In a stunning turn of events, Knight Errant brings us a twist: a single Jedi is trapped in Sith space! Is escape possible when you’re surrounded by the Dark Side?
“For all the harshness of its masters, Sith space held enormous beauty.”
If we’re being completely honest, the idea of a multitude of Sith never really appealed to me. It didn’t scratch many itches for me in the Legacy series, nor did it do much for me in The Old Republic comic series. Sometimes, I would rather the franchise would have come up with new factions for our heroes to fight, as the canon has, like the pirates from the Aftermath trilogy or the large assortments of criminal syndicates introduced in the Dark Times. That being said, I understand why they continued to make stories starring the voluminous Sith Order: it makes the struggle between Jedi and Sith seem like the defining conflict of the entire galaxy. That being said, I am thankful for Knight Errant in its ability to play on the Sith/Jedi relationship as defined in the movies.
At the time that this novel was written, we were introduced to the galaxy-shattered and -shaping conflict between the Jedi Order and the Sith….represented by two Lords. As we have seen in the previous Legendary Adventures, the Old Republic was written with an entirely different mindset. Rather than seeing how two Sith Lords can compete with an entire Jedi Order, John Jackson Miller reframes the concept by stranding Kerra Holt in Sith space.
Updated: The danger is compounded by the fact that the Sith Lords are fractured, making Sith space dangerous territory anywhere she goes. Sith space is not dangerous only because she is a Jedi: in fact, she might instead be simply caught as collateral damage in the crossfire between two competing Sith Lords. Whatever is left of Darth Vitiate’s Sith Empire is crumbling. This should be expected, really: we’ve seen that his Dark Council has turned against him and planned a coup for control of the Empire. Even among his ranks, his most trusted Sith Lords are turning against his grand plan once realizing what his ultimate goals were, such as when Darth Malgus realized he was part of a sham attack on the Jedi Temple, designed to regain some control of Sith space.
In one corner of Sith Space, Lords Daiman and Odion are locked in conflict, bringing the two largest Sith factions against each other. They frequently wheel and deal with other Lords, causing further division and political intrigue throughout Sith space. Think of this as Game of Thrones, but without the nudity and excessive violence. For the record: yes, I described Lost Tribes of the Sith the same way, and yes, I think this suits both. Jackson’s style lends itself to this politcally-charged, high-fantasy type of story, so I am not disappointed at all that he continually plays to these strengths. I think JJM’s style works as it is not copying the popular franchise, but he naturally leans toward that type of storytelling.
The Sith Lords who star in this book, Daiman and Odion serve as decent antagonists in this novel, despite my usual ambivalence toward villains. Odion is showcased as a more of a run of the mill Sith, but he is an excellent foil for the silliness which is Lord Daiman. Daiman is one of the most unique characters I’ve run across in Legends yet: he believes he created everything in the galaxy. He even goes so far as to force his underlings to pretend like they believe the same thing. The inner working of his own mind is a mystery to even him: why do his own creations oppose him? He must have created a test for himself, that’s it! As extraordinarily silly as this was at times, it made for a fun read and brought something new to the table. This would have been a fun psyche to explore – maybe the three comic series under the Knight Errant brand delved a bit deeper? I guess this means the novel did its job, because now I am interested in going over and reading the comic series!
A few more Sith Lords were introduced during the novel. In the whirlwind tour of Sith space, we are introduced to a full range of Sith. As Kerra escapes a battle between Odion and Daiman, she encounters two new Sith: Quillan and Dromika. The twins were the rulers of a Dyarchy, watched over by a Regent. This relationship proved interesting for a lot of reasons. First, we saw what life was like under different Sith principalities. The Dyarchy was ruled through an iron will: the twins used their powers of Force persuasion to control their entire city. The city was unified under the will of the twins, keeping all dissent underfoot. Kerra’s battle with the twins, and their Regent, was an interesting exploration of the Force itself. Maybe this lends itself to the only critique I have of this book: we dabble in a lot of different areas, but we never really go in-depth into any of these different ways of being a Sith. A lot of these concepts are only barely explored, leaving me feeling lacking. We may assume there is more than one way to be a Sith, but we’ve only explored one way, so far. I would love to see the Regent given more depth, or even Daiman’s delusions would be a fun playground for more stories. Maybe the comic can help scratch some of that itch?
Kerra herself embodies a bit of what a “stereotypical” Jedi is known for – brave, selfless, always running into rather than away from danger. I appreciated a lot about this. But she is also brash and a bit reckless, so she is like Anakin. She herself offers good questions: what would Anakin been like had he been able to temper his own dark side? Kerra, though she has character flaws, is not wooed to the Dark Side even in Sith space. It’s hard to think it would be possible to woo her! I really appreciated this look at what it means to be a pure Jedi, even if it wasn’t the focus of the novel.
The rest of the supporting cast is fun, but they don’t measure up to Kerra or Daiman and Odion’s relationship. For the most part, many of the side characters don’t operate on their own, but respond to Kerra or the Sith Lords. This is fine! There is so much going on in this book that it would be hard to flesh out more characters. If Kerra wasn’t so well developed on her own, this would have been a greater offense. This is not to say that they are flat, mind you, rather that they are just smaller roles and smaller personalities.
In the end, Knight Errant gets two hearty thumbs up from me. Not only does it stand well on its own, but it also develops a world which piques my interest in the side material.
P.S. If you are like me, and are collecting the novels with the Legends banner, you will not find that here. I’m not entirely sure why, but this novel has not been released with the banner as of yet. Unfortunately, it looks like we will have to wait a bit longer and rebuy the novel. 🙂
You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisWerms, and of course, you can follow the Manor on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor!
Essential Legends Collection: Revan | Deceived | Darth Bane: Path of Destruction | Darth Bane: Rule of Two | Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil | Darth Plagueis | Shatterpoint | Kenobi | Rogue Squadron | Rogue Squadron: Wedge’s Gamble | Rogue Squadron: The Bacta War | Wraith Squadron | Heir to the Empire | Dark Force Rising | The Last Command | Yoda: Dark Rendezvous | Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void | Republic Commando: Hard Contact | Republic Commando: Triple Zero | Republic Commando: Order 66 | Outbound Flight | The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance