Spoilers/review for Fate of the Jedi: Omen~



Nice first shot, Christie Golden. I am impressed.

I am awful at discussing books as they go in chronological order, so here we go:

Kesh. I saw "FORGOTTEN PLANET OF SITH" in a summary and shook my head. But this was actually executed well. It's interesting to see a Sith Order who are different from the one we're used to. They raise families, support each other, and create bonds. They're definitely malovent, but it's going to be hard to see them as traditionally evil as Sidious or Caedus. There's lots of potential for ~the grey side~ to come into play once they make contact with the greater GFFA. I'm not sure how I feel about Vespara. She has more depth than I anticipated.

The GA. What I'm really loving about this series is how impartial I find myself being toward "the bad guys." It's awesome to see galactic politics so shaken up -- I never thought I'd be rooting for the character who tortured the main heroes decades earlier. But FOTJ is answering questions that have been asked for a while now; mainly, why do the Jedi expect to be hero worshipped, if the galaxy has been screwed over time and time again by Force-based religious fanaticism? Why should they have special allowances made?

And I was beyond thrilled in Outcast when Luke agreed. He wasn't haughty or in disbelief about his sentence. No "side" was fully in the right or wrong, and they sat down and reached an agreement which rattled Coruscant but was still the best decision for everyone.

Back to Omen. Deciding for the GA and Order to each have two sick Jedi is another show of fairness, even though that decision was hard to reach.

Daala is interesting. Regardless of whether she has ulterior motives or not, I think... she really does care about the general populace. You guys can tar and feather me for saying that, it's okay. :|

Luke and Ben. George, can we have a show just about the two of them? Please? I don't know if I can even somewhat-eloquently describe how much I adore the Skywalker men together. They're both still picking up the pieces, and seeing their struggles with both Mara and Jacen's deaths is beautiful. There's so much sadness at Luke being there for Ben when all Luke ever wanted at his son's age was a real father of his own, and Ben... knows this. Luke Skywalker is his hero now. He's starting to maturely shake the stigma of being a Skywalker that haunted him when he was younger, and is realizing that it's not that bad.

Ben attempted to flow-walk in the same spot where Jacen learned how to do it. He tried to warn him about the future, but obviously, it was futile. He went back to Luke, ashamed, and man, I like this kid a lot.

And obviously, all Mara mentions punch me right in the gut. Especially the mentions of her "making the trip along with them."

Han and Leia. Leia kicks so much ass in this book, it's amazing. Fiercest grandmother ever. And there's a great bit that caught me off guard which confirms Leia having long-lasting childhood memories of Breha. Again, unexpected. Han... stands around a lot and makes jokes. Jokes that made me smile, at least. They are cute.

Han and Leia's parenting.

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...... brb drawing a chart. Good luck Allana? :D?

Allana. I don't know if I like her or Ben better. She is the cutest SW child. I honestly don't know at this point if she's less stable than Jacen at her age, or more, or just the same. The comment about her smiling and being quiet when Han and Leia tried to talk to her about bad things bothered me a hell of a lot, but, at least Han and Leia tried talking to begin with, and they listened to her. Her idea about what to do with nexu cubs was relieving. At least she'd spent her time after a traumatic situation constructively and with a level head.

It's disturbing to know now that Ship was talking to her in Outcast. I hope it's able to talk to ALL Force-sensitives and not... just... :\

And the possible parallels about loving animals... uhh. I am going to go into my Safety Cubby and tell myself it's something common amongst ALL children. Yes. Okay.

Jaina and Jag. Awww. I really don't have that much of an opinion, but Han likes Jag, so I like Jag. At first I thought, "Eugh, could Jaina really still be herself with him?" when it was semi-official that this would happen. But showing Captain Cardboard's personality, the part of him that Jaina loves, is helping a lot. They're a good match. I think my acceptance comes from the Moffs hating him. A+ proposal, Mr. Fel.

Overall. "Needs moar Mirax" is my only selfish complaint. This book was fantastic and the whole series is reminding me that this era can be fun. It's making me excited for the post-ROTJ EU again. The editors at Del Ray make statements about wanting a more "grown-up", "realistic" galaxy, and for the first time, I'm enjoying it. If you've been disillusioned with the EU lit for a while now, I highly recommend you start in on this. It's nowhere NEAR as fire-and-brimstone as was predicted.

HEY DON'T LEAVE YET



I keep saying, "Okay, it's no one's fault that Nat went crazy and Allana had to watch helpless animals she wanted for pets get slaughtered," but MAYBE THEY SHOULD PLAY CANDYLAND WITH HER INSTEAD. OR. ENROLL HER IN SCHOOL. OR SOMETHING.