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The final story arc begins. Tahiri Viel's sentence for the murder of Admiral Pelleon is revealed. The Jedi take action against Daala's growing imperialism. Luke and Ben visit the home world of the evil droch insects in the hopes of finding leads on the missing entity Abeloth and Vestara Khai must finally face her father and her belief in the Sith way of life.

Book seven in the nine-book Fate of the Jedi arc moves at a much faster pace than some of the previous entries of the series. Aaron Allston does a fine job with the space battles and the continual hunt for the evil Abeloth that Luke and Ben have undertaken. However, the stakes are finally raised as the Jedi FINALLY take action and depose Daala from her seat as Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance.

The issue of slavery that has been enveloping the outer worlds continues to disrupt the Senate, with assassinations, martyrdom and political machinations galore. The reader finally gets to return to Kesh, home world to the Lost Tribe of the Sith and, true to their nature, the Sith embark on more nefarious back-stabbing and plots within plots.

The Fate of the Jedi stories have been such a big event in the Star Wars Expanded Universe and it really hits its stride towards this grand showdown. Major players are falling into place, there's a cameo from Boba Fett and a murder mystery with a little subterfuge as well.

However, Tahiri Viel's conviction, something that has been building for six novels now, is handled almost as a throwaway, leaving the reader to a feel a little let down. With the Law & Order -- Star Wars set up the courtroom drama that had been in play, it was definitely a cop-out. Although it is finally nice to have Luke Skywalker absolved of his banishment from Coruscant and there's at least a little closure on some of the Lost Tribe characters.

With two books left to go, there is a definite grand battle on the way. However, it's not totally clear which major protagonists will be involved on what side of the fence. It will be interesting to see how the Star Wars EU is changed once all is said and done.

Science fiction enthusiast David Maddox has been Star Trek characters, the Riddler in a Batman stunt show and holds a degree in Cinema from San Francisco State University. He has written several articles for various SF sites as well as the Star Wars Insider and the Star Trek Communicator. He spends his time working on screenplays and stories while acting on stage, screen and television. He can sometimes be seen giving tours at Universal Studios Hollywood and playing Norman Bates.