Star Wars: Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss

By: Steven Barnes

Narrated by: William DeMeritt

Jedi Master Mace Windu travels to a dangerous, remote planet on a mission that challenges even his deadly prowess—all to fulfill Qui-Gon’s last request.

The Jedi are reeling from Qui-Gon Jinn’s sudden death at the hands of a Sith. Jedi Master Mace Windu’s feelings about Qui-Gon have always been complicated—and have not been made any simpler by death. While they often disagreed, Mace valued Qui-Gon’s unique perspective, and their shared dedication to the Force made them allies. Without Qui-Gon and his unorthodox views, Mace feels out of balance.

While considering his fallen friend’s legacy, Mace is surprised to receive a final message from Qui-Gon, marked to be delivered to Mace in the event of Qui-Gon’s death. The message contains a last request: a plea to help the Outer Rim planet Metagos.

Many years ago, a violent solar flare transformed the surface of the desert planet into a landscape of irradiated glass—as beautiful as it is dangerous. Now most of the surviving inhabitants live underground, where rival clans fight to control the planet’s limited resources. As a young Jedi, Qui-Gon protected the Sa’ad farming clan from the planet’s less-scrupulous factions. The Sa’ad practice the art of dream-weaving, retaining their waking minds upon sleep in order to communicate and coexist with the wild creatures around them. Qui-Gon vowed to return if they ever required his aid, but now it falls to Mace to fulfill that promise. The Sa’ad’s leader, KinShan Nightbird, has begged for the Jedi’s help in freeing Metagos from the crime lords who threaten to eradicate her people’s way of life.

Intent on carrying out Qui-Gon’s final wishes, Mace travels to Metagos and infiltrates the enemies of the Sa’ad. But as the Jedi Master investigates the intricate web of adversaries and allies, Mace finds himself pushed to the boundaries of the Jedi code, with his beliefs and his relationship to the Force itself challenged.

©2024 Random House Worlds (P)2024 Random House Audio

Mace Wndu: The Glass Abyss

Excellent! It felt like I was listening to a Star Wars Movie! Great story, narration, background and supporting sounds

Starts strong - Finishes weak

Started so strong. There’s this “we are so back” moment, however about halfway through, all that momentum slides off the tracks. If you want a better Mace Windu story please look up “Shatterpoint”.

More Mace!

I’m glad to get more lore about Mace Windu. It’s a good story exploring his inner conflict, making him even better to root for.

Good Story

The storyline was good. It has good action scenes and it introduces new characters. It's nice to hear more of Mace Windu's adventures. However, the narrator isn't as good as the others. I feel that Mark Thompson or Johthan Davis would do a far better job. They bring real life to the characters and draw you into the story.

One of the absolute best Star Wars stories

Absolutely amazing. Voice acting, sound mixing, story, all done with mastery worthy of a Jedi Master.

A Disturbance on the Crystalline Planet of Metagos

Prominent Characters:
>Mace Windu
>KinShan Nightbird
>Maya-12
>Chulok

Hook Quality: The hook is good, a final message from Qui-Gon and the mysterious planet of Metagos drew me in.

Character Depth: Fair. There is clear character development for Mace and a few others.

Strong Points: The characters introduced in this novel are quite unique and the overarching plot is nice.

Weak Points: Yoda's voice, much better it can be. There are a few scenes where it's unclear why Mace is there and what is the point of the scene.

Writing Style: I must say weak unfortunately. Transitions between scenes and events flow poorly. I wasn't able to get immersed in the story.

Narrator Quality: William needs to work on his Yoda voice, but overall did a good job.

Great Character exploration

Interesting dove into what makes Mace Windu who he is. The narrator does an amazing job. I found the music distracting, but it did help ground you in the Star Wars universe. Deep thoughts on healing and how our choices affect us. Looking forward to reading it again soon.

Okay Story

It wasn’t a bad story. It just didn’t work for me. I may give it another listen in the future.

Great story

This would make a AWESOME movie!!! I loved this!! This was a Great side story! Beautifully written.

Great story

I loved it. A great back story into Mace Windu & QUI-GON Jinn. I loved the other version of the force, & hope to see more in the future