many Yuuzhan Vong without her realizing what she was doing.
When Kyp and Jaina meet up, they do not get along ('He stabbed a finger at her a little too much of her father in a parental snit."Don't challenge me, Jaina.""Give me one good reason." His eyes raked over her, and the expression in them dispelled any fatherly comparisons. "You couldn't channel the Force wearing that dress. There isn't enough room in there for it to squeeze through."')('"You went into my room."(Jaina)"That's not a capital offense. Turn off the lightsaber before the temptation to dispense justice overwhelms you"(Kyp)')
To summerize, go read this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent title, Bad Installment
Review: I have read that the authors of the NJO series get together and
go over material to keep the series consistent. I think Cunningham missed a few meetings. I have been amazed that all the previous books in the series have been so well written and consistent even though many authors have taken part in the writing. After reading the book I felt let down, that this installment was thrown together. Jaina's character and relationship with the rest of the characters was confusing to say the least. The story had a lot of potential, but Cunningham falls short in the writing department. All the characters seemed as though they were just trying to get through this story to make it to Rebel Dream. Dark Journey can actually be skipped for what little it does to move the story line ahead. After starting Rebel Dream, I was reminded of what good writing and storytelling can do. The book is worth reading but once Rebel Dream is started, a bad taste may start to form with respect to Dark Journey. A good book keeps you up at night trying to get in one more page (Star by Star, Rebel Dream), this one had me surfing the televsion stations until I fell asleep.
Rating: 
Summary: A very slow story
Review: The 10th book in the New Jedi Order series picks off after the pivotal events of Star By Star, with Anakin Solo dead, Jacen Solo missing, and Coruscant fallen to the Yuuzhan Vong. The story follows Jain Solo as she flees to Hapes. The book talks far too much about the former queen mother, Ta'a Chume and her schemes to put Jaina Solo in the place of the current queen. This part of the story reads like a Queen Elizabeth biography, with all the royal scheming going on. What really kicks it for me is that the story is never told from Jacen's point of view. To everyone but Leia, Jacen is dead and gone. Apparently, we have to wait until "Traitor" to hear about Jacen's ordeal.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre book in a great series
Review: I love the NJO. I love the direction that they've taken. I'm glad that they've stopped being squeamish about killing off main characters. I'm glad that the "big, bad, Empire" is no longer the main villain. I think that for the most part it's been new and interesting.Dark Journey is the worst book so far. That doesn't mean it's a terrible book, it's just kind of mediocre. I was expecting more from an NJO book. Honestly, I don't like the title. It should have been "Greyish Journey". There was no point where Jaina ever really felt like she was going to go to the dark side for real. Sure, she shot lightning a couple times, but that was all. The one instance where we could have seen a really dark moment (the part when they were on Gallinore and and Kyp thinks how they can never tell anyone what they did) was included in SW Gamer or something, so the majority of us didn't get to read it. Also, the whole Prince Isolder thing was a little ridiculous. And Khalee Lah was a terrible villain. He was a complete stereotype of the Vong and was not interesting at all. And Lowie was like a whipped dog. He just kind of hung around Jaina and didn't seem to notice that she was doing anything wrong. And the battle of Coruscant really made me mad. Cunningham threw out everything that happened and started over. Kyp's Dozen was already destroyed, and yet here it is popping out of hyperspace. The plot didn't really go anywhere. Only three things really happened: Kyp started to come around to Luke's viewpoint, Tenel Ka likely got taken out of the NJO storyline, and Jaina/Jag advanced their relationship a little bit. It just seemed like it was a filler book. Overall, the book wasn't bad. It did have its good points, like the technological innovations that Jaina and Lowbacca came up with. I just expected more from the NJO.
Rating: 
Summary: Pathtic attempt at shock
Review: Star wars has degenerated into nothing more then a poor attempt at horror.The books in the NJO just get worse, each attempting to out do the other in shock value.... Star Wars has become a poor, ... excuse for entertainment. I prefer not to waste my time reading about weak incompetent chartacters,like those in NJO. This series could have been so much more.
Rating:
Summary: Gets slow and empty at the end of the book
Review: This novel starts as a very promising piece: Jaina Solo is slowly falling to the Dark side, the Solo family has to struggle with the death of one of their children and possibly the demise of the other one, potentialy interesting characters from the past come back to scene (Jag Fel, Prince Isolder and former Queen Mother Ta'a Chume). And the writing at the beginning is colorful and well handled. The problem starts in the las 80 pages of the book, they show up as pretty hollow scenes and some points in the plot that should be precisely adressed are treated in an extremely superficial way. On the other side, the author spends several pages and scenes at the beggining of the book adressing minor subjects. This novel is certainly not the best the SW Universe has seen, but it still entertains and shows a new advance in the NJO series. To me it seems like the author was pressed by some sort of deadline while finishing the book and simply was not able to develop the plot and characters in the last third of the book as well as she did at the beggining.
Rating:
Summary: Nice characters, bad action
Review: This is a fairly good book, but leaves much to be desired. The action is not very well done, but I thought the characters made up slightly. I really liked how this focuses on Jaina, who was underused and kept in the background in other books. I would also like to point out that though the Jaina and Jag thing is always talked about, there's something going on between Jaina and Kyp that is NOT just master/apprentice. In future books this may be untrue, but in this one there is definitely an interest between them.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book, but don't read first!
Review: As I said before, the book was a good one, but if you try to read it first, like I did, you will be hopelessly lost. I used to read all the books, but lost track of it, only to re-find 'em, and find Chewie and Anikin dead, Luke has a son, Jaina is in Rouge Squadron, etc. I couldn't figure it out for a while. After reading for a bit, the plot did turn out fairly well. I liked how Elaine Cunningham brought past books (The Courtship of princess Leia) into this book, by going to Hapes, meeting the royal family, and having Teneniel Djo die, to be replaced by Tenel Ka. With a little more development, the book could have been even better. Ican't wait to read the next NJO book!
Rating:
Summary: A bridge to somewhere I hope.......
Review: I was disappointed with the way this book ended. You have a big build up as the Vong close in on the remaining Solo twin only to have the story end with reformed Kyp. Aside from watching as our heroine slides towards the dark side, there is a tired side story involving palace intrigue and a teaser relationship between Jaina and Jag. Also we are introduced to the son of the Vong Warmaster who is nothing more than a cardboard cutout of a villan. The book felt like a brigde book and I hope that the next story in the NJO is better than this!
Rating:
Summary: A Character-Driven book That Deals With the Aftermath of SbS
Review: I've read some pretty bad comments about this book, so I've decided to state my opinion - I think Cunningham did an excellent job. The Events in Star by Star were so shocking and importgant for the storyline that the New Jedi Order needed a book that dealt with the aftermath of those events. The good thing is that the editors decided to center that book around Jaina. Cunningham does an excellent job exploring her character and showing her gradual fall to the dark side, And for all of you who are saying that she didn't really fall, what were you expecting? That she would go and blow up a couple of planets? Previous writers did this (*cough*KJA*cough*) and it was done quite badly. Also, if you want more space-battles, buy "X Wing vs. Tie Fighter" or some other game. I have nothing against space battles being in books, but when it drags on for 20 pages, desribing every ship's twist and turn it gets a little boring. Stackpole and Aalston are masters at space-batles, but perhaps Cunningham isn't, so maybe you should be glad that she didn't write a lot of them. The only major flaw that this book has is the ending. It felt really rushed and somewhat anti-climatic. Otherwise, this is a really satisfying book. Read it.
|
