I'm finally caught up on my canon Star Wars book reading! My last book was Steve Barnes' The Glass Abyss, a Mace Windu adventure set after the events of The Phantom Menace. I really loved this book, as someone who really likes Mace Windu (sometimes I feel like the only one), I think this book was a really great window into such a layered character. People too often write him off as being mean or uncaring, but that's not who he is at all and this book laid that out plainly. This was a really fun adventure that had captivating prose, introduced us into a fascinating planet, explored Mace's sense of self and most importantly (to me) confirmed that he and Qui-Gon really WERE besties who just give each other a hard time because of their different lifestyles, which was very vindicating for me.
QUI-GON AND MACE WERE FRIENDS WHO CARED FOR EACH OTHER, HUNG OUT, AND YES, ALSO DISAGREED SOMETIMES BUT THERE WAS NO BAD BLOOD BETWEEN THEM!
Anyways...
Spoilers ahead for The Glass Abyss by Steve Barnes!
The book picks up after Qui-Gon's death in The Phantom Menace. Mace is presented with something that Qui-Gon had left for him specifically- and it turns out to be a mission. Qui-Gon had previously gone to the planet Metagos hunting down an assassin, but had to leave when he was badly injured by a crime lord on the planet. Qui-Gon was healed by some of the people there, but had to return to the Jedi Temple- but not before making a promise to some of the people of Metagos that he would return to help them. Qui-Gon of course, can't fulfil this promise, but he had left a recording in case of his death asking Mace Windu to go in his stead. Mace does go, with some encouragement from Yoda, and discovers a complicated world with some complicated history.
Metagos is ravaged by deadly winds on the surface above, meaning its inhabitants all live in different levels underground in vast, beautiful crystalline caves (making a "glass abyss"). With Mace we learn about the history and way of life of the people on this planet, secret societies underneath it all, and the fact that they are oppressed by two crime lords controlling the planet, the primary of which is lead by Chulok. Chulok is two beings merged together into one, a Farakai and a Rodian coming together to create a 2-headed, 4-armed deadly warrior. It's very, very creepy. Metagos, Chulok, and all of the other original creations of this book are as intriguing as they are off-putting, and Steven Barnes' prose really captures every detail of it all, as well as what Mace Windu thinks about it.
Mace's personality really, really shines through in this book. On-screen, we mostly hang out with him in Council meetings and warzones, so it was nice to get to really spend some time with his character in more lowkey moments too. Mace cares so, so deeply about life and protecting it, he's curious and reflective. He's really funny, and confident in himself and his abilities but not to the point of being unrealistic- he knows when he can't win a fight or when he can't take all the credit for a win. I really like Mace and have tried to get others to see through the hard exterior he often has, so it was really nice to have a book so brazenly crack it open.
Easily, my favorite part of this book was Mace's arc about his relationship to the Jedi. When he's cut off from Coruscant and surrounded by different perspectives on life and the Force, he really starts to question things. Did he really choose to be a Jedi? Does he actually WANT to be a Jedi, or is it just what he's used to? He questions all of these things, but through meditation assisted from people of the new culture he's spending time with, he begins to answer these questions. He did choose this path, and he continues to choose it every day. While it may seem like he just came to the same conclusion, ultimately the process of questioning makes him stronger- both as a Jedi and a person- than he was before. And along the way, he learns about both himself and his understanding of the Jedi Code. He gains a deeper understanding of his emotions, his perspective on love, and who he is as a person. It's a really, really strongly-written arc and I certainly am not doing it justice is here.
If you're a Mace Windu fan, this is 100% the book for you. And if you're not a Mace Windu fan, maybe this book could make you one!
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