Aaron Allston has been among my favorite “Star Wars” authors since his “X-wing” Wraith Squadron books from about a decade ago. “Star Wars” novels tended toward the dour side at that time, but Allston brought humor and fresh characters to the fold.
“Outcast,” the launching pad of the nine-book “Fate of the Jedi” series, is his best book since then. Allston’s entries in the Yuuzhan Vong and Jacen Solo sagas tended to be a bit grim because of the material he was handed — Han’s grief over Chewbacca’s death and then Jacen’s turn to the dark side. But in “Outcast,” he has fun again — not by adding new characters, but by freshening up old favorites.
Luke Skywalker, always somewhat bland in his Grand Master of the Jedi incarnation, develops a sarcastic, arrogant side, which I enjoyed; his son, Ben, has some of that, too. Han and Leia are in fine form as they road-trip to Kessel to help Lando get out of a fix. The Solos are raising Allana, Jacen’s secret daughter, and she is just starting to develop a personality (that’s right, the “Star Wars” novels are already into the third generation of characters — fourth, if you start from the prequel generation).
Although there’s no villain yet, I like the setup: the Galactic Alliance has had some political disagreements with the Jedi, so — as a face-saving compromise — they banish Luke from Coruscant for 10 years.
Luke opts to use this time to explore the path of knowledge that Jacen took before he turned evil. There’s a lot of good stuff to explore in the area of Force-sensitives who aren’t part of the Jedi or the Sith orders. Luke starts off with the Baran Do, a race that Plo Koon belonged to. They have weird ideas about how to store knowledge, and this leads to good arguments with the Skywalkers.
Next in the “Fate of the Jedi” series is “Omen” by “Star Wars” newcomer Christie Golden; then Book 3 by Troy Denning, another of my favorite authors; and then it’s back to Allston for Book 4.
I’ll be checking ’em out.