E.K. Johnston’s 2016 novel Ahsoka takes a much-loved Star Wars character from the small screen and brings her story into a different medium, picking up where she left off in her animated form and filling in some of the gaps in what happened next. A year after the establishment of the Empire and the horrors of Order 66, ex-Padawan Ahsoka Tano finds herself on a small moon in the Outer Rim, in the company of a close-knit farming community. All she wants is to rest and centre herself, but when the Empire arrives on Raada she’s forced to choose between continuing to hide herself and her powers, and taking a stand to protect the people who have taken her in and shown her kindness.
I’ll put my hands up here and say that I haven’t watched much of The Clone Wars, and from what I did watch (I think I’m in the minority here) I didn’t particularly enjoy it. That being said, Ahsoka was the standout character for me, and I very much enjoyed her brief appearances in The Mandalorian, so I was keen to find out more about her as a character. I went into this book not sure what to expect but hopeful it would be entertaining, and I’m happy to report that I was genuinely impressed. Crucially for a tie-in/IP story I never felt like I was missing out by not being super familiar with the canon – I appreciated the occasional flashback to the Clone Wars for context, but mostly just enjoyed this narrative on its own merits, which is really the important thing.
It’s a story that concentrates on character over action, following a troubled Ahsoka as she tries to understand who and what she wants to be – she’s not a Jedi, and all of her Jedi friends are gone, but then what is she and what can she do? It’s about a character finding a new path, gradually realising the possibility of friendships despite her Jedi training and the terrible circumstances she finds herself in. There are a few enjoyable action scenes which allow Johnston to play with Ahsoka’s more physical skill set (bear in mind she’s in hiding to begin with, so dramatic use of the Force is off the table) but they’re always quick and to the point, the focus always returning to the difficult decisions that she has to make, and the dynamic between her and the other characters.
For me this really scratches a ‘Force user but not actually Jedi’ itch, exploring a lot of what I like best about Star Wars stories but doing it in an interesting way that feels a little different to the norm. It touches on lots of cool ideas from elsewhere in the setting – the burgeoning Rebellion, the Empire in its infancy, the Inquisitors – but Ahsoka’s perspective, particularly given her choice to move away from the Jedi Order, shows these things in a fresh light, and allows Johnston to dig into the emotion of her choices. All told I found it a real joy to read, with enough nods to the broader Star Wars lore to ground it in the overall setting without detracting from what is a very entertaining core narrative. I’ve no idea if it’s considered ‘canon’ by those who worry about such things, but I really don’t care. It’s a great story, and that’s what matters to me.
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