“At the heart of any poor soul not at one with the Force, there is only void.”
-Unknown Je’daii, 2,545 TYA (Tho Yor Arrival)
Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void seems to be a popular punching bag among fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe/Legends though I found it to be a unique and engaging adventure. Chronologically, it is the first novel in the old canon (published during the Del Rey era as one of the last of the EU novels released before Disney de-canonized the entire EU and created an entirely new “Canon”). The novel takes place over 25,000 years prior to the events of A New Hope, or 25,793 years before the Battle of Yavin (BBY), thus rendering it a very old tale indeed, occurring many thousands of years prior to even the “Old Republic” era.
In a bit of false advertising, Dawn of the Jedi does not actually recount the birth of the Jedi. Instead, it offers a rich era of Star Wars lore previously unexplored, primarily concerning the ancient “Je’daii.” For 10,000 years the Je’daii have studied the Force, while striving to keep both dark and light –or the Bogan and Ashla– forever in balance (some of the Je’daii are traveling Rangers, while others are stationary, more regional Masters like Master Dam-Powl or Lha-Mi). This book introduces us to an entirely unfamiliar bygone world called Tython, a lush, Force-rich planet filled with running water and rash grass. Tython is one of a handful of planets in this galaxy, other planets include Kalimahr, Obri, Ska Gor, and Nox. Our protagonist in the book is Lanoree Brock, an auburn-haired, twenty-five-year-old Force-sensitive Je’daii Ranger who grew up on Tython with her younger brother Dalien, or simply “Dal” until he tragically died… or so she thinks. Lanoree hasn’t been back to Tython in four years but the Je’daii Council urgently orders her to return to solve a critical dilemma. Interestingly enough, in this ancient age people have apparently not developed hyperdrives and so it takes Lanoree nineteen days to travel from Obri to Tython. Previously, as a Ranger, she spent time on Kalimahr dealing with the inhabitants on the settled worlds, and her actions on Nox reportedly saved many lives. She also gained repute when she defused the “Wookiee Land Wars” on Ska Gor, likely preventing a Civil War.
At any rate, aboard her ship “The Peacekeeper” and flanked by her droid Ironholgs, Lanoree arrives on Tython (in the “Tythan” system) where she learns of a dark threat to the established order: one man desires to travel out of the Tythan system via a “hypergate” buried deep beneath the Old City on the continent of Talss. And who is this mystery villain? It turns out to be none other than Lanoree’s long-lost brother, Dal, who was believed to be dead. He has formed a new rebel group called the “Stargazers.” Despite training in the Force as a boy, he wants to tear himself from it and travel beyond the Tythan System. To accomplish this, Dal plans to harness dark matter and construct a device out of some mysterious ancient technology left behind from an ancient race known as the Gree.
Throughout the book, author Tim Lebbon weaves together various flashbacks of Lanoree and Dal’s upbringing and their training for the “Great Journey,” as we seamlessly transition from memories in the past to the present as Lanoree hunts for Dal (these flashbacks are somewhat jarringly written in the present-tense and difficult to parse out at times). We follow Lanoree and her Twi’lek Tre Sana companion as they track Dal through a series of tunnels and caves from Tython to Kalimahr to Nox (in the former dilapidated manufacturing city of Greenwood Station) and even to a small mining outpost called “Ran Dan’s Folly,” until Lanoree finally confronts her brother in an effort to prevent the destructive opening of his hypergate.
Notably, the Je’daii do not use lightsabers in this novel. Instead, they use durasteel swords. And in addition to using the Force, some Je’daii like Lanoree secretly experiment with alchemy –she is most skilled in the Force-use of metallurgy, elemental manipulation, and alchemy. Also the Je’daii speak differently with phrases like “May the Force go with you,” and “I honor the Force as well as I can… I am the mystery of darkness, in balance with chaos and harmony” (a quote from the Je’daii oath). One other bit of Star Wars lore I learned with this book concerns the lekku appendages that hang from the head of Twi-leks like tentacles –apparently, the lekku are used for communication through subtle gestures. There are also acknowledgements of genetic alterations in this book, as well as plenty of places for dark forces to operate, such as a mysterious Chasm on Tython where the Force rages, and a place called the Abyss on Ruh.
In my view, Dawn of the Jedi is a decidedly adequate, straightforward Star Wars novel –it is rather impressively imagined by Tim Lebbon for being such a distant galaxy to the one we have grown accustomed to in Star Wars. This is despite the fact that it is assuredly not one of the best books in the EU—however its central defect is that this era was never really given a chance. It was not expanded upon nor granted the opportunity to grow and flourish after Disney haphazardly quashed the EU. Thus, Dawn of the Jedi stands alone as the only novel in the pre-Old Republic era of Star Wars (albeit flanked by a short story and a few comic books). Sadly, it covers an age many Star Wars fans simply have little or no interest in exploring. Still, I thought Lebbon did an impressive job in inventing a whole new Star Wars galaxy ex nihilo. For example, to showcase the richness of this ancient galaxy, we learn about something called the “Despot Wars” that took place twelve years ago when Lanoree was thirteen. It concerned the Despot Queen Hadiya uniting Shikaakwa’s crime barons under her charismatic rule and then attempting to exert her influence across the rest of the settled worlds promising safety and wealth from the Je’daii, but she was then killed at Kaleth and the war ultimately left ten thousand dead, though twice as many were killed in her own army. This struck me as a fascinating bit of detailed lore. At any rate, strangely enough, the galaxy in Dawn of the Jedi is populated by an incredibly diverse group of aliens –including Twi-leks, Zabraks, Wookiees, Noghris and many other creatures familiar to fans of the Star Wars universe. Even in ancient times, the galaxy is not mono-cultural.
“Sometimes love is not enough” (142).
As of the time I am writing this review, Disney/Lucasfilm has announced plans to release a “Dawn of the Jedi” movie at some point in the future. Reportedly it will be directed by James Mangold. Will it bear any resemblance to Tim Lebbon’s book? Unlikely in my view, though it’s anyone’s guess. A more likely scenario is that the prospective film will join the scores of other planned projects that have been tossed aside and forgotten by Disney/Lucasfilm.
Lebbon, Tim. Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void. Del Ray, New York, 2014 (originally published in 2013).
Tim Lebbon (1969-present) is a British horror and dark fantasy writer. Dawn of the Jedi was the only book he wrote for the Star Wars Expanded Universe/Legends. In addition to a variety of individual novels he also wrote for several IPs like Hellboy, Firefly, Alien, and Predator. He dedicated Dawn of the Jedi to Ellie and Dan, Tim Lebbon’s “youngest padawan.”
Note: most editions of Dawn of the Jedi include a short story entitled Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Eruption by John Ostrander. It is a brief prequel to the novel in which Lanoree Brock and a Twi’leck named Hawk Ryo travel to settle a worker’s conflict within Dessain Mining concerning a kidnapping and an arranged marriage. It is a nice little example of an ordinary mission for a Je’daii Ranger like Lanoree. The story first appeared in “Star Wars Insider 141.”
Nice picture of a female Jedi on the book cover. Thank you for your review.