2024 might just be the year of the Prequel Trilogy when it comes to publishing! Alongside the upcoming The Living Force novel, and Jango Fett and Mace Windu comic miniseries, comes the announcement of a…Mace Windu novel?! That’s right, Steven Barnes returns to the galaxy far, far away for Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss, out August 6, 2024 October 15, 2024, where Mace finds himself on a mission from Qui-Gon Jinn, delivered posthumously, to help a planet in the Outer Rim in desperate need, but he’ll find himself on the edge of the Jedi code in the process. Head below for the full description and the GORGEOUS cover by Oliver Barrett!
Seriously, it feels like the moment the 40th anniversaries were over for the Original Trilogy, beyond The High Republic stuff, the publishing arm was like…it’s time to focus on the Prequels! And, in a way, on Qui-Gon Jinn too! I’ve always wanted more Qui-Gon, as he’s one of my all-time favorite Jedi, and I love how he’s being used in the current stories: First we got the briefest glimpse of him as a Force Ghost in the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale, in The Living Force out in April 2024 he’s taking the whole Jedi Council on a road trip, and now his death is the catalyst for this Mace Windu-focused tale. Will there be some connective tissue between The Glass Abyss and The Living Force, given they’ll be in the latter book together? And why does Qui-Gon pick Mace, of all people, to fulfill a promise to this planet in the Outer Rim? I guess that’s what reading this one will answer, among other things! Here’s the full description:
Jedi Master Mace Windu travels to a dangerous, remote planet on a mission that challenges even his deadly prowess—all to fulfill Qui-Gon’s last request.
The Jedi are reeling from Qui-Gon Jinn’s sudden death at the hands of a Sith. Jedi Master Mace Windu’s feelings about Qui-Gon have always been complicated, and have not been made any simpler in death. While they often disagreed, Mace valued Qui-Gon’s unique perspective, and their shared dedication to the Force made them allies. Without Qui-Gon and his unorthodox views, Mace feels out of balance.
While considering his fallen friend’s legacy, Mace is surprised to receive a final message from Qui-Gon, marked to be delivered to Mace on the event of Qui-Gon’s death. The message contains a last request: a plea to help the Outer Rim planet of Metagos.
Many years ago, a violent solar flare transformed the surface of the desert planet into a landscape of irradiated glass—as beautiful as it is dangerous. Now most of the surviving inhabitants live underground, where rival clans fight to control the planet’s limited resources. As a young Jedi, Qui-Gon protected the Sa’ad farming clan from the planet’s less scrupulous factions. The Sa’ad practice the art of dream-weaving, retaining their waking minds upon sleep in order to communicate and coexist with the wild creatures around them. Qui-Gon vowed to return if they ever required his aid, but now it falls to Mace to fulfill that promise. The Sa’ad’s leader, KinShan Nightbird, has begged for the Jedi’s help in freeing Megatos from the crime lords who threaten to eradicate her people’s way of life.
Intent on fulfilling Qui-Gon’s final wishes, Mace travels to Megatos and infiltrates the enemies of the Sa’ad. But as the Jedi Master investigates the intricate web of adversaries and allies, Mace finds himself pushed to the boundaries of the Jedi code, challenging his beliefs and his relationship to the Force itself.
What a cover, by the way!!!! Such a great design and really catches the eye.
I’d never really thought about how Qui-Gon’s death at the hands of a Sith would’ve affected the Order, beyond them growing paranoid looking for the remaining Sith, as Mace Windu and Yoda so famously discussed briefly at Jinn’s funeral, and I look forward to seeing how one of his biggest detractors takes to being picked to fulfill a promise he made to some distant world. The planet itself, Metagos (not Megatos), has an intriguing concept and setting, from its irradiated glass surface to the rival clans and underground clashes, to the point it’s giving me a similar, harsh gauntlet as Mace went through in the Legends novel, Shatterpoint. As for the Sa’ad farming clan Qui-Gon protected and Mace looks to help here, I’m very intrigued by this “dream-weaving” they practice, as the name alone sounds very Legends-esque, like “flow-walking” or something, because it sounds like their bodies get to sleep yet they remain active while communicating with local creatures around them. And why exactly do they need to sleep but not sleep to coexist?! What’s really going on beneath the surface of this world? How did Qui-Gon Jinn get involved in the first place? And is Mace really the best choice for the job? I am so ready for Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss for all these things, but also because it’s Steven Barnes, whose last Star Wars novel, the Legends The Cestus Deception, is an top-tier read to this day that I didn’t appreciate as much when I initially read it because it was a little more heady and full of bigger messages than I was prepared for at that age and now appreciate much more as I’m older. I suspect he’ll have something quite special in store for us readers with The Glass Abyss, especially given he said this in the announcement article:
“At all times I remembered there is only one goal in writing such a book: to be true to the mythos, and thrill the fans. To give them the fun, suspense, and heart-stopping action they’ve come to expect from one of our greatest mythologies, and create more of an inner world for one of the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy.”
Starting in February is a Mace Windu comic miniseries, itself set sometime before The Clone Wars and likely after the events of this book, written by Marc Bernardin, and it’s awesome to see two Mace focused stories written by Black writers, let alone in the same year!
Are you, dear reader, excited for all these prequel tales? The Mace Windu sweep? This novel? Tell us in the comments below or anywhere we both social media on!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.
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