Star Wars: Low Red Moon Book Review (Spoiler-Free)

Low Red Moon reveals how Jaylen Vrax and ND-5 met under some very peculiar circumstances, and their journey before Star Wars Outlaws.

The article contains no spoilers from this book’s story. The book releases in text and audio format on February 3. We received an early copy for review.

Jaylen’s story

Low Red Moon dives heavily into Jaylen’s past as the spoiled son of the Barsha family, and heir to Barsha Corp. As manufacturers of ship engines, Barsha Corp became one of the wealthiest companies during the Clone Wars.

For years, they cultivated business relationships with both the Republic and CIS until the end of the war. This carried on after the rise of the Galactic Empire. At this point, the heads of Barsha Corp (Jaylen’s parents) felt invincible. Sadly, this was far from the truth.

Their immense wealth and influence were inversely proportional to how badly they treated Sliro. Since his early years, Sliro was cast aside and explicitly told that he was only “half” a Barsha. Therefore, he got half of what Jaylen received in everything you could imagine: gifts, size of room, and even basic human decency.

The following paragraphs are spoilers for anyone who hasn’t played the game. If that happens to you, you might want to skip to the next segment.

Spoiler alert

When Jaylen finally meets Sliro at his Star Destroyer, he briefly mentions how Sliro sent ND-5 to kill every member of the Barsha family. While it’s not the center part of the story, you can definitely see how Sliro’s resentment grew over the years to the point that he’d sell his family to improve his position at the ISB.

That also included Jaylen, despite him being the only one who actually cared for him. Obviously, Jaylen survived and got his revenge after many years of chasing the ghost that took everything from him.

The star of the book

Jaylen Vrax isn’t a character that I particularly liked in Star Wars: Outlaws. He believes himself to be smarter than everyone and has others do his dirty work for him. Normally, I don’t mind those traits in a character if there’s a high level of charisma, but that’s not the case for Jaylen.

Low Red Moon emphasizes that Jaylen’s best abilities are his mouth and knowledge. However, it takes a lot more than that to make it into the big leagues of the Underworld. At one point in this story, he is “the new guy” in business, but then there’s a nine-year time jump, and everything indicates that not much has changed after all that time.

There’s also little to no development of his character. He’s the same guy at the start of the book and at the end of Star Wars Outlaws. His objectives change, but nothing more.

To be fair, I don’t consider the author to be directly responsible for this. I can’t imagine Disney allowing a drastic change to a character that appears in a game like Star Wars: Outlaws, even if it’s a secondary one.

The big but here is that even if Jaylen fails to fill the main character position, that role is graciously taken by ND-5. I don’t think we’ve ever seen a story that focuses so much on a droid.

The most interesting thing about this is that it’s a first-person perspective. We can read all of ND-5’s thoughts and concerns as the story progresses. Even if ND-5 isn’t as sassy as K2S-O or funny like BD-1, there’s still something that makes him a very entertaining character.

There are moments where ND-5 is doing what he was created for: infiltrating, formulating a plan to escape, or eliminating his targets. And there are a few occasions where he’s completely out of his element.

Something as dull as waiting for a turn in a government office becomes really funny when there’s a massive Commando Droid waiting in line while being paranoid about anyone recognizing it. ND-5 is, without a doubt, the best character in Low Red Moon.

Reading the book or playing the game first

Since Low Red Moon happens before Star Wars Outlaws, it’s natural to think that there’s a “right” order. I have three different answers depending on what type of person you are.

If you are familiar with criminal groups like Crimson Dawn, the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Cartel, and watched The Mandalorian, you won’t have any problems regardless of what order you choose.

If you don’t know much about the criminal world of the Star Wars universe, it might be a better idea to play the game first and then read the book. It’ll help you visualize what’s happening and keep track of who is after whom.

If you are a fan of consuming Star Wars media in chronological order, then you should definitely read Low Red Moon and then play Star Wars Outlaws. My only advice would be to read the Epilogue after you’ve played the game. It’s just a few pages, but it spoils a part of the game that makes the outcome of the story easy to deduce.

In case you haven’t played the game, you can check my review and our full coverage of the game.

Listening to the audiobook

What makes the audio version stand out from the rest of Star Wars audiobooks is the fact that it’s performed by Jay Rincon and Eric Johnson, who happen to be the voices of ND-5 and Jaylen Vrax in the actual game.

This made the experience so immersive and fun, especially the odd moments where you can hear ND-5 having a dialogue with itself. To be honest, it took me a few chapters to realize that I was listening to the actual voices of the game, since I haven’t played the game since the second DLC, but I’m so happy they brought these guys back.

Aside from this, you can expect the usual music and distinctive sound effects that come with any Star Wars audiobook. The music selection wasn’t particularly great, but it wasn’t the worst.

It served the moment, but in my opinion, there were better choices for the most intense moments. However, this is just me being nitpicky.

Final Thoughts

Low Red Moon is a simple but entertaining story that answers many of the questions that Star Wars Outlaws didn’t answer. While the plot is about Jaylen’s past, present, and future, ND-5 steals the show.

Mike Chen brings back two characters that appeared for the first time in his novel Brotherhood, while also including another badass bounty hunter who had some important moments in recent years. They fit the story without taking the spotlight from Jaylen and ND-5.

I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to learn more about Sliro and how he climbed through Imperial Ranks. Or at least hear his thoughts after ND-5 carried out his revenge.

Through Low Red Moon, Chen did a great job at reminding us that in both Star Wars and real life, the rich and powerful remain at the top regardless of wars, power transitions, or crises.

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:

Low red moon

Author

Mike Chen

Genre

Novel

Era

Age of Rebellion

Release

February 3, 2026

Length

361 pages