An incredible piece of writing that utterly transcends its roots, while also understanding their potential more so than anyone else currently playing in this particular sandbox. An ethereally beautiful story of loss, betrayal, and meaning, not to mention tea shops, droids in hats, and action scenes that absolutely slap. Candon has done a dangerous thing here, because the implied potential of what this means for franchise writing is a great and terrible burden. I can’t wait to see what she, and those inspired by her, do with it.

I haven’t finished it yet but so far it’s definitely a different kind of story but it’s really good and I like the characters in it

Pros: Refreshing alternate timeline with SOME cool Japanese “aesthetics” and great character ideas. Cons: Not well written. Plot was pointless at times. Some characters are pretty cringe. This review pains me to write because I was really excited when I bought this book. I liked the idea of the alternate lore and the Ronin type Sith Lord. It had tons of potential but I don’t feel the author’s heart was in it. Most of the time I found the characters doing uncharacteristic things just to force the plot a long. Perhaps this could have made a decent short story but it really feels like much of the content was just forced and rushed in to extend the length of the book. Though I’d love to hear more about the Ronin’s past, this story ultimately curbs his uniqueness to a very boring and uninteresting plot filled with lame characters making strange decisions throughout.