Lucasfilm and Del Rey have announced a handful of new Star Wars novels that will arrive in 2022: two adult books from Adam Christopher and Mike Chen, a middle grade anthology edited by Jennifer Heddle, and a young adult novel by Kiersten White, featuring adventures stretching from before The Phantom Menace all the way into the post-Return of the Jedi era of the franchise.
The Star Wars franchise sees a handful of books every year that fill in various sections around the franchise’s timeline.
First up is Mike Chen’s Star Wars: Brotherhood, a Clone Wars-set story about Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, about the former’s ascendancy from Jedi Padawan to Jedi Knight:
After an explosion devastates Cato Neimoidia, the jewel of the Trade Federation, the Republic is blamed and the fragile neutrality of the planet is threatened. The Jedi dispatch Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the Order’s most gifted diplomatic minds, to investigate the crime and maintain the balance that has begun to dangerously shift. As Obi-Wan investigates with the help of a heroic Neimoidian guard, he finds himself working against the Separatists who hope to draw the planet into their conspiracy–and senses the sinister hand of Asajj Ventress in the mists that cloak the planet.
Amid the brewing chaos, Anakin Skywalker rises to the rank of Jedi Knight. Despite the mandate that Obi-Wan travel alone–and his former master’s insistence that he listen this time–Anakin’s headstrong determination means nothing can stop him from crashing the party, and bringing along a promising but conflicted youngling.
Once a Padawan to Obi-Wan, Anakin now finds himself on equal–but uncertain–footing with the man who raised him. The lingering friction between them increases the danger for everyone around them. The two knights must learn a new way to work together—and they must learn quickly, to save Cato Neimoidia and its people from the fires of war. To overcome the threat they face they must grow beyond master and apprentice. They must stand together as brothers.
The book will be released on May 10th, 2022, and it looks like it’ll be pretty early in the timeline, set before the events in The Clone Wars series kicked off. Maybe we’ll see them meet Captain Rex for the first time?
On June 7th, we see the release of a new middle grade anthology featuring stories of the Jedi and Sith, featuring a bunch of familiar authors: Roseanne A. Brown, Sarwat Chadda, Delilah S. Dawson, Tessa Gratton, Michael Kogge, Sam Maggs, Michael Moreci, Alex Segura, Vera Strange, and Karen Strong. The book will be illustrated by Jack Bartok.
Next up is Adam Christopher’s Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith, which is set nearly twenty years after Return of the Jedi, and follows Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian (pictured above) as they investigate rumors of a reemerging Sith.
The Empire is dead. Nearly two decades on from the Battle of Endor, the tattered remnants of Palpatine’s forces have fled to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. But for the heroes of the New Republic, danger and loss are ever-present companions, even in this newly forged era of peace.
Jedi Master Luke Skywalker is haunted by visions of the dark side, foretelling an ominous secret growing somewhere in the depths of space, on a dead world called Exegol. The disturbance in the Force is undeniable…and Luke’s worst fears are confirmed when his old friend, Lando Calrissian, comes to him with reports of a new Sith menace.
After his daughter was stolen from his arms, Lando searched the stars for any trace of his lost child. But every new rumor only led to dead ends and fading hopes–until he crossed paths with Ochi of Bestoon, a Sith assassin tasked with kidnapping a young girl.
Ochi’s true motives remain shrouded to Luke and Lando. For on a junkyard moon, a mysterious envoy of the Sith Eternal has bequeathed a sacred blade to the assassin, promising that it will give him answers to the questions that have haunted him since the Empire fell. In exchange, he must complete a final mission: return to Exegol with the key to the Sith’s glorious rebirth—the granddaughter of Darth Sidious himself, Rey.
As Ochi hunts Rey and her parents to the edge of the galaxy, Luke and Lando race into the mystery of the Sith’s lingering shadow and aid a young family running for their lives.
Christopher had previously been slated to release another post-ROTJ book, set during The Mandalorian, but that was cancelled earlier this year. At the time, Del Rey said that he was working on another book, and it looks as though this is the one.
One of the biggest complaints about Rise of Skywalker was how much of its plot came together, summed up nicely in the film by Poe Dameron as “Somehow Palpatine has returned.” The film introduced a lot of plot stuff: not only the return of Palpatine, but the existence of the Sith world Exegol, and their role in fueling the First Order. The film certainly raised plenty of questions, and I’ve maintained that those plot holes will eventually be filled in with additional context and novels in the years to come.
Christopher’s book looks as though it will contain some exciting material: a Luke and Lando team-up should make for a fun thing, and it looks like there’s a bit of a nod to the theory that Jannah (played by Naomi Ackie in Rise of Skywalker) is Lando’s daughter, some details about Ochi of Bestoon (whose remains were found by Rey and company on Pasaana) and his quest to recover Rey for Palpatine. That novel hits stores on June 28th, 2022.
And finally, Kiersten White will release a YA novel featuring Obi-Wan Kenobi as a Padawan. We’ve visited this era before with Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice, set eight years prior to The Phantom Menace, and this one looks as though it’s set a bit before that. Here’s the plot summary:
Obi-Wan Kenobi really wants to be a good Padawan. The best Padawan, even. But that’s feeling more and more impossible with his new master, Qui-Gon Jinn. All of Obi-Wan’s friends are off training to be real Jedi, getting mission experience, while he’s still on Coruscant, practicing his forms and sitting in silent contemplation. Ever since Qui-Gon’s former master, Dooku, left the Order, it feels like Qui-Gon has been too busy trying to connect with the Force or arguing with the Jedi Council to properly train his Padawan.
When Obi-Wan finally convinces Qui-Gon to take him on a mission to a remote planet once explored by an ancient Jedi, his master doesn’t show up the morning they are to leave—so Obi-Wan impulsively takes off by himself. Upon arriving on the mysterious, lush planet, he encounters a group of teenagers with no adult supervision—and who all seem to have some connection to the Force. Free from the constraints of the Order, Obi-Wan joins them in their daring adventures, but the Padawan side of him keeps questioning the teens’ strange relationship to the Force, and to the verdant planet around them, and what all of it might mean to his future. Obi-Wan will test the limits of his relationship to the Jedi and to the Force in this exciting, yet soulful exploration of one of Star Wars’ most enduring heroes.
This book will be hitting stores on July 26th.
While we wait for those to arrive, there are a bunch of other books coming soon: Ronin: A Visions Novel by Emma Mieko Candon (October 12th), Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil by Timothy Zahn (November 16th), The High Republic: The Fallen Star by Claudia Gray (January 4th), The High Republic: Mission to Disaster by Justina Ireland (January 4th), The High Republic: Midnight Horizon by Daniel José Older (February 1st), and Queen’s Hope by E.K. Johnson (April 5th).
