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Star Wars: Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade Kindle Edition
Padawan Iskat Akaris has dedicated her life to traveling the galaxy alongside her master, learning the ways of the Force to become a good Jedi. Despite Iskat’s dedication, peace and control have remained elusive, and with each setback, she feels her fellow Jedi grow more distrustful of her. Already uncertain about her future in the Jedi Order, Iskat faces tragedy when her master is killed and the Clone Wars engulf the galaxy in chaos.
Now a general on the front lines contributing to that chaos, she is often reminded: Trust in your training. Trust in the wisdom of the Council. Trust in the Force. Yet as the shadows of doubt take hold, Iskat begins to ask questions that no Jedi is supposed to ask. Questions about her own unknown past. Questions the Jedi Masters would consider dangerous.
As the years pass and the war endures, Iskat’s faith in the Jedi wanes. If they would grant her more freedom, she is certain she could do more to protect the galaxy. If they would trust her with more knowledge, she could finally cast aside the shadows that have begun to consume her. When the Jedi Order finally falls, Iskat seizes the chance to forge a path of her own. She embraces the salvation of Order 66.
As an Inquisitor, Iskat finds the freedom she has always craved: to question, to want. And with each strike of her red blade, Iskat moves closer to claiming her new destiny in the Force—whatever the cost.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRandom House Worlds
- Publication dateJuly 18, 2023
- File size5025 KB
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![When the Jedi Order falls, an inquisitor rises.](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-media-library-service-media/d5375606-7e6b-4975-abd9-da9c9cb1687b.__CR0,0,970,600_PT0_SX970_V1___.jpg)
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About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Jedi Padawan Iskat Akaris wanted nothing more than to please her master.
That, unfortunately, was a rare occurrence.
“Come look closer, Iskat. What do you feel?”
Jedi Master Sember Vey moved aside so that Iskat had a better view of the ancient text she’d just unwrapped from an old, soft eopie hide. On the other side of the counter, the Togruta shopkeeper fidgeted with long strands of beads around his neck; he couldn’t stop nervously glancing at Sember’s lightsaber where it hung on her belt.
Iskat’s long, red fingers reached for the—well, it wasn’t exactly a book. More like many old, brittle skins barely held together by gut string—but before she could touch it, Sember clicked her tongue. Iskat’s hands flew behind her back. Sember had never been an active and involved teacher, rarely utilizing lectures or lessons like the Jedi instructors back at the Temple. Instead of offering clear instruction, she expected Iskat to watch and learn. She often waited silently, hopeful that Iskat would figure out the next step herself; it was what she was doing now, her dark eyes focused and patient. The human woman was in her early forties, with golden skin and bluish-black hair that she kept immaculately braided, and she was waiting for Iskat to . . . what? Say something? Do something? Iskat had no idea.
Since Sember had chosen Iskat as a Padawan after the Jedi Tournament, they constantly traveled together like this, landing on backwater planets and busy trading moons to visit shopkeepers and collectors and archaeologists galore, negotiating the purchase of curiosities to be added to the Jedi Archives. Iskat had seen texts like this one, elaborate scrolls, ancient lightsabers crusted with barnacles or sand, even a rancor tooth covered in intricate carvings from a long-forgotten language. Sember was a sharp and stone-faced negotiator, and Iskat understood that her duty was to observe her master and gain the skills to recognize and acquire lost artifacts of Jedi history so that they might help further educate the next generation of scholars of the Force.
But, as usual, Iskat could not decipher her master’s silence.“Without touching it, what can you tell us, my Padawan?” Sember prodded, finally.
Iskat put her long, braided brown hair over her shoulder, focused on the object before her, and took a deep breath, opening her senses. “The text appears to be ancient, Master. I’m not familiar with the language. The pages are some kind of animal skin, almost translucent. The ink is dark red.” She leaned close, careful not to touch the skins, and inhaled. “The tang of iron. Blood? Mixed with some sort of mineral powder.”
“That is what you can see. Reach out through the Force. What do you feel?”
Iskat closed her eyes. “Darkness. Yearning,” she said wonderingly. “It . . . it wants to be read, touched. It wants to be known.”
She opened her eyes, bright blue against her crimson skin, and looked questioningly toward her master. They’d retrieved dozens of artifacts over the years, and Iskat had never felt anything like this.
Sember nodded once, the closest thing to praise she ever offered her apprentice.
“This is no Jedi artifact,” Sember said. “It is a Sith text.”
“Do you not want it, then?” the shopkeeper said, reaching to take it back.
“I didn’t say that.” With a gloved hand, Sember flipped the tanned hide back over the text, hiding it from view. “We will take it at the promised price. Rest assured it will be stored safely, so that it won’t fall into the wrong hands.”
Iskat was supposed to observe carefully as Sember haggled with the shopkeeper, but her attention was drawn to the text, now just a squarish lump under the hide. She’d never seen a Sith artifact before. No wonder Sember hadn’t let her touch it. She could still feel it, though, like a small child with arms reaching out, begging to be held.
“Your assistant. What is she?” the shopkeeper asked as they turned to leave.
Sember considered him. “She is a Jedi.”
“But what species? Never seen one like her. Red skin, but not a Zeltron or Devaronian . . .”
“I’m a Jedi,” Iskat said firmly.
“Okay, okay,” he wheedled. “Just curious.”
Despite the firmness of her response, Iskat was curious, too. No one in the Temple knew anything about her species, and according to Sember, her records didn’t indicate a birth planet. She had two hearts, long fingers, and unusually keen senses, but in all their travels and studies, she had never found any further information about her biology or history. This was not the first time someone had asked the awkward question she could not answer.
On the way back to their ship, Sember carried the text by its hide wrapping, dangling it from two fingers as if trying to minimize contact. They walked up the ramp of their T-6 shuttle, which Iskat had decided to call the Lyre after reading somewhere that ships needed names; Sember just called it T6-315. As Iskat fired up the engines, her master immediately stowed the bundle in the safe they used when transporting their valuable finds back to the Temple.
“Can you read it?” Iskat asked.
Sember was horrified by the thought. “I wouldn’t dare try. Do your best to forget this thing; close yourself away from it. The dark side is cloying, like yista bugs burrowing under your skin and slowly sickening you. The Jedi Council will decide what to do with it, but our duty is to keep it away from anyone who might seek to use it for harm. In your travels, if you find anything similar, you must obtain it with the same skill as any Jedi artifact and contain it as soon as possible. Don’t touch it, don’t read it. Acknowledge your curiosity, but let it pass. I wanted you to feel it in the Force so that you would be able to recognize something similar later, but any such contact should be brief. Some knowledge is not worth the cost.”
Iskat tucked that away for later and went about securing the rest of the cargo as Sember took the pilot’s seat. Even locked in the safe, she could feel the text reaching out with the blind probing of a plant mindlessly sending vines out to seek sunlight. Sember was entirely dedicated to hunting down artifacts and cataloging Jedi knowledge, and this was the first time she’d stood on the side of ignorance in all their time together.
They had acquired many treasures on this trip, and Iskat could tell her master was eager to begin the laborious job of analyzing and categorizing their finds, a task she relished and always undertook privately, leaving her Padawan to fend for herself. As Iskat understood it, some masters and their Padawans had lively relationships filled with laughter and kind words, but Sember Vey was an aloof and often neglectful master, alternating between an otherworldly serenity and an obsession with her work that made her forget anything else existed. Although Iskat would’ve liked a warmer connection, she understood that Sember had been given important duties beyond teaching her Padawan. It was up to Iskat to learn what she could by observing her master’s unique skills and taking advantage of any instruction offered. She was determined to become the best Jedi she could be, despite her master’s . . .
Well, her failings.
Iskat wasn’t even sure why Sember had chosen her. She felt no special connection between them and often worried that Sember didn’t seem to like her very much.“Why are you just standing there, Iskat? Buckle in and prepare for your meditations,” Sember said, as if just noticing that Iskat was there at all.
“Yes, Master.”
Iskat tried to calm her mind as the ship took off smoothly. Once they were in hyperspace, she sought her cushion and got comfortable, closing her eyes and centering herself. Her hand wrapped around an amulet Sember had given her, a small cabochon of blue stone that was supposed to help her focus. It was like wading into a stream of moving water, and time fell away as Iskat floated along. Meditation had been so difficult for her, at first, but Sember and the other Jedi Masters had agreed that her main goal as a Padawan should be learning to calm and control herself. After the incident with the column . . .
No.
She wouldn’t dwell on that.
She was supposed to do the opposite.
There is no emotion, there is peace, she told herself.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
Product details
- ASIN : B0BG46F96Y
- Publisher : Random House Worlds (July 18, 2023)
- Publication date : July 18, 2023
- Language : English
- File size : 5025 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 382 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #208,782 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #91 in Star Wars Series
- #1,740 in War & Military Action Fiction (Books)
- #2,244 in Space Opera Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Delilah S. Dawson](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/ioic9a3uv227g7bpuguo1d05ss._SY600_.jpg)
Delilah S. Dawson is the author of:
Star Wars: Phasma, Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire, and The Perfect Weapon.
The Hit series
The Blud series
The Minecraft Mob Squad series
The Violence
Mine
Camp Scare
Short stories in: Hellboy, An Assortment of Horror; Carniepunk; Unbound; Last Night a Superhero Saved My Life, Three Slices, Robots vs. Fairies, Resist, Stories of Jedi and Sith and more.
Comics: Ladycastle Sparrowhawk, Star Pig, Marvel Action: Spider-Man, Adventure Time, the X-Files, Firefly, Disney Descendants, Rick and Morty.
As Lila Bowen: The Shadow series, beginning with Wake of Vultures.
With Kevin Hearne: The Tales of Pell, beginning with Kill the Farm Boy.
Learn more at www.delilahsdawson.com.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers say they love the characters and the surrounding characters. They find the storyline extremely rewarding and say it's one of the best canon novels. Readers also describe the narrative as compelling and masterfully woven together.
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Customers find the storyline entertaining and enticing. They also say it's one of the best canon novels and intimately explores the failures of the Jedi.
"...It is an amazing book buy it right now i know where you live..." Read more
"...Probably the best star wars novel I've read since Dark Disciple or Fallen Stars. Delilah Dawson is an absolute master of character development...." Read more
"This was a great read!" Read more
"An enticing read that intimately explores the failures of the Jedi Order in their final era and how the effects of their dogma made way for the..." Read more
Customers find the narrative compelling, solid, and masterfully woven together. They also say the choices of Iskat make sense.
"...The novel is quite interesting, very well constructed and I enjoyed it a lot...." Read more
"...Iskat’s agency in all this is very compelling, and her choices make sense, even if I was still ultimately rooting for the light side...." Read more
"...That being said it is an extremely solid story and there was nothing outside these few points that I didn’t absolutely adore." Read more
"...Wonderful journey full of thought provoking trails." Read more
Customers like the characters in the book. They mention that they love Iskat and the surrounding characters.
"...Delilah Dawson is an absolute master of character development...." Read more
"...Iskat Akaris was an extremely sympathetic character despite her fall towards the Dark Side...." Read more
"...What an action-packed and emotional book! Loved Iskat, loved the surrounding characters...." Read more
"Good story, entertaining. Cool character, good backstory but didn't really grab me, grab me if you know what I mean...." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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Iskat Akaris is a Pkorian, the only one of her species in the Jedi Order. A brilliant student, she has an encounter with a Sith text, which provokes her curiosity but she’s denied by her Master. Eventually they are recalled to Geonosis at the start of the Clone Wars. She notices she has an uncanny ability for battle after she is emotionally stunned by killing her first sentient being. During the battle, her Master is gravely wounded and delirious, mentioning a name she doesn’t recognize.
With her Master dead, she is unmoored and tries to find out more about this other person, which she now realizes was under her Master’s protection at some time, and was also from her same species. Afterwards, the needs of the Clone Wars have her knighted in a hurried ceremony along other Padawans, including Anakin Skywalker.
After behaving recklessly on a mission, she is put on administrative duties and kept away from the war, which angers her but gives her the opportunity to meet Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. During a final mission, the war ends with Order 66 and she is captured and offered a spot in the Inquisitorius.
She fights for her place, with encounters with other Inquisitors, and before committing herself totally, she requests a shuttle and travels to her place of origin where she finds out her mother had had Jedi abilities but left the order and became an alcoholic. When Iskat was born she delivered them to the Jedi.
Iskat chooses between their home planet and the Inquisitors, settling for the latter, and eventually rises up to the ranks becoming a powerful member.
The novel is quite interesting, very well constructed and I enjoyed it a lot. Delilah S. Dawson is one of my favorite writers and her talents are shown here, fleshing out a character who previously only had minor appearances elsewhere. Greatly recommended!
I did feel that the advent of order 66 was a bit unceremonious and that it seemed like the story was trying to rush to get to the point but the point that it was getting to more than made up for what I felt like was a somewhat underwhelming transition. I absolutely loved the portrayal of the dark side in this story and honestly I wish that there was more of it since the ending is so abrupt and ever slightly out of place. That being said it is an extremely solid story and there was nothing outside these few points that I didn’t absolutely adore.
![Customer image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/transparent-pixel._V192234675_.gif)
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2023
I did feel that the advent of order 66 was a bit unceremonious and that it seemed like the story was trying to rush to get to the point but the point that it was getting to more than made up for what I felt like was a somewhat underwhelming transition. I absolutely loved the portrayal of the dark side in this story and honestly I wish that there was more of it since the ending is so abrupt and ever slightly out of place. That being said it is an extremely solid story and there was nothing outside these few points that I didn’t absolutely adore.
![Customer image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/I/512NusqKBFL._SY88.jpg)
Top reviews from other countries
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Iskat is a great character that I am enjoying seeing her grow in the force and her understanding or her role. I also see her growing frustration and you can see the slow descent from Jedi to a dark side user.
You can see the loss of her Master Sember is pushing her to something more. It really impacted her despite not believing the bond was there. I think it shows there the Jedi in and of themselves while are good they also have bad as well.
Fear from the people who you are supposed to be a team with has to wear thin quickly and will definitely push you closer to the darkside. I think she is powerful but she isn't trusted or respected and that's what will and is causing her issues.
Completing her missions are her top priority and in war I can't say that I blame her. It's not her fault the Jedi doesn't want to use her correctly and that she must act as she sees fit in accordance with her training as a Jedi. The fact that the masters don't believe it and talk to her as I'd she was a child annoyed me.
Tualon drives me nuts as he seems so judgemental and doesn't have friendship in his heart for Iskat. He could easily save her if he allowed her in.
I hate Mace like normal as he is arrogant and always shows his distrust of people. No wonder that Jedi fall when he won't put his trust in those he should. Basically he causes the falls because of his attitude and that makes me hate him more. He is not a Jedi to be emulated in fact he should have been expelled for what he was doing.
The order 66 part and the aftermath is what I really found interesting as well as the search information about her mother.
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In this story from the point of view of someone who realises the flaws and mistakes of the Jedi, they are not the altruistic shining lights everyone believes they are, but have their own agendas and problems.
As I said it is a very intense story and one should not skip the authors note at the beginning.
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