[Jason Vines]

Matthew Stover, author of the intriguing and intellectual New Jedi Order novel Traitor, follows it up with the superlative Shatterpoint.

The first of the Clone Wars books, Shatterpoint brings us along for Mace Windu's soul-wrenching journey into the jungles of his homeworld, Haruun Kal. Stover paints a complicated portrait of Windu: The Jedi Master fights as skillfully and ferociously as we'd expect from the Samuel L. Jackson character, while displaying Jackson's haughty wit with amusing one-liners. Stover perfectly captures on his pages the essence of Windu as Jackson portrays him. And yet, we peer into Windu's heart to see the empathy he carries for his fellow sentients, as well as the respect Windu harbors for civilization.

That is why Windu fights: to preserve the civilization--stability, order, and justice--he sees as the bedrock of peace and freedom. This is as opposed to the barbarism--caprice, exploitation, and oppression--the Separatists promote. And through the dichotomy between civilization and barbarism we see through Windu's eyes, Shatterpoint comments insightfully on present-day issues of war and terrorism.

Unlike Traitor, though, Shatterpoint isn't mostly an exploration of character. Stover wonderfully uses action sequences as engines of Windu's internal development. Windu confronts fleets of helicopters solo, fights brutal adherents of the dark side, directs a massive battle involving flotillas of gunships and hordes of massive beasts, and everything else we'd expect from one of the Star Wars universe's best installments.

I can only criticize Shatterpoint on one aspect: Some parts of it are confusing; knowing what's happening in them is difficult. Still, such confusion doesn't mar most of the narrative.

Shatterpoint receives a hearty recommendation from me. It's one of the best books I've read, Star Wars or otherwise.

Grade: A