Let go of your attachment to being right, and suddenly your mind is more open. You're able to benefit from the unique viewpoints of others, without being crippled by your own judgment. -Ralph Marston

For me the book was big disappointment because instead of making me believe there was hope as the movie 'Return of the Jedi" or the book "The Unifying Force", I was depressed and very unsatisfied with the end. There were still too many questions and so little answers. My husband who knows me well, knew that the book really affected me. When I bought the book, I really liked meeting Troy Denning at the book-signing, so it hurts to have to say that this was not a quality book. I was struggling afterward to decide if I hated the book because I had to watch Jacen die without true redemption or if there were other reasons. The reviews by people who were disappointed with the book in the blogs or on theforce.net seemed to express it better than I ever could. The book was too short for a final book of the series and many scenes seemed too rushed.

So, the book club Errant Venture met and discussed the book. The consensus at the beginning ranged from slightly thumbs down to thumbs neither up nor down. Everyone agreed it was not the quality we expected for a final book of the series. There needed to be more complex characterizations and emotions, especially if we were focusing on Jaina.

The comments are in not specific order and they are what I remember right now; it seems I remember the good rather than the bad. I agree with all of the comments.

Rogue: It was rushed - not a lot of thought went into the characters.
Daala in charge... C'mon?!? It was funny to see Jaina trying to use her feminine charms to make people do things failed in comparison to Leia's.

Autobot: Jacen's jokes were utilized well, and made you feel sad about what Jacen had become. It was good to see Luke making decisive choices. The dicussion on who to send to kill Jacen among the Jedi Council reminded me of the dicussion in the prequel movie in which it was decided that Obi-wan was to go kill General Grievous.

Ferris: There were too many missed opportunities. Jaina killing Jacen was made somewhat believable knowing that Luke was helping her. Tahiri's redemption was believable since Ben was redeemable...it just all happened so fast.

nalan: The jokes played mind-tricks; it was used well as contrasts to Jacen's character now - it was like seeing pictures of Hitler playing with puppies as a kid. It seemed so contrite and the constant rehashing of good and evil, Jedi versus Sith, Sith in power, Jedi in power.

M_E_Radio: The jokes were so bad...they were the reasons of why Darth Caedus/Jacen needed to be killed."

Lady #1 [sorry - dont' know you on-line name] : Tahiri's redemption was not believable to me. I was impressed with Jaina having grown up and being part of the Jedi Council discussion. Jacen continued to be selfish until the end, I think, Jacen also thought was a decision right or wrong - he always wants to be right. There was a lack of continuity between in the relationship between Jaina and Boba Fett.

Lady #2 [sorry - don't know your on-line name]: There was no way that Prince Isodor could trust Jacen - he comes from a culture where no one trusted anyone except those closest to him.

Throughout the series, I believed Jacen could be redeemed even after killing Mara and so many others. It seemed though that the time had come for him to die because of this:

[p. 247-8, in reference to Isodor]
"This was a man who had married for love in a culture that laughted at love, a father who had raised a Jedi daughter in a society that scorned Jedi, a prince who had always served his subjects first and his vanity last. He was a man, in short, of the best sort, a man with the wisdom to follow his own heart, and a heart large enough to make the journey worthwhile.
And Caedus would have liked to believe that those were the reasons he found himself so reluctant to kill the man...but he knew better. The reason he was hesitating was because he was not certain that it was the right thing to do."

Cadeus always wanted to be right...always even in the Young Jedi Knight series....even in New Jedi Order. But was Cadeus redeemed? Was his love for Allana enough or was it a selfish love?

We all agreed that we were happy to see Luke be powerful and be decisive, but we also agreed that he was at the edge of moving to the darkside with his decisions. Always that idea of balance.

After the meeting, I felt better that I was not the only one that was disappointed with the book. Although not a great book, it was entertaining, but not the same quality as Denning's prior books or Traviss's or Stover's books. All the writers have had their bad works.

As stated on a thread in the ForceNet forum: "The Young Jedi Knights is a Lost Generation of the Expanded Universe."

Question: Reboot the EU or not? Consensus by the group was that they hoped that Lucas will not reboot. There are so many side stories to focus upon that to change the history of 50 plus books would be a disaster. Many members said they would stop buying the books.

When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves. - Viktor E. Frankl