Star Wars: The High Republic - The Light Of The Jedi Review

As a fan of Soule’s work on the Darth Vader comics along with Daredevil, I was excited to read his fresh take on what was essentially a fresh page for the Star Wars universe.

Worry set in my mind of course as I don’t believe Disney are handling the franchise with the care it deserves, rather just a cash cow instead of treating it with the respect it deserves. Having them start up a series set in the past rubbed me in a weird way as this felt like the first step for them truly and officially decanonizing a number of Legends stories for good.

Thankfully, if you’re a fan of the Legends canon, this doesn’t touch upon much of that. In fact this barely touches upon its time period whatsoever.

This novel’s greatest tragedy is how little planets and systems we know differ from what they’ll become.

This isn’t The Old Republic set 3,000 years back but still 200 years is enough in my eyes for landscapes and settings to change and governments to have different ideals.

Instead the few familiar planets we do explore seem a bit too familiar.

This novel could’ve been set 100 years prior to the Prequels and little would change, if anything it might’ve made a little more sense. I do however know this is intended to start a series of books among other things so 200 years probably gave the writers enough room to fit whatever they wanted into that slot.

In terms of story, this is a standalone novel in many ways but it’s heart is many set on starting a franchise of its own. This isn’t a small book bear in mind, so reaching the end and realising that the neat bow on the narrative you might’ve wanted isn’t there might be a bit of sting. With that being said it does manage to set things up in a way that has me intrigued with what’s to come. I don’t believe it does it well enough for a series set in the Star Wars universe though. If you’ve ever read the end of a book keen on setting up a franchise then you’ll know what to expect from the closing pages here.

My praise from this book comes from the characters and their own stories. What’s clear to see in this book is Soule’s attempt to write a story in a tale Disney have printed out for him. Soule’s story is a dark one, possibly the darkest the Disney canon has gone. It’s amazing. Disney’s story on the other hand is slow and paced in such a way that makes you wonder what if this book was just that. If it wasn’t for Soule’s interpretation and development of this cast we’d have half a mystery novel that spends more time asking questions than giving answers so you have to read the middle grade and young adult books to get the full picture.

Thankfully you can tell that the bulk of the control was given to Soule and as such we have a really great series of character stories that excel most work done in the post Disney Star Wars franchise so far.

I am curious as to where this could go and hope that entries further down the line at the least have characters as compelling as the ones in this novel.

8/10