With Outcast, volume 1 of the Fate of the Jedi, Aaron Allston successfully set up the two main plotlines that the nine-book series would deal with: i.e., young Jedi Apprentices going insane and causing havoc as a result and Luke Skywalker accepting self-imposed exile as he and his son, Ben, try to trace Jacen Solo's path to the Dark Side. (See my full review here.)

Now, Christie Golden, a newcomer to the Star Wars Universe, takes over the series with the second installment: Omen. Although this is her first foray into the Star Wars Universe, she is no novice when it comes to writing books in pre-established universes with pre-established characters. Like fellow Star Wars authors A.C. Crispin, Barbara Hambly, K.W. Jeter, and Vonda N. McIntyre, Golden has written books in the Star Trek Universe. She has also written books in the Warcraft Universe, the Ravenloft Universe, and the StarCraft Universe.

Unlike Outcast (which had four plotlines), Omen only deals with three: the main two mentioned above and a plotline involving a tribe of Sith who have been marooned on the remote world Kesh since the time of the Battle of Ruusan. (This battle is chronicled in detail in the graphic novel Jedi vs. Sith and the novel Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. A synopsis can be found in both Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force and The New Essential Chronology. The first two installments of the history of the marooned Sith tribe from the time of their being marooned until just before the events of the Fate of the Jedi can be found online as ebooks here. My reviews of the books mentioned in this paragraph can be found here, here, and here.)

Golden does an excellent job of fleshing out this lost Sith tribe, as well as developing the charcters who return from Outcast. She also introduces us to two characters on Chief of State Daala's staff and a holonet news reporter who shadows Jayna Solo outside the Jedi Temple hoping for a juicy scoop. The reporter, Javis Tyrr, is well developed. The staffmembers, Wynn Dorvan and Desha Lor are also developed well enough for the story, although not as thoughly as Javis. Without giving away too much, it appears that Wynn Dorvan and Desha Lor will definitely appear in future volumes of Fate of the Jedi. As such, I expect to see more development of their characters later. Golden also fleshes out aliens we've only seen and heard about briefly before - the Aing-Tii, who first appeared briefly in Vision of the Future. Golden also suggests an intriguing theory of why some Jedi Apprentices are going insane.

On the whole, then, Omen is a good edition to the Fate of the Jedi specifically and the Star Wars Universe generally. The only drawback is that the Sith plotline is left dangling for Troy Denning to pick up in volume 3 of Fate of the Jedi. I was hoping this thread would be resolved by Christie Golden, but it remains to be seen if this "lost tribe" of Sith plague the Jedi throughout the remainder of this series or are defeated in Troy Denning's forthcoming work. Final rating: ***1/2 (on a scale of 0-4 stars).