John Ostrander

Final story arc starts with the bang - Rakata arrived in the Tython system and established their foothold, conflict rages for quite some time but it seems that both combatants are evened out for the moment so war and destruction wont be finished any time soon.
While Jedi managed to repel the direct attack on Tython they are aware that sheer size of Rakata's army will defeat them in the end. So they decide to strike at the heart of the invaders, strike force led by Xesh begins the attack and things seem to be going in their favor, but Rakata seem to have few more tricks up their sleeves.

Battle scenes are gorgeous, especially situations where it is visible how new weapons introduced by Xesh take toll on the Jedi. Based on the Dark side of the Force (only one that Rakata utilize) they start to drain the Jedi and cause unbalance that makes them ever more pliable to the Rakata machinations (imagine hundreds of dark blades so like one wielded by Elric of Melninbone used to defeat the very evil that empowers them - great, right :))

I wont go into more details because of spoilers but as in every good action adventure story there are twists and turns, betrayals and redemption at the end. I especially liked the actions of the ancient Kwa and the role of Tython the planet (I like the parallels with W40K and Old Ones from that universe).

Art is gorgeous (as was in volumes #1 and #2). Only thing I did not like is that this was final chapter in the story about Jedi origins. I truly hope somebody picks this up and further develops it.

Highly recommended to fans of action adventure and SWKOTOR-like stories.… (more)

Second story arc of Dawn of the Jedi starts with Xesh getting sent out to Bogan in order to meditate on the balance of the Force. While he slowly starts to understand the point of Force balance he gets involved in years long conflict between the Daegen Lok, mystic and general exiled to Bogan because of his inner pitch black darkness and Masters of Tython.

Unwillingly Xesh becomes an ace in the hole for Lok - this starts the series of events that threaten with newly ignited system war. Driven crazy by the visions in which he saw Xesh-like warriors destroying the Tython system Lok aims to raise his own army and rule the Tython system in order to fortify it and defeat the incoming threat.

And in all of this chase around Rakatan's finally managed o infiltrate Tython system. Gaining access to Tython Jedi, Rakatan spy manages to home in their armada.

Art as always is great, everything I said for volume 1 is true for this issue too. Story itself is still highly action oriented with battles in truly fantastic environments. Finally we start to know more about the Despot War and how it affected the Tython Jedi's and the way they look at use of the Force in the conflict. I have to admit I truly like their pragmatic approach to use of martial arts and art of war. So like SWKOTOR era and so unlike their descendants that became extremely tied up in red tape they could not save themselves.

Good story arc, highly recommended to fans of action adventure and SWKOTOR-like stories.… (more)