REVIEW: The Clone Wars Stories of Light and Dark

The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark turned out to be the perfect complement to The Clone Wars. Whereas I believed the only real new content that would come from this anthology would be the new original story, each retelling turned out to add so much to the episodes they were retelling. While I never had many problems with any episode of The Clone Wars, this book helped fill in the gaps that needed filling the most within each arc covered.

The most crucial thing this book helped to uncover were the thoughts of numerous characters throughout the events of the Clone Wars. I had never thought about how much we were missing from the show by being blindsided to certain thoughts during crucial character moments. Sometimes these inclusions even filled in problems I had in the show that confused me, clearing up issues elsewhere to bolster up the book itself.

This book also helps to pioneer new voices in the Star Wars canon. About half the writers on this anthology are new writers for Star Wars, while the other half are mostly one-time novel writers getting their second dose in this universe. Not only are we given diverse new opportunities for new Star Wars authors, but a diversified team of Star Wars authors from many different backgrounds.

The main problem I faced with these stories had to do with length issues. While I knew each story would be restricted due to the book being an anthology and the book being restricted to a certain length, the pace of each story went by so fast to the point of having to skip over crucial moments that were important to the covered episodes. Being meant for younger readers though, it's easy to see why the book had to be stylized in this fashion.

The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark takes what is amazing about The Clone Wars and ends up amplifying it to even higher acclaim. Its minor issues can easily be cast aside by how much is added to the lore of the series. One could only wish that each arc of the show could be explored like they are in this anthology novel.