Ok, so is it just me or are they changing Daala from a jerk so someone being jerked around, a character to care about? Hit me off guard, but I liked it. That, and they could not have been more transparent about Ben's growing attraction to Vestara. Other than those two things this was a pretty standard 'middle of the game' novel. A conflict within the main story that is begun and resolved, and small plot points towards the main one begin to fester. A good book and Alliston doesn't disappoint, and I look forward to Golden's 'Allies' because of this, though they made no hints about why there is a Jedi and Sith Saber working together on the front, so I think the whole thing will go down in the next book.

*Did Daala sleep with a Bothan?

*Interesting to see the big jump up in politics, but I wasn't really satisfied with Treen's sudden scheme and motive. I did like her addition and Lecerson's role, but it did feel forced, as in "let's just throw this in...". Just seemed a bit abrupt. Could have been a better build up to it I guess.

*I liked the new card game Allston threw in there. Big thumbs up there. Also a big thumbs up for Raynar's part, Dyon's character, and Vestara's complete duplicity. I liked how she was almost innocent. Almost.

*Now having read Crosscurrent, I wonder if the whole Xizor thing is part of the Crosscurrent sequel or something else altogether? The mention of clones leans toward Crosscurrent II, plus I don't really see them needing to bring Black Sun into the FOTJ series. They've got plenty to work with already.

I would give it a 3/5. Its a good book. I just felt like there was something missing,(acutally, thats how ive been feeling with all the FOTJ books.) Let me start of with saying: I absolutely love Vestara. I can't wait to see what is going to happen between Ben and her. Shes totally like a mini bad @ss Mara. The Allana plot...skipped it entirely because i found it extremely boring and pointless. Sorry, Allana. Maybe when youre a bit older I'll pay attention, Love the Dathomir story line. While i was mad that the Jacen quest thing was totally put aside in this book, i suppose we had to take a break and figure out whats up with Vestara. Tribeless Sha is amazing. Lets see...I'm confused about Daala. Is she stone cold mean? Or really a semi compassionate diplomat? Who knows. Allston, Denning, and Golden all write her differently.So she just annyoed me in this book. The Moffs, as always, just annoy the crap out of me with their stupid plotting. Jag and Jaina: For gosh sake-WHY bring Jaina back to her same old "do nothing but offer support and comments and a quick battle scene" role??? WHY?!?!?! Honestly, why include her in the book if she us just going to walk around offering witty comments. The little bit with her and Raynar was cool though. Tahiri: Awesome!!!! To bad she only got 4 pages worth of page time. Very cool side plot. Admiral Niathal: Sad she died, i always liked her. I am suspicious though...i dont think she committed suicide. Besides that, the book was enjoyable, at the minimum for me. Maybe this is due to the fact that I expected alot more...(making theoires up in my head about how Ben is going to turn into a crazed Jedi in this book, etc...)Overall, its a good entry in the series. And the Allies exercpt: CANT WAIT!!!!

I was disappointed that Jaina didn't catch Lecersen at the end when he was lying to Jag. That would have been a good opportunity to do something with her. Seemed like a waste to have her there and miss the opportunity. It actually made her look bad.

And I also have a feeling something is up with Niathal's death. When she first talked with Daala, there was no hint that suicide was on the table. She seemed like she was perfectly fine with going to trial. But if someone else killed her, the big question is who? If it was Lecersen or Treen, I wouldn't think there would be any reason to keep that secret from the reader. The Sith are still segregated from from everyone else. Daala surely didn't do it. So who? I don't think there's room for any new protagonists, and it doesn't seem to fit the bill for any of the existing ones. So maybe she did commit suicide.

I also thought Jags role in here was a little bland. He did have the whole assassination seen, but it wasn't all that memorable.

But I did enjoy Vestara and most of the Dathomir stuff. Alana's parts didn't interest me much, but Luke, Ben, and Vestara's parts were very enjoyable.

Overall I liked the book, especially the second half.

Negatives:

-the jacen thing was dropped in this book, although I can see why since they obviously had to reshift the focus to the sith. But I still missed it. I'm guessing they might not add a whole lot more to that, I mean, does there need to be some big revelation?

-the amelia thing was too drawn out. I mean, why not let her know Zekk was watching over her? That could have eliminated that whole nonsense.

-maybe there could have been a small section detailing anything going on with the crazies in the transitory mists(small point).

Positives:

-back to Amelia, I like how they are using the assasination attempt as a source of rage for the solos.

-Raynar back in significant action(actually more than he ever really had before) was a good thing.

-I thought it clever how Daala brought in the solos to sort of force the negotations.

-I like that Daala is under fire. Since she never should have been there in the first place, it only makes sense that she would have many enemies.

-they certainly emphasized at a few points how badass Jaina has become, although why she hasn't been elevated to master status is beyond me.

-Vestara............nasty, duplicitous little thing, isn't she?

-Luke.................Handing the little dark lord his backside on a platter. Poor baby went running back to his ship. I particularly liked where Luke smiled in his face while showing him who was the man.

-Ben.........I reaaaaly like the developing maturity(and Luke making him do things on his own). He's getting very smart, using the force along with ideology learned while with the GAG. The Ben/Vestara thing doesn't bother me. Eventually the girl is either redeemed, or he chops off her head!!

-The ending...................Out of all the NJO, DN, LOTF and FOTJ, this was one of the best cliffhangers in the middle of a series. Here we are thinking Luke is flying back to the Maw and BAM....look out for the sith fleet. Not too many recent books have ended on such a note.

Rating 4/5.

Anyway I thought this book lacked a definitive 'thing'. The last book had a lot - lost tribe is revealed to the Jedi, so much cool stuff. This book, really did not give us much, it was entertaining and I do like some of the characters like Raynar. Still kind of a let down there. I liked the tie-in with Jaden, if anything will come from it. Overall entertaining, but lets have more stuff go down like in Abyss.

My biggest complaint - the message back to the Jedi that the Sith are back. I mean come on right - it only takes 2 Sith to mess things up. If the Jedi were informed of the Sith's return I would like to think they the Order would say - forget this - everyone into the Stealth-X's its on!