As the Forever War rages on between Eiram and E’ronoh, enemies are forced to become allies – and maybe even more. Read my review of The High Republic: Convergence now!
When we as readers were still at the tail end of The High Republic Phase I, we were of course shocked to learn that the second Phase of the initiative would turn to the past. 150 years in the past, to be exact. Now, we are almost at the conclusion of the first wave of Phase II, and it’s been an interesting ride. I am a huge fan of the first Phase of the initiative – I read everything, collected every variant cover of each book, and quite a few comics, as well. I’ve found myself liking Phase II a little less, but I don’t think that’s a quality issue, but instead an “issue” of focus and genre.
Both Path of Deceit, co-written by Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton, and Convergence, by Zoraida Córdova, are primarily romance books. In PoD, a Jedi falls in love with a member of a Force-group known as the Path of the Open Hand. That romance didn’t quite work for me, as it felt like way too big of a jump for the Jedi, Kevmo, to fall in love so suddenly after living his entire life as a Jedi, trained to put those feelings away and focus on the Force. And, as I came to read The Princess and the Scoundrel, a book I had quite a few good things to say about, I realized that maybe romance isn’t for me in a lot of ways. This probably pre-disposed me against this book from the start.
Usually, I like to start with the things that I like about novels before I focus on the things that didn’t work quite as well for me. In this case, I think the things I didn’t like partially overshadowed the things that I did like, unfortunately. The core romance of the book is between two characters from opposing sides of the war: Xiri Al’baran and Phan-tu Zenn. These two represent the warring planets of Eiram and E’ronoh, the main participants in the so-called Forever War. This War has been raging so long that the entire galaxy has begun to feel the effects: shipping lanes are closed, hyperspace travel in the area is becoming more unstable and dangerous, and supplies that come from the planet are threatened as supplies are harder to get into the systems. As the two planets war, Xiri and Phan-tu, heirs of the crowns of their respective systems, come together to make an arrangement with an idea to end the war. There are two things that undercut this plot for me: a typical romance and not enough backstory.
As I read about Phan-tu and Xiri coming together with their plan to unite their systems, I felt like I knew what Zoraida was going for, but almost felt that…too strongly? To put it a different way: their romance felt fairly typical, almost like hitting certain “romance beats” that every major romantic story needs to hit. Sometimes I think that can still build a solid foundation for the characters, and even create a compelling story, but I never felt myself falling in love with these two’s love story. Instead, I felt more like it was checking boxes on their inevitable plan to come together. I began to like the characters on their own, but as a couple, I didn’t feel especially moved. One would be in a dangerous spot, saved by the other; one would have a moment of vulnerability and the other would meet them in surprising ways.
I hate to play a game of comparison, but my mind couldn’t help but shift to Lost Stars, another major Star Wars story that seemed like Romeo and Juliet in Space. The two main characters there, Cienna Ree and Thane Kyrell, were on opposing sides of the Galactic Civil War, but I think I rooted for both of them as characters (In a limited sense for Cienna, considering she *is* a space Nazi). But I was at least sympathetic in the way that I understood where each of them was coming from, and I could empathize with their decision making process. And even as a young adult novel, I felt like I could see their ideological differences come out to play and inform their characters. I didn’t feel as much with Xiri and Phan-tu. Instead, their ideological differences were built on past events that we didn’t see, ideological differences that felt more like stock reasons rather than developed and personal ideologies that each character held, and felt like these characters could have been any one else and the story would have played out similarly.
The second major thing that hampered my enjoyment of this book is that it’s built on the Forever War, a normally fairly interesting plot-device. Planets that have been at war with one another for a long time serve as great plot devices and settings and contexts, but I just didn’t feel a lot of connection to these planets. I felt a bit more to Eiram, considering how much “screen-time” it had in Phase I, but both planets were, again, almost basic enough that they could have been any other planets. I didn’t feel like either planet had anything too wildly unique about them that would make me remember them as individuals and not as a pair. There were times when their interesting backstories were brought up: their individual names for a shared moon, their creation myths based on their contexts, their cultural norms. But I didn’t feel like these had come up enough, and I didn’t find myself empathizing with either side very well. Even some things that brought flavor to the planets, like a duel to the death, were somewhat generic duels to the death.
But I do want to talk about the two things that have grown on me, and it’s not even fair to call them things, because they’re people: Axel Greylark and Gella Nattai.
Axel Greylark might be the stand out character from this novel to me. He’s the swanky son of a Senator, but he’s also the seedy son of a famous figure. At times, he flaunts his great wealth as a millionaire playboy, making news and not caring about whom he hurts. Other times, he finds himself in trouble, bringing a shadow over the Greylark family name. He hates the Jedi for reasons explained over the novel, and I find those reasons as fairly compelling reasons. He has been burned by a group, an Order, that most of the galaxy hasn’t even come across. How does that affect someone in this era? And I think that’s where Axel becomes the most interesting character in the novel: he feels like one of the only characters who can *only* exist at this time. The Forever War, Phan-tu and Xiri, and some of the other Jedi in the story feel like they could’ve easily been in the Clone Wars era and nothing would need to change about their story. But it’s really in Axel that we lean into this exact era. It’s not a spoiler to say that we’re going to see him again – the cover for Lydia Kang’s Catalyst proves that. I am excited to see him again, and I am curious to see where his story goes.
Gella Nattai is the next person that I really liked, but I felt a little less connected with her. As I said about Axel, I think Gella is one of the few characters really shaped by the “when” of her story. Her backstory is built on the Phase II promise of exploration – she has some experience with the Pathfinders and looks forward to a time where she can visit Jedha – but I felt like I wanted a bit more out of her story. The events that place her where she is when the book starts are kinda explored, but again happen off-screen. This means we’re told why she is the way she is, but I would’ve preferred to see that story rather than hear about it. When her story is brought up in the novel, I know it’s supposed to inform her actions and her beliefs, but I don’t think it does a solid enough job characterizing her. That being said, she did provide an interesting point of view in the story, and I think I would like to hear from her again about what makes the Jedi at this time unique.
Other than that, not a lot of the book spoke to me. And trust me, that does not bring me any joy. I wasn’t as attached to every single POV in the novel, so the constantly shifting POV didn’t do a lot for me. Different plot devices felt fairly routine, but a late-game twist brings some life to the story, thankfully. The plot moves along, mostly working in traditional Star Wars routines, but I enjoyed most of it. I felt like the pace was fairly slow, and I found myself enjoying character moments more than action scenes or major plot scenes.
I noted above how much I love The High Republic, and I am still entirely all-in on the initiative. I love what the creators have done, and even if this wave didn’t work for me entirely, I am extremely curious to see where Wave II of Phase II brings us. If these stories serve only as set up to the second Phase, I think I’ll be okay with that. Even if this one novel doesn’t speak to me entirely, I value it for the characters it created and for the set up it provides, and the interesting nuances it brings to the main story.
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DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher at no charge in order to provide an early review. However, this did not affect the overall review content. All opinions are my own.