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Star Wars: Dark Nest #3
The Swarm War
In the explosive conclusion to the Dark Nest trilogy, Luke Skywalker summons the heroes of the New Jedi Order from near and far, as the Star Wars galaxy teeters on the edge of eternal war. Yet even the combined powers of the formidable Jedi may not be enough to vanquish the deadly perils confronting them. The Chiss-Killik border war is threatening to engulf the entire galaxy and raising the awful specter of Killiks sweeping across space to absorb all living creatures into a single hive mind. The only hope for peace lies with the Jedi—and only if they can not only end the bloodshed between two fierce enemies but also combat the insidious evil spread by the elusive Dark Nest and its unseen queen. Leia’s newly acquired Jedi skills will be put to the ultimate test in the coming life-and-death battle. As for Luke, he will have to prove, in a lightning display of Force strength and swordplay, that he is– beyond a shadow of a doubt—the greatest Jedi Master in the galaxy.Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!
386 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 27, 2005
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2084 people want to read
About the author
Troy Denning
186 books662 followersAlso known as Richard Awlinson.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
June 8, 2023
A new kind of war!
This a “Star Wars” prose novel which is the third part of the “Dark Nest Trilogy” book series.
This trilogy is no longer canon of the “Star Wars” expanded universe but now considered as “Legends”.
MANY PATHS LEAD TO THE DARK SIDE
The Swarm War is on, between the Chiss Ascendancy and the Killiks lead by the Dark Nest, where the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi Order take side with the Chiss but several Jedi Knights for different reasons take action alongside with the Killiks causing that the Chiss starting to distrust the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi Order.
Luke Skywalker continues to find out several episodes of his parents’ past through unlocked holovids in R2-D2’s memory banks, meanwhile he begins to be tempted to take deadly actions against the so-called Unseen Queen due the menaces against her wife Mara but even also against his nephew Jacen Solo where both got seriously injured (complicating things that the bacta supplies (key element to standard curing process are limited due the Killiks captured the planet where it’s obtained).
It’s a war where the solution will change forever a entire race where not necessarily all of them are willing participating in the conflict.
This a “Star Wars” prose novel which is the third part of the “Dark Nest Trilogy” book series.
This trilogy is no longer canon of the “Star Wars” expanded universe but now considered as “Legends”.
MANY PATHS LEAD TO THE DARK SIDE
The Swarm War is on, between the Chiss Ascendancy and the Killiks lead by the Dark Nest, where the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi Order take side with the Chiss but several Jedi Knights for different reasons take action alongside with the Killiks causing that the Chiss starting to distrust the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi Order.
Luke Skywalker continues to find out several episodes of his parents’ past through unlocked holovids in R2-D2’s memory banks, meanwhile he begins to be tempted to take deadly actions against the so-called Unseen Queen due the menaces against her wife Mara but even also against his nephew Jacen Solo where both got seriously injured (complicating things that the bacta supplies (key element to standard curing process are limited due the Killiks captured the planet where it’s obtained).
It’s a war where the solution will change forever a entire race where not necessarily all of them are willing participating in the conflict.
January 29, 2022
A solid ending, but this series could've been a full book shorter. My god did it ever drag on. I had to skip past the Jaina ground battle scenes. They were utterly pointless and awful. The trilogy is pretty skippable over all. Only the Luke and Jacen stuff made it worthwhile. Leia becoming a proper Jedi Knight was really nice as well.
June 26, 2016
Troy Denning’s “The Swarm War” is Book 3 in the Dark Nest trilogy, a trilogy which progressively went downhill for me, as it devolved into a jumbled mess of convoluted political ramblings, characters that never really did anything, and references to previous books/films in the Star Wars Expanded Universe that did nothing to enhance or add relevance to the current story.
It’s a huge disappointment, primarily because I like Denning as a writer. His novel “Star By Star” was actually one of my favorite books in the New Jedi Order series. My gut feeling is that Denning was either being pressured to add plot elements that he didn’t want or that he was being forced to finish the trilogy before he had adequate time to edit. (Indeed, the number of typos---an extremely rare occurrence thus far in the SWEU---hints at the latter theory.)
I’m not precisely sure where this series fell apart for me, although part of the problem was keeping track of many new characters: where they actually came from and how they were relevant to the story.
Much confusion, for me, is due to the fact that many of the character’s backstories are described in a series of novels called the “Young Jedi Knights” that were written in the late-‘90s, a series that I have not read. This popular Young Adult series, written by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, followed the adventures of tween-age twins Jacen and Jaina and their friends at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. By all accounts, it basically sounds like the Harry Potter series, set in the SWEU.
Several characters from “Star By Star” also play an important role in this trilogy, so some readers who have not read the previous books in the NJO may not understand the references.
Inexplicably, there are several scenes from the prequel films (most of them from “Revenge of the Sith”) thrown liberally throughout the book, for no apparent reason other than for Luke and Leia to lament the tragic loss of their mother, Padme Amidala, and to witness the gradual giving in to the Dark Side of their father, Anakin Skywalker, and the subsequent birth of Darth Vader.
Of course, the reasons and methods of including these scenes are stupid: Apparently, corrupted files are discovered in R2-D2’s memory banks (I think, it wasn’t really clear) of before the Purge (to Star Wars illiterates, this refers to the time period during the Clone Wars when Emperor Palpatine declared the Jedi Knights traitors and started a galaxy-wide pogrom that wiped out almost every Jedi Knight in the system).
Luke’s purpose for watching them is to search for clues that would either implicate or exonerate his wife in the current crisis with the killer bug species known as the Killiks. It’s a blatant red herring used mainly to fill story-time. One useful purpose, I suppose, is that it foreshadows some of the things to follow involving Jacen Solo, who is relatively unmoved by his grandfather’s atrocities and, in fact, actually finds Anakin’s actions justifiable, at least where it came to protecting his wife and unborn child.
While “The Swarm War” was action-packed, the action couldn’t compensate for the weakness of the story. This was probably one of my least favorite series in the SWEU.
It’s a huge disappointment, primarily because I like Denning as a writer. His novel “Star By Star” was actually one of my favorite books in the New Jedi Order series. My gut feeling is that Denning was either being pressured to add plot elements that he didn’t want or that he was being forced to finish the trilogy before he had adequate time to edit. (Indeed, the number of typos---an extremely rare occurrence thus far in the SWEU---hints at the latter theory.)
I’m not precisely sure where this series fell apart for me, although part of the problem was keeping track of many new characters: where they actually came from and how they were relevant to the story.
Much confusion, for me, is due to the fact that many of the character’s backstories are described in a series of novels called the “Young Jedi Knights” that were written in the late-‘90s, a series that I have not read. This popular Young Adult series, written by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, followed the adventures of tween-age twins Jacen and Jaina and their friends at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. By all accounts, it basically sounds like the Harry Potter series, set in the SWEU.
Several characters from “Star By Star” also play an important role in this trilogy, so some readers who have not read the previous books in the NJO may not understand the references.
Inexplicably, there are several scenes from the prequel films (most of them from “Revenge of the Sith”) thrown liberally throughout the book, for no apparent reason other than for Luke and Leia to lament the tragic loss of their mother, Padme Amidala, and to witness the gradual giving in to the Dark Side of their father, Anakin Skywalker, and the subsequent birth of Darth Vader.
Of course, the reasons and methods of including these scenes are stupid: Apparently, corrupted files are discovered in R2-D2’s memory banks (I think, it wasn’t really clear) of before the Purge (to Star Wars illiterates, this refers to the time period during the Clone Wars when Emperor Palpatine declared the Jedi Knights traitors and started a galaxy-wide pogrom that wiped out almost every Jedi Knight in the system).
Luke’s purpose for watching them is to search for clues that would either implicate or exonerate his wife in the current crisis with the killer bug species known as the Killiks. It’s a blatant red herring used mainly to fill story-time. One useful purpose, I suppose, is that it foreshadows some of the things to follow involving Jacen Solo, who is relatively unmoved by his grandfather’s atrocities and, in fact, actually finds Anakin’s actions justifiable, at least where it came to protecting his wife and unborn child.
While “The Swarm War” was action-packed, the action couldn’t compensate for the weakness of the story. This was probably one of my least favorite series in the SWEU.
May 3, 2011
If this book was ever going to be a movie, Michael Bay would be its director
Serious Plot Summary:
The Killiks are at war with the Chiss, and Luke, Han, Leia, and all the rest still need to get rid of Raynar Thul and Lomi Plo.
Very Snarky Plot Summary:
Book 1:
Young Jedi Knights: OMG! Bugz! Coolz!
Jacen: Whatever
Luke: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Leia: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Mara: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Han: Yuck, Bugz.
*Jedi kill bad Bugz, give good Bugz new home*
Book 2:
Young Jedi Knights: Bugz iz good, Chiss iz bad.
Jaina & Zekk: We are the Joinerz, resistance iz futile.
Luke: I dunno.
Leia: I dunno.
Mara: I dunno.
Han: Yuck, Bugz.
R2D2: *Doesn't work and instead spews ROTS scenes*
Luke: OMG, Mummy!
Jacen: Uh, Luke, there's a war about to start.
Luke: Huh?
*Jedi fail to stop war*
Book 3:
Jaina & Zekk: We will defeat the Chizz!
Jacen: Whatever. *Pours contempt into the Force*
R2D2: *Shows ROTS scene*
Luke: OMG, Dad iz yucky! Mommy! *Pours sadness into the Force*
Mara: Sorry. *Pours sympathy into the Force*
Jacen: Anakin rox. *Pours macho-ness into the Force*
Jaina: I Jedi but will kill Chiss and let my comm Bugz die. *Pours strength into the Force while Force sticking to ceiling*
Wuluw #45638729: *dies*
Han: Let's go into this battle.
Leia: Coolz. OH NO! Kill Chiss! *Pours hope into the Force*
Chiss: You are evil.
Leia: Bloah Rodders. *Pours disgust into the Force*
REPEAT AD NAUSEUM.
My contempt for this book should be pretty apparent from the snarky plot summary, but in case it isn't, let me make it clear here: This book made me mad and sailed across the room, into a wall on numerous occasions.
Denning has a firm grasp on his characters; however, most of the time these characters do things that make me viscerally hate them. For instance, Leia. I wanted to knock her off her high horse ("What order" indeed, Your Royal B!tchiness) and bury her in 6 feet of manure. I resented her Jedi superiority (the "What order" comment) and her astonishment when the Chiss "played dirty" (are you REALLY surprised they broke their rules when YOU BROKE YOURS and killed their people?!?!). Han fared much better and came across the perfect balance of smuggler and "good guy" (which is much harder than it seems). Luke spent most of the book a wuss (though he does get a nice duel with some bad dudes 10 pages before the end). Mara, Saba, Tesar, Tahiri, Lowie, and more shouldn't have even bothered making an appearance, they were so wasted. The Squibs, those atrocious incarnations from Tatooine Ghost, reappear to remind us why we hated them in the first place (oh, yeah, and the only Squib to have any family is...the female, of course). The Corran-Luke scene (where Corran tries to leave the Order again) was actually well done. Jaina was so hideously boring and her little "mind-meld" with Zekk infuriated me. Plus, when the hell did Jaina and Jag bust up? I know I should have addressed that in an earlier review, but it really becomes pronounced here. Are we doing a bit of shipping fix, Denning?
About the only characters I really liked were Jacen, Wuluw, and Jag, and only ONE has a point of view (Jacen). Jacen was remarkably well-done and believable. I like where Denning is pushing him: dark, but not in an evil, "Sith" way. Wuluw (all three thousand of them) were sympathetic, and I was honestly touched when each died (hence the utter outrage at Jaina's two second "Oh, darn, another Wuluw dead. Moving on..."). And poor Jag...he really gets it doesn't he? We don't even know if he survives the end!
You know how sometimes, when reading a book, you reach this point that kinda loses you and you drift away from reading it? This book had it...in the Prologue. I got to page 14 and was so utterly confused that I dropped the book for two weeks. Were it not for my sense of obligation to finish this turd, I would have been tempted to dispose of it quietly, in the backyard. All I had were questions: How long after "The Unseen Queen" is it? What's going on? What are the Young Jedi's doing? Why are they there? Is the Alliance supporting a war? If the Young Jedi's are fighting, what are the "old Jedi" doing? I didn't realize that a Prologue was supposed to completely lose you. I thought it, you know, introduced a story and kinda, you know, opened a setting.
And then the "plot", or should I say, "padding". I would venture that 90% of this book is padding, from the awkward and atrociously rendered ROTS transcripts to the endless Jaina ground battles to the dorky space battles and utterly implausible conveniences (Oh, right, the Squibs HAPPEN to be near their ship and HAPPEN to be transporting fuel that HAPPENS to be the ONLY FUEL for the fighter their daughter flies) that Han and Leia throw themselves into. We know at the beginning what needs to happen, but our heroes can't get off their @sses until the last 30 pages to do what should have been done. No, our heroes must be force-fed "holos" from R2D2 (and how the hell he got these, I have no clue), or endure endless battles. It's like a Michael Bay movie: throw enough explosions and quick jump scenes (Denning nearly lost me when he went from Han and Leia escaping a space battle to Luke and Mara suddenly acting on the information they apparently got from them) and people won't know that there is absolutely no substance to the cotton candy they are eating.
And then, how Denning uses the Force. I hit my head with the book so many times over this. Denning invents at least one new Force ability: Force Stick. Force Stick is where someone uses the Force to "stick" themselves to something, transforming said Jedi into Spiderman. In short: stupid. Then every single frakkin' Jedi has to "pour" some emotion (anger, strength, hope, frustration at this book) into the Force and send it to some other person. There was at least one instance where such "pouring" occurred FOUR TIMES on two pages. The word "pour" was used so much in the novel, Denning has worn it out and made it obsolete. As if that weren't bad enough, Jedi were constantly using the Force to push buttons or pull objects to them, totally ignoring Mara's advise in Vision of the Future to keep a low profile in the Force and not to overuse it.
For all its faults, there are a few good aspects. Denning's characters (Han, Leia, and Luke) do feel like themselves. Jacen was well-done. I was impressed with how Denning made me care for Wuluw. And the Luke-Corran exchange, as I said above, was great. Plus, Denning has actual writing talent. The prose, the flow, and the language are well-done. I mean, in any other book, the battles would be really interesting to read.
In the final book of the Dark Nest Trilogy, Denning has fallen back on a formula that many movie directors has found profitable: include some scantily clad women, toss in some CGI battles, have a bunch of stuff explode, include tons of gore and potty humor, and make sure none of the curse words are actually offensive (Who in the world would use "rodder" for "idiot" or "bloah" for an expletive?), and you have a Summer Blockbuster movie. Hey, if it works for Michael Bay, it should work for Denning. Right? Right?
Wrong.
Serious Plot Summary:
The Killiks are at war with the Chiss, and Luke, Han, Leia, and all the rest still need to get rid of Raynar Thul and Lomi Plo.
Very Snarky Plot Summary:
Book 1:
Young Jedi Knights: OMG! Bugz! Coolz!
Jacen: Whatever
Luke: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Leia: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Mara: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Han: Yuck, Bugz.
*Jedi kill bad Bugz, give good Bugz new home*
Book 2:
Young Jedi Knights: Bugz iz good, Chiss iz bad.
Jaina & Zekk: We are the Joinerz, resistance iz futile.
Luke: I dunno.
Leia: I dunno.
Mara: I dunno.
Han: Yuck, Bugz.
R2D2: *Doesn't work and instead spews ROTS scenes*
Luke: OMG, Mummy!
Jacen: Uh, Luke, there's a war about to start.
Luke: Huh?
*Jedi fail to stop war*
Book 3:
Jaina & Zekk: We will defeat the Chizz!
Jacen: Whatever. *Pours contempt into the Force*
R2D2: *Shows ROTS scene*
Luke: OMG, Dad iz yucky! Mommy! *Pours sadness into the Force*
Mara: Sorry. *Pours sympathy into the Force*
Jacen: Anakin rox. *Pours macho-ness into the Force*
Jaina: I Jedi but will kill Chiss and let my comm Bugz die. *Pours strength into the Force while Force sticking to ceiling*
Wuluw #45638729: *dies*
Han: Let's go into this battle.
Leia: Coolz. OH NO! Kill Chiss! *Pours hope into the Force*
Chiss: You are evil.
Leia: Bloah Rodders. *Pours disgust into the Force*
REPEAT AD NAUSEUM.
My contempt for this book should be pretty apparent from the snarky plot summary, but in case it isn't, let me make it clear here: This book made me mad and sailed across the room, into a wall on numerous occasions.
Denning has a firm grasp on his characters; however, most of the time these characters do things that make me viscerally hate them. For instance, Leia. I wanted to knock her off her high horse ("What order" indeed, Your Royal B!tchiness) and bury her in 6 feet of manure. I resented her Jedi superiority (the "What order" comment) and her astonishment when the Chiss "played dirty" (are you REALLY surprised they broke their rules when YOU BROKE YOURS and killed their people?!?!). Han fared much better and came across the perfect balance of smuggler and "good guy" (which is much harder than it seems). Luke spent most of the book a wuss (though he does get a nice duel with some bad dudes 10 pages before the end). Mara, Saba, Tesar, Tahiri, Lowie, and more shouldn't have even bothered making an appearance, they were so wasted. The Squibs, those atrocious incarnations from Tatooine Ghost, reappear to remind us why we hated them in the first place (oh, yeah, and the only Squib to have any family is...the female, of course). The Corran-Luke scene (where Corran tries to leave the Order again) was actually well done. Jaina was so hideously boring and her little "mind-meld" with Zekk infuriated me. Plus, when the hell did Jaina and Jag bust up? I know I should have addressed that in an earlier review, but it really becomes pronounced here. Are we doing a bit of shipping fix, Denning?
About the only characters I really liked were Jacen, Wuluw, and Jag, and only ONE has a point of view (Jacen). Jacen was remarkably well-done and believable. I like where Denning is pushing him: dark, but not in an evil, "Sith" way. Wuluw (all three thousand of them) were sympathetic, and I was honestly touched when each died (hence the utter outrage at Jaina's two second "Oh, darn, another Wuluw dead. Moving on..."). And poor Jag...he really gets it doesn't he? We don't even know if he survives the end!
You know how sometimes, when reading a book, you reach this point that kinda loses you and you drift away from reading it? This book had it...in the Prologue. I got to page 14 and was so utterly confused that I dropped the book for two weeks. Were it not for my sense of obligation to finish this turd, I would have been tempted to dispose of it quietly, in the backyard. All I had were questions: How long after "The Unseen Queen" is it? What's going on? What are the Young Jedi's doing? Why are they there? Is the Alliance supporting a war? If the Young Jedi's are fighting, what are the "old Jedi" doing? I didn't realize that a Prologue was supposed to completely lose you. I thought it, you know, introduced a story and kinda, you know, opened a setting.
And then the "plot", or should I say, "padding". I would venture that 90% of this book is padding, from the awkward and atrociously rendered ROTS transcripts to the endless Jaina ground battles to the dorky space battles and utterly implausible conveniences (Oh, right, the Squibs HAPPEN to be near their ship and HAPPEN to be transporting fuel that HAPPENS to be the ONLY FUEL for the fighter their daughter flies) that Han and Leia throw themselves into. We know at the beginning what needs to happen, but our heroes can't get off their @sses until the last 30 pages to do what should have been done. No, our heroes must be force-fed "holos" from R2D2 (and how the hell he got these, I have no clue), or endure endless battles. It's like a Michael Bay movie: throw enough explosions and quick jump scenes (Denning nearly lost me when he went from Han and Leia escaping a space battle to Luke and Mara suddenly acting on the information they apparently got from them) and people won't know that there is absolutely no substance to the cotton candy they are eating.
And then, how Denning uses the Force. I hit my head with the book so many times over this. Denning invents at least one new Force ability: Force Stick. Force Stick is where someone uses the Force to "stick" themselves to something, transforming said Jedi into Spiderman. In short: stupid. Then every single frakkin' Jedi has to "pour" some emotion (anger, strength, hope, frustration at this book) into the Force and send it to some other person. There was at least one instance where such "pouring" occurred FOUR TIMES on two pages. The word "pour" was used so much in the novel, Denning has worn it out and made it obsolete. As if that weren't bad enough, Jedi were constantly using the Force to push buttons or pull objects to them, totally ignoring Mara's advise in Vision of the Future to keep a low profile in the Force and not to overuse it.
For all its faults, there are a few good aspects. Denning's characters (Han, Leia, and Luke) do feel like themselves. Jacen was well-done. I was impressed with how Denning made me care for Wuluw. And the Luke-Corran exchange, as I said above, was great. Plus, Denning has actual writing talent. The prose, the flow, and the language are well-done. I mean, in any other book, the battles would be really interesting to read.
In the final book of the Dark Nest Trilogy, Denning has fallen back on a formula that many movie directors has found profitable: include some scantily clad women, toss in some CGI battles, have a bunch of stuff explode, include tons of gore and potty humor, and make sure none of the curse words are actually offensive (Who in the world would use "rodder" for "idiot" or "bloah" for an expletive?), and you have a Summer Blockbuster movie. Hey, if it works for Michael Bay, it should work for Denning. Right? Right?
Wrong.
December 4, 2007
I've observed that "Amazon-ian" Star Wars fans seem to find helpful reviews for SW books that have two qualities: a positive rating/review, and a lot of content detail. Unfortunately, this has neither, but I will take my chances for the sake of completeness (which ironically should appeal to fans), b/c I reviewed the first two books in this series.
If you didn't start this series, and you have other SW books you are considering starting now instead, READ THOSE FIRST. If this trilogy had stayed as good as its opener, it would have been great. Unfortunately, it lost ground significantly with each subsequent title.
One of the best things about the first book was the in-depth treatment of the effect of the insectoid collective mind on the minds' of "joiners", illustrated through some of the not-quite-so-young-anymore "young Jedi knights". By the third novel, Denning has completely left this out.
While it is true that I've been annoyed before at the "extra" information authors include in sequels so that they could potentially be read as stand-alones, based on this experience, I have to say I find that preferable. Worse than leaving out the interesting work on the insect-collective-mind is the loss of material on the political and strategic state of affairs and some of how we got there. For many voracious readers, we will read several other books between any two SW books in a series, and the reminders are helpful.
The dialogue in this book is terrible, especially that of OT characters, who are treated with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. And not only is the dialogue bad, but the plot is less exciting, the style is flat... in fact everything about this book says "I'm only writing this b/c I'm under contract."
Some SW fans seem to be satisfied if you just throw in a few well-loved characters, some action with lightsabers or their favorite space vehicles, and fill in the gaps. Personally, I want more. This was a disappointing end to a trilogy with a promising beginning.
If you didn't start this series, and you have other SW books you are considering starting now instead, READ THOSE FIRST. If this trilogy had stayed as good as its opener, it would have been great. Unfortunately, it lost ground significantly with each subsequent title.
One of the best things about the first book was the in-depth treatment of the effect of the insectoid collective mind on the minds' of "joiners", illustrated through some of the not-quite-so-young-anymore "young Jedi knights". By the third novel, Denning has completely left this out.
While it is true that I've been annoyed before at the "extra" information authors include in sequels so that they could potentially be read as stand-alones, based on this experience, I have to say I find that preferable. Worse than leaving out the interesting work on the insect-collective-mind is the loss of material on the political and strategic state of affairs and some of how we got there. For many voracious readers, we will read several other books between any two SW books in a series, and the reminders are helpful.
The dialogue in this book is terrible, especially that of OT characters, who are treated with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. And not only is the dialogue bad, but the plot is less exciting, the style is flat... in fact everything about this book says "I'm only writing this b/c I'm under contract."
Some SW fans seem to be satisfied if you just throw in a few well-loved characters, some action with lightsabers or their favorite space vehicles, and fill in the gaps. Personally, I want more. This was a disappointing end to a trilogy with a promising beginning.
November 17, 2022
For 2022, I decided to go back in time and reread all the Prequels Era novels published between 1999 and 2005, plus a smidgen of other novels (like Survivor's Quest and the Dark Nest trilogy) released during that time frame. This shakes out to 21 novels, four eBook novellas, and at least thirteen short stories.
This week’s focus: wrapping up Troy Denning’s Dark Nest trilogy with The Swarm War
SOME HISTORY:
Cliff Nielsen illustrated the covers for the Jedi Apprentice series, as well as the hardcover New Jedi Order releases, and the NJO covers in particular featured tons of different elements and hidden layers. His covers for the Dark Nest trilogy are a bit simpler, though. Each book contains one of the Original Trio (Han, then Leia, then Luke) and a whole lot of beetle-y looking bugs.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I remembered more bugs (ugh bugs), and some of the events I expected from the first two books (like Jag being shot down) actually happened in this one.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Luke Skywalker has summoned the Jedi back to Ossus, yet even the combined might of the Jedi Order may not be enough to stop the Chiss-Killik border confrontation from sparking another galactic-wide war. Both Luke and Leia’s Jedi skills will be put to the test, as they face off against the power of the Dark Nest…
THE PLOT:
As The Swarm War opens, we are some unspecified time into this Chiss/Killik conflict. The young Jedi like Jaina and Lowbacca and Zekk are kelping the Iesei Killik deal with a Chiss offensive, and the Chiss have some sort of insecticide missile that they don’t want the Jedi or the Killik to investigate. But Luke has been sending out a recall message to all the Jedi scattered across the galaxy, and everyone except for Jaina and Zekk respond and return to Ossus.
Luke decides that the only way to get the Jedi Order to function together again is to present them with an ultimatum, and force them into accepting Luke’s sole leadership. This didn’t feel like a new solution to this problem; in the past, the Jedi have been super contentious and Luke had to take control, and then once everything was resolved he wanted to make sure he wasn’t the only one in charge by setting up tiers and levels and all that. But then it all happens again, and now Luke is the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. It didn’t feel like a long term solution to me, though, which I think Luke is well aware of!
The subplots are as follows: Han and Leia try to figure out where Jaina is, and they run into the Squibs again. We finally get the end of the R2-D2 hidden memories storyline, so Luke and family learn what happened to Padme. Luke comes up with a plan to tackle the Dark Nest, but Mara and Jacen are very badly injured. Luke realizes that he needs to face his fears before he can defeat Lomi Plo. The final battle has everyone in the same place (Tenupe), with Leia & Han and Jaina & Zekk trying to stop the Chiss from setting off a bioweapon while Luke faces off against Raynar and Lomi. Our heroes triumph, but there are loose ends for the Legacy of the Force series to develop.
THE CHARACTERS:
In The Joiner King, I really appreciated how Luke and Mara were parenting their son, that they were bringing him along with them on trips and letting him participate. That definitely fell by the wayside in books 2 and 3! Luke and Mara do confront Jacen about using the Force on his young cousin, but he weasels his way out and they end up thinking he’s a good influence on Ben. (Umm…) Luke does not want to take sole command of the Jedi Order, but he doesn't see any other way out of the situation they're in right now. So he names himself the Grand Master, but he also says at the end that he needs a Council and a strong second-in-command. Fair enough! If I’ve learned anything from the pre-NJO books, it’s that Luke tends to take off for prolonged periods of time, and that the Jedi Order needs some serious reorganization. (I thought they HAD been reorganized after The Unifying Force, but clearly not.) Luke as Grand Master is a temporary stop gap, and in my opinion it’s not a very good one.
Am I worried about Jacen’s actions here? (Is water wet??) He sees the scenes with Padme and Anakin from R2’s memory, and sympathizes with Anakin’s attempt to protect his family. Luke and Mara do not see this as a warning sign. I strongly suspect that he was the person leaking info to the Chiss. He seems further withdrawn from his sister. I guess Jacen’s motivations are that after living through the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, he will do anything to prevent war and protect his family—which is proving to be a morally slippery slope.
Jaina and Zekk are still Joiners. Their connection with the Taat nest has faded, but there’s no resolution of their link or any attempt to fix this. I found that super frustrating, because while I personally find the concept of Joiners creepy, it also seemed like the characters who were opposed to their connection have forgotten their initial opposition. Apparently this is the way they are now?? I also felt like aside from Jacen, Jaina and the younger generation of Jedi were underused in this story. By focusing so heavily on Luke and Leia, the younger Jedi didn’t have the opportunity to rise to the occasion or take on leadership roles. For instance: Jaina has always been an amazing pilot, but in The Swarm War she spends the majority of the story as our viewpoint into this ground Killik/Chiss battle on Tenupe. I felt like this didn’t play to her strengths at all.
Han and Leia spend most of the book trying to track down their daughter. They have these disguises that make them look like aliens; Denning has done this before, in Tatooine Ghost, where to attend the auction of the Killik Twilight Leia pretended to be a Twi’lek and Han was dressed up as a Devaronian. Here, Leia’s a Falleen (like Prince Xizor) and Han is an Arkanian. Cool. They encounter the Squibs, and they realize that there are planned attacks on a number of Galactic Alliance planets, but they quickly go back to trying to find Jaina.
Then they’re captured by the Chiss over Tenupe. We have an entire chapter where Leia is being interrogated by a Chiss officer while Han is being tortured onscreen. They cut his entire ear off! It’s gory, it’s upsetting, but then Leia escapes and runs into Han. And he’s…fine? He sees the screen and says “huh that guy looks just like me,” but then we cut away to them trying to get to the Falcon. What just happened? Number one, I know that torture has been a part of the Star Wars universe from the very beginning, but this was gross and unsettling. Number two, how can you reveal it was all a fake but not tell me how? Was it pre-recorded? Was it faked? (But the Chiss don’t have droids.) This bothers me!
Anyway, Leia prevents the Chiss from dropping a bioweapon on the Killik, faces off against Alema again, and as the book ends Saba takes her old lightsaber away so she can make a new one—because she’s a Jedi Knight now. (Still wish we could have seen more of her actual training, but whatever.)
Besides pretending to torture people, the Chiss create this parasite bioweapon that’s intended to wipe out all the Killlik. Which makes sense for them, maybe, since they did develop Alpha Red to exterminate all the Vong and Vong biotech. But even as someone who hates bugs, I will not root for genocidal insecticide. (Feeling generally meh about the Chiss here, as I’m not sure that anyone who is not Timothy Zahn ever has a good grasp of them.)
As for the Killik, I felt bad for all the Wuluws, the little communication Killiks that followed Jaina around. So many of them died. Even though they’re beetles the size of house cats, that’s still sad. Luke knocks Raynar out, and I guess the Jedi will rehabilitate him? Alema is in worse shape than when she started, as she seems to get more mangled in each book. During her fight with Leia, Leia cuts off part of Alema’s foot—and then it looks like Alema’s eaten by a spider-sloth, but since we didn’t see her body she’ll probably crawl her way back into the narrative. With Lomi, it felt like her greatest strength was her ability to make herself invisible, and not her lightsaber skills. Luke gets the upper hand on her fairly easily.
ISSUES:
A minor quibble, but the Dark Nest trilogy contained some new SW obscenities, like “rodder” and “bloah” that felt somewhat out of place to me. They are both Denning inventions (apparently “bloah” first appeared in Tatooine Ghost) but I didn't like them. Then again, “sithspit” has always been my favorite SW expletive.
I felt like the climax was too short. Luke knocked out Raynar and killed Lomi in the same chapter—a longer chapter, yes, but I also wish it hadn't been the very last one before the epilogue! Everything was resolved too quickly for me. I also would have preferred that taking out the Dark Nest was a Jedi team effort, instead of solely Luke vs both foes.
It felt at times like Denning was grabbing disparate characters and concepts to use with his chosen plot, with the result that some things felt…off. Definitely strange continuity at times. Aristocra Formbi was very different from his appearance in Survivor's Quest, and even from The Joiner King. Since when did Admiral Pellaeon become part of the Galactic Alliance? And Jag was described at one point as having brown hair and a scar that passes through his eye, and that’s not true. He has black hair, and his scar goes from his scalp down to his eyebrow.
Some elements were obviously sequel bait for Legacy of the Force—Jacen’s arc, Jag’s fate, whether Alema is alive or not—but other elements were either unexplained or dropped. I found the torture scene that Leia watched grotesque, but we’re meant to think it’s OK because everything was faked…yet we never learn how? Luke believes the person leaking info to the Chiss was Cal Omas while I suspected Jacen, but we never got confirmation either way. And the Jedi seeded the other Killik worlds with Fizz completely off-page, and we only learn about this in the epilogue. (I really don’t like insects, but I thought that removing the Force users from the equation would stop the Killiks from overrunning everything. Why such drastic steps to reduce their population?)
IN CONCLUSION:
While The Swarm War concludes the Dark Nest trilogy, there are a lot of loose ends for the Legacy of the Force series to develop. Raynar is out of commission and Lomi Plo is dead; but Jaina and Zekk are still Joiners, Jacen is on a downwards track, and Luke has only temporarily solved the Jedi leadership problem. If you came out of the New Jedi Order series wanting more focus on the original trio of Han & Luke & Leia, maybe the Dark Nest trilogy is for you? The trio are integral parts of the story, perhaps to the detriment of the younger characters like Jaina. I felt like the younger generation should have played a larger part in the story, but were frequently pushed to the background in favor of our original heroes.
Next up: taking place in the immediate aftermath of Episode III - Revenge of the Sith: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/u8uez-IM-g0
This week’s focus: wrapping up Troy Denning’s Dark Nest trilogy with The Swarm War
SOME HISTORY:
Cliff Nielsen illustrated the covers for the Jedi Apprentice series, as well as the hardcover New Jedi Order releases, and the NJO covers in particular featured tons of different elements and hidden layers. His covers for the Dark Nest trilogy are a bit simpler, though. Each book contains one of the Original Trio (Han, then Leia, then Luke) and a whole lot of beetle-y looking bugs.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I remembered more bugs (ugh bugs), and some of the events I expected from the first two books (like Jag being shot down) actually happened in this one.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Luke Skywalker has summoned the Jedi back to Ossus, yet even the combined might of the Jedi Order may not be enough to stop the Chiss-Killik border confrontation from sparking another galactic-wide war. Both Luke and Leia’s Jedi skills will be put to the test, as they face off against the power of the Dark Nest…
THE PLOT:
As The Swarm War opens, we are some unspecified time into this Chiss/Killik conflict. The young Jedi like Jaina and Lowbacca and Zekk are kelping the Iesei Killik deal with a Chiss offensive, and the Chiss have some sort of insecticide missile that they don’t want the Jedi or the Killik to investigate. But Luke has been sending out a recall message to all the Jedi scattered across the galaxy, and everyone except for Jaina and Zekk respond and return to Ossus.
Luke decides that the only way to get the Jedi Order to function together again is to present them with an ultimatum, and force them into accepting Luke’s sole leadership. This didn’t feel like a new solution to this problem; in the past, the Jedi have been super contentious and Luke had to take control, and then once everything was resolved he wanted to make sure he wasn’t the only one in charge by setting up tiers and levels and all that. But then it all happens again, and now Luke is the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. It didn’t feel like a long term solution to me, though, which I think Luke is well aware of!
The subplots are as follows: Han and Leia try to figure out where Jaina is, and they run into the Squibs again. We finally get the end of the R2-D2 hidden memories storyline, so Luke and family learn what happened to Padme. Luke comes up with a plan to tackle the Dark Nest, but Mara and Jacen are very badly injured. Luke realizes that he needs to face his fears before he can defeat Lomi Plo. The final battle has everyone in the same place (Tenupe), with Leia & Han and Jaina & Zekk trying to stop the Chiss from setting off a bioweapon while Luke faces off against Raynar and Lomi. Our heroes triumph, but there are loose ends for the Legacy of the Force series to develop.
THE CHARACTERS:
In The Joiner King, I really appreciated how Luke and Mara were parenting their son, that they were bringing him along with them on trips and letting him participate. That definitely fell by the wayside in books 2 and 3! Luke and Mara do confront Jacen about using the Force on his young cousin, but he weasels his way out and they end up thinking he’s a good influence on Ben. (Umm…) Luke does not want to take sole command of the Jedi Order, but he doesn't see any other way out of the situation they're in right now. So he names himself the Grand Master, but he also says at the end that he needs a Council and a strong second-in-command. Fair enough! If I’ve learned anything from the pre-NJO books, it’s that Luke tends to take off for prolonged periods of time, and that the Jedi Order needs some serious reorganization. (I thought they HAD been reorganized after The Unifying Force, but clearly not.) Luke as Grand Master is a temporary stop gap, and in my opinion it’s not a very good one.
Am I worried about Jacen’s actions here? (Is water wet??) He sees the scenes with Padme and Anakin from R2’s memory, and sympathizes with Anakin’s attempt to protect his family. Luke and Mara do not see this as a warning sign. I strongly suspect that he was the person leaking info to the Chiss. He seems further withdrawn from his sister. I guess Jacen’s motivations are that after living through the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, he will do anything to prevent war and protect his family—which is proving to be a morally slippery slope.
Jaina and Zekk are still Joiners. Their connection with the Taat nest has faded, but there’s no resolution of their link or any attempt to fix this. I found that super frustrating, because while I personally find the concept of Joiners creepy, it also seemed like the characters who were opposed to their connection have forgotten their initial opposition. Apparently this is the way they are now?? I also felt like aside from Jacen, Jaina and the younger generation of Jedi were underused in this story. By focusing so heavily on Luke and Leia, the younger Jedi didn’t have the opportunity to rise to the occasion or take on leadership roles. For instance: Jaina has always been an amazing pilot, but in The Swarm War she spends the majority of the story as our viewpoint into this ground Killik/Chiss battle on Tenupe. I felt like this didn’t play to her strengths at all.
Han and Leia spend most of the book trying to track down their daughter. They have these disguises that make them look like aliens; Denning has done this before, in Tatooine Ghost, where to attend the auction of the Killik Twilight Leia pretended to be a Twi’lek and Han was dressed up as a Devaronian. Here, Leia’s a Falleen (like Prince Xizor) and Han is an Arkanian. Cool. They encounter the Squibs, and they realize that there are planned attacks on a number of Galactic Alliance planets, but they quickly go back to trying to find Jaina.
Then they’re captured by the Chiss over Tenupe. We have an entire chapter where Leia is being interrogated by a Chiss officer while Han is being tortured onscreen. They cut his entire ear off! It’s gory, it’s upsetting, but then Leia escapes and runs into Han. And he’s…fine? He sees the screen and says “huh that guy looks just like me,” but then we cut away to them trying to get to the Falcon. What just happened? Number one, I know that torture has been a part of the Star Wars universe from the very beginning, but this was gross and unsettling. Number two, how can you reveal it was all a fake but not tell me how? Was it pre-recorded? Was it faked? (But the Chiss don’t have droids.) This bothers me!
Anyway, Leia prevents the Chiss from dropping a bioweapon on the Killik, faces off against Alema again, and as the book ends Saba takes her old lightsaber away so she can make a new one—because she’s a Jedi Knight now. (Still wish we could have seen more of her actual training, but whatever.)
Besides pretending to torture people, the Chiss create this parasite bioweapon that’s intended to wipe out all the Killlik. Which makes sense for them, maybe, since they did develop Alpha Red to exterminate all the Vong and Vong biotech. But even as someone who hates bugs, I will not root for genocidal insecticide. (Feeling generally meh about the Chiss here, as I’m not sure that anyone who is not Timothy Zahn ever has a good grasp of them.)
As for the Killik, I felt bad for all the Wuluws, the little communication Killiks that followed Jaina around. So many of them died. Even though they’re beetles the size of house cats, that’s still sad. Luke knocks Raynar out, and I guess the Jedi will rehabilitate him? Alema is in worse shape than when she started, as she seems to get more mangled in each book. During her fight with Leia, Leia cuts off part of Alema’s foot—and then it looks like Alema’s eaten by a spider-sloth, but since we didn’t see her body she’ll probably crawl her way back into the narrative. With Lomi, it felt like her greatest strength was her ability to make herself invisible, and not her lightsaber skills. Luke gets the upper hand on her fairly easily.
ISSUES:
A minor quibble, but the Dark Nest trilogy contained some new SW obscenities, like “rodder” and “bloah” that felt somewhat out of place to me. They are both Denning inventions (apparently “bloah” first appeared in Tatooine Ghost) but I didn't like them. Then again, “sithspit” has always been my favorite SW expletive.
I felt like the climax was too short. Luke knocked out Raynar and killed Lomi in the same chapter—a longer chapter, yes, but I also wish it hadn't been the very last one before the epilogue! Everything was resolved too quickly for me. I also would have preferred that taking out the Dark Nest was a Jedi team effort, instead of solely Luke vs both foes.
It felt at times like Denning was grabbing disparate characters and concepts to use with his chosen plot, with the result that some things felt…off. Definitely strange continuity at times. Aristocra Formbi was very different from his appearance in Survivor's Quest, and even from The Joiner King. Since when did Admiral Pellaeon become part of the Galactic Alliance? And Jag was described at one point as having brown hair and a scar that passes through his eye, and that’s not true. He has black hair, and his scar goes from his scalp down to his eyebrow.
Some elements were obviously sequel bait for Legacy of the Force—Jacen’s arc, Jag’s fate, whether Alema is alive or not—but other elements were either unexplained or dropped. I found the torture scene that Leia watched grotesque, but we’re meant to think it’s OK because everything was faked…yet we never learn how? Luke believes the person leaking info to the Chiss was Cal Omas while I suspected Jacen, but we never got confirmation either way. And the Jedi seeded the other Killik worlds with Fizz completely off-page, and we only learn about this in the epilogue. (I really don’t like insects, but I thought that removing the Force users from the equation would stop the Killiks from overrunning everything. Why such drastic steps to reduce their population?)
IN CONCLUSION:
While The Swarm War concludes the Dark Nest trilogy, there are a lot of loose ends for the Legacy of the Force series to develop. Raynar is out of commission and Lomi Plo is dead; but Jaina and Zekk are still Joiners, Jacen is on a downwards track, and Luke has only temporarily solved the Jedi leadership problem. If you came out of the New Jedi Order series wanting more focus on the original trio of Han & Luke & Leia, maybe the Dark Nest trilogy is for you? The trio are integral parts of the story, perhaps to the detriment of the younger characters like Jaina. I felt like the younger generation should have played a larger part in the story, but were frequently pushed to the background in favor of our original heroes.
Next up: taking place in the immediate aftermath of Episode III - Revenge of the Sith: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/u8uez-IM-g0
August 8, 2025
Luke overall had the best arc in this series but it took 2 books for him to get to the actual good stuff. He did his best in trying to make the Jedi Order more individualistic than last time around, but his Jedi Masters were too individualistic and would often come to ideological impasses. So luke finally says "fine. I'll do it myself" and names himself Grand Master of the Jedi Order to give it executive leadership. This was made as a last resort, since both he & Leia are well aware of the risks of a dictatorship. I loved seeing Luke address his Masters and be like "you guys keep bickering and it's paralyzing us. Figure your shit out"
Lomi Plo was under utilized as a villain - she worked well as a sort of boogieman but Alema Rar was the more intimate villain in the sense that we've seen her full fall on camera, so we care more about her. Lomi Plo was created in the middle of another book, existed for two scenes, and then dipped to be the impetus for this series.
A solid resolution to a skippable trilogy
Lomi Plo was under utilized as a villain - she worked well as a sort of boogieman but Alema Rar was the more intimate villain in the sense that we've seen her full fall on camera, so we care more about her. Lomi Plo was created in the middle of another book, existed for two scenes, and then dipped to be the impetus for this series.
A solid resolution to a skippable trilogy
August 2, 2023
Same vibe as the rest of the series. Some fun parts, but could have been better.
May 25, 2022
The Jaina sub-plot did nothing for me...but this is the only disappointing part of a novel that feels like a seismic shift in the fortunes and destinies of so many characters. This is exciting, dark, and intense...and features some hilarious triple interaction between Han, Leia and Threepio. I also appreciate the tie-in to "Revenge of the Sith", which adds an undercurrent of sadness that actually surpasses the film.
February 10, 2021
Good trilogy of books.
It was a different kind of “bad guy”. This coulda been made and woulda been better than the sequels.
I liked the tie ins to prequels.
It was a different kind of “bad guy”. This coulda been made and woulda been better than the sequels.
I liked the tie ins to prequels.
June 22, 2025
first 4 stars troy denning book for some reason
December 21, 2023
So I'm asking each of you to rethink your commitment to the Jedi. If you can't place the good of the order above all else and follow the direction chosen by your superiors, I'm asking you to leave.
A disappointing conclusion to what started out as an interesting Star Wars trilogy. Though not lacking in redeeming qualities, Dark Nest III: The Swarm War is too preoccupied with nonsensical developments and filler plots to bring the trilogy's many interesting concepts and storylines to a satisfying end, resulting in a diminished setting and more questions being raised than answered.
And yet it all started out so well. Following up on a novel characterized by plot-developmental inertia, The Swarm War's prologue makes good on its title's promise: The Chiss-Killik War has begun, and Jaina Solo is caught in the middle of a devastating desert skirmish, newly formed glass particles embellishing the smoke-engulfed front as both sides race toward a suspicious instrument found on the battlefield. This and Jaina's following subplot are where TSW shines the most. Denning simply excels at writing on-foot combat scenarios, with everything culminating in the Battle of Tenupe - a multiple chapter-long onslaught full of memorable setpieces, twists, and moments of emotion. There was no real emotional edge to individual Killiks (or rather, their nests) in the previous books, so naturally this one makes up for that by warming the reader up to Jaina's companions before mercilessly slaughtering one after another in a sequence so outrageous it kind of becomes morbidly hilarious. again. Troy Denning: truly the butcher of the EU. Still, I appreciate that Jaina's subplot made me further sympathize with the Killiks' plight.
On the topic of well-executed characters, Jacen Solo in this novel might be my favorite iteration of his in Dark Nest, albeit with some caveats. It's quite fascinating how Troy Denning handled the man after his sojourn: Previously, in book 1, he's a Mystery Man, someone who lacks the warmth of his NJO portrayal but still acts out of the pure good of his now esoterically-inclined heart; this is then twisted into book 2's darker, more morally dubious Jacen, finally more utilitarian than his peers. Swarm War, then, moves away from the mysterious back into the mundane with a distinctly different POV voice. This Jacen jokes, he worries, he's no longer an enigma but rather a young adult faced with impossible-to-navigate situations on multiple fronts. Jacen has become relatable again... at least for the most part. The "the gang watches Revenge of the Sith on DVD" plotline is still here, and it is more or less exclusively in here that Jacen Solo awkwardly becomes morally dubious again. Whereas Mara and Luke are left aghast at Anakin's manipulative behavior towards Padmé, Jacen only sees someone who wishes to provide for his family. The parallels are clear, as are Denning's intentions behind these scenes, but personally, I still find all of this a bit iffy. There has got to be a better way of showing that Jacen has changed than literally having him react to scenes from Revenge of the Sith.
These two diverging sides of the character also put into question if Denning truly did plan out his Legacy of the Force story in 2005 already. Jacen's questionable acts in TUQ made me think as much, but then you get to TSW, where he is no longer emotionally detached and his weird Vader apologia serves to facilitate Luke's break with the Force philosophy he has been allegedly following instead of any development on Jacen's end. In that regard Jacen's conflict with Luke is closer to the rift between the other Jedi Masters than the aberration it would become in the next series, really.
If Jacen is one of the highlights to be found in here, then Luke is the defining low point. There have been bad portrayals of the character before, but no previous work has ever made him quite as unlikable, both in terms of his actions and disposition. So, the Jedi Masters are at conflict, and Luke has had enough of that and proclaims himself the Jedi Grand Master, the definitive Jedi patriarch. Apparently, the Jedi following their own conscious was a well-intentioned, but ultimately wrong approach, as arguing over how to approach a situation is less important than approaching it in the first place, and as the Masters are clearly obviously totally inept buffoons when left to their own devices, they need not just a strong leading figure at all times, but are also required to commit to being Jedi fully, or leave the Order altogether (and yes, this was initially meant as a diversion but the results are the same either way). This is a dubious development on multiple levels. Making Luke Skywalker of all people into a staunch authoritarian, the Jedi Cal Omas, is so self-evidently antithetical to the character that I do not even have to comment on it. What makes it worse, however, is how it reflects on the other Jedi: Remember how Jaina Solo, Corran Horn, and Tyria Sarkin used to have a career in the "regular" New Republic/Galactic Alliance military? Remember how Tenel Ka was monarch of an entire star cluster, how Danni Quee was a scientific researcher who turned to humanitarian work after the War? You can kiss all of that goodbye, as anyone who does not resemble a generic Prequel-era Jedi is no longer allowed to exist in this universe (heck, Danni is brought back out of obscurity quite literally just so Luke can accept her resignation in what is her undignified very last appearance in the EU). To top things off, this entire development does not even make sense within this trilogy itself - one of Luke's main points of contention with pseudo-Vergere's teachings, after all, was how they led the Jedi to cynical utilitarianism, but now he's fully embracing that both in theory and practice, while still chastising Jacen about the same? What?
I could almost accept all of this given the narrative potential it brings to the table, but what makes Luke's portrayal irrevocably terrible is the way he interacts with other people. Luke is just perpetually angry, demanding, and demeaning when he deals with Jacen especially. There is just so much pent up anger and contempt towards his nephew in Luke here. You know something is wrong when the character who sympathizes with Vader is ten times more relatable than your supposed hero protagonist, agonizing over the ramifications of his Force vision while the one who is supposedly in the right chews out anyone who even dares to have a dissenting view on things. This is just pathetic. Luke was given such a satisfying, logical, and easy opportunity for retirement with his "Frodo wound" in The Unifying Force, but no, the show must go on, and obviously Star Wars novels only sell when they have movie characters on the cover.
That is one of my two fundamental problems with The Swarm War. The other has to do with its function as a story finale, as most plot threads are glossed over, wasted, or even fully ignored. This novel squanders its every good idea. I think this is most obvious in its three central villains, two of which do not make a physical appearance until the last 50 pages of this 360 page novel. They are quite literally confined to two chapters, Alema and Raynar in one each and Lomi in two, and that's on top of the previous book having already felt like the set-up for this one to go fully in-depth with them. Alema appears, gets killed (but obviously not really) in an admittedly well-written but fight with Leia that is nevertheless devoid of character development or the like - thus once more squandering the genuine potential her character had. Raynar almost works, Luke initially defeating him by way of logic rather than brute force, but then Lomi's addition to the scene has him devolve into another physical threat that is dealt with and then promptly written out of the story. That is quite literally it; Raynar is knocked out, taken in by Luke and then the novel ends. The Joiner King's final chapter gave a better resolution to the character. Finally, Lomi Plo is the worst of them all, given more page time to work with than the other two but still failing to establish anything in terms of personality or motivation. Other characters that lack resolutions include Jaina and Zekk, who are apparently still mentally linked the way Joiners are; Mara Jade, whose plot dealing with her past is completely dropped (it was supposed to be a red herring, sure, but faded into the background nonetheless); Nek Bwua'tu, who was established as the main military guy in the previous book only to be quietly dropped in favor of a returning Pellaeon, who is inexplicably the GA military's Supreme Commander now; Cal Omas, who appears in all of one chapter; Jag Fel, who, after this trilogy systematically decimated his entire life, has now been declared MIA; and finally the Chiss and Killiks as a whole, the former ending this trilogy as undistinguished a political force as they entered it, while the latter's fate as a sentient civilization has been dealt with in the background. If The Unifying Force is the best ending a Star Wars story ever got, tying up (almost) every loose end in a most satisfactory way, then The Swarm War is the polar opposite, despite having only three and not NINETEEN whole novels to deal with. It's not like this is masterful sequel-baiting a la Star by Star, either, at least not wholly so. Obviously Alema and Jag are deliberately taken out of the story here to be reintroduced at a later point, but I cannot fathom making the same argument for the Killiks or Lomi Plo. This is just a lousy resolution to what could have been a great story. But hey, at least the Squibs are back. Because that's what this story was in dire need of. What a waste.
This is not an irredeemably bad book; I gave it two out of five stars, after all. Some of Denning's virtues as a writer still shine through, and there are slivers of depth here and there. But I cannot deny just how disappointingly disastrous of a finale this is, a direction that damaged the post-Return of the Jedi setting more than it expanded it. Troy Denning's weakest Star Wars work, as of 2005.
A disappointing conclusion to what started out as an interesting Star Wars trilogy. Though not lacking in redeeming qualities, Dark Nest III: The Swarm War is too preoccupied with nonsensical developments and filler plots to bring the trilogy's many interesting concepts and storylines to a satisfying end, resulting in a diminished setting and more questions being raised than answered.
And yet it all started out so well. Following up on a novel characterized by plot-developmental inertia, The Swarm War's prologue makes good on its title's promise: The Chiss-Killik War has begun, and Jaina Solo is caught in the middle of a devastating desert skirmish, newly formed glass particles embellishing the smoke-engulfed front as both sides race toward a suspicious instrument found on the battlefield. This and Jaina's following subplot are where TSW shines the most. Denning simply excels at writing on-foot combat scenarios, with everything culminating in the Battle of Tenupe - a multiple chapter-long onslaught full of memorable setpieces, twists, and moments of emotion. There was no real emotional edge to individual Killiks (or rather, their nests) in the previous books, so naturally this one makes up for that by warming the reader up to Jaina's companions before mercilessly slaughtering one after another in a sequence so outrageous it kind of becomes morbidly hilarious. again. Troy Denning: truly the butcher of the EU. Still, I appreciate that Jaina's subplot made me further sympathize with the Killiks' plight.
On the topic of well-executed characters, Jacen Solo in this novel might be my favorite iteration of his in Dark Nest, albeit with some caveats. It's quite fascinating how Troy Denning handled the man after his sojourn: Previously, in book 1, he's a Mystery Man, someone who lacks the warmth of his NJO portrayal but still acts out of the pure good of his now esoterically-inclined heart; this is then twisted into book 2's darker, more morally dubious Jacen, finally more utilitarian than his peers. Swarm War, then, moves away from the mysterious back into the mundane with a distinctly different POV voice. This Jacen jokes, he worries, he's no longer an enigma but rather a young adult faced with impossible-to-navigate situations on multiple fronts. Jacen has become relatable again... at least for the most part. The "the gang watches Revenge of the Sith on DVD" plotline is still here, and it is more or less exclusively in here that Jacen Solo awkwardly becomes morally dubious again. Whereas Mara and Luke are left aghast at Anakin's manipulative behavior towards Padmé, Jacen only sees someone who wishes to provide for his family. The parallels are clear, as are Denning's intentions behind these scenes, but personally, I still find all of this a bit iffy. There has got to be a better way of showing that Jacen has changed than literally having him react to scenes from Revenge of the Sith.
These two diverging sides of the character also put into question if Denning truly did plan out his Legacy of the Force story in 2005 already. Jacen's questionable acts in TUQ made me think as much, but then you get to TSW, where he is no longer emotionally detached and his weird Vader apologia serves to facilitate Luke's break with the Force philosophy he has been allegedly following instead of any development on Jacen's end. In that regard Jacen's conflict with Luke is closer to the rift between the other Jedi Masters than the aberration it would become in the next series, really.
If Jacen is one of the highlights to be found in here, then Luke is the defining low point. There have been bad portrayals of the character before, but no previous work has ever made him quite as unlikable, both in terms of his actions and disposition. So, the Jedi Masters are at conflict, and Luke has had enough of that and proclaims himself the Jedi Grand Master, the definitive Jedi patriarch. Apparently, the Jedi following their own conscious was a well-intentioned, but ultimately wrong approach, as arguing over how to approach a situation is less important than approaching it in the first place, and as the Masters are clearly obviously totally inept buffoons when left to their own devices, they need not just a strong leading figure at all times, but are also required to commit to being Jedi fully, or leave the Order altogether (and yes, this was initially meant as a diversion but the results are the same either way). This is a dubious development on multiple levels. Making Luke Skywalker of all people into a staunch authoritarian, the Jedi Cal Omas, is so self-evidently antithetical to the character that I do not even have to comment on it. What makes it worse, however, is how it reflects on the other Jedi: Remember how Jaina Solo, Corran Horn, and Tyria Sarkin used to have a career in the "regular" New Republic/Galactic Alliance military? Remember how Tenel Ka was monarch of an entire star cluster, how Danni Quee was a scientific researcher who turned to humanitarian work after the War? You can kiss all of that goodbye, as anyone who does not resemble a generic Prequel-era Jedi is no longer allowed to exist in this universe (heck, Danni is brought back out of obscurity quite literally just so Luke can accept her resignation in what is her undignified very last appearance in the EU). To top things off, this entire development does not even make sense within this trilogy itself - one of Luke's main points of contention with pseudo-Vergere's teachings, after all, was how they led the Jedi to cynical utilitarianism, but now he's fully embracing that both in theory and practice, while still chastising Jacen about the same? What?
I could almost accept all of this given the narrative potential it brings to the table, but what makes Luke's portrayal irrevocably terrible is the way he interacts with other people. Luke is just perpetually angry, demanding, and demeaning when he deals with Jacen especially. There is just so much pent up anger and contempt towards his nephew in Luke here. You know something is wrong when the character who sympathizes with Vader is ten times more relatable than your supposed hero protagonist, agonizing over the ramifications of his Force vision while the one who is supposedly in the right chews out anyone who even dares to have a dissenting view on things. This is just pathetic. Luke was given such a satisfying, logical, and easy opportunity for retirement with his "Frodo wound" in The Unifying Force, but no, the show must go on, and obviously Star Wars novels only sell when they have movie characters on the cover.
That is one of my two fundamental problems with The Swarm War. The other has to do with its function as a story finale, as most plot threads are glossed over, wasted, or even fully ignored. This novel squanders its every good idea. I think this is most obvious in its three central villains, two of which do not make a physical appearance until the last 50 pages of this 360 page novel. They are quite literally confined to two chapters, Alema and Raynar in one each and Lomi in two, and that's on top of the previous book having already felt like the set-up for this one to go fully in-depth with them. Alema appears, gets killed (but obviously not really) in an admittedly well-written but fight with Leia that is nevertheless devoid of character development or the like - thus once more squandering the genuine potential her character had. Raynar almost works, Luke initially defeating him by way of logic rather than brute force, but then Lomi's addition to the scene has him devolve into another physical threat that is dealt with and then promptly written out of the story. That is quite literally it; Raynar is knocked out, taken in by Luke and then the novel ends. The Joiner King's final chapter gave a better resolution to the character. Finally, Lomi Plo is the worst of them all, given more page time to work with than the other two but still failing to establish anything in terms of personality or motivation. Other characters that lack resolutions include Jaina and Zekk, who are apparently still mentally linked the way Joiners are; Mara Jade, whose plot dealing with her past is completely dropped (it was supposed to be a red herring, sure, but faded into the background nonetheless); Nek Bwua'tu, who was established as the main military guy in the previous book only to be quietly dropped in favor of a returning Pellaeon, who is inexplicably the GA military's Supreme Commander now; Cal Omas, who appears in all of one chapter; Jag Fel, who, after this trilogy systematically decimated his entire life, has now been declared MIA; and finally the Chiss and Killiks as a whole, the former ending this trilogy as undistinguished a political force as they entered it, while the latter's fate as a sentient civilization has been dealt with in the background. If The Unifying Force is the best ending a Star Wars story ever got, tying up (almost) every loose end in a most satisfactory way, then The Swarm War is the polar opposite, despite having only three and not NINETEEN whole novels to deal with. It's not like this is masterful sequel-baiting a la Star by Star, either, at least not wholly so. Obviously Alema and Jag are deliberately taken out of the story here to be reintroduced at a later point, but I cannot fathom making the same argument for the Killiks or Lomi Plo. This is just a lousy resolution to what could have been a great story. But hey, at least the Squibs are back. Because that's what this story was in dire need of. What a waste.
This is not an irredeemably bad book; I gave it two out of five stars, after all. Some of Denning's virtues as a writer still shine through, and there are slivers of depth here and there. But I cannot deny just how disappointingly disastrous of a finale this is, a direction that damaged the post-Return of the Jedi setting more than it expanded it. Troy Denning's weakest Star Wars work, as of 2005.
May 31, 2018
Compared to the two previous books in the trilogy, this one was a bit of a disappointment. I went into the Dark Nest Trilogy with an open mind and, while I tend to agree with Han when it comes to bugs, have been more or less pleased with the events that have taken place. What would have really made the trilogy complete and satisfying was an explosive, meaningful ending that would tie everything together and leave the reader with expressions of awe. The Swarm War, however, while not terrible, fails to deliver. Spoilers follow.
The overall pacing wasn't particularly great. The point of view shifts between Jaina and Zekk combating the Chiss on the front lines, Leia and Han attempting to reach Jaina, and Luke attempting to sort out the Jedi Order, defeat the Dark Nest (with help from Mara and Jacen), and uncover more about his mother's death. While all of the subplots and stories are interesting, the one that's really important for ending the trilogy with a bang is Luke defeating the Dark Nest. However, the actual confrontation doesn't really begin until there's only thirty pages or so of the book left...and the other plots still need to be tied up, as well. And once the epic battle between Luke and Lomi Plo did start, it was over far too quickly to leave any lasting impact. The whole concept of using doubt as a weapon was phenomenal; it's just a pity the author chose not to really do anything with it. At times, the novel tends to drag through events, some seemingly unimportant; while at other times, events that could play a major role in both the trilogy and future books are quickly glossed over. Perhaps the pacing feels so off because it was so well balanced in the previous book (The Unseen Queen). Whatever the reason, it detracted from the overall novel.
That being said, Denning did tie everything up well (or well enough for me to be satisfied, at any rate). I was especially pleased that Leia was finally granted the title of Jedi Knight...her training with Saba obviously paid off. Unlike some authors, Denning does seem to take care in making sure he doesn't leave anything obvious unanswered.
The Dark Nest Trilogy seemed to act as an epilogue to Denning's book in the New Jedi Order (Star by Star), a stand-alone trilogy, and a prologue to the Legacy of the Force series. There are events here that will obviously play an important role in the future (Tenel Ka's child, Jacen's increasingly darker persona and questionable actions and motives, and Jacen's continuous confrontations with Luke). I, for one, am interested to see what some of the events in this trilogy will lead to.
As a side note, the Jaina/Zekk thing really needs to die here. At first it was bearable, since it tied in with the Joiner/connected minds plot. But, after two books that don't really have anything to do with the Joiner subplot, their relationship has become insanely annoying and difficult to read. The relationship they shared didn't seem to do anything for either character in terms of character development and kind of forced them to fade into the background (as they never seemed to play a really crucial role...it was all an internal thing with their joined minds). The frustrating relationship needs to end here...not continue into some blossoming romance (as I fear will happen), but just die.
This book and the trilogy it is a part of were hardly terrible or a waste of time. In fact, the first two books were rather well done and all three have more than served their purpose of picking up after the New Jedi Order series and acting as a prologue to the Legacy of the Force series. The Swarm War was, in and of itself, a disappointment and didn't deliver the climactic finale the trilogy needed, but it had its moments. All in all, this novel is worth reading for its conclusion of the trilogy, choice personal moments (Luke uncovering his mother's death, Leia becoming a Jedi Knight, etc), and foresights to the future.
This review is also posted on Amazon.com
The overall pacing wasn't particularly great. The point of view shifts between Jaina and Zekk combating the Chiss on the front lines, Leia and Han attempting to reach Jaina, and Luke attempting to sort out the Jedi Order, defeat the Dark Nest (with help from Mara and Jacen), and uncover more about his mother's death. While all of the subplots and stories are interesting, the one that's really important for ending the trilogy with a bang is Luke defeating the Dark Nest. However, the actual confrontation doesn't really begin until there's only thirty pages or so of the book left...and the other plots still need to be tied up, as well. And once the epic battle between Luke and Lomi Plo did start, it was over far too quickly to leave any lasting impact. The whole concept of using doubt as a weapon was phenomenal; it's just a pity the author chose not to really do anything with it. At times, the novel tends to drag through events, some seemingly unimportant; while at other times, events that could play a major role in both the trilogy and future books are quickly glossed over. Perhaps the pacing feels so off because it was so well balanced in the previous book (The Unseen Queen). Whatever the reason, it detracted from the overall novel.
That being said, Denning did tie everything up well (or well enough for me to be satisfied, at any rate). I was especially pleased that Leia was finally granted the title of Jedi Knight...her training with Saba obviously paid off. Unlike some authors, Denning does seem to take care in making sure he doesn't leave anything obvious unanswered.
The Dark Nest Trilogy seemed to act as an epilogue to Denning's book in the New Jedi Order (Star by Star), a stand-alone trilogy, and a prologue to the Legacy of the Force series. There are events here that will obviously play an important role in the future (Tenel Ka's child, Jacen's increasingly darker persona and questionable actions and motives, and Jacen's continuous confrontations with Luke). I, for one, am interested to see what some of the events in this trilogy will lead to.
As a side note, the Jaina/Zekk thing really needs to die here. At first it was bearable, since it tied in with the Joiner/connected minds plot. But, after two books that don't really have anything to do with the Joiner subplot, their relationship has become insanely annoying and difficult to read. The relationship they shared didn't seem to do anything for either character in terms of character development and kind of forced them to fade into the background (as they never seemed to play a really crucial role...it was all an internal thing with their joined minds). The frustrating relationship needs to end here...not continue into some blossoming romance (as I fear will happen), but just die.
This book and the trilogy it is a part of were hardly terrible or a waste of time. In fact, the first two books were rather well done and all three have more than served their purpose of picking up after the New Jedi Order series and acting as a prologue to the Legacy of the Force series. The Swarm War was, in and of itself, a disappointment and didn't deliver the climactic finale the trilogy needed, but it had its moments. All in all, this novel is worth reading for its conclusion of the trilogy, choice personal moments (Luke uncovering his mother's death, Leia becoming a Jedi Knight, etc), and foresights to the future.
This review is also posted on Amazon.com
April 25, 2021
This is probably the weakest book of the trilogy. On the one hand, I felt like it was a novel set in the Starship Troopers movies universe. The character development was s0-so; I cannot quite decide how accurate the characters were in terms of their actions, thoughts, and words. When there is action, there is plenty of action. It felt like there was more dialogue than anything, though. I did think the author got Han and Leia's relationship right; Luke and Mara were a little hit-and-miss for me .
Jacen Solo alternated between mildly interesting and frustrating for me.
It is funny. For being a book about "an intergalactic war," there seems to be very little warfare going on in the book. The times it "does appear," it feels more like the author is trying to remind us that there is a war going on, somewhere, in the background of the story. Also, having delved into the dreadful Disney Canon at lengths, it is now funny to fully discover how fully focused these books of the original EU are on Luke, Han, and Leia (and their droids) (and their respective families). I knew it before but had not quite realized the extent until coming back to visit this Universe. Anyway. There is supposed to be a war going on, and it is said to be "an intergalactic war," but it only really seems to be happening on one planet. One planet-wide battle does not make an intergalactic war, let alone an interplanetary war. It really felt like the author had intended to go in a different direction and was forced to call it something it was not.
The Chiss.
Starship Troopers.
This was an okay book. It was a weak ending to the trilogy. It seemed more focused on politics and talking and grandstanding; it was not a galactic war by any means. It was a bit frustrating, as the Jedi seemed more impotent than usual, as did the Chiss and the Galactic Alliance. Perhaps if it would have been downgraded to a "regional conflict" or "planetary siege" or something? It never felt like there was ever any true danger (other than my becoming bored and frustrated with how the story was progressing). Despite its weaknesses, it did hold my interest over the course of the entire novel, so it did have that going for it. I would probably rate it 2.5 stars but cannot see rounding it up to 3 stars just because of the moment that I liked (those moments I really liked and thought were well done). Two stars seems to low, but I cannot justify 3 stars at this time. In any event, I am glad that I finally got around to reading this series.
Jacen Solo alternated between mildly interesting and frustrating for me.
It is funny. For being a book about "an intergalactic war," there seems to be very little warfare going on in the book. The times it "does appear," it feels more like the author is trying to remind us that there is a war going on, somewhere, in the background of the story. Also, having delved into the dreadful Disney Canon at lengths, it is now funny to fully discover how fully focused these books of the original EU are on Luke, Han, and Leia (and their droids) (and their respective families). I knew it before but had not quite realized the extent until coming back to visit this Universe. Anyway. There is supposed to be a war going on, and it is said to be "an intergalactic war," but it only really seems to be happening on one planet. One planet-wide battle does not make an intergalactic war, let alone an interplanetary war. It really felt like the author had intended to go in a different direction and was forced to call it something it was not.
The Chiss.
Starship Troopers.
This was an okay book. It was a weak ending to the trilogy. It seemed more focused on politics and talking and grandstanding; it was not a galactic war by any means. It was a bit frustrating, as the Jedi seemed more impotent than usual, as did the Chiss and the Galactic Alliance. Perhaps if it would have been downgraded to a "regional conflict" or "planetary siege" or something? It never felt like there was ever any true danger (other than my becoming bored and frustrated with how the story was progressing). Despite its weaknesses, it did hold my interest over the course of the entire novel, so it did have that going for it. I would probably rate it 2.5 stars but cannot see rounding it up to 3 stars just because of the moment that I liked (those moments I really liked and thought were well done). Two stars seems to low, but I cannot justify 3 stars at this time. In any event, I am glad that I finally got around to reading this series.
March 15, 2020
It's been a couple of weeks since I finished this book. The fact that I can barely remember what happened in it, despite quickly reviewing the Wikipedia plot summary, seems telling. I didn't care much for the first two books in this series, and this one was more of the same.
I think my frustration here lies in the fact that Denning seems to have gone prospecting through the Expanded Universe for ideas he can use in his trilogy, but when he finds pieces he likes he just chunks them together haphazardly. So we have the young Jedi Knights, Jacen's growing Force powers, the Chiss, and more, all thrown together in a unartful way. The book clunks along, staggering from one plot point to another with no finesse or style at all. It almost falls to the point of a one star review, but I can't dredge up enough emotion about it to be that mean.
The one thing I enjoyed in this book was Princess Leia's duel with Alema Rar. Watching her get to finish her Jedi training in this way was actually somewhat satisfying.
As for the rest of the book (and the series), unless you really love descriptions of people blowing up bugs à la Starship Troopers, it's best to stay far, far, away.
I think my frustration here lies in the fact that Denning seems to have gone prospecting through the Expanded Universe for ideas he can use in his trilogy, but when he finds pieces he likes he just chunks them together haphazardly. So we have the young Jedi Knights, Jacen's growing Force powers, the Chiss, and more, all thrown together in a unartful way. The book clunks along, staggering from one plot point to another with no finesse or style at all. It almost falls to the point of a one star review, but I can't dredge up enough emotion about it to be that mean.
The one thing I enjoyed in this book was Princess Leia's duel with Alema Rar. Watching her get to finish her Jedi training in this way was actually somewhat satisfying.
As for the rest of the book (and the series), unless you really love descriptions of people blowing up bugs à la Starship Troopers, it's best to stay far, far, away.
November 7, 2024
Reread November 2024:
"It was amazing." - 5 out of 5 star rating.
This trilogy is easily some of the very best Science-Fiction Star Wars you can get your hands on, versus Science-Fantasy where Star Wars generally lands. I absolutely loved all three books, this one especially.
As previously stated in my original review, I cannot help but reflect back upon SWTOR and and the Imperial Agent Class Story and how these books connect. I may very well trip, fall, and start an Agent playthrough around Xmas time this year... especially since they do the Double XP event usually around that timeframe for a week or two, making it just silly how fast you level up a character. It would be an excuse to revisit my alien bug friends, found here within these titles.
Back to these books... I can easily see myself revisiting these again for a round 3 in a few years later on down the road.
_______________________
Original October 2022 Review:
Overall, I did really enjoy this trilogy.
Feels more like a non-Star Wars science fiction one-off than anything, but again overall good. For folks that played the Imperial Agent in the Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) videogame, you'll likely really enjoy Dark Nest.
"It was amazing." - 5 out of 5 star rating.
This trilogy is easily some of the very best Science-Fiction Star Wars you can get your hands on, versus Science-Fantasy where Star Wars generally lands. I absolutely loved all three books, this one especially.
As previously stated in my original review, I cannot help but reflect back upon SWTOR and and the Imperial Agent Class Story and how these books connect. I may very well trip, fall, and start an Agent playthrough around Xmas time this year... especially since they do the Double XP event usually around that timeframe for a week or two, making it just silly how fast you level up a character. It would be an excuse to revisit my alien bug friends, found here within these titles.
Back to these books... I can easily see myself revisiting these again for a round 3 in a few years later on down the road.
_______________________
Original October 2022 Review:
Overall, I did really enjoy this trilogy.
Feels more like a non-Star Wars science fiction one-off than anything, but again overall good. For folks that played the Imperial Agent in the Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) videogame, you'll likely really enjoy Dark Nest.
August 3, 2015
NOTE:
This is a review of the entire trilogy, not just the last book.
The Good: Fresh off the successful New Jedi Order series, this novel trilogy has some very interesting villains and plenty of great plot twists. The flashback scenes from the prequel film trilogy are well-done and appropriately dramatized, and the heroes are admirable.
The Bad: Nothing too big to complain about.
Content Concerns:
• Sex: Some romance; a sexual discussion; an implied affair. 3/5
• Nudity: None. 5/5
• Language: Intergalactic expletives such as "kriffing" and "Son-of-a-Sith-harlot!" are used here and there. 4/5
• Violence: The expected sci-fi action violence, as well as mass killings of bug-like creatures. 2/5
• Drugs: None. 5/5
• Frightening/Intense Sequences: The main villains could be a bit scary; the flashbacks to the prequel trilogy are emotionally intense. 2/5
Conclusion: By now, most Star Wars fans have likely already read this; if you haven't, you should try it.
Score: 4/5
The Good: Fresh off the successful New Jedi Order series, this novel trilogy has some very interesting villains and plenty of great plot twists. The flashback scenes from the prequel film trilogy are well-done and appropriately dramatized, and the heroes are admirable.
The Bad: Nothing too big to complain about.
Content Concerns:
• Sex: Some romance; a sexual discussion; an implied affair. 3/5
• Nudity: None. 5/5
• Language: Intergalactic expletives such as "kriffing" and "Son-of-a-Sith-harlot!" are used here and there. 4/5
• Violence: The expected sci-fi action violence, as well as mass killings of bug-like creatures. 2/5
• Drugs: None. 5/5
• Frightening/Intense Sequences: The main villains could be a bit scary; the flashbacks to the prequel trilogy are emotionally intense. 2/5
Conclusion: By now, most Star Wars fans have likely already read this; if you haven't, you should try it.
Score: 4/5
June 19, 2022
The Swarm War, the final installment of the Dark Nest trilogy, is an example of a novel whose title very accurately predicts what to expect from it. It promises a war and that is exactly what it delivers as it focuses on the all-out war that the rumbling dispute between the Killik and the Chiss, described in the previous novels, has evolved into. Naturally, the Jedi interfere trying to prevent the conflict from engulfing the rest of the Galaxy while at the same time looking to end it in a morally acceptable way.
Such is the premise of The Swarm War, which has a simple and relatively easy to follow plot and blends in well with the other novels of the series in terms of quality. As the topic suggests, it is quite heavy on battle scenes – which I am not a particular fan of in general. However, decent writing keeps all the fighting from becoming tedious. It is worth noting that compared to the previous installments this novel is surprisingly gory as it involves quite a few very graphic descriptions of carnage. Sure, it is usually “just” insects that are killed (e.g. Jaina’s messenger that keeps dying and being replaced in a Kenny-esqué way), still these are sentient species so the amount of gore is a little unsettling at times. Of course, all the fighting and dying adds a sense of seriousness that translates into suspense.
Yet, for me, personally, the most interesting elements of this novel are the decisions that happen aside from the battlefield. In particular that is true for the impossible position the Jedi find themselves in. In a way they are caught on the fence: their allegiance lies with the Galactic Alliance, so it is in their best interest to stop the war from advancing. More importantly, they want to keep the Killik from spreading across the Galaxy, as this would cause more and more Galactic citizens to lose themselves to the Killik’s collective mind. Hence, they are leaning towards the Chiss’ side. Be that as it may, the Jedi serve the Force and in doing so it is their duty to preserve life. Therefore, they oppose speciecide – i.e. the sought Chiss solution for the Killik problem – on principle and find themselves obliged to protect the Killik. This moral conflict is portrayed quite well and the respective Jedis’ stances towards this issue tie in nicely with preceding novels, the NJO series in particular (e.g. Jacen’s more drastic approach and how it relates to Vergere’s teachings).
Despite having its strong points, The Swarm War also has a bunch of shortcomings. As usual, these involve a number of minor things that perhaps only bother me personally. Firstly, I found the sheer number of Killik nests, all with their own extremely weird names, really confusing at times often wondering whether it is really necessary to differentiate between the nests at all as these differences do not really matter for the plot and are a mere source of frustration for the reader. Secondly, Jaina’s relationship with the Killik has reached peak weirdness in this novel. Her weird insect-like mannerisms come across as creepy and annoying and her interactions with the Killiks in this novel turn out to be even more irritating than her strange relationship with Zekk that bothered me in the previous one. Thirdly, I find it laughable how no one figures out who Tenel Ka’s baby daddy is. C’mon all the main cast is supposed to be super clever and susceptible and yet no one notices how Jacen evades the topic or how weird Tenel Ka acts around the Solos. Fourthly, Luke feels kind of off in this one. For one, he appears to be going down a slippery slope by making himself Grand Master (also he acts like a complacent jerk in doing so). For another, it is crazy for Luke to trust Jacen blindly the way he does. The latter has never given him a single sign that he is trustworthy at all. On top of that, Jacen openly admits that there are things he chooses not to share and gives off major vibes he is, in fact, serving his own agenda rather than the greater good.
As mentioned above, these are all relatively minor grievances. However, there is one aspect that bothers me about this novel that is not as trivial as these other things. Namely, I felt that the sense of urgency that the Chiss-Killik conflict is supposed to entail does not really come across. While potential consequences from the war spreading further are specified clearly, at no point does it seem like any of that happening is a real threat. Happening on the fringes of the Galaxy, the Killik issue seems to be limited to the Chiss and the sluggish reaction of the Galactic Alliance does not suggest that the stakes are high for them. This is in stark contrast to the huge stakes there were in the last major conflict, i.e. the Yuuzhan Vong war, and makes it somewhat difficult to take the issue seriously.
Regardless, The Swarm War is a decent, action-packed Star Wars novel that is in no way inferior to its predecessor, The Unseen Queen. I'm aware this is an unpopular opinion, but, considering the Dark Nest series as a whole, The Joiner King is its strongest installment imo.
It introduces the Killik along with the new-ish concept of a collective mind. In its follow-ups the novelty of these elements has worn off and all they are left to do is expand on them in a more or less meaningful way. While I guess it was not really necessary to have an entire trilogy revolve around the Killik, all three novels are enjoyable reads. I would not go so far to call them must-reads, but I would definitely recommend them to anyone with a strong interest in the Star Wars EU.
Such is the premise of The Swarm War, which has a simple and relatively easy to follow plot and blends in well with the other novels of the series in terms of quality. As the topic suggests, it is quite heavy on battle scenes – which I am not a particular fan of in general. However, decent writing keeps all the fighting from becoming tedious. It is worth noting that compared to the previous installments this novel is surprisingly gory as it involves quite a few very graphic descriptions of carnage. Sure, it is usually “just” insects that are killed (e.g. Jaina’s messenger that keeps dying and being replaced in a Kenny-esqué way), still these are sentient species so the amount of gore is a little unsettling at times. Of course, all the fighting and dying adds a sense of seriousness that translates into suspense.
Yet, for me, personally, the most interesting elements of this novel are the decisions that happen aside from the battlefield. In particular that is true for the impossible position the Jedi find themselves in. In a way they are caught on the fence: their allegiance lies with the Galactic Alliance, so it is in their best interest to stop the war from advancing. More importantly, they want to keep the Killik from spreading across the Galaxy, as this would cause more and more Galactic citizens to lose themselves to the Killik’s collective mind. Hence, they are leaning towards the Chiss’ side. Be that as it may, the Jedi serve the Force and in doing so it is their duty to preserve life. Therefore, they oppose speciecide – i.e. the sought Chiss solution for the Killik problem – on principle and find themselves obliged to protect the Killik. This moral conflict is portrayed quite well and the respective Jedis’ stances towards this issue tie in nicely with preceding novels, the NJO series in particular (e.g. Jacen’s more drastic approach and how it relates to Vergere’s teachings).
Despite having its strong points, The Swarm War also has a bunch of shortcomings. As usual, these involve a number of minor things that perhaps only bother me personally. Firstly, I found the sheer number of Killik nests, all with their own extremely weird names, really confusing at times often wondering whether it is really necessary to differentiate between the nests at all as these differences do not really matter for the plot and are a mere source of frustration for the reader. Secondly, Jaina’s relationship with the Killik has reached peak weirdness in this novel. Her weird insect-like mannerisms come across as creepy and annoying and her interactions with the Killiks in this novel turn out to be even more irritating than her strange relationship with Zekk that bothered me in the previous one. Thirdly, I find it laughable how no one figures out who Tenel Ka’s baby daddy is. C’mon all the main cast is supposed to be super clever and susceptible and yet no one notices how Jacen evades the topic or how weird Tenel Ka acts around the Solos. Fourthly, Luke feels kind of off in this one. For one, he appears to be going down a slippery slope by making himself Grand Master (also he acts like a complacent jerk in doing so). For another, it is crazy for Luke to trust Jacen blindly the way he does. The latter has never given him a single sign that he is trustworthy at all. On top of that, Jacen openly admits that there are things he chooses not to share and gives off major vibes he is, in fact, serving his own agenda rather than the greater good.
As mentioned above, these are all relatively minor grievances. However, there is one aspect that bothers me about this novel that is not as trivial as these other things. Namely, I felt that the sense of urgency that the Chiss-Killik conflict is supposed to entail does not really come across. While potential consequences from the war spreading further are specified clearly, at no point does it seem like any of that happening is a real threat. Happening on the fringes of the Galaxy, the Killik issue seems to be limited to the Chiss and the sluggish reaction of the Galactic Alliance does not suggest that the stakes are high for them. This is in stark contrast to the huge stakes there were in the last major conflict, i.e. the Yuuzhan Vong war, and makes it somewhat difficult to take the issue seriously.
Regardless, The Swarm War is a decent, action-packed Star Wars novel that is in no way inferior to its predecessor, The Unseen Queen. I'm aware this is an unpopular opinion, but, considering the Dark Nest series as a whole, The Joiner King is its strongest installment imo.
It introduces the Killik along with the new-ish concept of a collective mind. In its follow-ups the novelty of these elements has worn off and all they are left to do is expand on them in a more or less meaningful way. While I guess it was not really necessary to have an entire trilogy revolve around the Killik, all three novels are enjoyable reads. I would not go so far to call them must-reads, but I would definitely recommend them to anyone with a strong interest in the Star Wars EU.
December 1, 2023
3.5/5
This book is a mixed bag. The stuff with Jaina and Zekk was dreadful and boring. I did not care about their story in the slightest. I've been disappointed by Jaina as a character trhougnb the NJO and now this Dark Nest Trilogy and I'm hoping I can connect to her in future books.
The stuff with Han and Leia was pretty good. Certainly it was entertaining, though it wasn't great. I think their story suffers in the last quarter of the book when they are in battle. It just wasn't compelling.
The parts of this book focusing on Luke, Mara and Jacen were utterly fantastic. Jacen's arc since the middle of the NJO has been very compelling, and with the gift of hindsight and knowing where his character ends up, its fascinating to see how much of the groundwork is mapped out (especially in this book). His discussions on the nature of The Force with Luke and Mara were compelling. Luke's arc was also very interesting. Luke has had enough and finally takes control things and acts truly as a Jedi Grand Master. Luke learning what happened to his mother was also compelling and emotional reading.
Overall it's an uneven novel, but the parts of the novel that hit, really hit. I am so interesting in reading into the next series of books because I know it brings the conclusion to Jacen's arc and I am interested to delve into that.
This book is a mixed bag. The stuff with Jaina and Zekk was dreadful and boring. I did not care about their story in the slightest. I've been disappointed by Jaina as a character trhougnb the NJO and now this Dark Nest Trilogy and I'm hoping I can connect to her in future books.
The stuff with Han and Leia was pretty good. Certainly it was entertaining, though it wasn't great. I think their story suffers in the last quarter of the book when they are in battle. It just wasn't compelling.
The parts of this book focusing on Luke, Mara and Jacen were utterly fantastic. Jacen's arc since the middle of the NJO has been very compelling, and with the gift of hindsight and knowing where his character ends up, its fascinating to see how much of the groundwork is mapped out (especially in this book). His discussions on the nature of The Force with Luke and Mara were compelling. Luke's arc was also very interesting. Luke has had enough and finally takes control things and acts truly as a Jedi Grand Master. Luke learning what happened to his mother was also compelling and emotional reading.
Overall it's an uneven novel, but the parts of the novel that hit, really hit. I am so interesting in reading into the next series of books because I know it brings the conclusion to Jacen's arc and I am interested to delve into that.
March 20, 2025
Thank you, Troy Denning, for making me thoroughly hate Jaina Solo with this series. Top notch work.
The Dark Nest Trilogy, the series commissioned by Lucasfilms because they and Troy apparently hated the NJO series and how it ended, finally comes to an end. Everything from The Unifying Force has now been undone. The Jedi and the Galactic Alliance government are back to being enemies, the new way of using the force has been retired for the old way, Jacen has gone from the idea that the Jedi should aspire to be to skirting on the dark side thanks to getting pressured into a one night stand, Jaina and the knights who went to Myrkr are pariahs who've spent the entire trilogy acting like entitled brats instead of jedi knights, Kyp is part of yet another Jedi schism, and the Chiss are pissed off yet again. The only changes forward are Leia now becoming a Jedi Knight, Jacen becoming a father, Ranar Thul coming back home, and Luke becoming the Grand Master of the Jedi.
This entire series could've been condensed down into one book and we wouldn't have missed a single thing. In fact, the characters themselves seem to wonder why this wasn't completed earlier. This trilogy accomplished nothing except character assassination and to illustrate Denning's views on the end of the NJO series.
Tell me, how is this better than the Sequel Trilogy?
The Dark Nest Trilogy, the series commissioned by Lucasfilms because they and Troy apparently hated the NJO series and how it ended, finally comes to an end. Everything from The Unifying Force has now been undone. The Jedi and the Galactic Alliance government are back to being enemies, the new way of using the force has been retired for the old way, Jacen has gone from the idea that the Jedi should aspire to be to skirting on the dark side thanks to getting pressured into a one night stand, Jaina and the knights who went to Myrkr are pariahs who've spent the entire trilogy acting like entitled brats instead of jedi knights, Kyp is part of yet another Jedi schism, and the Chiss are pissed off yet again. The only changes forward are Leia now becoming a Jedi Knight, Jacen becoming a father, Ranar Thul coming back home, and Luke becoming the Grand Master of the Jedi.
This entire series could've been condensed down into one book and we wouldn't have missed a single thing. In fact, the characters themselves seem to wonder why this wasn't completed earlier. This trilogy accomplished nothing except character assassination and to illustrate Denning's views on the end of the NJO series.
Tell me, how is this better than the Sequel Trilogy?
July 5, 2025
The Swarm War brings the Dark Nest Trilogy to a dramatic and thought-provoking conclusion, balancing high-stakes action with the internal fracturing of the Jedi Order. Troy Denning wraps up the Killik conflict while laying critical groundwork for what’s to come in the Legacy of the Force series. It’s tense, urgent, and full of the moral ambiguity that defines this post–Yuuzhan Vong era of Star Wars.
What I Liked:
- The final confrontation with the Killiks delivers on both a tactical and philosophical level, making the conflict feel bigger than just a war. It’s a battle for identity, free will, and the soul of the Jedi.
- Jacen Solo’s arc continues to intrigue and disturb, his decisions are chilling, but you can see how he gets there. Denning plays the long game with his descent.
- The political and interpersonal dynamics, especially between Luke, Leia, Mara, and Han, feel earned, tense, and authentic. The weight of experience shows.
What I Didn’t:
- Some plotlines wrap up a bit too neatly, considering the scale of the crisis. The resolution is satisfying but could have used a bit more fallout.
- The Killik threat, while conceptually strong, remains somewhat emotionally distant, it’s a war of ideas more than characters.
- A few Jedi characters are underused or reduced to philosophical mouthpieces rather than feeling fully three-dimensional.
What I Liked:
- The final confrontation with the Killiks delivers on both a tactical and philosophical level, making the conflict feel bigger than just a war. It’s a battle for identity, free will, and the soul of the Jedi.
- Jacen Solo’s arc continues to intrigue and disturb, his decisions are chilling, but you can see how he gets there. Denning plays the long game with his descent.
- The political and interpersonal dynamics, especially between Luke, Leia, Mara, and Han, feel earned, tense, and authentic. The weight of experience shows.
What I Didn’t:
- Some plotlines wrap up a bit too neatly, considering the scale of the crisis. The resolution is satisfying but could have used a bit more fallout.
- The Killik threat, while conceptually strong, remains somewhat emotionally distant, it’s a war of ideas more than characters.
- A few Jedi characters are underused or reduced to philosophical mouthpieces rather than feeling fully three-dimensional.
January 9, 2022
Swarm War and the previous two books of the Dark Nest series were ok, though they felt underwhelming and I was impatient with some of the character plots. Luke annoyed me with his flip flopping and indecisiveness. Jaina annoyed me with her joiner mentality. R2-D2 annoyed me with keeping the truth of Luke and Leia’s mother a secret after thirty plus years. (It almost felt like a convenient way to link the prequels and the expanded universe. )
However, I did enjoy Leia finally committing herself to Jedi training and I loved her choice of Master, Saba Sebatyne. Saba is one of the best lesser known characters of the EU. Though I found it disturbing, Jacen has become a rather complex character. In the Dark Nest trilogy, we’re given hints and clues that Jacen is indulging in the dark side of the force. At the time it doesn’t feel like he’s gone to the dark side, it just seems that he’s being overprotective or try to control a chaotic situation. Vergere reshaped his understanding of the force and what a Jedi is. She taught him that there is no light side and dark side there is just the force. While he may know a lot more than the other Jedi and even Luke, he still has a lot of maturing to do.
However, I did enjoy Leia finally committing herself to Jedi training and I loved her choice of Master, Saba Sebatyne. Saba is one of the best lesser known characters of the EU. Though I found it disturbing, Jacen has become a rather complex character. In the Dark Nest trilogy, we’re given hints and clues that Jacen is indulging in the dark side of the force. At the time it doesn’t feel like he’s gone to the dark side, it just seems that he’s being overprotective or try to control a chaotic situation. Vergere reshaped his understanding of the force and what a Jedi is. She taught him that there is no light side and dark side there is just the force. While he may know a lot more than the other Jedi and even Luke, he still has a lot of maturing to do.
December 14, 2017
A decent conclusion to the Dark Nest Trilogy in which Luke takes full control of the Jedi Order (naming himself Grand Master) and Leia puts in a solid year of Jedi training and finally becomes a powerful Jedi in her own right. Jaina and Zekk remain with the Killiks in helping their war with the Chiss, while Luke, Mara and Jacen move to cut off the "head" of the Chilliks by trying to kill Lomi Plo, the Dark Jedi who formed the Killik Dark Nest... as well as kill or remove from power UnuThul, who is the former Jedi Raynor.
I found the one-on-one battle scenes exciting, and once again found the space battles confusing. And there was a third battle type this time: the war on the ground. And those parts I found boring, perhaps in part because it's still frustrating to see Jaina and Zekk even fighting with the Killiks.
If it wasn't for the interesting back story going on with Jacen Solo, I'd probably give this entire trilogy a pass. It's readable, at times enjoyable, but almost seemed forced - as though the SWU needed a 230th book.
I found the one-on-one battle scenes exciting, and once again found the space battles confusing. And there was a third battle type this time: the war on the ground. And those parts I found boring, perhaps in part because it's still frustrating to see Jaina and Zekk even fighting with the Killiks.
If it wasn't for the interesting back story going on with Jacen Solo, I'd probably give this entire trilogy a pass. It's readable, at times enjoyable, but almost seemed forced - as though the SWU needed a 230th book.
May 13, 2019
This book was good...and also bad. I loved everything with Luke and Jacen, but got frustrated at everything with Leia and Han.
On the whole, this was a satisfying end to the trilogy. I didn't like where the EU took the Jedi during/after the New Jedi Order books, but Troy Denning got them into a place that I actually was happy with. The Swarm War(roll credits) ended very satisfyingly.
I was so frustrated at the Chiss and at the torture scenes. I never like reading torture scenes in literature, so no matter how amazing Denning might have written it, I didn't enjoy it.
The most important thing to me(regarding Jacen) was not resolved. I know this is explored more in the Legacy of the Force series, but I still wanted it to be known. I also can't wait to read when Jacen and Tenel Ka can be together publicly.
Overall, great book that I have minor grievances with that I can't completely fault the author with because of my personal expectations for a book. 8.5 out of 10! Great trilogy Denning.
On the whole, this was a satisfying end to the trilogy. I didn't like where the EU took the Jedi during/after the New Jedi Order books, but Troy Denning got them into a place that I actually was happy with. The Swarm War(roll credits) ended very satisfyingly.
I was so frustrated at the Chiss and at the torture scenes. I never like reading torture scenes in literature, so no matter how amazing Denning might have written it, I didn't enjoy it.
The most important thing to me(regarding Jacen) was not resolved. I know this is explored more in the Legacy of the Force series, but I still wanted it to be known. I also can't wait to read when Jacen and Tenel Ka can be together publicly.
Overall, great book that I have minor grievances with that I can't completely fault the author with because of my personal expectations for a book. 8.5 out of 10! Great trilogy Denning.
January 1, 2021
A surprisingly decent ending to this series.
I was not looking forward to the dark nest triologie, and was not fond of the first Novel, but this book was actually a pretty good. The r2d2 subplot was great, seeing Luke deal with what his father did all those years ago in revenge of the sith, and the reforming of the Jedi order/jedi politics stuff was super cool and interesting as well. The jaina /zekk stuff was very lacking and a big critisism for me, but the rest of the book is a definite recommend. Rating:7/10
I was not looking forward to the dark nest triologie, and was not fond of the first Novel, but this book was actually a pretty good. The r2d2 subplot was great, seeing Luke deal with what his father did all those years ago in revenge of the sith, and the reforming of the Jedi order/jedi politics stuff was super cool and interesting as well. The jaina /zekk stuff was very lacking and a big critisism for me, but the rest of the book is a definite recommend. Rating:7/10
February 1, 2019
This whole series was a sad disappointment. I only bothered finishing it out of a sense of completeness. I didn't care, I didn't want to know what happened.
The main issue is that it's so disjointed. I kept turning back to see what I'd missed, how characters were so deeply entrenched in opposing camps but I hadn't turned over three pages or missed a whole chapter, it was just poorly written.
A real shame.
The main issue is that it's so disjointed. I kept turning back to see what I'd missed, how characters were so deeply entrenched in opposing camps but I hadn't turned over three pages or missed a whole chapter, it was just poorly written.
A real shame.
June 4, 2023
Great ending to the potential war between the Chiss and Killiks. I feel bad for the Killiks since they brought injured Jedi into the colony and the that is what started the Dark Nest. The colony itself wouldn’t have done what it did without that influence.
Desperate battles to help restore peace, near genocide, space battle, Jedi battles and near death for many of the heroes. This book had a lot to try and keep track of.
Desperate battles to help restore peace, near genocide, space battle, Jedi battles and near death for many of the heroes. This book had a lot to try and keep track of.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2023
I’ve been wanting to read this trilogy for years and after multiple trips since I first discovered the books as a whole, I was able to thrift all three of these books at one point or another. This particular book was a phenomenal one and wrapped the story up so well. Troy Denning does an amazing job bringing these characters to life and I was truly blown away by his talent in storytelling.
March 23, 2018
This was a satisfying ending to the series. This is a good read.
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