Journey into the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Once upon a time, I was a canon purist. To me, every single word written outside of the scope of Star Wars movies was nothing but an ill-conceived lie that had no bearing on what George would put on film. That is, until George opted for digital and the prequels came out.

As much as I enjoyed The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, I still found myself not fully satisfied. Initially, I merely watched the original trilogy to mute my inner cry of dismay, but alas, it wasn't quite enough to counter-balance the weight of disappointment brought on partially by Jar Jar Binks.

It was then that I turned to the novels, justifying my actions by reading only books that took place after Return of the Jedi. After all, by that point, old George had nixed the third trilogy of movies and Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy had a legendary reputation of being exceptionally good. [Though I started with Zahn's novels, I did eventually go back and read Truce at Bakura and The Courtship of Princess Leia. I'm a completist.]

Thrawn and on and on...
And so it started with the brilliant (and brilliantly written) Grand Admiral Thrawn. After Thrawn I read a great deal about Luke's establishment of the new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, Leia's rise to politcal power in the New Republic, and Han's unintentional continuation toward respectability. I also read of Lando's get-rich-quick schemes, Wedge's adventures with Rogue Squadron, and the births of Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo. Some books were written extremely well and others certainly weren't strong enough to pull the ears off a Gundark. Despite this, the overall development of the characters and the universe was beautiful. Unfortunately, inconsistency between writers and themes of super-weapons and rescuing captive friends became terribly recycled.

Readers were definitely in for a surprise (as I was), particularly if they'd just finished reading the Young Jedi Knights series (think Harry Potter at the Jedi Academy), the last chronological books before the New Jedi Order. Where Young Jedi Knights was, on the whole, light-hearted and fun, the New Jedi Order would be grim and rather violent.

The New Jedi Order
Del Ray's ambitious and epic plan for a multi-author, 19-book series kicked off with R.A. Salvatore's Vector Prime, infamous for the death of Chewbacca. If you didn't know Chewbacca died, I'm sorry to have thrown it out there so non-challantly, however, the seriousness and "differentness" of the series is well-represented by that death. As shocked as I am to admit this, I believe that the death was well-justified and used properly to propel the story where it needed to go.

As should be expected of any series as huge as New Jedi Order, there were highs and lows. Among Among the highest of the highs, I would have to include Vector Prime, Aaron Allston's Enemy Line duology, Greg Keyes' Edge of Victory duology, Troy Denning's Star by Star, and last but not least, James Luceno's Unifying Force. I'm choosing not to speak of the lows as even the lows are worth reading to fully immerse one's self in the entire history of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. While the entire New Jedi Order strays from a traditional Star Wars feel (and does not fully eliminate the issue of inconsistency), it is a refreshing change that is definitely worth reading; especially if you've taken the time to read just about everything else that has happened post-RotJ.

The Unifying Book
Luceno really did an amazing thing with The Unifying Force. Not only did he tie up 95% of the loose ends from the other 18 books of the New Jedi Order series, but he also unified the rest of the Expanded Universe while making a direct connection to the "official" Star Wars history all the way back to the prequels. When you think about tying up dozens of books by dozens of authors AND neatly leaving things just open enough to fit in perfectly with all six Lucas-driven movies.

Apart from a shocking number of typos that could've been easily caught, I could not ask for anything more from the grand finale of the New Jedi Order. The series is brought to a relatively happy ending with enough clouds and uncertainty to allow space for inevitable future drama. All the deaths (yes, "deaths" plural) from the series are explained in a roundtable interview found on the CD-ROM included on the book. After having read that interview, I feel and even greater level of admiration for everyone involved with the project. I'll agree that the Expanded Universe and the New Jedi Order may NOT be for everyone, but I think all hardcore Star Wars fans should give them a shot.