«The jungle planet of Haruun Kal, homeworld of the legendary Jedi Master Mace Windu, has become a battleground in the increasing hostilities between the Republic and the renegade Separatist movement. The Jedi Council has sent Depa Billaba - Mace’s former Padawan and fellow Council member - to Haruun Kal to train the local tribesmen as a guerrilla resistance force. But now the Separatists have pulled back, and Depa has not returned. The only clue to her disappearance is a cryptic recording left at the scene of a brutal massacre: a recording that hints of madness and murder and the darkness in the jungle... a recording in Depa’s own voice.
Mace Windu trained Depa. Only he can find her. Only he can learn what has changed her. Only he can stop her. He will leave behind the Republic he serves, the civilization he believes in, everything but his passion for peace and his devotion to his former Padawan. And he will learn the terrible price that must be paid when keepers of the peace are forced to make war....»
This Star Wars novel is set just after the Battle of Geonosis, a few months after the start of the Clone Wars (after Episode II: Attack of the Clones).
From a moral standpoint, it's quite complex. It places the protagonist in the middle of a savage war, on a jungle planet, with atrocities committed by both sides. It can be a bit confusing for the reader.
Fast-paced, lots of action, with plenty of violence, lots of blood. I emphasize that there are real atrocities that can be quite repulsive.
It's more of a novel for adults, not for children.
It's the senselessness of war. And there are practically no clones, nor droids either. It's humans against humans, driven by a deep mutual hatred to a civil war.