Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order - Dark Temple

I truly and completely loathe this book. It is pretentious, cruel, selfish, pointless drivel wrapped up in the most obnoxiously over-the-top writing style. I hated every second I was forced to read about that stupid, manipulative chicken bitch. Everything she said felt like listening to alt-right morons pontificate on how "logical" their disdain for and dismissal of other people is. Just fuck everything about this book.

Oh lord, it’s really true what Carly Simon said: Nobody does it better. While she might have referred to James Bond, I think one wouldn’t be wrong to apply that line to Matthew Stover writing Star Wars because no one does it quite like him. The novelisation of George Lucas’ sixth Star Wars film, the film that changed my life as it introduced me to the Star Wars universe, is EVERYTHING. And that means a lot coming from someone who loves the Prequels very dearly. It’s the final days of the Clone Wars, and the Republic is a mess. Chancellor Palpatine is unrelenting in his subtle power games to gain more control over the Senate and politically outmanoeuvre the Jedi. Most Senators are more interested in their own gain than in ending the war that has cost millions of lives across the galaxy. And in-between all this chaos and desperation, there is Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Two Jedi, former Master & Padawan, who are closer than friends, closer than brothers and yet each battling with their own demons. For Anakin, those demons manifest in the dreams in which he sees his beloved wife Padmé dying. Everywhere, the Jedi can feel the growing power of the dark side of the Force, and it is clear that the end of everything is nigh. Matthew Stover has a gift, and that gift is understanding Star Wars like no other SW author did before him. The truth is that Stover knows how to see through the superficial layers of space battles and ships and guns and lightsabers that, to many people, seem to constitute all that Star Wars is. Instead, he recognises and acknowledges the heart and soul of this saga and uses that knowledge to create the most emotionally devastating and beautiful space opera you have ever heard or seen. Stover takes what Lucas made and improves it tenfold. It is astounding how a single paragraph, a single sentence of his, can make you fall in love with a character all over again. Especially his “This is…” passages show that he genuinely understands these characters. “This is Obi-Wan Kenobi: A phenomenal pilot who doesn’t like to fly. A devastating warrior who’d rather not fight. A negotiator without peer who frankly prefers to sit alone in a quiet cave and meditate. Jedi Master. General in the Grand Army of the Republic. Member of the Jedi Council. And yet, inside, he feels like he’s none of these things. Inside, he still feels like a Padawan. It is a truism of the Jedi Order that a Jedi Knight’s education truly begins only when he becomes a Master: that everything important about being a Master is learned from one’s student. Obi-Wan feels the truth of this every day.” In those “This is…” paragraphs, the heart of the novel is compressed. The full spectrum of this story’s human emotion and tragedy is amplified when shown through the eyes of each of its characters. When their unique experiences, their hopes, fears, and dreams become the pivotal axis around which rotates the fate of the universe. There are few things more enthralling than being laid bare the entirety of who a character is. He gives his readers an incredible number of details on what makes Mace Windu Mace Windu and why it is that Yoda had lost his fight against Darth Sidious before he was even born. Stover immerses himself deep in Star Wars lore, so throwaway mentions of things like Krath war droids, Jedi like K’Kruhk, Jmmaar, and outer worlds such as Hypori, Tovarskl only serve to make this vast universe more complete. The devil is in the details, and boy; Stover understands how important details are for the full picture. Furthermore, instead of just expanding the film version, Stover decided on changing critical elements in the telling of this story, the most distinctive and important of them being that he lets his readers know exactly who Darth Sidious is. Right from the beginning on, we know who the man behind the title is, and having to witness how the Jedi are all led astray by him, how they are all trying to find the Sith Lord when he’s parading around right under their noses feels like an emotional gut punch. You want to scream and shout the truth at them, but the tragedy is that you’re just a reader, and they are ink on paper, and you just can’t make them hear you. But all of these gems of narrative, all of the thoughtful details and incredible space battle scenes and lightsaber duels, only come alive thanks to Stover’s beautiful, almost indescribable prose. It’s dramatic and opulent when it needs to be and soft and alluring and dangerous, too. Every word is chosen with care, and every sentence is masterfully crafted to emphasise just the right amount of tragedy or joy. This book, more than any other Star Wars book, will make you care so much about its characters that every time you read it, you’ll hope for a different outcome. It will make you care so much; you’ll most likely cry (I know I did the first time I read it) over the sadness and tragedy of it all. This book is everything it needs to be, there’s not a single sentence out of place, no way to improve it, and it’s the jewel in the crown of Star Wars’ written works.