User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
WE ARE ALL THE REPUBLIC
Charles Soule first came to prominence as a comics writer, including some
Star Wars titles such as the extremely well received Star Wars: Darth Vader - Dark Lord of the Sith series but, as proven by his excellent The Oracle Year, prose novels are equally within his wheelhouse.
As the leadoff (adult) novel of Lucasfilm's High Republic publishing initiative he had a lot of responsibility with this one, both to the readers and his fellow Project Luminous authors, and he delivered in a major way.
Giddy up, my young padawan!The characters? Quirky, well-defined and memorable. The settings? Mostly original and well-developed. The action sequences? Thrilling. The do? Derring.
But what I most wanted to talk about in this review is the point on which most tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away live or die: the villains.
Enter the NihilThese Mad Max looking lunatics are the depraved flipside of the Galactic Republic: reavers, killers, pirates and wholesale hedonists who exist in the (metaphorical) shadows cast by initiatives like the Republic's Starlight Beacon space station in the Outer Rim, meant to bring unity, progress and fellow-feeling among the more rugged planets of that area of space. Their leaders are just reflections of this canny wantonness: they seek not to rule the Galaxy but to prey upon it at their whim. At least, almost all of them.
Beware the gaze of the EyeI don't want to get too much into Marchion Ro for fear of spoiling what he's all about, but trust me when I say that Soule has added a wholly original, unpredictable and downright fiendish Big Bad into the Canon, which at this point can not be an easy feat. I can't wait to see what he does with the character next, and what his actions and their repercussions will mean for the characters throughout the High Republic books to come.
TL;DR: A fantastic Space Opera in conversation with the
Star Wars we know and love but boldly telling original stories, and I have a feeling the best is yet to come.
Rating: really liked it
A good start to the new era of the Star Wars. A lot of new characters, old worlds but in a new setting. I did find the book a bit slow, but that is understandable as they are creating a new world.
The Republic is expanding into the Outer Rim, however not everyone is happy the Republic is coming.
I do like that fact though there are a lot more Jedi they all have there one fears, wants and desires. This is a great introduction to the Jedi embarking on a new frontier.
Only one thing I did not like about this book is, as soon as I get into one or a groups story the chapter finishes on a cliffhanger, then the next chapter is following another person or group. Thrn the same thing happens again. One of my favourite authors get me with thus continually.
Overall very good stuff. I have been waiting a long time for this series to start and I am glad to say it did not dissapointment.i can't wait to see what happens next.
Rating: really liked it
This book was awesome and adding it to my buy list!!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Rating: really liked it
Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, was written by Charles Soule. He's written stories for the Star Wars Comics, and he's written his first Star Wars Novel.
This novel kicks off a brand new era in Star Wars canon, going back 200 years before the events of the Skywalker Saga.
SUMMARY: The galaxy is peaceful, war is a thing of the past. The Republic is strong. The Chancellor, Lina Soh coined the phrase, "We are all the Republic."
Peace is tested when an unforeseen event that stems from a hyperspace lane branching out to the outer rim brings destruction and death on a massive scale. Tensions rise throughout as hyperspace lanes are closed off throughout the galaxy. The chancellor calls upon the Republic Defense Coalition (RDC) and the Jedi to investigate what exactly happened in hyperspace, what has the ability to cause planet wide devastation. The Republic was to open up a new outpost station called Starlight Beacon. It will be a Republic embassy, to serve as a fortress, security, medical facility, and even host the largest Jedi outpost outside the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The Chancellor wants the RDC and the Jedi to resolve the mystery that caused such chaos before the grand opening of the Starlight Beacon.
A large group of killers, kidnapers, and raiders called the Nihil, have unintentionally put the spotlight on their regional shenanigans in the outer rim. The organization has a unique hierarchy, with three individuals that rule, and one that has the ability to provide secret pathways of hyperspace lanes, uncharted space-ways to sneak around throughout the outer rim. The Nihil wear masks to appear intimidating and remain anonymous. Their tactics are harsh and cruel, but the group must figure out a way to evolve into something more vile, more disturbing, to survive.
Wild events will test the Jedi, the Republic, and even the Nihil in the High Republic Era. Will the Jedi retain their peace and tranquility? Will the Republic stand strong? Will the Nihil overpower all that is good and conquer the galaxy? You should read the novel to find out.
CHARACTERS: There are so many wonderful characters I could pick from to talk about; Avar Kriss, Te-Ami, Bell, Lourna Dee, & even Chancellor Soh. But, I will only pick three characters I found most fascinating.
Elzar Mann is a Jedi Knight, who sees the force as a deep sea. Its depths are endless. Elzar doesn't approach the force the same way twice. He experiments with the force, diving into the sea of its expansive presence differently each time. Many Jedi are content with the way the force works and the way they can manipulate it. Elzar constantly wants to test its limits, He believes so much can be tapped into that no one else had ever thought possible. He's doesn't intend to be difficult, but always open to new ideas with how to call on the force. He believes his views have held him back from achieving the title, Jedi Master.
Marchion Ro is the Eye of the Nihil. The Keeper of the paths in which the Nihil use to creep through the galaxy. He's not quite the leader of the organization, but without him, the Nihil wouldn't be anything special. They'd have to use the same hyperspace lanes as everyone else. Marchion has his secrets. Some that would most certainly bring about an untimely death had the high ranked Nihil called the Tempest Runners, had they found out his big secret. Marchion's past is also shrouded in mystery. So much more could be said about this character, but after-all, this is a spoiler free review.
Porter Engle, (once known as the Blade of Bardotta) - He's an Ikkrukki, who's served in the Jedi Order over 300 years. He's held many positions in the Order. Now, with old age, he likes to cook in the small outpost of the planet Ephrona. He's wise, skilled, & cocky. He is ready and willing to give his spirit over to the force when his time is up.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: I enjoyed this book! I thought it was a good story to tell to kick of a new era in Star Wars. Charles Soule does an excellent job writing new characters, planets, and planting a few little easter eggs throughout the novel.
Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi expands the Force and the Universe in the most impressive way.
The villains are complex and very interesting to read about. There are many layers to some of the characters, both hero and villain. I love that there are established characters in the book that aren't invincible. Many aspects of the story including character outcomes and plot points are unpredictable. But yes, there are a few things that are easily predicable. Still, the character development was extraordinary. I can't wait to read more about some of the Jedi we were introduced to in this book as well as what comes of some of the villains.
Light of the Jedi reveals new layers of the Force and adds Character's you're not going to get enough of!
Some story elements came across a little cheesy, but overall, it was really good. While Charles Soule does a great job with descriptions, dialogue, and character development, there are a few minor things that took me out of the Star Wars universe. This is me just being petty, but the use of words like gun & drugs, shouldn't be used. Let's just stick to blaster & spice. However, Soule had many poetic ways of saying things that I found most impressive.
Do I recommend you pick up Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi? Yes. A great way to introduce a new era in Star Wars
RATING: I give this novel an A
Rating: really liked it
This was a book I approached with great enthusiasm. A new era in Star Wars with substantial free reign to decide what galaxy-spanning adventures to tell. A Republic before the dark times, before corruption and evil reduced it to a shadow of what it once was. A Jedi Order devoid of their self-serving involvement in politics. It’s an idea with potential, and Lucasfilm certainly thought so because they created a series from it. Starting with this one.
Sad to say this is not a great start to a new series. It’s not, like
Rise of Skywalker, so bad it ruins any hope of future stories. But it’s never compelling either. And the fundamental problem lies in the writing style. Soule’s a graphic novelist by inclination and this reads like the worst elements of a comic book mixed in with the worst of a novel. Everything is very immediate. Rather than one flowing narrative we have a series of small scenes and minor problems. These scenes feel detached from one another. And I can’t explain how because they
are interlinked. They only
feel like private universes. And yet somehow we never dive deep. The guys on the cover are as much enigmas to me now as when I picked up the book — a mess of new names with few details and precious little personality attached. They remind me of Pritchett’s review of Qui-Gon in
The Phantom Menace — if I had to describe who these guys were I’d say they were Jedilike. No other character traits can be attached.
For something setting up a much bigger universe the catalyst is pretty insignificant.
One transport explodes in hyperspace and suddenly half the Outer Rim is in danger of being wiped out. Seriously, shouldn’t the galaxy-threatening incident seem a little more… grandiose? Why would you even let old starships fly if one explosion could wipe out entire worlds? Does that make our heroes playing with hyperspace jumps callous mass murderers? How big is this ship anyway? And why why why do the fragments of the transport pop up in so many different systems (always aimed directly at a major planet) and across several weeks? By the book’s end pieces are still falling out of hyperspace! I know this is space fantasy but that doesn’t even make sense on its own terms.
And worse still, we have waaaay too much time to think about these failings because everything takes way too long to get going. It’s a bizarre combination — we jump right into the middle of things with no time to relax or meet these characters yet somehow the action never goes anywhere. Major multi-chapter plotlines include getting guards to open a landing bay, slowing pieces of debris using the Force, learning to jump off cliffs, rescuing a small family, and designing a circuit of droids to calculate hyperspace routes (and keeping them cool). These are the main plots. I guess what I’m saying is that with rare exceptions this all feels like fluff. Somehow.
The book is not devoid of any good points. The new setting seems like it might be interesting in future books (what is this Starlight Beacon we see at the end?) and the cast of empty faces offer enough variety to be filled in later by other authors. The Nihil have the potential to be interesting. They’re not interesting here of course. They’re just a callous biker gang in space. But the end sets them up to transition into space vikings, and as little sense as that makes in context it’s a more interesting prospect than what we get or even another continuation of the Sith/Jedi conflict (if you’re doing that can you least go further back in the Republic to when legions of Jedi fought legions of Sith?).
I must say my enthusiasm for this new series is significantly dampened. There are enough pieces here to make this a potentially compelling setting for adventures… but this won’t be one of them. And a series like this really needs to start out with their best. Perhaps I’m being unfair to the author. It may be that the book’s faults come from the limitations placed on the debut novel. Maybe the shallow, interchangeable characters were just the author trying to set up too many protagonists for other authors. And maybe the drawn-out plots that take forever to bring us nowhere come from being given too narrow a stretch of plot to expand on. It certainly
feels like a book written by a committee. But that doesn’t change the fact that the book simply isn’t very good.
Rating: really liked it
4.75 stars. “We’re all the Republic.”
Writing this review is somehow hard because I have so many feelings about it all that not sound like a mess is not gonna be easy. So bear with me.
I've been a fan of
Star Wars for as long as I can remember. I've been a huge fan for years. I've read a couple of the books centered on this universe and liked them well enough. In all that time, I had never encountered a book that
enamored me and made me feel so immersed in the world as
Light of the Jedi managed in a very short amount of time.
Centered in the
High Republic a time of peace and prosperity through the galaxy under the ambitious direction of
Chancellor Lina Soh and with the glorious
Jedi Order shedding its light we have a
hopeful and incredibly inspiring story.
Seriously, I was absolutely obsessed with it from the very first page and it never lost its appealing nature even a little bit.
“They could… tap into something [the Jedi] It wasn’t just the Force. It was their Order itself. It gave them confidence, a structure, a willingness to make choices to serve the larger purpose of spreading light in the galaxy. It made them bold, and made them strong.”
There are so many factors that contribute to make this a totally amazing and memorable book. One of them is the incredible pacing of the story.
We are dropped right into the thick of things from the very beginning. Witnessing an event that will change the
Republic forever and how things operate. It is such an intense moment that I could hardly catch my breath.
It was so
incredibly emotional and action-packed I was an absolute mess by the end of part one. No, I was an absolute mess by the end of the first chapter. We are in the center of the action and everything that is going, living it first hand and experiencing all the emotions that the characters are living right alongside them. Even better, we can see some pretty cool action bits that I loved with all my heart.
The mix of
the emotional and the mysterious, the action and epicness and hopelessness, is an intoxicating combination that set my veins on fire and my heart racing.
From beginning to end there is little rest, and, I mean, how could there be when something so massive is happening? Which makes the book fly by. Because honestly? I could not put it down.
“The Republic was not one world. It was many, each unique in ways large and small. Solving one problem inevitably caused others. There were intractable cultural, historical, economic, and military conflicts among inhabitants of worlds. There were warlords and agitators and malcontents and other less-easy-to-handle enemies – plagues and strange magical factions on hidden worlds who believed they should conquer the galaxy and, yes, even hyperspace anomalies. But the key was this – and Chancellor Soh believed it to her very soul, and had made it the cornerstone of her entire government: You could not solve those problems individually. It was ridiculous to even try. What you could do, however, was make various peoples of this high era of the Galactic Republic see one another as people. As brothers and sisters and cousins and friends, or if nothing else, just as colleagues in the shared goal of building a galaxy that welcomed all, heard all, and did its best to avoid hurting anyone. Truly tried its best. If you could make that happen, then problems didn’t have to be solved. Many would solve themselves, because people believed in the Republic more than they believed in their own goals, and would be open to that magical word – compromise.”
The characters were all just amazing and so incredibly easy to connect with all of them. From those that were with us for a few paragraphs - there to further our understanding of the situation - to the ones that will, hopefully, see us through the next couple of books as well.
All of them stole a little piece of my heart.
I loved how through them we can see how much the galaxy will change in the future. These people are a different sort of people from the Jedi to every being that lives in this vast galaxy.
In the way they looked at the world I could see the true differences and experience the time period more fully. Of course, I have some of them that I just can't help but love a little bit more.
Avar Kriss and
Elzar Mann were incredibly cool and I love their friendship and their dynamic.
Kriss' way of seeing the
Force especially stole my heart.
Porter Engle and
Loden Greatstorm were very wise and very joyful. A true change from the solemn masters we have later on. Seeing their quirkiness and their peculiarities were so fun and made me smile all the time.
Lina Soh and her
Great Works made me love this woman that is so
ambitious and determined and inspiring. I wish we had seen her more.
But, truly, I don't think I didn't like even one of the characters, small or great, from this book. Because there is something to like about each and every one of them. Each with a lot of personality and depth, given to them even if they were to appear for a few paragraphs. And it shows, because my absolute favorite character is
Minister Ecka who we have for a very short time.
“For the Nihil, Kassav thought. For the storm.”
The antagonist of the book - I refuse to call them villains - were just so totally amazing as well.
Eerie and chaotic, full of cruelty and contempt the
Nihil set the tone for the story on a completely different level and add a ton of different shades to it all.
A great story needs a great force to rise against, that will complicate things and test the level they can go, their commitment, and their resistance.
I was really feeling the
Nihil and the whole culture they have created for themselves was incredibly interesting and engrossing. Sure, it was messed up a lot of the time and it made me hate them some but that is the beauty of it all. Maybe right now they are, well, what they are, but the fact that we know how things will end adds a layer of eeriness and foreboding to the whole thing. A feeling that was aptly captured and transmitted with every word.
“Avar could sense the weariness in the song, of all her companions in her great Order, these heroes who had all stayed to save people they had never met and probably never would, people who would never know the choice or the sacrifice being made on their behalf. None of that mattered […] Her great Order was with her, as she was with them, and the Force was with them all.”
To make things even better, we have
Soules beautiful writing.
No, it wasn't overly done or flowery or anything like that but he did have a way
to make you connect deeply with everything between seconds a fit that is not so easily achieved as one may want to believe.
It wasn't even just with the characters but with the places and situations as well.
The way he could go from breaking my heart one second to making me laugh my eyes out the next. With no warning and without breaking any of the atmosphere of the moment - which was often quite important - he just made me do a complete turn on how I was feeling.
At one point, I was bawling my eyes out, not quite, slow trickles of tears, no, the whole, ugly, full package. So emotional I could barely handle the chapters. And then, at other points, I was laughing at the silliest thing. No, it wasn't something forced or that felt out-of-place in the least but rather comedic moments that came by naturally.
I appreciate the way he managed to work with everything he had. Adding to his book
humor, gloom, grief, joy, hope, despair, happiness, and light all in a tightly wound package.
“What matters are the choices you make in your life, not where you came from.”
Even though it had all the action and uncertainty to it I did love the
romance that is softly sprinkled through the book.
And by that, I mean that I am thoroughly obsessed with it all.
There is also the beautiful representation of the deep connection between padawan-and-master that was so pure to read about and so fun to see...
I love deep connections, I love when the characters feel deeply and have meaningful, important relationships, it doesn't quite matter the type of this love - friendship or romance or familial - if it's well done I will love it. So I did had a blast with these beautiful dynamics.
It also helped to soften the blows that some of the other circumstances were creating and make them all the harder when things got complicated. As they are prone to do. Especially because
Soule did not pull any punches.
So, it was nice to have these expected bits of comfort to retreat to when the going got tough.
“Peace without justice is flawed, hollow at its core. It is the peace provided by tyranny.”
One of the reasons I think I loved this book as much as I did is because is
new and fresh but at the same time
worn and comfortable like a well-loved sweater.
I always enjoy
Star Wars books, sure, but I haven't quite found one that fascinated me before. All of those books are set in time periods that are constricting, with characters that I know well, there is little to surprise me or
that won't generate a very, very clear expectation as to what I want to happen. It could hardly be any other way.
With
Light of the Jedi there was none of that. I didn't have any idea of what could happen, what I wanted, where I wanted to go, or how anyone should act - or if they were acting according to my specific, predetermined, set of ideals -
but just the sweet reality of discovery and a journey that I was anxious to embark on. I got a lot more than I bargained for.
Couple that with a world that didn't need to be explained to me in more than broad brush-strokes, where I was merely discovering new facets of things I already know deeply, well,
it made me feel very comfortable from the start but kept me on my toes every second. “The light of the Jedi. The beacon activated, a signal, a sound, a chime, a tone that anyone with even the most rudimentary of equipment could hear, for hundreds of parsecs around the station. Anyone who was lost, afraid, confused, hopeless, they could tune in. They could listen, and the sound would help them find their way. The Starlight Beacon. The first of many. All was well.”
_____________________
That. Was. So. Amazing.
I was expecting a great book but this one surpassed all my expectations a thousand times.
And that ending has me looking forward with great anticipation for the next books. Such great trepidation.
This review is gonna be a good-old rant, so prepare yourselves.
RTC. ____________________
I can not believe that this day has finally arrived and I can read this beauty, this era that has always been so interesting and that has so much to offer.
Excited is the understatement of the century as to how I feel about this.
Am I expecting the sun, the moon, and the stars from this book? Yes, I absolutely am. And I don't regret one single second of it... hopefully, I won't at the end either.
However the case, it looks like it's gonna be a fun adventure centered in a world that I've loved for my whole life. If nothing else, I'm gonna
fangirl to my heart content with it.
Rating: really liked it
EDIT: guess what?! I've read it and I still rate it 5 stars so ya'll can stay mad about it.
Rating: really liked it
Light of the Jedi is the first book set in the High Republic era, 200 years before
The Phantom Menace. The Republic is in a state of peace, so much so that it doesn't even have its own military fleet. They are establishing Starlight Beacon in the Outer Rim as a way to connecting with the systems out there. When a tragedy happens to a ship in hyperspace it sets off a series of events that could threaten the whole galaxy. I loved all the focus on all of the Jedi at their peak and the sense of hope among the Republic.
The Nihil are terrific villains. Another reviewer compared them to Viking raiders and I found that quite apt. Marchion Ro, there's so much to like (and hate) about this guy. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say I can't wait to see where things are headed.
This was the best
Star Wars novel I've read from the Disney era. Retreating to an era where the authors aren't constrained by the movies is smart. Most of the
Star Wars books I've read in the last few years have felt neutered so it's great to read a novel where the author has more flexibility.
Rating: really liked it
... the Coruscant skyline always felt like the Republic in miniature. Always moving, always changing and evolving, endlessly deep and strange and infinite. At that moment, the sun was setting, and the lights were coming up on the buildings. Stars in the heavens. Worlds in the Republic.I really, really wanted to like this book. But ultimately it was a frustrating and disappointing read. Like the spore drive in Star Trek: Discovery, Charles Soule opts for a ‘magic reset button’ in the form of the Nihil having access to what is termed the Paths, an alternative means to navigate hyperspace beyond the technological capabilities of the Republic.
Said Republic is at the height of its ascendancy, with the official inauguration of the Starlight Beacon station being relegated to a background event. Yes, I suppose there is a deliberate echo of everything from Babylon 5 to Deep Space Nine and especially Iain Banks’s Culture here. Nevertheless, this was the most fascinating part of the book for me. I would have loved to have been simply able to explore the station, not to mention some of the many other Great Works of the Republic.
Instead, we have a deus ex machina of a hyperlane accident at the beginning that sets the path towards an inevitable confrontation between the Nihil and the Republic. Despite not being geared for war at all, there is still something called the Republic Defence Coalition (RDC), not to mention that the Jedi themselves are a kind of quasi-militarised force (which we are led to believe is due to their experience in the Great Sith War).
The RDC is a puzzle, but Soule could have made it work if he had treated it like Special Circumstances in the Culture. What is abundantly clear from this book is that there is really no well-considered sociopolitical structure to the Star Wars universe, apart from the black-and-white binary of the Republic and the lawless Outer Rim. Everything to do with governmental or political issues is painted in the broadest of strokes.
The Jedi are far more powerful here than we have ever seen them, but it is a bit of a conundrum as to their exact function and place, especially considering they opt for a background role in the day-to-day running of the Republic. And what about long-term strategy? You would think that the Force, especially as described here as an almost living entity, would give them a similar kind of ability as the Future Historians in Asimov’s Foundation series. Well, we do learn that the Great Temple on Coruscant has outreach programmes…
There is a plethora of new characters, and I honestly struggled to keep ‘who’s who’ straight in my head. Unfortunately, the most memorable characters are the bad guys, which has always been an integral problem of both Star Wars and Star Trek (though the former is much more dependent on binaries than the latter, which has always been much more nuanced and astute, even with its villains).
Given the paucity of ideas that characterised the recent Aftermath trilogy by Chuck Wendig, it was patently clear that Disney needed to reach out in a new direction for its book franchise. While focusing on the High Republic is a great idea, ‘The Light of the Jedi’ suffers in that it recycles so many tropes familiar from so many other Star Wars books to date.
The next book is a direct sequel by Justina Ireland called ‘A Test of Courage’, which seems self-explanatory given the abrupt ending of ‘Light of the Jedi’. As for Project Luminous, it’ll be interesting to know if Disney has already mapped out the larger story arc, and where it intends to take this. Hopefully the characters introduced here get back stories and context, so that the High Republic can aspire to its true glory.
Rating: really liked it
4.5/5
I was about to give this book 4 stars, but then the epilogue came along and hit me like a truck.
Charles Soule just KNOWS how to use words, every comment is thoughtfully placed, no description is ever too much. And don't get me started on the metaphors. So beautiful.
Light of the Jedi introduces around 20 new characters which is honestly a little intimidating at first. Yet, somehow, Soule pulls it off and makes every one of those characters unique in their own way. The action pulls you right into the story and never let's you go until you've read the final page. And most importantly, the new era is introduced in a way that's not too overwhelming: it does feel like a step back from the prequels but not entirely too far away. The state of the republic is believeable.
I'd also like to point out how relevant some of the topics this book discusses are in our recent times. Without taking anything away, I can tell you that the "Great Distaster" and its consequences somehow perfectly mirror what is happening to us due to the pandemic. I don't think it was planned at all but it really makes you reflect upon our own behaviour which is amazing for a Star Wars book that didn't even have this as its main focus.
The only thing I didn't enjoy all that much is that I didn't really care for the antagonists. They were interesting and intimidating but their chapters weren't too exciting for me. It's cool that we get their perspective as well but I found them all quite annoying. It's probably supposed to be like that, I guess.
All in all, I think it's important to remember that Light of the Jedi is an introductory work into a whole new thing - it's allowed to have many new concepts, thoughts and people, even though it might feel like a lot at some points. I for one cannot wait to reread this book already and see how the other High Republic literature ties into it!
Oh, and one last thing: Bell and Loden were by far the greatest duo of this book. I will not accept criticism on this!
Rating: really liked it
This is the beginning of a series as the Disney
Star Wars tackles the Old Republic era. In this one, there is an accident where a ship blows apart while in hyperspace. Parts of this ship enter different star systems and are a threat to planets. The Jedi respond.
I did not enjoy this book like many of my Goodreads friends and members of this site. First off I really like the concept of the story. What happens when something goes wrong in a hyperspace lane? And I liked how the Jedi as one respond to an emergency in this galaxy. That is also where this book started to lose me too. This book is meant to show the Jedi as an overall unit and does not focus on any particular Jedi. The problem with this is like other readers I had no connection to any of the characters. If tragedy struck I could care less and I don't really care what happens to them in the subsequent books. Even looking at the cover right now I could not name one of the characters on the cover. This wasn't my biggest problem either. The reason for the accident as once again Disney has to screw around with hyperspace. Now there is only one person in this vast galaxy that can use this new form of travel and when they move on the secret dies with them. In other words this new form doesn't comply with the older movies and we needed a deus ex machina for it to exist now. I hated this new form of travel and it affected my whole enjoyment of this book.
There is an interesting idea and story to be told here. I am not a writer (obviously) but if there were some minor tweaks this could be a really good book and a nice start to a series. Instead we get a book that never grabbed because I had no connection to any of the characters and a book that doesn't fit because it spits in the face of continuity.
Rating: really liked it
I literary cannot believe that LucasFilm's strategy to save the franchise that they screwed up (even with the hundreds of million of dollars they had) is to hire a bunch of random unknown authors who I have never heard of before to write books so they can see which characters resonate and then adapt those characters to the big screen. So that if those films are bad they can-what?-turn around and say that the audience asked for it, and then blame them again for spending the money on the comics and the books and leading them on?
I mean, at this point they really need to replace the CEO of LucasFilm like pronto. I mean I'm not one of those out of control crazy haters of Kathleen Kennedy but this is really beyond a joke at this point. Taika Waititi or Jon Favreau or Dave Filoni need to be promoted stat to take control of this ship: I cannot stand watching something being almost purposely steered into an ice-berg. Like, what kind of business strategy is this? Let me tell you how to fix it. Get a good writer and director, outline the next films to a tee, maybe switch it from three films to five for more character development, find an original storyline that doesn't rely on nostalgia and bobs your Uncle you're good to go. I mean
this was in the folder titled, SAVE THE FRANCHISE IDEAS???!!!
Give me strength, I can't even...
I'll let this movie critic on YouTube do the breakdown for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7atw...
Rating: really liked it
I want to preface this and say I was
so excited for this book.
That being said, it was... a disappointment.
Things didn't get interesting till about halfway through the book. The first half felt like introduction after introduction to different characters, and I couldn't bring myself to care about any of them. It wasn't until the author focused on a few that I started to actually become somewhat interested. And even then... I still don't truly care about any of the characters. It felt like we only scratched the surface, and I wanted to get to know them better. I think the book would have been more engaging to me if the author focused on just 3 or 4 perspectives.
There were many instances where it felt like I was reading pages upon pages of exposition. I don't mind a good bit of world building, but I could not handle it here. There were also many points where I feel the author could have used more dialogue to make things interesting and give more depth to the characters, but instead they chose to describe everything that was happening in painful detail and just say what the characters were doing instead.
All in all, I had to force myself to finish this book. I had such high hopes and I wanted it to be so much more than it was.
Rating: really liked it
I enjoyed reading this one (have the audiobook also) and it kept me up late into the night to finish.
It's
Star Wars so a well-known universe for me and with just enough new characters and locales to keep me interested. A terrifically easy read. I was surprised (but likely shouldn't have been) that I was so invested in the characters that whether they were of the Republic or Nihil, I cared when any of them met their end. My favourite characters were Captain Bright, Master Te'Ami, Kassav, Marchion Ro, Padawan Bell Zettigar, Master Loden Greatstorm and Chancellor Lina Soh (kinda like Chrisjen Avasarala of
The Expanse without the profanity because this is
Star Wars; the voice used on the audiobook even sounds like a riff on her.) Surprisingly, I found the two main Jedi, Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann to be almost... forgettable given everything and everyone else. They're gifted in the Force in different and complementary ways, beautiful and apparently had a thing when they were Padawans.
My worth mentioning criticism is that I thought that time played out in a weird way in this book. There were threads unfurling in various locations but one remained pretty static and just made it feel like it was either happening very slowly (which seemed impossible because each time a chapter came back to that place, the story picks up in the same scene we last left it) or everything, everywhere else was going at hyper speed (which also seemed unlikely because in those chapters many things happened and characters actually travelled from place to place and major events were taking place... like battles). I enjoyed all the threads but the weirdness of the timeframe just remained in the back of my mind. Also, the story basically stops, it's definitely not a real conclusion as there are many open doors to further stories. I happen to be interested in what happens next through all those doors, so that was fine for me but if you're looking for a tied-up story, be advised that's not what's happening here.
This is my first read by Soule and I'd definitely read another by him. I'll definitely read the next in this series by Claudia Gray. I have it already and the setting is the space station Starlight Beacon. I love a space station story and this one is described in such a way in this book that I can't resist.
Recommended.
Rating: really liked it
I’ve resisted diving into the High Republic books, mostly because Star Wars novels are so often terrible, and the idea of some so-so authors getting together and creating a new era of SW that exists only in books...I just couldn’t muster the energy to get started. But now that there are several books published, I figured I might as well take on a few books all at once, so I don’t have to try to remember the likely forgettable names of characters and events from previous books.
Now I’ve read the first book in the High Republic era, and my impression is...well, it’s hard to say, really. It’s somewhere between “meh” and “decent.” But the reason it’s hard to have a solid opinion about this book is that it’s not really “a book”; it’s an introduction to a bunch of other books that will continue expanding a storyline that probably has no defined endpoint or goal in mind. I’m weary of this kind of storytelling. Even within a large mythology like Star Wars, surely the ideal is still one really good story, right? Must we be fed carefully planned, market-driven plot twists and reveals, end-credits sequences that are supposed to make us eager for the next installment, a story that can never actually go anywhere, because the prime directive is that it continues forever?
Anyway. Here are some thoughts about
Light of the Jedi.
After a few introductory chapters in which everyone who is introduced dies by the end of the chapter, the novel gets started in earnest with a countdown to a catastrophe. Though I had no particular reasons to care about any of the characters at this point, I found Charles Soule’s pacing quite good—tense, energetic, intriguing. Once that part ends, though, the novel languishes considerably. Characters I don’t know and can barely remember from one scene to the next go off on separate adventures, most of which feel very much like things that have already happened somewhere or other in Star Wars. The conclusion of the novel is, predictably, ye olde “Now I’ll pull off my mask and reveal my true devious plan (more or less), laugh evilly, and give you a glimpse of my scary ancient weapon, which I bet you weren’t expecting to see, were you? Mwa-ha-ha.” Not surprising, but mildly interesting, I guess.
A major problem with this book (and probably ultimately the High Republic era overall) is right in the title:
Jedi. “To Elzar Mann, what the Jedi were was nowhere near as interesting as what they could be” (247). I’m with Elzar on this one. Only four Jedi have ever been interesting: 1) Obi-Wan (Alec Guiness) in Episode IV; Yoda in Episode V; Kanan and Ezra in
Rebels. This book introduces a whole collection of interchangeable Jedi, and they’re as fascinating as any Jedi in the prequels. Jedi are best as rōnin, not as Knights of the Round Table.
One of the things I dislike about Star Wars books is their assumption that “Well, we may look totally different on the outside, but deep down, we’re all basically human, right?” So here we get a chapter focusing on a Wookiee Jedi, and it all just feels uncomfortably weird to think that deep down a Wookiee has exactly the same feelings a human does. Why even bother making various species for the characters if it really has nothing to do with the characters or the story? All it does is make it hard to remember what each character looks like. Star Wars is not known to be anthropologically rich storytelling, but still, couldn’t some effort be made to imagine bigger differences between species?
Another problem is also related to the Jedi: the idea of the “light side” of the Force. Originally, there was no “light side”; there was “the Force,” and there was “the dark side of the Force,” a corrupt approach to or wrongful use of abilities granted by the Force. But in the Disney era, there is increasingly a contrary idea, that there is a light side and a dark side of the Force, which presumably are equal and always in a dualistic conflict with each other. Those two concepts of the Force, pre- and post-Disney, are very different. The more SW adopts this dualistic aspect of the mythology, the less interested I’m going to be. It’s not what SW was built on from the start, and it renders much of the original trilogy less meaningful than it was supposed to be.
My final complaint is another recurring SW problem: that the idea of a galactic government is not only unquestioningly accepted as the greatest goal, but here in the High Republic, for some reason it’s working.
It is the time of the High Republic: a peaceful union of like-minded worlds where all voices are heard, and governance is achieved through consensus, not coercion or fear. It is an era of ambition, of culture, of inclusion, of Great Works. Visionary Chancellor Lina Soh leads the Republic from the elegant city-world of Coruscant, located near the bright center of the Galactic Core. (3)
Oh, come on. This is something you can only write with a straight face if you’re not really thinking about it at all. By the end of this novel, even, the cracks in this perfect society are starting to show, and even “visionary Chancellor Lina Soh” seems to be either clueless or intentionally insidious. Star Wars authors so rarely ask the questions that I would find the most interesting.
Despite all these criticisms, this wasn’t the worst SW book ever (Aftermath trilogy;
Last Shot). But after all the hype about this new era of storytelling, I was disappointed that so much of the book feels not only like stuff that’s already happened before but stuff that doesn’t need a new era. Most of the events in this story would fit with no problems within the Empire era. I guess what I really want is not an era a little before the prequels, but something way, way farther back, something with more of a primitive, steampunk feel. Barring that, I’d prefer to read about any of the other Force-sensitive beings in the galaxy, who have been hinted at in other books but never yet foregrounded as main protagonists. Just please, no more Jedi Council, whatever era.
Footnote: Anyone who works a lot on Star Wars, or is a friend of George Lucas’s, is eventually likely to get their own SW character with a thinly disguised name. I like that in
Light of the Jedi, Pablo Hidalgo has finally received his SW name: “renowned Jedi architect Palo Hidalla” (369). :)
