Legendary Adventures: Coruscant Nights III: Patterns of Force

Operation: Knightfall is at an end. The Empire is making it’s final to push to free the Galaxy from the Jedi and become the unchallenged ruling force in the galaxy. But our heroes have other plans as the Legendary Adventures journey a final time to Coruscant Nights III: Patterns of Force.

Mere months after the end of the Clone Wars, it is more dangerous than ever to be a Jedi. The future is grim: no salvation exists while Emperor Sheev Palpatine, his hand, Darth Vader, and the Imperial Army reign. To shore up his control, Emperor Palpatine has created the Inquisitorious, a group of Force adept assassins who have the sole mission of finding and destroying Jedi.

With no hope in sight, the Force brings Jedi Knight and rebel leader Jax Pavan to the past. A few years ago, in the Jedi Temple, Anakin Skywalker and Jax Pavan were classmates. More so, they might have even been called friends. Jax’s ability to see “tendrils” of the Force snaking from someone alerted him to the fact that there may be more darkness to Anakin Skywalker than anybody else saw. In the Temple, Anakin gives Jax a nugget of pyronium. For Jax, the memory of this event has been tainted. Now, the Force only gives him an altered form of this memory. After handing him the pyronium, Skywalker erupts in a pillar of fire, ending the vision.

Even worse? Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader, is about to close in on Jax’s position. Vader wants the pyronium he gave Jax years ago, and something else from the War. At the end of the Clone War, the planet Drongar was the site of a hostile battle between Republic and Separatist forces. Both factions desperately wanted Drongar’s supply of naturally occurring bota, which had immense healing capabilities. Jedi Knight Barriss Offee, after feeling the effects of the bota herself, sent I-5 and Sullustan reporter Den Dhur to Coruscant with a sample for the Jedi Council. Darth Vader knows that I-5 has the sample.

Why does Vader want both? Well, a holocron containing both the Sith’s plans to take over the galaxy and the reports of an ancient Sith Lord taught Vader that his connection to the Force would be refined and strengthened when pyronium and bota were combined. This holocron has a sordid history, and one event in that history includes the death of Jax Pavan’s father, Lorn Pavan, at the hand of Darth Maul and Sheev Palpatine. When Jax learns of these events, separate from carrying the holocron himself, he is determined to get revenge by killing Emperor Palpatine himself. Both Vader and Jax are out for blood, and they will soon have it.

But in the meantime, a young Force adept man carries in himself the power that Vader seeks from the combination of the pyronium and the bota. This young Force adept, Kajin Savaros, brims with affinity with the Force. Unfortunately, he can barely contain it, bringing upon him an Inquisitor. Kajin defeats the Inquisitor, Pol Tesla, unfortunately giving away his location to both the Sith and the Imperial police force on Coruscant. Jax and Laranth, the Grey Paladin, bring Kajin in for training, but he can’t seem to get a hang of controlling the Force.

Remember, in the previous review, how I said that the Force was moving in strange directions with the death of the Jedi? First, Jax Pavan’s connection to the Force became even spottier than normal, until Prince Xizor of Black Sun threatened his life. Kajin feels the Force like water; sometimes, it feels like a steady stream to him. Other times, it feels like a dam about to burst. Thankfully, Vol Volette’s light sculptures, awarded to Jax at the solution of his murder, also carry the ability to interact with the Force. When standing near one of these sculptures, one cannot be sensed in the Force. This is the only way Jax and the rest of his crew are able to hide Kajin for long enough.

At the end of the book, though, decades of history (especially Legends history!) come to a head after the Inquisitors lead Jax and the crew to Sheev Palpatine himself. Jax tries to kill the Emperor when Jax sees his face, but it fails. Unfortunately, it is not the real Emperor; it is merely a hologram. Jax’s ability to kill him is hindered again when Darth Vader approaches from the shadows, demanding that Jax hand over the bota that I-5 holds.

I-5 plays coy, pretending that he does not know where the bota is. (Spoilers, it’s hidden in his chest!) Vader finds this amusing, but he also notes that he can sense the droids’ feelings in the Force. Legends has dabbled with the idea of sentient droids before, but this is as close, so far, as the Legends canon goes in identifying a droid as sentient. Together, Jax and almost-sentient I-5 hatch a plan to defeat Darth Vader: hand over the bota.

Now, here’s where it gets funny. For the most part, I appreciated author Michael Reeve’s inter-connected stories, where each built from the last. And you might get the sense, from these reviews, that you have to read them all for each entry to make sense. (This is true, and unfortunately, a 1000 word article can’t recap everything from these immensely dense books!) But just because a single author is working on a story does not mean that it is free of continuity mistakes. This story takes place two years after the MedStar duology, but the book consistently says that it took place 20 years later. Not sure if this story was meant to take place right before the Battle of Yavin, or if it was something both Michael Reeves and his editor missed.

So, based on this continuity error, the 20-year old bota had spoiled. When Vader ingests the bota, he has the worst case of a Force-trip that anyone ever has before. In light of this tripping, Jax and his friends are simply allowed to escape. I would say that this is the end of the trilogy, but there is actually a lot more to cover. Your mileage may vary on how much you like this, but boy howdy does Michael Reeves put a lot into each book. These books are dense, with at least three main plots and a handful of side plots. There was no way to cover these books satisfactorily without telling you to read them. I also can’t even say that the story is done because there is a technical fourth entry in the series, the original The Last Jedi. I can’t say that I had a blast reading these books, but it was cool to see all of these stories from different time eras come together climatically, even if that climax was a bit of a bust.

All in all, the Coruscant Nights trilogy paints a confusing picture of the galaxy. The Empire has not solidified its rule; in fact, since Operation: Knightfall is still in effect, it hasn’t even finished it’s first project! Darth Vader and Palpatine are relatively at ease with one another and their place in the galaxy, but both seek more power than they will tell each other. The Inquisitors are created to kill the remaining ambiguous number of Jedi left, but there aren’t a lot left, and if the plethora of Purge comics are to be believed, Vader takes pride in taking them down himself. And, despite the fact that the Empire hasn’t been that bad yet, a rebellious organization named Whiplash rises to combat the Empire. It’s kind of all over the place, but maybe it’s the case that the whole galaxy was a mess. After the follow up, The Last Jedi, we jump into even more connected stories: The Force Unleashed, and the Rise of the Rebellion. Stick around – there’s a lot more fun where these Dark Times come from!

Legendary Travel Tips:
-This book is preceded by Coruscant Nights II: Streets of Shadows and will be followed by The Last Jedi.

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

Movie Reviews:
The Last Jedi