Months ago, I was on another one of my book reading binges, and I was tearing through the New Jedi Order. Then I got to Dark Journey and got bored. Recently, I finally decided to try to finish it, but I just can't do it. I've gotten about a third of the way through, but I just can't go on. It took me a while to get through Balance Point, too, but this is different.

I hate this book. It has everything I didn't like about Star by Star, and none of the good stuff.

I don't like any of the characters in the book. It centers mostly around the Young Jedi X-Men, who I never liked, didn't like in Star by Star, and care even less about now. Anakin, the one I liked, is dead. Jacen, the one I didn't like, but who was at least interesting, isn't really in the picture. Jaina, who I do like, is going through an unlikable and uninteresting emo phase. Kyp, Han, Leia, characters that usually stimulate a story, are all on the sidelines, acting like robots.

The other big players are the Hapans, who've I've never been terribly fond of. I'm not a fan of arrogant monarchical backstabbers like the Queen Mother. It's political turmoil as it's most boring. And the Yuuzhan Vong perspective is distinctly missing. I find that side of the story to be fascinating, and important for context. Plus, it breaks up the monotony of telling the story about the same people the whole time. But so far, the Yuuzhan Vong have barely been mentioned. This really doesn't feel like a New Jedi order book. It's all drama and human politics. In fact, it barely even feels like a Star Wars book.

I'm also getting really annoyed by the sudden amplification of Jedi sensory abilities. In A New Hope it took an entire planet being to destroyed to make Obi-Wan a little woozy, and in the rest of the EU you have to be a twin or a lover to get a sign when your partner is in peril, but in this book, every Jedi in the galaxy seems to be read other's pain and distress from lightyears away. Oh, except in the very beginning, when a ship with two Jedi Masters on board was unable to figure out that a Yuuzhan Vong ship was loaded to the gills with conscious Jedi, one of which was physically related. Elaine Cunningham, you're doing it wrong.

And it's not like the writing is particularly good. It's not funny, it's not engaging, it's not descriptive. It's just a series of events that seem to be specifically engineered to be as uninteresting as possible to me personally (I have no doubt that other people can better relate to the subjects in this book that I find boring).

And to make matters worse, I picked up the next book, Rebel Dream, which I've been greatly anticipating, since I'm a big fan of both Wedge Antilles and Aaron Allston. I read a little bit, and in the first sentence, there's an ontological disproof of God (of a certain definition). There's a pair of Yuuzhan Vong having a theological discussion. Then they get ready to enter a dogfight with fighters led by Wedge Antilles. My goodness, it's like he stole the fantasy wishlist from my head and wrote a book about it. And it's only been five pages.

So sorry, Dark Journey. Your time is up. My completionist instincts, my curiosity, and advice and encouragement from my friends and fellow bloggers have all failed to motivate me to read even one more page. Plot synopsis, here I come. I'm moving on.