Wednesday it is. Expecting a review of The Rising Force were you, hmm? Always in motion is the future, and sometimes we must adjust to it. Due to unforseen circumstances, Uliah needs some additional time to put together her review - which has given me the opportunity to write up an editorial I’ve been thinking about ever since the release of Abyss.

There is a distinct lack of discussion in the forums during this latest Del Rey series, and I find myself wondering why. So, I’m going to use take this opportunity to do a few things – I’m going to talk about what reasons I think might be behind this, and why I think there are still plenty of areas where discussions could still be raised. If that sounds like something you might be interested in, click on the link to read more.

Maybe I’m just spoiled. There was always plenty to discuss during the New Jedi Order, no matter what forum you were a part of. The length of that series along with the multiple plot lines and large cast led to plenty of fodder for detailed analysis. It was also controversial – filled with deaths and a universe changing storyline, which meant there were people lining up on both sides to discuss what they liked and didn’t.

Legacy of the Force in some ways copied that same stance, though on a little smaller scale. It was really primarily a character driven drama detailing the fall of a beloved Skywalker/Solo descendant – and again, it was a story with enough controversy that it had fans lining up on both sides to praise and berate the story, and sometimes both.

In both cases above, there were multiple threads per book – lots of simultaneous conversations going on dissecting all aspects of any given novel. So why isn’t Fate of the Jedi seeing the same kind of response?

Perhaps part of it is the “fault” of the editors/writers themselves. They wanted to create a story that wasn’t as heavy and dark as other recent series had been. Many people commented that Outcast seemed like a return to A New Hope sensibilities – and though I liked it, ultimately it wasn’t exciting enough for me. I’m not sure that I need to have my Star Wars dark and broody (one of my favorite Star Wars books is Betrayal – which actually is a very good bash up of the classic Star Wars characters with the more hectic prequel action based storytelling sensibilities), but I’ll take it over bland and unexciting.

Now Omen really ramped things up for me, and really began Fate of the Jedi for me – ever since that book, I’ve been far more excited about the series. And Abyss is one of those books that now ranks among the very best for me of what’s offered in the Star Wars EU – and yet, even though Abyss generated probably more discussion threads than the previous books in the series – they mostly fizzled out, despite what I saw as a multitude of potential discussion points and controversial plot developments. We’ve gotten a closer glimpse at the afterlife, visitations from important characters who gave us many things to talk about, the Throne of Balance and Allana’s place in the redemption of her father, Abeloth, the emergence of an ancient Sith group who don’t follow the Rule of Two, Jedi losing their minds, a government overseen by a reformed Imperial Admiral, an exploration of the Force through the many groups who use it, the impending marriage of Princess Leia’s daughter to the future Imperial Emperor, a black ops group they’re both a part of that’s working to undermine the efforts of the Galactic Alliance to demonize the Jedi, the trial of Tahiri Veila, the introduction of the Sith girl Vestara, bounty hunters wielding Jedi weapons, Mandalorians hired by the GA to thwart the Jedi, mind boggling connections to the very beginnings of the Star Wars universe…

And yet, very little discussion is happening on the boards. It’s even hard to get people to predict what’s going to happen in upcoming books like Backlash or Allies. As I’ve described above, I don’t think Fate of the Jedi actually lacks lots of potential (though it could probably still use a good dose of ramping up the action a bit) – so it doesn’t have to be dark to be compelling (and I would point out that in some ways, it should be welcome to fans who weren’t happy with NJO or LotF – FotJ is more of a return to the Bantam era style of story, though still with a more Del Rey edge). But I can’t help but wonder if what’s going on is a fatigue on the part of Star Wars fans.

Some regular contributors to the NJOE forums rarely show up anymore. Now, life happens and things change – people will come and go – but when people are unhappy with the state of things, they’re certainly more likely to move on. There were many people who were unhappy with the ending of Legacy of the Force, who felt that Invincible let them down. It was a rock bottom kind of ending, like the Star Wars movie saga ending with Revenge of the Sith – no episode IV (and no dénouement at the end of RotS showing us the new hope). And I fell like for many people, Fate of the Jedi hasn’t really recaptured their imaginations – it hasn’t drawn them back into the story the way it should have.

Maybe this will ultimately result in a far larger audience waiting with baited breath for novels that don’t star the Big Three – that take place in other eras, or feature in a starring role a less well known character. Maybe with the additional time Del Rey has decided to give the authors to build out various additional sub-plots within Fate of the Jedi it’ll ultimately result in a story that brings back more discussion.

But I want to pose the question to all of you – why do you think Fate of the Jedi isn’t generating as much discussion as prior story arcs? Or do you think there is just as much discussion, and I’m way off base? And in what ways do you think Del Rey could improve Fate of the Jedi to generate more fan interest, or is it just too early in the series to be able to judge it at this point?

Basically, I’ve got an alterior motive - I’m looking to generate discussion. So click on the link, head to our forums, and let us know what you think.