Outcast
As the title of the book implies, there is a major “Outcast” of sorts at the beginning of this book. Luke Skywalker is forced to leave Coruscant for ten years and relinquish his title of “Grand Master” of the Jedi Order and have no involvement with the Order in any type of advisory role to the Jedi on Coruscant or on any other world within the Galactic Alliance. The “Outcast” is a result of a charge brought against Luke by the Galactic Alliance (amended to “Reckless Endangerment of a Population”). Chief of State Daala actually seems to make a semi-valid argument that someone should be held responsible for the Jedi’s action (be they good or bad). Thus, Jacen Solo’s actions as the Sith Lord, Darth Caedus, fall upon Luke Skywalker since he is the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. Luke himself (along with Daala) draws up the terms of a plea agreement with certain conditions. And to be honest, it actually seems like Luke almost sees some validity in Daala’s argument. Luke decides to leave (with his son, Ben) in the Jade Shadow to investigate all the places Jacen Solo went to on his journeys prior to the “Swarm War” series in order to prevent such an occurrence from ever happening to the Jedi again. To make all these matters worse, a Jedi Knight named Valin Horn (the son of Jedi Master, Corran Horn) is losing his mind and thinks everyone is “not” who they appear to be. All of which is not making the public’s perception of the Jedi Order any better in light of the charge against Luke Skywalker. Jedi are now assigned “observers” by the Galactic Alliance to make sure they keep their behavior in check. A Galactic Alliance Judge deems Valin unfit to stand trial for “his” charges and orders that he be put in Carbonite until further tests and evaluations can be on him since he is a danger to himself and others. The Jedi Order believes most of this is happening so that the Galactic Alliance can better convince the Imperial Remnant and the Confederation to unify with them.
While all this is happening, Leia and Han take Allana (or Amelia) to help Lando Calrissian figure out the source of some ground quakes that are threatening lando’s entire business. Leia and Han discover that ancient machines, possible built by the same Celestial beings who built Centerpoint Station, are the cause of what’s occurring on Kessel. A “who’s who” of old fighter pilots is recruited to destroy the machines at different intervals so that they (the machines) don’t destroy the planet. Luke and Ben follow a lead made by Jedi Master Cilghal regarding a fellow Jedi of Obi Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master Plo Koon (famous from the prequel series & Clone Wars). An archive recording of Plo Koon makes a reference to another “Order” which Plo Koon also belonged to. The order is referring to the Baran Do Sages on Plo Koon’s home planet of Doron. Luke and Ben go there in hopes of learning if Jacen had also been there.
A Jedi Knight, named Seff Helling, suffers delusion similar to that of Valin Horn and has returned to Coruscant to try and free Valin from his captivity. Jaina, Jag, Tahiri, & Winter (and the other members of “Darkmeld”) capture Seff while eluding the Galactic Alliance and the media The “Darkmeld” take him back to the Jedi Temple so he can be studied in an effort to better help Valin Horn’s case.
Luke and Ben ultimately expose certain aspects of the order of the Baran Do Sages. Luke learned specific techniques of the force that Jacen learned from the Sages. The book really ends with no real answers to all the questions most of the readers may be having. Luke and Ben still have no real answers regarding what may have pushed Jacen towards the edge and the the fate of the Jedi Order still seems to be hanging in the balance back on Coruscant. With the exception of Allana’s encounter with a “ghostly voice” on the planet of Kessel; the whole Han and Leia aspect of the story was almost unnecessary filler in my opinion.
Storyline Importance: 8.3
I can’t give this the rating it probably deserves until we, as the readers, find a bit more information about the so called “fate” of the Jedi. I mean sending Luke Skywalker away from Coruscant for ten years and stripping him of the title of “Grand Master” (at least according to the Galactic Alliance) is pretty big but the rest of the book didn’t really make a huge splash in the Star Wars universe as a whole.
Excitement Level: 8.9
This book essentially had three short stories going on at once so that pretty much kept you as the reader on your toes. Although it could occasionally get frustrating when you really got into reading about one thing and suddenly you’re taken away from Dorin and your back on Kessel or Coruscant. That can be a bit annoying at times. Luke and Ben really saved this category!
Character importance: 9.0
The main reason this story gets this rating is because of Ben Skywalker. The more the reader learns about this young man the better. Ben is next exciting character in the Star Wars universe and has been a joy to read especially in fight scenes. Learning about the order of the Baran Do Sages also helped in the rating of this category.
Favorite Moments:
There were two real nice fight scenes involving Ben Skywalker against two different members of the Baran Do Sages. Luke Skywalker’s battle against “The Hidden One” was a really cool battle that kind of pitted the best of both Orders if you will. But the best (and funniest) moment in the book occurs when Jedi Master Cilghal has a “discussion” with Captain Oric Harfard (the man who has the warrant for Valin Horn) and plant the urge in this nice man to use the “refresher”. A classic scene that had me rolling!
Overall Score: 8.8
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