Jaina Solo

Blog contains spoilers for the 'New Jedi Order', 'Dark Nest', and 'Legacy of the Force' series.

So the other day I went to Barnes and Noble. I scurried over to the sci-fi/fantasy section as I always do on my visits to the bookstore to where they keep the Star Wars books. Most of the books that were there are either from the NJO or LotF series, all of which I have already read. There are a few other series and stand alones that I have not read, mostly pre-original trilogy stories, and a few, sporadic, post-trilogy books. None of which interest me in the slightest.

Displayed promptly on the shelf is the latest and last LotF book 'Invincible'. The book reminds me of the series finale and the series in general. The route the books took displeases me greatly.

I don't know how many people I heard complain about the beginning of Legacy of the Force by saying the characters were completely messed up. I defended the series by saying you had to first read the Dark Nest trilogy to understand how the characters changed. I believed that at first, but as I completed 'Invincible' I came to one conclusion on the series. It sucked.

Don't get me wrong, the reading was, for the most part, captivating. The plot, however, was a disaster. Let's start with the main villain, Jacen Solo. Jacen was, with out a doubt, the kindest and most peaceful of all the Solo children. Sure, he went through a lot in the NJO series with being captured, but even after he came back he still showed signs of being the compassionate character that he always was. Fast forward five years to Dark Nest and all of a sudden Jacen has gone on this 'Force discovery' mission and all of his views change...okay. Follow that up with some old talons that supposedly hold his future, excuse me, destiny inside of them, throw in a dark sith, and you have the makings of a goody-two-shoes character falling to the dark side...sure.

It's no secret that Jaina Solo has been my favorite character in Star Wars since I got into the franchise. If you ask me Jaina would have been the better candidate to join the dark side. Yes, she struggled with it for a short time in NJO, but never completely gave into it. Between the two twins Jaina has always been the harsher character. Jacen even said AFTER coming back from being captured by the Yuuzhan Vong that his place in the galaxy was peace he didn't belong in battle. Jaina spoke opposite.

Just for the sake of it let's throw Anakin in on this one. Like his sister, or possibly more so, his anger got the best of him many times. For years he argued with Jacen about the best way to handle the Yuuzhan Vong. Again, Anakin wanted to fight the invaders, Jacen wanted to find a peaceful route. Anyone who has visited Anakin Solo's wookieepedia page probably knows why this character was killed off and how his and Jacen's fates were, to a point, switched. We do not know how far, but even though Anakin showed promise as a Jedi to see Anakin turn to the dark side would have been more believable than Jacen.

Then we finally come to the characters that were killed off. Can you say 'what happened to young generation?' It's like the authors said let's go ahead and kill them off no one will care!

Well, some of us did, and for that any further books from Star Wars is hardly worth reading. Yes, my favorite character is still alive, but let's analyze that. Both of her siblings are dead, her original love interest is gone, I'm sure it is one of those 'let's see how fans respond' sort of deals to see if he comes back, as if he'd be an important character if he did. The person she will probably be hitched to is, well, I'll use my friend's description of him, Captain Cardboard. Makes me gag just thinking about it.

Fans of the younger generation in the NJO/LotF series should be outraged by the outcome of these series. To put it in simple terms, how many of them are left compared to how many are STILL around from the original series? Solo fans also have a right to be upset as it is the end of the line for the name.

Long story short, I'm not pleased with the direction Star Wars went, and I've talked with a few others who feel the same way for the same reasons along with other reasons as well.

I don't know how good the X-Wing series is, but I bought 'Rogue Squadron' the other day. I'm going to try to get into that, but anything post-LotF looks to only be shabla (:P).