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In the scant few years that have passed between Jedi Jacen Solo's decent into the Dark Side as Darth Caedus, the newly formed Galactic Alliance attempts to lick its wounds and return the galaxy to some semblance of peace and order. However, with Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker now in exile and a strange psychological plague attacking the remaining Jedis, can anyone survive? And what of the secret Sith sect hidden away for thousands of years on planet Kesh…?

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen, is the second installment to the nine-book Fate of the Jedi series following immediately from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast by Aaron Allston. Christie Golden's Omen continues Luke and Ben Skywalker's banished quest to retrace Jacen Solo's five-year journey in the Outer Rim and understand what led him down the path of the Dark Side. They hope it will give them insight into the current problems back home.

While back home on Coruscant, Han Solo and Leia Organa-Solo are doing their best to raise Jacen's daughter Allana (secretly named Amelia and believed by most to be a war orphan) while dealing with President Daala's ever constricting stranglehold on the Jedi. It seems a strange disease is affecting the Force sensitive, making them believe everyone around them has been replaced by doubles, and lashing out violently. Beginning with the well-respected children of veteran Jedi Corran Horn and spreading daily, this virus may have something to do with Jacen Solo's past…

Meanwhile, the story is peppered with excerpts from a small, underdeveloped worlds called Kesh. The Omen of the title not only references to the overall story arc, but to a Sith ship that crash landed on the planet 5,000 years ago. Unable to create technology to leave, the small band of surviving Sith integrated themselves as gods into the existing culture and have developed their own society.

But when a Sith training vessel locates the planet and informs the denizens that the dark light of the Sith has all but been extinguished in the galaxy, plans are made to rebuild their might and reclaim their position of power among the stars. Sith Apprentice Vestara, being the focal point of the Sith ship's teachings, has sworn to kill Luke Skywalker.

Omen is a fresh continuation of the Fate of the Jedi story. Luke and Ben's journey to the strange planet of Aing-Tii and their guide Tandar Ro, provide and excellent Taoist view of the Force and the Coruscant animal expo provides that backdrop for a great creatures gone wild moment.

In truth there are so many Expanded Universe stories out there that originality is a little hard to come by, one galaxy threatening menace after the next, but this arc does manage a bit of a new take, what with our heroes being so much older than in the original films. Overall the story continues the action nicely and whets the appetite for Abyss by Troy Denning, the next installment in the series.

Science fiction enthusiast David Maddox has been many things, including Star Trek characters and the Riddler in a Batman stunt show. He holds a degree in Cinema from San Francisco State University, and 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 occasionally playing Norman Bates. Really.