– Non-Spoiler Review –
The High Republic: Tempest Runner, an audiobook original written by Cavan Scott and presented by a full cast, centers on Nihil leader Lourna Dee, peeling back her mask and exploring her past, present, and future. Despite some nitpicks with its production, it’s engagingly written and expertly paced, while the cast delivers some compelling and nuanced performances to make for another entertaining audiobook original.
As part of The High Republic’s Phase 1, Wave II of content, Tempest Runner takes place three months after the events of The Rising Storm and the defeat of the Drengir in The High Republic comic, which means its shortly after Out of the Shadows. By this point, one of Lourna Dee’s schemes implodes (as seen in OotS) and she’s outed as the Eye of the Nihil instead of Marchion Ro, making her enemy number 1 by the Jedi and Republic Defense Coalition. During Dee and her Tempest’s raid of a relay communication station, the Jedi arrive to capture her, led by Starlight Beacon Marshal Avar Kriss and some familiar Jedi like Burryaga, Keeve Trennis, and Sskeer, to name a few. Lourna Dee convinces her would be captors she’s dead, though ends up captured anyways under an alias, stuck alongside some of her former Tempest members whom hold her identity over her lekku, while an old ally turned enemy resurfaces to track her down for revenge. Instead of prison, she joins the inmate crew of the Restitution, a reform ship where they repair damage done to worlds by natural disasters and even people like the Nihil, and it forces Lourna Dee to navigate tricky prison politics and reconsider her future as she faces reminders of her past.
Lourna Dee has been one of the most intriguing Nihil characters for me, from her pragmatically cruel planning, ruthless nature, and insistence she trusts no one, she’s been the only Tempest Runner or Nihil character I’ve felt stood on the same level as Marchion Ro, as she’s often as unpredictable as him. I’ve been eager for this audiobook ever since it was announced, which only got stronger thanks to her numerous actions in both TRS and OotS, and thankfully between Cavan Scott’s introspective and sprawling script and Jessica Almasy’s voice acting, Tempest Runner lived up to my expectations for it and for Lourna. Peeling back some layers on the Nihil has been a desire of many The High Republic fans simply because there hasn’t been enough to help humanize the group, and we get it in spades here, as Lourna’s past up until now is detailed, while even characters like Pan Eyta are fleshed out as well. In a way, Scott’s script and path for Lourna resembles a bit of Count Dooku’s from his Dooku: Jedi Lost audiobook, as it’s clear and far more engaging if Lourna wasn’t always a bad person, but rather made misguided choices or got into misguided paths that led her to where we know her now. Lourna is not Dooku though, even if they both start their lives in a royal family to some degree, as she’s more ambitious but naïve, trusting the wrong person and starting the spiral of her life with a fateful decision, later bumping into everything from Jedi, military cadets, the Nihil, and Councilors as they try to help her change her path. We spend the most time with her in the present, navigating life in the reformation ship, where she makes the most gains on adjusting her course, while the glimpses of important moments and decisions in her past give nuance to her choices so far and her ultimate one at the drama’s end. My initial reaction to the ending was a bit of disappointment, but as I ruminated on it more and listened to the production again, I grew to love and understand it more, as it felt right for the character and story Scott set out to tell, which means Tempest Runner needs to be added to Scott’s growing legend as a fantastic writer. Watching Lounra Dee see the errors of her past, learn from them, and take charge of her future was one of the most fascinating aspects of the audiobook and it helped her surpass even Marchion Ro in my book as the best Nihil character. Jessica Almasy’s acting was a primary driver of the entire experience and my growing love of Lourna Dee, as she captures a slight French accent due to Lourna being Twi’lek, and even drives it through a range of ages, emotions, and lifestyles, as there’s a clear difference between she she snarls as a Nihil to her reserved, more trusting self in the present while on the Restitution. It’s easy to build empathy for Lourna due to what she went through during her life, but it’s Almasy’s performance which secures those feelings with the listener, but she’s always able to remind listeners who read about the character first why they feared her, as her wicked laugh and less-than-savory snarl reappear at the most appropriate of times. It’s a fun performance I look forward to thinking of when I read about Dee in the future.
There’s a lot of talk about masks in Tempest Runner, from the literal to the figurative, and it’s easily my favorite theme from the story. Lourna Dee’s literal mask and its importance start the story and sort of obfuscates how deep the idea of masks Scott wants to dive into in his script, though it later becomes far more obvious. The production frequently makes it clear when a character is wearing one or not, be it the hiss of a helmet coming off or distortion of audio when it’s on, but it’s really the subtle work of Almasy that denotes what mask Lourna’s wearing for the situation she’s in. It constantly comes under question if the current mask is the one she wants to wear or the one she’s been forced to wear by others and I found it fascinating how Lourna contextualizes and sees the help from others throughout. She frequently asks people why they want to help her, be it fellow prisoner Sestin or Councilor Wittick, which given her track record with how she treats her Cloud Tasia in the opening scene (bashing her in the face for being worried), I sort of understand, because at this point in Lourna’s life she’s only used to power as a currency, choosing never to trust again. And when she does comes to trust others here, it’s interesting to watch how those who gain it hold onto the trust, if they use it for personal gain or not, and this led to a few surprises for me. It really makes you look at the relationships you have with those around you and just how helpful those are for you or for the person helping you, while I loved how this audiobook really digs into all the ways those can turn out and what it means when you can’t make it work both ways. The final mask she wears in the story (I won’t say if it’s literal, figurative, or both) is definitely my favorite and I can’t wait to see what it means for the future of the era.
Pan Eyta’s disappearance/potential death at the end of The Rising Storm is dealt with here, as we get to see how Lourna first meets the Nihil and Pan in a really excellent scene highlighting why she’s not to be trifled with, while also his pursuit of revenge pushes a lot of the drama that unfolds in the present; these moments add context and help flesh out their interactions in previous books. It’s probably my favorite performance by Marc Thompson as well, the go-to Star Wars audio narrator/actor, as I just feel like his Marchion Ro isn’t what I had in mind and will continue not to, while his take on Burryaga (yes, Burryaga is in this!!) reminds me of his other Wookiee performances which I felt should’ve been a bit lighter due to Burry’s empathic demeanor. The dive down Lourna’s past also means we meet Marchion’s father, Asgar Ro (Jonathan Davis), for the first time proper and get a little more time with Tempest Runner Kassav (Neil Hellegers), who died in the opening novel, The Light of the Jedi, allowing for the briefest of glimpses into the organization and it’s rocky relationship with the Eyes who have brought them together. Beyond those leaders of the Nihil, there are a few ex-Clouds and Strikes amongst the prison population alongside Lourna, like Tasia (January Lavoy) and Quin (Shannon Tyo, who also voices Burry’s Master Nib Assek), and their interactions in a world without the Nihil and its seemingly fading existence thanks to the joint Jedi/Republic Coalition Forces strikes gives us a clearer look at how the group’s hierarchies work and how one gains and keeps power in the organization. Sestin (Tara Sands) was one of my other favorite characters in Tempest Runner, a prisoner close to the end of her sentence that helps Lourna but gets caught up in the forces allied against her, as she’s got the most to lose and feels the most honest of the group we meet. Otherwise, Councilor Wittick’s interactions and attempts to help Lourna lands so well with Dan Bittner’s kind, empathic performance, giving so much more weight with what they go through together. The big cast is a little overwhelming, especially since not ever character is included in the cast list, but I did enjoy the noticeable amount of female speaking/lead roles over male roles during the entire production.
Unfortunately, this simply being an audiobook means it comes with a few problems, starting with a big cast that’s sometimes hard to keep track of without any type of full cast list or script to follow along with (the scriptbooks usually arrive a few months later), a difficulty even for me despite detailed notes I was taking, while it can only be harder for other fans, like individuals who are neurodivergent, to enjoy these productions. With this being such a new era still, and Tempest Runner introduces even more new characters into the mix, a giant cast of new faces is even more daunting, so part of me wonders if an audiobook, even as good as this one, was the right choice this early in the era; there are a few recognizable names like Avar Kriss or Keeve Trennis that helped ground the experience, but I question if that’s enough yet. An interesting problem arose with Tempest Runner I felt hasn’t happened in the past two productions was how some voices melted into one another, especially Lourna and Tasia’s, as while Tasia is a Cathar so Lavoy gives her a cat-like Russian-sounding accent, it’s oddly close to Almasy’s voice for Lourna, despite her being a gritty, French-like accent, to the point many scenes with them together made it hard to tell them apart, which could be more difficult for those with hearing issues though would’ve been helped with the script to read along. The story also jumps perspective or timeframes too often, which left me confused and rewinding a few times no matter how hard they tried with sound effects or audible clues to mark the new setting, while it happening multiple times in a scene caused minor temporal whiplash (there’s even a few moments where it switches periods for like one, maybe two lines, back and forth). This didn’t happen in the Doctor Aphra audiobook nor in Scott’s Dooku: Jedi Lost, so I was a little surprised it got so jump happy for awhile. None of the above killed the experience for me, mind you, but these were certainly inconveniences and problems which hindered my enjoyment and only served to highlight the need to consider how to help listeners combat potential problems like these, whether they have hearing loss, neurodivergence, or otherwise. I look forward to listening and reading along with the eventual scriptbook release of this.
Here are a few other things:
- It was awesome to hear Avar Kriss’ voice, I haven’t listened to the audiobooks for any of the other High Republic works yet, which Saskia Maarleveld provides real weight and composure to, but I cannot tell you how much I geeked out hearing Keeve Trennis (Soneela Nankani) and Sskeer (Marc Thompson)!! Their emotional, deep journey in Scott’s The High Republic comic has resonated with me issue after issue and Keeve’s my favorite Jedi of the era, but I didn’t expect my reaction to be as visceral as it was to hear her, though it’s likely to do with Nankani’s performance hitting the quintessential Keeve I always imagine, while Scott’s familiarity with the characters showed. Also, just having more of Keeve and Kriss was a nice touch, while I did like how far Thompson took Sskeer’s questionable flirting with raw emotions that has caused him trouble in the past/might be leading to his problems connecting to the Force.
- How Lourna names her first ship after herself is a really excellent scene that ties her past with Bala that I didn’t know I needed or wanted as badly after hearing it.
- I have to give some mad props to Orlagh Cassidy as Ola Hest, as I totally forgot she was Asajj Ventress in Jedi Lost thanks to how different her voice sounded here.
- The amount of swears was Sith-ly good, be it all the Kriffs or exclamations of something as silly as “Star’s End” or other local sayings.
- Considering the name of this website, of course I enjoy alliteration or other patterns so I totally dug how each Part aka Chapter is an R-lettered word.
- It’s a packed month in September for The High Republic as a whole: Tempest Runner ends August but Sept 1 sees the release of The High Republic issue #9 and The High Republic Adventures #8, while Justina Ireland and Shima Shinya’s manga The Edge of Balance opens its first volume on Sept 7, and The High Republic Adventures – The Monster on Temple Peak #2 drops the 8. It’s always a good time to be a THR fan!
The High Republic – Tempest Runner might have some typical audiobook problems, but its compelling character building for Lourna Dee, while also adding to the Nihil overall and the era’s everyday characters, with some great core performances and an exciting, compelling script, make for another memorable audiobook original.
+ Lourna’s journey and giving her such accessible depth
+ Theme of masks
+ Expanding the era and some exciting Jedi cameos
– Hard to discern some voices
– Jumps too often during scenes
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 audiobook 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.