Light of the Jedi Part 2 of 4

[colls]

Welcome to our second of four check-in and discussion posts for our Book of the Month.

This month’s book is Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule
Part II-A The Paths #1 (chapters 19-25)

Light of the Jedi Part 2 of 4

1. We learn a bit more about the Nihil in this section and their use of paths through space. Do you think this sort of technology leads to the more common hyperspace lanes in the era of the Empire/Rebellion? Or do you think these paths are still uncharted?

2. The padawan, Bell, is learning how to fall. Indeera tells him he'll need to learn because Jedi fall a lot. Why is Bell struggling with his landings and do you think it's common for other padawans?

3. What do you make of the relationship between Mari San Tekka and Marchion Ro?

4. Any predictions for how the other members of the San Tekka clan get involved? Or don't get involved?

5. Which story thread do you find most interesting at the moment?



FYI - There's no need to answer all (or any) of the questions above - they're just talking points to get us started. Informal chatter is more than welcome! In-person book clubs often veer off topic, it's okay if we do as well. :)
All I ask is that you try to avoid spoilers for things past Part II of the book.

Comments

[colls]

1. I'm finding the details a bit vague, but get the impression that what Mari is doing simply plots new hyperspace lanes? Once discovered, technology is often quickly adopted and improved upon - so I'm guessing that things like the Millenium Falcon being able to jump to hyperspace from wherever they are once calculating a route is a result of this sort of knowledge being expanded on. (ie. in the book is seems that hyperspace lanes have specific start and end points). I don't know for sure though and am interested in what impressions others have.

2. Poor Bell. Although he seems like he might become the unlikely hero, the partially trained padawan who uses raw talent and luck to shoot down the Death Star save the family the Nihil abducted.

3. Creepy! In a good way, because it's rather fascinating. Am I the only one that had a vision of the cylon in the tub?


4. No predictions, but I think they suspect it's her. I'm curious as to how that cat gets out of that bag.

5. A lot of threads in this book and it's going to be interesting to see how they all come together. Right now I'm most interested in the family that was abducted and how those Jedi are going to go about rescuing them (or attempting to?). I'm also interested to see what happens with Avar and Elzar.

[brokenmnemonic]

I don't know a lot about the early timeline in Star Wars canon - I remember hearing about ancient wars with the Sith, which suggest that sentient species have been able to travel through space for a long time. However, from what Porter said about how things were a few centuries ago when everyone was pulling things together, it feels like hyperspace travel is somehow relatively recent? And I don't know how to reconcile that. The fact that there are hyperspace prospectors and explorers suggests that either hyperspace travel is somehow a relatively recent invention, or that the Outer Rim is an area what was previously uncharted, andis only recently being explored? Maybe whatever galactici civilisations where were in the past were concentrated in a relatively small area, or couldn't travel as far? I want to know more :P The idea that hyperspace uses defined routes makes more sense of Han's Kessel Run comment, if the deciding factor was him actually knowing of a route that was shorter than any of the publicly-known routes.

Where you saw the Cylon hybrid in a tub, I kept thinking of the three telepaths in the murder-predicting spa bath from Minority Report...

[colls]

I'm mentally comparing it to things from our own world. Travel overseas via ship, travel via horse & buggy, travel via train, travel via car, airplane, etc. Then there's communicateion - snail mail, telegraph, telephone, email, zoom meetings. Each exist at the same time and can be used, but operate on different technologies. One doesn't travel by horse very often these days, but you technically could.
I'm not 100% sure how that translates to what we're talking about, but that's sort of how I'm thinking of it right now.

[brokenmnemonic]

I ended up staying up late reading the timeline on Wookiepedia, and it looks as if the conclusion there is that what's happening at the time of Light of the Jedi is that there's been a lot of work done on finding and cataloguing new hyperspace routes - it sounds like hyperspace has been a thing for millennia, but also as if the push into the Outer Rim is much more recent. (I may have disappeared down a few rabbit holes on the way!)

[colls]

Wookiepedia does have a lot of rabbit holes to get lost in - LOL :)

[brokenmnemonic]

1. I want to learn more about those special engines the Nihil have. It sounds from the description as if Mari San Tekka is identifying hyperspace routes that anyone can use (and may well believe that's exactly what's happening) but the comments about how the Nihil's engines allow them to travel in ways that the others can't is intriguing. I'm curious to know what the tech does, and whether it survives the Nihil (assuming that the Nihil are the big bad that presumably get wiped out based on their lack of mentions elsewhere).

2. I'm not sure how common it is for people to struggle with the learning to fall training in particular, but I did some teaching for a year, and one of the things I noticed is that there are some people who really struggle to pick up an idea. They can be keen and enthusiastic and determined and yet their brains just don't seem to be able to grasp a particular concept... so I'd not be surprised if there are a fair number of Padawans who really struggle to master various tricks or disciplines because they just can't get their brains around them. (I'm the same with vidding - back when I had someone showing me how to do things, there were some techniques I picked up really quickly, some I struggled with, and some things where I just couldn't understand what I was supposed to be doing and what it was supposed to look like if done properly).

3. There's a part of me that's hoping that Mari San Tekka is actually a cunning genius who's waiting to set Marchion Ro up, but at the moment, it looks like torture and elder abuse of someone with dementia.

4. It feels like there's a mystery around Mari San Tekka (possibly involving her disappearance) which it'd be interesting to learn more about, but I'm not sure how much the Clan will be willing to share...

5. In this section, I think the part I enjoyed the most was seeing the little Jedi temple with Porter in it, and seeing what their life was like at this point in time. It's such a contrast to the world of the original trilogy, where Vader and Palpatine have exterminated almost the entire Jedi order.

[colls]

1. I think the Nihil are mentioned more in upcoming canon that slides into the timeline, but it's hard to keep track. They're new to me, that's all I can say for certain.

2. I think falling would be hard to learn because instinct says "OMG!". Like starlady said below, I also think it's an in-joke about how often Jedi are leaping out of things - speeders, spaceships, over cliffs, etc.

3. Yeah, it does look bad for her. There's a "doctor" on board who knows she's there, but no one else. Classic abuser cut-victim-off-from-everyone tactic and I don't like it. I hope we see a resolution for her situation that doesn't involve making it worse!

4. My guess is they think it could be her, but didn't realize she was still around. I could be wrong, I usually am on these sorts of details (LOL)

5. I liked the temple, too! I liked seeing the outpost life for Jedi. It's like a cross between missionary work (which has other sets of issues - at least here they were simply being available if needed and not pressing religion on anyone) and a kind of monastic work-study program.
We know there are more temples than just the one on Corusaunt. It's nice to see a time when those places are in use.

[starlady]

1. It's hard to say about the relationship of hyperspace here to the OT era because all of the High Republic stuff with hyperspace is a retcon from the previous canon. I'm not sure how well the Project Luminous people can square what they're putting in these books with stuff like KOTOR, for example (which was and will be canon again, apparently, since they're rereleasing it on PS5--but maybe with changes?).

2. I feel like the stuff with Bell falling is an extended joke on Obi-Wan and Anakin jumping out of speeders at the drop of a hat, and I approve.

3. Elder abuse. I'm curious how Mari's existence fits into the San Tekkas' current wealth, though.

5. Avar Kriss is almost a dead ringer for my self-insert Jedi character in my elementary school days, so I'm unreasonably attached to her. But I like Bell a lot too.

[colls]

1. One of the confusing things about such a large franchise - heh. I do find it fun to try and fit it all into something logical though.

2. LOL - I also felt like it was an in-joke and hope some of that sort of humor continues.

3. Agreed, her situation is certainly concerning. I wonder if her existence is still feeding their wealth? Not just some sort of "genius prospecting" that generated a lot of wealth in the past.

5. I love lifelong fannish things like that! ♥