Star Wars: The New Jedi Order
Dark Journey

This book occurs after the events that have lead to the death orf Anakin Solo and the capture of Jacen Solo.  Jaina Solo and eight or nine other Jedi escape the Vong world in a stolen Vong frigate
The major Jedi in the stolen ship are Jaina Solo, Zekk, Tenal Ka, Tahiri, Lowbacca, and Aleema Rar.  I should also mention that these Jedi have the dead body of Anakin Solo.  The Vong continue to pursue Jaina so that they may sacrifice her and her twin brother, Jacen, to the Vong goddess.  The fleeing jedi decide to return to Coruscant only to arrive out of hyper space in the middle of a battle with the invading Vong forces.  The story then switches to the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon.  Han and Leia are flying the Flacon and Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker are manning the turbo lasers in the ship’s belly.  However, I should mention that there is very little mention of Luke and mara jade other than this and a line or two at Anakin’s funeral fire.  Leia eventually sense Jaina in the stolen Vong vessel and informs Republic ships that the vessel is under the Falcon’s protection, but Jaina and her crew jump back into hyper space before contact can even be made with her mother.
There is an interesting scene shortly after this within the harsh environment of a Chiss military base which takes place between General Baron Fel and his son, Colonel Jagged Fel.  The reader can also see, early on in this scene, the concern Jagg lets slip for his former Rogue Squadron teammate, Jaina Solo, upon hearing the news that the Vong have invaded Coruscant.  Tactics and strategies are discussed and disagreed upon but ultimately the scene ends with Baron Fel sending his third son, Jagg, into a battle that has little chance of success.  A very interesting scene…
The fleeing Jedi eventually end up meeting up with the crew of the Millenium Falcon in the Hapes Cluster.  But before this happens, Lowbacca rigs up a Vong communication pod or a villup for Jaina to use in an effort to trick the Vong into giving away vital information.  All the Jedi aboard the stolen craft, except Jaina, seem to sense the death of Jacen in the Force.  Leia and Han don’t believe this to be true when it’s reported to them on Hapes.  We also find Jagg Fel has made his way to Hapes with the pilots he has chosen to fight the Vong.
Archive Note:  A conversation between theTenal Ka and her father, Prince Isolder, reveals some interesting facts regarding why the Vong are so desperateto capture the two Solo twins for a sacrifice.  Apparently, twin births are so uncommon among the Vong that they’ve only happened two or three times.  When each of these births have happened, the Vong believe they signify an important upcoming event.  The event is kick-started by a battle to the deathbetween the two twins.  A very odd, yet interesting, conversation…
Tachum, the former Queen Mother of the Hapes Cluster and grandmother to Tenal Ka approached Jaina shortly after her arrival on Hapes.  And from the get go she seemed to want something more from Jaina.  Later that same evening at a ball, Tachum again approached Jaina and indicated her displeasure regarding Hapes current Queen Mother and her inability to lead.  Before the reader gets a feel for where that conversation may lead; Jedi Master Kypp Durron drags Jaina away from the ball to the funeral of her brother, Anakin Solo.        
Leia and Han leave Hapes after what appears to be an assassination attempt on Han for whatever reason.  Jagg Fel, who helps the Solos, promises to give Jaina a message as to their whereabouts.  Jagg is still a bit ticked off with Jaina for taking Kypp Durron, who was assigned to his squadron, on a Jedi mission.
There was another odd point in the book where Jaina asks Kypp Durron to be her Jedi Master and she would be his apprentice.  Why Jaina did this still seems a bit odd since she pretty much hated him at the beginning of the book.  Kypp did sincerely seem concerned about Jaina at different points in this book, but still that combination seems a bit far- fetched.  At one point near the end of the book when Jaina was going off in the Vong frigate by herself, a confrontation takes place between her and Kypp.  Kypp basically tries to talk some sense into her and out of nowhere she hits him with some force lightning and whips out her light saber.  The scene was very unusual and perhaps best describes what this book seems to be about.        
The book pretty much ends with Jaina realizing that she has been way to reckless in her efforts to accomplish any tasks she tackles.  Jaina’s recklessness has been very close to being on the brink of the Dark Side of the Force.  And in the past, Jaina didn’t seem to care as long as what she need to get done was done.  However, Jaina, with the help of Kypp Durron, realizes that this is no way to live the life of a Jedi or to honor the memory of her brother, Anakin Solo.
Perhaps the final “Dark Journey” which had to be made was made by that of the Jedi, Tenal Ka.  When her mother, the Queen of Hapes, is murdered in an obvious quest for the throne, Tenal Ka steps up and takes the place of her mother to ensure that such activities never happen under her rule again.

Character Importance: 8.6
The importance of characters like Jaina and Tenal Ka will play vital roles in the future of Star Wars storylines.  This, the story did a moderately good job of providing further insight into the lives of both Jaina and a small bit of the pressure that have been placed upon Tenal Ka.

Excitement Level: 7.4
All in all, this wasn’t the most exciting Star Wars book ever written.  However, we were given brief moments of excitement, but the lack of fight scenes and the overall confusion that seemed to plaque most of the New Jedi Order series lead to such a poor score in this category.  I would’ve liked to have seen a bit more of an homage to Anakin Solo via a more elaborate funeral.  But, I think the reader must understand that this book was designed to really develop more attention and mystique to the character of Jaina Solo.

Favorite Moment(s):
Lowbacca’s ability to use to Vong villup (or communication pod) to trick the Vong was a classic little scene in the story.  That scene had Jaina all over it too!  Imagine the look on those Vong’s faces when they realized they got duped!

Overall Rating: 7.8