Hello everyone!

It's been a long time, but what with exams and the end of school, my absence wasn't necessarily unexpected. First let me say that Celebration IV was an absolute riot, and I was extremely happy to have met so many of you at DJ Maul's Blogger's Dinner. Thanks for putting that on, DJM!

Okay. So I finished Dark Tide I: Onslaught on my way home after CIV, and it's taken me this long to read DT II: Ruin. All in all I really enjoyed reading these two novels. I was happy to see that my knowledge and understanding of the Yuuzhan Vong is increasing with every book, especially with the interaction between Shedao Shai and Elegos A'Kla. Their exchange of information concerning their respective people's customs and ideals was wonderfully done, I think. Until Elegos was slaughtered, of course. That just wasn't cool.

I have always been a fan of Ithorans and Ithor. I find the imagery of a whole planet as one big jungle with massive floating city-ships really awesome. So when I realized that the Yuuzhan Vong were going to take their invasion to Ithor (and considering the title of the book is Ruin) I knew it would be destroyed. I wasn't happy about that! I do have to admit, though, that the destruction of yet another world (that's a count of 4 in three books - Belkadan, Helska, Sernpidal, and Ithor), especially one with such a large population, showed me just how evil the YV are (not that I needed any reasurances, mind you!). Now I'm just left wondering how many more worlds the YV will destroy in the course of their invasion (I know roughly how far their invasion reaches, by seeing the galaxy maps in the books, however that doesn't tell me if the YV will completely lay waste to any more planets.)

One thing that erked me about these two novels was the utter and complete absence of Han Solo! I knew that Chewie's death in Vector Prime hit Han extremely hard, but I didn't think he would become a hermit like Yoda and completely ignore the invasion of his galaxy! Look at it this way: Leia lost her entire planet and she stayed in the fight against the Empire; Anakin Solo felt responsible for Chewbacca's death, and he stayed in the fight against the YV; Vader kept his resolve (however evil) and remained in service of the Emperor when he lost Padmé. Han's self-isolation, to me, displays his selfishness. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing character, and he adds so much to the SW universe, but I still expected him to step up to the plate and take some responsibily in the protection of his galaxy, despite his sorrow.

I always enjoy having sections of novels from the enemies perspective, in this case Shedao Shai and the YV. Their dissention and infighitng makes their culture so interesting to me. I loved reading about the double-allegiances, the deception, and the lies between different members of the species (namely Shai and Deign Lian). I hope this continues throughout the rest of the series, albeit with different characters (as both those two are now dead!). Having already read a chunk of the next book, Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial, I think my hopes are going to be fulfilled!

The YV's thoughts on their gods and how they are supposed to respect and honour them is truly disturbing, as I know it is meant to be. I hope that sometime in the NJO series, their belief system is explained in more detail, such as why they believe that they need to hurt and mutilate themselves to make their deities happy. I understand that they believe that since we are born, we live, and we die in pain, we should embrace pain, but I just hope that their religion and beliefs are highlighted in a novel or two sometime. I guess I'll have to wait and see!

Until next time, May the Force be with you!

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(I used this quote this time to signify the relationship between Chewie and Han, and how much Han needed his friend after he was gone.)
You need me less than I need you.
- "Trust Me", The Fray