Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars

By: Sam Maggs

Narrated by: Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Cal Kestis leads the Stinger Mantis crew on an adventure set between Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the highly anticipated Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Cal Kestis has built a new life for himself with the crew of the Stinger Mantis. Together, Cal’s crew has brought down bounty hunters, defeated Inquisitors, and even evaded Darth Vader himself. More important, Merrin, Cere, Greez, and faithful droid BD-1 are the closest thing Cal has had to a family since the fall of the Jedi Order. Even as the galaxy’s future grows more uncertain by the day, with each blow struck against the Empire the Mantis crew grows more daring.

On what should be a routine mission, they meet a stormtrooper determined to chart her own course with the help of Cal and the crew. In exchange for help starting a new life, the Imperial deserter brings word of a powerful, potentially invaluable tool for their fight against the Empire. And even better, she can help them get to it. The only catch—pursuing it will bring them into the path of one of the Empire’s most dangerous servants, the Inquisitor known as the Fifth Brother.

Can the Imperial deserter truly be trusted? And while Cal and his friends have survived run-ins with the Inquisitors before, how many times can they evade the Empire before their luck runs out?

©2023 Ballantine (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Author Sam Maggs has managed to turn a tie-in novel that bridges the gap between two video games into one of the most romantic and riveting Star Wars books of all time. Jedi: Battle Scars blows every expectation out of the water for a thrilling and intimate tale of messy found family and finding your fire and purpose in the galaxy.” —Dork Side of the Force

“Maggs is a strong writer and the story is incredibly compelling.” —SlashFilm

“A perfect bridge from Fallen Order to Survivor . . . Battle Scars provides a fun and exciting new adventure for Cal & Co.” —That Hashtag Show

I wanted Star Wars, I get lesbian soft porn

This book is a rip off to true Star Wars fans. I try to follow the story and it keeps drifting off on the sexual attraction between two of the characters. A waste of a credit.

Poorly Written Erotica in a Galaxy Far, Far Away…

Title says it all.

I’d read the audiobook reviews as well as the hardback. Decided nonetheless to give it a shot myself with a free credit. Definitely not worth buying. If you can pick this up for free and you absolutely MUST read the canon prequel novel to Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, then brace yourself:

This really does feel like low-key erotica laced with juvenile double entendre. Don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t care less about sexual identity and who sleeps with who - real world or fictional. But this reads more like a grocery store Nora Roberts paperback than a Star Wars novel.

Narrator does the best he can with what he’s given but the attempts at accents are..jarring.

Two stars for the story of Cal and the crew of the Mantis - felt more like filler for the romance that is the real focus of the book.

Two stars for the romance story - I cannot stress enough how cringy it is.

Three stars for performance effort.


If you can’t get this for free and aren’t worried about not knowing the bridging story between Jedi Fallen Order and Jedi Survivor, then this should be hard pass.

Almost unlistenable

I normally love all the additional sound effects and music added to these audiobooks but the minutes of high pitched ringing makes it near impossible to enjoy. The story does little to make up for this as the shoehorned romance is hard to get over.

not the worth the time

terrible. I could care less about the romance. Give me some Sci fi spaghetti western shoot outs and bad ass bounty hunters!

terrible

did she play the game?

this book was a grind to get through. The only reason I did was because I pre ordered jedi survivor so I don't want to miss something. at times the characters make stupid decisions that feels so out of character that's its not even in the same universe. then she plays the same old jokes that have been played since star wars first came out. she doesn't understand any of the characters besides maybe greez and cere. with cal he's an idiot who doesn't have an once of common sense or creative thinking, who thinks of stormtrooper as nothing more then people to kill. THAT IS NOT WHAT CAL OR A JEDI WOULD DO. He would kill them but only when he needs to and he definitely would not take pleasure in it. those 2 new characters feel like she wants them to be main characters but doesn't want to write from their prospective. and then merrin my God wtf did she do. I'm fine with giving her a love interest but why did she have to fall head over heels almost right away. she set up merrins ark so well with her slowly losing her magic. this author is not so bad that she needs to quit writing. but my God she should never touch star wars ever again. she is the jj Abraham's and Ryan Johnson of the star wars books

It’s almost there

I liked the story but felt like the pacing was in conflict with the characters and the romance. While i loved the themes of trauma and trust, I felt it was overkill over time and the novel could have benefited from more adverse consequences of their adventures earlier than towards the end.

(It was unfortunate they could not have Debra Wilson and Cameron on the narration. Particularly Debra’s voice. She really helps embodies Cere’s complicated leadership role. But I am not taking that into account on my rating)

tldr… too much build up for little pay off at the end

not horrible, not the best

of you can get pass the creepy saxual descriptions and the hornines of the author, there is a fairly nice star wars story. if you are fan of the game, probably will help you connect more with the characters, then prehaps it wont. not a necesary read

The book you really want to like but can't fully

The wife and I really wanted to like this book because we are HUGE Star Wars fans and LOVED Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor. We made it to Chapter 6 before the wife said it was getting painful and she wanted to love it, heck even just liking it, but she couldn't. The reason for us not liking it as much as other Star Wars books was the story itself. It feels all over the place, not very memorable. Cal is a bit too.... I'm not even sure how the author was trying to portray him, but it didn't seem like Cal Kestis, he wasn't that happy or bubbly, unless it came to Merrin. It could have used more Star Wars curses and language instead of actually swearing. Son of a mudscuffer, dank farik, karrabast, etc. It feels very disconnected from the Star Wars Universe and the games. We couldn't finish it, the narrator tried his best. We're returning the book for a different one.

Horrible Audio Issues

Almost the entirety of Chapter 6 has a HORRIBLE high-pitched ringing noise that (I think) is supposed to be the ship's engine. it was so loud that I couldn't focus on the reader. Almost stopped listening right then and there because it was giving me a migraine. The narrator also reads like he's entirely too excited to be reading Star Wars.

TOO SEXY

SOME OF THE INTIMACY SCENES WERE A BIT TOO MUCH FOR ME. FEMALE AND FEMALE IS FINE BUT JUST NOT FOR ME. I WANT SCI-FI ESCAPISM NOT AFTER HOURS SHOWTIME. GOOD ACTION SEQUENCES. WELL PERFORMED. NO STAR WARS NOVEL ever HAD SUCH GRAPHIC HETERO SCENES. TOO MUCH IN YOU FACE.