Light of the Jedi Book Review [SPOILERS!]

 

Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule (Del Rey, 2021) 5/5

Hi there, you may have already read my thoughts on Part One here, so I’ll try not to repeat myself too much.

I love this book!!!

Where Part One is a whirlwind of action, tension and new names to remember, Part Two is a dramatic change of pace, almost whiplash inducing! But the opportunity to breath is a welcome one, we get to know some of the characters a little more, particularly Loden and Bell’s group on Elphrona, I absolutely love Porter Engle, and of course we meet the Nihil, finding out how what they’re about and their heirarchy (Tempest, Storms, Clouds, Strikes). Meeting the San Tekkas was a great canon connection as I always liked Lor San Tekka and wanted to know more, and the reveal of their lost relative near the end of Part Two was a really interesting turn of events.

Part Three immediately ups the pace and ante again with two battles taking place, one above Elphrona with the outnumbered Loden and Indeera trying to rescue the Blythe family, and the other as the Jedi and Republic fleet take on outgunned Kassav’s Tempest. Marchion Ro gives the Nihil a terrifying new way of fighting with micro jumps and we lose our second named Jedi in Jora Malli and Loden Greatstorm is captured, which gives the series real stakes. We also learn just how cunning and ruthless Marchion Ro is, elevating him as a truly worthy villain to the Jedi and in Star Wars canon.

Light of the Jedi really  gives us a fresh look at the Jedi and their connection to the force, each Jedi sees or interacts with the force in their own way, Avar Kriss feels the force as music, Elzar Mann as an ocean, Burryaga as a great tree. We know that in the prequels the Jedi’s connection to the force is diminished, due to rise of dark side and specifically Palpatine, and in this era their relationship feels deeper and more spiritual. The Jedi also feel far more numerous, we know by the time of the prequels their numbers have been declined, here we have 100 Jedi on one ship alone.

Charles Soule really knows how to tell us little things about characters to make us feel more enamored with them, for example Sskeer & Jora Malli’s exchange on page 325;

“You can die in bed just as easily as in battle, Sskeer” she said, climbing into her ship’s cockpit.

“That is certainly untrue” Sskeer called over, putting an oxygen mask over his broad snout and settling into his pilot’s seat. “What if we both just agree not to die?”

We then learn that Jora’s kyber crystal was recovered from a sith’s lightsaber and healed, making it white, these interactions and details really make this geek happy.

Relationships between the Jedi feel a lot more intimate in this age, Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann are a prime example, but also between Sskeer and Jora Malli. As if love and friendship is more acceptable to the Order, that it may not be seen as an attachment. Could we see a different way of looking at the Order’s rule of no attachments? And does this mean that events to come will affect that and make the Jedi Order more strict?

It was always going to be important for the villains of the piece, the Nihil, to be a real threat for the High Republic project to work, and in Marchion Ro we have a top 5 bad guy already. The reveal that he had planned the Great Disaster from the beginning, sacrificing his own people in doing so, shows a level of manipulation that I’ve only really felt with Palpatine before, and with the Republic believing the Nihil are eradicated his threat seems even greater, while his end goals remain unclear.

I love the way this book ends and gives us so many possible paths that the story could follow. I would be very interested to see how this era of Jedi deal with the issue of recruiting younglings for training. I can’t wait to get on board the Starlight Beacon in future books and comics, it feels like it will be an exciting setting. Although I fear for the station as Marchion Ro really seems to have his eye on it and hates that the chancellor has built it in the Outer Rim. I hope we spend more time with the San Tekkas, and I do wonder whether they’ll try to rescue Mari from Marchion. There are many characters we’ve barely met to learn about, like Stellan Gios and Venestra Roh, and I desperately want to know more about Mikkel Sutmani, Sskeer and Burryaga Agaburry!

You can expect to see more reviews of everything High Republic that I get my hands on (issue #1 of the marvel comic has been dispatched!), and I’m already working on a top 10 Light of the Jedi characters blog, so I’ll see you soon!

Jon