Star Wars: The High Republic: The Fallen Star
The tragic events of the Republic Fair have galvanized the galaxy. The Jedi and the Republic have gone on the offensive to stop the marauding NIHIL. With these vicious raiders all but defeated, Jedi Master AVAR KRISS has her sights set on LOURNA DEE, the supposed Eye of the Nihil, and has undertaken a mission to capture her once and for all.
But unbeknownst to the Jedi, the true leader of the Nihil, the insidious MARCHION RO, is about to launch an attack on the Jedi and the Republic, on a scale not seen in centuries. If he succeeds, the Nihil will be triumphant, and the light of the Jedi will go dark.
Only the brave Jedi Knights of STARLIGHT BEACON stand in his way, but even they may not be enough against Ro and the ancient enemy that’s about to be unleashed….
Writer: Claudia Gray
Cover artist: Yihyoung Li
Publication date: January 4th, 2022
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9780593355398
There’s a scope of ambition in the storytelling and orchestration of The High Republic as a project that absolutely deserves a nod of appreciation. From young readers through comics, mid range and adult novels, the story expands, overlapping as characters hop from one title to another, all pulling threads of plot that will weave to a conclusion who-knows how many years from now. While those threads continue to move, high points like The Fallen Star and the audiobook that accompanies it raise their heads, and in the secure hands of writer Claudia Gray and the ever-enthusiastic larynx of narrator Marc Thompson we’re taken on a journey that both informs and unnerves as the threat of the Nihil continues to grow…until they commit the most heinous acts of the conflict so far.
The Rising Storm ended with the horrific death of Loden Greatstorm, and The Fallen Star opens with the ramifications of that terrible act hanging over the Jedi. Indeed, there’s an air of sombre reflection looming over most of the book as the Jedi come to terms with the realisation that their invulnerability has been breached. Mostly set on the shining example of Starlight Beacon – this era’s ‘Hope Star’ sitting in stark contrast to the Imperial era’s Death Star – confines the story further, ratcheting up the claustraphobic feeling as the metaphorical walls close in on the Jedi and the Republic.
We kick off with the relatively mundane, the construction of a water refinement facility on the world of Eiram. Onboard Starlight Beacon we find Master Stellan Gios in the role of temporary marshall in the absense of Avar Kriss, hunting for Lourna Dee as she is. He is soon joined by Padawans Bell Zettifar and Burryaga and their masters, Nib Assek and Indeera Stokes who have captured the suspected Nihil agents Nan and Chancey Yarrow. Their presense aboard becomes part of a wider Nihil plot engineered by Marchion Ro, more merciless, driven and bloodthirsty than ever. The Nihil attack weaker, undefended worlds, sending refugees into the arms of the Republic and Starlight Beacon, sowing confusion and panic and giving the Nihil the opportunity to seed their instruments of terror.
Damaging key systems aboard Starlight Beacon, the station is compromised when the Nihil push the button, sending the station tumbling from orbit and heading for the world of Eiram below. Factor in the presense of the leveller, the deaths of a number of Jedi in ways similar to that of Greatstorm and the consequent shutting of from the Force that ensues, leaving the Jedi scrabbling for solutions to the situation and you have all the ingredients for a compelling tale. Bell continues to wade in the shores of his regret over Greatstorms death while forging new relationships – his partnership with Burryaga is enjoyable to watch, curtailed as it is when rathtars are set loose on the station during an attempted evacuation – while Elzar Mann and Stellan Gios both battle their own crisis of confidence as the enormity of the situation threatens to overwhelm them. Here we have a Jedi who has skirted with the dark side and is dealing with the aftereffects of that, and another who has been thrust into the role of leadership as the most vaunted Jedi of his generation but who doesn’t truly believe he deserves that level of respect or recognition. While Masters lie dead or incapacitated, starships wait trapped in docking bays, the station literally splits in two and chaos ensues all around, Marchion Ro watches silently from the Gaze Electric, Republic Senator Ghirra Starros now well and truly in his pocket, horrified as she is by the unfolding events.
As Starlight Beacon smashes into the ocean of Eiram at such a heavy cost to the Republics reputation – despite the outrage of Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh, the optics really do matter – and the Jedi count their many losses the book ends with more questions than answers, as a book that is a piece of a larger jigsaw should. Claudia Gray always delivers compelling stories, and this one, packed with characters, twists, reveals and promises, does just that. What can the Republic and the Jedi do to ease galactic concerns regarding the Nihil and do they have the resolve to tackle the Leveller head on? All questions that will surely be answred, but as far as the events of The Fallen Star goes, this is another twist of the knife in the heart of an era that is rapidly accelerating towards the precipise.
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