Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss is an Epic, Dangerous, Phenomenal Star Wars Adventure (Review)
A spoiler-free Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss book review.
I’m going to admit something — a Star Wars opinion — I’ve kept to myself for most of my long-running fandom: Mace Windu has never been a character in a galaxy far, far away I’ve particularly liked.
People have their reasons for liking Mace based on his appearances in the movies and in Legends novels, and I’m not here to judge. The purple lightsaber has always been, admittedly, very cool.
I blame Season 7 of The Clone Wars for some of my ill feelings — if you know you know — but I’m happy to say I’m feeling a little differently toward the Jedi Master now thanks to The Glass Abyss.
Steven Barnes’ novel — set in the aftermath of The Phantom Menace — paints a completely different picture of Mace Windu than we’re used to from the Star Wars prequel films in particular. And that’s a good thing, and something I think Star Wars books in general have a lot of freedom to do with characters primarily featured on the big screen first.
In this book, Qui-Gon Jinn has just died. Because the two were friends, Mace is still kind of struggling to adequately process that. So when he’s handed a message directly from the late Jedi Master asking him to complete an important mission on his behalf, he immediately goes to fulfill the task. And what a daunting task it is.
He finds himself on a devastated planet called Metagos, wedged between two sinister leaders on the verge of civil war. It’s not the kind of mission Mace would typically agree to. But he made a promise to a friend. And a Jedi keeps his promises.
What this book does best is go to great lengths to show that Mace Windu, often contrary to what we see on the screen, is a human being who feels his emotions deeply and honestly. He is forced to confront truths about his past and make decisions about who he wants to become. Above all else he is a master of the Force. But within that, he is also someone who cares about life, sentient or not, and will go out of his way to preserve it.
Steven Barnes portrays Mace as a complex, conflicted warrior on a journey of self-discovery when he wasn’t aware he even needed such a thing. He may not have been fully resistant to the mission at hand, but he does struggle tremendously throughout it. And isn’t that the point of missions like this — to struggle when we didn’t before, in order to discover areas in which we desperately need to grow?
And that’s a message that makes this book really fascinating. Because we’re looking at a character who we’ve always viewed as powerful and borderline invincible, and yet he maybe barely survives the story because of the unfamiliar forces he’s up against.
I view Mace Windu differently now than I did a week ago when I hadn’t read this book. To be able to encourage that drastic change in perspective on a character that has existed for over 25 years is quite an impressive feat. Not to mention Barnes is an intriguing writer who uses his own life experiences to challenge our perceptions of a lot of things we thought we knew about in Star Wars — some people might not like that, but I do. A franchise of nearly 50 years needs to prompt us to think about things every now and then.
The Glass Abyss is an isolated adventure that doesn’t seemingly have a lot of impact on the galaxy outside of it, but I would argue we need more stories like this too. Not every Star Wars story has to be galaxy-altering. A story can be good even when the things that happen after it go on as if this story didn’t happen.
What’s important to remember is that even if the galaxy itself doesn’t change after a particular story is told, its main characters always will. I will not interact with Mace Windu the same way when I revisit stories that feature him in the future. That matters. A character-driven story is just as impactful as one that moves the overarching plot forward.
You’ll love this book if you like the prequels, magic in Star Wars, heroes confronting their pasts, warriors fighting for a cause, wars between powers neither of which are particularly good, and exploring new places in the galaxy we’ve never seen before. If you already like Mace Windu, I think you’ll find this book particularly enjoyable. If you don’t, who knows — you might come out the other side liking him a little more than you did before.
Star Wars Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss by Steven Barnes is available now wherever you get your Star Wars books.
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