Star Wars Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
By Troy Denning
Published by Del Rey, 2005
Set 35 years after the events of A New Hope, It's 6 years since the Yuuzhon Vong War ended that left multiple worlds destroyed or devastated and countless millions, if not billions, dead. The Galactic Alliance is trying to pick up the pieces and restore order to the galaxy but its not going to be easy. Greed and corruption are already infecting the reconstruction efforts in the name of profit and opportunity.
The Jedi are in a bit of disarray. The long war made them cut some moral corners and do some questionable things and their robes aren't quite so clean and sparkly as they used to be. The whole cliche in fighting a monster you become a monster argument comes up. They don't really see the world in black and white anymore, just grey.
The plot gets rolling when a distress call is broadcast through the Force to a select group of Jedi, including Jacen and Jaina Solo. The other Jedi that hear the call are the other members of the Myrkr mission from the New Jedi Order book series in which a group of young Jedi were sent on a mission to destroy the voxyn breeding program. Voxyn were creatures bred by the Yuuzhon Vong expressly to kill Jedi. To survive that mission, the Jedi strike force entered a battlemeld, like a telepathic battle bond, and its through this battlemeld that the distress message comes.
Soon enough, Jacen, Jaina, and the other survivors of Myrkr, including Tahiri, drop their Jedi duties and head to the Unknown Regions where the call is emanating from.
When they get to the source they find themselves in the middle of a conflict between the Chiss Ascendency and a race of sentient insects known as the Kilik who are on the brink of war. They also find an old friend long thought lost.
I started reading the New Jedi Order series because I thought the Last Jedi sucked so bad. So I saw these books as an alternative to the awful Disney take on Star Wars. I mean at least George Lucas was still running the show when these books came out. I finished all 19 books over the course of about 5 years and they weren't great but they were good enough to keep me interested enough to read all of them.
For the most part, I liked this first volume of a trilogy that is next in the timeline. I do think the Kilik are kinda lame. Human sized ants? Is this the best you can do? Actually they come in all sizes, from Ant-Man size to the size of tanks or bigger. The scary thing is if you stay in their nests too long you become part of their groupthink, losing your individual will, and you become known as a "Joiner". That's the scary aspect of them, not their appearance.
It's nice to see Luke, Han, and Leia having adventures TOGETHER again. In the Disney sequels everyone is dead now. So pathetic that they didn't get them back together even for ONE scene. I know George would have. Luke didn't become a total failure in this timeline. Him and Mara Jade are married and have a young son who is currently cutting himself off from the Force for some reason a la Luke in the Last Jedi.
Han and Leia have two kids, Jacen and Jaina, who are both Jedi and are essentially Kylo Ren and Rey as far as their personalities. Jacen is starting to creep people out a bit with his moodiness and detachment and increasing Force powers while Jaina is impulsive and adventurous and wants to save the galaxy from all threats.
It's kinda weird how many themes, characters, plot notes, and just the overall ambience of this novel remind me a lot of Disney Star Wars.
For example, the Dark Side is seen as having a sexual seduction in this book. I remember one scene where Luke is in some dive and and an alien says something like "You'd be surprised to see what I can do with this claw. Are you interested?". Echoed a line of Lando's droid in the Han Solo movie. Another example is a Jedi having emotional difficulties wears skin tight almost see through suits and seems very horny. Seemed very Acolyte to me.
And when a Jedi says "Blank is gone. I am what remains" (Name redacted for spoilers) which was a line Darth Vader speaks in the Obi-Wan series.
And again, there's the moral relativism that the Jedi exhibit in this first book, where they are more interested in the ends than the means which a Master like Yoda would never condone. All this makes me wonder if the writers of the Disney sequels read this trilogy for ideas.
I liked the book and will definitely continue on with the second volume in the series.
My Grade: B
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