‘Star Wars: The Living Force’ Review – A Thrilling Glimpse At The Complexities Of The Prequel-Era Jedi

Return to the era of the Star Wars prequels with John Jackson Miller’s Star Wars: The Living Force. Offering a glimpse at a pre-Phantom Menace Jedi Council, Star Wars: The Living Force pulls back the curtain on what life was like during this unexplored era of the galaxy. Before the Trade Federation blockaded Naboo, before the Clone Wars, and before the Galactic Empire, there were groups of pirates up to no good in the depths of space. Miller’s novel explores how the Jedi’s inaction led to the Galaxy’s unrest, shining a light on the Jedi Council’s optimism and woeful indifference. It’s a fast-paced, thrilling adventure; compulsively readable from start to finish. But best of all, there’s an emotional truth at the center of the book; a warning and a hope for the future.

An Era of Prosperity and Indifference

In the years before The Phantom Menace, the Galaxy saw a period of relative stability. But underneath that facade of calmness rests an unseen danger. In the depths of space, pirates hatch a plan that might undermine the Republic’s grip on its outermost planets. It’s a plan that leads the Jedi to an outpost on the planet of Kwenn; an outpost they’re sure to shutter. Can the Jedi Council overcome their reluctance to act and their penchant for isolationism? Or is the lowly planet of Kwenn destined to suffer an unspeakable tragedy in the name of destroying the Jedi once and for all? John Jackson Miller’s Star Wars: The Living Force tells a sprawling tale – all at once epic in scale and shockingly intimate. Star Wars: The Living Force explores how the Jedi Council comes to be so removed from the Galaxy at large in the Star Wars prequels.

In those movies, the Council seems so uninterested in the affairs of the Republic’s outer planets. So consumed by the minutiae of life on Coruscant, the Jedi have forgotten what it’s like to live outside of the Republic’s protection. And Miller tackles that indifference head-on in The Living Force, sending the entire council on a quest to help just one person. Here, he presents a Jedi Council that’s indifferent not out of cruelty or disinterest, but out of necessity. They’re not heartless, just stretched to the breaking point. But, in Miller’s view, the power of the Jedi rests in their ability to come together when they are needed. It’s easy to see how they end up as immobile as they are in The Phantom Menace, but it’s equally easy to see how brilliant they could be.

A Sprawling Epic That’s Barely Held Together

As you might imagine, any story featuring the entire Jedi Council is liable to feel a bit overstuffed. And, unfortunately, The Living Force doesn’t escape this problem. Miller eschews the usual tradition of just focusing on a main character or two and, instead, has the entire Jedi Council take center stage. Every chapter jumps back and forth between the perspectives of the Council’s dozen or so members. This approach immediately imbues the story with an epic scale, sprawling across the entire planet of Kwenn. It gives the story a set of stakes it otherwise might not have had. As such, The Living Force strikes a balance between stakes both epic and intimate. It’s a sprawling epic, sure, but a deeply personal tale about these beloved characters coming to terms with the consequences of their indifference.

On the flip side, juggling over a dozen equally important characters often leaves the story struggling to give its sprawling cast enough to do, with characters frequently fading in and out of focus. While Jedi Master Depa Billaba and pirate leader Zilastra are probably the closest The Living Force gets to having traditional main characters, even they occasionally get relegated to the background. On an emotional level, it’s hard to ask your reader to give over a dozen characters the same amount of focus and concern. Yet, that’s what Miller does. And, to be fair, his efforts here are admirable as every character does go on some kind of emotionally satisfying arc. It’s just that cramming this many characters into a single story – and giving them all an equal amount of importance – results in a bit of a thin story. An entertaining one but one that occasionally feels unwieldy.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, John Jackson Miller’s Star Wars: The Living Force offers readers a compelling glimpse at the Jedi Council of the Star Wars prequels. While it occasionally struggles to give its sprawling cast enough to do, it nails its exploration of the Jedi Council as a whole. Individual characters may fade in and out of importance, but The Living Force is far more concerned with viewing the Jedi Council as an entity in its own right – diving deep into its failures and the possibilities of its future. And, in that regard, The Living Force never fails to be compulsively readable. It’s thrilling, action-packed, and surprisingly emotional, telling a story that’s both critical of what the Jedi have become and hopeful about what they can be.

It’s Star Wars at its most compelling; a story of hope, second chances, and the complexities of doing the right thing. It offers a compelling return to a familiar world for longtime Star Wars fans. But for newer readers, it delivers an immediately gripping glimpse at the state of the Star Wars galaxy immediately before the prequels. And for that, it’s certainly worth a read.

Star Wars: The Living Force is available now in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats from Penguin Random House/Random House Worlds.

Disclaimer: A review copy of Star Wars: The Living Force was provided by the publisher. All opinions are the honest reactions of the author.