Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover
in which war is discussed at length
My rating: tentative 5/5
Pub Date: June 3, 2003
Legends/Canon: Legends
Timeline: 22 BBY
Welcome back to the Star Wars Book Club! Today we’re going to talk about Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover. This review will be entirely spoiler free, so read on at your leisure.
I was not prepared for this book, and that’s why I ended up liking it so much. This novel says right on the cover that it’s A Clone Wars Novel, but it’s less about the Clone Wars as we know it, and more about the horrors of war in general. This book gets dark in some places, and the violence is a little on the graphic side, but all of the hard passages to read hammer home the main point of the book: war is gruesome and there is no right/easy way to resolve it.
This is the problem that Mace Windu is facing again and again as he’s sent on a solo mission to his home world Haruun Kal, where he intends to find his old Padawan, now Jedi Master, Depa Billaba, and rescue her from the jungle.
While trying to find Depa, Mace is thrust unwittingly into the ongoing war happening on Haruun Kal between the ancestral people of the planet (Korunnai) and the new militia (Balawai). Both sides are unerringly ruthless to each other, and if that wasn’t enough the jungle is basically a living thing that knows no rules or bounds. In order to get through the jungle and find Depa, Mace ends up with a group of teenagers as guides: Nick, Chalk, Besh, and Lesh.
These teenagers have been fighting in this war as long as they’ve been alive and it shows. They seem almost heartless, but mostly they’re lost. They don’t know what a peaceful life is because they’ve only ever seen death and torture and violence. Matthew Stover did these characters justice, especially our main sidekick, Nick.
Nick is the leader of his band of teenagers and ends up being Mace’s main guide through the jungle. He’s also a character I now really want to see on screen. His character growth throughout the book was superb, which is awesome considering he was also the main comic relief of the otherwise really heavy plot. Nick has been through some stuff and watching him try to explain that to Mace was a little heartbreaking actually. I loved the dynamic between the two, though. They are constantly learning from each other and the bond they form seems almost like the bond between Master and Padawan.
Another character we meet in the jungle is Kar Vastor. He is, simply put, darkness. He kills without a second thought, and he’s so deeply entrenched in the dark Force of the planet that Mace can’t even sense him through the Force. Kar is definitely a driving force behind the intense violence of this war, and one of the reasons that Depa is in such bad shape when Mace finally gets to see her. Being around that much darkness isn’t good for anyone, and Depa’s state is a reflection of the horrors of war.
Speaking of Depa, her character is the first time I’ve consciously come across some big discrepancies between Canon and Legends content.
It was fun to read this book and see into the lives of Jedi that aren’t Anakin and Obi-Wan, and it makes me want to read more books like this. But the biggest problem with that is that these other more minor characters have different sets of lore surrounding them. Depa’s story is quite different in current canon, which doesn’t make this legend’s version less interesting to me, but it does affect how I felt by the end of the book, which is spoilers, so I’ll have to quit while I’m ahead here.
At this juncture, I want to give major credit to Matthew Stover for his ability to write action scenes. There are some pretty intense fight sequences in this book, and I think Stover writes them well. For the most part, I could follow along and see the action in my head as it was happening on the page. What made this even more fun was getting to imagine Samuel L. Jackson doing all these things, and let me tell you there are some pretty crazy stunts that he pulls in this book.
The only problem I had with the action is that by the end of the book it just didn’t end. The last fight sequence(s) just kept going and going and then when it finally ended, it just stopped. It was a rush there at the end to get everything resolved, and while I think the plot was solid, I lost track a little bit of what was happening because so much was going on at once.
Lastly, it wouldn’t be a review of Shatterpoint if I didn’t talk about what shatterpoints are. I was unaware that this Force gift existed until I learned about this book. Basically, a Jedi who sees shatterpoints is sensing a moment in time or a specific person or a way to do something that will directly affect the course of the future. It’s compared to knowing the exact spot in which to hit a gemstone to make it break into pieces, and that imagery is used quite effectively throughout the book as Mace uses the skill to try and figure out what choice to make. It’s fascinating to view the world through a shatterpoint and to see Mace do just that made for some really good writing and reading.
Lastly, lastly, I mentioned in my most recent review (Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston) that a lot of Star Wars books seem to have some sort of special formatting in them. Shatterpoint gave us sections from Mace Windu’s private journal. In these sections we changed from third person to first person and got to see exactly how Mace was feeling in this dark, war entrenched home planet of his. I loved these sections, and not just because it was easy to read them in Samuel L. Jackson’s voice. It’s always interesting to see into the thoughts and motivations of characters and doing that by way of journal passages was very clever.
Quote Corner
Because for some reason none of the quotes I like fit in anywhere above.
“All the Jedi discipline in the galaxy cannot entirely overpower the human heart.” ~Mace Windu
“Mace Windu looked like he might know of uncertainty and vulnerability by reputation, but had never met either of them face-to-face.”
“I am neither a scientist nor a philosopher. I’m a Jedi. I don’t have to explain reality. I just have to deal with it.” ~Mace Windu
Thanks for reading and being part of the Star Wars Book Club! I hope you enjoyed this review of Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover.
I’m working on the Februrary reading list, expect to see that in the next few days.
If you’re new here, check out my new and improved Master Rankings List to see what books I’ve already read.
Now go read or watch some Star Wars! MTFBWY
I did not know what shatterpoints were either -- thanks for the education!