Legendary Adventures: The Last Jedi

The leader of rebel organization Whiplash has been captured; now the galaxy’s last Jedi must rescue him…and face the wrath of Darth Vader! Join our Legendary Adventures as we travel with The Last Jedi!

The previous three novels, the Coruscant Nights trilogy, showed how dangerous it is to be a Jedi during the Dark Times. Crime bosses like Prince Xizor, dark bounty hunters like Aurra Sing, and the Inquisitorious hunt Jedi whenever and wherever they can in order to shore up their riches and their power under the new terrifying regime. But when Darth Vader is on your tail, it’s dangerous to be either a Jedi or a rebel leader as both Jax Pavan and Whiplash leader Thi Xon Yimmon will soon learn.

Previously, Jax Pavan’s team of compatriots have been gaining some serious ground against the Empire. First, they beat back both Prince Xizor and Imperial forces. They then managed to outwit and outsmart Darth Vader by using some expired bota, but their luck is running out. Yimmon is in danger, and Jax and his crew (Den Dhur, Sullustan reported; I-5YQ, an essentially sentient droid; and Laranth, a Force-sensitive warrior from a Jedi-adjacent branch) are determined to bring him to Dantooine for safety. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Jax and his friends believed him dead, Darth Vader has found their ship. He captures Yimmon, kills Laranth, and gravely injures I-5. Den, Jax, and parts of I-5 retreat, defeated by the return of their most formidable villain.

Jax and Den are refreshed after spending some time with the Antarian Rangers. These rangers were non-Force-sensitive beings who desired to help the Jedi Order carry out peace-keeping efforts all over the galaxy. Since they were not bound by the Jedi Code, they were free to do work that was a bit more…gruesome than the Jedi were willing to do. When the Empire took the place of the Republic, this Jedi friendly group was pushed underground. Because they were well-equipped by the Jedi and Republic, they had plenty of ships and credits to share with Jax and Den. They also had an extra Pit Droid body waiting around, allowing I-5 to be reanimated in a new body.

Despite the growing danger, Jax and Den leave the Rangers to go back to Coruscant. There, they sneak into Imperial Palace and are seen by Darth Vader. He sends an Inquisitor after them, but somehow they avoid both. This is where it’s easy to begin to critique Reeves, and maybe new co-writer Maya Kathryn Bohnhoff, who could be accused of favoring their original character a little too much. Jax is continually put into more and more dangerous positions, but continues to evade them because they don’t want him to die, but since his main adversary is Darth Vader, he cannot die either. I feel like this ties the hands of the story-tellers, and it would have been potentially more fruitful to focus on the new Inquisitors created for the series and other new villains to keep the stakes high and keep the readers in suspense.

Tuden Sal, a contact for Whiplash who has some ties to Black Sun, also brings both Prince Xizor and Emperor Sheev Palpatine into the story. Prince Xizor, still smarting from the defeat he suffered at Jax’s hand earlier, before they set of a nuclear detonation in the heart of the Imperial capital, now also seeks to find Jax and I-5. Sal plays on Jax’s desire for revenge for what Palpatine did to Lorn Pavan, Jax’s father, decades ago. This sets Jax on the collision course with no fewer than three major Star Wars Legends characters: Emperor Palpatine, Prince Xizor, Darth Vader.

Unfortunately, seeing as this is the fourth part of a story, and Jax has already faced two of them before, it is hard to say that there was much excitement leading to these final confrontations. You might notice that this review doesn’t show many new elements to the Legends universe except for another look at the Rangers. That’s because this story has been going on for what seems like forever. While I liked this novel well enough, it felt like a LOT of the same and I struggled to find the desire to keep pushing through at times. I had already seen Jax fight Vader and Xizor, so I wasn’t chomping at the bit to see it again.

Unfortunately, I think this was bound to happen going through such a sprawlingly long series (the Legends canon!) in chronological order. Some series would be way too long, and others would be redundant. Some would add really nothing except a new adventure, but I am pleased to report that these types of stories came really late into the canon. That being said, adding in Bohnhoff as a co-author was a much needed boost to this novel. The pacing felt better, and the emotional bits (such as the death of Laranth), were given more weight than I felt the first three novels featured. It was a bit dry, and became fairly morose at times, losing some of that characteristic Star Wars humor, but I enjoyed the prose so much better this go around.

Legendary Travel Tips:
-This novel was original slated as Coruscant Nights IV: Jedi Dawn, but it was, for reasons as of yet un-cited by Wookieepedia, it was dropped as the fourth title and instead made a standalone. The title was also changed as there was already a novel with the title.
-As this novel was released after the release of the Essential Reader’s Companion, we don’t have a precise, Pablo-Hildago-approved placement in the timeline for it. That being said, it takes place sometime within the Last of the Jedi young reader series, which features Manor reader Abi’s second favorite character: Dexter Jettster.

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

Movie Reviews:
The Last Jedi