Since the book's only been out a little more than twelve hours in my part of the world... I say again - SPOILERS BEWARE! Now don't blame me if I mention something you didn't want to know...

o:o:o

Jacen Solo: This boy really needs to get spaced. He's an arrogant little weasel who believed he can - apparently - do no wrong; while all we can do is shake our heads and mutter "...and history repeats itself once again." He may not be on exactly the same path as Anakin/Vader, but it's running a parallel course - especially when he orders a Star Destroyer to open fire on Millennium Falcon and aim to destroy not disable.

Lumiya: After all this clever manipulating it's "he's got all the teaching he needs, I'm going to go get myself killed by Skywalker." Perhaps I'm just * being thick, but her going out with a bang! was just a little too simple. Especially how Luke "nearly didn't survive" last time, she seemed a little too easy to kill. And what was all that about Ben helping her out with the GAG? Why do I think she's not dead...?

Alema Rar: What the hell? I thought she got eaten by a spidersloth or whatever the heck that thing was called. For the rather limited role she played in helping out Lumiya, it seemed like a waste of space to bring her back. And let's not forget how she knows Jacen's "dirty little secret." How did Gorog find that out in the first place? What's this whole "Balance" thing she's getting at as well?

Nashtah: While we're digging up old characters how about we bring back someone who hasn't been heard from since before the Battle of Yavin? Welcome back Aurra Sing. After all the rescuing and combat and the credit Han gives her about speedy reflexes, she's bested by a little kid? A little unnecessary if you ask me.

Tenel Ka: Question - How does she not realize what Jacen's been up to? She's got to have some vague idea of what's going on on Coruscant, and it's not like Jacen's being quiet about it. If she does know, how can she stand for it?

Jag Fel: Yeah! He's alive! And for the few pages he's there, I'm kinda glad because I've always rather liked his character - though listing him as a bounty hunter isn't really true.

Jaina & Zekk: Sorry, can't seem to mention one without the other. If the Jedi are trying to un-Joiner Raynar, can't they do something about these two?

Cakhmaim & Meewalh: I know the Noghri aren't really uber-important, but I'm going to miss those two always lurking in the background.

Overall, I thought it was decent. Troy Denning isn't my favorite author and for the life of me I can't see why they're bringing back all these characters. It does however make me wonder if Allston, Traviss, and Denning are even speaking to one another between books. For some reason, the first three have a rather disjointed feeling to them as they all focus on different characters, but they're not different enough to be considered seperate stories. I don't really know if that makes any sense, but I at least know what I'm talking about...

And let's not forget the preview of Exile at the back...

* Perhaps Jacen's making a turn around with his wanting to find out why he's not guilty about trying to blast the Falcon and his parents back to molecules... Or not... Why's he meeting with General Antilles?

* Yeah! Kyp's back and says more than two words! This whole seeing someone-thing though? It read like a bad fanfic sorry to say...

* Omas and Niathal are up to trouble... Making Jacen a Jedi Master? Can we say really, really bad idea?

Well, I haven't given up on the series yet... Maybe this one just needs to be read again...?