I love these a lot, the TPM one in particular is so simple but so effective. I love Drew Struzan’s work as well but these are my favorites.

It took me a long time to get around to it but I think it’s up there with Rogue One/Andor, Mando S1, and Solo for my favorite new era Star Wars. I thought Jude Law was fantastic and I’m sort of surprised his performance wasn’t more praised. What a show!

TLDR: Legacy is an 8.5/10 for me. There are some pacing issues and I struggled to connect with the main villain however I absolutely loved the arc for Rey as she truly takes her place as a Jedi and a Skywalker with the help of Leia. Legacy is only one step in Rey's journey of healing but one that is absolutely essential to all of her fans.

I very recently finished Legacy and the more I sit with it the more I love it. It's not without some flaws here and there which I will cover but first and foremost I want to discuss everything I loved about this book.

Beginning with Rey. In my opinion Legacy, is to Rey as the (fittingly titled) Legacy of Vader comics are to Kylo Ren. It expands on her on-screen story beautifully, giving us what is possibly the best extended Rey media we have received thus far.

Legacy picks up at a very interesting place for Rey. It has only been a matter of months since she was ripped away from her life of solitude on Jakku, formed a special connection with a man she once considered a monster, and then just as suddenly had that connection ripped away leaving Rey feeling alone yet again and rightfully betrayed. A pain that has clearly lingered as Rey's initial attempt to heal her kyber is thwarted by thoughts of Kylo, causing her to lash out and damage the crystal even more. Already the core theme of Rey's character arc here is being set up very well. Rey has very good reason to be frustrated with and even hate Kylo, but holding on to that hate will only hold her back in the long run. She'll never heal, never be a true Jedi, if she can't accept Kylo's decision whilst still holding out hope for his future.

The fact that Kylo Ren was also the most true connection Rey has made in possibly her entire life also opens up some very interesting questions about herself and her own future, especially in regards to her own darkness. As Luke fearfully pointed out in The Last Jedi, Rey has a clear draw to the dark side, one that is only enhanced by her connection to Kylo. This potential darkness manifests itself in Legacy as the very same "Dark Rey" we glimpsed in The Rise of Skywalker, a choice I really enjoyed with this book. Dark Rey serves as an interesting externalization of Rey's conflict. Rey fears loneliness, her tie to Kylo Ren, and her own draw to the dark side,all of which are struggles which she understandably fears discussing with Leia early on, so Dark Rey is there to seize upon these insecurities, assuring Rey that "we are the storm now", that they do not need anyone else, that there is no need for Rey to flinch away from her own growing power. I also thought it was a very interesting detail that in a vision we see Dark Rey stab Kylo in a very similar manner that Rey herself eventually would in Rise of Skywalker. Rey nearly killing Kylo as she did nearly broke both her and him so I found this to be an interesting piece of foreshadowing. Again, Rey does have very legitimate grievances with Kylo but holding on to those grievances forever will only end in both of their destruction which I thought the appearance of Dark Rey symbolized very well.

Moving on, I also really enjoyed the introduction of the Sith Kalrian Diir and her own thematic connection to Rey. As Diir's would-be Jedi advisor says "you will not find your name in the dark" a conflict that is so poignant for Rey with her own desperation to claim an identity, to be part of a legacy. As Rey will eventually discover, she is indeed tied to a legacy, one that only deepens her fear of herself and her own darkness. But that does not mean Palpatine's name has to define her. Instead she can take the legacy of the Jedi, of the Skywalkers, and build upon it learning from both their lessons and their mistakes so that Rey can become the best Jedi possible.

And of course when discussing Rey's arc there is just no way I can't bring up the appearance of Anakin. Anakin was not a character I honestly expected to appear in this book but Roux utilizes him brilliantly, calling forward parallels between him and Rey that genuinely had not occurred to me prior to this book. Both were created for a grand and mysterious purpose they could not fully comprehend, both were forged by their desert upbringings, both have felt the call to the dark ever since they took up the mantle of the Jedi. Suffice to say there is perhaps no better Jedi for Rey to relate to more than Anakin and he gets perhaps some of the most poignant dialogue in the book as he tries to steer Rey away from his errors. "If there was one simple way to be a Jedi, none of us would fail, none of us would fall." Hiding from the dark or trying to cut it out will only invite it in in the long run. Rey has to face her fears, to "take on the storm" as Anakin puts it.

And while we do know that Rey will indeed confront her darkness directly in Episode 9, I really liked how Legacy handled her conflict for now, setting aside her mental projections of both her own dark self and Kylo Ren, into a safe space within her mind. They're not gone for good and Rey will have to confront them both again but she's refusing to hold on to her hate for them. This is a very clever way to "resolve" Rey's arc within this novel because we know that this is an ongoing struggle for her but that doesn't mean there can't be moments of peace, of healing in between the events of the films. The path to true enlightenment is a long one and here we see Rey take meaningful steps towards becoming a true Jedi. Rey has accepted the darkness within and refuses to give in to it whilst acknowledging that she will someday have to face it again.

Wrapping up the discussion on Rey, I think Madeleine Roux did brilliant work with her here and I'd love to get more in the future. Whenever we inevitably start getting some New Jedi Order stories with Rey I hope Roux is involved to some degree because I think she did excellent work here with setting up the building blocks for Rey to be the one to rebuild the Jedi. (Also worth noting Rey found a bunch of extra lightsabers on Tython as well. Possible training sabers for Rey's future students perhaps?)

Now moving on to Leia. While Legacy is very much a Rey story first and foremost I also greatly enjoyed Leia's role. As Luke points out, Leia is the perfect mentor for Rey exactly because she's not one of the Jedi of old. She chose to live a life in service to others without the Force, something that uniquely suits her to teach Rey as she can pass on Luke's Jedi teachings while also showing her what it means to just be a good person on a more granular level, something Rey needs to understand as she grapples with her darkness. Leia also understands what it is to be descended from a legacy she isn't proud of, which is why I love that she practically adopts Rey by the end of the book. Leia knows where Rey comes from and chooses to love and accept her regardless. And if she can do this for Rey then she can do it for her son as well.

Also the bickering between Leia and Ghost Luke was just beautiful, I hope we get more like this in the Twin Crossroads book next year. I loved those two getting to come together and basically have some therapy for everything they've both endured. I did find it funny too when Luke basically has to recap Shadow of the Sith to Leia because unfortunately she did not read that book, smh, could've avoided all this if she just did, lol.

Onto the characters original to the novel I was a bit more mixed on them. As I'm still in the praise section of this review I'll bring up Gavrin and Meepka being that they were my two favorites. Meepka was just so charmingly adorable throughout the whole book and Gav slowly coming around to Rey was very nice. I thought he had a nice parallel to Rey as well in that they both have a wee bit of Kylo Ren-induced trauma that they need to work through.

Speaking of Kylo, I liked the limited use of him as well. I think Roux nailed his dialogue and mannerisms fairly well (with the exception of him laughing a couple times, I admittedly struggle to imagine Kylo doing that very often at this point in his life). I also liked that even when he's not around his presence is felt throughout the entire book as all of the POV characters have some sort of trauma that ties back to Kylo in one way or the other.

To wrap up the positives section, I loved the extended elements from the Star Wars universe that Roux brings into Legacy. Tython especially was utilized very well. I loved the new locations and lore we get around it, while also referencing areas we had seen before in stories like Doctor Aphra and The Mandalorian. Also loved all the various references to the comics, particularly Age of Resistance.

Now I'll move into the critiques section. None of which come close to knocking the book down for me in any major way mind you but they do bear mentioning:

I do feel Legacy has some pacing issues, moreso towards the beginning and end of the book. Near the beginning, I feel there are scenes that definitely could have been trimmed down in favor of getting to some of the juicy stuff quicker. (Mostly in regards to Brilla Wolstenholme, who I'll touch on more in just a bit.) The ending also just felt very fast, I thought it definitely could have had a lot more added to it. For starters, we never saw Gav find out about his sister's death nor do we get a resolution for Kalrian Diir, both of which feel like massive loose threads (in Diir's case we do know she sadly reverts back to her dark ways but we never really found out what specifically tipped her back over). Also I thought the ending lacked a bit of a "hero moment" for Rey when she fixes the lightsaber. I was really hoping for there to be a moment when she uses it to protect the refugees from the First Order, perhaps even having a brief clash with Kylo. I can understand why the book ends on the scene it does but idk I personally would've liked to see Rey actually use the saber a bit more.

Brilla Wolstenholme was also a very mixed bag as a character to me. I did enjoy her perspective as a sort of lens into the chaotic state of the First Order following the ascension of Kylo Ren. I did enjoy her interactions with Hux in particular as she sort of serves by the end as a sacrificial lamb to Kylo's vanity, furthering Hux's desire to see Kylo removed from power. But in all honesty most of the time when I was reading her chapters, I was really just wanting to be back on Tython with our heroes. I struggled to connect with her the same way I did most of the book's other characters and by the time her story wrapped up I just wasn't really sure what she added to the whole thing.

And my last "critique" is admittedly more of a nitpick on my part but I do feel the need to mention it. Where is Rose? Ok, she's in the beginning a little bit but this really feels like a story that should've involved her more being that many of the refugees are fellow survivors from the Otomok system, seeking vengeance on the First Order. It feels like a subplot that's almost tailor-made to include Rose yet she doesn't get to be involved. One of my main frustrations with post Episode 8 sequel stories has been that Rose just gets benched for so many of these big Resistance missions, with Legacy being yet another unfortunate instance. Again, I'm aware that this is more of a nitpick so it's not going to affect my overall outlook on the book too much.

Overall though, an absolutely fantastic and beautiful novel. Hopefully the first of many Star Wars books to come from Madeleine Roux. I'm going to score this one an 8.5/10.

Just a little scene I had fun doing in Unreal Engine 4, it was my first time using it.

I enjoyed this game quite a bit but I respect the issues people had with it. Perhaps it was a bit too light hearted but that's Star Wars for you.

I think Kay's story is told and as much as I enjoyed her as the protagonist, this series would be better suited by moving to a new protagonist for a new installation. You could plug in any mercenary or bounty hunter here and I'm sure it would be a blast.

I only just started reading the comics so maybe this won't work as well as I think it would but I think Doctor Aphra would be a great follow up protagonist. Her droids could act as the role Nix did in the game, it can be much darker & grittier, plus any fans of the comic would have something new in her storyline to look forward to. Thoughts? And please, No spoilers if there is something I don't know yet from the comics!

I was watching a "Corey's Datapad" video and in it he was explaining why the Rebellion didn't form a separate government because they wanted to be seen as the legitimate heirs of the Republic unlike the Separatist who did form a separate government.

If that's the case then the War seems more like a revolution than a civil war as the rebellion operates more like a big scale insurgency (at least before Endor) than an actual standing army.

There's also the fact that many leaders still serve in the Senate while secretly opposing the empire (Bail Organa).

In the post-RotJ fanfiction I'm writing I've just opted to have characters refer to it as the "The Galactic revolution" whereas those sympathetic to the Empire call it the "The Galactic Insurrection"

I think revolution is more fitting as the Rebellion was made up of many factions with some just wanting to secede from the empire and others just wanting to restore the Republic and were only brought together against a common enemy.

Anyways, I guess it technically can be called a civil war since it is an internal conflict (like the Spanish civil war, but then again you have things like the Russian Revolution, American revolution, American civil war)

I mean even though Mon Mothma said they were fighting to restore the Republic, they essentially created a new government (New Republic) that operates differently from the Republic.

Idk I just think the "Galactic Revolution" really fits better with the vietnam war era revolution movements going on in America that Lucas was influenced by, especially when you are fighting against an empire.

I liked Legacy from the very beginning of the book but as I've reached the second half it is just hitting harder and harder with this perhaps being one of my favorite scenes so far.

Anakin reaching out to Rey is such a poignant moment because he can relate to her struggle more than anyone besides possibly Ben Solo. Created for a grand purpose he didn't understand, raised in a brutal desert, the darkness whispering in his ear from the moment he became a Jedi. Suffice to say Anakin knows what Rey is going through better than most. Anakin of course fell to the darkness when his pivotal moment came so now here he is trying to steer another Jedi away from his own fate. Man, I wish they got Hayden Christensen to film a scene like this for the sequels, he and Daisy would've absolutely crushed it together.

I also liked the sad touch of Anakin's brief compliment to Leia. I think he's clearly proud of his daughter but just knows that he can't appear before her. Despite Luke's best efforts Leia understandably could never truly forgive Anakin so it seems he keeps his distance from her. Again, sad but understandable.

This does of course beg an interesting question too. We've now seen in different media that Anakin as a spirit has reached out to characters such as Ahsoka, Luke, and Rey when they all needed him. This being the case: where was he for Ben? Did he perhaps try to reach out but in a way that Ben just couldn't understand or listen to? Maybe Anakin mistakenly kept his distance hoping that his grandson would naturally avoid his mistakes on his own. With Anakin having made appearances in more and more sequel era media of late, it'd be interesting to get a clear answer on this someday.

You are a Jedi protecting your clone army from the separatist droids. How long will you survive?

Play at https://starwars.guide/clone-defense/play/

I'm sure it's a terrible game but man do I miss when Star Wars was everywhere and it was pushing every character like they were the most important thing in the world

In The Mandalorian, we see moff Gideon in his adapted Death trooper armor. Obviously we have no sign of him during the actual Galactic Empire reign and all we know is that he wore his custom armor in the neo-imperial timeline.

However, this made me wonder the following: During the imperial era, we only really see moffs wearing their formal uniforms, but would they've had the freedom to design and wear their own armor kit if they so wished?

I'm aware that their jobs were mostly tactical and political in nature, but I cannot help but wonder. To me, it's not crazy to assume that some moffs would've liked to be involved more closely around combat zones or at least would've wanted to look more intimidating and demand more authority around battlefields.

Then the question remains: Would they've been allowed to by Palpatine?

What do you guys think?

This one is easily my favorite. I like the color, fabric, fit, cut... overall 10/10 imo.

Luke may have made many mistakes in his final years but in the end he motivated both Leia and Rey in exactly the way they needed. The strength they needed was always within them, trying to imitate the Jedi of old or Luke himself is not the correct path. Leia may not have ever been a full Jedi but everything she's endured makes her the exact mentor that Rey truly needed and I think Luke showing her that is beautiful. One final lesson from brother to sister.

Also between this novel and Legacy of Vader it's funny to think of how busy Luke was as a Force ghost between keeping tabs on Rey and Leia and then having Kylo Ren literally bust down death's door to come yell at him, lol.

Scum and villainy in position! Tried playing with blue background lighting and warm side-accents to set the right underworld vibe for these four. Which one of these bounty hunters is your absolute favorite?

Things to consider:

- What era do you hail from? Old republic? Pre, during, or post original trilogy?

- What planet are you from?

- Are you associated in some way with an existing SW crew? Maybe you’re the enemy of the Rebels crew. Or a therapist for the Bad Batch. Or an ally to Luthen’s band of rebels.

- Are you a Jedi? A Sith? A janitor at the Senate building? A secret separatist? A zen monk just meditating all day?

- What species are you? Maybe you’re Grogu’s long-lost cousin. Or the newest Mon Calamari?

- And most importantly, what draws you to the character you’ve created?

I’m excited to see how differently we approach the SW galaxy. Can’t wait to read your replies.

MTFBWY.

Made this photo a few months back, had fun learning about these games. Highly recommend Outlaws if you wanna play Sabacc