Book Review: Star Wars Battle Scars

Cal Kestis and his crew burst their way into the Star Wars galaxy back in 2019 in the well-received video game by Respawn Entertainment and EA called Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. His escapades throughout an Empire-ruled galaxy pitted him against the Imperial Inquisitors in a mission to find and secure the fate of a Jedi holocron containing location data on a number of force-sensitive children.  As a game, it was well received, so much so that it warranted a sequel in 2023 by the name of Jedi Survivor.  In the lead up to this sequel, EA and Lucasfilms worked with author Sam Maggs to pen a prequel story set between the two games to help shed some light onto what the Mantis crew had been up to.  Sam Maggs has a notable list of credits writing for comics and other video games in the Star Wars franchise so her contribution here isn’t undeserved, but whether it’s justified is a completely different question. 

Battle Scars follows Cal Kestis, Merrin, Greez and Cere on a routine mission to infiltrate and destroy a Haxion Brood base in a remote asteroid cluster.  As usual, the plan soon hits a snag when the Empire turn up and the team end up throwing caution to the end and make a climatic escape.  It’s during their escape they come across a turncoat Stormtrooper by the name of Fret who makes it clear she has defected from the Empire and wants the crews help in acquiring schematics for a technological prototype which would give the Empire unimaginable power.  While initially apprehensive, the crew ends up agreeing to assist Fret and set course for Hosnian Prime to infiltrate a high security imperial facility and steal the prototype.  While the crew move forward and hope for a smooth operation, they are unknowingly set to come face to face with another highly dangerous Inquisitor; The Fifth Brother. 

The narrative depth behind Battle Scars is not very deep in all honesty.  I think the setup and progression of the story ticks the very basic of Star Wars requirements, but I don’t really feel it does anything more than the bare minimum. These characters all feel well-realised and reflect a lot of the same characteristics from the video game, so I can’t take anything away from Sam Maggs on that front.  Where this story really falters for me is in it’s tacked-on romantic subplot.  I don’t have any issue with trying to flesh out these characters but the way this plotline is deployed is too quick and it tries to hit a lot of emotional beats it doesn’t rightly earn.  I think a lot of characters motivations are tailored behind the need to move the plot forward rather than have the plot progress along with them and that is a serious issue.  It’s hard to engage with this plot because it doesn’t try to do anything but the bare minimum on a lot of fronts and what it does try to commit too isn’t all that interesting in all honesty.

I think the tone is considerably unbalanced too.  I think in its best moments it easily captures the essence of a quintessential Star Wars story, especially with the dialogue and banter.  Where it really falters though is once again in the romantic stuff.  In all honesty the level of detail and the overall tone of these sections comes off as a bit egregious and almost smutty, it’s just too much and doesn’t mesh at all with the rest of this book.  I also found the pacing of the story too rushed.  It feels we’re bouncing around from segment to segment with no chance to stay still and soak in the setup, again it’s all at the behest of the narrative’s requirements and doesn’t feel conducive towards a smooth reading experience.

On the whole, Battle Scars is a rather unremarkable entry into the Star Wars universe.  I don’t think it’s completely devoid of quality as Sam Maggs shows she gets these characters and their personalities, but she fails to utilize them within the confines of this narratively constantly.  It’s a story which feels disjointed in how it wishes to proceed and present itself all throughout.  There are ways to utilize Cal Kestis and the Mantis Crew in terms of an engaging Star Wars story and sadly Battle Scars is not a good example of this. With all of it’s strengths and weaknesses considered, it’s ultimately a disappointing reading experience.