Light of the Jedi

A decent enough, well-written foray into the High Republic era of Star Wars. This book is the original prequel. Soule is a solid writer, and I had no issues with his prose.

I wanted to like it more than I did. I had really high hopes for the launch of the SW book series given how Disney approached it by getting writers together and building the stories out with a concerted effort, much like Kevin Feige did to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

However...what I got was an exciting, over-the-top space search-and-rescue with a whole bunch of Jedi when the Jedi were the prized peacekeepers of the Republic. There were a whole bunch of names and races thrown at me in the first few chapters, and by mid-book I realized I didn't really have a whole lot of care for any of them. The book failed to grab me the way I wanted it to. I wanted a new Luke Skywalker or Han Solo to care about. I wanted a new Din Djarin to follow. Instead, we get a whole bunch of names and non-faces that just ran in and out of my head like songs on the muzak at the grocery store.

Another big fault was going all the way back to the High Republic era. We know how the Republic falls. We know how the Jedi order gets scattered. Ultimately, to me, their stories are largely pointless because of that.

Move the franchise forward. Stop mining stories in the past, Disney.

My reaction when I saw this book came out, when I got it, when I realized there's a ton of new characters introduced, and when I read the epilogue:


So....yeah, I'm stoked. STOKED, I tell you. I love Star Wars, I'm one of those hardcore fans, and Soule added to a beloved cult franchise rather than obscuring it (which is an anxiety of mine whenever I see something released that follows a popular series).

A decent start to the new era of Star Wars storytelling and a refreshing look at the galaxy without the weight of the Skywalker story. A disaster tale told well with a good insight into the Jedi at their prime along with a more in-depth look at the Force. Throw in a savage new band of baddies and you have a good Star Wars read. The pacing is a tad slow at times but otherwise, Charles Soule delivers. Looking forward to the next novel in the High Republic era.

Whilst any attempt to kick-start a brand new series and entire era like this is always going to be a challenge, especially when compared to the likes of Vector Prime or Heir to the Empire, Soule does a brilliant job and even if it doesn't rank as a favourite of mine, it's a great read.

For this day, the light had prevailed. It was over...

Chapter 18

It was not over.

A brilliant start to the high republic era! A bold choice to being it all with such a long disaster setpiece but it pays off completely. Characters that we'll know throughout the series are introduced and their dynamics shown through frantic action which is really fun.

We get a look at individual Jedi and see how the see and feel the force around them which I found an interesting way to look at things, such as Avar seeing the force in music or Elzar seeing it as the waves of the ocean. Very cool!

Standout pair has to be Bell and Loden though, with their great chemistry and back and forth banter. Loden pushing his padawan as far as he can because he trusts Bell and believes in his potential (even if sometimes a bit extreme in his teaching)

Then there's the Nihil. Sometimes Star Wars has the issue of villians feeling a bit samey and in that aspect, the Nihil are such a nice breath of fresh air. The way the group are structured in chaos gives them instant appeal and their leaders are all different enough that you can sense the scale of their threat. Marchion's meek yet commanding presence is so good throughout. Love him the most.

I DNF'd this book about 80% in. Maybe Star Wars books aren't for me after all. I'll just stick to the movies for now :)

The audiobook was FANTASTIC. Highly recommend listening if you enjoy audiobooks.

I generally like reading Star Wars books every now and then because the world is so iconic and vast that there's room to explore a lot of different facets of it without having to spend a ton of time on setting up the world. I was excited to try out a story set in an earlier era of Star Wars that was free of the weight of the Empire and all the characters from the movies.

This book was... fine? I mostly just found it a bit bland I think. There are a ton of characters and things going on, so I never really got attached to anything or anyone. A lot of it feels like suuuper stock-standard action too, early on several chapters end with a character being cut off mid-line by an explosion. There's some good stuff in here too though, I liked following a character that was uncertain of himself learning to become a Jedi and the hero that people expect him to be (which is also pretty standard, but works here mostly).

I would probably give this a completely neutral 2.5/5, but since I don't think I would actually recommend it to people I'll round it down to a 2. There are much better Star Wars books out there.

On the whole I enjoyed this but as others have said, it suffers from too much happening - and nothing happening - and far too many characters who I can't name, can't remember, and don't care enough about that when (spoilers) one of them dies, it really doesn't matter to me.
The opening chapters are quite exciting, but then the pace drops significantly. It picks up at the end with a space battle but again, characters are named, then killed or promoted or saved and I don't know who's who.
This is the fate of a novel that's supposed to start a series but it needn't be like that - I remember when the original Thrawn trilogy came out. One ‘bad guy' there versus several here.
So, not badly written, just badly conceived.

This is a great beginning for a new chapter of Star Wars. The High Republic feels like we're finally seeing the payoff of the Jedi Order that Obi-Wan described in the first Star Wars movie - a legendary order dedicated to spreading peace and justice throughout the galaxy.

The way that Soule presents the Jedi are fascinating, and I was drawn into them immediately. They're an engaging and interesting ensemble, and I'm looking forward to him and the other High Republic authors exploring these characters further.

This was always going to be a tricky balancing act for a book - a beloved series resetting for a new era. Mostly Light of the Jedi succeeds in this. The Star Wars IP is one that is viciously fought over on what is canon and what is not. With the Disney reset most of the expanded universe went with it. Light of the Jedi is the first book from the ‘High Republic' era. This seems to be pre Old Republic in age, but the continuity is a little confusing when an IP has expanded this much. We have familiar worlds such as Coruscant featuring prominently in the politicking placing it firmly within the Star Wars universe. The major change is in the vast list of new characters. This is both a blessing and a curse in that it has left the author with a blank sheet, but also as this is the first book in this new era has meant a bit of an overload in names and themes. Only one familiar name (Yoda) is referenced in the book.

It is definitely important for Disney to move the franchise away from the George Lucas era so I can see this as an important step. The problem here is that so many characters have been introduced that it is hard for many of them to be particularly memorable. The base theme of an expanding republic coming into conflict with warlords and bandits works and it will be interesting to see how this era develops, but this book suffers a bit from being the first in this era. It is a setup for the future and on that level it works very well. As a standalone book, less well.

Light of the Jedi is essentially a setup for this new era of Star Wars, The High Republic. As such it basically an impossible job.

I think my biggest criticism would be the number of characters introduced in the first part of this book. It seemed to jump to a new set of characters every chapter that when we went back to someone we already knew, I couldn't remember anything about them.

I think I would have preferred to only have one or two, maybe three, characters from the Republic (Loden Greatstorm, Lina Soh, and Avar Kriss maybe) and then the stuff with the Nihil.

I really enjoyed learning about the Nihil and I think those parts of the book are what carried me through to the end. The characters there were much more interesting and layered compared the the Republic characters.

Overall, I think it was a good first book to set up this new era and I hope the next books can be more focused on specific heroes and Jedi in the Republic.

Charles Soule has the enviable (or perhaps unenviable) task of breaking in The High Republic, a new era of Star Wars storytelling. He does so in an admirable way with Light of the Jedi. A time of peace and prosperity in the galaxy far, far away quickly comes to a violent end and this book racks up an insanely high body count.

The story itself is a bit sprawling and unfocused, but there are some intriguing new characters, plenty of Jedi action, and a batch of ferocious antagonists never before seen in the Star Wars universe (think the War Boys of Mad Max). I'll happily seek out more stories in this universe, but I'd say this was a solid but somewhat unspectacular welcome to the new era.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Light of the Jedi is an enjoyable Star Wars book. With its plentiful Jedi and optimism, the look into the High Republic era is an interesting setting. There are very many characters, perhaps so many as to make them a little hard to keep track of or care about. That said, some recur enough to build a relationship - such as the Padawan Jedi Bell and his Master Greatstorm, or Avar Kriss.

A few of the decisions made in the book are a little questionable to me. Especially in later chapters, the timing is hard to understand. The book's chapters rotate between characters. That gives the impression that events depicted are happening concurrently (and to add to this, it is often that transitions move to another character in the same setting, perhaps on an opposing side). A situation unfolds on a relatively remote planet, for example, which is ongoing for many chapters. While that rather fast-paced thing is happening, it seems that other characters are crossing huge distances, doing big tasks, etc. I don't want to give away any of what happens, but it seemed like bizarre timing, which somewhat took me out of the story.

Further, the writing at times is repetitive. To emphasize some things or thoughts of characters, the author repeatedly repeats lines or writes lines with similar ideas. This is a little tiresome, especially at the start of the book. About 1/3rd of the way through, this became so tiring I stopped to consider if this was written for a younger audience that might need things restated so frequently.

Towards the end, this line shows up: “I wouldn't call it a plan. It's more like five impossible things in a row.” And I wonder - would the Jedi Master that said this actually say it? While the padawan references the Master being demanding of “impossible tasks” - that's a padawan. Throughout Star Wars, it's made clear that all things are possible through the force, so that a Master (or even a Jedi Knight) is approaching things this way is a little strange. Just a small trifle.

In the end, the book is worth a read, but be prepared to set some small irritants aside.

My first ever Star Wars book. I audiobooked it. It may have been me, but I found it difficult to focus on. Maybe I should read it on paper?

All over the place. So many characters that none were memorable.

Loved that it was the start of a new chapter in Star Wars. Great story building and found the Jedi to be overpowered and I like that. I want to learn more about these characters.

Instantly one of my fav Star Wars books yet. Incredibly excited to see where this story takes us!

10/10, best Star Wars book I've read thus far. Charles Soule, the Dave Filoni of Star Wars publication, ushers in a new era flawlessly. Several new lovable characters get their moment, and I'm now stuck clamoring for more. Soule paints such a vivid picture of the unity found in the height of the Republic. “We are all the Republic,” as said by multiple characters. Seeing not only the Jedi at their finest and most unified, but also the central governing body of the galaxy was a sight to behold.

The High Republic was what the Star Wars canon needed. A time in the world of which we didn't know anything yet. Nothing is tied to the Skywalkers or the Death Star and we have no idea what's going to happen to any of these characters.

For a really great and surprising story in the Skywalker time, you pretty much had to get people invested in more smaller scale stakes, such as for characters or dynamics that weren't as fleshed out in the movies, while a lot of authors work better with larger stakes and getting more freedom with the world itself. Claudia Gray really excelled at a lot of the character stuff, but she was one of few.

In Light of the Jedi, the author(s) could go crazy with worldbuilding! Coruscant isn't the same Coruscant we've come to know. The state of the galaxy is different, and we have different enemies to deal with.

Gotta say, it was really enjoyable getting to see these Jedi in their prime. There was a lot of uses for the Force that were new, as well as how some of the Jedi saw the Force and how they interacted with it.

As this is an introduction novel, it serves very much as the starting point of the entire era, and is very plot focused. I've seen the event that happens here referenced in other High Republic novel summaries, so it's safe to assume that this should be your very first read if you wanted to get into this era.

It also had to introduce a lot of new characters and set things in motion, so there was not a lot of time for said characters to really shine individually. There are some cool moments, but I do really want separate novels for some of them. Especially Avar Kriss and Elzarr Mann. Ooooh, that dynamic! I absolutely love it.

I did not really care for the antagonist though. Or at least not the organization or the way they worked and operated. That got way more interesting at the end so I'm not actively hoping against them showing up again!

This is a really promising start and I'm looking forward to more!