FORMAT: TRADE PAPERBACK + DIGITAL (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 16TH

With the blockbuster video game Jedi Fallen Order smashing records and racking up sales in the multiple millions, spin-offs delving into that same era of the galaxy are hardly surprising and Marvel take that baton and runs with it in this prequel, setting up the characters and situations of the EA Games’ release as well as expanding upon it. Jedi Master Eno Cordova and his headstrong padawan Cere Junda travel to the remote world of Ontotho, where a local dispute escalates into something far more sinister. Believing her master Cordova to have been killed, she sides with the locals against the Daa Corporation, but Cordova is alive and as the temple is investigated, the conflict escalates.

Matthew Rosenberg’s story is sometimes a touch confusing to follow and falls into the trap many prequel era stories do, in that it fails to find the balance between the compliant student and the headstrong, wilful padawan. Cere is the latter, diving into situations without a second thought, and seemingly not because of any particular Jedi intuition. Even as Mace Windu arrives late in the story and the temple is destroyed, her actions appear destructive rather than constructive, so the Coruscant epilogue showing her investiture as a Jedi Knight is even more confusing.

It’s a nice looking book thanks to Paolo Villanelli‘s art, but ultimately there’s little to take away that adds to Jedi lore or enhances the game, even with the final page showing The Inquisitor finding Cordova’s datapad and swearing to hunt down Cere Junda and Fallen Order video game star Cal Kestis.