Max Nocerino 
Uncover the redemption of Mace Windu in Star Wars: The Glass Abyss. Dive into a thrilling adventure set after The Phantom Menace.
Mace Windu has never been my favorite character. Still, Steven Barnes paints him in a brand-new light in an adventure immediately after The Phantom Menace and perhaps redeems this controversial character. It’s time to explore Star Wars: Mace Windu – The Glass Abyss.
I’ve always been critical of Jedi Master Mace Windu. I felt that his actions in Revenge of the Sith indirectly led to the downfall of the Galactic Republic. His treatment of Anakin Skywalker over the years leading up to ROTS was a build-up that finally exploded fatally that fateful night in the Chancellor’s office. I found his treatment of the lost soul, Jedi Padawan Iskat Akaris, in the novel Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade extremely disturbing. His actions, which involved trusting and reprimanding her for every mistake, ultimately contributed to her descent to the dark side.
THE GLASS ABYSS
So, with two strikes, I was ready for the final pitch to strike Mace out entirely. Then I read The Glass Abyss by Steven Barnes. The novel begins at the end of The Phantom Menace, during Qui-Gon Jinn’s funeral. It was quickly established that Mace and Qui-Gon were excellent friends, and Mace finds Naboo’s lush, verdant landscape, not the place for him to mourn. Steven Barnes’s characterization of Mace is impressive and reflects much of what has been written and established about his character in the past. He is stoic, a man of few words and few emotions. He truly loved Qui-Gon and is sad at his passing.
Shortly after his death, a special pre-recorded message is given to Mace. It is from Qui-Gon, and it was to be played in the event of his death (which happened). It is Qui-Gon, post-harmoniously, collecting a debt from Mace in the form of a favor. Qui-Gon never gets a chance to complete an essential mission in the Outer Rim, and Mace is instructed to finish what he started. Mace, of course, agrees and heads to the planet Metagos alone.
JOURNEY TO METAGOS
Metagos was devastated 50 years prior by a solar storm, and all of its inhabitants either died from radiation poisoning or retreated deep underground to form cities that would soon become overrun with criminal elements. Mace needs to find a woman who saved Qui-Gon’s life and to who Qui-Gon indebted a favor. So, in a sense, this story is a favor within a favor, like a Russian nesting doll.
My first acknowledgment of the “redemption” (at least in my eyes) of Master Windu was when I got to read his inner voice. I was impressed by how intelligent Mace was. He thinks about many scientific and philosophical questions that I think of, and one of Mace’s hobbies is speculating how life started on particular planets. He also was a fan of Dejarik, the Star Wars version of chess, and deferred, humbly, to Qui-Gon’s superior skill in the game. Mace also has an exciting view of the Force that starkly contrasts what I believed about him. He says that Jedi can experience anger, but the crucial thing is for the anger to drive them toward honorable actions.
It’s a common belief among Star Wars fans, but it’s not often acknowledged that anger can be harnessed for good, despite many Jedi attempting to repress any signs of the dark side. This is a solid homage to Mace’s invented lightsaber form Vapaad, which he completed with Sora Bulq, a Jedi turned Dark Jedi from Legends. I like that Steven did his homework before writing this novel. He does not overload the reader with re-canonized lore. He is subtle and only gives a few spoonfuls at a time, and I feel this is a superior strategy.
A MYSTERIOUS WARRIOR
When Mace arrives on Metagos, he quickly disguises his identity as a Jedi and builds a reputation for himself as a deadly, mysterious warrior known simply as the Solver. His role in Metagos is to help free the native inhabitants of Metagos, the Sa’ad people, and the Hillian spider worms. His “handler” is the Sa’ad woman who saved Qui-Gon’s life, KinShan Nightbird. The mission is to infiltrate the criminal organizations of Metagos’s crime lords, Chulok and Sybil. Chulok and Sybil are fierce rivals, and there is a cold war between the two, with tension crackling strongly in the air.
The duo of Chulok and Sybil are wonderfully unique individuals. Chulok is a conjoined twin warrior, integrating both a familiar Rodian species and a new species called Faraki. Sybil is an enormous insect who births many children and serves as her enforcer. Mace needs to win their respect, find out how to eliminate them and free the Sa’ad and Hillians from their stranglehold.
CLUNKY DIALOGUE
This story didn’t initially convince me as I read the book. I encountered several aspects that I perceived as unfavorable, only to realize they were positive as the story climaxed. I complained (in my notes) that Barnes included too many swear words in his dialogue and that his attempts to establish spirituality and deepness within Mace and the Force were a failure. Also, how Chulok figured out Mace’s identity was stupid, and the dialogue tried to be funny and failed…on and on.
I initially had a strong negative opinion about this book, but I was convinced it was not good. Yet, the story threads were as strong as Hillian silk, and once Chulok and Sybil went to war, I realized how blind I was. All the pieces came together, revealing a masterfully crafted and perfectly timed outcome.
CHULOK
I particularly liked the character of Chulok, as he was not at all what I expected. He had melded two beings into one and was an incredibly formidable opponent-even for a Jedi. Indeed, Mace himself acknowledged that he probably could not defeat Chulok in a fair fight, and even the Force gave him a little edge when they fought.
Another pleasant surprise about Mace was his feelings for other people. Barnes revealed to us a different side of Mace, showing that he was capable of experiencing joy and affection. It was suggested that under various circumstances, Mace and KinShan might have developed a romantic relationship as they grew closer while working together. Mace also showed me that he cared for other beings and felt disgusted and sorrowful when innocent people died. He didn’t like to kill, but he would do it if there were no other choice. By the time of ROTS, he may have lost this mentality over the years, but in 32 BBY, he showed restraint and care.
VERDICT
As I said, the final climax blew my doubts out of the water. I loved Mace’s brilliant tactic to fight Sybil’s forces and Chulok’s. The crucial strategy was to outsmart both parties and engage them in an unseen battle, with the people of Metagos launching attacks as if they were a shadow. This made the bad guys think they were only fighting each other. I also loved the fungus zombies’ cavalry that came to help and the holo-droid Maya’s role in destroying Chulok’s castle. Barnes writes advanced A.I. very well. I felt that droid Maya-12 was more than meets the eye when it came to droids having a sense of self.
Additionally, I did not see the big reveal of who was stealing the Hillian eggs. I attribute this clumsiness to the fact that I thought this plot was terrible. But it wasn’t bad. It was glorious.
By the end, I loved everything Barnes wrote. I must say that I am 85% sure of being a Mace Windu fan. I’ve realized that there’s more to this man than I first thought, and I would be content if he joined me in the fight.
Star Wars: Mace Windu – The Glass Abyss is now available from Randomhouse Books. Will you be adding this book to your reading list? Let us know in the comments section below.
FORCE FACTS
Get ready for an adventure through Force Facts. Here, we will uncover all the fun facts, juicy trivia, and hidden Easter eggs. Buckle up and see how many of these incredible nuggets of information you spotted!
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An alien, Zilka, declares, “All you humans are ugly.” This is another great example of how non-humans perceive the dominant species in the galaxy aesthetically. Just because we are attracted to the human characters doesn’t mean all the aliens are as well. It’s great that we see this lack of human centrism in the SW universe. We also see an inverse of this, when Mace, a human, regards a female Rodian as stunning. Years of social evolution have changed the “eyes” of human perception in this inter-species galaxy, and while Earth humans would never be attracted to Rodians, humans in SW can find them attractive. It’s all due to early exposure to different things.
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Apparently, Qui-Gon’s funeral pyre was ignited with Qui-Gon’s own lightsaber. This was actually revealed to be a Jedi funeral ritual.
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In Legends, Obi-Wan continued using his fallen Master’s green lightsaber after his death. In Canon, it has now been re-canonized that the saber was retired to the archives.
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One of Mace’s instructors when he was young was the Jedi T’ra Saa, who was a Neti Jedi Master from Legends. It is unknown if this T’ra Canon counterpart is still a Neti, but perhaps we will learn more about them in the future.
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Mace also created a form of unarmed combat based on his Vapaad, that nobody had seen yet, and he had designed especially for bodyguards. That cool bit of new lore.
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Mace reveals his birthdate, and we see a method of timekeeping besides ABY and BBY, which is cool
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Yes, Yoda was indeed trained by N’kata Del Gormo from Legends. Or so it is said
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
One of my only complaints about this book was that I get really annoyed when characters, for whatever reason, lose their connection to the force. It’s a cheap and lazy move. Other than that, it was a better book than most recently