"Dark Journey," by Elaine Cunningham [Del Ray, 2002]

<b><i><font color=red>Dark Journey</b></i></font> by Elaine Cunningham

<img src=http://www.theforce.net/books/images/dark-journey.jpg>



<b><font color=green>Synoposis</b></font>

<i>Though the Jedi strike force completed its deadly mission into Yuuzhan Vong territory, the price of success was tragedy: not everyone made it out alive. In a daring getaway, hotshop pilot Jaina Solo stole an enemy ship, taking along her fellow survivors--and leaving behind a huge piece of her heart.

With the enemy in hot pursuit, Jaina is forced to seek haven in the unprotected, unfriendly Hapes Cluster, where the Jedi are held responsible for a past tragedy--and where the royal family has grim plans for their famous Jedi guest. Even more sinister are the intentions of the Yuuvhan Vong, desperate to capture Jaina for a hideous sacrifice.

Grief-stricken and obsessed with revenge, Jaina is blind to these threats--and to the overpowering evil dangerously close to consuming her. In the coming conflagration, Jaina will be fighting not for victory or vengeance, but fore her very being . . .</i>

I'm giving "Dark Journey" a 7. It's not brilliant, but it's not horrible.

I loved it and read it twice. I really like Jaina's charactor. Was also interested in how she fell to the dark side and Kyp pulled her out and in return she help to break him free as well.

Definetely a five. It wasn't bad and I like Jaina but this book has very very very long passages and too less action. I've read it and perhaps there will be another time I'll reread it. But not yet.

well, I think it's a 6..
I don't think that Cunnigham did a very good job in telling us how Jaina "nearly" turned to the Dark Side... the style was poor..

3/10
Some of the action was good, but I didn't like the CoPL tie-ins or Cunningham's writing style. But more importantly, I don't like the way the EU has handled the dark side. In many books, but especially this one, the dark side seems to just be something that you can experiment a little with and come out just fine. Whatever happened to "once you start down the dark side, it will forever dominate your destiny?"

I liked a lot of Dark Journey. Tenel remembering that she was Jacen's true love, Jaina finding herself loved by 4 guys, and the former Queen-mother's power grab were all good.

What I didn't like? The rushed ending. Such a confusing closure.

I'd have to give it between ** and *** stars, so on the 1-10 scale, I guess I'll call it a 7.

I actually liked this book, I looking forward to how things will play out based on this book. Thats about it.

Out
Roobione

~~*JESUS LOVES YOU*~~

I liked it pretty good, it's the one that I've read the most times of all the NJO.
But, then again, I love Jaina.
This was more like a novel than a SW story.
Ta'a Chume...when will you ever learn?

~*~*~

I really liked it because I kinda know how she is feeling. I have read it 22 times. Yeah,I REALLY liked it.

Jaina didn't go very dark though, no murdering sandpeople or anything.

I love this book! It is one of my favorites in EU. Jaina's leaning to the Dark Side was done very well. The whole beginnings of the Trickster scheme was great!

Yes, everybody is falable (whatever)

It was alright...7 i give it...nothing special but not horrible some cool battle scenes

4/10

I was bored the whole book. The writer could of done better on the whole Jaina touching the dark side thing.

I'm sorry, but I thought Jaina's "brush with the dark side" was more a rampant case of PMS that she should have taken midol for. I think this book actually ruined Jaina for me, and I find Elaine Cunningham to be a Jaina fangirl.

7

Ah, the possibilities were endless. I actually had great hopes for Dark Journey, for I am always fond of SW stories with characters who turn to the Dark Side.
Especially after reading Denning's great Star by Star and his image of dark Jaina Solo.
And while I enjoyed seeing Jaina cross one line after another on her path to darkness, i.e. mind-wiping her friend and fellow Jedi Lowbacca, nearly sacrificing her own comrades to gather more data for her experiments and torturing enemy pirates, I felt that other passages were rather dull.
Reading about Jag Fel visting the Trickster's maintenance place every 30 pages isn't that exciting. And I found Mrs.Cunninham's writing style to be genteel, at least sometimes.
Though I liked the battle sequences in the beginning, I think the ending battle was rather bad, not because it was described only through Jainas mind, but because it felt rushed IMO.
I would've given this book only a 6 but Kyp Durrons character managed to move it a point. It's one of these rare occasions when Kyp is really acting as a three-dimensional being, rather than only acting as Skywalkers problem child.

Bravo Elaine Cunningham, a perfect transition from Star by Star's grim and masculine heartbreaking tragedy (Anakin Solo had become my very favorite character ), into feminine fury. I was expecting a book or two to catch my breath with after Star by Star, but nooooo, I'm still at the edge of my seat!

I read it a couple more times to consider what everyone was saying here. I decided it was more of a girls book because of the little fighting and the ending WAS rushed but it still gets a 10 in my book. I'm a Jaina Fangirl and when in Jaina's world I don't care what is going on I love it.


Jag Fel was annoying though. I still don't like him. Come on Jaina,you can do better. Think Zekk...Zekk...Zekk.

Yes,I am a DIEHARD Zekk/Jaina fan.

well, I think it's a 6..
I don't think that Cunnigham did a very good job in telling us how Jaina "nearly" turned to the Dark Side... the style was poor..

True, but I gave it a Ten beacuse of the Jaina and Jag scenes

Uhmm, this book have high and lows. I gave it a 8.

I agree. Cunningham's style was a bit too -- well, how can I explain it? It was obvious to me that she was a fantasy writer before I even found out she wrote for Forgotten Realms (D&D stuff, I think?). The Star Wars universe suddenly seemed so much more archaic to me; her portrayal of the Hapan Empire seemed drastically different to me, in terms of visuals and their behavior, compared to how they were shown in the Centerpoint conflict, and CoPL (which I am assuming is the source from which Cunninham drew all her impressions of the EU, considering how much she referenced it.)

I remember finding alot of the dialogue to be silly (it's been several months since I read it,) and unfortunately the feminine-dominated Hapes culture set a large stage for Cunningham to exercise the literary "Amazon-warrior" muscle that is so often exploited in contemporary fantasy literature.

I gave the book a five, because it wasn't a terrible read, but it is definitely one I may not read again in the NJO series.

5.5

I would've ranked it alot lower, but then re-read it and realised that it wasn't as bad as I remembered, but it still was slightly below average. One of my biggest beefs with it besides the dark side being reduced to PMS, is the way that the author screw around with the continuity of SBS.

7/10

Eh, this one was OK but not what I would exactly call a gripping story. I didn't really care for bishy Jaina, but I did think that at this point the ends did justify the means enough to keep the story believable for me. Also, I usually find that the Hapans bring some interesting twists to the plot, in spite of their own self-serving agendas.