Charles Soule

The first adult novel in a new, unexplored era of Star Wars history. This is set during the High Republic period, two centuries before A New Hope. The Republic and the Jedi Order are at their prime. It's a time of peace for the galaxy, but even in a general situation of peace, there is a lot of room for conflict, tragedy, formidable enemies and adventure.

And this novel is... quite good. Better than I was expecting. I like how it shows a positive, optimistic version of the Jedi order and the Old Republic. It tries to tell a different kind of Star Wars story, which I appreciate and enjoyed.

The enemies are not force users, which means that you shouldn't expect lightsaber duels. That's a pity, but a new kind of story will have to find new hooks. I thought that all in all Soule did a good job selling the Nihil as a credible threat.

I like that it's (mostly) about the Jedi. For me, they are one of my favorite parts of Star Wars, what distinguishes the franchise from other space fantasy adventures.

The novel is coral, jumping frequently from character to character. That allows the author to tell a grand story. It feels like Star Wars, big. However, we don't really get enough time with any character to really love them. There were certain characters that I liked, but at some point I would like to spend more time with them, without the constant jumping around. Soule has this style which makes this kind of story work better, because he takes a bit of time to humanize each character even if we spend little time with them, so we do care what happens.

Even though the image of the galaxy is positive and optimistic... the story is also dark. Many, many deaths and suffering, and probably more to come.

I had a good time reading this, and I'm going to follow the High Republic. I would give this five stars, except that there were some details that occasionally pulled me out of the story. Like the author's lack of understanding about how grid processing works... that part was a little cringeworthy because of how ignorant the portrayal was. Same about some details about movement and battles in space. Well... this is Star Wars, not Physics 101, but sometimes I found it a bit distracting.

Overall, a really solid effort. I had a good time and I want more.… (meer)

Assez impressionnant dans son développement. La Guerre mondiale, on n’y croyait pas trop, mais ça y est et son déroulement ressemble, sur une plus grande échelle, à ce qu’on voit en Ukraine. Les frappes sont choisies avec soin, les cibles sont plus symboliques que stratégiques et la force de dissuasion pèse toujours sur les décisions. En outre, ça se précipite du côté du Clarke, les révélations et coups de théâtre pleuvent comme dans Abyss. L’action est distillée mais certaines cases sont explosives et le talent d’Albuquerque s’y révèle. Le happening final est impressionnant.… (meer)