Ronin by: Emma Mieko Candon (4.5/5)

Emma Mieko Candon’s Ronin: A Visions Novel deserves all the hype that I have seen, and more. While I rated it 4/5 stars, it is probably closer to 4.5/5 stars. I’m going to start with full honesty: The Duel was not my favourite Visions episode. However, this novel certainly enhanced The Duel for me, allowing me to further connect with the characters and understand the world that they are living in, which is something I found fascinating from the very get go of the episode. Before seeing the episode, my main thought was ‘the helicopter lightsabers in Rebels walked so the parasol lightsaber in The Duel could run’, and I still stand by that, as evidenced by one of the sticky notes that I put in the novel. While I really enjoyed this book, it was heavy for me to get through and took longer than anticipated because I wanted a slow reading and I was incredibly busy around the time that it came out which made the slow reading even slower. I wanted to absorb everything that Candon told us about the world that we were entering into for the first time.

Now I’m going to be a little bit controversial before I get into the full review of the work. Some of the other reviews I’ve seen have been really ridiculous to me, and I want to point out that if you don’t understand singular they/them/their, you’re making the effort to not understand. It is correct English, and you have been using it your entire life. If you want to be transphobic, maybe don’t interact with the works of a trans or non-binary person because you will be bringing your bias into the reading from the very beginning, and giving it a one-star review because you’re being transphobic is beyond disrespectful. The author should never be blamed for your bigotry. 

Into the review now! The premise of: what if the Jedi served the Empire is a very strong and interesting one. Throughout the prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars, we saw that the Jedi Order was beginning to lose their way. That isn’t to say that they were bad, but they were on a path that did sour the public perception of the Jedi throughout the Republic, and even more throughout the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS). This dwindling public perception had been building for quite some time as we have seen in other texts from around the era of the prequel trilogy. The differences between the way that the Jedi and Sith are portrayed in Ronin, in comparison with other Star Wars works is that our protagonist here is a Sith, which we very rarely see. In fact, the Jedi in Ronin are nothing like the Jedi that we know and love from other Star Wars media. When I tell you that the world building in Ronin is one of my absolute favourite elements of the novel, I truly mean it. It’s a completely different kind of world-building from any of the other Star Wars novels I have read, and it stands out. While I could have taken even more world-building, it did its job with the work.

The representation in this novel is amazing, and probably one of my favourite aspects of the characters and how they are portrayed in general. With specific characters, I can be more specific about their characterization, but I don’t think there was a character portrayal that I didn’t like. Candon did an excellent job with their characterization. There was more overt representation like characters using they/them pronouns, but the real strength was the discussion of transness, with the changing of name and moving into the boy’s dorm. It means so much to me that even though the Jedi aren’t the heroes of this novel, in this world, they are still respectful of personal identity. Honestly, as a fan of Star Wars, I love that more and more projects in the universe are becoming more and more diverse. The galaxy far, far away has always been a diverse one, but now more and more creators are learning that it is one of the strengths of the universe itself, which is incredible.

There is just so much about this book that I love, and I cannot wait to re-read it in 2022. There were some things that were definitely foreshadowed that I want to experience again, knowing what will happen. Candon should definitely get to write more Star Wars novels, because they are an icon and their work has so much potential to grow larger. Part of me really wants more set in the AU that The Duel and Ronin take place in, but honestly, whatever they write, I will be reading it. If you haven’t watched Star Wars Visions yet, or read Ronin: A Visions Novel by Emma Mieko Candon… what are you waiting for? It’s all brilliant!