Star Wars Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade Book Review

A brand new story that reveals the backstory of one of the lesser-known Inquisitors, as well as details of how it’s to serve under Darth Vader himself.

Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade is written by Delilah S. Dawson. It is available in audio, physical, and digital formats. It was released on July 18th, 2023.

This is not an illustrated novel so most of the images you’ll see are for illustrative purposes. However, the last segment includes panels from the Darth Vader comics by Charles Soule.

Plot Preview

Rise of the Red Blade tells the story of Iskat Akaris, a member of the feared Inquisitorious. Inquisitors are Darth Vader’s personal Jedi Hunters, they might not be Sith or but these dark-side wielders are still capable of hunting and defeating many of the Jedi that escaped Order 66.

Many Inquisitors have appeared in Rebels, Tales of the Jedi, Jedi Fallen Order, Jedi Survivor, and the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. However, Iskat Akaris is one of the lesser unknown Inquisitors. Until now.

After reading Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade we’ll know more about Iskat Akari’s early days as a Jedi Padawan, her promotion to Jedi Knight, and the inevitable fall to the dark side.

A Young Jedi Promise

One of the things you’ll immediately notice is all the similarities with Anakin Skywalker but also the differences in how both were treated. Since her early days, Iskat showed qualities many wouldn’t deem proper of a future Jedi. Impulsiveness, resentment, a strong necessity to prove herself, and most importantly, great uncontrolled power.

Her true power was first shown during an accident that occurred when doing a simple exercise. The young red-skinned Padawan did something that no Padawan should be able to do. As a result, someone was permanently injured and everyone changed how they look at her, especially the Jedi Masters.

This incident changed Iskat forever, most of her fellow Padawans considered the red-skinned girl a freak and made comments to emphasize it. To Iskat’s bad luck, she didn’t get a caring and comprehensive Jedi as a mentor like Anakin Skywalker did.

Instead, Jedi Master Sember Vey took Iskat under her wing. Master Vey is the exact opposite of Obi-Wan Kenobi, cold, distant, and someone who never praised the good doings of her Padawan.

To make things worse, Sember Vey’s mission used to be hunting ancient Force-related artifacts. The young Padawan always felt out of place, going from one system to another to find something that she wouldn’t be given access to isn’t the definition of fun for Iskat Akaris.

Learning something “different” isn’t what bothered Iskat the most, but the lack of traditional training that some of her fellow Jedi received. And that’s without even mentioning the close and warm relationship everyone else has with their respective master. But all of this changed with the event that gave birth to the Clone Wars, the Battle of Geonosis.

Containing The Darkness

Rise of the Red Blade dives deeper into everything that happened before and during the Battle of Geonosis. It’s mainly from Iskat’s perspective but I still find it fascinating to learn more about it. Episode II heavily focused on the battle inside the arena where Padmé, Anakin, and Obi-Wan almost got executed but there are many other Jedi that fight and died there.

Iskat had never used her lightsaber to fight a real threat before and this experience completely changed her life, for better or worse. Using the lightsaber to take a life for the first time is something that affected every Jedi Padawan, for most of them, it was traumatizing. But for Iskat it was something that made her feel more alive than anything.

The excitement of battle, using a lightsaber to fight and eliminate the Republic’s enemies became Iskat’s favorite activity. After many years of feeling mediocre, Iskat finally learned that she was good at something. Well, more than good, Iskat was great at killing, and she enjoyed it.

Even if she did it to save her fellow Jedi, they all sensed the darkness looming with each of Iskat’s lightsaber strikes. But just like with Anakin, most people turned a blind eye because they required someone like that on the battlefield.

Sadly, not everything that happened at the arena was beneficial for Iskat. Out of all the Jedi sent to rescue Padmé, Anakin, and Obi-Wan only twenty-nine returned to Coruscant, and Master Sember Vey wasn’t one of them.

With her Master dead, a newly found joy for aggression, and all the emotions contained inside Iskat’s heart it was only a matter of time before she fell.

Inevitable Downfall

Getting excited about violence is not the Jedi way but the young Iskat couldn’t help herself. After the war began, she was always looking forward to the next battle. Ironically, taking lives is what made her feel alive.

Inexperience, desire for violence, and eagerness to be a hero is a recipe for disaster. During Iskat’s first mission, things went terribly wrong and the High Council decided that the young Jedi Knight wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility.

It’s disappointing to see that the Jedi Council failed another member of their Order. Her decisions might not have been the best but she wasn’t in charge of that mission. I’m sure that if Anakin and Iskat changed places the judgment of the Council would’ve been different.

For her entire life, Iskat felt like an outsider. The other younglings treated her like an outcast and the Masters didn’t understand that words can be meaningless if they’re not backed by actions. A confused and isolated Padawan needed more than speeches to feel like an actual member of the Jedi Order.

To make things worse, they decided to keep every piece of information about her origins hidden. Iskat’s species remained a mystery for a long time, to be honest, I first thought that she was related to the Sith species. The unmistakable red skin, long fingers, and personal traits that seem to align so well with the dark side really suggest that she comes from a dark legacy.

In my opinion, that would justify hiding it from the impressionable Jedi. But that’s not the case and instead of doing something to help Iskat develop her own identity, they made her doubt even more about her place among the Jedi.

The Master Manipulator

It doesn’t matter how many times I get to read or watch Order 66 happen, it’s always haunting and heartbreaking. We’ve all seen it from multiple perspectives (mainly from Jedi) but this is one of the few times where we see how an Inquisitor is recruited. This is something that I’ve always been curious about and Rise of the Red Blade finally answers it.

Palpatine played his game carefully when influencing Anakin Skywalker, slowly affecting the mind and heart of who would become his future apprentice. Anakin wasn’t the only one whose desires and weaknesses got exploited by the former Supreme Chancellor.

Obviously, the mastermind behind the war couldn’t spend his time with multiple Jedi Knights the way he did with Anakin. Instead, he introduced his spies inside the Jedi Temple. Not Jedi but staff with enough access to hear and learn many things that could prove very useful to the Chancellor.

Iskat was the target of one of these spies. For a few years, this person earned Iskat’s trust and have multiple conversations about her discontent with the Jedi Order and some of their policies. Not feeling judged for her thoughts and desires made Iskat feel confident in sharing stuff ideas that were very dark.

When Order 66 was executed, Iskat had already embraced the darkness inside her, she just needed a small push. The fact that Palpatine knew exactly who to target and how to manipulate them to eventually turn them into Inquisitors really shows how far ahead of everyone he was.

I hope that in the future we get to learn more about the stories of the Grand Inquisitor, Seventh Sister, Fifth Brother, and Ninth Sister. It’s always interesting to read/watch characters fall to the dark side.

Getting To Know The Inquisitorious

From what we could see in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, it’s evident that Inquisitors are supposed to work together but they’re far from considering themselves allies. It’s all about power and if they have to double-cross each other they’ll do it without hesitation.

Iskat learned this the hard way, her first days included an encounter with the Seventh Sister, Fifth Brother, and Darth Vader himself. After a few trips to the nursery, it was clear that this place wasn’t friendly. Outside of its walls, hunting Jedi was the priority but once back in the Inquisitorious complex, no one could be trusted.

This reminds me of the ancient Sith during the Old Republic era. They spent so much time trying to undermine each other and trying to climb up the power ladder that the Republic got the upper hand in the war. The endless search for power was both the biggest strength of the Sith and their biggest weakness.

Darth Vader never had an issue with this, none of the Inquisitors could ever threaten to take his place as Emperor Palpatine’s apprentice but I’m not sure this is the best approach to it. Sure, it’s better to have the strongest members among your ranks but it’s not like they’re powerful enough to take down every single Jedi that escaped Order 66.

Yoda and Obi-Wan would make every Inquisitor look like younglings and Ahsoka Tano is able to duel Darth Vader himself. I know that there are many weaker Jedi that were defeated by the Inquisitors but it’s the truly powerful ones that pose a threat to the Galactic Empire.

Nonetheless, it was still very cool to have a better perspective of how hard life as an Inquisitor is. How some of them are recruited, the expectations for them, their relationship with each other, and the constant reminder that they are nothing compared to Darth Vader.

A Good Taste Of Nostalgia

I’ll never get tired of reading stories that happened before A New Hope. As someone who grew up with the prequels and watching the Clone Wars animated show, it’s always exciting when a new story is related to this period of Star Wars.

A good part of the story takes place inside the Jedi Temple on Coruscant so being able to picture every hall with multiple Jedi training and wandering around makes it very exciting for those who’ve watched The Clone Wars.

Yoda, Mace Windu, and Jocasta Nu have appearances that while brief, still capture their very distinctive characters. It’s also very cool to hear some name drops, even if it’s not super relevant to the plot. The Second Sister from Jedi Fallen Order, Jedi Masters Pong Krell, and Kelleran Beq are the ones that made me pretty excited. There are more characters that are hinted or briefly mentioned but it wouldn’t be fun if I revealed them all.

There are many stories that are connected, you’ll be able to spot some of these connections if you read/listen carefully. My favorite one is the mention of the bombing of Cato Neimoidia, this disaster, and its consequences are explored in Brotherhood.

These small references and easter eggs are a good reminder that everything is connected, even if it doesn’t appear so.

The next part of this review contains heavy spoilers about the final chapters of the book.

The Thirteenth Sister

Funnily enough, Iskat felt even more isolated as an Inquisitor than as a Jedi. Maybe the other Padawans used to avoid her but at least the Jedi Knights and Masters were always willing to hear and give some advice.

With the Inquisitors it’s a constant battle for survival and anyone could stab you in the back without any warning. Iskat doesn’t get involved in these minor conflicts but she’s still affected by it. One of the last members to join the Inquisitorious is none other than Tualon, one of her few friends during her days as a Jedi.

They were together when Order 66 was issued and Iskat left Tualon to die at the hands of Clone Troopers. He managed to survive and was eventually “invited” to join the Imperial ranks as an Inquisitor. His first act as an Inquisitor was to stab Iskat in the chest as payback for her treason.

But as I just said, Iskat isn’t interested in getting revenge on her fellow Inquisitors but this act against her created a strange relationship with Tualon. They developed a strange bond that was flirty but with a sense of rivalry.

This is highlighted during Iskat’s first mission as an Inquisitor. Her targets are two Jedi, no name or hints about their power is given but an Inquisitor doesn’t need that to perform their task. To her surprise, one of them is a girl that used to make comments to make feel a young Iskat insecure about her place in her the Jedi Order.

The second one was the Master she used to meditate for years before the purge. Iskat might not have been as cruel as the other Inquisitors, but she had a task to complete and nothing would stop her.

I won’t reveal how she deals with these Jedi, but I can say that it’s a very interesting thing to finally see her completely embrace the dark side. After delivering the trophies of her hunt, Iskat Akaris officially becomes the Thirteenth Sister.

The final segment reveals the fate of two of the main characters of the book. Stop here if you don’t want to get spoiled.

A Tragic End

This last part of the book includes the events of the Darth Vader comics by Charles Soule. I used some of its panels to illustrate this last segment.

Time passed and both Tualon and Iskat became valuable assets to the Inquisitorious, this is a little relative because we all know that everyone is expendable to Palpatine. But they performed their jobs well and without hesitation.

Their relationship also evolved to a different level. Iskat and Tualon became a couple and while it’s not forbidden for them to have that type of relationship, it’s considered a weakness and there’s nothing that Darth Vader hates more.

On one occasion, Tualon didn’t hide his feelings well enough from Vader and that sealed the fate of these lovers.

The Sith Lord ignited his red lightsaber and attempted to strike Iskat, Tualon blocked it confirming Vader’s suspicions.

None of them were completely sure why their superior attacked her, but it didn’t matter. The only hope for survival would be to flee.

A great pursuit takes place all over Coruscant, damaging multiple buildings and harming many of its citizens. Iskat and Tualon fight back and for a small second it looked like they could defeat their enemy, but it was wishful thinking.

Lord Vader grabs both of them and make them impale each other with their lightsabers. A sad, tragic and some could even say poetic ending to Iskat and Tualon.

Fun fact: The destruction caused by this fight made Palpatine decide that the Inquisitors should move out of Coruscant. Darth Vader would later claim Mustafar as his own world and establish the Fortress Inquisitorius on the planet’s moon.

This entire review as well as the summary in the review card below are all based on our own opinions as fans of the franchise. We would love it if you shared your thoughts.

Full Title:

inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade

Author

Delilah S. Dawson

Genre

Adult Novel

Era

Prequel Trilogy

Release

July 18, 2023

Length

343 pages