Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARK NEST II: THE UNSEEN QUEEN (spoilers)

Counting 5 ratings: 37/5 = 7.4

 

I give it 7 out of 10.

To me this is just a prelude to the big war. Did the events have to take place? Yes. Did it have to take a whole book to tell us? No.

We could've done without a lot of it IMO.

I also thought there shouldn't have been a whole year between TJK & USQ. It would have been better off if it was only like 6-7 months. Then I wouldn't have minded the Jaina/Zekk still being joiners thing, which was necessary in order for Jacen to start the dam war.

And instead of Tenel Ka using the Force to slow down the birth, she could have sped things up and had the baby early. No offense, but as a mom it just didn't sound realistic, even though I knew why she did it.

I liked the whole Cal Omas/Jedi Council problems. Corran Horn I'd like to slap. Kyp, I love Kyp but I think this was way over the top for his character. Bring him down a notch and it will make the Corran/Kyp disagreements tolerable. I mean right now it looks like two kids fighting. It's annoying.

 

why are lit reviews allowed in here when theres a whole board for these things?

 

These are for initial impressions and reviews of new books. The lit review board (to which I'm not sure I've ever actually been. . .) is for older books. I think.

 

Plus, these threads started long before the Lit Review Forum existed.

 

Ah, yes.

"Tradition, tradition! Tradition!"[/Fiddler on the Roof]

 

It comes out officially today!

Counting 6 ratings: 44/6 = 7.33

 

I'm going to give it a 9/10.

 

Counting 7 ratings: 53/7 = 7.57

 

8.5/10 from me.

Thought it was one of the better books, and I was quite pleased with the work!

You can see most of my comments over in the speculation thread (it's Sticky'd at the top).

 

Counting 8 ratings: 61.5/8 = 7.69

 

I'll give this one a 7.

The Good:

I have to admit that TJK threw me for a loop and I actually hated most of it. Unseen Queen was much better. For one, I'm glad we didn't see much of that creepy joiner crap or see too much of the Kilikized Jedi. One chapter with Jaina and Zekk was enough, thank you. The action is this one was MUCH better. Leia kicks some serious ass and Luke's battle with Lomi was well done too. That last part where she finally appears to him was a very nice touch. Loved seeing the interaction between Luke and Han. We don't see enough of them together anymore. Saba is the perfect master for Leia. But Leia did remind me a bit of Anakin, always challenging her master. The scenes between them were very funny. I thought the choices for R2's memories well pretty good. That's right R2! Show them all they're becoming just like Anakin. I'm also very happy that Luke is quickly retracting Darth Drumstick's Potentium nonsense. Gotta say, I liked that Bothan admiral. Outsmarting the arrogant Jedi, woo-hoo!! Show them they're not the only game in town. After all of their arrogant posturing it's refreshing to see them get their comeuppance. Loved the cliffhanger ending.

The Bad:

Jacen: Of course he tops the list this time again. Fortunately we don't see too much of him Honestly though? I was really shocked when he prevented Tenel Ka from comforting his daughter. You'd think that, as a new father, his first instinct would be to comfort her, but NO! He wants to keep her crying so it will make him angrier. That's twisted and disturbing. It's more than a little clear that he's quickly following Anakin's path, thinking that only he knows the right way to save someone he loves, even going so far as to betray his own sister and the other Jedi. He, in his arrogance, doesn't care.

Jaina and Zekk: Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk, Jaina and Zekk.

Did anyone else get tired of that? It actually reminded me of Sameneric (Sam and Eric) the twins from The Lord of the Flies who are always together and it's like they're one person. Seriously, one of them has got to go. The way it is right now is just too freaky. I also really didn't like how the two of them are incapable of thinking badly of the Killiks. They are perfect! They are our friends! uh-huh. [sarcasam]Me thinks they have lost just their perspective just a little bit. [/sarcasam]

Ben: Crazy, bulging eyed, Joiner freak. I really feel bad for the kid. Daddy and Mommy's anything goes policy with the Force has left the kid with no grounding in reality. he probably instictively knows that band of neo-sith.... er, I mean Jedi are heading in the wrong direction. I'm thinking Ben's probably the smartest one of them all, shutting himself off from the force rather than let himself become a tool of the Dark Side. Jacen's probably not the best role model for him though.

The Jedi Masters: They actually brawl amongst themselves in this one? babies.

 

He let his daughter keep crying, because he needed the sound so he could use the force to send it after DeDe, making the illusion seem real. And, in a situation like that, I can understand needing a very strong reminder of what failure costs. I don't believe he did it out of any spite or uncaring against her, quite the opposite in fact.

His betrayal is a bit more grey than what people will believe from the get-go. He did not kill any Chiss during the attack, and from what we saw of the Killik's, his view that they have to be destroyed will become quite a popular one by the time Swarm War comes out. Confidence and vision are often viewed as arrogance, and I'm seeing less and less similarities between Jacen and Anakin Skywalker.

They both had terrible visions, but while Anakin's was on a personal level, Jacen's is galaxy wide; Anakin believed he needed to learn a new power to save Padme, Jacen knows he needs to ACT, to save his daughter, and the rest of the galaxy from the war he saw. Granted, both my arguments are very grey, as by saving the galaxy, he saves his daughter, and in order to save his daughter, he has to save the galaxy from the Killik threat. One of the reasons I like Jacen's character is because of how grey all his actions and views are.

 

I give it a 6 out of 10.

On the one hand, I simply don't care an iota for Jaina, Jacen, Tenel Ka, Zekk, or any of the other YJKs.

On the other, there were notably fewer typos & proofreading errors than in The Joiner King.

And I did enjoy the honkin' big retcon of Han's "childhood during the Clone Wars".

 

I thought this was generally a bit of an improvement on TJK. While some of the Jedi are still acting like babies, at least a couple of them have remembered what it means to be Jedi, which is definitely an improvement on the situation in the last book. I thought the pacing was better throughout than in TJK as well. This was probably helped by less time spent with the Killiks themselves. I didn't care at all for the prologue, as Jaina and Zekk are now supremely annoying. Didn't think I'd care for the new Bothan, but I kind of like the guy. (I also wonder how similar the Thrawn sims are to the Kobayashi Maru test. . .) I'm getting pretty aggravated with Jacen in this book. His self-absorption is pissing me off. I liked all the set-up in this book, getting everything into position, but by its nature it couldn't provide the payoff, as that's coming in the next book. Also didn't like how conveniently Alema had Artoo's codes. . . A very quick, enjoyable read that's not terribly substantial, and that suffers from middle-of-trilogy-itis.

I'll jump on the 7 bandwagon here.

 

Counting 11 ratings: 81.5/11 = 7.41

 

I give this book a 7.5 out of 10.

I enjoyed this book. Especially Luke/Han, and Leia/Saba. The fight scene between Luke and Lomi was good, and leads well to the finale. Heck, I even liked Jacen in this book, even though he is acting a bit dark sidey.

Jaina and Zekk annoy me, and I hope by the end of Swarm War they will be un-joined. The comparison of that Bothan admiral to Thrawn is horrible. Thrawn would never have gotten his Star Destroyer taken over by the Dark Nest.

This book makes me look forward to Swarm War.

 

Counting 12 ratings: 89/12 = 7.42

 

I give it an 8. I don't mind cliff-hangers, per se, but this one just seemed to end too abruptly...

 

Counting 13 ratings: 97/13 = 7.46

Just out of curiosity, in the future do you guys think I should post the average ratings of previous books next to their links in the first post, or not?

 

Anyone else read it yet?

 

Yes, I think you should because it gives us some reference.

 

Yeah, but it'd be awful difficult for him (Thrawn) to use their art against them, considering that they're a conglomerate of a bajillion individuals from a bajillion races from a bajillion worlds. Instead, he would have pulled an Ebaq Nine on them and used their traits to his own advantage.

 

7.


It was alright...but it didn't really impress me that much. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like Dennings is spending a lot of time on the big three. I'd don't mind that, in a longer book, but I feel like we barely got a chance to see the younger Jedi. We had Jacen for what, three scenes? Jaina/Zekk for two? I just wish we got to see more.


I'm annoyed to see that we have a new admiral. We have so many left over from the Vong war, and we couldn't use one of those? Farlander and Cracken were both commanding capital ships during the Vong war, or there is always someone like Brand. Hell, even Darklighter being made the commander of the fleet would've been cool(though it would be better if he was still in a snubfighter).

 

But a lot of the NJO is about all the younger kids, it's nice to see Luke, Han, and Leia in the main spotlight again.