Star Wars The High Republic

[Hopeless]

A quick query has anyone read this or watched the you tube videos?

Was wondering if you had read this, what you thought about it?

[Fyraltari]

This isn't live action? I thought this was going to be live action.
: (

[Kitten Champion]

This isn't live action? I thought this was going to be live action.
: (

I believe there's going to be a live-action television series premised on the High Republic era on Disney+, but there's also this adjacent media to establish the period in novels and comics that was supposed to be released from last summer onwards.

I mean, I assume it's live action. It's being written/directed by the woman who did Russian Doll on Netflix.

[Sapphire Guard]

First book is ordered. I'm on the fence, so it'll give me an idea of how the other projects will go. I've read other work by Daniel Jose, Claudia Grey, and Rebecca Roanhorse and didn't like them much, but I'll give Light of the Jedi a shot.

[Peelee]

First book is ordered. I'm on the fence, so it'll give me an idea of how the other projects will go. I've read other work by Daniel Jose, Claudia Grey, and Rebecca Roanhorse and didn't like them much, but I'll give Light of the Jedi a shot.

So far Claudia Grey has the best new Canon Star Wars book, so I'm definitely excited for hers.

[Dire_Flumph]

I got through about the first third so far of Light of the Jedi. Good action opening, nice to establish in this time and place what the Republic and Jedi are capable of. Not a lot of real character work yet though, so hard to judge it there.


So far Claudia Grey has the best new Canon Star Wars book, so I'm definitely excited for hers.

I've never really understood the love for Lost Stars, I found it pretty bland. Didn't care much for Bloodline either. Though given how bad most of the few others I've read have been, they were at least better than those.

Best new Canon book I've read would have to be the Kieron Gillen run on Darth Vader.

[Narkis]

Lost Stars is the only nucanon book I've liked. It wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it was a well-made classic story that made me care about the characters. I ask nothing more of Star Wars.

I admit I haven't read the rest of her books though.

[Hopeless]

Been getting a strong Destiny vibe from the trailer especially that scene with the four eyed foe.

And as for that plant monster the only way that could be genuinely frightening is if that isn't a plant but a force user infected with a spore thats turned them into that.

Since midichlorians are so bound to life what if there's a version that preys on midichlorians?

THAT would be very frightening especially if a lightsaber is worthless since all it needs is to infect them?

[Sapphire Guard]

Come on, book, ship already!

[Dire_Flumph]

Come on, book, ship already!

That's why I loves me my Kindle. Especially given how much I have to travel for work.

[Sapphire Guard]

Book arrived today. This one is actually high stakes for me, because the rest of the canon is relying heavily on 'complain about the Jedi, but provide no actual new ideas', and I want to see what they can do when they can't use that crutch. I'm trying to have an open mind, but if they do what I think they're going to do, that will be difficult.

[Dragonus45]

Book arrived today. This one is actually high stakes for me, because the rest of the canon is relying heavily on 'complain about the Jedi, but provide no actual new ideas', and I want to see what they can do when they can't use that crutch. I'm trying to have an open mind, but if they do what I think they're going to do, that will be difficult.

To be fair to the writers, whine about the jedi regardless of context or evidence has been the default for fans for ages and ages so they are just delivering what the fanbase wants. My copy hits my mailbox today though so this should be interesting.

[Sapphire Guard]

Chapter 3 is aggravating me.



The writing is leaning heavily into 'look at these unsophisticated farmers, who think in farming metaphors and don't go anywhere or do anything, not like the sophisticated people. The smart people leave, because there's nothing here worth staying for. Even the Prime Minister thinks like that! Technically skilled people go elsewhere, because obviously nobody would stay on this planet where nothing is, and skill or talent is not needed for mere farming.'

They might subvert this later on, but it will need to be very well done to work.

I don't know how to describe this writing, but I am not happy. That was quick.

[Hopeless]

Chapter 3 is aggravating me.



The writing is leaning heavily into 'look at these unsophisticated farmers, who think in farming metaphors and don't go anywhere or do anything, not like the sophisticated people. The smart people leave, because there's nothing here worth staying for. Even the Prime Minister thinks like that! Technically skilled people go elsewhere, because obviously nobody would stay on this planet where nothing is, and skill or talent is not needed for mere farming.'

They might subvert this later on, but it will need to be very well done to work.

I don't know how to describe this writing, but I am not happy. That was quick.



Once you finished this book would you mind giving us an update about this?

[Sapphire Guard]

Okay, done. I have many complex thoughts.



I wouldn't say my expectations were high, exactly, but I was curious about what they had in store. The book is...above average, I suppose, I was more interested in the concepts we were getting than this story in particular. In the High Republic, they have to avoid a major war and visible Sith, but otherwise have a lot of freedom. So, the concepts first...



Unless there's more to it yet to be revealed, this is triggered when a massive transport ship (9000 colonists plus crew and cargo) rips itself to pieces in Hyperspace, resulting in pieces of debris impacting across the galaxy at lightspeed. What I thought they were going to do was shutdown hyperspace for months and explore various adventures of different characters over those months over multiple books, but that doesn't seem to be happening here, because the hyperspace disaster is resolved by the end of the book (or appears to be) Unless future media goes back in time, but while the Chancellor does shut down hyperspace while they figure out what the hell is happening, they don't really explore the effects of this in book, and the main characters have no difficulty travelling where they want to, and can reach places like Naboo (Outer Rim) and Coruscant (Core) for meetings with no apparent difficulty.

They're sort of between a rock and a hard place here, because this is supposed to be the era of Light and Hope and Optimism, so they can't make the disaster too catastrophic, but they also have to make it compelling enough to support the stories through this era.

The agricultural world of Hetzal and its two moons is in the path of several large pieces of debris, which are dangerous enough by themselves, but a piece of the cargo ship containing a tanker of liquid tibana is heading for the systems's sun, which if it hits causes a chain reaction that results in the Hetzal system's sun expanding to double its size and cook the entire system. Fifty four Jedi happen to be aboard a Republic ship close enough to get there before the disaster, and set about doing as much as they can. Some of the debris is cargo containing live passengers, which have to be rescued instead of just destroyed.

So the Jedi have to push it out of the way with the Force so it doesn't hit the sun, and they sort of combine their power across the galaxy to make it happen.

They succeed, of course, and while thousands die across Hetzal from various impacts and riots, the planet itself is kept mostly intact. Another planet takes a hit for twenty million dead, and there are other emergences across the galaxy.

So this ends up being... underwhelming and overwhelming? It's a major catastrophe obviously, but not enough to be the linchpin of an entire era by itself.




So, the other big thing here is the Nihil, who are a band of marauders with a unique way to travel through hyperspace, in that they don't need to use the standard lanes. The great disaster ends up being caused by one of their ships by accident, as they essentially crossed a hyperspace lane without looking left and right, and oncoming traffic had to swerve to avoid them and crashed.

They're pretty much pirates, with a vaguely interesting non centralised command structure, but by the end of the book they've been seized control of by their navigator, so the interesting command structure no longer applies. And their new leader is too similar to characters we've seen before, being a mastermind hiding in the shadows manipulating people into fighting for him and then betraying them, with a grudge against the Jedi and an apparent intention to capture and turn to the Dark a Jedi Master, holding a mysterious glowing rod. He's not noticeably Force sensitive, as far as we know,but feels very familiar despite not actually being someone we know. The mastermind's plan also heavily relies on no member of his gang being taken alive, which is a big gamble.

The Nihil have kind of lost their distinctive identity by the end of the book. They still have the hyperspace trick,but I've kind of lost interest and if they do launch a galactic campaign then it becomes difficult to see how that doesn't qualify as a major war.



Eh, they're okay. They didn't live down to my worst fears, but didn't really assuage them either. Every Jedi sees the Force differently and has their own specialty. On one end of the galaxy a gang of raiders gives them trouble, on the other they're stopping a star from exploding or making it rain with the Force to quench a fire. Hard to see the Nihil as much of a threat, though.

What I was complaining about doesn't come up much after chapter 3, but it doesn't get addressed either. There's a tech genius on the Prime Minister's staff, and both he and the people around him are constantly thinking that his skills are too useful to stay on Hetzal, that he will move on to better things and has exhausted the possibilities of a mere agricultural world (that is the bread basket of the Outer Rim, by the way). And that thread continues through the book. It's a pet hate of mine, probably won't bother most readers.




There's nothing wrong with this book, per se. But at the end, I'm not very drawn in to the stories to come. To the book's credit, it's a complete story that doesn't cut itself off for the sake of a cheap cliffhanger, but I'm not all that excited for the rest of this era, as is, and I'm unlikely to order any more of upcoming books when I can just read the spoilers instead.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Sapphire Guard
Okay, done. I have many complex thoughts.

Thanks for the capsule summary and your reactions. This was something I was mildly interested in, since I was initially very excited that they would be exploring this era.

But after reading through a number of pages on the Amazon preview, I'm struck with how extremely amateur the writing feels. This isn't the worst Star Wars writing I've ever seen, but it's nowhere near the best. Not inspired and needed a lot of polish, not to mention some workshopping.

That impression plus your notes inclines me towards a pass on this one. It's disappointing, but I appreciate your thoughts on this.

[Sapphire Guard]

There's also this (https://sites.prh.com/highrepublic) if you want to see more of the style.

[Sapphire Guard]

Did anyone try 'Into the Dark?' I'm vaguely interested but not enough to actually order it.

[Peelee]

I've got it but it's been pretty hectic lately so I haven't gotten into either of them yet. I'll update you when I do.

[Darth Credence]

I just started reading Into the Dark. Came to a part where they say the atmosphere on a space station is an oxygen/hydrogen mix, so they'll be just fine to go aboard.

Sigh.

[Fyraltari]

I just started reading Into the Dark. Came to a part where they say the atmosphere on a space station is an oxygen/hydrogen mix, so they'll be just fine to go aboard.

Sigh.

They're going for a swim, I presume.

[Aeson]

I just started reading Into the Dark. Came to a part where they say the atmosphere on a space station is an oxygen/hydrogen mix, so they'll be just fine to go aboard.

Sigh.
There is at least one hydrogen-oxygen gas mixture used for deep sea diving (I believe it's ~96% hydrogen and ~4% oxygen), so it's at least plausible that the atmosphere on the station would be human-breathable. Still, probably not the most welcoming of environments, and potentially more than a little dangerous at the airlock.

[Sapphire Guard]

Could we be charitable and say that they're speaking shorthand for something more complicated?

[Hopeless]

So how explosive is that atmosphere?

Will a lightsaber be enough to ignite it?

I bet they never thought about that!

Wouldn't be the first thing they didn't think about!

EDIT: Hope this link works!
https://sciencing.com/happens-hydrogen-oxygen-combine-8515474.html

[russdm]

Lost Stars is the only nucanon book I've liked. It wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it was a well-made classic story that made me care about the characters. I ask nothing more of Star Wars.

I admit I haven't read the rest of her books though.

I think, given the overall quality with the nucanon and averaging it out, I would rate it as being around C. Just an overall not that thrilling bit. I have a bunch of the books, have no interest in getting any of the aftermath ones, and have picked up a number of the kids (non-adult) books which i thought were good.

And I liked Lost Stars. This is despite the fact that if a book says "Star Wars" on the cover, then I am likely to get it. But then i really liked Lost Stars, and Bloodlines.

As for the Legends material, I would rate it at being C+ overall. Not that much higher than Nucanon. and Legends has some really great stuff but also some really lousy material too. so it averages out slightly above because Nucanon has books that are more "meh, its good, i guess" which for star wars is pretty fine to me. Nucanon is not as good, but then it has in general less amount of just sheer bad that Legends had.

As for the High Republic, I have three starting books, Light of the Jedi, the other one, and the kid's one. I have to say, that so far, I would give the new era here a solid B or B-. I really wanted to see more of the Nihil being well, Nihil. More interaction and involvement of them in the books. Also more Jedi and Starlight Beacon parts. also more this chancellor leader girl and the "We are all the Republic" talk, plus I want to know more about the Great Works.

My main disappointment is that it feels so far, that the big event, the driving part of Light of the Jedi, if you read the book, you would know what i mean, was rushed through quickly and didnt have a good resolution for a good setup.

as for the "bad" "guys"
i really didn't care for the plant darksiders that appear in the "Into the dark", they just don't work for me. They talk about wanting meat and are just pathetic really. I was expecting more shadowy messing with people's perceptions, using the body's natural functions to slowly corrupt and the whole thing about the usual lifecycles of plant-herbiovore-carnivore. What we got, well, it was basically Plant Sithy Sithiness Sith. Like this are really Sithy Plants that even the Sith were frightened off. It just seems so, so sad. I don't know how exactly this works really. Plant Sith that want meat. What exactly is the point here, again? i was expecting something more better, more insidious kind of feel, more of a "taking root and absorbing sunlight" style of darkness. Less "Can we have some meat? They're fresh" thing from the Two Towers movie. I really just was very disappointed in how unalien and how unplantlike and plants twisted through darkness then what we got. I don't find them interesting to work

i was really thinking that we would get something like that waterbend vine monster from the episode "the swamp" of avatar the last airbender. And also some of the flood from halo but more plantbased. something about how the jungle/etc goes on to completely cover over human settlements and get described as the jungle devouring something.

Instead i think we got something along the lines of the cartoon show about those tomatoes with teeth that go around trying to eat people that are also bigger in size too. you know, that utterly stupid one.

I like the Nihil, in concept and most implementation, but I really wish that more effort had been made to establish them in their current methodology, with the changes to what M Ro is turning them into know. It didn't have the sense of gravitas, of something that really had the same effect as it should have. Like, how is Nihil not like any kind of criminal bunch that we have always seen in Star Wars? I was really interested in seeing the whole "Space vikings" type vibe for them. Instead, they are moving towards being less space viking and more proto-Separatist force. I don't like that. I did like the concepts about the paths with them though since it made for a baddie group that could give the jedi trouble, and wish that we got them as the bad guy, rather than the Plant Sith Guys/Girls/Dumbstuff

[Sapphire Guard]

Caved and got it. Concepts first. I am confused for many reasons.



So, a long time ago in the galaxy far far away, a race of people called the Amaxines decided to build a space station to invade a world of carnivorous plant monsters. They were duly eaten, and some plant monsters took over their fully operational battle station.

Somehow the Sith sealed the space station boarding party into hibernation with magic statues, because these things reform after damage like the T1000, but fire and ejecting them into space seems to work, which... honestly, I'd expect a Sith Lord to think of?

They are steeped in the dark side, and attack with vines and have both poisonous thorns and mind control thorns. They act...very human, though, speaking basic and even carrying blasters. So underwhelming enough, but presumably they will get more powerful off the battle station.





Like normal Jedi, but without the sense of personal responsibility. Orla complains a lot about the Jedi, but her own instincts tell her to do things like intentionally break the seal on the Drengir, which ultimately unleashes them on the galaxy.
I'm pretty puzzled by that decision, as she unleashes the Drengir in order to cover their escape from the Nihil, even after going to great lengths to reseal them after they break free the first time.

Complaining about the Jedi is basically the theme of this book, which every character getting in on it at every opportunity, which is a hard sell for me.



A lot of small continuity issues. At the start of the book, a particular room is established as scaled for humans to the point that a Lasat can't stand up straight in it. At the end, in a key scene, this Lasat jumps over humans to take a shot at the hostages they're protecting.

At the start of the book, a space station is established as being too dangerous to fire blasters in because it will reflect endlessly around the walls. There's a giant battle at the end and this never becomes an issue.

I'm also confused as to the timeline with LOTJ. LOTJ seems to take place over weeks, but ITD seems to take place over a much shorter span, but ITD ends after the big battle with the Nihil in LOTJ. Yet the leads of ITD are aware of Nihil survivors, while in LOTJ the characters believe they have been
exterminated.

There are other smaller issues, like in LOTJ the Legacy run is an old transport that breaks apart on the main route from the core to the outer rim, and yet the Vessel somehow hits debris in hyperspace when travelling from Coruscant? Seems odd that they could catch up to debris moving at lightspeed.

In ITD, the Legacy Run is the pride of the Byne guild, which doesn't operate in the Core and yet is taking settlers from the Core to the outer rim?

Apparently the Nihil have this station which allows them to take super shortcuts, but they can already do that with their Paths, so this station isn't very valuable to them?

Two members of the Nihil are stranded on the space station for days with active Drengir. Why are they uneaten?

The writing is fairly okay, but if someone can resolve all the things I'm confused about I would be grateful.

I know I said this last time, but I'm not super enthused about this project going forward.

[Mechalich]

My library waitlist finally let me get ahold of a copy of Light of the Jedi. Without belaboring the issue, because frankly the book doesn't elicit any real energy in any direction, it's bad. It's badly written, badly structured, badly characterized, and badly mishandles both pre-existing elements of Star Wars and essentially all new ones it introduces. The whole thing feels extremely sloppy and low effort. This was supposed to be the launch of a big new era of Star Wars, but nothing about the book suggests a big thrust.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Mechalich
It's badly written, badly structured, badly characterized, and badly mishandles both pre-existing elements of Star Wars and essentially all new ones it introduces. The whole thing feels extremely sloppy and low effort.

This was my impression from the selections I read.

I haven’t read a Star Wars novel in years, and this sort of output is why.


Originally Posted by Sapphire Guard
*Into the Dark*

And this doesn’t sound much better.


Originally Posted by Sapphire Guard
Somehow the Sith sealed the space station boarding party into hibernation with magic statues, because these things reform after damage like the T1000, but fire and ejecting them into space seems to work, which... honestly, I'd expect a Sith Lord to think of?

Couldn’t they just torpedo the station?

I'd think that would be on the menu for a Sith Lord.


Originally Posted by Sapphire Guard
A lot of small continuity issues. At the start of the book, a particular room is established as scaled for humans to the point that a Lasat can't stand up straight in it. At the end, in a key scene, this Lasat jumps over humans to take a shot at the hostages they're protecting.

At the start of the book, a space station is established as being too dangerous to fire blasters in because it will reflect endlessly around the walls. There's a giant battle at the end and this never becomes an issue.

This is hasty writing and poor editing, and it does not reflect well on anyone involved.


Originally Posted by Sapphire Guard
I know I said this last time, but I'm not super enthused about this project going forward.

To borrow a line from Honest Trailers...this is how creativity dies, to thunderous applause.

Except no one’s applauding.

[Mechalich]

This was my impression from the selections I read.

I haven’t read a Star Wars novel in years, and this sort of output is why.

Admittedly I haven't read anything of the new canon either prior to this, but my recollection of even rather forgettable Legends novels is that they were nowhere near this bad, at least purely in writing terms, there were definitely some plot disasters like The Crystal Star. I feel like a big part of the issue is that Charles Soule, the author, is primarily a comic book writer, as in many ways the book feels like its a giant comic ham-handedly converted into a novel with no awareness of necessary changes due to the new medium. For example, there's an ongoing trend in the novel of characters saying 'We are all the Republic!' as this kind of grand bit of sloganeering/battlecry. In a comic, with accompanying visuals to provide a dramatic backdrop I can absolutely see that working - and indeed, characters in the Legends Republic comic run had a tendency to shout 'For the Republic!' in exactly that fashion - but in this novel it just falls flat and feels incredibly campy.

Beyond that, I really don't get why they went with someone like Soule in the first place. Star Wars is the big name, and just like actors want to be in Star Wars productions (witness the murder's row of casting that showed up for the Mandalorian) because they grew up with it and are fans themselves, the same thing is true of writers. Legends used to be able to get some pretty big names from franchise fiction and space opera to show up or at least experienced franchise fiction novelists (I don't like Troy Denning's approach very much, but at least he'd proven he could write D&D best sellers before moving to Star Wars) but the Disney canon novels are written by relative nobodies. The High Republic was a blank slate time period, authorial freedom ought to be near max, but they hired a bunch of in-house writers who primarily have YA and Young Readers credits. I don't get it.

[Sapphire Guard]

If I had to rank them, LOTJ would come in ahead of ITD. I was surprised how strongly I disliked it. I know it's YA, maybe I'm being harsh.

Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but a lot of the time I'm thinking 'there could be some reason for this, but right now it's questionable'. If someone else who has read it has answers, feel free.

A number of times involve Jedi not knowing if someone is alive or not, and one would expect that they would be able to sense the life in the sentient rock.

I don't expect perfect continuity, but there seems to be a lot of discrepancies between High Republic Book 1 and Book 2.

[Sapphire Guard]

So according to the comics, the Drengir were once allies to the Sith but were betrayed.

This is, if anything, even more puzzling. What does either party get out of this alliance?

All devouring carnivorous plants don't make very good allies.

[hamishspence]

Which is probably why the Sith betrayed them in the first place.

I would speculate that the Sith provided them with transport ships, (so giving the Drengir the ability to move around rapidly from planet to planet) the Drengir were the Sith's assault troops (so giving the Sith nigh-indestructible cannon fodder) and eventually the Sith considered the Drengir too destructive and betrayed them.

[Hopeless]

Seriously?
I assumed they preyed on both sides until they managed to maroon them within that system.
And then erased all details on that system making it off limits until the "Great Disaster" forced the locals to start exploring properly again and stumbled into that system.
Thus the Drengir found a way to escape the system and restart their crusade to devour all life...

So if they served the Sith does that mean the Library in the Jedi Temple has records about them?

[Sapphire Guard]

I would speculate that the Sith provided them with transport ships, (so giving the Drengir the ability to move around rapidly from planet to planet) the Drengir were the Sith's assault troops (so giving the Sith nigh-indestructible cannon fodder) and eventually the Sith considered the Drengir too destructive and betrayed them.



This does make sense, in some kind of of 'planning to betray you before you betray me' alliance. It technically works, but it's Umbrella Corporation logic.

So if they served the Sith does that mean the Library in the Jedi Temple has records about them?

Interesting question.

[The Glyphstone]

So if they served the Sith does that mean the Library in the Jedi Temple has records about them?

No, those records were eaten by dogs (https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0258.html).

[Sapphire Guard]

Hamish's speculations make perfect sense, but my brain is rebelling against it for some reason I don't fully understand.

[Sapphire Guard]

Despite actively disliking ITD and thinking LOTJ was okay, I'm still interested in what happens in the next instalment, if not enough to buy it this time. Dammit brain, stop it.

[Sapphire Guard]

Anyone read The Rising Storm?