Hello everyone!

Well, it's been about two months since I've written a blog (not to mention coming to the site at all) and I've sorrowly missed it. School and everything else I'm doing seriously takes up every spare minute I have! As a result, my plan to write an entry for each book in the NJO as I finished them has pretty much collapsed in on itself. So I've now edited my goals: I'll write an entry for every book that I think was really great, or that I have a lot to say about... So here goes!

First, I'll talk about Balance Point. I really, really enjoyed this novel. Jacen's struggle with whether or not he would ever use the Force again was very, very good, and ironic, considering the knowledge of what he eventually becomes. I was happy that this got a heavy weight - I always love the character-driven plots more than the pure action/war books.

I liked the fact that everyone was (semi) together again. The Skywalker and Solo families were all on (or orbiting) the planet Duro for long periods of time, and I like that even though the war had devestating effects, and that the families were so separated because of them, they all found their way back to each other. Obviously it had to happen sooner or later, I was very happy about how it happened - that they didn't even realise the fact for a long while, and when they did it was somewhat awkward. If they had have found each other and gone, "Oh yay now we can all be a big happy family again" I would have been disappointed. But it is Star Wars, and of course it was done far better than that.

One last note on this novel - I was very impressed by Kathy Tyers's ability to thread the same recurring image and theme throughout every plotline in the book... that darkness was coming, and somebody might end up tipping the galaxy into chaos. It was mainly focused on Jacen, however it was displayed through every character as well.

Before I move on to Star by Star, I just want to say that I absolutely loved the Anakin/Yavin IV duology (the titles have escaped me at the moment). I've always loved Anakin's character, and I was glad to see that he got the limelight for a little while - especially since he gets knocked off a book or two later. I was glad that the Jedi weren't able to stay on Yavin IV... the place was getting tired and overdone, and I think that since they moved away from the base they've known for so many years, it really was a new beginning for them, which was really needed (and, coincidentally, what the series is ultimately about!)

I know there are some anti-Star by Star sentiments out there from people who didn't like it (I don't know much about them, as I tried to stay away from opinions before I read books), but I really, really enjoyed it. I did a book report thing on it for school, and I found it so hard to keep it to 5 pages, because I had so much to say. Now I have to use even more restraint... here goes....

The problems between Anakin and Jacen were clearly coming to a climax throughout NJO, and I think sending them into the heart of enemy territory on a mission to destroy something that would eventually kill them was an excellent way to solve them. You could clearly tell that they were very uncomfortable around each other - especially Jacen, having to take orders from his younger brother.

As twisted as this sounds, I liked Anakin's death. It was very fitting for his character, and it was definitely written extremely well. I also loved the poetic-ness (I hope that's a word...) of having the fall of Coruscant accompany the hero's death. To me, I see the loss of the galactic capitol as a symbolic representation of how devastating Anakin's death was to the Solo and Skywalker families. The New Republic lost it's capitol, and the Solo family lost their strongest member (in the Force and in emotion, I think) - their rock. As I was reading Star by Star I was very touched by this realization.

Finally, I can't imagine what it would have been like for people to read SBS and have to wait for a long period of time before getting Dark Journey. The ending of SBS was so fantastic that I just had to run up to my room and grab DJ off my shelf!

Well, that's it for now. I hope I get back on here before another two months... But for now, May the Force be with you!

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Do we, holding that the gods exist, deceive ourselves with insubstantial dreams and lies, while random careless chance and change alone ontrol the world?
- Euripides
Aucuba