Moving into the pros and cons here, then will sum up:

Pros:
1. Kenth's death. I didn't hate him in the end like I thought I would, but I very much disliked him. I think the authors have been trying to swing our opinions of him in the negative direction the entire series, and I think his death was timely and worked very well. Overall, it was an excellent plot point for the series, and one of the first deaths in quite awhile that I think worked wonderfully. We didn't need major deaths like Mara's that were just knives ripping into the hearts of fans, and we didn't need pointless deaths like Isolder's. Kenth's death was, I felt, both necessary and poignant. It showed the instability of the Jedi, and yet at the same time set them on the path of righting that instability. I think this, finally, starts the Jedi toward being able to operate without Luke, now that such is completely and absolutely necessary.

2. Ben Skywalker. Gosh, I started out hating this kid. But finally, finally...! He's endearing himself to me. I've decided that, provided they keep him more or less on his current path (with perhaps a crisis or two along the way), he'll become one of my favorite characters eventually. I think he was handled extremely well in this book. He's got just enough naive teenager in him to be stupid concerning Vestara, but enough smart Jedi to keep me from cringing every time the two appear in the story. I know Ben/Vestara is still a sensitive topic for many fans, and perhaps I'm still hurting too much from Mara's death, so the similarities are comforting, but I really like their interaction. If they continue in the direction of a Luke/Mara repeat, I won't complain. Again, though, Mara fan talking. Maybe I'm just too desperate for the comfort of the well known.

3. Luke Skywalker. My hero! I know Luke has had his ups and downs the last few series, but I couldn't help but love him in Vortex. Normally I am not much of a Luke fan. But the older he gets, the more I love him. Every time he was on the page, I was smiling.

4. Han Solo. I believe Caedus mentioned this earlier, but when Han thought he'd lost Leia, my heart was breaking. I didn't believe her to be dead, but I did think she could have been captured. However, this was at the back of my mind. In the forefront was Han's anguish, and I hurt for him so much! Oh, Del Rey. If you ever kill Han Solo, I will never forgive you.

5. The Jedi Council. Finally! They stood up for themselves, with Saba's leadership. The fact that they finally stood up to Kenth and started listening to the Force again...congratz! *applause* We were back to the Jedi Knights I've come to know and love over the past several years.

6. Chapters 16, 17, 26, and 29. I was practically biting my fingernails off! I was so literally on the edge of my seat that I couldn't sit still. I was having trouble comprehending what my eyes were so desperately trying to read at record speed, and I kept having to double back on passages. I won't go into these in detail at this point, but they were excellent.

7. Jagged Fel. I have been quite tired of one Jagged Fel in the last several books, but yesterday he reestablished his place in my heart. The way he played Daala was quite humorous, and had me going there for awhile. I was so proud of him, ha. And the fact that he and Jaina's engagement is back on...awesome. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle that if and when they went back to it, but Jaina's giddiness just made me smile. It was handled well.

8. Abeloth. Pretty cool villain. Glad, and totally not surprised, that she wasn't dead.

9. Bwua'tu. Okay, am I the only one that was positive he wasn't dead at the end of the last book? Remember, when in doubt, show us a body! They never actually said he was dead at the end of Allies, and I was completely unconvinced. Yet I heard so many acting as if his death was fact. So I was glad he was still alive. Still curious to see what role he plays.

10. Daala. Finally she's beginning to tire. She's old, and she's not right to be the CoS. It's about time she seems incompetent, and this was the book.

11. Madhi Vaandt. Amazingly well handled, the chapter concerning her death. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Surprised to see her die, but loving the possible repercussions of this.

12. Saba Sebatyne. Not going to go into any sort of detail at this point, but you've gotta love Saba and everything that's going on with her.

13. Humor. Denning has managed to find a humor that actually comes close to taking second place to Allston! I found myself grinning quite often at the dry bits of dialogue he threw in there. Good work, Denning. I may just forgive you Invincible one of these days. But probably not.

14. Leia Solo. Last, but not least, it looks like Leia may finally be taking on a more believeable role, considering who she is. It's about time.

Cons:
1. Editing. Gah, Del Rey! What is up with you?! I believe I had this same complaint with Allies. I am one of those slow readers who takes in every word on the page, and it is quite annoying when pieces of sentences are constantly missing. I can't tell you how many times a "to" or an "of" or one of the articles was missing. Way too many! This threw off my reading, and I had to go back and read the sentence again, to be sure I'd read it correctly. It was over a dozen times, I can assure you. Also, there was a spelling error concerning a character or a vehicle more than once. And finally, the one that takes the cake, the number of times Denning repeated himself! Three and a half times, and I found it very surprising this made it into the final copy. Allow me to explain:

Page 178: That was all Madhi needed to hear. She started down the stairwell toward the Mandalorians.

Now break to farther down the page, just a few paragraphs: She began to descend the stairs, one hand turning the button mike on her lapel toward Rhal.

Hasn't this already happened? She began to descend the stairs twice. Another instance:

Page 345: ...but a lean Keshiri Sith with deep purple eyes and alabaster hair was starting in their direction --- and motioning for others to follow.

Now to page 347: As Luke spoke, the purple-eyed Keshiri started across the circle on an interception vector, with a dozen more Sith following close behind.

This is the one I consider the half, since it can be argued that these are two different actions, but I think it's another mistake. And another one:

Page 344: Ben and his father and Vestara were still fifty meters from the Shadow...

Page 345: The trio had closed to within thirty meters of the Shadow...

Page 350: Luke sprang up first, igniting his blade and crossing the last fifty meters to the Shadow...

I thought they were within thirty meters at this point, back on page 345, and they never moved from their spot at that point.

Okay, so call this nit-picking, but there was at least one other similar incident early on in the book, but I don't remember what it was at this point. I just think it was sloppy editing, personally. But maybe I'm being too harsh. Being such a great book, I suppose I'll forgive them this once.

2. The whole Barabel nest thing. Uh...what?! Totally weird, totally contrived, and totally wrong to use for getting Allana's secret out there. Not sure what's up with the whole Barabel mating thing, but it's really odd, and I'm very curious (though also anxious) to see where it goes from here. If this was its only purpose, I'll be beyond disappointed.

On the Fence:
1. Valin and Jysella. I know this is from the Conviction excerpt, but that's okay. I had three opinions going into this:

a. Valin and Jysella were not going to be in the carbonite, but it was only a mold of sorts.

b. Valin and/or Jysella would be dead.

c. Valin and/or Jysella would still be crazy.

I did not expect for one moment that they were going to be fine. However, I'm a little surprised that they went with option c. I was fully expecting option a. Either way, though, I can't decide if I like it or not. Still pondering.

2. Taalon's death. That seemed a little too easy, but I'm not sure it was a bad thing. I think I like it, but I can't be sure. Very interesting.

3. Wynn Dorvan. I have been thinking for the last several books that surely Dorvan is not what he seems. I almost expect him to be Abeloth! Joking, of course, but I really think he has that much potential to be something other than he's portrayed. Sort of like an Onimi surprise. And Vortex sort of confirmed it for me. I'm more puzzled than ever as to what they've got in store for him, but it's very intriguing. I think we would do well to keep our eyes on him.

Ok, so the big thing I don't like about Vortex is that this series has expanded to not only cleaning up after Del Rey's mistakes, but they're eliminating all of the Bantam Spectra love interests as well. It feels personal and while I like Abeloth, I don't see an ending that isn't blatantly difficult for us as fans to swallow. They could bring the Celestials back for all I care, it still would bother me. And if someone gets strong enough to kill them that means they're corrupted enough with power to fall because almost no one who's gotten to that point stayed in the light. And on top of that I honestly don't like how just plain stupid the Sith leadership is, but to have survived this long they'd have to be smarter than they're written. Also, Daala is bothering me because at this point the GA population looks stupid as well, yet in the previous 9-book series they were willing to stand up to a government that wasn't even bad. They were afraid of another Palpatine and now that they have one on their hands they're just being stupid enough to sheepishly do what the media tells them (sheepishly as in acting like sheep, not sheepishly as in shy).

Hmmm...those are very good points. The only one that doesn't bother me is Abeloth. I think they could wrap that up well enough (with perhaps a Jason-esque moment from TUF using Luke instead), perhaps even throwing in a dying Ben that Luke must save. I'd believe something like that. It'd need to be emotionally saturated for me to buy it, though. Once I'm emotionally hooked, you can convince me concerning the rest of the plot.

Good point on the population, and I agree. They are rather complacent. But I'm pretty much seeing them overthrow Daala somewhere in Conviction, or at least by the end of the series. As long as she's gone by the time Apocalypse closes, I'll be happy.

And you know, this may be a series built with the main intention of cleaning up after LotF, but I'm okay with that. We all make mistakes. But it's making up for them that's important.

Hmmm...I hadn't considered that about Luke's ex-girlfriends. Personally, Mara fan that I am, I don't have a problem with it. Let's burn them all! *cough* But I can see where you're coming from. It is a little odd. But perhaps they have a reason for it. Like...maybe it's important that the bodily forms Abeloth takes when dealing with Luke are always a love interest. Is he going to have to fight Mara in Apocalypse? Perhaps a Mara that seems as real as Mara Jade, a Mara that Ben believes to be his mother? I have no idea, but I could see them using this. And tearing at my heart once more. *sob*

Good points, though. I still think it's the best book, but I can see where you're coming from.

See I would be annoyed if they brought Mara out any further than her appearance in Abyss. It'd bother me. And for me to accept the Abeloth storyline I'd honestly need someone to die. Like, someone big. Like...Big 3 big. I think they've pushed it a bit with Abeloth and I like what they have but they have 3 more books left to reveal MORE of her so I'm nervous.

I also was worried for Tahiri in this book. She got indecisive and kinda dumb at one point but she came back. If they execute her I'll wash my hands of this nonsense because it will be yet another of the big Jedi characters that will have been wasted. Anakin, Jacen, Tahiri, Mara, and multiple others have just been uselessly killed. Kenth so far is the big death I've supported because he believed in what he was doing. I liked how he was handled at the end.

As for Daala, the things about Conviction say that apparently by the time it starts Daala has been ousted as CoS by the Jedi. This was news to me as I didn't see that anywhere in the current 6 novels of the series...

That confused me about Daala being out of power, too. I had expected it to come about during Vortex, but that didn't happen. Of course, that blurb is very old, so maybe it was in error.

And I'm not saying I would be happy with them using Mara as an Abeloth form, but...I still think it's fresh enough that it might work. Couldn't really say unless it happened, though.

I guess, but personally they've already wasted her as a character and when they bring some back out of nowhere they usually botch it so I'm fairly sure that'd happen with Mara. Plus, if they did that then she'd have to die on page again, and they'd give it to Denning, which means technically he WILL have killed everyone important, and he just shouldn't have that burden...

Ok so over all it was a great book, unlike you though, i didnt like Hamner.... he bugged me a lot, and honestly it really didnt affect me that much at all when Saba killed him. But the ending was pretty good, the Allana thing with the Barabels, is my guess that it is going to do with something later on. And my opinion with Abeloth, i think like you and Mara were saying is true about how they can do well on ending that, but honestly, at that point when it seemed like Luke and Ben were pinned down and what not then Vestara stepped in..... honestly i really didnt know what was going to happen there, i really had no clue, i just had to keep on reading, but the whole Vestara thing, yea where they're going with that, i have no clue.... over all though i was a good book and i have enjoyed reading it.... oh and the whole Vallin thing at the end in the conviction preview.... .'sigh' when i read those las two paragraphs..... 'sigh' really? just, really?

Now, I've had a day or two to marshall my thoughts on this book, but really all I can come up with is 'hoochimoochuhummagummi!' Seriously! I loved it. I went in to this book with a lot of expectations, and as someone pointed out to me, that's never a good idea with any Star Wars story. But it lived up to it! Saba, I remember IR2 saying, might become someone who stalls as she doesn't want to be a good leader. However, I say to you, that it is such a person who makes the best leaders. There were very few things that went wrong in this book, there were some spelling errors, but that didn't detract at all from the book. Usually, when discussing something, I focus on the negatives because the list is a lot shorter and so I'll get finished quicker, but in this book that isn't the case, as I'm at a loss to find things I didn't like.
However, I do have a worry: I worry that having them fight Abeloth and having her escape may become repetitive. That's about it at the moment.
But all the good things! I loved Han Solo. He's my new man crush. Move over, Nathan Fillion and your 'bam! Said the lady!', it's Han and his big shiny gun. I liked how, during the break-out, he was the one in charge. Okay, that may diminish the other characters, but he's Han Solo. He really should be the leader and go to guy of that type of mission. Raynar Thul. while making a very brief appearance, is shaping to be one of those I'll be keeping a close eye on. The way Denning wrote his 'very small' part, he seemed more like an omnipresent character, kind of like a 'Guide' that we see in other books.
As for the subplot about the Barabel litter, that was a very good touch. I've often wondered how the restoration of Barabel culture and population was/is going after the YV war.
I even liked how Denning seemed to add a few comments in his commentary, like Jaina's odd reasoning for breaking up the engagement, things that we fans have been complaining about. As well as the fact, as someone else pointed out above, sorry I've forgotten who, Denning's humour has dramatically increased so that it's now actually funny! You know how you get some writers who write a joke, and have the characters laugh 'at the joke'? I've felt that they add that bit because they know it's not a good joke. I can't help but feel excited for the rest of the series after reading this book

And I knew they'd still be crazy! Sorry, just had to add that!
And for the first time since the Tribe was introduced I realised that the Jedi are outnumbered. I know they've never had numbers on their side, but they are seriously outnumbered by the Sith. That's got me worried.