I'll start with a minimal spoiler review of the series, then follow with an overview which will take the review a step further, giving details (ie spoilers) of the positive and negative aspects of the trilogy.

REVIEW (minimal spoilers)

The Dark Nest Trilogy by Troy Denning, the author of Tatooine Ghost and Star by Star - the latter being virtually a prequel for this trilogy - was widely anticipated by EU fans. It was the first of the post-NJO offerings and the first of the post-Rots novels where the embargo on including material from that era would be lifted. It involved a 20 month wait from the publication of the finale to the NJO, James Luceno's The Unifying Force, and with publication of the first book, The Joiner King, being pushed back from March 2005 to July 2005 there was much speculation that it would include Luke & Leia finally finding out about their mother.

The story begins 6 years after the end of the NJO, 8 years after SbS, with surviving members of the Myrkr Mission feeling a force call to go to the Unknown Regions. The Chiss are far from happy with the young Jedi meddling in affairs in their area, and Luke and the other Masters are unhappy that they do not know what is going on, particularly as all Jedi are needed to assist with post-war reconstruction and rehabitation.

Luke, Mara and others go to find out what is going on and find a far more surprising and complex situation than they expected.

It is discovered that the surviving Myrkr Jedi have become caught up defending an insect species' nests from Chiss attacks which had been prompted by the insect population's sudden explosion meaning that they need more and more homeworlds, taking them ever closer to Chiss territories.

The central focus of this series is the response of the "Big 3" - Luke, Leia and Han.

Luke's misgivings about the Jedi order's adoption of the teachings of Vergere feature as the trilogy progresses, as do his concerns about the lack of unity amongst the Masters without there being clear leadership.

Leia's increasing use of the force throughout the NJO is cemented with her finally deciding to commit to formal training, taking on a surprising and surprised Master. And Han continues being Han, albeit with with slightly slower reflexes...

C3PO and R2D2 also have important parts to play with the latter going through somewhat of a crisis throughout the trilogy.

As I prefer to review without too many spoilers, I do not plan to go into detail regarding the pros and cons of the trilogy here. However I will say that after having the anticipation build for so long, the result overall was sadly disappointing. The Myrkr survivors lost all of the character they had developed during the NJO, with Jaina in particular turning into someone almost unrecognisable. This was no doubt intentional, as the nature of the relationship between those who joined the nest was an important aspect of the storyline, but I, for one, hope that we see a return to the Jaina we came to know (although with a little more maturity) by the time of Legacy of the Force.

Jacen was also different, but in a way that was generally consistent with his significant development throughout the NJO and the fact that he had spent the intervening years off with different groups of Force users. There is little doubt in my mind that the shift in Jacen's character was setting things up for LotF.

Indeed whilst the trilogy is a standalone series, it would appear that it is very much a link to the LotF series, where I fervently hope that, in the absence of the bugs, we'll see our characters back to being more themselves (with one or two possible exceptions).

The discussions of Force philosophy were, in my opinion, not handled as well as they could have been and neither were the revelations from the past. After Denning's Tatooine Ghost did such a great job drawing out Shmi's story, I had expected more from this trilogy.

I suspect that in time, particularly after LotF, this trilogy will not seem as disappointing as I have found it to be on its own, but at the moment it is very hard to have a positive overall opinion (although those who read my list of positives and negatives will see that there are many favourable comments to make).

It is definitely worth reading if you are a fan of the post-OT EU, especially if you plan to read the LotF series - but don't expect works as good as Tatooine Ghost and Star by Star. Hopefully by the time of Denning's first contribution to the LotF series (Book 3 - Tempest) the author will have had a return to his previously great form.

OVERVIEW (spoiler filled)

Positives

* The trilogy began with a good look at how the galaxy was coping in the years since the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, including the mundane details of Jedi life, Jacen's years-long search for the true nature of the Force and the difficulties of reconstruction, relocation and rehabitation (although I would have liked to know more about this)

* Recognition of the advancing years through C3PO's comments about Han's reflexes (very nicely done)

* The depiction of the relationship between Han and Leia was top notch

* Leia's continuing improvement in Force use and eventual apprenticeship: a long time coming and very well handled. Some parts of her training with Saba were fabulous to read - the two of them on the Admiral Ackbar in The Unseen Queen were a great team

* The Lizil Cantina scene - showing a great sense of humour with Luke's interaction with hive members and the reactions of Saba and Mara

* Tarfang - at last the EU novels have a significant Ewok character who is flesh and blood without genetic modifications (and far from cute)

* A totally new type of enemy and tech (but this was also a negative in the way the enemy was used)

* Some new Alliance personnel: Admiral Bwua'Tu was an interesting addition to the line up and contrary to some people's opinions it was believable that there would be many personnel at that level who we have not previously met. His attitude to the post-war continuation of Ar'krai, his initial reaction to Leia and Saba and his ability to recognise a need to change his opinion of them and other matters was well handled

* New force powers that were interesting but not too far over the top: Jacen's communication across time and Luke's use of the cloaked escape. Wow.

* Continuing use of Lando's YVH battle droids, whether adapted as Nanny/Defender Droid for Ben, battle droid for Han & Leia or the Bugcruncher Battalion for Luke - all were great to see

* Nice continuity fixes in relation to the Chiss Ruling Families and the Fel children

* Ben didn't get kidnapped, and had a good small role appropriate for his age

* Cal Omas playing the Masters left behind at the Coruscant Temple was very well done

* Thank goodness Luke at long last repudiated the Vergere philosophy of the Force

* Finally, and most importantly, the Revelations of the Past: at long last Luke & Leia find out the identity of their mother and about what happened to her - and the details of their father's turn to the dark side. Query how R2 got a couple of those scenes - Obi-Wan visiting Padme and the platform on Mustafar (he's nowhere in sight in RotS - but I'm glad that scene was there anyway) - in his memory banks. The scenes that were included were near perfect as was the way in which R2 tried to protect Luke from seeing them. My minor complaints are in the "negatives" below.



Negatives

* Insect characters with no real character (except, to some extent, Wuluw - poor Wuluw) - I know that for us to accept that the insects should revert to their population self-regulation system we had to accept that only 1 in 1,000 larvae should survive, but we were also expected to accept that they were sentient beings with their own minds as well as the hive mind. There was a real contradiction in this that was never satisfactorily handled (query whether it was even possible)

* The lack of character of the insects also translated to a lack of character in the Myrkr survivors - even when away from the nest. They went from being well developed three dimensional characters at the end of the NJO to almost abhorrent two dimensional characters in this trilogy. I know that this was consistent with the character of (or lack thereof) the insects and therefore almost certainly exactly what was intended by the author, but it was greatly disappointing to have these characters treated in this way

* The lack of character of the Noghri - although to be fair this is a long term complaint. We know they're there, we know their names, but we know nothing more. I know they're meant to be shadowy figures, but they're an important part of the Solo's adventures and they are treated almost as an afterthought (they did get some good action in the trilogy, though, particularly in the final instalment - I particularly enjoyed their Ewok disguises, and Tarfang's reaction to them)

* Jaina - during the NJO she progressed from surly adolescent to battle-hardened adult in a way that was quite interesting to many of us, but in this trilogy her character was stripped to the point where it's difficult to see how it could recover. The whole joiner thing, especially with Zekk, was rather creepy and nauseating and the abrupt cessation of the relationship with Jag was very disappointing (yes I'm part of the Jaina-Jag camp, but even the Jaina-Zekk and Jaina-Kyp and totally-alone-Sword-of-the-Jedi Jaina camps would have been disappointed with her depiction in this trilogy). It was frustrating and almost insulting that this was happening in the same book in which Ylesia was reprinted - one of the stories in which Jaina and Jag featured so well.

* Jacen - well, where do I begin? I know that Star Wars is not a romance genre and we should not expect hearts and roses, but the "relationship" with Tenel Ka was handled in a rather odd way. A one-night stand in exchange for the Hapan Fleet? Extraordinary. A baby produced a year later through force delay in gestation? Bizarre. Jacen's reaction? Ultra-Bizarre (but no doubt setting things up for LotF). I accept that in following Vergere's teachings Jacen was becoming increasingly weird through the NJO, and that the years with Force-Users could make him even weirder, but this path seemed just a little too far. Maybe after LotF it will look more reasonable - I for one don't mind at all if he is to go dark in LotF (in fact I'll be disappointed if he doesn't) but the path to darkness, whilst having some parallels with his Grandfather's, just doesn't quite gel.

* Jag - completely one-dimensional. Pretty much just a name/face for one of the "bad" guys. Extremely disappointing. And the cliffhanger ending regarding his survival was really unnecessary. How many cliffhangers should we expect at the end of a standalone trilogy, really?

* Jedi mind-reading: I know that there has always been talk of "your thoughts betray you" but being able to routinely work out who people are through mind-probing seemed a little over the top and too much like a party trick.

* The Fizz ...

* The lack of a non-Jedi Point of View - very few of the EU adult novels have an absence of such a POV. Had it been present in this trilogy it may have given it another dimension (Thanks Mando Crusader for reminding me about this)

* The misleading cover to The Swarm War - I know covers should not be taken literally and are simply a representation of the story within, but a depiction of Luke using/dispelling lightning is something that really raises expectations and the absence of such a scene was a little disappointing (Thanks again Mando Crusader)

* The handling of the revelations of the past - I know that Leia got all the interesting stuff with the revelations about Shmi and the young Anakin Skywalker, but Luke wasn't around in Tatooine Ghost so it would not have been expected that he would be a part of the unfolding information. However in this trilogy Leia was part of the story, but almost every time a new scene was played she was not there, and there was pretty much no indication of her reaction to what was revealed. This was extremely disappointing.


Conclusion

This is by no means the worst offering of the EU, but as I've already said in my review my expectations for this trilogy were very high for a number of reasons and in the end the expectations were not met meaning that the trilogy was quite a disappointment.

I'm still holding out hope, though, that even with Troy Denning involved the coming Legacy of the Force series will see the EU return to its best.


Links to all of my reviews/overview blogs can be found in this blog.