Only one thing could unite the forces of the Jedi and the Sith: an enemy far vaster—and deadlier—than both.
What began as a quest for truth has become a struggle for survival for Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben. They have used the secrets of the Mind Walkers to transcend their own bodies and speak with the spirits of the fallen, risking their very lives in the process. They have faced a team of Sith assassins and beaten the odds to destroy them. And now the death squad's sole survivor, Sith apprentice Vestara Khai, has summoned an entire fleet of Sith frigates to engage the embattled father and son. But the dark warriors come bearing a surprising proposition that will bring Jedi and Sith together in an unprecedented alliance against an evil more ancient and alien than they can imagine.
While the Skywalkers and their Sith allies set off on their joint mission into the treacherous web of black holes that is the Maw, Han and Leia Solo risk arrest and worse to aid the Jedi imprisoned back on Coruscant. Tyrannical Chief of State Natasi Daala has issued orders that will open a permanent schism between her government and the Jedi Order—a schism that could turn all Jedi into renegades and wanted criminals.
But it is in the depths of the Maw that the future of the galaxy will be decided. For there the Skywalkers and their Sith allies will engage a true monster in battle, and Luke will come face-to-face with a staggering truth.
The novel begins immediately after the ending of Fate of the Jedi: Backlash, with Luke and Ben Skywalker surrounded over Dathomir by the Sith fleet summoned by Vestara Khai, their Sith prisoner. The Sith commander, High Lord Sarasu Taalon, sends a message to discuss a truce with the Jedi. He proposes that the Sith and the Skywalkers work together to destroy the malignant Force entity known as Abeloth, who is causing the Force psychosis plaguing the young Jedi Knights back on Coruscant, as well the Sith's own apprentices. Vestara's father, Gavar, asks to come aboard, and Luke reluctantly agrees. Once Gavar is aboard, Luke lets Vestara and her father use his room for a private chat, but uses recording devices planted there to eavesdrop. Nevertheless, the Khais speak in the Keshiri language as an added precaution. Gavar reveals to Vestara that the Sith apprentices are just fine and that the lie was merely a means to convince Luke of their mutual interest in destroying Abeloth. He also senses that Vestara has developed feelings for Ben, and encourages her to pursue them; at worst he's a source for information and at best she may turn him to the dark side of the Force. Vestara agrees, thrilled at the prospect of having Ben join the Sith. As they leave Luke's room, the Jedi Master finds them and agrees to assist the Sith in destroying Abeloth. However, he refuses to let Vestara rejoin the Sith just yet; begrudgingly, her father accepts this and they decide to head to Klatooine; the closest supply point leading back to the Maw. Meanwhile, Luke begins having dreams of his late wife, Mara, luring him to the Maw.
On Coruscant, Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala faces mounting criticism of her heavy-handed attempts to suppress the Jedi. In order to dispel the growing assertions that she is another Palpatine, she dismisses Nawara Ven and the Jedi Court to show that she will not treat the Jedi any different from other people. As Tahiri Veila's court date approaches, Jaina Solo asks her fiancé Jagged Fel to try to get Tahiri a lawyer who has a chance at clearing her name. Jag, though reluctant to interfere in Galactic Alliance politics, agrees.
On Klatooine, Luke calls Lando Calrissian and asks if he can borrow an old starship of his that can assist in guiding him and the Sith fleet through the Maw. Lando agrees to help him, but tells Luke it would take him a week or two to get the ship ready. Luke then contacts C-3PO and sends him a recording of the conversation Vestara had with her father and asks him to translate it. Threepio, thrilled that someone actually commed him, begins translation attempts at once. Ben and Vestara meanwhile are sent down to the planet's surface with one of their scouts from Dathomir, Jedi-washout Dyon Stadd. While there, Dyon falls victim to Abeloth's Force-psychosis and steals a speeder and heads for a sacred landmark known as the Fountain of Hutt Ancients. Ben and Vestara manage to stop Dyon before he can desecrate the Fountain (no technology is allowed near it), but all three of them are arrested by the Klatooine police. Luke comes to bail them out with Gavar and recover their afflicted ally, and is disturbed with Vestara's flirtations with Ben, just as Gavar is with the harmless connection between the two of them, though Vestara convinces him that it is simply a way to trick Ben. The Klatooinians agree to hand Ben, Vestara and Dyon over, stating they don't have the facilities to hold Jedi. Once back on their ship with an immobilized Dyon, Luke warns Ben that Vestara can't be trusted. Ben, furious, storms off to his room.
Back on Coruscant, the Jedi Temple is once again attacked by Mandalorian mercenaries under Daala's orders to recover two recently afflicted Jedi, Sothais Saar and Turi Altamik, and to block the Jedi's attempts to launch a fleet to assist Luke. Kenth Hamner's assistant, a young Jedi girl named Kani Asari, is brutally gunned down by the leader of the Mandalorian mercenaries, Belok Rhal in broad daylight. Han and Leia Organa Solo, watching the scene on the HoloNet, manage to sneak medication in through the substructure of the Jedi Temple attached to small animals in order to keep the crazed Jedi sedated. Wynn Dorvan, Daala's chief of staff, realizes that, shortly, Raynar Thul would be heading outside the Temple for his lunch break. Dorvan rushes to the temple and manages to stop the Mandalorians from gunning him down as well, and then the two of them take Asari's body back into the Temple. It is during this time that Jaina, realizing how often she asks Jag to bend or break the rules for her, decides to call off their engagement as their careers will always get in the way. She leaves a stunned Jag and rushes off to help her uncle. Meanwhile, Hamner refuses to openly move against Daala because he has made a secret deal with Admiral Nek Bwua'tu, who promises to get Daala off the Jedi's backs.
Over Klatooine, C-3PO presents a rough translation to Luke which confirms his suspicions that the Sith were lying to him and that Vestara is intentionally manipulating his son. He shows the recording to Ben, which leaves him feeling humiliated, though he is still attracted to Vestara. Lando arrives with his starship, the Rockhound, and Luke and most of the Sith fleet head back to Sinkhole Station. Some Sith are ordered to stay behind in order to relay messages; however, they also have orders to take samples of the Fountain structure as it is made of some super-strong material. This causes the planet's populace to erupt into anarchy as the Fountain is desecrated. Jaina and Lando are asked by the Klatooine elders to act as judges to determine who should be held liable for the incident: the Sith for desecrating the Fountain, or the Hutts for failing to protect it, as was their promise in the Treaty of Vontor about twenty-five thousand years earlier. Jaina and Lando reach their verdict and declare that the Sith are to blame, and the Klatooinian elders promptly sentence those who desecrated the Fountain to execution, namely Captain Vyn Holpur and his crew. However, because of the riots resulting from the incident, it appears unlikely that the Hutts can regain control of the planet, and thus, lose a large accumulation of slaves. This prompts the outbreak of multiple anti-slavery movements across the galaxy that are supported by the underground organization known as the Freedom Flight. These movements compound the criticisms of Daala for her persecution of the Jedi.
During the voyage to Sinkhole Station, a handful of Sith ships are destroyed, and Luke is shocked to find that the station itself has been destroyed, leading him to believe it was definitely keeping Abeloth in check. With Vestara's help, they manage to land on Abeloth's planet, and go Beyond shadows to find and kill Abeloth herself. Luke manages to contact Mara from Beyond Shadows, telling her that he has finally responded to his dreams of her calling him to the Maw, but she tells him that she never contacted him. Luke now knows that he has been set up, and he and the Sith leave Beyond Shadows (albeit with the loss of one of the Sith's numbers in Leeha Faal, who sunk into the Depths of Eternity) to find Abeloth in the real world. Meanwhile, as part of a sabotage attempt against Abeloth, Vestara reawakens Dyon and assists in his escape. He makes his way to Abeloth, who nearly kills him by feeding off of his life force. Luke and the others find Dyon, as Vestara had let him go so that they can track him in the Force, and Dyon is relieved that he has come back to his senses; he states that everyone around him still feels "wrong" but he knows that they are not imposters. Luke and the Sith confront Abeloth, and he is shocked when her human appearance is that of Luke's long lost love, Callista Ming, who left him decades earlier in order to find a way to reconnect with the Force. At first, Luke believes that Abeloth is Callista, but soon understands that Abeloth actually killed Callista and absorbed her life force years ago, resulting in Abeloth possessing Callista's memories and appearance. During a vicious battle with Abeloth (in which Gavar tried to attack Luke but failed due to the intervention of a furious Ben), Luke manages to overpower and eventually kill the monster despite her tricks to mislead him. With Abeloth's death the Force illness affecting the Jedi Knights Cilghal's custody is lifted.
Luke and Ben return to Lando's starship and are surprised to see Jaina waiting for them; she informs them of the siege on the Jedi Temple and the new development that Kenth Hamner and a number of senior Jedi now have out-standing warrants for their arrest. In the meantime, the alliance between the Jedi and Sith remains in force, if only to discover more about Abeloth's nature by studying her corpse. Meanwhile, now free from Abeloth's control, Ship escapes from a dogfight with Jaina's StealthX X-wing starfighter, which results in Jaina nearly being killed when Ship destroys one of her engines. Ship then goes into hyperspace while Jaina is saved by Lando.
Daala and her secret lover, Nek Bwua'tu, meet for dinner where Bwua'tu intends to persuade her to call the siege off, but before he can do so, he decides that it would be a useless gesture, considering her anti-Jedi rant to him. Sometime later, he leaves her apartment and is accosted by two apparently crazed Jedi. After realizing that they are not Jedi (because if they were Jedi determined to kill him, he would already be dead) he manages to kill one with a shot to the head; however, the body falls on top of him, driving the lightsaber still clenched in his hand into Bwua'tu's torso.
The novel ends with Tahiri's trial, which at first appeared to be going in her favor thanks to her lawyer, Eramuth Bwua'tu, (the Admiral's uncle). However, it takes a turn for the worst when a recording of Gilad Pellaeon's murder is played onto the record. With that, she believes that all is lost for her.
There are several spelling mistakes throughout the novel. For instance, Kyp Durron's surname is erroneously spelled as "Durran" multiple times, and on page 341, Gilad Pellaeon's surname is erroneously spelled "Pallaeon." Also, Dyon Stadd's surname is spelled "Stad" throughout the entire novel. On page 149 Allana was misspelled as "Alanna." Additionally, during a description of slavery on Vinsoth, Chev and Chevin get mixed up, only to be corrected later in the passage. At least once each, the plural of Sith and Jedi are incorrectly rendered "Siths" and "Jedis."
In the novel Luke Skywalker contemplates it was two years since Mara Jade Skywalker's death, when in fact it was four years since she was killed. In chapter 14 there is incorrect part where it is said Chevs have enslaved the Chevins, when in fact it is exactly opposite way. In chapter 15 Allana says she just turned eight, but she was already eight years old in Fate of the Jedi: Abyss novel. In chapter 17 it appears Sith frigate Starstalker has other ship inside — some unknown light freighter piloted by Vyn Holpur himself for the mission, yet when approaching one kilometers forbidden zone, same light freighter change name back to Starstalker as unidentified Sith skiff emerge from inside. In chapter 18 hyperdrive is mistaken for hyperspace.
One of Leia's lines delivered as she, Han and Allana relax in their safehouse is credited to Daala. The book also refers a couple of times to Luke apprehending Vestara in the Maw Cluster. This, of course, did not happen. They battled there but she escaped and did not become his hostage until the Sith completed their capture of the Nightsisters on Dathomir.
This novel officially ends the Force psychosis story arc of the series, even though it would still carry on with the Horn siblings in Fate of the Jedi: Conviction. In that novel, they would be the final Jedi to be cured of that illness after Luke Skywalker confronts Abeloth on Nam Chorios.
- ISBN 9780345509147; May 25, 2010; Del Rey; US hardcover
- ISBN 9780345509147; May 25, 2010; Del Rey; US hardcover, Science Fiction Book Club edition
- ISBN 9780345519566; May 25, 2010; Del Rey; US eBook
- ISBN 9780345509154; April 26, 2011; Del Rey; US paperback
- The Essential Reader's Companion