Ahsoka Tano has come a long way. Starting out as Anakin Skywalker’s irritating padawan in the Clone Wars movie, she improved with the show, providing a much-need entrance point to the Star Wars saga for younger viewers, which made her reappearance in Star Wars: Rebels all the better value.
While it’s unclear at present as to whether we’ll see her on our screens again, we at least have this novel to tide as over, depicting the former Jedi apprentice as she tries to make a new life for herself. However, as the Empire’s shadow looms large, it threatens to envelope everyone in its orbit – Ahsoka included – in the process forcing her back out into the open.
Interspersed with flashbacks to just before Order 66, it fills in a few lingering plot holes (like how she and Darth Maul know each other when they meet in Rebels), and the character remains as endearing as ever, but otherwise this isn’t quite the story we were hoping for.
Sure, it’s all very Ahsoka – she winds up leading an insurrection on a backwater planet, only to attract the attention of the Empire, and with it an Inquisitor – but the focus is a tad too narrow for our liking. We’d have liked to have seen her on a few missions for the Alliance, but clearly that’s another story for a different time.
Plus, it all ends up a bit anticlimatic. The final showdown is over all too quickly, and the final reveal isn’t much to crow about, considering that the character concerned isn’t one with any lingering impact on Star Wars.
This aside, it’s a competent enough story, and gives fans another chance to get to know a much-loved character even better. Hopefully this isn’t the last time we see her, but if it is, it’s been fun Ahsoka.
