Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars

Sam Maggs

Mar 2023 · Sold by Random House Worlds

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Cal Kestis leads the Stinger Mantis crew on an adventure set between Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the highly anticipated Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Cal Kestis has built a new life for himself with the crew of the Stinger Mantis. Together, Cal’s crew has brought down bounty hunters, defeated Inquisitors, and even evaded Darth Vader himself. More important, Merrin, Cere, Greez, and faithful droid BD-1 are the closest thing Cal has had to a family since the fall of the Jedi Order. Even as the galaxy’s future grows more uncertain by the day, with each blow struck against the Empire the Mantis crew grows more daring.

On what should be a routine mission, they meet a stormtrooper determined to chart her own course with the help of Cal and the crew. In exchange for help starting a new life, the Imperial deserter brings word of a powerful, potentially invaluable tool for their fight against the Empire. And even better, she can help them get to it. The only catch—pursuing it will bring them into the path of one of the Empire’s most dangerous servants, the Inquisitor known as the Fifth Brother.

Can the Imperial deserter truly be trusted? And while Cal and his friends have survived run-ins with the Inquisitors before, how many times can they evade the Empire before their luck runs out?

Ratings and reviews

The first half of the book is poorly written fanfic, with lots of repetitive wording and high school-level writing tropes. The second half is less cringey, but also way more boring. You can often see where the writer is alluding to a specific mechanic seen in Jedi: Fallen Order, and not in a good way, as it often detracts from the writing. I'd recommend just reading a summary instead, as there were only a few points that appear to be relevant for Jedi: Survivor (this review written prior to release of the game).

The author is incredibly talented and managed to engross me in a story I wasn't particularly interested in. if I could give 5 stars to the author alone, I would. The wiring style, which I largely attribute to the characters in play and their broader storyline and past characterizations, left a bit to be desired. It feels like the author is far more talented than this and it was saddening to experience that. The story itself is where my 3 stars come from. Frankly, I wasn't a fan. I'm a star wars fan, read nearly all the books, and this just fell flat when compared to nearly all the other novels and TV storytelling. It wasn't rushed which I liked (props to the author again!), but this fascination with this time period (and Cal) is exhausting. In isolation, this story would be fun! In context...not so much, no. Author: please write more! Throw your hat in the High Republic arena and you have my full support.

I loved all the mentions the author made about things from the first video game. They truly know their stuff. I did find it a little odd that Cal never used his ability to slow someone in any of the fights but that might just be me. This book does have more romance in it than I would have figured but if you are into that enjoy lol. I'm just stoked to get more content about these characters xD.

About the author

Sam Maggs is a bestselling writer of books, comics, and videogames, including Marvel Action: Captain Marvel, The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope, Tell No Tales, and Marvel’s Spider-Man. You can usually find her as host at comic conventions and for geeky networks like the Nerdist. A Canadian in Los Angeles, she misses Coffee Crisp and bagged milk.