The High Republic started off on an amazing note with The Light of the Jedi (review posted HERE), so I was desperately looking forward to reading this next installment despite my normal avoidance for some young adult novels, as the YA fiction books I’ve been forced to read have always been bloated with thinly developed romance plots.
Into the Dark, by Claudia Gray, may have made me fall in love more with the High Republic than the first novel did, which I did not expect at all!
Without further ado, let’s get right into the review…
Into the Dark revolves around a small cast of characters, mainly Jedi, who become stranded on a mysterious outpost in space. This outpost has a clear history with smugglers and ancient groups, and is left overgrown with a multitude of mysterious plants. As the history of the station is slowly revealed, the Jedi and their associates begin to realize they are in great danger; danger that could quickly doom the entire galaxy.
While we do get to see a few familiar faces in this story, the majority of the cast is all brand new to us. We are introduced to Reath Silas, a padawan who (SPOILERS FOR LIGHT OF THE JEDI) is left without his master, and desperate to find meaning in his role as a Jedi. We also Jedi Cohmac Vitus, a more experienced Jedi who has a fondness for history; Orla Jareni, a Jedi wayseeker who has abandoned the traditional path of the Jedi; Dez Rydan, a Jedi Knight whose thirst for adventure is often his downfall. Finally, we also get to meet the crew of the Vessel, a ship working for the Byne Guild. It is in this crew we get to meet what might be one of the weirdest and best characters in Star Wars: Geode, a seemingly unmoving slab of rock who is silent yet understood by his crew.
Claudia Gray is one of the masters of Star Wars writing and storytelling, and she keeps that track record going in this novel. She gives each character their own journey, but makes them connect in a way that provides the reader with such a memorable overarching story.
The novel itself is divided into two main parts: The initial journey to the abandoned Amaxine station and then their return to it. Both parts work amazingly well to craft a complete story, and help show the dangers involved.
I do not think there is a single main character in this novel that I am not excited to see again. Reath is a talented, yet struggling, padawan who is written with such passion but who is also willing to give up those passions for the greater good. He is highly symbolic of the High Republic phrase “We are the Republic”. I recently picked up the next YA novel, Out of the Shadows by Justine Ireland, so I am excited to see more of him!
His fellow Jedi (Orla, Cohmac, and Dez) are also shown to have a lot of past experiences which shape who they are and the troubles they face in the present. I’m equally excited to see how their stories develop in future stories
This novel also introduces us to the threat of the Drengir, a species of carnivorous plants who are spread throughout the galaxy and desire little more than devouring all life forms in their path. It is nice to get a group of antagonists beyond the traditional Nihil and Sith (though I hope we get to see more of both groups), and their threat level seems to be nothing to joke about. I’ve read most of the related comic series about them, and am loving the Drengir story so far!
There were no real slow moments in this story, and everything seemed to be in its proper place, which made this book amazingly satisfying to go through.
There were also a lot tidbits of lore mixed in, which I can never get enough of! We see mentions of the ancient warrior Amaxines, the role of Wayseekers in the jedi system, mentions of Sith versus Drengir, and a lot of other interesting teases I hope we get more info on!
Final Score: 9/10
To conclude, Into the Dark is an amazing tale that expands upon the world introduced in Light of the Jedi, while also keeping the story small scale in order to get an intimate and familiar understanding of the main cast of characters. Claudia Gray successfully writes all these characters in a way that makes me hungry for more of them. I was super excited to hear she’s writing the main HR novel in Wave 3, so Ill be sure to read that as soon as it’s out next year!
As always, don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts on this book, either on here, Instagram, or email (info @theliterategryphon.com).