Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XIX: "The Apprentice" by Elaine Cunningham

Kindle eBook, n.pag.
Published 2002
Read December 2014

Star Wars: "The Apprentice"
by Elaine Cunningham

Year Three of the Invasion (Month 2)
This is a short story, originally published in Star Wars Gamer magazine; I acquired a scan of it via my university library's document delivery program. It essentially serves as a missing chapter within Dark Journey, detailing a mission that is referenced in Dark Journey but unseen. It's okay-- like in the book it was seemingly cut from, Jaina and Kyp seem out of character in an odd way. Still, I am glad to have read it.

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode XVIII: Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham

Mass market paperback, 301 pages
Published 2002
Acquired 2002(?)
Reread December 2014

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey
by Elaine Cunningham

Year Three of the Invasion (Month 2)
I think Dark Journey would be disappointing at any point, but it's especially disappointing after the really strong run from Recovery to Star by Star. Everyone in this book seems a little... overdramatic, somehow. Like, Jaina makes small decisions, and everyone reacts really bigly to them, and things seem off-- like Jaina would ever marry into the Hapan royal family, yet it's treated like a real possibility. In terms of showing how the fallout of Star by Star has affected Jaina, this book doesn't really succeed, unfortunately.

It's probably worth noting that my experience of reading this book was somewhat diffuse, as I read it interspersed with other books in chronological order; this is a period where the novels all overlap with one another. The order I followed was:

1. Dark Journey, chapters 1-11
2. Traitor: "Embrace of Pain"
3. Dark Journey, chapters 12-21
4. "The Apprentice"
5. Dark Journey, chapters 22-25
6. Traitor: "Cocoon"
7. Rebel Dream, chapters 1-8
8. Dark Journey, chapters 26-28
9. Traitor: "Nursery"
10. Rebel Dream, chapters 9-17
11. Traitor: "Garden"
12. Rebel Stand
13. Traitor (to end)

But reviewing them that way would be nuts, so I'll be doing them in whole parts despite how it doesn't represent my actual reading experience.