– Non-Spoiler and Spoiler Review –
Only a month after the initial launch of The High Republic, our next novel arrives in the form of Claudia Gray’s The High Republic – Into the Dark. The young adult novel takes place roughly at the same time as the opening novels, but it’s a side adventure with far reaching implications that opens up the era to new faces, enemies, and stories. If you’ve read any of Gray’s previous works before, you already expected nothing less and she delivers on all fronts again, especially the characters, in her first THR entry.
In case you are unaware, The High Republic – Into the Dark is the third entry in the big The High Republic publishing initiative for Star Wars, which takes place 200 years prior to the prequel films (aka The Phantom Menace). The Jedi are at the height of their power, especially since there’s no corruption in the Republic yet nor any Sith to mess with them, and they are out amongst the people, helping in squabbles big and small. The Republic is expanding to include the Outer Rim, starting with their Starlight Beacon project, but they run into a nefarious marauder group called the Nihil and their threat is only beginning to become clear after a deadly hyperspace disaster strikes. Thankfully, the way Claudia Gray writes Into the Dark, despite it being the third novel and fifth overall entry in the era’s story (there are two comics as well!), one could easily pick this up as their first introduction to the era and not feel completely lost; sure, reading all the content is highly encouraged, not only to get a better idea of the full picture, but also because everything’s been top-notch so far, though it’s not necessary yet. I’ll be curious to see how that changes as we continue on into the rest of Phase I: Light of the Jedi, as well as once we reach the next Phase(s), but for now I’m glad to see it’s easy for readers to jump in as they please so far!
Whereas Light of the Jedi is an expansive novel following tons of characters and A Test of Courage centers on a small group and story, Into the Dark relies heavily on its characters to push forward a focused, but larger tale that adds to the unfolding threat against the Jedi and the Republic, so it sits somewhere between the opening two stories and it’s a sweet spot I quite enjoy in the new era. As the Jedi start heading to the frontier to help with the Republic’s expansion, like Jedi Master Jora Malli as Starlight Beacon’s marshal, her Padawan Reath Silas, an Archive-minded Jedi not down for any type of adventures, follows shortly after, alongside Jedi Knight Dez Rydan, Jedi Master Cohmac Vitus, and Wayseeker Orla Jareni, all with their own reasons and goals for heading to the Outer Rim. They get passage from a unique cargo ship, the Vessel, tied to one of the Outer Rims bigger shipping Guilds, with an even more unique crew in Leox Gyasi, Affie Hollow, and Geode. The hyperspace disaster interrupts their trip to Starlight, forcing them to land on an abandoned space station with ancient ties and a dark, scary secret that will threaten the galaxy if it’s not contained. What’s most impressive, and what helps make Into the Dark my favorite THR novel so far, is how its characters drive everything forward and they all have their unique, individual reasons for running back into danger, time and time again; both the opening novels have this aspect too, but Into the Dark implements it the strongest, as their actions breed consequences both big and small and it’s thrilling to watch the characters deal with them.
For the Jedi, I found Reath Silas to be the most intriguing, as all the Jedi we’ve met in the era so far are action/adventure ready, much like the prequel Jedi, and Reath is the exact opposite: he’d rather stay in the Jedi archives and pour over the texts, and the adventures someone else had, instead! It’s unique and surprising because it seems strange but also because we haven’t had this perspective really before. At first, I wasn’t sure I’d like Reath, as how could someone with all these awesome abilities ever just want to read books, a thought I’m sure a lot of us can sympathize with, but the way Gray tackles his internalizations helped me understand Reath’s reasoning, while his journey throughout the book adds even more layers and nuance to the portrayal that I almost wanted to be a Jedi Archivist too. Plus, someone Reath meets becomes a mirror of his progression and I loved the way Gray played out both their arcs. With Dez Rydan, he’s a former Padawan of Reath’s Torgrutan Master Jora, and he has an almost endless thirst for adventure, much like Yoda rallied against when training Luke Skywalker, making Dez basically the opposite of Reath in all aspects. How the two Padawans deal with their legacy as their Master’s students and with the events on the station certainly goes in unexpected directions.
As for Orla Jareni and Vitus Cohmac, the two Jedi go a long ways back, where a fateful mission changed the course of their careers forever: for Orla, whose connection to the Force comes instinctively, she’s decided to take up being a Wayseeker, where she’s still affiliated with the Jedi Order but she’s listening to the Force to find her purpose; and for Cohmac, he can’t let go of his mistakes, causing him to question the Jedi though he has no desire to leave the Order, while the challenges they face in the space station only add to his growing feelings. I wish we had a little more with Orla in general, as it felt like we didn’t get as complete a picture with her wants and desires, but the nature of her character means she was in flux anyways so it makes sense we’d have less of an arc for her. However, the flashback sequences with her and Cohmac on their fateful mission 25 years earlier help explore why she’d choose something like a Wayseeker, and her ending has me itching for more time with her. Cohmac’s story, with how he’s still dealing with his perceived mistakes and how the darkness they encounter on the station only feeds into his thoughts/doubts, lays the foundation for another character I’ll be eager to see more of, especially since he’s giving me some Qui-Gon Jinn vibes and if there’s no new Qui-Gon content, I’ll take the closet thing I can get. The flashback covering Cohmac and Orla’s previous mission ends about the way you’d think, but how it ends opens the question if their actions were really mistakes or the will of the Force, considering the ultimate consequences tie into events we’ve seen in previous THR works.
Beyond these few intriguing Jedi, the non-Jedi contingent of characters left an even bigger impression, especially in the Vessel’s team of Leox, Affie, and Geode. Prior to Into the Dark’s release, Gray teased the idea of Leox: 1990’s Matthew McConaughey as the captain of a space ship, and holy Sithspit did she deliver (and just look at that concept art)! It was impossible not to hear McConaughey speaking all of Leox’s lines, the dialogue perfectly synced with his performance in something like Dazed and Confused, a drawl like only he bring to even the most tense of situations. Leox is much the same, preferring calm and non-violence to most situations, even as the threat aboard the space station becomes clear, though his laid back nature hides his fierce loyalty. How he interacts with the Jedi, and especially his crew, offers plenty of surprise and delight, and his few POV sections left me hoping for more. I particularly liked his interactions and time with Affie Hollow, the adopted daughter of the Byne Guild leader, Scover Byne, as how he treats her feels like a rarity we see in both Star Wars and some of the other fiction I read. Affie wants to do her adopted mother proud, but the stigma of her relationship with the Guild’s leader means no one is willing to teach her the important stuff, but she forms a bond with Leox and Geode since they treat her for who she is, not for who she’s related to. Affie’s journey, uncovering some secrets about her past on the space station and what it means for her future in the Guild, is easily my favorite of the novel, just ahead of Reath’s, as it’s refreshing that a “supporting” character has so much more to do than get involved in the Jedi shenanigans and tons of agency throughout. As for Geode, well I won’t spoil that here, but I loved how Gray played with the character’s status throughout the novel. Overall, the crew became one of my favorite aspects of Into the Dark, from their individual agency to their memorable personalities and stories, and I’m happy to see more of the era’s common folk after focusing so much on the Jedi so far. Also, considering the space station is out in frontier territory, and others from the area are similarly stuck in space around it due to the unfolding hyperspace disaster, we get to meet different species and characters from the Outer Rim and I’m excited about the idea of all the new species and planets we might get to see as THR unfolds, thanks especially due to the ones Gray introduces.
Considering it’s out a month after, I was a little surprised Into the Dark takes place around the same time as Light of the Jedi, but it makes sense due to it setting up more of the era and introducing aspects which will become more important as the story unfolds across its three Phases. One of those aspects is of course the era’s main villain, the Nihil, though they take more of a backseat here than other novels, but their presence spells trouble when a much larger and potentially far deadlier threat emerges. I won’t dive too much into this threat, and only a tad more in the spoiler section below, but I don’t consider talking about them spoilers since they’ve been setting up their appearance in this novel for some time now: the Drengir. Imagine a swampy, rotund tree, but now add in a mouth, eyes, its branches as arms/lethal weapons, and sprinkle in a dash of poison and a disturbing desire for meat (I put the concept art here to help); it all adds up to a disgusting, scary, and a terribly interesting and dangerous new foe for the Jedi, unlike any we’ve seen them face before. There are plenty of questions left about them by novel’s end, but I’m both horrified and eager to learn more, as they honestly seem like such a great foe for the upstanding Jedi of the era: their nigh indestructibility, poison that still has unknown side-effects, and insatiable taste for meat aren’t weapons this Jedi Order has seemingly dealt with before, nor has had any of its members train to fight against, as avoiding the dark side has seemingly left them all potentially more susceptible to the oppressive dark energy radiating off the Drengir. How this threat evolves and grows will certainly be something to look out for as THR’s story continues!
AND NOW FOR SOME SPOILERS, SO CLICK BELOW…
IF YOU DARE!!!
Here are a few other things:
- We have a page dedicated to The High Republic, which is where you’ll find all our reviews, news articles, and a list of what content is yet to come!
- If you’re curious what THR content Claudia Gray has after Into the Dark, well…join the club, as none of us know! In the launch livestream, she told fans she was sworn to secrecy about her next project to the point she couldn’t even say what medium it would be in. I’m betting on she has the next adult novel and it’ll be one that ends Phase 1 and brings us to Phase II: Quest of the Jedi (and the book will be titled that), otherwise I’d love it if she’s switching gears for the first time and doing a limited miniseries comic!
- Prior to The High Republic’s release, hints and teases were hidden across the canon and we’ve complied as many as we could find or recognize! The part in the spoiler section was not on the list, but Cavan Scott did tell us we hadn’t found everything.
- I had the amazing honor of having a quote from one of my previous reviews of Claudia Gray’s works put on the back of Into the Dark! It didn’t change my opinions on this book, but it certainly was a great honor and surprise, so if you found the site because of seeing our name on the back, welcome and thanks for visiting! And, if you’d like a chance to write about Star Wars too, we’re always looking to expand and diversify the team, so reach out to us on Twitter, Instagram, or email us at mynock.manor@gmail.com!
- A character identifies as asexual in the book, and while I’m in no proper position to judge how well the moment’s written as I don’t identify the same, having read some of Eleven-ThirtyEight’s excellent articles on the subject certainly made me feel like this was a great way to implement it, as it’s simply an aspect to the character but doesn’t define them. I look forward to seeing their article about this one bit of representation, if they do one.
The High Republic – Into the Dark by Claudia Gray carves out its own corner of the era with a memorable cast full of agency, a dangerous and intriguing new threat, and the promise of complex and engaging tales ahead for all involved and for the era as a whole; it’s Gray, what else did you expect?!
+ Expands era and offers new story threads and characters to invest in
+ Reath and Affie’s journeys, Leox/Geode a blast
+ Tons of character agency
+ The new threat: Drengir
+ Flashback section
– Orla gets a slightly shorter stick
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.
DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher at no charge in order to provide a review. However, this did not affect the overall review content. All opinions are my own.