1/12/24: I am seeing some people in the comments talking about how Axel does not work for them as a character, which, I have to say, is probably the strongest part of this book for me. While I'm not sure I'm completely sold on his precise motivations, he's an almost unique character in the star wars canon at least at his attempts to be The Anti-Hero of all time. I am, of course, typically won over by a character just like him, but I do think that he at least helps establish the other underlying tension in the Phase II novels (besides the main conflict between Eiram and Erinoh), which is the powderkeg of Jedha and the religious tensions and resentment towards the Jedi. A) I think that this is interesting, even outside of the established star wars canon, because they are the armed wing of the Republic, but B) within the established (and unestablished) canon of star wars, while I am of course, Jedi Defender Number One, I think it's almost important, at least in the adult novels, to make the world that the Jedi inhabit as complicated as possible.

Also, I love an arranged political marriage. Can't go wrong.

12/18/23: i love a jedi i still harbor major suspicions about sw writers writing about the jedi