Book Review: Star Wars: Light of the Jedi (The High Republic)

 

Light of the Jedi is one of the newest canon novels in the Star Wars series. It is set during the era known as "The High Republic", basically when the Republic is at its height before Palpatine starts setting in motion the events that would result in his power grab. So, basically the time before the events of The Phantom Menace. The book is set about 230 years before A New Hope, so about 200 years before The Phantom Menace. The beginning of the book involves a series of hyperspace disasters when pieces of shrapnel traveling at light speed start hitting ships and moons in the outer rim. The Jedi are called in to stop the accidents (called Emergences) and come up against a group of pirates called the Nihil, who are holding systems hostage telling the leaders they can prevent the Emergences for a fee. 

The book has some strengths and weaknesses. The biggest strength is a deviation from the Jedi vs. Sith storylines. The Nihil present a formable foe for the Jedi without being Force-users. The biggest weakness is the lack of recognizable characters. Yoda is mentioned but does not make an appearance in the book. And, the book kind of just jumps into the action without doing a ton of character development for the new characters. There is some character development as the story goes along, but I think the book could have done more to set up who the new characters are. Another strength is that the book does not tie up everything in a neat bow at the end. It leaves the fate of one of the characters in danger and uncertain, and the book clearly sets up what will be a series of novels. 

Overall, the book is good, but not great. I definitely think the subsequent novels could be better than this one depending on what direction the story is taken. Hopefully, Yoda, who is really the only character from the Phantom Menace onward who is alive at this point, will be incorporated into the subsequent novels, beyond just a name drop that he got in this book. He does not necessarily need to be the main character, but I think his inclusion in the books would help tie this era to the movies and animated tv series eras.