So far, I've decided to look at the audiobooks of the Legacy of the Force series after reading the books, mainly because The Swarm War was very exciting and it continued into the Legacy of the Force. But for Tempest, I had mixed feelings, mainly good, however.

Much like the others, the audiobook is an abridgment so some sections are left out. When considering these scene, most of them aren't as essential but are still important for us big fans (a.k.a. always read the book first which I'm sure most of us do ). Some of the complete scenes taken out include Jaina and Zekk fighting YVH droids on Terephon; Ben still shows up and saves them, but when he does, Jaina and Zekk explain to him what happened, so that makes sense. Another scene that was taken out was Jacen Solo vs. Aurra Sing. To be honest, this is good because Jacen did receive a little beating from her when he shouldn't have. Compared to Jacen, Aurra Sing isn't that strong, and it's not like they fought only with lightsabers (which Aurra may have more experience with), but stopping each other with the Force; I would think Jacen could shatter Aurra Sing if he wanted to. However, that scene isn't even hinted at, making anyone who just listened to the audiobook unsure of when Aurra Sing will strike next.

Other scenes did have small parts taken out of them, some not too important, but others that do make a scene a little weird. The first big one for me is when Luke, Mara, Tozr, and Raatu are investigating Lumiya's apartment. All the booby traps are left out, which were very entertaining because it was always Tozr or Raatu who were about to be killed by those traps and Luke and Mara would jump saying, "Don't touch that!" Also, when Lumiya is linked with the GAG, Mara's reactions were left out, and that's when Mara went from the Jacen's-just-confused-with-a-woman view to the could-Jacen-be-a-Sith view, one of my favorite parts. Another scene shortened, which is more of a disappointment for me mainly for the humor would be Ben Skywalker placing stuncuffs on Han Solo. I was just as surprised as Han and the others were so that whole scene was interesting and funny to me. But throughout the rest of that scene, you know that tensions are high between the Solo's and Ben, so Ben trying to arrest Han wasn't as bad. Ben tries again by saying he'd only help if Han and Leia promised to surrender.

The one who reads the story is Marc Thompson and he continues to do a great job, but some characters just seem wrong. A great job by Marc would be Ben; Marc does a great whinny-like voice when Ben is being a little too whinny. Another great job, which I'd say goes without say, is Han Solo; Marc really does bring Han to life, and I'm sure it will continue to the end.

However, Marc did "fault" on a couple of characters. One would be Tenel Ka; yes, she's been queen for over 10 years, but she just seems weaker than she was in the Young Jedi Knights. Tenel Ka seemed much more feminine with her voice than I've always thought of her, but it's nothing to hate the story by. The other would be Raatu, the Rodian detective. Rodians, from the movies and games, have a distinct voice, and even if they can't speak Basic, it would have been better if they sounded more like they did in the movies and games, and Marc gave Raatu a much deeper voice than needed. Nevertheless, Tozr and Raatu were still very entertaining, even if some of their best parts (booby traps) were left out.

Like all the other audiobooks of Star Wars I've listened to, music and sound effects are included at key scenes. It's great to hear John Williams's score come in, but for one scene, I think the wrong music was chosen. When Master Lobi is fighting Alema and Lumiya and is about to be killed, the music seemed too "happy" for a great Jedi's death, but, once again, it isn't enough to say that listening to the book isn't worth it.

Finally, now that I've got my specifics of the audiobook done, I want to say a bit on the story. First would be where Jacen went wrong; in the book, Luke blames Jacen's imprisonment to the Yuuzhan Vong. Yes, that's when Jacen changed, but it wasn't because he was being held by the Yuuzhan Vong; Jacen changed because Vergere introduced him to a new view of the Force, a much grander scale than light and dark. The key to this view is in it's teachings: balance. One must be able to remain balance with this view or they'll fall, mainly towards the darkness, as is now evident in Jacen and the Jedi Masters who betrayed Zayne Carrick in the Knights of the Old Republic comic series. Vergere, from all the scenes she's been in, was balanced. I am taking a risk here because when one is teaching another he or she isn't necessarily showing his or her own personal view. This is why Ben isn't going dark; Jacen is still instructing Ben in the basics which even Luke will use at select times. I will also mention the movie Batman Begins between Batman and Ra's Al-Ghul. Jacen, who I'm sure Vergere thought could remain balanced, got too arrogant and "blinded" which caused his balance not to be in check. Ben could have been able to keep Jacen balance, but Ben only listens to Jacen and doesn't think for himself much and then doesn't speak up when he should. Once more, another example could be found in Batman where Batman would fall just as dark as those he fights if characters like Robin, Nightwing, and Alfred weren't there to keep him in check.

Whew...if you made it through all that, sorry This turned out to be a lot longer than I thought, but that's me with Star Wars: when I get going, I go. If you haven't checked out a Star Wars audiobook yet, I recommend it, maybe the first one being Betrayal which has lightsaber vs lightsaber, lightsaber vs blasters, blaster vs blaster, and space battles throughout. And in closing, when it comes to Jacen being the coordinator of a fleet, Thrawn could out maneuver Jacen in his sleep, and Jacen shouldn't feel too bad, Thrawn did that to everyone