Legendary Adventures: MedStar II: Jedi Healer

The Rimsoo on Drongar is pushed to its limits, but Barriss finds a way to transgress the limits and experience the Force in a brand new way. Join the Legendary Adventures as the battle for bota and Barriss’s soul comes to a conclusion in the second half of the MedStar duology!

Remember, the Separatists are on Drongar for one reason and one reason only: bota. In the previous Adventure, we were introduced to the medicinal properties of bota. Despite its extreme effectiveness toward healing clones and other wounded soldiers, the Republic banned its use in medicine. It was far too valuable to waste this way in their eyes, and should be used per the Republic’s higher ups to use as they pleased. Despite the injunction against using the bota for personal use, the docs are determined to use it to bring their patients back to health with stunning alacrity.

It is not as important to note in this novel as it will be later, but bota also mutates extremely quickly. We find this out in this book that the mutations are happening so quickly that the bota might soon become useless. What we don’t really figure out is why the Separatists want it so badly. They are a droid army, after all, and their generals, as far as we have seen, don’t get much field work done. How would they be injured? The novel does suggest that the Seps are more intent on running interference than they are looking to make an active move against the Republic. Cut away their supply lines and then the Republic falls, right? You can tell that the war is draining both sides. Formerly, the Separatist had tried to use Jedi Hunter Droids, two different biological warfare methods, attacked listening outposts, and tried to infiltrate Coruscant itself. Now, they fight to keep supplies away from the Republic. Not the most glamorous job, but someone has to do it, I suppose.

Bota has more uses than just medicine, though, as Barriss quickly finds out. She is injured in a battle and decides to take some of the bota in order to heal herself, rather than trusting in the Force to mend her wounds. After ingesting some of the bota, Barriss is connected instantly with the Cosmic Force. The Legends canon has not yet explored much of the different between the Cosmic and the Living Force, but relies on you having read the previous material. That is, if you have no idea what the difference is (aside from Qui-Gon’s minor explanation to Anakin from The Phantom Menace) this novel won’t explain it to you, either. What we do glean, though, is that Barriss feels a much stronger connection with and to the Force now. You know when people say that they can taste a color? It is something akin to that: an experience greater than any our senses would regularly be able to grant us.

It seems as if this experience is too much for her. After eating some of the bota rather than using her own power to heal herself, she is opened up to the Dark Side. The novel again does not explicitly dive into what exactly the connection is between the bota and the Dark Side, which I find rather disappointing. Barriss, toward the end of her “trip”, is able to reject the Dark Side and remain a Jedi. I do find it interesting that Barriss has an encounter with the Dark Side before her turn in The Clone Wars was revealed. I do highly doubt that this was connected intentionally, but rather a happy accident.

In relation to the bota, this begins a troubling series of escalating Force powers that Reeves will introduce throughout the rest of his novels. In each of his novels so far, and in the upcoming Coruscant Nights trilogy (and corresponding The Last Jedi capstone), he introduces a new aspect to the Force and a new power. Remember the taozin, the creatures that could be hidden from the Force that Maul and Darsha Assant fought? Now add to them the bota, a miracle drug which bolsters your connection to the Force. I worry that Legends, toward the end (even though this was early 2000s) felt the need to constantly one-up itself in terms of describing the Force. I won’t spoil much (in terms of this review), but bota does play a significant role later in the Legends canon (again, under a Reeves penned novel), so keep an eye out for it.

After her bad trip, Barriss has I-5YQ, the almost sentient droid, bring the bota she has collected to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Den Dhur, the intrepid reporter, goes back with him. These two are also embroiled in small subplots, but neither of those feature too heavily in this novel. Unfortunately, they become required reading for future Reeves-verse novels. I compare it to Avengers: Age of Ultron. There was one major story, but there were a bunch of subplots that mostly existed to serve other movies. If you didn’t like it in that film (and, by the sounds of it, not many did) then you may not enjoy it in this novel. Just because they are small doesn’t mean they aren’t worth a mention. As this dulogy has proceeded, the cast starts to wonder a bit about I-5. He seems much more autonomous than most droids, making decisions and seemingly coming up with independent thought. Den Dhur is also struggling with questions about autonomy: should he go back to his native Sullust or continue to travel with I-5 now that they’ve grown close with one another.

Well, I recant a bit of what I said before. Not every subplot does need to be mentioned. The doctors again provide us with an underwhelming main story that doesn’t provide a whole lot to latch on to. I feel like I go pretty negative in some of our reviews, but the Clone Wars seem rife with a lot of either inconsequential novels, unfavorable authors, or forced tie-in materials, none of which land with me specifically. Thankfully, the Legends canon picks up exponentially from here on out, so stay tuned as we move into the end of the Clone Wars into the brilliant Revenge of the Sith trilogy, the Rise of the Dark Lord!

Legendary Travel Tips:
-This novel is followed by a serialized short story, Hero’s Call, Hero’s Rise, and Hero’s End. These were collected in three different issues of Star Wars Insider.
-Almost every character who survives both this novel and Revenge of the Sith will return in later Michael Reeves’ books, for either good or ill.

You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisWerms, and of course, you can follow the Manor on Twitter @MynockManor!

Movie Reviews:
The Last Jedi