Star Wars: The Living Force
In the year before The Phantom Menace, Yoda, Mace Windu, and the entire Jedi Council confront a galaxy on the brink of change.
The Jedi have always traveled the stars, defending peace and justice across the galaxy. But, the galaxy is changing, and along with it, the Jedi Order. More and more, the Order finds itself focused on the future of the Republic, secluded on Coruscant, where the twelve members of the Jedi Council weigh crises on a galactic scale.
As yet another Jedi Outpost leftover from the Republic’s golden age is set to be decommissioned on the planet Kwenn, Qui-Gon Jinn challenges the Council about the increasing isolation of the Order. Mace Windu suggests a bold response: all twelve Jedi Masters will embark on a goodwill mission to help the planet, and remind the people of the galaxy that the Jedi remain as stalwart and present as they have been across the ages.
But the arrival of the Jedi leadership is not seen by all as a cause for celebration. Warring pirate factions have infested the sector in the increasing absence of the Jedi. To maintain their dominance, the pirates unite, intent on assassinating the Council. And they are willing to destroy countless innocent lives to secure their power.
Cut off from Coruscant, the Jedi Masters must reckon with an unwelcome truth: that while no one thinks more about the future than the Jedi Council, nobody needs their help more than those living in the present.
Author: John Jackson Miller
Release Date: April 9, 2024
Page Count: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 0593597958
ISBN-13: 978-0593597958
When The Phantom Menace debuted, Star Wars fans were able to see the Jedi in a completely new light. At the center of young Anakin Skywalkers journey is his fateful meeting with the twelve Jedi Masters in the temple in Coruscant, and in The Living Force John Jackson Miller takes that snapshot of the council and builds out a story that shows us a grand adventure the council takes before the events of Episode I, that will enhance how you see these characters in the future.
The story kicks off when Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan are returning from a mission in the Outer Rim. Qui-Gon shares with the council the growing changes the galaxy is facing as the Jedi close outposts and move closer to the Core Worlds in general and Coruscant specifically. Qui-Gon issues a challenge to the Masters, asking them to reconsider their isolation and to see the greater galaxy once more and the power of interaction and how it can change the life of just one person. The Council takes the challenge to heart and decide to return to one of the great Jedi works, the revitalization of the planet Kwenn, a planet of many interconnected cities.
The greatest joy I had with this book was learning more about the Masters as Miller paired them in situations that highlighted their skills as individual Jedi and as teams. My favorite, and the source of so many laugh out loud moments was Yarael Poof and Ki-Adi-Mundi. These two long lived beings approach the changed world of Kwenn with very different reactions and personalities.
Each member of the council finds themselves guided to be of use to very specific areas of Kwenn. Even Piell encounters a group of hungry students cut off from teachers and the most basic care needs like food. Yaddle encounters a young woman looking to do more with her career and her homeworld but remains stuck as an assistant to two high maintenance news anchors. Depa Billaba suffers at the hands of pirates as her former Master Mace Windu frets for her fate and leads a small but fierce attack force to attempt a rescue.
Milller succeeds greatly at giving each of these Masters time to shine and time to learn, yet even though the Force is with them, and they inspire a significant level of faith in the Jedi and in working together as a community, the story tugs at your heart as we know where the Jedi and the Republic will end up in a very short time.
Miller is a Legend among long-time Star Wars literature fans, and he handles this story masterfully. I also was very appreciative of how a unified canon timeline can produce a book that fits so perfectly in the time period it represents. The efforts of the story group were very evident in this book to me. With nods to the High Republic, as well as character cameos from the cinematic world, this book satisfies on so many levels.
I also love how novels can fill in spaces that fans can still question about the cinematic world of Star Wars. I don’t think a book should exist to fix perceived holes in stories, but this novel does give credence to how quickly the galaxy turns on the Jedi. Through the machinations of a Sith Lord hiding in the midst of a bureaucratic system, the Jedi are systematically withdrawing to the core leaving many citizens defenseless against pirates, cartels and the Hutt clans. Though the Jedi feel they are being guided by the Force all the local citizens can do is notice how much worse their lives are in their absence as outposts continue to close across the galaxy. Overall though this book shows us the power of the Force to guide and inspire, and it left me hopeful that Kwenn has weathered the storms of galactic war and still remembers the impact the Jedi had on their world in their most desperate times.
This book is the perfect read as we gear up for the anniversary of The Phantom Menace and is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face as you see these Masters brief appearance in the film.
Thank you Random House Worlds and Penguin Random House Audio for review copies of the book.
- Hardcover Book
- Miller, John Jackson (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 432 Pages - 04/09/2024 (Publication Date) - Random House Worlds (Publisher)
