I love Jedi: Fallen Order. Apart from Battlefront II’s campaign, it’s to date the only video game I’ve ever played all the way through — and the only one I did not need to ask for help with thankyouverymuch. Hearing that Cal, Cere, Merrin and Greez would be appearing in a novel set between Fallen Order and the upcoming Survivor felt like the next natural step. Their in-game story was already so narratively driven. Why not translate that to the page in order to tell a brand new story?

In Jedi: Battle Scars, author Sam Maggs blows absolutely any preconceived notion I might have had about the project right out of the water, and delivers one of my favourite Star Wars books to date.

The story follows the Mantis crew, a few years after the events of Fallen Order, as they travel the galaxy finding small ways to stick it to the Empire, each seeking justice for all they’ve lost, and purpose in an uncertain future. Things get more complicated when they meet Fret, a non-human looking to defect from the Empire. Fret tells them she knows a job in need of a crew, one that will seriously hamper the Imperials plans. Unfortunately, things get complicated when it turns out the Inquisitors are also very interested in this mission…

As far as premises go, Battle Scars has a fairly straightforward one, and this is a point massively in its favour. With such a clear mission laid out for the characters, it allows Maggs time to really give each member of the Mantis crew their due. Cere and Greez get their time of course, but the book very wisely splits the point of view mostly between Cal and Merrin.

With Cal, we get a lot of time in his head reckoning with everything we saw him go through in the game, as well as the toll the last few years have taken on him. But Merrin. Oh Merrin. If you came out of Fallen Order wishing you could have gotten just a little more of her, Battle Scars delivers in spades. She is messy, she is angry, she struggles, but she also has so much heart that she actively fights not to lose, and I love her so much more now than I did before reading the book.

My main hesitation going in was that Star Wars books aimed at adults tend to be very action-driven, something that will almost always cause me to zone out. With Battle Scars, however, Maggs manages to make the action sequences read like you’re playing a video game on story mode (I want to attribute this to her experience with game writing, but I’m not 100% what that entails so I could be wrong). They’re breezy, easy to follow, and if you’ve played Fallen Order, you can picture what’s going on extremely clearly.

As for the biggest surprise in the book: not only is there romance…but this book is actually steamy? As steamy as I’m sure a Star Wars book is even allowed to be, but steamy nonetheless. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. The romance reader in me was so excited by this turn of events, and I would like to take this moment to say more of this energy going forward!

For those eagerly anticipating Jedi: Survivor, Battle Scars will more than hold you over, as it is a delightfully self-contained mission with the Mantis crew that allows all of them the chance to grow and push forward, setting them up for where they’ll be when we next meet up with them.

Jedi: Battle Scars hits shelves March 7. Special thank you to Random House Worlds for the advance copy for review purposes.

After the success of Jedi: Fallen Order and the way fans connected with the crew of the Stinger Mantis, a sequel seemed like a no-brainer. While Jedi: Survivor is on its way April 2023, the first sequel is instead the novel Jedi: Battle Scars, out March 7, which bridges the 5-year gap between the first and second game. Written by Sam Maggs, Battle Scars provides a fast-paced, winding adventure exploring the game’s main crew, as their goals change and character arcs resolve lingering aspects from the first game, leaving interpersonal drama a highlight of Maggs’ work, though overall the book can’t escape certain interquel traps.

Picking up a few years after Jedi: Fallen Order, Jedi: Battle Scars finds the crew of the Mantis doing what they do best, sticking it to the Haxion Brood to get the crime syndicate off their backs as they continue to whittle away at the Empire one small, small victory at a time. There’s an ease to their work together, a group comfortable with what they do, and how each of them fits into a need on every mission, but the cracks are beginning to show, as each member is beginning to question their collective and individual path forward. Their latest mission has its hitches, but nothing more surprising and catalytic than a defecting Imperial with mission for them to stop the Empire from getting its cold hands-on technology which could change the future of the fight. The defector’s presence injects a fissure into a situation already cracking at the seams the team hasn’t been willing to acknowledge, as each one has different ideas on how they want to proceed with their fight against the Empire, and the resulting interpersonal drama is almost a more difficult battle for them than the Empire and Brood bounty hunters they often deal with. These conflicts are the heart of Battle Scars and often the most interesting and well-written parts of the novel, enduring me to certain characters I didn’t connect with in the game or providing much needed depth and exploration the game couldn’t provide. It won’t leave players of Fallen Order and upcoming sequel Survivor out to not have experience the story here, as it's focused on bridging the 5 years in between, but those looking to spend more time with these characters will be richly rewarded.

If you’ve read my review of Fallen Order, you would’ve noticed I wasn’t the biggest fan of Cal Kestis. I do believe Cameron Monaghan acted in the role well, but by the end of the game my feelings did not improve, especially as Cere Junda, the Jedi Master who rescues him at the game’s opening from the Inquisitorious, had a deeper, more complex emotional journey and far more interesting story overall. I know I’m probably in the smaller percentile about Cal, but Maggs’ writing does a ton to adjust my views on the impulsive, eternally optimistic, do-gooder Jedi Knight. By the end of Battle Scars, I didn’t think of Cal as grating as I did by the end of Fallen Order, and while it helps clarify some of his emotional journey in the game, in the end my overall feelings didn’t change much. But the fact they adjusted at all was important, as it was clear from the opening fun segment of Cal hopping between little asteroids to infiltrate a base, I would end up actually enjoying reading from his POV. The earnestness is still a bit much for my liking, but it feels much more acceptable now after hearing more of his internal reactions to the various situations in the book, like how it explores his desire to never put others in danger and how they react to it. And there’s an added bonus of the cute little BD-1 on his shoulder, their friendship, easy rapport, and understanding of one another is one of the sweetest aspects of the book. Heck, at one point BD-1 wears a camera that everyone describes like a cute little hat and yes, he often manages to steal a scene, helping Cal in the process a few times as well. Overall, it makes me interested to see where Cal’s personal journey will go in Survivor.

If anyone felt underserved in Fallen Order, it was Merrin, a Nightsister who survived General Grievous’ attack on Dathomir during the Clone Wars and, after Cal helped her take down a dark Jedi who undermined her way of life afterwards, joins the crew of the Mantis. I wished for more time with her in the game in hopes to explore more of her time alone, taking over the Nightbrothers, dealing with Malicos, and now being separated from her home. Battle Scars addresses everything I had hoped, giving Merrin the novel’s biggest and most important character arc as she struggles with finding the fire inside after being so removed from her home, as well as the survivor’s guilt roiling inside everyday. She’s a fascinating character with a fascinating story and Battle Scars does her justice at every corner, exploring these lingering threads and pushing the character forward in sometimes surprising ways. Her interactions with the defector are among some of the spiciest romance I’ve yet to read in a Star Wars book, and while it’s nothing graphic, the descriptions of feelings and the dialogue shared by the characters is both tender and full of fire, as the two bring out some instinctual tendencies in one another, shared traumas and life experiences bringing out the best in one another to push through the obstacles in their hearts, minds, and physically in front of them. It's refreshing such focus on romance and connection centers on a queer relationship, giving such representation a big stage to be on and Maggs doesn't waste it, using it to add even more layers to Merrin's ultimate arc in the novel; It certainly makes me less worried about a potential Merrin/Cal pairing, though I hope the game can afford her just as much nuance with her identity even if they go down that route. When the full truth of the defector’s story and her reasons for requesting the Mantis’ crews help become clear, the remaining journey Merrin goes on serves her character well and puts her in an interesting place for Survivor. I hope the game can keep up this amazing work, as Battle Scars is worth a read alone for Merrin’s story.

As I mentioned earlier, Cere and her story are where I’d have preferred the game’s had in focus, so you can imagine I quite enjoyed her sections of the book as well, as she has the most radical idea for the future of the crew and their mission. Still dealing with her perceived failures with her ex-student and ex-Inquisitor Trilla, Cere is looking for a chance to make up for her actions and avoid giving into the dark side she tapped into to help survive Vader at the end of the first game. Part of that mindset puts her on the path to bowing out of the fight itself, focusing rather on ensuring a wealth of information is available for those who will fight long after she’s dead. Cal wants to continue sticking to the Empire until he takes it down. Merrin wants to take it down, burning it to the ground. And Greez is growing weary and worried about their luck running out. Cere’s mindset is one of many about to break the straining family threads of the crew, though she’s the leader, so as much as she’s eager to put her plans into motion, she remains level-headed as tension rise and everyone’s plans come out. How she manages the group, and her own desires, leads both to growth for the team but also strife resulting in a lasting wound which could impact some of the story in Jedi: Survivor. In a way, her parts rekindle my feelings regarding her being the superior main character for the Jedi series, though the ship has long since sailed so at the very least I’m interested to see how her choices continue to put her on a different path than the rest of the team…and who, if anyone, decides she might have it right or at least help her in her goals.


Overall, I really enjoyed the pace and Sam Maggs writing, as while the action was a little too heavy at parts for my tastes since it often felt like reading a game I could be playing, the balance of character introspection and plot movement kept me intrigued until the final page. Characters were more relatable from how natural and uncouth some of their dialogue read, which extended into their thoughts as well, like Merrin would be jumbled from her interactions with the defector, and while this might sometimes make it feel more modern, it seems fitting for these characters as we've known them so far. The pace was both to the novel's benefit but also its detriment, as while it's quick length (only 255 pages) is full of action and no real dull moments, plus plenty of depth in character arcs, it makes it seem like Battle Scars rushes to its finale, where the final villain reads like a final boss encounter, though also lacking the development or time to make them seem important enough to be considered it in the first place. I did appreciate the fact Maggs worked in ways to sort of make fun of the game, or rather wink and nod to the experiences of players via characters mulling over how Cal must be climbing around or parkouring around an environment, was a distinct delight to read, acknowledging what we were missing out on by reading this story over playing it (truly making it clear to me of her past in writing video games, like the stellar Marvel's Spider-Man). As I mentioned earlier, the novel never quite escapes feeling like one could easily pick up Jedi: Survivor and not feel like they missed out on much, as I am sure is by design considering there's a likelihood more people will buy the game than a novel so why relegate a big shift in story to something most fans might not choose enjoy, but it means Battle Scars, while enjoyable and worth a read, doesn't feel like it does much other than push the characters where they need to be in the game. I still believe this book was necessary and I am very glad we got it, but the knowledge it's set up this way was hard to ignore while reading.

Jedi: Battle Scars by Sam Maggs should be a must-read for all fans of the Stinger Mantis crew, and its short length means most other Star Wars fans will find a quick experience to enjoy, though gamers who pass won't find themselves feeling like they probably missed much despite the depth the novel goes.