Star Wars: Shatterpoint: The Essential Legends Collection Book Review
“Star Wars: Shatterpoint” is a jarring Legends novel.
Written by Matthew Stover, “Star Wars: Shatterpoint” is a Mace Windu centric story that takes place after the events of ‘Attack of the Clones.” Windu is tasked with finding his missing former Padawan Depa Billaba on the planet Haruun Kal (which also happens to be Windu’s homeworld). It seems Depa has fallen in with the local Koruunai guerilla group there as the planet has become engulfed by feuds between the Balwai (the offworlders and settlers that run the Separatist planet) and the Koruunai (the indigenous population). Has Depa lost her mind or gone to the dark side? It remains to be seen. Upon arrival, Mace finds himself in trouble as he gets caught in the war, encounters horrors in the jungle, meets the mysterious Kar Vastor, and even finds himself doing and feeling things that aren’t very Jedi like. Problems only worsen for Windu as the war begins to escalate.
As an added bonus, readers get a prologue by George Lucas along with a bonus story by Stover titled “Equipment” which revolves around starboard bubble-turret gunner Clone Trooper CT-6/774 during the sub-orbital action on Haruun Kal.
I’m all for Star Wars novels exploring other genres and or authors or writers putting their own stamp on their SW stories, but the one element that should always remain is that it should always FEEL like Star Wars. At no point did I ever feel that “Star Wars: Shatterpoint” felt like a SW novel. This is an extremely grim and violent story about a war torn planet, survival, and a broken Jedi that feels more like “Apocalypse Now”/”Heart Of Darkness” than anything else. That may sound intriguing on paper (especially given that George Lucas himself almost once made an adaptation himself), but it does not mesh well with the SW universe. It feels so far removed from what we have seen in the films, shows, comics and other novels. This is also most certainly not a book that kids could read due to its brutal content. I can’t say I’ve ever said that about any SW story before. Sure, there’s some levity with the annoying character of Nick Rostu, but that humor fell flat.
“Shatterpoint” does little for the character of Mace Windu as well. While we learn about his attachment to his former Padawan Depa Billaba and his various abilities ala the titular Shatterpoint and his Vaapad fighting style (sometimes even in a journalistic style), much of the book is story and action driven. We see how the planet Harrun Kal affects him, but we don’t really learn enough about him still. He’s still the serious, stone faced, skilled Jedi that we have known from the start. Perhaps Stover was limited in what he was able to do with Windu, but who is to say.
The story itself also drags on and on. It takes forever to get to Depa in the story and by the time we do, she is barely featured. Instead, there’s far too much focus on Kar Vastor who is an overpowered local guerilla fighter with force abilities that comes across as a prototypical foil book character that wouldn’t work in the movie or TV universe.
Overall Thoughts: “Star Wars: Shatterpoint” has developed a fanbase since its release in 2003, but I couldn’t connect with the story at all.
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