SWBC: Book recommendations for Asajj Ventress
Plus: An excerpt from the next High Republic book and new bookmarks in the SWBC Etsy store.
In Star Wars, no one’s ever really gone. That was solidified this week when The Bad Batch season 3 trailer revealed that Asajj Ventress lives.
In my post on Monday, I shared the literal fandom-breaking news that our favorite former Jedi/Sith apprentice/bounty hunter/badass space witch is ALIVE. Truly, this news came as a shock to me and everyone else in the Star Wars fandom.
But don’t worry, book fans, executive producer Brad Rau confirmed the new season of The Bad Batch will honor Ventress’s prior stories, including the beloved Dark Disciple by Christie Golden.
“We don't want to spoil anything, but want fans to know that any new storytelling with Ventress will align with the events of Star Wars: Dark Disciple,” he told StarWars.com.
While we await Ventress’s return when The Bad Batch season 3 premieres on Feb. 21, here are some reading recommendations (both canon and Legend) for the character.
Reading recommendations for Asajj Ventress
Dark Disciple: Asajj Ventress and Jedi Quinlan Vos team up by order of the Jedi Council to assassinate Count Dooku. Enemies to lovers and SO MUCH HEARTBREAK ensue.
Brotherhood: Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi (canonically) meet Asajj Ventress for the first time during an investigation on Cato Neimoidia in the earliest days of the Clone Wars.
The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark: The short story “The Lost Nightsister” adapts The Clone Wars season 4 episode “Bounty.” It follows Asajj Ventress navigating a new life post-Sith apprenticeship and becoming a bounty hunter alongside a young Boba Fett and Bossk.
Yoda: Dark Rendezvous: Asajj Ventress destroys a ship piloted by a famous actor impersonating Yoda, who travels in secret to answer a request for a peaceful rendezvous with Count Dooku — Yoda’s former Padawan. This one also has a new audiobook out this week!
The Cestus Deception: Obi-Wan Kenobi is sent to a struggling planet to convince the government to stop creating bio-droids for the Separatists in exchange for economic support. Count Dooku sends his apprentice Asajj Ventress to throw wrenches in Obi-Wan and Kit Fisto’s plans.
Jedi: Mace Windu: Features the first appearance of Asajj Ventress in Legends.
The Clone Wars novelization: The novelization of the animated film features the Battle of Teth, where Asajj Ventress’s droid forces kill most of the Torrent Company of clone troopers.
Coming next week: The next High Republic book
There are just a few more days until the next High Republic book arrives — this one, a chunky middle-grade novel by Daniel Jose Older and Alyssa Wong.
Escape From Valo is about just that — Padawan Ram Jomaram and three Jedi younglings fighting back and working to escape the Nihil occupation on the planet Valo.
You’ll remember Ram from Race to Crashpoint Tower, The High Republic Adventures comics, and Older’s Midnight Horizon. He’s goofy, loveable, and an incredible mechanic and tinkerer, and in this novel becomes a mentor of sorts for the younglings who have been eking out an existence and hiding from the Nihil in the Lonisa City Zoo.
For a book set in a dark, tragic time during The High Republic, Escape From Valo is refreshingly hilarious. Who let Older and Wong team up to write a book and when can we have them write another one together?
Ram meets three feral Jedi younglings living in the zoo in Escape From Valo excerpt
Older and Wong have been hyping up their new book for weeks, sharing spoiler-free inside jokes and memes on Twitter/X. Then this week, StarWars.com shared an excerpt from Escape From Valo showing Ram meeting younglings Gavi, Kildo, and Tep Tep for the first time.
“The Lonisa City Zoo was in ruins. It had been partially destroyed two years earlier in the first Nihil attack, and now it was all rubble, twisted metal gates and fences, and ripped-up brick paths. Greenery sprawled over the wreckage, thick woody vines heavy with leaves and blossoms, different species twining together and creating new ones. Creatures roamed the zoo, no longer confined to their overgrown habitats.
Ram had sought refuge in there during the attack on the Republic Fair, alongside Lula Talisola, who was gone, too, for all Ram knew — lost amid the shattered, sunken debris of Starlight Beacon.
So much loss.”
The best parts of the excerpt — and much of the book, really — are the scenes with Tep Tep, who has an affinity for making deep connections with wildlife. She’s right at home in the zoo, even among a pack of acklays — the giant, six-legged reptilian creature from the Geonosis arena in Attack of the Clones.
Tep Tep’s acklay are named Blueblossom, Dewflower, Posypetal, Moonbloom, and Puffball. How sweet.
“In the wild, they live in packs. It would be cruel to keep only one.” She held out her hand, and four more acklays appeared out of the night, their bladed legs stabbing down with each step. They shoved their massive heads into Tep Tep’s palm, snarling and fighting to get the best position. She giggled.
“Breathe,” Kildo advised. He shrugged, bright orange eyes glinting in the dark. “That’s Tep Tep’s thing—animals love her as much as she loves them. When we first set up in the zoo, Tep Tep used her Force gifts to tend to the injured animals here. She was able to calm them down and soothe their pain. Now they prowl around the area and protect us from the Nihil. They’re not going to hurt you while she’s around.”
Read the full excerpt at StarWars.com, and pick up a copy of Escape From Valo when it arrives on Jan. 30.
New to the SWBC Etsy shop
It’s been a while since I shared an update about my Space Wizards Book Club Etsy store. But I’ve finally got some new bookmarks and stickers that I’m so excited to share.
New bookmarks
New stickers
As I’ve said before and I’ll continue to say — thank you to everyone who’s bought from the shop, wrote a review, posted photos of my bookmarks and stickers, and just shared and supported the Space Wizards Book Club. That also goes for newsletter subscribers and Instagram followers.
The Space Wizards Book Club wouldn’t be what it is without you!
MTFBWY✨
Star Wars books and comics out this week
Jan. 23
New unabridged audiobooks of these Essential Legends:
Jan. 24
I can't wait for Bad Batch S3! I think a reread of Dark Disciple is in order.