The Nihil are in a position of power. The vicious pirates have raised the Stormwall – an impenetrable wall blocking off major portions of the galaxy – to claim their power in the galaxy. The Jedi and Republic find themselves in one of their worst positions ever as they come to face the marauders. Read Chris’ review of The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness!
I’ve been told this review can’t just say: “The High Republic is back!!” and call it good.
But man, do I want to.
Readers familiar with our coverage of The High Republic know two things about me: I love THR, but I also felt like Phase II lost a lot of the momentum that was built by Phase I. When Phase I ended with (in my estimation) too many cliffhangers, and instead focused on some stories I didn’t find quite as compelling, I felt a lot of the steam go out from the sub-line. But then Tales of Light and Life was able to breathe new life into THR again, even helping me appreciate Phase II a lot more than I had before. Now, with Shadows of Starlight #1 and The Eye of Darkness, I can say that my excitement for THR is at full steam again. I’ll break this review down into more conventional parts, but mostly because there’s so much to read and discover I don’t want to post any spoilers.
So, first, I want to talk about the pacing/scale. Light of the Jedi is one of the most electrifying premiers for any long running Star Wars series in my opinion. I built the expectation that Phases II and III would also start with huge set pieces like that, but neither did. Convergence was more intimate, looking at only a handful of characters. (I do recognize that Phase II really started with Path of Deceit, but I’m comparing a single publisher’s output.) Eye of Darkness is a little closer to Convergence…for a while. This book feels more like “The High Republic Book 4″ rather than a start to a new Phase…but I honestly don’t mind that. Rather than entirely resetting the stage for the era, since we are growing so much more familiar with it lately, the book instead sets the stage for the characters. We get to see the state of the galaxy through the eyes of four characters: Avar Kriss, Elzar Mann, Porter Engle, and Bell Zettifar. This limited POV means that the scale is dialed back, but it also means we get more of a personal review of the state of the galaxy. This helps us feel the weight of the characters’ predicaments, even if I felt like there was more background necessary and maybe a bit more could’ve been filled out here. (See the next paragraph for more.) This does not mean the novel is completely intimate and small, as some major set pieces do move the book along and helped me appreciate it a lot more than just a character study. The limited POVs do mean the book shifts between multiple POVs, and generally, I found this balanced well and found it compelling and hard to put down. There wasn’t a POV I was less interested in than another right now.
I mentioned this in the previous paragraph, but the book could use some more time to build out the state of the galaxy. I do know, and need to acknowledge, that this novel does not stand alone. Already, I can tell Shadows of Starlight will be absolutely required and necessary reading for this Phase. Which is fine with me! But it also means Phase III, in my opinion, will struggle to sell the idea you can only read what you want. This isn’t a knock on this novel; at this rate, it’s just a fact of the THR line as a whole, I think. This novel does do a good job of moving us a year into the future of THR, resetting the stage, and reminding us why we love these characters.
Moving to characters: I was so happy to be back with these characters. Honestly, I just straight up forgot how much I loved them and loved being with them. I do have some favorite POVs – ones that I thought were a little more to my speed and interests – but I found every major POV to be really compelling. We also get the POV of the Nihil, shared between two characters, but this one I do wish was a little more defined and a little stronger. I think we still need to get to know Marchion much better than we already have, and I think this book could’ve been an excellent time to get really, really deep into his mindset. While we do learn more, and see more from him, I do wish we had seen a bit more. But I found the Jedi POV to be really interesting, and I’m curious to see both how these characters got to the position they’re in and how they’re going to move into new positions.
I will also just say…this novel is fun. I had a blast returning to my favorite characters, spending time with them, and seeing what they were doing in a galaxy where everything has changed. And things definitely change in the novel, as massive set pieces change the state of the galaxy in compelling and gripping ways. I do feel like it’s important to comment that while I was a lot more critical of The Battle of Jedha, I find Mann (author, not pantless Jedi) to be a compelling author, and a lot of that came out here. There are parts of his writing that I like that weren’t present here – a discussion for later – but generally, I was reminded through this book why I enjoy his writing so much. All in all, fans of The High Republic have a lot to look forward to – and new readers have a great starting point for future THR stories.
Chris is Mynock Manor’s Sous Chef. You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisWerms. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
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.