Lit Books Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade - July 2023

Your first thought is something that never crossed my mind but I think it really works

 

@Jedi Ben
It's just that what you says was THAT inspiring.

 

Yes, the dark side says you should have that whiskey after that lager, nothing will go wrong...

 

Am I Sith after all?

 

Spoiler

Scythe is seemingly being used since the early days of the Inquisitorius. Hope that Dawn of Rebellion will provide more information about this ship.

 

Not that far in to it....but...

Spoiler

Just more evidence of the incompetence of the Jedi Order. A training philosophy of work of a checklist, do what your told,. don;t question, and we don't care how you feel about it.

 

Yea, by the last 2 chapters you've lost sympathy and thought you've made your bed. You figure it won't end well.

 

Listen, any book that has more information about Inquisitor Sarah Michelle Gellar is a win in my book.

 

I agree. We know, up till, now VERY little about them. It's nice to get some info on their origins.

 

Also:

Spoiler: Ahsoka Ep 1-2 spoiler

We're getting them active after the fall of the Empire and the Inquisitorius.

 

Anthony Stewart Head is not busy, they could make him like some sort of robot mentor for the Inquisitors!

 

The Inquisitorous does not lack for snippy, sarcastic droids.

 

Spoiler

Iskat indeed became a monster in the end, but still there were no legitimate moral dilemma for her. Freeing those who looked down at her, lied to her and even outright despised her, following their lead with trying to hide (they aready failed once with it) and rebuild the Jedi Order (its dogmas were already compromised for her) would've been not only extremely dangerous for Iskat's newfound family, but would've mean death for her self-esteem and constant suffering til the end of her days. In terms of Klefan's rather silly metaphor, for Iskat it was not a choice between candies and vegetables, but between alcohol and trash.

 

Iskat is a really tragic figure, probably one of the most in SW honestly. She really never had anything and by the time she does in a way you can't sympathize with her. Heck, Anakin has a better end than her regardless of being Vader for years and all that entailed.

 

I just started this book.

I have some issues with the warning. Namely I don't the authors description of her survival of their suicide attempt as a 'failure'. I would prefer to use the term 'survived'. Failed is a negative term, which I don't think those who survived should think about themselves.

as to the book itself.

Spoiler

the jedi are kinda jerks, I am just at the arena battle. They seem to just not really like the main character, who seems to be a battle master in training. Which also brings up a question, do the jedi not have battle masters in canon? Or blade masters?

 

Spoiler

She is not.

 

Little over 1/2 way through...

Spoiler

they just rescued the tiny hacker and Mace is pulling his "just do what your told and don't ask questions" nonsense. The story just seems to be beating us over the head with the hypocrisy of the Jedi Order..."there is no ignorance, there is knowledge"...but only if the Jedi want you to have that knowledge. So in effect they keep members ignorant.

This really just makes it very clear there are many who would have been better off telling the Council to shove off and leave the order.

 

Spoiler

Even though (being a Fett clan's fan) I do not like Mace pretty much, he is too often depicted as unsympathetic jerk in recent years with TCW season 7, TotJ and now this book, even though after Iskat's first mission as Knight he seemed more like a reasonable authority figure, but soon after it changed.

Same goes with Jocasta Nu, I start to suspect that someone in the Story Group has grudge against librarians. At least Iskat's conflict with her was the opposite of Grand Inquisitor's situation.

 

About done...and there is another thing that stands out to me...

Spoiler

Heezo was a padawan who failed his trials. I would think that would mean he was as trained as Obi Wan in TPM or Ahsoka when she left the order. That would mean he was well versed in the Force...so why would it just go away? I get that Ahsoka said in The Mandalorian that if you don't use the Force then eventually it will just sort of not work anymore. But if you have the training to make it to the trials then I would assume you know enough to keep your connection to it through meditation, by using it in ways you already know....and maybe even trying out new things with it?

 

I think he just gave up. That was my reading

 

But why?? Think about it...

Spoiler

sure he failed as a Jedi...but go become a cop or bounty hunter or some other person out there taking down bad guys. Keep that connection to the Force and still help people. And what's gonna happem? Mace gonna come and tell you to stop using the Force?

Mace - "I havre come to order you to stop using the Force without the Jedi Orders permission."
Heezo - "Whatevah...I do what I want!! You ain't the boss of me"

How man 'failed Jedi' could have been out there who may have been ignored by the Empire?

 

Spoiler

You know, I rather like the way Mace Windu is being portrayed. I simply never got the feeling of a flawless Jedi coming from him, and therefore the idea of him being a universally liked, unquestionably admired Jedi didn't quite work for me. He always struck me powerful, no doubt, but also as arrogant, insensitive, inflexible and dismissing.

During the PT, I saw him as the personification of things gone wrong in the Jedi Order, without being a bad person for it. I feel these traits make him much more interesting, because he's certainly not evil: he's just convinced that his views are the correct ones, and that people in the right should be agreeing with them. And he does have a group of respected Jedi that agree with him, at every turn. I understand the way Iskat saw him, and I understand the way Mace saw Iskat, which is something I feel it's a great strength of this book.

 

Spoiler

I agree that Mace was always portrayed as flawed, at it was brilliantly written in Stover's books that Windu views himself as the main protector of civilization. But in the last years he is portrayed less as entitled paladin and more like careerist (his relationship with Dooku and the Council) and dismissive jerk-boss (in cases of Ahsoka and Iskat when they asked fair questions, but he refused to answer in insulting way).

Spoiler

With all his bravado about not belonging to the hierarchy on his homeplanet, Heezo could just be not strong willed enough to start a potentially dangerous journey on his own and chose an easy way with staying in the Temple.

 

Or...

Spoiler

was he offered the job at the Temple so the Jedi could keep him close and actively discourage him from using the Force on his own?