Jedi, Chiss and plenty of bugs
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Having finished the massive New Jedi Order series there were a lot of things that I wanted to know. What was going to happen to the Galactic Alliance, the Jedi and what story could follow the total war monster storyline that was the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. This book gave me answers but not in a fan service way, The joiner King gives us as many challenging realities as simple fan friendly platitudes. It feature many, many retuning favorites from the New Jedi Order series as well as the film mainstays.
The Joiner King uses the Killik species created by Kevin J Anderson and weaves a tense and thrilling border conflict with the Chiss as the primary thrust of the plot. It is very interesting to see that this very small scale conflict is used as it allows the reader and the galaxy a break from constant masssive war and also because it uses the conflict to explore a number of post Yuuzhan Vong Invasion issues such as the Jedi Order views on the force, the Galactic Alliance state of affairs and many more. This I found was a riveting aspect of the book and the trilogy as a whole. I cant recommend it highly enough.
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Star Boredom
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Maybe I'm being harsh but after reading a couple of the fantastic early short stories (Bounty Hunters & Mos Eisley Cantina)I thought to try a full length novel in the SW cannon. It seems as though there is little or no originality left - characters repeating the same old cliched lines from the movies. The plot was pretty thin but extended over 400 very long pages. If you're looking for a well written entertaining story, this isn't it
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best star wars book yet
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I think this is the best star wars expanded universe noval yet. Jacen and Jaina have gone to the unknown regions to respond to a call for help they heard in the Force. However, there is going to be a war between the Chiss (Jagged Fel makes a appearence here) and some rather strange insects (the side that Jaina and Zekk and Jacen are on).
The story is well written, with good desprictions of the battles. The only thing I think is bad is that you can't see where the next noval - The Hidden Queen - is going to go on to but I'll have to wait until Sept to find that out.
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Brilliant continuation of the Star Wars novel series
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In Star wars Dark Nest 1: The Joiner King Troy Denning does a brilliant job of showing the Star Wars galaxy recovering from the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion detailed in the New Jedi Order series. It was good to see that the Jedi have firmly established themelves a new temple on Coruscant, a new Jedi Academy on Ossus and a Masters Council in the Post Yuuzhan Vong War Galaxy. The plot is interestingly different and in my opinion is worthwhile as it does not go down the path of rehashing the Imperial vs New Republic conflict or extending the Yuuzhan Vong situation after it was wrapped up extremely well in "The Unifying Force" but instead shows the Jedi Order in the process of getting used to being peacekeepers and playing a part in rebuilding the galaxy they helped save in "The Unifying Force". However through the book we discover that the Jedi of this era are also trying to integrate the new found knowledge of the Unifying force and that the force has a Will into their lives, plus we see the consequences of the brutal Yuuzhan War upon what the Jedi are prepared to do to save the galaxy. This Jedi contemplating is subtly integrated into the plot which revolves around mysterious border skirmish between an insectile race called the Killiks and the Chiss and the consequences when a group of Jedi Knights become deeply involved in it.
I found it an enjoyable read and I am quite sure those of you who follow the Star Wars Novels will do too. It serves as a good solid introduction to the Dark Nest trilogy with plenty of plot points included that will be developed and sorted out in the next two books, including Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo finding out some tantalizing details of their past. It also acts as a prologue to the 9 book Legacy of the Force series that starts next year. It also helps clear up almost all of the continuity questions people had after reading about the Chiss in Survivor's Quest after seeing how different things were later when they read about the Chiss in Force heretic II: Refugee. Good Stuff.
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