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Star Wars: Tempest Runner
Star Wars: Tempest Runner
Dec 15, 2025 11:48 PM

Author:Cavan Scott

Star Wars: Tempest Runner

Delve into the cutthroat world of one of the High Republic's greatest foes, the merciless Lourna Dee, in this full script for the Star Wars audio original Tempest Runner.

The Nihil storm has raged through the galaxy, leaving chaos and grief in its wake. Few of its raiders are as vicious as the Tempest Runner Lourna Dee. She stays one step ahead of the Jedi Order at the helm of a vessel named after one of the deadliest monsters in the galaxy: herself. But no one can outrun the defenders of the High Republic forever.

After the defeat of her crew, Lourna falls into the hands of the Jedi-but not before she hides her identity, becoming just another Nihil convict. Her captors fail to understand the beast they have cornered. Just like every fool she's ever buried, their first mistake was keeping her alive.

Lourna is determined to make underestimating her their last.

Locked up on a Republic correctional ship, she's dragged across the galaxy to repair the very damage she and her fellow Tempest Runners inflicted. But as Lourna plans her glorious escape, she makes alliances that grow dangerously close to friendships. Outside the Nihil-separated from her infamous ship, her terrifying arsenal, and her feared name-Lourna must carve her own path. But will it lead to redemption? Or will she emerge as a deadlier threat than ever before?

Reviews

Epic in scope and yet composed of intimate moments ... One Small Voice will be one of the best debuts this year

—— Guardian

[A] diverse, original take on contemporary India ... [A] hugely engaging novel written with verve, intelligence and compassion

—— Irish Times

[A] beautiful coming-of-age novel

—— Observer, Meet the 10 Best Debut Novelists for 2023

An intoxicating portrait of modern India, riven with internal political and cultural tensions, caught precariously between its colonial past and its ruthlessly modernising future ... Terrific

—— Daily Mail

Epic ... Guided by an intimate trajectory... Bhattacharya is a vivid and humane storyteller with a talent for encapsulating the social in the personal

—— Sydney Morning Herald

A joy to read, a full universe of feeling, an effortless page-turner by a born storyteller

—— Max Porter

Devastating and intimate, and political and radical all at the same time. Bhattacharya's storytelling talents are limitless

—— Nikesh Shukla

A compassionate, many-layered chronicle of trauma and recovery following mob violence in contemporary India, One Small Voice is a wonderful, timely contribution to world literature

—— Tsitsi Dangarembga, author of This Mournable Body

Exceptional ... Bhattacharya gives us India in all its messy glory ... Heartbreaking and yet so full of hope

—— Melody Razak, author of Moth

Bhattacharya has the enviable ability of creating a cast of characters that feel as real as any person I've met. His effortless writing sings on the page

—— Kasim Ali, author of Good Intentions

Whilst the plot turns on our capacity for cruelty, Bhattacharya's book brims with compassion. A novel about the complexities of adulthood, and the shame we all carry, that is both fearless and kind

—— Clare Pollard, author of Delphi

Thrilling ... Bhattacharya writes beautifully about friendship, family and the devastating consequences of secrecy and shame in a narrative that powerfully evokes the complexities of coming of age in modern India

—— Ben Fergusson, author of Tales from the Fatherland

Emotional and bold ... A rare voice that rewards us with hope and recognition

—— Tice Cin, author of Keeping the House

Salman Rushdie's exuberant writing remains a source of pleasure... A vibrant, sweeping tale with a valuable message: that stories outlast tyrants and words can be the true victory.

—— Independent

Victory City is epic in its sweep, exploring the futility of violence, the marginalisation of women and the resilience of great art, and it is written with a winning lightness. It is a vital and revivifying addition to Rushdie's body of work and it would be no surprise to see it in contention for major prizes later this year.

—— i

It's splendid that Salman Rushdie has a new novel out... Better still, it's a cracker.

—— Observer, *What You Should Be Reading in 2023*

Swiftly paced, unfussily structured, and in fluent and spirited prose, it racks the history of a magical city created by a demi-goddess.

—— Daily Telegraph, *Summer Reads of 2023*

An epic adventure-filled saga, you'll be intoxicated by its magic.

—— Glamour

A wonderfully entertaining literary hybrid, an intimate epic, a serious comedy of manners.

—— The Times

A vigorous, enjoyable epic that hymns the enduring might of narrative over more fleeting forces.

—— Mail on Sunday

This latest addition to his great body of work deserves nothing but celebration and gratitude.

—— New Statesman

A joyous masterpiece that will remind the world that, aside from being a free speech hero, he is one of the planet's greatest writers.

—— Evening Standard

There is a welcome levity to his prose here as he riffs on myth-making, culture clashes or the nature of storytelling itself.

—— Daily Mail

Victory City has the tone of mischief Rushdie is always able to channel into his bright, fluid storytelling. Amid all the courtly intrigue and fantastic realism woven through the extensive cast of characters, fleeting dashes of wicked humour sit up and pierce the tale delectably. Rushdie's sharp, camouflaged satire speaks to everything, from religious extremism to greed to patriarchal misogyny. It all just seems to unspool from him without effort.

—— Irish Independent

The best thing Salman Rushdie has written in years... One of the richest and most exuberant books he has given us.

—— Scotsman

Rushdie's creation is vivid, compelling, and entirely his own.

—— Daily Mirror

Salman Rushdie is a genius and I wish he could read me a story - or a chapter of his book - every night before bed. The scale and scope of his intellect and his imagination is googolplex.

—— A.M. Homes, author of THE UNFOLDING

It does not resemble any other novel I could name. A major accomplishment by one of our greatest living writers.

—— Michael Cunningham, author of THE HOURS

No one, and I mean no one, can bring an entire world to life... like Salman Rushdie.

—— Gary Shteyngart, author of OUR COUNTRY FRIENDS

Mesmerising and soul-stirring. Victory City is an epic tribute to the power of words as well as the resilience of women. Rushdie is without a peer in proving that literature soars above tyranny and bigotry, and imagination roars louder than censorship

—— Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees

This is Salman Rushdie at his most virtuosic.

—— Hari Kunzru, author of THE IMPRESSIONIST

It will show you the adult world in a whole new light. Only a master storyteller can do that.

—— Jarvis Cocker, author of GOOD POP, BAD POP

A storyteller who reminds that death may take away a lot of things, but never the power of our words.

—— Colum McCann, author of LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN

A capacious and sweeping telling in which writing about the past is a way of also staring dead on at the present.

—— Natasha Trethewey, author of NATIVE GUARD

Victory City stands out as one of the year's literary highlights... that feels like an instant classic.

—— Bea Carvalho, Head of Fiction at Waterstones

Rushdie is an assured storyteller at the height of his powers, revealing once again how important India is as a fount of his imagination.

—— Conversation

Victory City is one of Rushdie's very best novels. It is also a luminous, italicised, vibrant reminder of the possibilities of free expression and of the untrammelled imagination. In this instance, the medium is indeed the message.

—— Tortoise Media

Victory City can, in many ways, be read as an entertaining jaunt through Indian history, though it is history through the kaleidoscopic and sweeping lens of a fairy tale... this brilliantly magical tale.

—— Irish Independent

This sweeping, intricately crafted fairy tale is underscored by very human characters and Rushdie's signature wit.

—— Culture Whisper, *Books to Look Out For 2023*

A grand entertainment, in a tale with many strands, by an ascended master of modern legends.

—— Kirkus Review

Rushdie's magical style unfurls wonders.

—— Washington Post

Rushdie's Victory City is another fabulous novel set in his native India... He's a master who never forgets that the main goal of a storyteller is to entertain rather than educate or pontificate.

—— New York Journal of Books

Rushdie is, above all else...one of the most powerful defenders of story we have... Victory City is a victory for Rushdie - and for every reader who enters its gates.

—— Harper's Bazaar

Rushdie succeeds in creating a kind of incantatory prose that befits the fabulist nature of the story... he can enchant readers like few other writers.

—— Literary Review

This is a man at his full-strength, high-tar best - with his deeply humane worldview, his brilliance at set-pieces and, above all, the thrilling wildness of his imagination on irresistible display.

—— Reader's Digest

With its carousel of shifting politics and history, Victory City is Rushdie's most textured and triumphant wonder tale yet.

—— Hindu

Utterly enchanting.

—— Eastern Eye

Rushdie's return to magic, myth, and India's ancient stories is dazzling. With mercurial prose and vivid renderings, Rushdie never loses us in Victory City's convolutions, but instead builds our trust to travail the many grand events of Pampa's imagined empire.

—— Esquire

A rich, dramatic saga... The many moments of comedy...show Salman Rushdie's storytelling skills and his endearing sense of playfulness... the main feeling the reader gets is of a storyteller enjoying himself.

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Rushdie is an expert at mixology; he's the DJ Shadow of text with references and allusions to high and low culture from Finnegans Wake to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... a well-told tale that gets bums on seats.

—— National

There's a magical thread of storytelling running through the veins of each character we meet in this book... a joy to read.

—— UK Press Syndication

A work of great imagination... In Victory City the power of the written word and of the storyteller remain triumphant.

—— NB

Rushdie’s sheer love of fiction is irrepressible.

—— Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year*

A wonderfully entertaining literary hybrid

—— The Times, *Books of the Year*

Victory City is Salman Rushdie at his imaginative best… sweeping the reader on a journey that feels epic in a mere 320 pages

—— i, *Books of the Year*
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