– Mild Spoiler Review –
Set in the years prior to the start of the TV show, The Acolyte: Wayseeker from Justina Ireland provides an entertaining ride and timely themes, with enough to satisfy long-time The High Republic readers and fans of the show on multiple fronts, alongside pitch-perfect renditions of Vernestra Rwoh and Indara.
Twenty years before the start of The Acolyte, Justina Ireland’s The Acolyte: Wayseeker is set at a time where the Jedi Order’s conflict with the Nihil seems like a distant memory, as the Order and the Republic’s expansion into the Outer Rim has been dwindling and their focus returns to the Core Worlds and Republic’s demands. Vernestra Rwoh, a Mirialan with a long life-span, remains a Wayseeker despite her status among the Order, eager to help the galaxy when and where the Force wills it, not at the Council’s, and increasingly the Republic’s, whims to guide her. Indara, withdrawn to the Archives after a recent incident on a mission with her Master, is a young yet determined and resourceful Jedi Knight, recruited by Master Yaddle and the council to bring Vernestra back from the fringes for an important mission requested by a Republic Senator. For fans of The Acolyte, Wayseeker does an excellent job expanding some of the missing context for the larger galaxy, exploring how the Order and the Republic are slowly cozying up, general sentiments about the Order, and what the Order and Republic’s crawling withdrawal to the Core has done to the citizens they leave behind. There’s some strong parallels to the United States’ political turmoil and far-right lean via the places nefarious beings have wiggled their way into the cracks the withdrawals to the Core Worlds have opened up, like Wayseeker’s charismatic and unpredictable main antagonist. For fans of The High Republic era, while Ireland stays vague enough it won’t spoil how it wraps up (which, when this book publishes, will only be a month away in June), there’s so much of what we know and love about Vernestra in Ireland’s characterization and fans will be grinning in delight by familiar High Republic names (and appearances!) throughout, which bridges the gap between Rebecca Henderson’s performance from the show and what we read in a very organic way that makes me appreciate Vernestra in The Acolyte even more.
Given the gulf of differences between Vernestra and Indara, one a younger human dealing with a recent trauma and the other a studied Jedi Master viewed by the Order as a bit of a celebrity, Ireland employs a conceit to drive the differences home to the reader: Vernestra’s sections are in first-person and Indara’s are in third-person point-of-view. At the start, I didn’t like the choice, but as Wayseeker picks up, my appreciation grew for Ireland’s choice. Vernestra as she’s seen in the show, a confident force of nature revered by the Order, could come off the page as such in third-person, but the clipped and focused way first-person reads only helps build into the assuredness and self-confidence of the character at this time in her life. Long-time fans of the character will be able to see the bridge between the younger Vernestra in the High Republic books with Henderson’s performance in Acolyte thanks to this choice. Ireland’s voice for Indara works even better due to the contrast, as it accentuates Indara’s uncertainty about getting back out in the field, and it fits well with Carrie-Anne Moss’s performance of the character too. Despite this conceit being used to differentiate the two, when the two continue working together, it makes their growing understanding of one another, of the shared personal problems they face, Indara with her previous Master and Vernestra her previous apprentice (the book never touches on the specifics, leaving those details of her and Qimir’s past for another day), all the more surprising and deep, as us readers see two very different Jedi come together despite what separates them. The growth in respect and appreciate for one another is a hallmark part of Wayseeker, as it grounds readers in the galaxy-hopping adventure and its powerful characters by making them so accessible given how it can mirror the relationships and friendships one encounters as they mature.
As I mentioned earlier, Wayseeker’s antagonist, Nilsson, is not only a joy to hate (though I still think The Living Force’s Zilastra is my personal favorite in recent opportunistic-crook-with-big-aspirations characters), but it’s also where Ireland centers and spirals out of to provide pointed political commentary. It’s rather staggering as the full scope of what Ireland’s touching on with Nilsson becomes clear and touches on frustrations many have regarding how sheltered the rich and powerful can become despite a legal system in place to stop such injustices. Seeing heroes like the Jedi Order and the supposed do-gooder government the Republic faltering in the face of what’s arrayed around Nilsson, as well as all those who have capitulated to allow him to continue, is a pretty stark reminder it’s going to take individuals and their actions to overcome such institutionalized corruption and abuses of power, like the current administration perpetrates on the daily. As is well known, the Star Wars saga has always been political and some of its most recent work has done an exceptional job rising to the moment, be it in live-action like with Andor, in another novel out this year, Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear, as well as the comics with The High Republic Adventures – Phase III, and Wayseeker is another strong showing of this legacy.
Wayseeker’s High Republic connections are plentiful, from big ones to small little nods, and were a highlight of the novel for me. There are a lot of planets mentioned and names dropped by Vernestra and Indara, even appearances via holograms or visions to long-dead characters which warmed this fan’s heart, but Ireland does a great job both not spelling out what happened to characters (even in cases where we know how they died), leaving the option for curiosity to learn more, while those who’ve never read much or all of the era’s works won’t feel left out. In fact, while you won’t need to have read it to appreciate how it’s brought in, an aspect from The Rising Storm is central to Wayseeker, and it’s something I forgot about since the era seemed to have discarded it to some degree, but the way it’s brought back, and who it brings into the story as well (someone whose time in the comics has been excellent!), proves no good idea goes to waste. Another particular joy for me was learning the legacy of another favorite THR character of mine and how they are responsible for the Collective, a group we first learned about in Rebecca Roanhorse’s Resistance Reborn, which ties back to a thread first teased in Ireland’s Sana Starros comic miniseries. It’s possible a few of these things I’ve teased above are part of The High Republic: A Valiant Vow, also by Ireland and also releasing on May 6, the same day as Wayseeker, but I won’t know until I start reading that in May!
Here are a few other things:
- It’s a big deal Wayseeker and Valiant Vow are releasing on the same day, as they are the combined finale of Justina Ireland’s time with the franchise, as she stated earlier this year her time with Star Wars was over. I hope she’ll find her way back to it eventually, but given everything she’s provided fans over the years and Wayseeker being such a delight, it’s a bright legacy.
- The recent Publishing Panel at Celebration Japan 2025 teased the High Republic’s big finale, including a one-shot comic release to wrap it all up in July!
The Acolyte: Wayseeker by Justina Ireland is an excellent novel in its own right and also does a brilliant job bridging the gap between The High Republic initiative and The Acolyte, but what Ireland achieves with her conceit for the two different characters makes this such a memorable character study and expansion on fan favorites new and old.
+ Highlighting the differences of Indara and Vernestra to better show their growth inside and with one another
+ Bridging the gap between the end of the initiative and start of the show
+ Villain offers present day commentary
– POV conceit can take a moment to get used to
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him and the website on Bluesky.