Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: DAWN OF THE JEDI: INTO THE VOID (spoilers)

Tim Lebbon’s first foray into the GFFA is a unique take on a lot of elements we’ve seen time and again in the SW universe. Building off the worlds created in the Dawn of the Jedi comics, Lebbon adds further detail to this ancient period of time while still making it feel inherently Star Wars-y.

First of all, I liked the juxtaposition of the past and present. Funny enough, using present tense for the past and past for the present was a pretty smart move, since we almost never see present tense in SW books. It was a cool way to show us everything we needed to know about Lanoree and the relationship between her and her brother. The flashbacks made Dal’s appearance late in the novel resonate much more than if he had gotten less buildup. One of the most interesting things about the novel is the relationship between the Brock siblings and how their experiences together so heavily affect their actions in the present. Lanoree is a bit of a loner due to how much of a burn she felt when Dal turned away from the Je’daii way, and Dal is utterly convinced that they were robbed of the experience to live on their original planets due to the way the Je’daii try to force the Force on him, no pun intended. Evan Lanoree begins to question the wisdom of the elder Je’daii after all she’s seen and how questionable their tactics are, especially in their goal to stop her brother. But in the end Dal’s drive to activate the hyper gate drives him mad, and Lanoree has the tough job of putting him down. It shows how far she’s come from her apprenticeship days that it’s even possible for her to kill her own brother. There is a sympathetic element to it, I think. It’s almost more of a mercy killing than anything else. I think Lebbon handled Lanoree’s character arc well so that this was an outcome that really fit her.

I really loved how well Lebbon used the setting here. Like I said, it fits right into the universe, but with a lot of little differences that indicate a much earlier point in time and development. Space travel is nowhere near as refined as it eventually will be, and a lot of the technology is far simpler than it will be as well. Some of the best settings were on Tython itself. We’ve seen a few of these places in the comic, but here Lebbon goes into even further detail when developing these places, especially the various temples when they show up in the past scenes. It was nice that he tied the book a bit into the first comic arc by including the massive Force Storm and a vision of Xesh.

Overall this was a pretty good book. I liked Tre Sana, and how his roguish exterior slowly faded as his inner goodness shined through. There wasn’t a whole lot of action in the book, but what action there was was enjoyable. I liked the use of various criminal and underworld elements as Lanoree and Tre tried to track down Dal and his Stargazer followers.

I give Into the Void an 8.95 out of 10 for a fun adventure novel that trod fairly new ground and had more than a few memorable characters.