#high republic

What I liked: Multiple Character Plots

One of the things that I love about a lot of Star Wars media is how dense each story is. And while this one was not that complex at all, I still enjoyed the way it jumped from one character trying to reach their objective to the next.

What I didn’t like: Took Them Forever to Show the Actual Plot

For the first 60% of the book I spent the majority of the time trying to figure out what the objective was for the book. The end-goal, if you will. This might be more of a personal preference, but I prefer to know what objective we’re trying to accomplish on a journey before I’m fully on-board with going along on it. Throughout the book I felt like I was just being strung along through it. My thought process went from “Oh, so this is a Frontier adventure!” To “Is this some sort of Space Station survival story?” To “What the heck is the objective here?” Finally, after close to 300 pages, I saw what was supposed to be accomplished and it was right before the climax started. I realize that this book was more of an introduction to the characters and a character development novel than anything else, but I was looking for something to know the progress they’ve made on this journey.

What I liked: Introduction to the Drengir

I read the Phase 1 comics back in 2022 and the adult novels back in 2023. In the comics the main enemies are the Drengir. I thought that was going to be the main enemy of Phase 1. But to my surprise when I read the novels, the Drengir were nowhere to be found. Instead it was the Nihil. So I was confused. Now that I’ve read this one, I see that the Drengir are in fact in the novels. Just not a huge deal (just yet, at least). It was cool to see how they were discovered and leaves me wondering what happened for them to have gotten loose after the events of this book.

What I didn’t like: Should’ve Been a Subplot

This book felt pretty unimportant except for a few key details that could be beneficial to know about later on. That’s why I say I don’t think it needed its own book. I’m not sure of the general consensus of this opinion so maybe someone in the comments can help me see it in a different way, but I think all-in-all the entire thing felt like a subplot that should’ve just been added to another book.

What I liked: Leox and Geode

I think Leox and Geode were the best part of this book. In the adult novels, they also were some of the best parts that I remember. I think it’s funny that Geode is essentially just a rock. Doesn’t say anything and barely moves, but the book puts life into him and gives him his own character. Leox is just funny because of how nonchalant he is. Plus, I remember in the adult novels’ audiobook they make him sound like Matthew McConaughey.

What I didn’t like: The Audiobook

Look, I understand that this is a Young Adult novel. But listening to the audiobook, you’d think it was a full-on children’s book. The voices throughout it were pretty bad. Nan sounded like Mrs. Piggy from the Muppets. Leox sounded like Shaggy from Scooby Doo (with a southern accent). The narrator’s tone of voice made everything sound so childish. It was pretty bad. I only listened when I had to (usually during my commute to and from work) and read the majority of it on my Kindle (which is actually rare; usually I do about a 50/50 split because I can never find time otherwise).

What I liked: The Climax (SPOILERS)

I enjoy a good payoff. It’s usually what makes or breaks a book for me. If I’m going to dedicate days or weeks to reading a book, the payoff needs to be worth it. This one was not bad. There was a plot twist right before it began (Nan being a Nihil), and the final confrontation was pretty good. Everyone splitting up and having their own payoff was pretty cool and kept me engaged. And it had a pretty satisfying ending all things considered.

Conclusion:

All that to say, this was a decent book. There were things that I liked in it, and I was engaged through most of it, I just felt like it’s a pretty forgettable story at the end of the day and should’ve probably just been added on to another book. I was engaged enough to keep reading but not engaged enough to feel any sort of way toward it.

Next up: Light of the Jedi.