About two weeks from now, Random House Worlds and Lucasfilm Publishing will release the first “adult” novel in Phase III of the ambitious multi-platform initiative, Star Wars: The High Republic, entitled The Eye of Darkness. I received an advance copy of this book for review, and below are my mostly spoiler-free thoughts.
The Eye of Darkness takes place a year after the fall of Starlight Beacon, which happened at the end of The High Republic’s first phase (Phase II rewound the timeline again, much like the Star Wars prequels did after the Original Trilogy). As depicted in writer Charles Soule’s recent Marvel comic book Star Wars: The High Republic – Shadows of Starlight, during that gap of time the ruthless marauders known as the Nihil have erected an impenetrable, invisible barrier across space, marking their territory in the Outer Rim under their merciless leader Marchion Ro, also known as “The Eye of the Nihil.” Now the Jedi remaining in Republic space, including Elzar Mann, must work alongside Chancellor Lina Soh to figure out a way through the so-called Stormwall and rescue those trapped behind it. Meanwhile, young Jedi Bell Zettifar, his trusty charhound companion Ember, and his faithful Wookiee friend Burryaga (who was revealed to be alive in this past summer’s Star Wars: The High Republic – Tales of Light and Life short-story anthology) monitor the border of the Stormwall, combatting any Nihil intrusions or further raids on unsuspecting worlds.
But there are Jedi trapped behind the Stormwall as well, including the “Hero of Hetzal” and the former Marshal of Starlight Beacon Avar Kriss, not to mention the “Blade of Bardotta” Porter Engle, both of whom are more than capable of holding their own and doing their best to separately help the civilizations who have lost access to the Republic, while simultaneously working alone to come up with a way to contact their friends. Those are the heroes of this story, but there are also villains like the above-mentioned Marchion Ro, his second-in-command General Viess (an old enemy of Engle’s), and the traitorous Senator Ghirra Starros, plus innocent bystanders like captive holonet newscaster Rhil Dairo and a newly introduced irascible Ugnaught pilot character who I predict may quickly become a fan-favorite. It’s safe to say there are a lot of interested parties bandying about in A Galaxy Far, Far Away during this narrative, and the vast overabundance of point-of-view characters is one of my (very minor) quibbles with this novel, but The High Republic as a series is definitely no stranger to that issue.
Otherwise I would say that author George Mann (who with The Eye of Darkness has now written his first full-length adult-targeted Star Wars novel, after having previously contributed a number of comics and short-story collections, plus one middle-grade entry, to the franchise) has done a really solid job of picking up many of the dangling story threads left over from the end of Phase I. He does follow his friend Cavan Scott’s pattern of cramming in almost too many short, staccato chapters– there are nearly 70 in this 360-page book– but I suppose that comes with the territory as well. But outside of that I would say Mann has a terrific grasp on all these characters’ voices, to the point where it feels like he’s been an indispensable, central player in The High Republic’s storytelling architecture since the very beginning. There are a few points in the middle of this book when certain characters are frustrated that they can't do more than just talk about what the next move should be, and eventually I as the reader also started to empathize with that frustration. But by the last 50 pages it definitely all pays off in some extremely exciting ways. There’s some fun action, more than a few big character beats, and a handful of moments that are sure to have The High Republic devotees squealing with delight and/or terror. Nearly three years into this dauntingly sprawling, intricately detailed, and wholly engrossing project, I doubt we’d want it any other way.
Star Wars: The High Republic – The Eye of Darkness will be released on Tuesday, November 14th, but is available now for pre-order.