Out of the Shadows Part 4

[colls]

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

This month’s book is Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland
Chapters 31-41

Out of the Shadows

1. The Jedi Council has clearly grappled with their involvement in the Republic's dealings - both politically and militaristically. How do you think this relates to the Jedi Council we see in the Prequels Era?

2. Do you think the book dealt with the fallout from both Syl's and Jordanna's individual traumas? What will their future look like?

3. Any thoughts on the Path that was shared with Vern?

4. Overall, how did you like it? Other thoughts?




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. :)

Comments

[colls]

1. It's easy to see how the Jedi got embroiled in politics, but sad to see how bureaucracy seeped into their ranks.
The Jedi seemed to have a bit of an identity crisis - are they a religious order? are they righteous defenders of... peace and prosperity?
What authority do they have? Should they have it? Who oversees them if they do?
It just goes to show that you can't claim to be the keeper of peace and arbitrator of justice if you aren't willing to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
They can't have the respect and accolades without taking on the responsibility and owning up to it. And therein lies their problem.
IDK, I have a lot of Jedi politics thoughts lately and I'm probably not articulating them very well.

2. The HEA seems a bit premature. I say that as someone who lives for found-family-on-a-spaceship (which The Vengeful Goddess is clearly queued up to be) and want them all to be happy, but the author brought up a few points about both characters that don't seem resolved. Syl's mother and her betrayal was the most glaring - she obviously hasn't had time to fully process that yet. And Jordanna's exposure to constant violence of Nihil attacks, including the violence she's done in light of them. I wonder if they'll appear in future books and, if so, will any of this be addressed?

3. This clearly feels like a setup thread for a continuing story. Between the unexplored path and Vern keeping it from all but her padawan, I'm sure it'll factor in at some point.
I'm clearly conflating/combining some of this idea of hyperspace lanes and super-pathways to the imagery in the credit sequences in Ahsoka - which feels like a call back to the Rebels 'World Between Worlds', which would be a pretty nifty 'Path' to fine.
And... I'm just talked myself into a circle. heh.
I won't say more for fear of spoilers.

4. I enjoyed the story and I'm finding the High Republic Era books to be entertaining. I think it's a good storytelling way to infuse the canon with more Jedi without having more previously unknown Jedi have mysteriously survived Order 66.

[brokenmnemonic]

I agree completely about that Jedi identity crisis. I keep wondering how the Jedi somehow manage to be negotiators, diplomats, a police force, a research organisation, a religious order and an adjunct to the military, and I suspect the answer is that they probably didn't manage it that well. And you've also got me wondering what the Jedi used as a source of income. I know that the individual members seem to have taken an ascetic approach to possessions, but who pays for their buildings/food/ships/travel... and what do they get in exchange?

It's nice to be reading Jedi adventures in an era that doesn't involve them being subject to extermination at the hands of the Sith. Although the more I think about it, the more this novel feels... short?

I must hurry up and watch the first two episodes of Ahsoka - this weekend involved a lot of short-notice housework, so I'm behind on everything :/

[colls]

Right?! On several levels, the Jedi make no sense. (LOL)

This novel did feel a bit short - possibly because it's YA?

AHSOKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3333333

[brokenmnemonic]

I was reading an interesting historical piece about how a medieval knights militant group ended up having one of the largest air forces in Europe after being given a large chunk of the Italian airforce during the cold war, and I had the thought "oh, maybe that's how the Jedi get all their spaceships" ;)

[colls]

I never knew that about the Italian air force and now that you've compared it to the Jedi and their spaceships I can't unsee it. :)

[brokenmnemonic]

1. One of my thoughts while I was reading is that Palpatine clearly wasn't the first Republic senator to have been busily manipulating the Jedi for their own ends. I'm wondering if the Jedi Council becoming emneshed in the workings of the Republic was inevitable, but at the same time... they built their main temple on Coruscant. That suggests a level of conscious decision-making. The council could do with more Yoda in every era!

2. It doesn't feel like either Syl or Jordanna have worked through the trauma they started the book with, not counting what they picked up during this part of the story. I'd like to say that with a number of empathic Jedi around, there's the chance they can start doing that work and talking to each other, but I was left with the feeling that neither character has had a lot of agency in this book. I'm tempted to go and look to see if there's going to be more of their story in other novels - as you've said above, I like the idea of the new ship being the centre of a found-family story, but Star Wars characters don't have a great history of communicating with each other well...

3. The new Path feels like setup for moving us towards whatever the big finale of the story arc with the Nihil is going to be. I did enjoy finally getting a resolution for the Oracle's story arc, and I particularly liked that glimpse into how she saw the Paths, and the similarities and differences between that and how some see the Force.

4. I liked the book - it was pacey, and there were answers about some aspects of the Nihil, and it had a cute sort-of dog and a cute sort-of lightning-shooting cat. I didn't love it though, and whenI was trying to puzzle out why, one of the things that occured to me is that it felt as if the viewpoint characters didn't really get to make many decisions or exercise much agency over what was happening to them. Everyone got assembled, packed together, and sent off to the pre-arranged ambush and then the big fight. I did discover that as part of the Humble Bundle I picked this book up in, there's another High Republic YA novel set before this one that I have a copy of, so I might read that and see if it features the same characters...

[colls]

Which novel did we skip?
I tried to keep us going in publication order but I did only include Adult and Young Adult books (not the middle grade or children's).

Scouring google, this seems to be the most commonly agreed-upon list for Phase 1:

Light of the Jedi
A Test of Courage
Into the Dark
The Rising Storm
Out of the Shadows
Tempest Runner
The Fallen Star
Midnight Horizon

[colls]

A Test of Courage is middle grade (and we skipped it), so I'm thinking that might be the one you're referring to? Apparently Vernestra was in it.

[brokenmnemonic]

Looking at my books in Kobo, the one I think we might've missed is called Race to Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older, which is about the Jedi battle with the Drengir on Valo, and which I think I picked up a reference or two in here? Or at least, to Valo more generally? It might be a middle grade book though.