This trilogy was originally announced quite some time ago, shortly after the release of the author’s “Medstar” novels, set during the Clone Wars period. Some years later, I found myself enjoying the novels, but all too aware that many of the connections to the “Medstar” novels, particularly the characters that crossed over to the new trilogy, were frustrating. After all, I had no intention of dredging up the older novels after all this time, so the relationships were lost on me.
Thankfully, enough of the story was self-contained to keep the frustration from becoming overwhelming. There are references to the excellent Clone Wars novel “Shatterpoint”, the novel that utterly redeemed Mace Windu as a character, and those are a bit easier to detect and appreciate. The story itself covers a period just after the Jedi Purge and the rise of Emperor Palpatine, and the author paints a rather bleak (and often all-too-familiar) picture of the civil changes brought about by the newly minted Empire.
The novel has a very noir edge to it, despite the solid foundation in the “Star Wars” universe, and that gives the story unique identity. The writing can be a bit dense, however; the author likes to use large words and complicated phrasing, even when less challenging prose would get the job done. This can lead to wordy, stilted passages that can be a bit distracting. Even so, it didn’t take long to get used to it, and the book is worth the effort. Just be prepared to wonder how many references to “Medstar” you’ve missed along the way!
Rating: 7/10
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