Insider #90

So it's fitting that key parts of Tempest, the third novel in the LotF series unfold from [Han and Leia's] perspective. The galaxy is fracturing between Han's home planet of Corellia and the galactic government Leia once headed, and at the center stands their son Jacen, now plunged deeply into the dark side of the Force.

Denning recalls struggling with what was next for the Solos' marriage after the shocks of SbS. His insight, he says, was that Han and Leia's marriage had survived the ultimate test, becoming "an inexhaustible well of sustenance that only grew stronger in the face of adversity. Anakin's death in SbS would only draw them closer, and they would serve as each other's beacon through the moral confusion of the DN series. In LotF... well, you'll have to wait and see, but that's still how I write the Solos. The perfect married couple."

Tempest enmeshes them in the machinations of Corellia, Coruscant, and the Hapes Cluster. As events unfold, Han and Leia find themselves serving in the Corellian armed forces, pursued as assassins, caught in the middle of a terrifying space battle, and hunted as criminals by their own son - who's in charge of the GA's secret police.

Rest assured that the other characters get plenty of pages. Luke and Mara worry about their son Ben's relationship with Jacen, and if you've waited for a rematch between Luke Skywalker and the Sith adept Lumiya, wait no more. The Jedi-turned-queen, Tenel Ka, must navigate her way through the treacheries of the Hapan Court, which threaten to also engluf Allana, the daughter of Tenel Ka and Jacen Solo. (Though if you think being a toddler means Allana is helpless, you're giving neither Jedi nor Hapans enough credit.)

Then there's Jacen, who plunges deeper into the dark side without ever seeming like a cardboard villain. As readers, we're privy to his thinking even as he makes increasingly distressing choices. Jacen, Denning says, is "deeply troubled by the moral imperfections and injustices that permeate his society, and he feels compelled to set matters right. This raises him to the stature of a mythic figure, and that's how I treat him. I write Jacen as a tragic hero, forced by fate to make unbearable choices and unthinkable decisions. And he never balks."

Denning says there's one exception: his daughter. "To Jacen, she is the symbol of all that is good in the galaxy, and she's the one thing he will never sacrifice," he says. "His love for Allana might be seen as his tragic flaw, the weakness that blinds him to reality of what he is doing and what he is becoming."

Denning adds that "I'm pretty comforatble inside Jacen's head, which is a bit frightening. That's the thing about being a fanatic. It's very easy, emotionally and intellectually, to believe that you're right and anyone who disagrees is wrong. There isn't a lot of painful soul-searching to be done. A thing is either good or evil, and all you have to decide is which."

Speaking of soul-searching, readers may see parallels between Coruscant's pursuit of terrorists and current events. While saying he didn't set out to write a poltical book, Denning adds that touching on universal themes makes a story resonate. One of the most universal concerns is the relationship between people and their government, and Denning calls that theme "core to the entire LotF series" as well as "especially relevant to our time."

"There's no denying that some of my own views regarding the threat to our constitutional freedoms have crept into Tempest," Denning says. "But that's not what the book is about, and it would be wrong to read Tempest as a comment on the current situation. A reflection, maybe, but not a comment."

Tempest wouldn't be a Star Wars book without some revelations about the Jedi and the Sith - and it wouldn't be a space fantasy without a startling reappearance or two. Reports of the death of one foe of the Jedi turn out to have been greatly exaggerated, and Han and Leia find themselves briefly in league with a sinister figure from long ago in the saga.

Darth Vile, sur SWU, a écrit:Ceux qui comptent enfin y voir l'article "Vader's Legacy" d'Abel G. Pena devront encore attendre, il n'arrivera pas dans les pages d'un Insider avant minimum le numero 92, d'après Joe Corroney.