Oliver's Reviews > Dark Journey

Jaina braced herself for the pain of this new betrayal, but none came. Perhaps losing Jacen had pushed her to some place beyond pain.

Jaina Solo seems to be in a weird spot. Neither as easy to like as child prodigy Anakin nor as controversial - with both ardent supporters and virulent haters - as philosophical Jacen, she seems to have fallen to the side with both the fans and authors. While the Dark Tide duology, Balance Point, and Rebirth did enough character work to turn her from the mere archetype we see in Young Jedi Knights and Vector Prime to a personality of her own, she still continues to feel like a third wheel behind her two brothers by this point. Enter Elaine Cunningham's Dark Journey, the immediate follow up to Star by Star, which attempts to give Jaina her own, character-driven storyline, only to be lambasted by fans as a terrible novel. Indeed, Dark Journey was considered the weakest NJO novel upon its release, and though the fandom's perception has somewhat changed since then, it still stands as one of the least respected parts of the series. A shame, as Dark Journey is an entertaining and much needed story whose inclusion, I am convinced, only makes the overall series a stronger end product.

So what is it that makes people dislike this novel so much? Let's start by discussing the main character, Jaina Solo. The last time we saw her, she was teetering close to the dark side as a result of her grief, and DJ naturally picks up on this. The Jaina we see her is at perhaps the lowest point in her life: Constantly in a grim mood, ready to pick fights and only a hairlength away from having a complete meltdown, Jaina is clearly still flirting with the Dark Side. It's heartbreaking to see this formerly enthusiastic, joyous girl turn into a fatalist like this, but, since her out of line actions are always underlined by her thoughts on the situation at hand, her emotional state, and her place in the galaxy, thus giving them some much needed context, Jaina manages to be an engaging main character throughout. Sure, she's not pleasant to be around, but does a protagonist have to be a perfect, kind angel to be likeable, or even just fun to read about? I, for one, am glad that Jaina and Jacen are both different spins on the protagonist role instead of just serving similar roles to Anakin. Dark Journey is where Jaina finally comes into her own as an individual and I couldn't be happier.
Speaking of Anakin: One thing I do have to criticize is how the aftermath of the previous novel is dealt with. (view spoiler)[There are a couple of somewhat head scratching problems with the timeline here, some sentences littered throughout the novel that don't quite fit with how the events in SbS played out. That's simply something that happens with an ongoing novel series with harsh deadlines as the NJO was (and indeed, the fact that Dark Journey's last third is extremely rushed is one of my main points of contention) but I can live with it. What I find a bit more problematic is the way Cunningham goes about detailing what goes on after Anakin's death. Troy Denning's portrayal of Leia's initial reaction to her son's death remains my favorite chapter in that book for how visceral it was, but Dark Journey seems like the opposite to me. I wouldn't want Leia to go through Han's development in the first six NJO books (and much less for Han to go through the same notions a second time!) but it's just kind of weird that Anakin's demise seems to elicit this little of a response with everyone. His funeral, as detailed here, is kind of nice, though. Tahiri, Han, the boy Viqi groomed in SbS, and Kyp Durron of all people all get to contribute something memorable to the memorial service, whereas Jaina - still mesmerized by her younger brother's certain doom and twin brother's supposed doom - can't bring herself to do the same. A great scene. (hide spoiler)]

The Force is not the only thing Jaina is flirting with, though. Throughout the experience, she comes into contact with multiple men who may or may not be interested in her, and a decent amoung ot page time is devoted to these hypothetical pairings. I suppose this is one of the main things people were complaining about: The novel primarily features a female character, was written by a woman, includes some semi-romantic subplots and, to make things even worse, has a pink cover! Clearly, it's an icky wicky girls' novel for girls!!! Believe it or not, it isn't as bad as it might seem, though the whole affair isn't perfect, either. The first of these potential love interests is her old friend Zekk, who - as a logical extension to his own experiences with the Dark Side, is getting steadily more worried about her and her... problems with stability. Zekk sadly doesn't develop much in this novel, just as he didn't in SbS, instead continuing to serve as the resident moral compass and reminder of how the DS can consume someone if they aren't careful. So, given his past experiences, it is no wonder that he ultimately (view spoiler)[gives up on Jaina, deciding to ostensibly cut ties for the time being. It's always a shame to see friendships go out like this, but I can't say it wasn't effective. People change, they drift away, and it's ridiculous to believe that two childhood friends would have to stay in that position for the rest of their life and could not, under any circumstance, move on with their lives. It sucks for the JainaxZekk shippers, I guess, but life goes on. (hide spoiler)] A perhaps even bigger reminder of the DS' effects on force sensitives is Kyp Durron, who is thankfully not as assertive towards Jaina as he was in Rebirth. Good riddance. He nevertheless spends a lot of time with Jaina in this one, again, so let's talk about it. After getting his Dozen wiped out again (lol), he ends up on Jaina's side and kind of maybe becomes her Jedi Master for a while. What disappoints me in Kyp is that, though he's clearly conscious of the burden on his shoulders, he really just does not make any real attempts from shielding Jaina from the DS for most of this novel. Oh Kyp, why do you have to be so... Kyp. There are some scenes with semi-romantic undertones here, but I'm happy to announce that Kyp seems to have completely given up on Jaina in that regard, after all. Last and certainly most promising as a romantic matchup is Jagged Fel, who makes his triumphant return in the main NJO novels after being absent from every book after Ruin and only reappearing in a short story written by Cunningham herself. Yes, these two actually do get some overtly ship-y scenes together, but nothing much actually happens there and I don't mind them anyways. Jag's stone-cold, deadpan delivery contrasts beautifully with Jaina's brash nature and that fact alone makes them a better fit than the YJK's Jaina and Zekk, who had even less strictly personal chemistry than Jacen and Tenel Ka... though I suppose that's a story for another time. Jag himself is fun, but sadly nothing special yet. I appreciate the attempts to give him things to do and have him navigate... unusual social situations, but I suppose a character defined as being this rigid just doesn't have a lot of potential for depth. I do hope Jag does end up getting more development as time goes on, though.
The last "ship" plays into a larger storyline, which is why it gets its own spotlight here. Most of Dark Journey takes place in or around the planet of Hapes, Tenel Ka's homeworld; as a result of the current, post-SbS refugee stream moving into the Hapes Cluster, DJ's entire cast converges to this one point. While this is happening, the planet's ruling class is having to deal with the aftermath of the disastrous events of Jedi Eclipse on top of court intrigues. Teneniel Djo, the planet's queen and Tenel Ka's mother, is steadily getting weaker as a result of some... extremely dark happenstances, so TK's sociopathic grandmother Ta'a Chume is scheming even more dastardly plans than before. Though I suppose technically not the main antagonist, Ta'a Chume is nevertheless the most hateable character in this entire story, which is exactly what she should be. More than in any other EU story beforehand, the Queen Mother's plotting here is a main focus, and her character is elevated greatly as a result. I knew that she didn't have any scruples beforehand, but still, to think how far she is willing to go to reach her goals... what an awful human being. Among her plots is the attempt to get Isolder, Leia's former courtier, to marry Jaina and make her the new queen of the Hapan Consortium, which is just concerning. Isolder doesn't quite come out of this in the best way either, not immediately disregarding the idea. Thankfully, though, neither Isolder nor Jaina actually wants to go through with it, nor do they - spoiler alert - actually do get married in the end, so there's that. No romance here. I'm okay with Ta'a Chume planning such a thing, but I could have still done without Isolder's gut reaction. The last thing I want to mention here is Tenel Ka, whose portrayal in DJ is decent, too. Being honest, she does not do a lot for most of it until a very vital scene near the end. (view spoiler)[Faced with the impending doom of her home planet, including her friends, and not wishing for Jaina to go through with Ta'a Chume's plans, Tenel Ka goes against her own wishes and becomes queen of the Hapes Consortium after all. The last scene between Jaina and her is chilling: Having undertaken this new burden, her future is set: Tenel Ka will no longer be a free jedi like her friends, she will no longer be able to do what she wants, she will no longer be free. What a sad development for this character. I suppose this falls in the same line as Zekk moving on from Jaina completely, completing her own "coming of age" story, but still, what a shame. I wouldn't be opposed to never seeing Zekk as an associate of Jaina's again after his out in this book, but I do legitimately hope that future novels continue Tenel Ka's story. (hide spoiler)] Taking everything here into consideration, I suppose Dark Journey is a win for the protagonists' side again, but you can't deny all the different shades of grey and personal misery present.

Perhaps the biggest development for the series as a whole comes with the Yuuzhan Vong, though. Harrar, the YV's head priest originally introduced in the Agents of Chaos duology, comes into the spotlight once more and is joined by Khalee Lah, Tsavong Lah's son. Khalee himself is perhaps the most pathetic Yuuzhan Vong character we've seen so far, constantly getting one-upped by the infidels and with a hot-tempered personality to boot. Everything comes to a close with him (view spoiler)[ when, after getting outsmarted one last time, he literally commits suicide with Harrar's approval. What a loser. I can't wait for Tsavong to reminisce about how big of a failure his son was in the next couple of books (speaking of familial relations, where's the Warmaster's brother at?). Harrar, meanwhile, is following in Nen Yim's footsteps and committing heresy (perhaps partially as a coping mechanism manifested by Khalee Lah's inherent incompetence...?). What compounds his feeling of dissent is the other big element of Jaina's development in this novel. As Jaina is pretending to take up the mantle of the "Trickster Goddess" Yun Harla to mock her enemies, all the while dealing decisive blows to said enemies, Harrar - taking into consideration the YV culture's fixation with twins and the Solo twins' impending sacrifice - proves to no longer be the devout priest we see in James Luceno's duology. I found this development fascinating. Though I've always liked the fanatical Vong characters - think Shedao Shai - I also believe it is great to have an opposing force beyond enemy lines, and for that heresy to now also affect a priest alongside the previously affected Shamed Ones and (a select few) Shapers. It's not like they have moved over to the SW home galaxy's side, either; neither Nen Yim nor Harrar works with the heroes or even against the other Vong. No, if anything they want their species' victory through means that put them up against said species. I really do hope that this battle of tradition vs. innovation becomes the Vong's equivalent to the jedi's active vs. passive response dilemma. For now, Dark Journey brings the series in a much appreciated direction which is sure to pay off greatly in the future. (hide spoiler)]

I suppose I can see why some people take issue with Dark Journey. There are some problems with its pacing and inter-series continuity, some of the directions it takes with its characters are controversial, and both the Hapan court drama and the interspersed romantic elements could alienate certain readers. Personally, though, I really don't mind these things much, if at all. Though Dark Journey is not the best New Jedi Order novel so far, it nevertheless gives Jaina Solo some much needed, well executed spotlight and advances the series in other key elements such as the Yuuzhan Vong's heresy plot. After reading all four of her EU contributions back to back, it's a shame that Elaine Cunningham's planned second novel was cancelled. I would have loved to read more of hers.
Next up: The beginning of Aaron Allston's Enemy Lines duology, Rebel Dream. I can't wait.