Overall, it wasn't bad. Not perfect, but I'm far too old and bitter to expect perfection from the EU.

Characterization
Pretty good. Luke was Luke, Mara was neither wifey wife nor rhymes-with-witch out of hell. Ben was a pain in the butt, as expected. There's some great Han bits, and Leia worked. I'm starting to be kinda intrigued by Jacen. Jaina and the rest of that bunch I really couldn't care less about, so they could be a million miles off base and I would neither notice or care.

Those Meddling Kids
I was a little disapointed by the amount of screentimes the YJK bunch got, as the jacket cover led me to believe there'd be less of them than in the NJO. Sadly, no. Denning also had a tendancy to call these characters "young Jedi Knights" every other sentance, which only reminds me of their KJA-tainted pasts. But they were sandwiched between the stuff I did care about, so I could deal.

Bugs Bug Bugs
The EU doesn't have a very good relationship with bugs, and there always the finger-pointing "Star Trek!" folks whenever they go off the beaten path, (I bet they're the same folks who flap constantly about Bantam's Dark-Jedi-and-bumbling-Imperials trend) but I thought the concept of it was well done here. Not as gross as the drochs or even the big bad boring Vong, just... different. And pretty well explained.

Ain't Nothing But A Gray Thing
Jedi using torture? Methinks that might be taking the whole "there is no dark side" thing too far, and it's bound to be an issue later. (And yeah, I'm for the no dark side thing in theory, which is why I'm pretty sure it was a setup for something later in DN or Legacy.)

Mommy Tales
I really like Artoo's first malfunction, and Luke's wee temper tantrum. I'm not happy that they eventually learn Padme's name, but that's mainly for my own selfish reasons.

Chiss Crap
Yeah, they did miss that mispelling of Cha'form'bintrano (or whatever.) Big whoop - I can't blame them, as I had to cut and paste the thing myself. But Denning does explain all those Zahn/NJO Chiss discrepancies that the obsessive fanboys have been all up in arms over and the rest of us never even noticed.

Who's Got the Button?
And finally, I have a sinking feeling that the Queen of the Dark Nest is Callista. I'm hoping it's Lumiya or that Lomi chick, but part of me wonders if the brief appearance of Akanah is hinting at the reapperance of another irrelevant love interest. Plus the hate for Mara? Or maybe I'm just paranoid. Please, let me be paranoid. Callista returning is NOT an option. Right? Bueller?

And while we're on the topic of Skywalker love lives, the scene where the chicks hit on Luke in the Cantina is straight from bad fanfic. Truly wince-worthy. Yes, it was a throw-away moment there to show how the Nest didn't want them finding the kids, but woman openly lusting after Luke? LUKE? Although if it was fanfic, Mara would probably have taken their heads, so I guess I should be thankful for small favors.

Still, nothing worth adding to my eye-spork list, or otherwise enter the KJA Hall of EU Infamy. Ben did not get into any lightsaber matches at the ripe old age of 8, and the "hides himself in the Force" thing is nice way of distancing himself from the Solo childhoods and answering all those requests that he not have the Force at all. I am not displeased.

I'm actually interested to see how it all plays out. Denning's not going to be my favorite EU author anytime soon, but he did good. Hopefully the trend continues.