We’re a little over a month away from the second wave for The High Republic’s opening Phase, Light of the Jedi, and details, hints, and reveals have come trickling in regarding what to expect. For starters, the two opening novels of Wave II, The Rising Storm and Race to Crashpoint Tower, both have excerpts revealing new characters and scary visions of the future, while a new opening crawl sets the stage for the story to come. Head below to see what’s all on the way next for The High Republic!
To start, they’ve released a new opening crawl for Wave II, setting the stage for where the story will go next, from the growing threat of the deadly Drengir, an ancient darkness unleashed again, the return of the Nihil, thought beaten back by the end of Light of the Jedi, and how they all converge on the upcoming Republic Fair (which also has a poster!):
With the stage set, let’s check out some excerpts! There’s TWO excerpts from the upcoming second adult novel, The Rising Storm, written by Cavan Scott (also in charge of The High Republic comic from Marvel). One released today, May 7, features Elzar Mann struggling after receiving a devastating vision of the future, searching for answers to the chaos he’s forced to see. He travels all the way to Tython, first seen in canon thanks to Doctor Aphra, visiting one of its moons, Ashla. In Legends, through the Dawn of the Jedi comics and books, we learned Ashla and Bogan were symbols of the light and dark side of the Force, hence why the early Jed’aii set up shop on Tython, which balanced in the middle. It’s pretty dang neat to see this location and get more of Mann’s fear-inducing vision, so check out the first excerpt, the book’s prologue, now. The second one from TRS gives us a scene with new character Ty Yorrick, star of the upcoming Monsters of Temple Peak graphic novel digging into her past as well, who is a former Jedi now turned monster hunter-for-hire; she even has a Characters of The High Republic video already!). She sounds like a complicated character, but a damn fun one to get to know, and I’m looking forward to meeting her in full in the book, so head over and read the excerpt to see what all the fuss is about! The Rising Storm release June 29!
On the same day, Race to Crashpoint Tower releases as well, a middle-grade novel from Daniel José Older (also writer for The High Republic Adventures from IDW). It’ll star not only a character from Older’s comic series, Lula Talisola, but also new character Ram Jomaram, a mechanic-focused Jedi who gets caught up with the chaos unfolding at the Republic Fair, where Nihil make their next move. In the excerpt, his droid can transform sort of, so it’s also the speeder he’s riding in the excerpt, which is pretty neat, and hearing him talk about being a Jedi but knowing he’d never really get to use his saber is a great reminder of how different things are for the Jedi in this era. Definitely looking forward to meeting Ram and his new droid!
Expect more news and details, and maybe what Charles Soule and Claudia Gray are up to next, in another episode of The High Republic Show later this May!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.