Knights Archive

Dance-Off with the Star Wars Stars at Star Wars Weekends

Bry Dean — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:44:31 +0000

Star Wars Weekends 2013 is underway, and pictures and videos are coming in from all over! Inside the Magic let us know that they have footage of the always-entertaining Dance-Off With the Star Wars Stars!

Click here to check out more Hyperspace Hoopla dance videos from Inside the Magic!

Bry Dean is the founder and administrator of Knights’ Archive. You can follow him on Twitter at @bry_dean.

Knights Archive

Video Game Review: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

Ryan — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:05:31 +0000

-Spoiler Review-

Before Knights of the Old Republic became Star Wars fans’ and non-fans’ favorite Star Wars game, there was Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Developed by Raven Software (who are based out of my home state, Wisconsin) and released in 2002, Jedi Outcast follows two years after the events of Mysteries of the Sith, chronicling the further exploits of the bearded Kyle Katarn and his fight against the Reborn Empire. While it doesn’t inspire much faith from the slow to plodding opening, it’s once Katarn puts a lightsaber back in his hands where this game transforms into what I’d happily call the second best Star Wars game (for now).

But before I get to all the good things about the game, I want to point out my biggest disappointment: Kyle’s most pivotal moment up to this point, turning to the Dark Side and shutting himself off from the Force after he’s redeemed, was glossed over in the last game and largely forgotten in this one. If you played Mysteries of the Sith, you’ll know he’s currently Force-less in Jedi Outcast due to nearly killing Mara Jade after turning to the Dark Side. But MotS failed to show how or why he turned, making the whole Katarn without the Force just feel pointless and forced here in JO. Even worse, there’s not a single line of dialogue or a flashback sequence in this game explaining his reasoning for turning or why he’s currently Force-less, and so the ginormous Hutt in the room is ignored. While I know the decision for this was likely made to allow new players a jumping on point (the Prequel Trilogy was already two movies in after Jedi Outcast released and Star Wars was a hot commodity again) but playing this series all the way through makes this important point for the main character being glossed over saddening. However, this is largely a personal problem. And if that’s my biggest disappointment with this game, that’s saying something about the rest of it.

Minus the above issue, the rest of the story is pretty interesting. Set 12 ABY (around the same time as the novel Darksaber) Katarn and his long-time partner, and lover, Jan Ors are back to being mercenaries-for-hire. Mon Mothma gives them a call to check out an Imperial Remnant base on Kejim on the New Republic’s behalf. Uncovering crystals that were being used to conduct experiments trying to give people the power of the Force, Katarn and Jan follow the crystals to a mining planet. There, Jan is captured and murdered off-screen (gasp! has to be dead for sure!) by Tavion and the Dark Jedi Desann. Realizing if he had the Force he might’ve saved Jan’s life, Katarn journeys back to the Valley of the Jedi to reconnect with the mystical lifeforce and vows vengeance on Desann. Desann covertly follows Katarn to the Valley and is able to start empowering the Reborn with the Force.

After Katarn retrieves his lightsaber from the Academy on Yavin IV, Luke Skywalker points him in the direction of a gangster on Nar Shaddaa who may or may not have knowledge about Desann’s location. From there you’ll meet and fight alongside Lando Calrissian (voiced by Billy Dee Williams mind you!), visit Cloud City, and get help from Rogue Squadron…to name a few things. While it has heart, it’s not the greatest story: lots of information regarding main characters is relegated to the pamphlet that comes with a disc version of the game, the whereabouts of several main players during pivotal moments is never explained, and at least one big villain only appears long enough to be killed by Katarn.

These oversights are disappointing, but it’s easy to gloss over the plot holes due to the sheer amount of fun this game makes wielding a lightsaber. No game before or since (minus the sequel, Jedi Academy) has had lightsaber combat this enthralling and masterfully done. Each lightsaber battle is literally a ballet of and to the death, ranging from hectic slashing to calculated strikes in seconds. It shines so bright, it practically obscures any and all issues you could even have with Jedi Outcast. I kid you not. For example: Sporadically spotty AI companions? Gives you more enemies to slice up with the lightsaber. Floaty controls? Relive your favorite encounters when you accidentally slip off the edge of anywhere and listen to Katarn’s one and only death scream.

Did I say AI companions? They make their first appearance in the Jedi Knight/Dark Forces series here in JO. With levels being larger, longer, and more complex than previous entries, exploring them alone can occasionally get boring (I’m looking at you Force-less opening levels). To save players from feeling lonely, companions come to the rescue featuring the likes of Jan, the aforementioned Lando, Luke Skywalker (!), and several unknown Jedi. Jan and Lando are the more noticeably hit or miss AI buddies, as they’ll either assist you greatly with mowing down bad guys, or they’ll kind of just run around and regurgitate a handful of lines. Luke and the unknown Jedi, on the other hand, are an absolute blast to fight alongside. The moment you face 4 Reborn with Luke against your back is as epic as you might imagine it. But unfortunately, Luke and Katarn only battle together once. I luckily saved just before the encounter and replayed the 2 on 4 battle several times. The results were usually the same: Luke kills 3 and I got 1. Before Disney buying Lucasfilm, this was likely to be the only chance to see Jedi Master Skywalker battle, and it’s still awe-inspiring even with the Sequels on the way.

Less awe-inspiring are the floaty controls. Katarn will generally float more than walk, which really isn’t an issue until you’re running across catwalks and totally forgot to save recently, and lose 20 minutes of progress by flying off the edge just because you took a corner too wide, breaking your controller in frustration. I never actually broke a controller, but I did come perilously close to doing so on many occasions. On the other hand, this float problem actually seems to come in handy when you’re platforming by jumping, giving you lots of mid-flight control.

Another thing not to worry about is choosing Force powers and which to upgrade. In JO, you now have a set few Force dark and light powers mixed together that upgrade as you progress in the game, reflecting the game’s difficultly without ever making you too overpowered. I understand that this is meant to parallel Katarn’s duality in the Force as he feels the intention of using the power is more important than its supposed alignment, but I only learned that from the pamphlet. While I miss the choice on how and what to have for Force powers, the ones in the game’s singleplayer are the ones I largely used in the past entries anyways.

Lightning, speed, grip, push, and pull return, joined by mind trick and lightsaber throw, while lightsaber defense/offense also receive upgrades. Returning powers have been modified significantly, with the visual, audible, and physical effects more prominent and rewarding. Speed is no longer just a weird sound accompanied by fast movement, now the world around you warps and movement leaves trails because eyes can’t comprehend just how fast you’re moving. Pull can grab several enemies, bringing them right into your sizzling lightsaber to make stormtrooper steak for dinner. In fact, once you get to tier 3 for each power, it’s almost as satisfying as The Force Unleashed’s bombastic show of power.

Jedi Outcast seems to balance its power rather well, always giving you enough of a challenge, but never enough to completely overwhelm you. It’s not a hard game, I played through normal, but the risk/reward system associated with lightsaber combat can make the difficulty matter not. Katarn has three speeds of lightsaber swings at his disposal, from normal, fast, to strong. Fast can get lots of hits, but not a lot of damage, while strong has slow swings that leave you vulnerable, dealing tons of damage when a blow is dealt. However, at any given moment, no matter the swing speed, you’ll be able to deliver an instant death blow if you don’t just mash the swing button. As great and satisfying as that can be, your enemies can deal a one-hit kill in return. It’s annoying, sure (especially if you don’t save frequently), but that’s what makes the lightsaber combat so good: enemy AI is nearly on your skill level, making risk so rewarding…when things go your way.

I’d be remiss to mention multiplayer. Unlike singleplayer, you can choose from a wide variety of Force powers and also assign points to level them up. In the GameCube version, the multiplayer is limited to two human players though bots can join the fray. Around this game’s initial release, I didn’t have a GameCube (nor played many games on PC) so I relied on my friend and his GC. While I never beat the single-player, I can’t accurately give even a guess on how many hours we spent playing the multiplayer. Versing another calculating human being with the awesome lightsaber combat is an experience not to be missed. As for PC, there might be some dedicated servers still out there for anyone interested enough to take the fight online (this forum seems to be running a few), but it’s worth a shot since up to 16 people can play.

Here’s a few other things:

Force jump is now mapped to the dedicated jump button and this is quite the revelation. Switching from having Jump selected to another more important Force power in the middle of a lightsaber battle was a pain in DFII/MotS, and now a whole generation of gamers won’t ever worry about it.
So, there’s this chick named Tavion in the game. You’ll verse her once. And that’s about all you’ll ever know about her.
Speaking about underdeveloped characters: Galak Fyyar. There’s little to no mention of him throughout the game, but that changes once you get stuck on the Doomgiver, He’ll promptly show up, spill all his plans like a Bond villain, and be at your mercy seconds later.
The Doomgiver is ginormous! The speed of which Rogue Squadron blows it up after the shields are taken down by Katarn is pretty unbelievable. I’ve been reading the X-Wing series of books and much smaller ships take a lot more damage before they combust and explode.
They could make a book called ‘Where’s Luke?’ for his strange absence during Desann’s ambush of the temple on Yavin IV at the end of the game. If he flew himself to the Cairn station, couldn’t he have flow back and been there around the time of the ambush? The plot holes are strong with this one.
I love the character design for Desann: it’s creepy and dinosaur-like. What I dislike is having to go onto Wookiepedia to get a better explanation of his role in the structure of the Reborn Empire. But I like that Waru’s involvement is only mentioned in Desann’s ‘pedia page and nowhere in the game. Darn you, Waru, getting into everything!
The graphics aren’t much to write about (neither horrible nor great, just good) and make the cutscenes laughable from time to time. There’s a few CG cutscenes, but their just for ship flybys. Why CG wasn’t also used for strong moments like Jan and Kyle’s reunion (instead of the weird lifted hug they share) is beyond me.
Not even two minutes after Kyle learns the love of his life is alive and well, they decide to split-up to get off the ship: “I spent the last 5 hours mourning you with vengeance, but it was nice seeing you again, goodbye.”
A tricks and traps (fake walls, fire spewing totems, circus mirros) section before actually facing Desann is probably the neatest part of the entire game. I wish there had been more sections like it.
On Katarn’s approach to the Temple on Yavin IV, he’ll have the option to take control of an AT-ST. It controls decently, but the whole section brings the momentum of the story to a complete halt. While a nice addition, it’s not necessary.
The usual assortment of weapons from DFII/MotS appears, along with some new weapons like an electromagnetic pulse gun, but I barely used them. You’ll forget about them too once you feel the fun of lightsaber combat, though the sniper rifle does have an awesome disintegration effect if you hit someone at full power.
Cool and completely random moment: As you near Desann’s location inside the Temple, you’ll only ever face Reborn. Jedi will help you, but they’re nowhere near Luke’s abilities. I got stuck on a battle against 4 Reborn, where my surviving Jedi buddy was usually no help. In frustration on one try, I took out the rocket launcher, shooting a couple times at a Reborn in the distance. The Reborn deflected the rockets back at me with his lightsaber, but my Jedi buddy jumped in front of me and deflected them back. They had an awesome tennis match with my rockets before they finally exploded on the Reborn, killing him, and I was able to get past the battle.

Though it might be as full of plot holes as Aayla Secura is blaster holes (too soon?), I didn’t write my longest review yet just because I like to word vomit. No, fellow Star Wars gaming fans, I truly enjoy this game no matter its quirks. As I keep saying, the lightsaber dueling is so well done here, it’s worth dumping your cargo at the first sign of Imperials and picking this up instead. If you’ve played it before, you know what I’m talking about. If you’ve never given Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast a try, just do. Do go out and play it.

There’s even a Dark Forces/Jedi Knight section in our forums!

Ryan is the video game reporter and game reviewer for Knights’ Archive. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrushYourTeeth.

Knights Archive

Star Wars: Science Fair Book Cover Art

Bry Dean — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:27:57 +0000

Here’s a look at spectacular cover art from the upcoming Star Wars: Science Fair Book, due out on August 27, 2013! Link

This book is sure to be a hit with kids of all ages!

SEE ALSO:
Star Wars: Science Fair Book

Bry Dean is the founder and administrator of Knights’ Archive. You can follow him on Twitter at @bry_dean.

Knights Archive

Dawn of the Next Great Star Wars Author: Tim Lebbon

Bry Dean — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:28:09 +0000

Tim Lebbon is an award winning horror and dark fantasy writer. His first published story was in the UK indie magazine Psychotrope in 1994, and in 1997 Tanjen published his first novel Mesmer. Since then he’s had over almost thirty books published in the UK and US by Bantam Spectra, Allison & Busby, Night Shade Books, Simon & Schuster, Leisure Books, PS Publishing, Necessary Evil Press, Cemetery Dance and many others, with many more due soon.

His latest work is Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void, which is set some 25,000 years before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. We were pleased to have Tim answer a few questions for us regarding this exciting new novel.

—

KA: Hi Tim, thanks for talking with us! How does it feel to now be a part of the ever-expanding Star Wars universe?

TL: It’s a real honour. I was so excited when I was asked to write a Star Wars novel. Then, after I’d said yes, we started to discuss the time period and background, and I was even more thrilled. I love origin stories, and the idea of writing something so far back in the EU’s deep history was very appealing. And I had a great time writing the novel.

—

There’s been much talk and anticipation for Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void. Many fans have long wanted to read about the origins of the Jedi. It must have been thrilling for you to have this opportunity to plot a course in nearly uncharted waters.

Absolutely. A couple of times when I was planning the proposal and actually writing the book, it struck me just what a responsibility I had weighing on me. Just once or twice I got a bit nervous … but it was a real challenge, and I like challenges in my writing. To actually write about those earliest Je’daii training methods was a fascinating, interesting journey.

Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void features a character new to Star Wars fans: Je’daii Ranger Lanoree Brock. What can you tell our readers about her?

Lanoree is an accomplished Ranger, and in the novel some of her earlier exploits are alluded to. She’s a bit of a loner, preferring to spend long periods in space aboard her customised Peacemaker spacecraft. She’s tall, lithe, strong, quietly confident, yet she does have internal conflicts, and there are certain aspects to her history––and how she perceives that history––that might potentially throw her out of balance. She’s a good person, destined to be a great Je’daii … but there’s a confused side to her, too.

—

To the delight of many fans, Lanoree Brock is a female lead character, one of the few in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. What are your feelings with regards to taking on a female lead in a male-dominated franchise?

Well it was my choice, and it’s perhaps worth noting that I had a lot of freedom in coming up with story and characters, so long as they merged well with the ongoing comic series. To be honest I wasn’t aware that there weren’t that many female lead characters. In fact, the people doing the audio book made a point to email me to say how thrilled they were with this, and that it was the first time they were using a female narrator! When I was coming up with the proposal, I knew my main characters had to be brother and sister, and it immediately seemed to suit the story that Lanoree was the main character. I actually love writing strong female characters. I hope it works!

—

Even 25,000 years in the past, there are droids, and Lanoree’s droid Ironholgs seems to be a bit of a grump. Why are many droids so grouchy?

I wanted a bit of humour in there––humour is quite prevalent in the Star Wars movies, and I liked the opportunity to include some in the book, especially as the bulk of the book is so dark! And to have a grumpy droid makes me laugh! Here she is, a Je’daii Ranger, but that doesn’t mean anything to Ironholgs. She asks him to do menial tasks when he’d probably much rather be having an oil bath, or something.

—

Lastly, after reading Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void, I personally want to see more Star Wars books from you. What would be your preference: continue this story, or explore another region in the Expanded Universe?

Thanks! I’d love to continue the story and write a Lanoree Brock trilogy, I think she’s a fascinating character.

—

I want to thank Tim for this interview and Del Rey for arranging it! Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void is available now! To read our reviews, check out the links below.

Bry Dean is the founder and administrator of Knights’ Archive. You can follow him on Twitter at @bry_dean.

Knights Archive

Star Wars: Kenobi Cover Art

Bry Dean — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:04:12 +0000

The cover for the highly anticipated Kenobi has been posted online! Link

Written by John Jackson Miller, Kenobi is currently due out on August 27, 2013. You can chat about Kenobi in our forums!

SEE ALSO:
Star Wars: Kenobi Blurb
Star Wars: KENOBI Synopsis
Star Wars: KENOBI

Bry Dean is the founder and administrator of Knights’ Archive. You can follow him on Twitter at @bry_dean.

Knights Archive

Star Wars Weekends 2013 Celebrity Guest List

Bry Dean — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:28:21 +0000

Disney Parks Blog has posted the complete celebrity guest list for the upcoming Star Wars Weekends 2013! They will accompany James Arnold Taylor and Ashley Eckstein who will serve as hosts. Link

Weekend I (May 17–19)
Ray Park (Darth Maul – Star Wars: The Phantom Menace)
Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett – Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi)
Dee Bradley Baker (voice of Captain Rex – Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

Weekend II (May 24-26)
Ray Park (Darth Maul – Star Wars: The Phantom Menace)
Warwick Davis (Wicket the Ewok – Star Wars: Return of the Jedi)
Jim Cummings (voice of Hondo Ohnaka – Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

Weekend III (May 31 – June 2)
Warwick Davis (Wicket the Ewok – Star Wars: Return of the Jedi)
Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar – Star Wars: Return of the Jedi)
Sam Witwer (voice of Darth Maul – Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

Weekend IV (June 7-9)
Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian – Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi)
Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca – Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith)
Tom Kane (voice of Yoda – Star Wars: The Clone Wars)

Click on the link above to read more about scheduled events! And be sure to visit our forums if you’d like to chat about Star Wars Weekends!

Bry Dean is the founder and administrator of Knights’ Archive. You can follow him on Twitter at @bry_dean.

Knights Archive

EA Gets Exclusive NextGen Star Wars Games Rights

Ryan — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:27:31 +0000

Just about a month ago, LucasArts shut it’s development doors and switched to a licensing model for any and all upcoming Star Wars games. Today, Electronic Arts (EA) partnered with Disney/Lucasfilm to announce a multi-year, multi-title exclusive licensing agreement. Here’s some of the press release, which you can read in it’s entirety on the official site:

“Our number one objective was to find a developer who could consistently deliver our fans great Star Wars games for years to come,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. “When we looked at the talent of the teams that EA was committing to our games and the quality of their vision for Star Wars, the choice was clear.”
While EA studios will develop for the core Star Wars gaming audience, Disney Interactive will focus on delivering new Star Wars games for casual audiences on mobile, social, tablet, and online gaming platforms.

To whet our collective Wookiee whistles, they even went as far to announce which specific EA owned studios would be developing games: Visceral Studios (who is best known for the ever frightening horror-sci-fi series Dead Space), DICE (the Battlefield series, an obvious inspiration for the Battlefront series), and of course BioWare (who made that little title no one talks about anymore, Knights of the Old Republic, and the current MMO The Old Republic).

I theorized in my article on LucasArts closure that TOR would most likely not be shut down and this news confirms that for the time being. While that’s great news for many fans, I’m still torn a tad about this marriage. On one hand, they have three of the top-tier development teams working on Star Wars games, but this also means developers I was hoping for won’t get a chance (for the time being of course).

We can all hope this means BioWare will finally return for KOTOR 3, but I’d hedge my bets on them starting a new trilogy in the vein of the massively popular (and eventually polarizing) Mass Effect series. Whether it’ll be set in their chosen timeframe or more connected with the upcoming Sequels remains to be seen, but the possibilities are all welcome.

Visceral Games won’t probably do what I’m about to suggest, but wouldn’t a studio known for horror be great for turning the first Star Wars horror book Death Troopers into a video game? On the other hand, as their work is similar to 1313 in terms of third person perspective and shooting, I don’t think it would be too far out of the question for them to pick up 1313 where LucasArts left off. My fingers are crossed pretty fierce on that one.

Ah yes, Battlefront 3. It would make the most sense for the Battlefield developers, DICE, to bring back one of the most popular Star Wars gaming franchises ever made. It’s basically a cash cow.

I’d have certainly loved other developers (Naughty Dog, Rockstar Games) to get a chance at the Star Wars name , EA or Activision were really the only two candidates to be able to make a purchase for exclusive rights like this. I can understand fans giving the partnership a little heat because it limits the slate of developers, but it also (mostly) guarantees that these games with be multi-platform and not held exclusively on one system. It’s a win-lose situation and we’re all just going to have to learn to live with it.

Not satisfied with my suggestions and want yours to be heard? On EA’s official site, they’ve put the ball in fans courts:
We have lots of ideas, but we want to hear from you. Tell us what kind of games you want to play. Send us your suggestions and tag @EA_DICE @VisceralGames @BioWare and #starwarsnextgen.

And if that’s not enough, let your voice be heard by discussing the topic in our own forums!

Ryan is the video game reporter and game reviewer for Knights’ Archive. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrushYourTeeth.

Knights Archive

Megan’s Review: Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void

Megan — Tue, 07 May 2013 00:07:59 +0000

- Spoiler Review -

Images of moons and caverns float through Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void, tying the novel together . More well-crafted than some Star Wars novels, this book delivers on its promise of a strong, uncompromising female hero. Like the core of Star Wars, Void is a story about a dysfunctional family, and although the characters are all new, it still felt like a good solid Star Wars adventure story with heart.

Characters: Lanoree’s Life

Lanoree Brock provides the momentum for the novel. After The Last Jedi (and Revan and Scourge and Crosscurrent etc.), it was nice to see a female lead take charge. Lanoree isn’t kind – she often comes off as vindictive or cold – but she’s admirable and entertaining because she’s always the one doing the saving. She’s analytically minded too, far less poetic and emotional than her brother.

The story follows her search for him. Dalien Brock was presumed dead, but now he has reappeared seeking a superweapon that could either open a hyperspace portal out of Tython, or destroy the entire solar system. She’s joined by Tre Sana, a cowardly but vicious Twi’lek with a mysterious past.

That analytical mind is sometimes taken to an off-putting extreme: when Lanoree thinks about an ally dying, she worries first about how to dispose of the body, and in the various Jedi Academies she “does not allow herself to grow close to classmates.” I became worried during some scenes that the author was pushing the idea that women who take charge are inherently shrewish and cruel, but that wasn’t the case by the end. Lanoree feels a whole host of things, including loyalty, temptation, pain, and regret. In addition, her mentorship with the slightly sinister Master Dam-Powl made for some pleasant scenes of female friendship. The platonic relationship between Lanoree and Tre develops nicely from disgust and pity to camaraderie. In the end, she is powerful and ruthless in an intensely personal way. I think Lanoree will please a wide variety of female fans.

On the one hand, the book is entirely about a woman’s pursuit of a man. On the other hand he’s her brother, and their relationship sometimes feels like Anakin and Obi-Wan’s splintering spiritual fraternity. Dal himself is interesting, with a grudge that he can’t tell from actual hatred, which later becomes that hatred. I do like stories of Jedi who don’t quite fit in, like Scout in Dark Rendezvous, and Into the Void is a less hopeful look at a Jedi who isn’t particularly good at what they do.

Lanoree has some flaws: she shows a little guilt, that emotion that novelist Sheri S. Tepper has called distinctly feminine, and sometimes sabotages herself to avoid confronting her brother. She isn’t a pro at everything: she’s best at athletics and alchemy. I like that she excels in science, and that becomes very important to the plot. (She is described as attractive a few too many times for my taste.)

Her extremely focused attitude got frustrating at times. Lanoree gives no sign of understanding her brother’s perspective. She’s pitying but not compassionate, and I felt like a simple revelation for her such as “he actually doesn’t have the capacity to be good at using the Force, it’s not that he’s just petulant and not trying” might have changed their relationship drastically. A lot of times I felt sorry for Dal and understood why he would develop a grudge toward the Je’daii, a sentiment that Lanoree did not share. Her lack of compromise also did weaken what is generally a strong ending: instead of changing very much she instead becomes more of what she was before. I did think that it worked in the long run: see the spoiler space for more.

These Jedi in Into the Void aren’t the Jedi I’m familiar with: their morality emphasizes balancing on the line between dark and light, and although they seem to consider tipping toward the dark more dangerous than tipping toward the light, some of their alchemical experiments are downright squicky.

Plot: The Hero’s Travels

If you’re familiar with the Dawn of the Jedi era through the comics you can take some of my words with a grain of salt: Into the Void was my first exposure to that time period.

It’s very different from the Star Wars I know, even in the Knights of the Old Republic games: the action takes place inside a single star system, and “sleeper ships” that take slow, generational trips through realspace to reach other systems seemed borrowed from more cerebral sci-fi. It’s made clear that the four or five species living in the Tythan system were transported from somewhere else, and I wasn’t sure how much I was supposed to know about that, because the characters didn’t know much about it themselves. In a way that contributed to a nice feeling of ancientness and mystery throughout the book.

In other places it was anticlimactic: I thought the Tho Yor would be a major plot point until their origin was casually mentioned in a comic book. But this also took me out of the fictional dream a little: it would have been easy for Lanoree to note that she knew what the Tho Yor were without disrupting a sentence. I sometimes didn’t know what the characters themselves knew.

But everyone’s going to encounter Into the Void with a different level of information, and perhaps in this way it works for both fans of the comic and newcomers. It certainly made me care a lot more about the Dawn of the Jedi era than I had before, which was none at all.

Newcomers are also introduced to little Easter eggs from the Dawn of the Jedi era like a different use of the word “Padawan” and those first-draft concepts of dark and light, Ashla and Bogan.

I have a love-hate relationship with ancient aliens, in this case the ones called the Gree. Although a sense of ancientness gives the stories an atmospheric, dusty grandeur, I’ve read enough Star Wars and Halo and Mass Effect novels to see that ancient aliens are a go-to plot point for transmedia projects, and all of the ruins start to look the same.

The plot revolves around matter that is dark scientifically and morally. The era it’s set in works against the novel in a big way in this case: a lot of the suspense is lost when you realize that although the book is set thousands of years in the galaxy’s past, the main threat is the destruction of the Tythan system, which is present and unharmed in later Star Wars material. Luckily the story of Lanoree and Dalien is entertaining and gripping enough on its own. For a book featuring no characters I was familiar with, Void felt like Star Wars.

The Writing: Nuts and Bolts

Most of the novel switches between the past-tense ‘present day’ and present-tense flashbacks to Lanoree and Dalien’s Je’daii training and what lead to his disappearance. The flashbacks feed the reader information slowly and really help to deepen the characters of both Lanoree and Dalien, but didn’t come together at the conclusion in as dramatic a fashion as I had hoped.

The writing is pretty much exactly what one would expect from a Star Wars novel most of the time, with few frills and sometimes lacking in varied physical description. The dialogue is sometimes elevated and poetic in a way that works for the tone and the era, but occasionally descends into smarmy around the end of the novel. There’s a lot of “calling a rabbit a smeerp” , with “tygahs” being by far the silliest offender. Some action scenes toward the three-quarters mark feel like filler but don’t run too long.

The story also gets props for leaving the heroes’ parents alive. Another cliche Lebbon dodges is meaningful dreams: may of Lanoree’s dreams are clearly stress-dreams instead of anything prophetic, but still feel relevant.

There’s hints that the book might be darker fare then usual, with some violence and language that surprised me, but that feeling doesn’t really manifest until the conclusion, which was gory but answered a longstanding mystery in the book. The answer was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be, but the more I think about it the more disturbing the scene was. It’s no more gory than some scenes involving the Yuuzhan Vong in the New Jedi Order, although context makes it feel more emotionally wrought. See the spoiler space for more.

The hardback of Into the Void also includes a short story called “Dawn of the Jedi: Eruption”, which is also available in the May 2013 issue of Star Wars Insider, and a comic, “Down of the Jedi: Prisoner of Bogan #2”, mis-marked as #1. In “Eruption” I could tell that Jon Ostrander was used to working in a medium where he didn’t have to describe things in prose, since it’s even scarcer than Lebbon’s. The story itself is a likeable crossover between a tough Lanoree and one of the comic characters. The comic was a bit difficult to follow what with it being #2 but the art was vivid and realistic and made me rethink my mental images of the way the characters dressed in the novel. (There’s also an excerpt from Crucible.)

Together, Into the Void, ‘Prisoner of Bogan’, and ‘Eruption” succeeded in painting a picture that got me interested in the Dawn of the Jedi era in a way I hadn’t been before. A strong but not blandly powerful female character very much helped, as did the atmospheric Je’daii Temples and landscapes. Lanoree inhabited my head long after I put the book down, as I thought about how she saw the world and the choices she had made.

The longer I thought about it, the more the scene with the alchemical flesh stuck in my mind, in both good and bad ways. The scene was disturbing, and perhaps it was supposed to be. Ultimately, it’s another scene where Lanoree saves herself. She does so by fabricating and replacing her own heart, changing the chasm/void within herself so that it’s not something her brother can distract her with any more.

Into the Void stood up to my usual attempts to wring worrying symbolism about gender roles out of it. The ending is completely unlike Jubal Charn’s victory in Shadow Games, which comes from her being controlled by a man, or the main female in Coruscant Nights getting killed off as an inciting incident. Lanoree wins her final fight by using her own love for her brother, as well as her sword, as an offensive weapon, and I love that.

Although Tre’s fate was effectively saddening, I liked the gender role reversal: Tre’s story was like Mara Jade’s accelerated into one book, from reluctant accompaniment of a hero to dying of a medical problem.

DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher at no charge in order to provide an early review. However, this did not affect the overall review content. All opinions are my own.

Megan reviews Star Wars novels for Knights’ Archive. Follow her on Twitter at @blogfullofwords. Be sure to check out her website: This Blog is Full of Words.

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