After an intriguing start where Mace learns that his former padawan, Depa, has possibly committed a mass murder on civilians, he sets out to find her. She hides in the jungles on a planet whose inhabitants have been at war long before there were galactic war. Even if Mace won’t face it, his beloved Republic is not perfect. Yet he tries his best to honor Jedi principles and help the helpless, no matter the odds:

“There had never been light bright enough to drive back darkness like this; Mace could only hope to make of himself a light bright enough to cut through it.” (p. 152)

And the odds just get worse and worse.

I didn’t always find Mace sympathetic, but he was interesting. The world and characters likewise. The humor sometimes seemed forced. And of course, there were lots of long descriptions of fights and battles. I found them a bit boring, but I knew that was what I went into with this book. My main gripe is with Depa. It felt to me like Mace’ thoughts about her took up a lot of space, but she never really got enough space as a character in her own right.

garbage ( )

Mace Windu es una leyenda viviente. Maestro Jedi, miembro veterano del Consejo Jedi, hábil diplomático y temible luchador. Hay quien dice que es el hombre más peligroso que existe. Pero es un hombre de paz, en un momento en que, por primera vez en mil años, la galaxia está en guerra.
A raíz de los terribles acontecimientos que culminaron en la batalla de Geonosis, el Maestro Mace Windu se ve forzado a iniciar un peligroso regreso a su mundo natal para evitar una crisis potencialmente catastrófica para la República… y enfrentarse a un misterio aterrador que tendrá terribles consecuencias personales.
El planeta selvático de Haruun Kal, el mundo natal que Mace apenas recuerda, se ha convertido en un campo de batalla para las crecientes hostilidades entre la República y el renegado movimiento Separatista. Hace algún tiempo, el Consejo Jedi envió allí a Depa Billaba, la antigua padawan de Mace y su compañera en el Consejo Jedi, para que organizara a las tribus locales y formase con ellas una fuerza guerrillera que combatiera a los Separatistas, que estaban empleando sus ejércitos de droides para controlar el planeta y su sistema solar, de gran importancia estratégica. Pero los Separatistas ya se han retirado, y Depa no ha vuelto. La única pista de su desaparición es una grabación codificada encontrada en la escena de una brutal masacre: una grabacion de locura y asesinato llena de la oscuridad de la jungla… Una grabación con la voz de la propia Depa.

The first half, directly tapping into Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, is very strong. The second half really ups the narrative complexity and frankly becomes too much Star Wars. 75% of the way in I felt like the novel really should be wrapping things up but it had too much story to tell that frankly was not that interesting. I am surprised this is considered one of the better Star Wars novels! That could be true, but it does not say much. ( )

A story revolving around Mace Windu. Not as much philosophy in this one as in some of Stover's others. Mediocre story overall tho. The whole Clone Wars saga has pretty much sucked and this was one of the better written ones, sigh. ( )