A review by berenikeasteria
Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void by Tim Lebbon

3.0

Meh. I’m struggling to decide how to rate this book. There were things I liked about it… and things I definitely did not like. I’ve come to this book after something of a hiatus. I collected all the Expanded Universe books in my teen years, saving up my pocket money to make a new addition once a fortnight, reading each book multiple times over, arranging them all neatly in chronological order on a dedicated shelf… And then I went to university and the only time I had for reading was spent reading those five chapters and seven articles on historical methodology that I had to give a presentation on the next day. So I fell behind as the newer books came out. Now, newer books and the rest of my collection alike have been wholesale swept aside, and Disney tells us none of them ever really happened. What a crock. Of course, I choose to ignore this grandiose edict, and like many Star Wars fans, I make my own canon – why not, after all, most of us are still trying to forget the prequels happened. But it got me to thinking about my EU collection. About how the newer books seemed to steadily lose their way – several books were being churned out a year, in the past few years before the Legends lockdown; many of them barely over 200 pages in hardcover, with thin, stretched plots and mediocre writing. I suppose another reason why I fell behind with the newer books was lack of enthusiasm. But even back in the day, the series had terrible entries. Crystal Star was ghastly, and Children of the Jedi was nonsensical. When I got to thinking about what I should do with my now non-canon EU book collection, I decided to weed out the good from the bad, and give those newer novels I never got round to a read before I placed them in the keep or throw pile. And I decided to begin, well, at the beginning. I did read the Dawn of the Jedi graphic novels before reading this – which I now realise was an error as they actually take place immediately afterwards. They were alright – enough to save them from the throw pile – but I wanted more out of them, frankly. I rather hoped that a meaty book would provide the depth I desired. The result was a mixed bag.

I’ve always really enjoyed the ancient history of the Star Wars universe, so I must admit I was interested in the history, and comparing and contrasting the Je’daii of this era to those of the era we all know so well. And this particular era always fills me with a sense of smug vindication. Everyone loves Jedi, and I’m no different, but I always got this nagging feeling that their world view was kind of simplistic. Very rarely are things as simple as good versus evil – people, and life, are a chaotic riot of colour. Without the dark side, how would they know the light side? How would there be any concept of good if there was no bad? Some Jedi deliberately dabble with the dark side and don’t fall, others fall completely unintentionally; some say love is bad, others believe no such thing… The Jedi may be awesome, but their code is one great big mess. Taking us all the way back to this era, the Jedi Order in its earliest incarnation, their life philosophy is taken in a completely different direction. The Jedi here recognise that you can’t have light without dark, and strive not towards the light side, but to be in balance between the two. It’s a nice retcon explanation to see that the Jedi Order’s original intention was founded upon wisdom after all, and the later Jedi have just screwed it all up and deviated out of balance. It explains a lot of the mess that happens millennia down the line.

I won’t go into the details of the backstory – you’ll have to read the comics to find that out – but to summarise, the early Jedi Order, and a whole bunch of non-Force sensitives, of several different species, were brought to and have colonised the Tythos star system. This is early galactic history, so whilst they’ve colonised most of the star system, they haven’t yet developed interstellar travel. The main plot revolves around the quest to achieve this, and the quest to stop it. I liked the time Lebbon spent on describing this different stage, so to speak. It’s a wildly different era, and I felt that Lebbon achieved the creation of a different sort of ambience. It felt like a different atmosphere from other Star Wars novels I’ve read, and I’ve read a lot. I have to say I felt the inclusion of several iconic Star Wars aliens in this era is a little too convenient and engineered – but I can’t blame Lebbon for that. When I envisioned the early Star Wars era one of the interesting struggles I imagined was those different aliens meeting and the tension and possible conflict around those landmark events, way before the Republic became the Republic with all its mixing and integration of so many different species. And that was another problem I had with the book – well, not just this book, but this era – this novel and the comic series are set just over ten thousand years after these people are collected up and dumped on Tython. They’ve already established themselves. This isn’t really an origins story at all. It’s what happened after the initial struggles were over and the whole system had been colonised. On the one hand, I can see that setting it in an era where the whole system has been colonised gives the characters plenty of exciting locations to go to, keeping the scenery fresh and allowing a good dose of space travel. But on the other hand I feel like I’ve been cheated out of the real origins story – the mysterious Tho Yor and the very first struggles of these people on Tython. The real origins don’t even go back ten thousand years before this book is set, but even earlier – the ancient Gree technology, the Kwa, and just who were the Celestials?! I have wondered these questions through years of dropped hints and brief references in Star Wars books and comics – I WANT ANSWERS, DAMMIT! But Star Wars is never going to give them to us. Because they don’t know. They’re just making it up as they go along, and extending galactic history ever further backwards without any real plan or coherency. It’s like the writing team for LOST.

I have to say I agree with reviewers who were frustrated that Lanoree didn’t consider Dal’s plan to open the hypergates with more seriousness. Alright, obviously I’m rooting for her to stop a potential cataclysmic event, and I don’t want her crazy brother to go through with his madcap scheme. But why doesn’t Lanoree ask more questions of the rest of the Order, and the Masters? If I were in her boots I’d be asking the Masters “what makes you think opening the hypergates would cause a cataclysmic event? Shouldn’t we explore other possibilities for interstellar travel even if the hypergates are a no-go? Shouldn’t we spend some of our time and resources studying and examining the hypergates so that we at least know what we’re dealing with here, and learn as much as possible, even if we never activate them? It could be a joint venture with Je’daii and the system’s top scientists…” But the Je’daii Order just didn’t want to seem to have anything to do with the hypergates at all. The message was that nobody should even think of looking for or examining these things, let alone activate one. Hey, if I had a piece of ancient, powerful, potentially destructive tech lying around, I wouldn’t leave it alone. It’s a little like an unexploded bomb. I’d be damn careful around the thing, but I’d sure as heck send people in to study the thing and see about the possibilities of safely dismantling it, or learning more about it in hopes of one day understanding how to use it, or at the very least setting up the area as a total no-go zone.

Speaking of Lanoree… I struggled to identify with her and root for her. I did support her from the basic position of I hoped she would stop disaster from happening, but other than that it was difficult to empathise with her. She was a fairly distant character, and whilst I didn’t dislike her, I didn’t like her either. Tre Sana and Dam Powl were more interesting. I wanted to know what secrets those two were so obviously hiding. At times I outright disagreed with Lanoree’s actions, specifically, her using the Force to intrude upon her brother when they were young. I get that she was well-intentioned, and obviously Dal has issues with personal identity and purpose, but Lanoree couldn’t respect or accept his boundaries and choices (misguided as they may have been) and that made me downright annoyed with her. That said, I must praise

Spoiler

how Lebbon handled Lanoree and Tre. As the story progressed I felt that things were subtly progressing towards a Lanoree/Tre pairing, but Lebbon subverted my expectations and instead of leading us down that path leaves the question open and ambiguous at the end.

On the subject of the writing, I have little to say. I feel it was competent but unremarkable. Except, I must praise the flashback in which Lanoree enters the Old City. This was the scene in the book where I really felt the eerie atmosphere leap off the page. This was well done, and fairly evocative. I only wished it went on longer and Lebbon had got to play with it more. The climax and the resolution of the story did feel sudden and abrupt to me, and kind of an anti-climax, to be honest. After reading the Big Showdown I thought “that’s it?” I really expected something more; a bigger struggle, a harder fight, and an altogether more emotionally wrenching scene.

In conclusion, I’m not sure how I feel about this book. It’s been a mixed bag for me and I’m not yet decided on whether it’ll stay or go. But I’m pretty sure there won’t be any more of Lanoree’s story, now that Disney have shut this canon down.

6 out of 10