Children of the Jedi by Barbara Hambly, Darksaber by Kevin J Anderson and Planet of Twilight also by Hambly are loosely referred to as "The Callista Trilogy" set 12-13 years ABY.

These books are being discussed in the BC&T forum here and more information about the books and their blurbs can be found here, here and here.

My thoughts on these books were posted here:

Having just completed Children of the Jedi, I can say that it was without doubt the hardest book to get through ... I nearly gave up because it was so awful.

However, there were some good aspects, including some of Leia's characterisation and recollection of her past, and Threepio's help to Luke.

Other than that, I can't think of much more positive to say.

I will go on to read the other books in the "trilogy", albeit without enthusiasm, just for the sake of continuity.

Although, on the subject of continuity, isn't Children of the Jedi now in a bit of a mess given the PT canon re Jedi not marrying?

then here:

Well, even though I was an invalid for the past few weeks, I still found it very hard to get through the second of the trilogy Darksaber.

For people who think that Luke's simpering over Mara Jade gets a bit sickening at times, his attitude to Callista in this book really takes the cake. The syrup is really laid on way too thick (apart from the line quoted by Dark Spork earlier, I particularly felt ill at the line "I'll protect you with my Jedi powers". Argh).

The central weapon, the darksaber, is indeed one superweapon too many (although at least it was never really a serious threat for various reasons).

I'm still not sure what I think about the Lemelisk flashbacks, but my inclination is to think that they were just a little too much also.

Unlike Children of the Jedi which did have some positive features (particularly the Han-Leia side of the story), I can't off the top of my head think of anything that I really enjoyed about this book.

I don't know if it was deliberate or not but I felt that the bombing of Dorsk 81's homeworld was set up in a way that was a real negative to the Jedi - had they been left alone as they wanted to be then they would not have been a target. It was only the actions of the Jedi that led to them being a target. I don't think that this was really what was intended - I think that we were meant to view their staid form of stability as a negative that led to their downfall when in fact to me it really seemed that they were doing fine until they had external interference. Ah well.

And now on to Planet of Twilight. I really hope that this one is better!

and It starts with Leia off on a secret ambassadorial mission to Nos Chorios, from which she was warned off by an anonymous message ... from Callista. Luke went along for the ride then got out just before EVERY crew member got hit with a plague and Leia was then kidnapped.

I am actually finding it a slightly easier read than the other two in the series: I am still quite able to put it down, but I am not struggling to maintain interest.

then...

I just finished PoT and (shock, horror) actually enjoyed this book. The basic story was a bit odd, but at least there was no superweapon.

As with CotJ, I thought that Hambly's work with Luke was a little weak. However, I suppose that this could be because the book was largely centered on Leia - and her characterisation in this book was second only to Denning's in TG, IMO (I haven't read BFC yet, though).

Also as with CotJ the character development of C3PO and R2D2 was excellent - actually far better in this book than in the earlier one.

Thankfully Callista was barely in it (and what there was of her was not too bad, certainly a vast improvement on Darksaber).

I thought that Han's character was sadly underdone, particularly given the premise that he was trying to find Leia: I would have expected far more depth. Also I was very disappointed that towards the end he and the droids were suddenly back together again without any real explanation (other than in passing) of how this came to be ... I had actually been looking forward to that scene after the build up and it all just evaporated.

However, the Leia scenes more than made up for this and I am certainly glad that I perservered with this third book in the "trilogy".

I then posted a summary here:

In summary, CotJ had its good points, particularly in relation to the Leia/Han side of the story and the way the droids played their role (although I thought C3PO was just a bit too whiny/difficult). It had its VERY bad points, though, especially the Luke/Callista side of the story (not just because of their relationship but because of the way the story dragged/became farcical on the Eye of Palpatine.

It is definitely worth reading, though, particularly if you are a fan of Leia.

Darksaber was the weakest of the three IMO (although you will notice that there are several others who are of the complete opposite view). I thought it had few redeeming features and would only recommend that it be read for the purposes of continuity/completeness. (although, WARNING, it does refer to the SSD length as 8km ).

Finally, for the reasons stated on the previous page, PoT was my favourite of the three. It was not a great book, but its positives meant that it was definitely worth the read.


And next there's The Crystal Star...