^^^

You all suck!!!

Just kidding ;)

SPOILERS:

I agree, it's a very different type of story. To me it fits easily in the Star Wars universe, but a more thoughtful universe. There are a number of aspects I enjoyed from the story, from the Noghri, to Thrawn, to Mara, to C'boath. Actually, my most recent reading gave me a new appreciation for the latter. Thrawn has been my favorite character for years; my first online handle of any sort was grandadmiral36@hotmail.com and my second was thrawn_da_man. Dorky, I know, but no lie. Anyway, I digress. This last reading really revealed to me what a fascinating character an insane, ambitious Jedi would be. He's not truly evil because he is not sane. But he certainly is anything but good. Instead of the obvious evil in Vader and Palpatine, there was a more suble evil, and one asks, can he be turned, can he be controlled, can he be restored to sanity? In many ways he was far more dangerous in the long run, and his interactions with the brilliant Thrawn made his rise to power truly frightening. There are many aspects I love about those books. I'm honestly glad they will not become the new trilogy because they are stories best left as books, but I really did enjoy them for a variety of factors.

Oh, and Luke facing his clone was not just supposed to be the cliche found in the Adventures of Link or Spider-man. It was reminiscent of Luke's test in the Dagobah cave, where Vader's decapitated head was really an insight into Luke's own potential darkness. What's more, I found it to be an interesting tie-in with the duel on Cloud City and his own old saber being used against him. I liked it.