I was really excited when it was announced that John Jackson Miller would be writing a new Star Wars book. I’ve generally enjoyed all of Miller’s ventures in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. His Legends novel Kenobi remains one of my favorites to this day.

The Living Force gives fans a novel set before Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace but well after the events of the current publishing initiative set in The High Republic. The most intriguing aspect of it was the fact that it would feature several members of the Jedi Council. Wait, no, scratch that. It would feature all members of the Jedi Council.

A year or so before we see the whole Council in The Phantom Menace, we get them all on this adventure. The Jedi are pulling back from the Republic, reducing their occupied temples throughout the galaxy one by one. After Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi interact with some terrible would-be thieves on a trip on public transportation, they convince the Council that a trip is needed to the location of the latest temple being shut down — the planet Kwenn.

With the Jedi and the Republic pulling out of the system, pirates are licking their lips in preparation of taking over. What will happen when the full force (no pun intended) of the Jedi Council comes to Kwenn?

My favorite parts of this book were very thing involved with the Council. Getting more in-depth character portrayals of folks like Yarael Poof, Oppo Rancisis, and Saesee Tiin was fantastic. While the Council overall was the focus, there can be no question that the star of this book was Depa Billaba, who is best known for going on to become the master of Kanan Jarrus/Caleb Dume of Star Wars Rebels fame. Learning more about not only her history but also her character was a lot of fun.

We did get to spend a lot more time with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan than I was expecting, and they’re always an interesting story due to their different approaches on being a Jedi yet still being Master and Padawan. I was intrigued by how much of Mace Windu that we got in this one as well. Later this year, The Glass Abyss featuring Windu is coming.

The main focus of the book is a galaxy on the brink of chaos as the Jedi and Republic pull out, leaving star systems to fend for themselves. Throughout The High Republic, we’ve seen how the Jedi having temples on various planets in the Mid and Outer Rims has assisted them in integrating into the cultures and societies of the people they’re supposed to be serving. At some point, the Jedi and the Republic begin to pull away from their temples to save money. Sad and pathetic.

The challenge from Qui-Gon to get out “help one person” was tremendous. Qui-Gon was such a good Jedi, and everyone would have benefited had he been able to be on the Council and potentially shift some of their thinking in a slightly different direction.

I really wanted to love this book. I’m a big Jedi guy, and this one has a lot of Jedi in it. Unfortunately, I struggled to get through this book, and I think the reason lies solely with the villains of the book. Zilastra and the Riftwalkers just did not work for me. The names of the other villain organizations — like the Vile and the Staved Skulls — were always a “take me out of the book” moment, and I struggled with them throughout.

I don’t know what I could’ve wanted more from this book with it being focused on the Jedi Council and being set so close to The Phantom Menace. There were only so many directions for Miller to go.

Still, I liked this book. I like Jedi. This had a lot of them.

You can pick up the book here.