Star Wars novels have served a number of different functions in the four-and-a-half decades since the original movie’s release. Some of them have expanded upon the narrative of the iconic Original Trilogy, some of them have given backstories to new characters introduced in the current canon, and some– like Star Wars: Jedi – Battle Scars, due out in March– are intended to bridge the gap between video games tied in with this beloved space-opera franchise.
Indeed Jedi – Battle Scars, written by author Sam Maggs (The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy), takes place after the events of the smash-hit 2019 game Star Wars: Jedi – Fallen Order and before its highly anticipated sequel Star Wars: Jedi – Survivor, which is now due out at the end of April.
I had the very fortunate opportunity to read an advance copy of Star Wars: Jedi – Battle Scars, and I’m happy to report that Maggs has done an excellent job of picking up the story of Fallen Order from where it left off. The beginning of the novel finds Jedi Knight Cal Kestis and his friends in the crew of the Stinger Mantis attempting to take care of their adversaries in the Haxion Brood crime syndicate once and for all. The first few chapters deal with an incursion into a Brood base in a remote part of the galaxy, where Cal, his lovable little droid BD-1, his current Jedi Master and mentor Cere Junda, skilled four-armed Latero pilot Greez Dritus, and stoic Dathomirian Nightsister Merrin all get to display their individual talents as they work together to eliminate their foes. But things take an unexpected turn when along the way Merrin is approached by a mysterious new character named Fret, who claims to be a defector from the Empire wanting to join the Mantis crew. From there, Cal and his allies find themselves drawn into an unpredictable, perilous series of events involving an experimental piece of technology known only as the Shroud, and a number of different factions who wish to take it into their possession.
Maggs’s prose alternates between the perspectives of the four main protagonists (and one villain, briefly)– we get inside the heads of Cere and Greez, but most of the time here is spent divided between the inner thoughts of Cal and Merrin. And this is where I want to issue the one caveat I had with recommending Battle Scars as a novel to those who enjoyed the Fallen Order video game: the author sometimes gets oddly fixated on the physical attraction felt between two of the characters in the book, to the point where it becomes probably the closest Star Wars has ever gotten to the genre of steamy romance. Those sections reminded me in no small way of the short story “Luke On the Bright Side” that Maggs contributed to the anthology collection Star Wars: Stories of Jedi and Sith, which was released last year. That tale focused mostly on Luke Skywalker and another rebel soldier admiring each other’s looks, which at the time struck me as unusually superficial for Star Wars, and I got more of that here, in parts. I suspect this may be one of those “your mileage may vary” aspects of Sam Maggs’s writing– entirely dependent on how much you want characters to be ogling and describing their companions’ body parts in A Galaxy Far, Far Away– but I felt like I had to point it out, as it’s the one major recurring departure from the tone and content of the game.
Otherwise I would say that Battle Scars is pretty true to the spirit of Fallen Order, and that Maggs has absolutely captured the voices of the characters who populate this world. Speaking of voices, as I read my copy of the novel I also listened along with the audiobook performed by Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes (Star Wars: Poe Dameron – Free Fall), who does a similarly accurate job of mimicking Cal, Cere, Greez, and Merrin, while the production team at Lucasfilm Publishing and Random House Audio have skillfully plussed up the narration with archival Star Wars music and sound effects, as usual. There are some exciting action scenes that punctuate the interpersonal drama in this story, and considering he’s featured on the cover artwork I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that it’s thrilling to watch our heroes go up against the Sith Inquisitor known as the Fifth Brother in these pages. On the whole, I would say that anyone who is anxious to know what the crew of the Mantis was up to in-between games– and how they’re going about figuring out their ongoing role in the galaxy– should feel more than satisfied with Star Wars: Jedi – Battle Scars. There are some big character moments here, and I have to wonder how many of them will carry over into Jedi – Survivor when it hits consoles this spring. And so long as you’re prepared for things to get quite a bit more amorous and suggestively lascivious than we were used to in the first game (hence my reservation above), I believe this will serve as a worthy way to set up the sequel.
Star Wars: Jedi – Battle Scars will be released on Tuesday, March 7th, but is available for pre-order right now. The follow-up video game Star Wars: Jedi – Survivor will be released on Friday, April 28th for various platforms.