Reviews

I try to keep up with Star Wars canon, and no offense to the author but this is my least favorite adult novel. I’m becoming less and less of a fan of the single tie-in book with another piece of Star Wars media approach. Pros and cons as follows:

Pros
-Dialogue between Cal and Cere was good. (if this book were about just the original Mantis crew I think I would have liked it a lot more)
-I appreciated how strong the inquisitor was made out to be. He felt impossible to beat and I liked that.

Cons
-I absolutely despised the romance aspect of this book and that drove everything.
-Merrin was transformed into a doting puppy dog which I didn’t like.
-The pacing of the book felt off. Immediately before and after the final mission felt extremely rushed and was missing the same detail that the rest of the book had.
-The object that the whole conflict centered around was made out to be this galaxy altering thing, but it felt tertiary due to the extreme focus on a love triangle.
-Felt like a side mission from the video game.
-Character turns and plot twists all felt extremely predictable, and I am usually awful at seeing those things coming.

ccaitlinranae's review against another edition

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1.0

dnf in the first 30%. wow did i have a miserable time with this. strap in.

i’ve always loved the Mantis Crew, i watched gameplay footage of the game originally when my poor laptop couldn’t run it and i recently bought a ps5 with the hype of finally being able to play both games for myself. finished j:fo and wanted to read this in timeline order, before starting j:s.

however i wish i never opened this. the writing is, and i don’t say this lightly, terrible. i’ve read fan fictions for this series that are longer, more interesting and better written than this officially published book. where were the editors? were there even editors? so much of the text was redundant and bland with such a heavy emphasis on Telling not Showing.

the characterization was also horrific. i’m a queer person myself and while i’m glad that we have some canon bisexual representation with Merrin (i’ve always headcanonned her as bisexual myself), it was frustrating to read about her unnecessary, forced-feeling side romance knowing that CalMerrin is endgame in literally the NEXT game. loved hearing about her past lovers and using her bisexuality as a way of expanding her character and her connection to Dathomir but still, the romance left me feeling nothing.

and don’t get me started on Cal. literally who are we reading about in this? because it’s not the same character i grew up love and adore in Jedi: Fallen Order. Maggs kept making him this himbo-esc, bumbling fool. if they had even gotten just HIS character done well, i may have considered seeing this book through but him (alongside Merrin) were so agonizing to read i had to put it down. i really enjoyed hearing about him using the force, especially from his internal perspective which makes me sad that that wasn’t followed through on.

there was so much hope for this book that wasn’t delivered on. i would love to read another book about the crew of the Stinger Mantis, no matter what time period of the story it is set in, but i will not be touching another star wars book my Maggs. Sorry man.

starblaze's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

3.0

the_grimdragon's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

"Merrin wanted there to be even less between them than there was right now. Wanted to crawl right into the divot in Fret's collarbones and curl up there, burying herself in the heat and warmth. She felt like she was going to overflow with it, and with the fire surging up from her belly and into her hands and her head and her heart. Her entire body was pulsing with it."

felowpeoples's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

It was a nice, light read that told a fun little story. Not as action-packed as I thought it would be, and a little boring at times, but I liked the characters and their thoughts and stories. Overall not a bad read, just lacking a little in the plot.

achinglyshy's review against another edition

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3.0

i give this like a 3.75. close to a four but i just can’t give it four idk

it was better than i was expecting though!!! like people said it was hard to get into, which is true, but i liked getting their little heads

cal and merrin my beloveds omg i love them so much <3 and like everyone else too but especially my favs

i need to go buy jedi: survivor rn but like it’s so expensive help

kajamae's review against another edition

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2.0

I really wanted to like this book, and it gives some (limited) context for the crew splitting as they have in survivor, but overall just, mid. And Merrin, horny jail. I do like the addition that she is canonically pan, but her connection with Fret was meh for me. Love Greez and Cere, and Cal ofc though sometimes it felt OOC for him. overall, feels like I’ve read this before on Ao3. Like a tie in written with no connection to the coming media because they have no knowledge of it, except there was knowledge of what was coming, so ???? Idk and the ending felt like a jumbled mess of every enemy coming together to fight them. Not a terrible book, but a mid story when I was really hoping for it to be great. Love Merrin tho.

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