Dark Nest I: The Joiner King Review

Interesting book on the whole and probably one of the better ones I've read since the Thrawn Trilogy. It was a refreshing change from the New Jedi Order and felt more of a return to the roots of Star Wars. It certainly felt designed to encourage people back into Star Wars literature and I daresay people who skipped the NJO could probably jump right in and enjoy Dark Nest and I thought the balance between the classic characters (Luke, Han, Leia) and the newer characters (Jacen, Jaina, Ben) was done particuarly well.

Spoiler Free
The plot was interesting and very unlike the ongoing war we've had for the last twenty or so books from the NJO. It had a very nice balance of Jedi stuff, non-Jedi Han and Leia stuff, galactic politics, lightsaber combat and starship combat. It felt a lot like a more traditional novel than many of the more recent ones.

The basic premise of the story (dont worry this is all on the back of the book or in the prologue) is that a number of Jedi Knights including Jacen and Jaina have been called to the Unknown Regions through the Force by a familar voice that they can't ignore or get out of their head. That leads them to a colony of a new alien race that is expanding dangerously close to the Chiss borders, and as well all know, Chiss aren't all that nice. The colony is led by a powerful Force Adept who is trying to draw Jedi Knights to him to prevent his people being hurt by the Chiss by whatever means necessary. Its a lot more complicated than that of course but its a good plot. For the first in a trilogy its a surprisingly good stand alone book as well making it easy to pick up and read right now without having to worry too much about needing to read the next two books in the series for it to make sense.

It ties up a whole load of loose ends from all kinds of places. Lots of things from irregularities between the EU and the new Prequel material to the Jedi's new take on the Force following the conclusions of the NJO series. There is hardly anything missed out. Even the origins of some of the stranger things in the galaxy like the Maw and Centerpoint Station are all explored in The Joiner King.

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For those who don't care about knowing what happens or just not interested in reading the whole book I'll give a stripped down summary of the plot:

- The members of the strike team that went to Myrkr during the Yuuzhan Vong war to stop the Jedi killing Voxyn creatures are all urged to go to the Unknown Regions by a mysterious voice. They get there and discover the Colony, an insect race- the lost Killiks who disappeared from Alderaan 20,000 years ago- which is under attack on its borders by the Chiss empire.

- When Jacen follows later he demonstrates his ability to conjure balls of light and float them around like lanterns using Dathomiri Force spells and his ability to send himself back in time as a ghost to see Raynar Thul pulling Welk (Dark Jedi) and Lomi Plo (Dark Master) out of the crashed ship they used to escape from Myrkr. He then demonstrates his ability to talk to his mother and leave her a message in the future somehow.

- The Chiss get angry at the Jedi interfering in politics outside the Galactic Alliance and request they put an end to it immediately. Luke and Mara head out there to find out what the young Jedi Knights are up to and when Han and Leia find out Jacen and Jaina are part of the AWOL Jedi Knights they race there to find out whats going on as well.

- It turns out Raynar Thul survived the Myrkr mission after all and that he's now been 'absorbed' into the Colony and is now their leader, though he's lost his personality and is essentially the 'hive mind' of all the insects.

- Luke, Mara, Han and Leia find out whats going on and try to get the Jedi Knights to come back with them- only to find they're starting to get 'absorbed' into the hive collective (think Borg) like Raynar was. They manage to persuade a few of them back but Jaina and Zekk refuse to come. Jacen comes willingly as he's become some kind of supreme master of the Force that the Colony had no power over.

- Along the way Luke demonstrates the new understanding the Jedi have taken to the Force of embracing all of it- both the light and dark sides- accepting that it is not the deed that matters but the intent. He half kills himself trying to escape a bunch of Killik assassin ships (that the Killiks refuse to believe existed) when he uses a Force Illusion to mask his ship. This has the fun side affect of everybody saying his face is starting to look like Palpatine's.

- Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne had planned to stay behind in the Colony for Luke and Mara but gets attacked by a bunch of Killik assassins (who the Killiks deny existed) and a Dark Jedi who she is certain was Welk, though the Killiks also deny he survived the crash.

- They head home to Ossus. Alema Rar tries to kill Han and Leia by trying to sabotage the Falcon but they manage to only crash land on a planet after which the two barely manage to incapacitate the Twi'lek who has clearly been completely brainwashed by the Colony. Meanwhile Luke and Mara discover Ben has brought a 'pet' home with him, which turns out to be a Killik assassin who tries to kill them, but they manage to subdue it too.

- Back home they discover all about how the hive mind works by endulging in a little torture on the captured Killik, much to Luke's disgust that he has to do it. Jacen ends up becoming the Hapan Queen Mother Tenel Ka's consort and gets her to agree to send a fleet to help defend the Colony from the Chiss empire. They also conclude that it must be Welk and Lomi Plo controlling the Killik assassins somehow and that they must be the subconscious part of the hive mind, hence why the hive refuses to acknowledge the assassins existance.

- Alema Rar escapes and everybody goes back to the Colony hoping she will lead them to what they have decided to call the "Dark Nest", the one controlled by Welk and Lomi Plo, only to find the Hapan and Chiss fleets are in a stand off waiting for the other to attack first. They barely manage to request a temporary peace while they head to one of the barren moons to destroy the Dark Nest along with Welk and Lomi and hopefully restore some level of common sense to the Colony.

- Everyone fights their way through a whole legion of bugs until eventually Luke and Mara locate Welk. They have a fight with him, Mara demonstrates her new happiness in using Force lightning as a Jedi Master while Luke demonstrates how totally psycho a Jedi Master can be with two lightsabers if they really push it. They manage to kill Welk and seriously injure Alema Rar however Alema escapes, along with, they presume, Lomi Plo, though nobody ever actually sees her.

- Raynar Thul finally remembers and accepts that Welk and Lomi Plo survived the crash and accepts what everyone has been saying about the assassin Killiks and the Dark Nest. He also agrees to move his local nest from nearby Chiss space to a free system of planets just outside the outskirts of the Galactic Alliance.

- Everyone is happy other than the fact that Alema Rar has been completely brainwashed by the Dark Nest and Lomi Plo has escaped.

Throughout the story R2-D2 was having an increasing number of fits and starting to develop serious personality faults. Luke tries to find out whats going on and discovers a very brief few seconds of a hologram feed of Padme talking to Anakin about his dream of her but Luke doesn't hear enough to know what it was about nor who they were- other than that he was Anakin. He then gets Ghent the slicer to have a go who finds another memory- one of Obi-Wan visiting Padme and discussing his concerns over Anakin's appointment to the Jedi Council and the fact he knew they were together, he also mentions her name for the first time- though R2-D2 refuses to show anymore. C-3PO says R2 has no reason other than that he is trying to protect Luke from whats on the recordings. Ghent says Luke will need to track down the master overide codes from the person who designed the R2 series but neither of them have any idea who this was or where they would ever start searching.

There is also mention of the Killiks building things like Centerpoint Station and the Maw but they do point out with the way the hive mind works that could just be one of the people that was once absorbed into its consciousness.

The biggest development in the grand scheme of things is probably the development of the Force with all the study Jacen has done with other groups like the Fallanassi, the Aii-Ting and the White Current Adepts. He's able to conjure actual balls of light that he uses as a lamp and floats around with telekinesis. He's also able to talk through time rather than just space which is definately something different. Then theres the fact that Luke and some of the senior Jedi Masters have taken up a new approach to the Force getting rid of the strict tabboo of the old Jedi Knights and accepting that its the deed not the act that matters and that the Force itself is neutral.

The best description it gives of the Force is that its like a river. The light side is when you allow it to flow through you and go where it wants to go. The dark side is when you block it and force it to build up before releasing it all at once- its the pressure of holding it back that causes the dark side to exhaust people. It makes a point that while the Force has a 'will' in the sense that it wants to flow from A to B it doesn't care what happens to people, its not got an actual consciousness, and all the Force wants to do is survive. It survives by having living things exist to generate it. That can obviously be achieved by protecting people the way the Jedi always have but sometimes by killing people in order to protect a greater number of people, it accepts the dark side as a part of itself.

It definately seems to be setting up Jacen Solo to turn to the dark side though. Luke does start to have serious doubts about this new approach on the Force by the end of the book and it seems like the memories of R2 are there for more than just a cameo. If he unlocks the memory of how Anakin turned to the dark side for good intentions- trying to save Padme- then Luke might end up realising that using the dark side for good really isn't as clever as he's been thinking. There were enough one liners of various people, Luke himself, voicing their concern that Jacen was abusing the Force more than they'd like, he wasn't dark per se, but he was starting to rely on it for virtually everything- very much like Anakin Skywalker. That gives a lot of credit to the rumours that the plot of the upcoming Legacy of the Force nine book series will be of Jacen falling to the dark side (i.e. Anakin's legacy) and becoming the new Sith Lord, one more powerful than virtually anybody else in history. That would certainly be extremely cool. It would actually explain why half-way through the New Jedi Order series they suddenly swapped Anakin and Jacen's characters around (as apparently originally Jacen was meant to be the one who died and Anakin was always meant to turn out to be the super powerful Force master). Obviously it would have been rather lame had another Anakin fallen to the dark side so it does appear like there is a strong chance of Jacen resurrecting the Sith legacy, he seems to be absorbing the teachings of every other Force culture already- including groups like the Nightsisters, who are a rather dark culture.

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I like what seems at least to me to be the circular nature the Jedi are taking. If we recall the Original Jedi studied both sides of the Force while practicing the Light Side, they also studied the Dark. Until a sect "fell" to the Dark side and broke off and later to form the Sith. Should make the follow ups intersting.
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Spoilers

***Possible Spoiler Warning***



So, I finished reading this book last night and it's one of the better books I've read in a long time concerning Star Wars. I hope the rest of the series keeps this up. Great action, plot development and character dialogue. Had me laughing out loud a few times.

I can see they're really trying to now tie in the RotS stuff, and as you guys mentioned, parallel the whole Jedi turning into Sith sort of deal. Yeah, Jacen does seem to be the one setting himself up for the grand fall. Although any idea on who'd be his main "enemy". I mean, although there will be people on both sides, it normally comes down to a one on one sort of deal. Only person showing real power is still Luke...at least from this book. Although he's already faced enough Sith Lords and just wondering if someone will take his place.

The Jaina/Zekk thing pretty much confused me at the end. I had thought they had broken completely away from the Joiner stuff...and then became full Joiners but are now no longer part of the Nest. I liked their dialogue...but still confused me.

On that note, I'm glad they've once again focused on the relationships between Jaina, Zekk, Lowbacca, Tenel Ka and Jacen. Although "children's" books, the Young Jedi series was pivotal in these characters development, and I found the NJO series glossed right over the relationship between these characters. Just nice to see them together again, as they had spent their entire Jedi Academy time together.

The deal with Ben seems interesting and am wondering where they'll be going with it. I'm sure he'll play a much more pivotal role in the net series after this one, as he's still too young to do a lot, but can still be an important character. He may be the one who brings Jacen out of the dark side in the end, not through fighting but more through thoughts and emotions.

I'm happy to see Corran in a leadership role (yeah, yeah ) but dammit, they need to learn to actually make Kyle Katarn talk and do stuff, instead of just mentioning his name. But nice to see he's still around.

Lastly, why would Artoo be keeping those vids secret? It would seem they may actually help Luke, as he would see very clearly that your actions, no matter their intention, can still lead you down the path of the dark side.

Great stuff, peeps, thanks! I've been wondering if it's been worth it. I lost track with the whole Vong invasion because it seemed that there was a new book coming out every other day or so, so I fell behind and lost interest.

(It didn't help that I was also trying to keep on top of the ending stuff to the Classic BattleTech line as well at the time )

I think I'll pick this up today, then. It'll be interesting to get another review from someone that hasn't finished the Vong books as yet.

*Spoilers*

I've refined my speculation as to the plot of the Legacy of the Force series to:

Jacen and Ben turn to the dark side as Master and Apprentice.

It turns out that in a really, really, really, really, really old draft of the Star Wars films Lucas had originally planned for ANH to be Episode I. He then had a rough idea of having Luke's son turn to the dark side in Episodes IV to VI (i.e. Episodes VII to IX now).

What we know about Jacen: good chance of falling to the dark side.
What we know about Ben: is scared of his father, likes Jacen as a Master or father figure.

Sooooo..... Ben's scared of the Force and his dad.... *cough* fear is the path to the dark side. Even if Jacen himself doesn't turn I think he's wierd teachings and "the dark side is groovy man! free love! woo!" attitude is probably going to have a role in Ben not being trained properly and turning to the dark side.

The R2-D2 videos seem like they might play a role too. If Luke realises that his dad turned to the dark side trying to use it with good intentions- to save Padme- he'll probably reconsider using the dark side all the time. That could lead to a split between Jacen and Luke which might lead to Jacen turning bad. Plus we've got the setting for Jacen to become the "Emperor" of the Hapans and have his own army at his disposal. It would be interesting if Luke decides to abandon the dark side, Jacen decides to keep it, go rogue and start up his own Jedi Academy or something.

Ben will be what? About 18 when Legacy of the Force begins? Its clearly going have something to do with him. Turning to the dark side, i.e. doing Episodes VII, VIII and IX in writing now that Lucas has sworn he'll never do them on the big screen, seems like a logical possibility.

It seems like strong market material as well which is what LFL are interested in at the end of the day. They do say that strong traits skip a generation. Ben could theoretically be stronger than Luke as both his parents were Force-sensitive. He could also look a lot like Hayden Christensen if they wanted... meaning they might use him as an excuse to effectively see a before-the-suit Darth Vader in action.

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Hmm...that would be an interesting development. Although, I don't think Ben actually fears his dad. He actually fears the Force in general..that could still lead him to the dark side however. And I agree that Ben would play a large part of the next series, but do you have any ideas on who'd be the main "light" jedi? I mean, Luke has been doing it for solong, and we were supossed to get these new Jedi taking up the mantle, but no one has. Jacen is doing his own thing and Jaina is now in a hive-type bond. In the end it always comes down to a one on one battle, so you need that imposing figure. I mean, Luke could fill that role again, but I thought they would try something new.

To me, I still think Ben will be the main Light person...if Luke goes back to the light/dark distinction (as it seems he will) he can perhaps coax Ben out of his fears by showing him the true light side of the force. Ben grew up in a time when that distinction was completely blurred, and it was really a grey side of the force.

Either way, I want the next book to come out Any word on who the author will be? Oh, and where's the Outbound Flight book? I already see it in the Timeline listing for SW books

Troy Denning is doing the next Dark Nest book which my pre-order says is due on Sept 27th.

Zahn's book Outbound flight is due out on Jan 31st 06 according to the pre-order info.

*nods*

Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen is out late September so it isn't far away.
Dark Nest III: The Swarm War isn't out until mid December though so is a bit more of a wait.

Outbound Flight was originally scheduled for October but they swapped it with Dark Lord so its now out sometime early next year. I think I read May myself but if it is late January that will be good.

Dark Lord: Rise of the Darth Vader is out at the start of November (I think its coming out the same day as the ROTS DVD) and its essentially the 'sequel' to ROTS in the same way Labyrinth of Evil was the 'prequel' to it. It'll be about the immediate weeks following the events of ROTS.

I'm not sure when Betrayal (first Legacy of the Force novel) is out. I assume it will be sometime Spring 2006. The name certainly gives me high hopes though.

Hmm, I guess I might pickup this book, the summery sounds good. Problem is...I haven't read any SW books since like...I, Jedi. Can anyone (probably Goat) give me a summery of events since then so I know what the hell is going on (like Anakin was a kid the last I heard...now he's dead?)

Oh and also "Dark Lord: Rise of the Darth Vader"....very excited to hear about that. While RotS was great, I really wished it was another hour long to cover the beginning of the Empire's build.

Yeah, Rise of Darth Vader sounds really good, its meant to explain the reasons why Darth Vader turned from whining brat to the blackhearted murderer we known from the original films, ROTS itself isn't really the whole story. There are rumours (unconfirmed though) that it might start with him remembering back to the night of the attack on the Jedi Temple, which would be cool, if we actually got to see a description of what happened.

I didn't really start reading Star Wars books until Vector Prime- theres still a lot of New Republic stories I haven't read- so it isn't impossible to pick up and start reading without the backstory. I get the impression they might have intended that as there is a lot of backtracking in Joiner King with the narration going on about 'what happened before' when (re-)introducing new characters and things.

Though here is a very brief overview of everything important since the Battle of Endor:

6.5-7.5 ABY
The X-Wing series of books. New Republic is formed and Coruscant is reclaimed.

8 ABY
Leia and Han get married. They find out about Shmi Skywalker and Anakin as a kid while on Tatooine too.

9 ABY
Grand Admiral Thrawn brings the New Republic to a standstill and blockades Coruscant. He's eventually betrayed and killed by his bodyguard.
Han and Leia also have their first two kids- the twins Jaina and Jacen.

10 ABY
The Emperor returns as a clone retaking a quarter of the galaxy and reclaiming Coruscant. He eventually is killed.

11 ABY
The Jedi Academy series of books. Luke founds the Jedi training academy on Yavin IV and restarts the Jedi Order.

12-13 ABY
Lots of random adventures and superweapons. I think Anakin Solo is born around about now sometime.

14 ABY
The Shadow Academy, Dark Jedi and more adventures.

16-17 ABY
The events of the Black Fleet Crisis, i.e. more adventures.

17 ABY
More Dark Jedi and more adventures.

18 ABY
The events of the Corellian Trilogy, i.e. more adventures.

19 ABY
The events of the Hand of Thrawn duology. Grand Admiral Thrawn 'returns' and again brings the New Republic to their knees but turns out to just be an imposter. The Imperial Remnant and the New Republic finally sign a peace treaty and declare a lasting truce. Thrawn's true clone is killed a few days before being 'born' by Luke and Mara in Thrawn's base on the edge of Chiss space.

20 ABY
Luke and Mara get married. They go on a trip into the heart of the Chiss empire to have a look at the ruins of the Outbound Flight Project.

25-30 ABY
The events of the New Jedi Order series. The Yuuzhan Vong conquer half the galaxy causing the New Republic to collapse. Anakin Solo is killed on a mission to Myrkr with a team of other Jedi Knights. Jacen Solo is trained by Vergere, a Jedi Knight who escaped the Jedi Purge but was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong for the past fifty years, he learns that the dark side doesn't exist and that no action is dark unless the intention is dark. The Yuuzhan Vong are eventually defeated when Luke kills the Supreme Overlord, Shrimraa, as well as his jester, Onimi, who turns out to have been Force-sensitive and manipulating the Yuuzhan Vong for decades. The former worlds of the New Republic start over signing a new treaty that forms the Galactic Alliance.

35 ABY
The events of the Dark Nest series.

45 ABY
The events of the Legacy of the Force series.

Wait....how the hell can they jump another ten years like that??

Okay last Vong book till Joiner King is 5 years.....so what the hell happened in the mean times besides Jacen studying and rebuilding? The vong all fit on 1 world....there were like worlds apon worlds filled with them? Wouldnt people try to wipe them out for their own war of genocide? They glossed over that in Joiner.

So after Joiner and two sequels we jump another 10 years? WOW.

Jacen...if he becomes evil that means Tenel Ka will be the new Padme for she has always loved him more than anything. She will give him whatever he wants(Army, ships, a heir) and he will use her and probably end up causing her death by her sadness or by physically pursuing it in emotional terms so he can control Hapes....although that is not possible as they are ruled by a Queen. So Tenel Ka would not turn dark....her personality does not permit it if you read any Young Jedi Books...i read them all...she wouldnt. So that leaves that route kinda implosible. Tenel Ka loves him and he already used her to get the fleet for the Nest.

That very twist seemed non-characteristic. Jacen always loved her too, he would not sleep with her for the fleet...if he simply used her then yes he will no doubt go dark. Tenel Ka, not going dark but due to her love, will probably sit by and allow him to do what he wants for she loves him till she sees her errors and stops him(like Vader realized and killed Palp) or will die in anguish like Padme.

Either way poor Tenel Ka.

Ben will not go dark neither i bet. Luke is getting ancient and they need a new light hero....obviously Ben. He is scared of the force for all the death when he was young. In ten years Jacen will probably train him to overcome that fear and make him a Jedi that knows no bounds of power or understanding as Jacen seems more wise on force's true nature than anyone. So Ben will snap out of his dilema and become nearly omni-potent....like Vader. Jacen in this time may....may become dark although we dont know what LEGACY is about at all do we? Jacen may come dark but why? Not for the Nest no too simple. He will either learn too much Force knowledge he knows a dark secret of the force....perhaps its true nature? Perhaps it isnt good or bad but simply something else more sinister? Jacen finds out or is perhaps seduced by his knowledge and looses his mind...possibly. More likely Tenel Ka will die of something or Jaina will be murdered or even Luke and Jacen goes dark to stop it/they.

MAssive war between some parties ensues. Jacen believes hes stopping chaos by using darkside or he simply mad and wants to create his own order(i.e. Vader). The Galactic Alliance is faltering and Ben is the only hope. Jacen's old apprentice, is either not seducable to the dark side or fell then returned to the light and is forced to fight his uncle to the death. Whatever the military aspect the galaxy is ravaged like never before....vong looks like a tea-lunch. Ben defeats Jacen and or learns the Force's true nature and becomes what Anakin Solo was supposed to be(as Luke and Vader were supposed to be before him). Ben horrified by the holocaust vows to not allow it to happen again and brings eternal balance and harmony to the galaxy with his perfect harmony and unity with the force or establishes what once was....the Galaxy ruled by holy knights under perfect unity with the force.

Something of that nature perhaps?

Wait....how the hell can they jump another ten years like that??

Okay last Vong book till Joiner King is 5 years.....so what the hell happened in the mean times besides Jacen studying and rebuilding? The vong all fit on 1 world....there were like worlds apon worlds filled with them? Wouldnt people try to wipe them out for their own war of genocide? They glossed over that in Joiner.

Probably because:

1. That will be covered in other books, short-stories, comics, games and whatever at another time.
2. It gets old when you have a new enemy threaten the galaxy every single year- it makes sense to have some periods of growing up and peace occassionally, however books talking about people doing nothing and all getting along would be boring.

The basic presumption though of what has happened is:

- The Yuuzhan Vong have left with Zonama Sekot to a system in the Unknown Regions somewhere. They still have their worldships to live on until they can fully colonise a system or more to live in- and since the Yuuzhan Vong are good at that kinda thing theres no reason they wouldn't have all been able to move out to the Unknown Regions, they moved into the galaxy quick enough.

- Everyone- other than the Bothans- made peace with the Vong, people kind of gave up on genocide when they realised Alpha Red was a bad idea and that behaving like Palpatine would have been hipocritical of the Galactic Alliance.

- Rebuilding will have taken a long time- they have the whole galaxy to rebuild and, unlike the Empire, this time much of the infrastructure needs rebuilding. At least Palpatine didn't cause as much structural damage as the Vong, if anything he built a lot of things that would have helped the New Republic establish itself.

- Evidently LFL realise that there is only so much stuff they can write about Luke, Han and Leia before people start getting bored- which is why they're fast forwarding to Ben Skywalker. They clearly realise this is even more apparent for Jacen and Jaina because they want to attract new readers, not just old ones. Most of the New Republic books (particuarly the Bantam ones) are out of print and hard to get hold of so they probably figure rather than tell people "you need to track down these books to find out who Jacen and Jaina are first" they're just pushing things into the future a bit so they can focus on a new group of literature fans with Ben Skywalker and an adult Jacen and Jaina.

Presumably the Legacy of the Force series will be more like the Clone Wars books in the sense that they'll be written from a post-Prequel point of view where all the cards are now face-up on the table. They've done the Clone Wars period to death though, so have a lot of fans from those books who they need to keep interested, which is why its not hard to think they'll be marketting either Jacen or Ben as a young Anakin Skywalker style Darth Vader figure who can both appeal to old-school fans who have stuck with the post-ROTJ books for years, and new fans who have been hooked by the Clone Wars books and want to explore a youthful Sith Lord a la Darth Vader before-the-suit.

Its all about marketting... its evident enough in the video games of late where rather than exclusively continue the classic games like Jedi Knight and X-Wing they've been showing a lot more interest in things like Republic Commando and Battlefront. Theres more money in the prequels right now than in the originals so they're milking it for all its worth. It'll be no surprise if the novels are taken in a direction that can appeal to both prequel and classic fans alike. They've hooked prequel fans with the Clone Wars novels... now they'll want to draw them in and land them a winner.

Quick few questions...

I heard that someone in the story arc will be pregnant, and it wont be Mara Jade or Saba. So possibly Tenel Ka, Jaina, Tahiri?? Or what about that Twi'lek jedi girl who turned evil at end of Joiner King, could she be the Unseen Queen and pregnant?

It is said that a good number of characters will die in this series, reason being the chiss and killik go back to war due to the Dark Nest interference apparently....my question is what the f is Raynar doing? They told him the Dark Nest exists and he was inside it...why cant he stop it? So does this mean something happens to Raynar? Either he turns evil, is reformed from the Hive, or is killed by the Dark Nest leader.

Is the Unseen Queen that dark jedi master? Or is this a plot twist, could it be that Twi'Lek knight who fell in Joiner King? Could it be Jaina acting on her prior convictions? Maybe Leia was taken while on a training mission with Saba? Or Tenel Ka, somehow taken in due to her love for Jacen? I doubt Tenel Ka as the Hapans would never allow their Queen taken.

Plus the Unseen Queen would have to be someone amazing in the force as the blurb on the book for Swarm War says Luke Skywalker must prove in a lightning display of swordsmanship and skill he is the greatest jedi in the galaxy. So if the Unseen Queen is running the Nest in Swarm War and not killed in Unseen Queen novel than it must be a very skilled force sensitive person. None of those mentioned could match Luke save for the dark jedi master girl.

On to the pregnancy who could the father be? Someone young im assuming so possibly Jacen, Jag, Zekk, Raynar if his reproductive organ wasnt burned out of bussiness.

Guess we have to wait till Mid-October huh? Im sure as hell taking that weekend off from my girl and work and seriously gonna read. Joiner King was the best...sorry one of the best...Star Wars novels written. I mean there have been hundreds now but Denning is truely one of the best.