Book Review: Star Wars The High Republic: Into the Dark

 

Into the Dark is a young adult Star Wars novel by Claudia Gray published in 2021. It is set during the High Republic Era, which occurs a couple of hundred years before the Battle of Yavin/The Original Trilogy. The events in the book run concurrently with those in the "regular" canon novel, Light of the Jedi, overlapping with the hyperspace disasters that are occurring in that novel. It is mostly set on a space station in the outer rim, which has a lot of dark side energy surrounding it, and sets a group of Jedi against the Nihil and a new threat. It also jumps between the "present-day" and events that occur twenty-five years earlier, making it difficult to follow at times, especially since all the characters in the book are new.

The good thing about the High Republic era is that it is not just a rehash of the Jedi vs. Sith conflict and introduces a lot of new characters. The downside is that it is harder to invest in characters that will, for the most part, be dead by the time the prequel trilogy even starts. This novel did a fairly good job of introducing the group of characters and giving them enough of a backstory that the readers can try to get invested in them. Obviously, the Skywalkers are not even a thought at this point, and whatever the two Sith who are out there (assuming this is post-Darth Bane and the rule of two) are doing, they are not a part of the story at this point (if they ever will be in the High Republic novels). Certainly, there is room for the characters to be developed in subsequent novels. The Nihil is definitely set up as a threat to the Jedi and the Republic overall, and the book just really scratches the surface of their group. The main drawback is that the one character everyone, even casual Star Wars fans, know who is alive during this era, Yoda, is not used (although he gets mentioned), despite being at the height of his power. 

The hardcover version of the book is moderately long, a little under 450 pages. Even though this is a young-adult novel, which is considered ancillary to the main storylines in the adult novels, it is written well enough that adults can easily enjoy it. It is a fairly easy read, but I personally find novels featuring movie characters to be the easiest to read because I don't have to remind myself who the characters are when I pick up the book after a few days away. Overall, it is not what I would call one of the must-read novels, but it is something that most people who collect the novels will enjoy reading once.