I did think it odd that Mander had trouble in the beginning of the book, yet seemed capable of taking down elite guards - or at least I assume they're elite. If not I'd wonder why the head of the Bomu clan was protecting herself with half-wits and incompetents - before the narrative describes him coming into his own after he uses his former apprentice's lightsabre.

another problem I had with the identity of the villain. I've a rule that, whenever the identity of a villain is kept secret, I'm to think of the least likely person that it could be, and immediately I will find my villain. I applied this rule in this book and, immediately, thought of Mika. Who turned out to be the villain. I was disappointed in this

Yeah, That did seem odd didn't it. From someone who had truble deflecting Reens shots at the begining of the book, to someone who was described as a "tornado" while going after the Bomu clan matriarch. But than again he still had trouble with that Twi'lek later on.

Was the identity of the villain even supposed to be a "right till the end" mystery hidden from the reader? Sure some will get it sooner than others, but it was so painfully obvious who the bad guy is I doubt anyone will say: "OMG it was Mika all along!" by the time the Spice Lord is called by name. I was under the impression that the identity of the villain was meant to be hidden from Mander not from us the readers. We know who the characters of the book are, but Mander had any number of suspects to consider.

I feel that the identity was meant to be hidden from the reader, mainly because there were several instances where the identity - where Mander wasn't even in the scene - was hidden from other characters, too (namely the Klatooinian), and the prose seemed to indicate that it was supposed to be a mystery to the reader. If it wasn't meant to be a mystery to the reader, then surely it could have been written differently, to highlight the duplicity of Mika, and the shock of Mander, later?

....and some wouldn't have the experience needed for making conclusions that seem obvious to others. Still after Zonnos got killed, the number of posible suspects dropped to two. So it's not exactly "Who is Keyser Soze?" More like..... hm Scooby Doo.