And I'm glad to see a fan for Ben Skywalker; of course, he probably only looks good because he's standing next to his dad, but if he's made improvements, that's a start. However, the blurb from the third book makes me think he couldn't improve too much because it sounds very similar to the Ben I was not a fan of at the end of LotF. Only time will tell, I guess

And you can always count on Allston to include great lines, and some of those mentioned are hilarious even if the context they're in is missing

I was definitely a fan of Ben as opposed to LotF. I normally hated him in there. But he was wonderfully different in Outcast. A breath of fresh air (or helium ), I suppose you could say.

Aush wrote:

However, the blurb from the third book makes me think he couldn't improve too much because it sounds very similar to the Ben I was not a fan of at the end of LotF.

Do you have a more updated blurb? Because the only time I noticed Ben mentioned was to say that he would speak with Mara Jade's Force ghost. What gave you the impression he was going to be whiny again? Just curious.

Am I the only one who wants to see Dab and Tahiri hook up?

And what happened to the Mandalorians? They vanished...again

...though I do like the bounty hunters.

On the plus side, I'm just loving all the Jedi. There's just so much goodness there. I mean, Kenth is actually a person now! And Cilgahl too!

Another plus, and a bit of a surprise = NO SITH. Yes. That's a good thing. They'll be coming in soon enough from the looks of it.

As for Daala, I like how they carried her reasoning. It makes sense. Of course both sides have their rights and wrongs. And the GA seem determined to push things too far, which of course will cause the Jedi to push back, and then we'll have WAR!. Or something...

One thing that jumped out at me was the idea of breaking at the thought of "when did Jacen break?" I think this is a cool idea to explore and I hope the series goes somewhere with this.

I liked Luke and Ben's little adventure on Dorin, and Han, Leia, and Allana's trip to Kessel was entertaining as well. This makes me wonder if the other novels will have a lot of side adventures like this one, and if so, what might we be in for?

And I couldn't help myself from reading the Omen excerpt. Interesting things on the way it seems.

Okay...to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't mind Dab and Tahiri getting together. At first it excited me. But then all I could think was, "It would always seem like she simply chose him because he reminded her of her past love." And it would always be weird to me. Sooo...yeah.

Yes, the Mandalorians did vanish. I wondered about that. The bounty hunters were pretty cool, though. I want to know who this Zilaash Kuh person is. She was interesting...

Weren't the Jedi amazing?! That's one thing I loved so much about the book! They actually seemed like Jedi now. Really, truly Jedi. It was beautiful.

No sith, but they're coming. I think it's one thing that kept the book fresh, though, yes.

As I've stated in some of my other spoilers, I loved the way Daala approached the whole thing. It did indeed make sense. I went into more detail a few posts back.

Ah, yes...that was very interesting about Jacen's breaking point. I wouldn't have necessarily thought about it that way, but I really like it. I hope they take it somewhere...

The whole trip to Kessel transported me back in time, and I felt like I was once again reading Bantam. Now...for all my complaints concerning Bantam, this was a very good thing. When I look back on it, I really enjoyed that aspect of the story. And I think it's mainly because it offered a bit of nostalgia, but also because it was rather simple and didn't last long. They cleaned it up quickly and neatly. Very nice.

I really liked What's-Her-Name the Sith in the excerpt. Or at least I enjoyed the excerpt. So...despite not wanting the introduction of yet more Sith, I'm hoping they'll play it well. Yup.

The fact that Mara Jade Skywalker's ghost is going to pop up again may hint at Ben still not being over her death and wanting to be a little more whinny again because of it. It may be assuming too much, but LotF showed Ben in an alright light in the first book and he just cascaded down from there. We'll see come the second and third books

And concerning Jacen's fall, I'll tell you right now where I'm absolutely sure Jacen fell: as soon as he looked down in a crib and realized he was a father in Dark Nest II. During Jacen's 5 year journey, Jacen was introduced to other ways of looking at the Force which made him more carefree and not all that interested in galactic matters as seen in Dark Nest I. However, as soon as he saw his daughter in the crib and recognized her, Jacen became just like Anakin Skywalker: willing to sell his soul to the devil if it means protecting the ones he loves. It will still be worth knowing some of the things he learned on his journey, but I hope it doesn't turn into an annoying storyline like Sword of the Jedi did.

Aush wrote:

@ Mara Jade Skywalker The fact that Mara Jade Skywalker's ghost is going to pop up again may hint at Ben still not being over her death and wanting to be a little more whinny again because of it. It may be assuming too much, but LotF showed Ben in an alright light in the first book and he just cascaded down from there. We'll see come the second and third books

Ah, I see what you mean. I'm kind of excited about Mara Jade coming back, though. Although what can I say, I'm partial.

Aush wrote:

And concerning Jacen's fall, I'll tell you right now where I'm absolutely sure Jacen fell: as soon as he looked down in a crib and realized he was a father in Dark Nest II. During Jacen's 5 year journey, Jacen was introduced to other ways of looking at the Force which made him more carefree and not all that interested in galactic matters as seen in Dark Nest I. However, as soon as he saw his daughter in the crib and recognized her, Jacen became just like Anakin Skywalker: willing to sell his soul to the devil if it means protecting the ones he loves. It will still be worth knowing some of the things he learned on his journey, but I hope it doesn't turn into an annoying storyline like Sword of the Jedi did.

Well that's a very interesting observation, and I'm inclined to agree with you. I'd never thought about that before. Huh.

And it seems to me that Ben and Luke are going to be retracing Jacen's steps for approximately the whole series. So what are you hoping they'll make of it? And what are you hoping they won't? Cause I don't really know what to expect. So I'm just interested in other people's views about the whole thing.

It'll all come together in the end and the key to Jacen's fall will be the key to the galaxy's salvation. They may also try to explain his fall with the illness (like maybe the Sith are just sick and not evil). But yeah, all the storyline's will merge and have everything to do with each other cause that's how the EU rolls lol.

Allana's been annoying me any time I read about her. She seems like a little stubborn-headed brat. I mean...I was hoping she'd be a cute however-old-she-is and would find a place in our hearts as she continues to grow up. But so far...nope.

There were a lot of hints dropped about Jag wanting Jaina to set up an independent order of Force users in the Galactic Empire. Jaina kept fending off these offers, but the question is what will really happen? Will Jaina eventually change her mind and start up the Imperial Knights? Will Jag get someone else to do it? And can there be a future between Jag and Jaina if she refuses to move to the Galactic Empire, and Jag remains there? How horrible will their children have it?

As much as I like seeing Jaina and Jag together, the foreshadowing of what's to come looks awful. They're practically doomed from the start.

Okay, Tahiri needs no new man. This guy is gonna drive her nuts and I don't think it'll work out.

Cilghal is one of my new favorite characters! She was cranky, she got kinda mean, she even got a little childish in her torturing of that one guy by doing everything she could to annoy him. Hilarious!

Luke and Ben's trip is just starting so I won't try to judge that yet.

The ghost in the tomb or whatever it was that Allana heard is definately gonna come back in a big way. Can't wait for that!

The fact that Shimmra, Palpatine, and Lumiya were mentioned was kinda funny

Those of you who have said they can see Daala's side of the arguement, I totally agree. There's always been complaints against the Jedi, but never has someone put it in such a good wording before. Outstanding.

valin and Seff's disease only strengthens my desire to finish this series. Its really really hooked me

Han is just the man. Him and Leia remain my favorite of the film characters.

And my one complaint...seriously, can they not just let Anakin die? My gosh, a droid with his memories in LotF and now his lookalike is brought back from NJO to torture Jaina and Tahiri. And I'm betting that yes, someone had that done on purpose. I really wish they'd let him die. Jacen JUST died so its natural that they'd talk about him and I can see that Anakin's death still affects Tahiri, but outside that shouldn't they just end it?

P.S.: JAINA AND JAG!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!! LITTLE FEL JEDI BABIES!!!!! SOOON HOPEFULLY!!!!