Legendary Adventures: Coruscant Nights – Jedi Twilight

A small rebellion grows in the heart of the Empire – Coruscant itself. Imperial forces, proto-rebels, and Black Sun henchmen race to find the same droid. Join today’s Legendary Adventure as we start the Coruscant Nights trilogy with Jedi Twilight!

Even two months* after the fall of the Republic, the Clone Wars are more or less a memory for most of the galaxy. For those outside of the Core, the War was never much a factor to them anyway. Nor has the Empire stretched too far beyond the Mid Rim systems. Because of this, a lot of Outer Rim planets can focus on smaller, more mundane aspects of life. In the Core, there is no more fear of war: there is only the Empire.

But for those in the Core, even these two short months have already been too harsh for some citizens of the newly christened Imperial Center. These mercenaries, shopkeepers, former Jedi, and home-grown zealots have joined together to create Whiplash. Whiplash, having been built for two months, is not a large anti-Imperial group, but it enjoys the support of many Jedi, including Jedi Master Even Piell and Laranth Tarak, a former Grey Paladin.

There has, obviously, been no more dangerous of a time to be a Jedi. Darth Vader has raced across the galaxy, killing Jedi at Murkhana and squashing a Rebellion at Kashyyyk. Imperial forces hold the peace on Coruscant, under the watchful eye of the newly installed Inquisitorious. Even Piell** has information vital to the success of this proto-Rebellion, but he is caught off guard by a squad of stormtroopers. After being injured by a grenade, Piell delivers a final message to Nick Rotsu to deliver to Piell’s former Padawan, Jax Pavan. Even Piell believes that a droid, 10-4TO, carries the future plans of Whiplash and cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

Rotsu flees the crime scene, but is tortured by Imperial forces in an effort to find Jax’s location, something Rotsu gives up before being freed. As Nick and Jax connect, Rotsu’s message sets Pavan on a path to join forces with the previously mentioned Laranth, seemingly sentient droid I-5YQ, and former reporter Den Dhur. These names should sound familiar as they reflect one of the long running threads through Legends: Early in the Adventures, we met Jax’s father, Lorn Pavan, weeks before the Naboo Crisis. He and his droid companion, I-5YQ came in possession of a Sith holocron. This holocron contained Darth Sidious and Plagueis’s plan to manufacture a crisis in the Senate, making its safe return to the Sith extremely important. Lorn was chased by Darth Maul in the final day of his life, before being killed by Darth Sidious in a Coruscant hospital. After this, I-5 went on a series of misadventures, without his memory, before being found on Drongar. There, I-5 met Sullustan reporter Den Dhur. The pair came in possession of a sample of bota, tasked by Jedi Padawan Barriss Offee to return the sample to the Jedi Temple.

The focus of the Coruscant Nights trilogy, and the only new member of the team, is Jedi Knight Jax Pavan. Jax’s relationship with the Force has always been tenuous, leaving him always on the edge of dropping out of the Order. But this isn’t the only unique aspect of his relationship with the Force: he senses it differently than everyone else does. He describes it as seeing tendrils rising off someone, which he “sees” as physical objects. This helps him sense, rather objectively, whether someone is being honest or is evil to the core. When he was but a Padawan, he “saw” dark tendrils rising from Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker, which made him sense something was off.

These are Dark Times, and it seems like the Force is manifesting in a lot of different ways. The book doesn’t suggest why this is the case, but it does seem like the death of the Jedi has more metaphysical consequences than we might have suspected. The remaining Jedi start to sense the Force differently, and those with Force sensitivity are less focused and exude more raw power. This trilogy shows us a lot of interesting ways to describe the Force. At first, I wasn’t completely on board. It seemed like author Michael Reeves was introducing new ways to describe the Force simply to one-up his previous descriptions. The more I thought about it, though, the more I think I became okay with these descriptions. The galaxy is shifting, and I should expect that the Force would be experienced differently. Remember, it is currently out of balance, and the ongoing Jedi Purge hasn’t done a lot to help that.

The good news(?) is that Jax can soon find out that his hesitations and concerns about Skywalker was correct. The whole mission was, in fact, a trap devised by Darth Vader to bring Pavan out of hiding. 10-4TO did not carry any information on Whiplash, but was only a pawn in Vader’s scheme. Vader had two major reasons to seek Pavan out. First, the aforementioned connection between Jax and Anakin needed to be severed so Vader could be free of Anakin forever. Second, Pavan held pyronium, a mineral that held great value to Vader. Vader closes in on Pavan and the crew at the same time as they find 10-4TO. In the ensuing battle, Pavan uses a lightwhip against Prince Xizor of the Black Sun (we’ll return to this in a moment). I-5 sets in motion a plan to detonate a nuclear bomb to escape from Vader and the Imperial forces.

In the end, this nuclear explosion doesn’t seem to change the fabric of Coruscant society much. In fact, in a galaxy that would seemingly be terrified of terrorist attacks (seeing how many have been made against Coruscant merely months prior), this fight goes largely unnoticed. This is where this book gets awkward: the timing for everything feels very off. This resistance group has raised a lot of support in only two months, and the galaxy seems largely unaffected by the fallout from the War. Yes, I know they are affected by the birth of the Empire, but that seems to be the only effect. I would have loved to see a few more reasons why Whiplash would have been organized outside of “Empire bad.”

There are some who take quick advantage of the death of the Republic. While some criminal organizations were active in the days of the Republic, and some profiting quite nicely because of their partnership with the Republic, the rise of the Empire has created a wealth of opportunities for them to grow. We specifically see the rise of Black Sun, led by creepy (very, very, very creepy, I need to say now) overlord Prince Xizor. (I seriously cannot tell you how creepy Xizor already is, and we don’t have to deal with his pheromones yet.) Xizor and Kaird (who was previously also stationed on Drongar to control bota use in drug creation) are also wrapped up in the battle, as both Xizor and Kaird see the capture of the droid as the means by which they can rise in the criminal syndicate. We’ll return to Black Sun in the remainder of the trilogy, but they play a huge role in the multi-media epic Shadows of the Empire.

I can’t, in good conscience, say that this series will end up being a series that everybody will enjoy. I was not a huge fan of the revolving door chapters, wherein the chapters moved in a cycle. Chapter 1 in the cycle would deal with Group A, chapter 2 with Group B, etc. This kept the stories feeling disjointed until the very end, even if you knew they were coming together. It’s also, honestly, at times, kinda boring. But I do have to say, the pay-off from having read this series in chronological order becomes more and more rewarding for each book read.

Legendary Travel Tips:
-This book is preceded by Imperial Commando: 501st, a novel I have not yet reviewed for reasons to be announced in the review. It is followed by the second novel in the series.
-The first note, that this book takes place two months after Order 66, does not come from within the novel. It comes instead from the Essential Reader’s Companion. In this reader’s opinion, this puts it far too close to the fall of the Republic to realistically build the world Reeves has created here.
-Of course, Even Piell’s presence in the novel is a problem for chronology. Even Piell was killed during The Clone Wars four-part arc The Citadel. Many theories have been devised to explain away the contradiction, including one wherein he was played by a familiar actor.

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

Movie Reviews:
The Last Jedi