I will be kicking off the book reviews for NJOE with Aaron Allston’s Outcast, the first book in the Fate of the Jedi series!!

Two years have passed since the defeat of Darth Caedus, and Outcast opens with the ramifications of the war that Caedus’ quest for galactic peace brought on. The Galactic Alliance, Galactic Empire and the Confederation are trying to reunite for the betterment of the galaxy. But for that to happen someone has to take the blame for the last war, enter Luke Skywalker and the Jedi. Making his case to Chief of State Daala will not be easy while Jedi Knight Valin Horn, son of the famed Jedi Corran Horn, is running around Coruscant convinced that everyone he knows has been replaced by body doubles.

Read the rest of the review after the break, but be warned there are spoilers ahead!!

From the opening pages of Outcast we see that Jaina Solo has found time for love with Imperial Remnant Head of State Jagged Fel, and being a fan of Dark Horse’s Legacy I hope their relationship continues to blossom. It seems that everything is stacked against Master Skywalker from the very beginning and I love that. Nothing should be too easy for our beloved Grand Master.

We are introduced to Valin Horn, a Jedi who has occasionally been used in previous novels like Dark Tide I: Onslaught and LofF: Fury but never really explored. Outcast rectifies this problem by giving us an intriguing character who seems to have everything going for him until he starts to see things in a different light. Valin has been struck with a sudden madness that causes him to think everyone around him has been replaced with doubles. Seeing things from Valin’s perspective is very interesting and well written. One moment he’s enjoying a nice breakfast prepared by his mother, Mirax, and the next moment it’s Not-Mirax. I actually felt the panic that ran through Valin when he confronted his parents.

One of my favorite parts in the book happens when Valin escapes the Temple and a high-speed chase ensues through the skylanes of Coruscant. This scene actually played out like a scene right out of the movies, but I have to say that jumping out of moving airspeeders must be a family trait. After a lengthy pursuit Valin is recaptured and brought back to the Jedi Temple under heavy sedation.

With all of this going on Luke’s quest to prove his innocence against the charges levied against him by CoS Daala becomes harder. The media has been covering everything the Jedi do, swaying public opinion to once again be turned against the Jedi. After a private meeting Luke and Daala come to an agreement for Luke to be exiled for ten years and Master Kenth Hamner is to be placed as Grand Master of the Jedi Order. In order to come back early from his exile Luke must discover what sent Jacen to the Dark Side. After a well written farewell Luke and Ben take off for Kel Dor.

Back on Coruscant the Jedi don’t find things getting any easier for them as Daala implements an observer for each Jedi. Jaina is paired with Tarc, the young boy who was made to look like Anakin Solo in Star by Star. So begins Jaina’s adventure of learning new ways to ditch her observer for rendezvous with Jag Fel and starting Darkmeld, a group working to secretly undermine the attempts of the Chief of State. The Darkmeld team was able to capture Seff Hellin, who was introduced in Millennium Falcon by James Luceno. Hellin suffers from the same madness as Valin Horn.

Before an observer could be placed with Leia she was called away to Kessel with Han and Amelia to help Lando Calrissian figure out what was destroying the planet. I found Han and Leia’s journey to Kessel to be entertaining. It’s cool to see how Kessel is seemingly being destroyed by a mysterious force that has existed there for far longer than anyone ever knew. Amelia’s encounter with the scary voice really makes me wonder just how connected this whole region may be to the rest of the nine book series. It was a neat addition to the story to see the who’s who of pilots that Lando recruits to save Kessel.

Now back to my favorite part of the novel, Luke and Ben’s journey. The first thing that really clicked for me here was the ‘rival schools’ duel that Ben had to take part in. Being a martial artist myself I found that to be all kinds of awesome. To wrap up the entire trip of Dorin with the discovery of the Hidden One was a nice touch that really emphasized the main tenants of the Force itself. The duel that ended it all was pure Luke Skywalker awesomeness at its best.

Without a doubt I would highly recommend this book. Outcast is Aaron Allston at his best. The humor is just right, never forced and the father-son dynamic between Luke and Ben is really highlighted well. I am definitely looking forward to the rest of the series!! Comment on this story at the link below, but be warned the link is in the spoiler thread!!