Race To Crashpoint Tower Review [SPOILERS!]

Race To Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older (Disney Lucasfilm Press)

Race to Crashpoint Tower is the second junior novel in the High Republic era, and comes from Daniel José Older, writer of the High Republic Adventures comic series. The story is set at the same time as The Rising Storm and also on Valo at the Galactic Fair, making it a story within a story almost. In The Rising Storm we briefly meet Ram Jomaram when Ty Yorrick and Mantessa are in jail and the Nihil attack starts, here we find out why Ram was also in the cells and what happens to him afterwards, with the scene mirrored and told from his perspective in this book.

Ram Jomaram is a padawan assigned to the Jedi outpost on Valo, and he reminds me of Reath Silas a little, but where Reath doesn’t like adventure and prefers to be in the library, Ram finds social interactions difficult and likes fiddling with mechanics and his droid V-18, this makes him very likeable and relatable to introverts and people on the spectrum alike. We also get an interesting mix of characters from Older’s Adventures comic in Lula Tulisola, Zeen and Kantam Sy as well as Vernestra Rwoh from Justina Ireland’s A Test of Courage dropping in.

Daniel José Older’s writing has a great sense of humor that nails the Star Wars feel, and the laughs are mainly provided by the Bonbraks, small creatures that help Ram in the garage, and his droid V-18, and there’s a particularly funny line from V-18 when he arrives at the tower and Ram needs one of his parts;

“If you take them out, I won’t be able to speak!’

For a brief moment, everyone just stared at the droid.

‘Wow’, he said ‘I see.”

The Drengir are played for humor too, making them a little more suitable for the junior audience the book is aimed at, and some of their conversations about the “meats” are hilarious.

But it’s not all light hearted humor, there are some tense moments when the padawans have to deal with escaped animals from the zoo, including a mudhorn (as seen in the Mandalorian), Lula gets some great instruction from Vernestra about attachments, and Ram’s horror at seeing the city & planet that has become his home turned into a burning hell is visceral. The end set piece of the padawans fighting the Drengir on the tower is well written and you do fear for them as the Drengir seem set to overwhelm them. I thought the conclusion of Ram managing to engage the Drengir in conversation, showing them that the Nihil lied to them was a great way for the characters to succeed. If they had defeated the Drengir in battle when the likes of Avar Kriss and Sskeer have struggled it would not have felt right. The two main characters feel like they have grown, while Lula has yet to find her balance in the force she now feels confident that like the galaxy, she will. Ram feels more connected to the galaxy as a whole and that he has his part to play, learning that anyone, no matter how unlikely, can be a hero.

The strength of Race to Crashpoint Tower was also something of a weakness, although we’re thrust right into a time and place we’ve just experienced in The Rising Storm, it does mean that it feels less essential. But this was a really fun read, that ends with a lot more hope and I’m looking forward to seeing Ram Jomaram turn up in the High Republic Adventures comics in the future.

🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑/5

Jonny O

The Rising Storm Review HR Adventures 5 Review A Test of Courage Review