Book Review - She Is Simply Lost

I will admit, my goal of writing a book review a week is probably far too ambitious, so you will be receiving these on the Wednesday’s after I have finished the book I shall be reviewing. In this case, I finished listening through Into the Void on the Monday several weeks ago.

I apparently enjoy giving myself herculean tasks, as I have decided to listen through all the Star Wars Legends books on audible, and Into the Void was the first one, and I have started on the next one, to review once I’ve finished.

Into the Void is set several years before the Star Wars recognisable to casual star-wars fans. The Jedi (or Je’daii) are not quite as pre-occupied with their rules and regulations (that I am of the opinion are rather unnecessary). They are free to have relationships, to investigate both the light and dark sides of the force, to actually process their emotions instead of bottling them up, though our heroine Lanoree is rather an expert at the latter.

There is a focus on staying within balance of Ashla and Bogun, two moons that represent the Light and Dark side of the force. Those who are consumed by Bogun, the dark side, are not seen as irredeemable, a flaw in the Jedi’s thinking that is (Spoiler alert for the Originals!) wonderfully disproved by Darth Vader’s redemption in The Return of the Jedi.

In short, these Je’daii are what I’ve always imagined the Jedi should have been like, and I was delighted to find I am not alone in that.

We are introduced to this galaxy through the eyes of Lanoree Brock, a human female Je’daii Ranger. She starts off apparently completely assured in her place in the galaxy, comfortable in her isolation, her small ship and speechless droid. All this changes after being called for a mission by the Je’daii order.

The style of story telling took me by surprise as, roughly, each chapter is told in two parts. One follows her current story as an adult on this mission for the Je’daii, the other takes us back in time to her childhood, undertaking a Great Journy across her planet. While this achieves the goal of telling two stories in one and provides us with much context for the current story, it took me a while to get used to this method of story-telling. What I fould difficult was the past being told in present tense, and the present being told using past tense, the latter being much more familiar. Once I had become used to this style of story-telling however, I found it very helpful, easily able to distinguish whether the past or present was being discussed, even if it was confusing from time to time.

I did find that some points of the story were slightly out of place. It felt like the author wanted to make it more of a “grown-up” book than people may potentially think a Star Wars story will be. There is almost a gratuitous amount of violence, though I may have been affected by the sound affects so pleasantly added to the audio-book, a few instances of real-world swearing, and a scene of nudity. These do not appeal to me, as a writer or a reader.

I thoroughly enjoyed the mastery of relationships throughout the story. Lanoree, though she starts of a loner, turns out to be surrounded by many relationships. Family, teachers, and friends are placed all throughout the book. Relationships are portrayed as multi-levelled living things, especially that of siblings and unlikely friends. My favourite  pair of the entire book are Lanoree Brock and Tre Sana, a rather slippery Twi’lek, both very unhappy to be working together at the start of their friendship. The growth of these relationships are so natural, nuanced, and deceptively easy, even if at first glance they look completely unable to work together.

With just slight warning of what I have mentioned above, I would recommend Into the Void to any Star Wars fiction enjoyer, or someone interested in the Legends Universe of Star Wars. It’s exploration of the Force, before the Jedi Order added too many rules, and portrayal of relationships is wonderful, with fleshed out characters, and the further encouragement of Into the Void being written into the first arc of Comic Series Dawn of the Jedi for those who are comic enjoyers. Even as someone without any particular interest in comics, I have been tempted to start finding the next comic in the series.

“A Je’daii needs darkness and light, shadow and illumination, because without the two there can be no balance. Veer to Bogan, and Ashla feels too constraining, too pure; edge toward Ashla, and Bogan becomes a monstrous myth. A Je’daii without balance between both is no Je’daii at all. He or she is simply lost”

-        L.Hunt