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Jedi Master Mace Windu is a senior member of the Jedi Council and a general in the Army of the Republic. Brought to the Jedi Temple as a child, Mace has not been back to his home planet of Haruun Kal for many a year. He returns now not as a tourist visiting places he can barely remember, but as a warrior sent by the Council to arrest a fellow member of the Jedi. Depa Billaba was commissioned by the Council to train the local people of Haruun Kal as guerrilla fighters. Their goal is to resist the leaders of the Separatist movement who have overtaken their planet. After months on the planet, though, it appears that Depa has gone over to the Dark Side. The Council has been presented with evidence of mass murders ordered by her and carried out by her guerrillas. Mace finds this hard to believe since he himself trained Depa. He resists the notion that Depa has changed, but as a Jedi, his first duty is to the truth. Mace is betrayed almost the instance he sets foot on Haruun Kal. Arrested and taken to the headquarters of the Separatists, he is ordered by Colonel Geptan to capture Depa and turn her over to the planet's authorities. His contacts on the planet have been killed, but he manages to link up with Nick, one of Depa's followers, and several other guerrillas. They travel deep into the planet's jungle, finding other evidence of massacres along the way. Mace meets Kar Vaster, a giant of a fellow whose speech consists of growls. Vaster appears to either control Depa or be her chief bodyguard. The distinction never becomes totally clear in the book, but whichever way it is, Vaster is a key figure in Depa's life. He resists Mace's attempts to bring Depa back to the ways of the Jedi, and almost kills the Jedi Master in one particularly bloody fight. With the help of Nick, Mace lures Depa out of hiding and takes her back to where a ship is waiting to return them to Republic territory. Unfortunately, also waiting for them is the droid army controlled by the Separatists. Star Wars: Shatterpoint delves deeply into the mindset of the Jedis. Mace's own thoughts are told to the reader/listener in a series of readings from his private journals. It is through the journals that we discover Mace's depth of emotion for Depa Billaba. The fact that he may have to kill her haunts him throughout the book. The spunky Nick is a great character who adds to the story by becoming more and more like a brother to Mace. Kar Vaster is a superb villain, easy to hate for the way he's twisted Depa's thinking. While the book bogs down at times due to a wealth of descriptive narrative concerning the planet, it's animals, and its human and alien residents, the action is awesome and almost constant in the last three discs. The ending, unfortunately, comes all too suddenly and leaves some unanswered questions about Depa' motivation. A good addition to the series, Star Wars: Shatterpoint benefits greatly from the skilled delivery of Jonathan Davis.
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, August 2003
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