The Rising Storm

What a fucking step up.

Stellan Gios and Elzar Mann take the reigns as the main characters from Avar Kriss and many of the others in ‘Light of the Jedi' and make a much more lasting impression.

More complex, relatable, and interesting, the charterers of this book are far more engaging and well developed, and you truly get engrossed in them all eventually.

Cavan Scott has a really great style that flows really well. It is easy and fun to read, and his character writing and action are superbly well done.

The bulk of the book is an enormous battle that is repeatedly exciting and traumatic. It is extremely engaging while also being very tragic, and it hits so hard so early in the series, which is wonderful.

The ending may be a shock to some, but didn't hit me as hard considering a lot of the old EU books pull much harder punches and tragedies, but I was still impacted by the ending even if it wasn't so much of a shock.

The Nihil are all-time brilliant villains now, with Pan Eyta, Lourna Dee, and especially Marchion Ro as truly exceptional characters and villains.

As a whole, the book is wonderful and is an amazing early entry into an already great multimedia publishing initiative. I cannot wait for more from Cavan Scott, and I'm desperate for more now with the setup of the new creature unleashed at the end of the book, and to journey further with my new favourite characters, Stellan Gios and Elzar Mann.

The face collapsed in on itself, the entire husk crumbling to dust before his eye, and for the first time since he was a child, Stellan Gios was afraid...

The best thing about the Rising Storm is that the battle of the fair (which makes up like half of the book) really succeeds in creating a great sense of claustrophobia through the use of the Nihil war cloud. It makes every chapter therein feel like a desparate struggle only to be given one of the most satisfying moments to read so far, where Stellan finally gets into contact with multiple Jedi, all calling in one by one and proving that the strength of the Jedi truly is their unity.

But then when you think you're finally out of the death surrounding the book, the High Republic team really through a curveball and have the nerve to end the second book with the very same heartbreak as the first but now even worse. How dare they!

This was written and structured better than the first book. Still highly recommend

This was a very good book, although it got a bit extreme for Star Wars at some points. Which was fine. I think they did a really good job with the build up and the ending was wonderfully done. I can't wait to continue reading The High Republic. - July 21, 2023

What a fun story. I'm enamored with every single new Jedi that gets introduced and I can't wait to see how things unfold in the next part of phase 1!

Now is such a great time to jump into becoming a star wars lore nerd. I am having so much fun


Burryaga is the best part of the entire High Republic era, you can't convince me otherwise.

Less confusing than the first book but there are still too many characters and, confusingly, they're referred to by their forename and surname at different times, meaning you have to remember who's who. Additionally the author sometimes refers to a character by their race, meaning you have to remember who's an ithorian, who's a Sullustan etc. if the author needed notes to keep track of who was who and what, so does the reader.
An editor needed to step in here.
All that said, the main sequence was compelling and unlike another reviewer, I found the switching between scenes to be cinematic and compelling.
But bring a notebook- you'll need it.