The third book in the Fate of the Jedi series fell short of my expectations when compared to the adventures the first two books held. It moved a little slower, didn't feel that it progressed the 'Fate of the Jedi' story along much, and just seemed a little flat. Until the last few chapters when it seemed that a 'hurry up, we have to wrap this up' mode kicked in.

This book left me feeling the Jedi Order is a weak group of bumbling idiots that can't function without Luke's direct control. When a slimmy journalist can set spycams within the Jedi Temple, all you can do is groan. ( )

This was a nice addition to the story line. I only gave it a three as I still feel a little lost. For example, the mysterious "evil force" lady is still a wonder and I'm having a tough time understanding her relevance to the story. However, overall I liked it. Finally, the two plot lines begin to merge.

At this point in the storyline, I would also recommend that you read the two eNovellas Lost Tribe of the Sith downloadable for free as PDFs on starwars.com here:

http://www.starwars.com/vault/books/l...

and here:

http://www.starwars.com/vault/books/l... ( )

Not worth $27, so borrow it from the library. Okay, I had to get past that. Now on with the review.

This book moves the plotlines of the Fate of the Jedi series incrementally forward. Denning juggles the plotlines well enough to keep you wanting to know what happens next, but the problem is the same as with the previous two books in the series: nothing much happens next, or at least nothing much different.

A quick recap of the Fate of the Jedi plotlines. In plot A, Luke and Ben Skywalker are following the path of Jacen Solo's five-year walkabout to try to find out why he turned to the dark side. In plot B, young Jedi are falling prey to a mysterious disease that makes them believe that everyone around them has been replaced with evil copies. And in plot C, a planet where Sith have lived in isolation for thousands of years is visited by a Sith spaceship that returns them to space and makes them a power to be feared.

In Abyss, all three plots are nudged along, but it feels much like these words that are given to Luke on page 233: "We aren't telling you anything.... We can't tell you what it is because we don't know." Except I think the three writers in the series do know the answers to the mystery of each plot line. They just have the poor job of having to stretch that mystery out over nine books when the job could be completed well in one or two, a trilogy at the most.

And so we come back to my first point. This series is only being released in hardcover editions at $27 a pop. With tax you will be paying $250 for this "epic." It feels like a crass, commercial move on the part of the publisher and there has been nothing in the first three books that felt like it needed three books to be told.

I will read the rest of the series. I like the Star Wars universe and I would like to know the answers to the mysteries, but I will be borrowing each copy from the library. Maybe if enough of us do this, the publisher will get the hint. ( )

Just when I think that the Star Wars universe has been played out, they come out with another compelling series that goes in a whole new direction. I like that this series isn't centered around war and I'm always intrigued by the whole Force mythology. Luke is awesome, as usual, but in such a non-flashy way. ( )

Jumped the shark with all the beyond the shadows rubbish, but other than that it was pretty average. ( )