The Eye of Darkness, written by George Mann and published in 2023, is one of the newer adult canon novels, and the first in Phase 3 of the High Republic era novels. Phase 1 of the High Republic novels was set about 230 years before the events of A New Hope. The Phase 2 novels jumped back about 150 years before that, to about 380 years before the events of A New Hope, and then Phase 3 picks up where Phase 1 ended. Specifically, the events of this book are set 1 year after the destruction of the space station Starlight Beacon. In it, the Nihil have walled off a part of the galaxy creating an impenetrable barrier that they call the Stormwall around a portion of the outer rim trapping the inhabitants of several planets (and several Jedi, including Avar Kriss) behind the barrier. Marchion Ro, the leader of the Nihil, has revealed the mysterious beast capable of killing Jedi called levelers to the Republic broadcasting the "trial" of a Jedi trapped in what the Nihil and the Republic call the Occlusion Zone for all to see. Elzar Mann and Bell Zettifar are tasked by the Jedi Council with figuring out how to break through the Stormwall to get into the Occulison Zone, while Avar Kriss is working on a plan to get out.
The hardcover version of the book is just under 400 pages, but it reads more quickly (at least for me) than the Phase 1 and 2 novels did since the characters are well-established. This book also finally includes Yoda in this part of the timeline. One of my big complaints about the Phase I novels was that Yoda was mentioned, but never appeared. Now, however, since he did appear in a couple of Phase 2 novels, there is a bit of a continuity issue (which will hopefully be resolved eventually). Specifically, The Path of the Open Hand, the group that was the precursor to the Nihil, used the Levelers against the Jedi 150 years ago. Yoda was aware of Jedi being killed in the same way back then, even though he did not know what was causing it. In this novel, he appears to be totally clueless about the Levelers even though members of the Jedi were killed by them years ago and Yoda does not mention that fact. It seems unlikely that the Jedi would not have figured out what the Levelers were long ago and figured out how to protect themselves if they encountered them again. Even with that continuity issue, the story in this book entertaining with a good blend of action and suspense. If you have liked the High-Republic era novels up to this point, this one is definitely worth the time to read.
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