Book Review: Star Wars: The High Republic: Midnight Horizon

 

This novel is set at the same time as The Fallen Star, which chronicles a major attack by the Nihil (the main group of antagonist pirates during the High Republic era), and tells of a parallel attack by the Nihil on the planet of Corellia. It includes some characters that have been introduced in the other novels such as the padawans Ram and Reath and includes the species of worm-like creatures that were introduced in Solo: A Star Wars Story. This is the first of the High Republic novels to do something with Yoda beyond mentioning his name and helps to set up what is sure to be the next major battle between the Jedi and the Nihil.

The book is just under 500 pages long and was, at least for me, a slog to read until the last handful of chapters in Parts Four and Five. That is when the action really picks up and the readers find out what the Nihil are really up to. The first 2/3 of the book is basically exposition and set up, which could have easily been condensed. An annoying point is that the author, likely trying to appeal to a younger audience, makes the vast majority of the characters sound like Earth teenagers. So, some of the dialogue is just eye-roll-inducing, which has not been the case with the other High Republic novels, even some of the junior and young-adult novels. So, ultimately, if you only read some, but not all, of the novels, I would not put this one in the must-read category.