39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Star Wars universe continues...., July 31, 2005
It has been five years since the Yuuzhan Vong invasion was ended. The new government, the Galactic Alliance is working, along with the Jedi community, to restore war-ravaged worlds and bring back peace and order to the galaxy. In the midst of these efforts comes an unusual cry for help through the Force, heard by only a select few Jedi Knights. Hearing this strange call, eight Jedi have departed for the Unknown Regions. Tahiri and Tekli leave their work on Zenoma Sekot; Jaina, Zekk, Lowbacca, Alema, and Tezar discontinue their assignments from the Jedi Council; and even Jacen has ended his journey in search for the meaning of the Force to answer the call.
Luke Skywalker and the rest of the Jedi Council are uncertain why the Jedi have left their current duties to go on an unsanctioned mission of their own. When the Chiss come to the Galactic Alliance to demand an explanation for a group of Jedi becoming involved in a Chiss border dispute, the government asks to Council to investigate. Concerned, Luke, Mara, and Saba, with 8-year-old Ben Skywalker in tow, go to the Chiss border. Worrying about their children, Han and Leia also join the Jedi Masters to look into these claims. There they find more than they bargained for, including an amazing revelation connected to the Myrkr mission (from NJO: Star by Star) to destroy the voxyn queen.
The Star Wars universe continues with another exciting series, featuring the characters from the New Jedi Order. The story quickly plunges into the adventure and continues the whole way through with a fast pace plot. Luke, Han, and Leia are given a large part of the story- good to see these characters back in action again. I haven't bought into the new `enlightened' view of the Force (no absolutes- dark and lights are relative) but this isn't talked about in-depth. The Joiner King was very interesting and enjoyable to read. I'm looking forward to seeing what the author does in the next book, which promises to be just as exciting.
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64 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good start on continuing the saga, July 27, 2005
This is, arguably, the first serious STAR WARS novel in almost two years. That is, we've had the CLONE WARS books and the LABYRINTH OF EVIL/REVENGE OF THE SITH duology, which ranged from really really great down to actively awful. These books, for better or for worse, were mostly action-adventure romps wherein all the pieces are put back at the end for the main characters, we don't see the minor characters again, and there's no overall plot to speak of.
Meanwhile, though, we had THE NEW JEDI ORDER. While the CLONE WARS novels are merely set during a war, and don't really have any macroscale importance, THE NEW JEDI ORDER *was* the war; it took us from beginning to middle to end. Sure, there may have been some missteps along the way... but in the end, it was one giant space opera, in a manner that even the more serious (in terms of trying to be science-fiction, instead of a fairy-tale in space) STAR WARS movies were never really able to pull off. It's this series that DARK NEST is the successor to. Not the sequel--it doesn't touch on the plot of the NJO, and leaves the unanswered questions unanswered, though character threads were picked up.
So, if the CLONE WARS are a fairy tale, and TNJO is a massive space opera, then what's DARK NEST?
Both, to be honest.
The tone of the story is definitely more in line with the STAR WARS movies, or the CLONE WARS novels, than THE NEW JEDI ORDER was. At the same time, though, while it's a fast-paced adventure piece it continues the trend we've been seeing for a while now that really came to a head in THE NEW JEDI ORDER: it acts like a serious piece of science fiction, right down to the *groan* technobabble.
THE JOINER KING gets into some relatively heavy material for an "adventure" novel: the whole concept behind the titular Dark Nest, mainly, but also the continued ponderings on the nature of the Force extending from TRAITOR.
Perhaps my main complaint about the book is that it's started down a slippery slope of technology. The Falcon now carries war droids (and they don't even have interesting personalities a la HK-47 to justify thier presence); we have R9s now for no apparent reason; and one or two other pieces along those lines. More, none of this was actually necessary in the story. But it makes me fear a literal deus ex machina later on, beyond the minor not-so-literal one in the ending of THE JOINER KING.
Over the last five years, the Jedi have also been sliding down the slippery slope of morality as well. Most of them--even Luke--have twisted "the only 'dark side' is that within you" to "the ends justify the means". Seeing how this has affected the characters we've come to know is a bit of a shock; not everyone is as pure as you might think....
Overall: good plot, good writing as I've come to expect from Denning. Some interesting background was developed, and several moral questions were raised that aren't going to go away anytime soon, both of which mean the other two books are very promising indeed. But some bits that seemed like lazy writing (the technology that was introduced) were somewhat offputting.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great story with a thought provoking plot., November 14, 2005
Star Wars Dark Nest I: The Joiner King does what i thought was impossible, it moves on past the Yuuzhan Vong invasions conclusion and provides an interesting threat that does not try to out do the Yuuzhan Vong but gives a situation that allows us to get a feel for how the galaxy is recovering and see how the Jedi Order are moving back towards being peackeepers not soldiers as they have been called to be in the New Jedi Order series.
-Possible Spoliers-
The Killiks are an alien species that are very different from the Yuuzhan Vong in many ways but are there quite obviously to show the Jedi Order something useful in regards to the nature of the force. The Killiks and their Hive Mind are described as naturally being a species that has had no interest in causing trouble however it is when the hive mind absorbed three force users from the ill fated Myrkr mission that it seems to taken on two sides and then the trouble began. The Jedi Raynar Thul does the least damage to the Killik hive mind but adds compassion creating in effect a Light side or a conscious side and the dark siders Lomi Plo and Welk create an unconscious side born from their fear and pain in effect a Dark Side to the Killik hive mind. It is this change to the Killiks, born from coming into contact with force users that makes the Killiks a situation for the Jedi and Galactic Alliance to handle.
The book also shows the ongoing developement of the relationship between Jedi Order and Galactic Alliance very well and this is left in a way that it will be developed in later books. There are also good scenes that take place in the Jedi Orders new facilities, one is in the new Jedi Temple on Coruscant near the start of the book and then later at the new Jedi Academy on Ossus. These scenes not only show the Order as being more structured but also address what has been going on with the Chiss as they are a large part of the Killik situation. Plus some intersting links to Episode III which i really enjoyed are included which will be extremely important to some of the main characters.
Troy Denning has created a fine addition to the Star Wars timeline that not only has great characterisations and an exciting plot but also has given me plenty to think about in regards to the nature of the force in the parallel which has been drawn with the Killik Hive mind. The Dark Nest Trilogy has an excellent first installement i cant wait to read the second.
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