As the age of hyperspace exploration grows, prospectors are hungry to find new planets and moons to explore – and claim for their own. But a young group of pilots is going for the biggest catch of them all: the fabled Planet X! Can the help of a Jedi, and the opposition of a member of the Path of the Open Hand, move them closer to their quest? Join us as I review The High Republic: Quest for Planet X.
In the first phase of The High Republic, the middle grade books fell into two categories: essentially tie-ins (Race to Crashpoint Tower) or mostly stand alone (Mission to Disaster). Phase II, with Quest for the Hidden City, seemed like it was going to go in the spirit of the second option, setting up its own mini-storyline that was more or less medium specific. With Quest for Planet X, the middle grade novels are now, again, a little bit of both: this book serves as a sequel to the first Quest book, but ties in with the Battle of Dalna. This serves both to its detriment and its benefit.
In terms of the benefits, I was happy this book continued to focus on the storyline set up in the first Quest novel. One of my biggest critiques of Phase I of The High Republic was the way storylines would jump between mediums with seemingly no rhyme or reason. If you wanted a full storyline, there were few options within only a single medium. After Quest for the Hidden City introduced us to Rooper Nitani and Dass Leffbruk, I was left wanting to see a little more of the two. This book, thankfully, delivers. I liked both of the characters for who they were, but they also were the fulfillment of the promise of Phase II: adventures on the frontiers, Jedi and Pathfinders, new dangers, and exciting worlds. They are joined by a new character, Sky Graf, who works as a perfect foil and compliment to both characters. Including the Grafs means that this book is (wisely) pulled into the larger storyline of the rivalry between the Graf and San Tekka families, which brings some depth to the story beyond just the characters themselves.
Generally, when books skew young in terms of their audience, they also skew young in terms of their main characters. In my estimation, this novel handled both better than a lot of the previous middle grade readers. In a lot of ways, the writing suited the younger audiences, with a lot more explanatory writing than the others, but not necessarily too much for adults to feel bogged down with exposition. I also felt like the characters acted their (younger) ages more than others, which was a nice change of pace. They felt young, but realistically so, even tho they were flying around the galaxy before most earth humans would have a drivers’ license. The kids argue in ways kids would argue, which brings the characters closer in a lot more natural ways than in some other books. All in all, I found it a lot more readable than a lot of the other middle grade novels.
It also focused a lot on its central theme of fathers. Sky Graf and Dass both grapple with the wants, needs, and legacies of their fathers. Path of the Open Hand member Fel Ix considers what it means for him to be a father, one who has a mission that needs to be carried out that could lead to his death. Rooper even joins in, thematically, thinking about Silandra Sho, her Jedi Master, and how she acts as a paternal figure as her Master. This theme is strong, and it drives the characters forward and helps inform their actions and their thoughts. I was impressed: I thought a lot of books recently could do with a stronger theme, or at least a stronger thesis statement. This book is a great investigation into fatherhood: what it means to be a dad, what it means to have a dad, and what it means to live as a child of a father. In this way, this book has a lot more to say than some recent Star Wars works, and maybe more than some other books in general.
But the fact it ties in more directly with Cataclysm and Path of Vengeance does mean that the narrative of the book has to take a backseat to the bigger picture of Phase II. There’s a moment in the book where the central thrust of the book changes to acknowledge the wider picture, and it’s fairly jarring. Thankfully, the book keeps the focus on fatherhood alive, so it doesn’t completely lose itself in connectivity, but I do wish the book had more of it’s own room to breathe. I found the relationships the book was exploring more engaging than the tie-in with the Battle of Dalna, even though it didn’t completely hijack the plot. Thankfully, the book is well paced, and even though you can tell the moment where the plot shifts, it’s a good read and moves fairly quickly. As I wrote this review, I felt more and more strongly that I wish this novel was allowed to simply exist on its own, in the same way Mission to Disaster did, than serve the finale of Phase II. While the book is concluded quite nicely, I really felt like I was more interested in seeing these kids on their own. When the Phase II stuff starts to intersect with this storyline, it feels like the previously character-driven plot takes a step back for the plot to drive the story along; or, to put it in other terms, characters outside of this book affect the narrative of this book too much, and it takes away too much agency from our main characters. While the characters are given a chance to decide if they are going to interact with the Phase II storyline or not, they have the illusion of agency, but I never felt like the novel was going to do in a different direction, which is a bit of a bummer.
The book also features art from Petur Antonsson. One of the biggest benefits that the middle grade novels have is this art, which means that most MG protagonists are illustrated well. Though this book doesn’t have quite as many dynamic illustrations, like a hyacinth, these illustrations still breath some life into the stories.
All in all, I enjoyed Quest for Planet X. I thought it had some interesting characters and strong thematic coherence, and would have liked to see it a little bit longer. For a middle grade novel, I felt this book was a lot stronger than most and is a great addition to Phase II.
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