Convergence Review (MILD SPOILERS)

Phase II of the High Republic is here and with it comes hype, expectations, a new time period and new authors. I do have worries about this new phase, not the new authors but leaving behind the characters and time period we are used to, and the fact it feels like it’s been a while since Phase I finished, would I still be into the project as much?

My other worry was because of the delayed UK release of Path of Deceit and Convergence being my first review copy from Del Rey, I received both books on the same day so I decided to read Convergence first in order to get this review out promptly. How would that effect my reading experience?

Phase II is set 150 years BEFORE the events of Phase I, and the story is set on the twin planets, E’ronoh and Eiram who have been at war for decades and focuses on a ceasefire hanging by a thread on the the proposed marriage of Xiri and Phan-tu the children of the respective ruling families. The Jedi, Republic officials, Xiri and Phan-tu must win over the people whilst contending with forces wishing to destroy the fragile peace before they can be married.

I really enjoyed this time period and how it is differentiated from Phase I, the Republic is still expanding and travel and communication between the core and the Outer Rim is difficult, which means there are two Chancellors, Kyong Greylark on Coruscant and Orlen Mollo who travels the Outer Rim. I am also enjoying the importance given to Jedha in this era, it is referred to a number of times as the spiritual centre of the galaxy with multiple faiths revering it, this is shown in the High Republic comic and will feature in George Mann’s forthcoming audio drama The Battle of Jedha.

My favorite character is undoubtedly Gella Nattai a young Jedi Knight trying to find her purpose in the Order and the galaxy, she is assigned to protect the young couple as they tour their planets to spread word of the ceasefire. The characters of Princess Xiri A’lbaran, a captain in E’ronoh’s navy and adoptive Prince Phan-tu Zenn and their growing relationship are fantastic and Zoraida Cordova does an excellent job of illustrating that. As they go from entering the betrothal out of a sense of duty and desire to end the war to trusting and respecting one another and finally developing genuine feelings. This strength should come as no surprise as Cordova comes from a romance background, and to be honest I would have liked even more of this aspect of the story.

For me the best part of the book was the peace summit on board Chancellor Mollo’s ship, The Paxion, there is great tension bringing together the families and advisors for the warring planets in one confined space. 

But we need to talk about Axel Greylark, amongst the review community I have seen a lot of love for his character and I’m sad to say I just can’t see it. Axel is the son of the Chancellor Greylark and an entitled party boy who doesn’t seem to care for anyone, hates the Jedi as he blames them for his father’s death and is sent by his mother to be her representative at the summit despite his many scandals. Through the book he is humanized, and actually begins to care for Gella, only for his actions late in the book, that I don’t wish to spoil, make me wonder how anyone could like him and just what his arc is as he doesn’t really seem to change in a meaningful way.

Zoraida Cordova has written in the Star Wars universe before, a YA novel Crash of Fate, and to me this book feels more like a YA novel than an adult story. I have no problems with Young Adult novels, they are some of my favorite Star Wars books but when it is meant to be an adult novel it is a bit of an issue. I had problems with the pacing of some of the book, and didn’t really feel gripped until the peace summit or indeed for large parts after it.

I did also  feel like I was missing something having not read Path of Deceit yet, especially more information about the Path of the Open Hand, they were mostly in the background of this story and their motivations were unclear, and made me feel like I could not see the importance of these events in the overall story of the High Republic. I will be interested to see if my feelings for this book change once I have read Path of Deceit.

To end on a positive, I really enjoyed the ending of the book, there is hope for the future of the twin planets with Xiri and Phan-tu, a miserable end for Axel, and Gella declaring that she wishes to become a Wayseeker, I really hope we see more of her in the rest of this phase.

🌕🌕🌕🌘🌑/5

Jonny O