The Jedi Council we first encounter in The Phantom Menace are introduced in Acts of War. We also meet Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who along with other Council members and Padawans, pay a visit to the Yinchorri, a violent species admitted to the Republic a mere 20 or so years before this story takes place. They’ve taken advantage of all the Republic’s technology: ships, blasters, and especially cortosis ore, fashioning them into shields that can burn out a lightsaber. It’s a suicide mission not just to Yinchorr, but to two other planets in search of the Yinchorri’s command base.

While there, an army of Yinchorri barge into the Jedi Temple to obliterate the Jedi. This is a nice foreshadowing of what happens in Revenge of the Sith, as Darth Sidious has a background role in the Yinchorri’s attacks. Thus, readers are introduced not just to the Dark Lord, but to his apprentice, Darth Maul and best of all, to Vilmarh “Villie” Grarhk, a Devaronian who fancies himself a bounty hunter, but will take on any shady mission. Those who only read the novels or watch the movies won’t encounter him again unless they read the Republic comic series.

Mace Windu, coolest Jedi ever, leads the mission to Yinchorr, which isn’t the success he would have liked, but was what he expected. Strangely, it’s Saesee Tiin who sports the purple lightsaber rather than Windu. Strange, especially because this series was released after The Phantom Menace.

Aside from the mix-up in lightsaber colors, the artwork is phenomenal.