Shatterpoint

This is one of the most emotionally intense Star Wars books I have read so far. Mace Windu is placed against an entire planet at war with it self; a senseless, bloody, and endless war. The book shows how even a Jedi can fail, suffer, hurt, and be left ragged. No other book that I've read made the Jedi seem so human, so fallible, and so imperfect. The story really made me respect Mace as a Jedi, from his fighting prowess to his strategic mind he is an opponent to be feared.

Maces struggle throughout his adventure made me want to fight and be more steadfast in every difficult aspect of my own life. When he feels pain and loss you feel it with him. When he exudes power it was as if I felt that power. The job the author did with the show more conveying emotions was amazing, even the minor characters have lives, hopes and fears of their own and they all seem so realistic that you empathize with their ups and downs.

Even though the events of the book are of course fictional, in a very real way it highlights the fact that war in itself is a pointless and futile action under any circumstance and that no matter who wins everyone looses in the end. This is in the simplest terms a very good read and one I would very much hope the average reader would not pass over just because it says Star Wars on the front, you don't need to be a dungeons and dragons playing geek to appreciate this book, if you have have some time I urge you to give it a try. show less

I haven't been keeping up with the Star Wars novels lately, but I had been curious about this one. It wasn't what I expected. A page-turner to be sure, with lots of fighting and action and light-sabery goodness, but there's something much deeper going on here.

Shatterpoint is set after Attack of the Clones. Mace Windu receives a troubling message from his former Padawan Depa Billaba. Now Mace must travel to the jungle world of Haruun Kal to find Depa and either save her or destroy her.

The thing that both impresses and disturbs me about the book is how it addresses one of the flaws of the Star Wars universe. In the movies, we see a galaxy at war. Over a million worlds. And yet the war is clean. Sterile. Ships pop out of existence in show more flashy explosions. Anonymous stormtroopers fall with bloodless blaster wounds. Even lightsabers leave cauterized, clean wounds. An entire world blows up, and Obi Wan Kenobi gets a headache. The horrors are there, but you never see them.

Stover shows us a world devastated by war. Depa Billaba was sent to help drive the separatists from Haruun Kal, and she's done so, but at what cost? The planet's people are divided, slaughtering one another in the jungles even after the galactic conflict has moved on.

Stover hammers the theme home. War is not a heroic band fighting their way past faceless enemies to blow up the Death Star and save the galaxy. It's watching your friends die of parasites and diseases, because you have no way of getting the basic medical treatment that could have saved them. It's a child stabbing a wounded soldier again and again, because that child has never known anything but war and hate. It's mutilating your enemies' bodies because you no longer see them as human. For Mace Windu, it's struggling to find the right path, the Jedi path, when all of your choices lead to darkness and death.

It's a powerful book. A little heavy-handed at times, perhaps. But I have a lot of respect for Stover for going beyond the flash-bang special effects and the relatively clean imagery of the movies and reminding readers that it ain't so. show less

The first half, directly tapping into Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, is very strong. The second half really ups the narrative complexity and frankly becomes too much Star Wars. 75% of the way in I felt like the novel really should be wrapping things up but it had too much story to tell that frankly was not that interesting. I am surprised this is considered one of the better Star Wars novels! That could be true, but it does not say much.

This is Stover's second addition to the Star Wars EU after TRAITOR. This is a fantastically dark book, regardless of its SW roots. This is a journey that ultimately defined Mace Windu as a Jedi whereas the movies did a lot to skim over his role. Picture HEART OF DARKNESS but with Jedi and you'll have a very accurate view of how this story unfolds.

While this is my least favorite SW novel by Matt Stover, it's still one of the best things I've ever read. The heartbreak involved with watching a Jedi Master, a man who has devoted his whole life to the Order and the greater workings of the Force, become utterly helpless as the Force seemingly abandons him is truly worth the price of admission.

It has its faults: the extended battle sequence show more toward the end being a glaring one to a slow reader like myself, but that doesn't stop it from becoming one of the best SW novels ever. show less

Star Wars Shatterpoint displays the more gritty side of the Clone Wars. It's full of deadly new creatures and locations with some pretty great battles. The story revolves around Jedi Master Mace Windu, who's former Padawan Depa Billaba has vanished into the jungles on Haruun Kal; the homeworld Mace barley remembers. Only Billaba's former master knows how to find her and so Mace plunges into a grulling trek through one of the most treacherous jungles in the galaxy in search of his once great pupil. But THIS jungle holds perhaps far more than even a Jedi Master can reckon with.

Matthew Stover does a brilliant job of bringing the Clone Wars raging to life with this novel, which also includes his short story "Equipment" (a Clone Wars short show more story). show less

Horrible book. When I say "horrible", I mean this is a truly heartbreaking awfully terrible book and what the author does to Star Wars lore is just gut-wrenchingly nasty.

First of all, the book is not about Mace Windu (whatever anyone else says). It's about Samuel L Jackson trying very very hard to be a jedi and ... well, just being Samuel L Jackson. Never at any point was the author able to separate the character from the actor. Windu - who is supposed to be one of the most self disciplined Jedi Masters in the galaxy - is essentially Shaft with force powers and a lightsaber in this book.

Secondly - and this is really the saddest part - the author does not at all understand the character of Mace's apprentice Depa Billaba. Depa is show more supposed to be one of the most enlightened minds in the order. She is both a Master Jedi AND head of the religion on her planet (equate her other religion with an order of super disciplined Buddhist monks), AND she has the discipline and practice to be one of only three people to ever master Vaapad. There is no way, NO WAY AT ALL, her character would end up in the mental state that she did in this book. Ever. Period. Done. Over.

Sorry Stover, but this was a total failure by Star Wars lore standards. Though I guess if you want a "Star Wars does action hero" sort of read...go ahead? show less

After an intriguing start where Mace learns that his former padawan, Depa, has possibly committed a mass murder on civilians, he sets out to find her. She hides in the jungles on a planet whose inhabitants have been at war long before there were galactic war. Even if Mace won’t face it, his beloved Republic is not perfect. Yet he tries his best to honor Jedi principles and help the helpless, no matter the odds:

“There had never been light bright enough to drive back darkness like this; Mace could only hope to make of himself a light bright enough to cut through it.” (p. 152)

And the odds just get worse and worse.

I didn’t always find Mace sympathetic, but he was interesting. The world and characters likewise. The humor sometimes show more seemed forced. And of course, there were lots of long descriptions of fights and battles. I found them a bit boring, but I knew that was what I went into with this book. My main gripe is with Depa. It felt to me like Mace’ thoughts about her took up a lot of space, but she never really got enough space as a character in her own right. show less