In the waning days of the old Star Wars EU, they experimented with more cross-fertilization between Dark Horse's comics and Del Rey's novels, with series that would cross back and forth between them. One example of this was the Knight Errant series, where the story begins in the comics, then goes into a novel, and then returns to the comics. (Somewhat confusingly, the novel is just called "Knight Errant" with no subtitle, and also confusingly this mean the comic collection branded "volume two" is actually the third Knight Errant book.)
Star Wars: Knight Errant |
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Published: 2011 Acquired: January 2013 Read: December 2025 |
The novel picks up a bit after the end of the first trade paperback, with Kerra trapped in Sith space, still doing her best to cause problems.
Different media obviously have different strengths. Two of the benefits of a novel over a comic are worldbuilding and interiority. Though obviously comics can handle these in their own way, I think it's probably easier to work in a little touches in a novel; also given this novel is almost 400 pages but the Knight Errant trades are just 100, Miller has a much bigger canvas here. That to me was the real triumph of the novel: I can't think of any Star Wars story that's ever really shown us what it would be like to live under the Sith, what a realm under Sith thrall would actually be like. (Technically, the Empire was such a thing, but Darth Sidious kept this secret from his Empire.) Miller's novel carries us through several different kingdoms within the Sith empire, each with its own ruler with their own ethos. There's the Sith who believes no one exists but him, the Sith who believes no one deserves to exist, the Sith who directly controls their entire kingdom, and so on. I thought this stuff was fascinating and all very well done. It does what a good tie-in story should do, giving us a previously unseen angle on a familiar universe.
We also get a mercenary who operates in Sith space; I liked this guy a lot. He's an interesting character and he shows a new angle on Sith dominance. It seems a real shame he didn't pop up more in future Knight Errant installments.
On the other hand, I found the characterization of Kerra a bit of a squandered opportunity. Kerra is very much a character who is always on the move, and not given to introspection very much. This works to the strengths of the comics medium to an extent, but does leave me feeling like we mostly know Kerra at a bit of a remove. I do think lots of introspection wouldn't have felt right for her, but I also think the medium of a novel provided more opportunities for developing her as a character than we got. Specifically, Kerra befriends a young woman on one of the Sith worlds; she helps liberate this girl and some other Sith thralls, but then struggles to find a place of safety for them. Unfortunately, this friend character feels more like a plot point than a person. Kerra does a lot of stuff to help her, but rarely actually interacts with her or even thinks about her. I think this was a real missed opportunity; if Kerra is not inclined to reveal herself voluntarily, seeing her build a relationship with a young protegee could have done a lot to develop her.
Like a lot of Miller books, I did find that in the last quarter or so it felt like, despite the presence of fast-paced action, the book was treading water. I don't know if I could exactly put my thumb on what causes this, but I felt similarly when reading Rogue Elements and The High Country.
Despite all this, I enjoyed the novel as a whole. Overall, I found Knight Errant a mixed bag as a series (more on that when I get to the last two comics), and this was probably the best it was in execution.
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