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STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC by Claudia Gray

STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC

Into the Dark

by Claudia Gray

Pub Date: Feb. 2nd, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-368-05728-8
Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm

When sudden disaster shuts down hyperspace travel across the galaxy, four Jedi and the crew of a shipping vessel find themselves stranded on an ancient space station haunted by the dark side.

Unlike many Jedi who long for danger, Reath, a 17-year-old human Padawan, thrives in the Archives. However, when an unexpected assignment calls him to the frontier, he has no choice but to follow orders. This unwanted adventure takes a treacherous turn when Reath and his traveling companions make an emergency exit from hyperspace to a remote sector of the galaxy with intense solar flares and an abandoned space station. To make matters worse, the survivors from other ships who are also seeking refuge have little interest in cooperation, and an insidious dark-side presence looms aboard the station. Within each chapter, third-person perspectives shift among multiple characters, including interludes with flashbacks. The plot (set in an era before The Phantom Menace) maintains a fast pace with exciting twists, but jargon litters the worldbuilding without much clarifying physical description or explanation, requiring in-depth Star Wars knowledge from readers. Primary human characters are assumed White or have tan or golden skin. Queer representation appears in the background with a same-gender couple and an asexual character.

A suspenseful adventure but a hollow expansion of the Star Wars universe.

(Science fiction. 13-18)