Now that 5,000 years of “Star Wars” lore have been mapped out, from the earliest days of the Sith and Jedi to the generation after Luke Skywalker, it’s not surprising that time-travel tales are starting to be told.
In 2008, Dark Horse Comics started the trend with “Vector,” which crossed through four different eras in the four ongoing comic titles at the time. Now Del Rey has gotten into the mix with Paul S. Kemp’s paperback “Crosscurrent,” in which Jedi and Sith rivals from five millennia in the past meet up with a Jedi under Luke’s New Jedi Order tutelage.
While the time travel is fun in the goofy way of time-travel yarns, the real appeal is the way Kemp makes his way onto the short list of top “Star Wars” authors on his first effort. He’s a great character writer, and you won’t mind for a second that none of the major characters appear in “Crosscurrent” (although you might appreciate a nod to Darths Wyyrlok and Krayt, who appear here before their rise to galaxy-wide power in the “Legacy” comic title).
While many authors pay lip service to the whole Dark Side-Light Side conflict, Kemp gets to the heart of it. I really felt the darkness boiling inside Relin, who aims to take down his former apprentice, arming himself with the pain of his latest Padawan’s death. We get inside his head because Relin is thinking about how his behavior looks to Marr, who is just learning about the Force. Anakin Skywalker’s downfall in “Episode III” should’ve been chronicled as well as Relin’s is here.
Then there’s Khedryn, a space-junk salvager in the Han Solo mold, who begrudgingly befriends Jedi Jaden, who is following a Force vision to a remote, icy moon.
“Tales from the Mos Eisely Cantina” introduced perhaps the creepiest species in the “Star Wars” pantheon: Anzats, who are soul-sucking vampires. They stick proboscises up the nostrils of victims and drain their brains. It sounds disgusting, and with his Anzat character Kell, Kemp does a remarkable job of making it even more disgusting through his descriptions.
Khedryn and Jaden’s trip to the moon has a haunted-house vibe similar to the sci-fi movie “Event Horizon,” or, in “Star Wars” terms, Luke and Mara’s exploration of the derelict Outbound Flight ship in Timothy Zahn’s books. (Coincidentally, one of Kemp’s characters has an Outbound Flight connection.)
One-on-one battles between Force users trip up many authors. The combatants tend to go on trading blows for pages on end, as if a big word count is the way to make the battle more epic. But Kemp knows it’s better to use characters’ motivations and inner turmoil to provide the impact, so we don’t get dragged down in descriptions of fighting techniques.
I doubt this will be the only “Star Wars” book for Kemp (who has six titles before this, all of which seem to be in the fantasy genre). For one thing, Jaden and the gang certainly have more adventures in them. For another, “Star Wars” fans appreciate good work (note how Karen Traviss’ “Republic Commando” video-game adaptation led to a whole universe-within-a-universe of clone trooper stories).
The only question after his first book is: What will Kemp’s niche be? He kind of reminds me of Michael Reaves, who is great at exploring friendships between adventurers, and that’s fine, but it would be neat if Kemp could differentiate himself more. Maybe the ability to set a mood will be his thing — the barren, icy moon resonates, but he could’ve done even more with it. It’s a rare ability to have both characters and settings among your strengths.
At any rate, I’ll be reading.