Star Wars: Light of the Jedi

The High Republic

By: Charles Soule

Narrated by: Marc Thompson

Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

Number-One New York Times Best Seller

Long before the First Order, before the Empire, before even The Phantom Menace ...Jedi lit the way for the galaxy in The High Republic

It is a golden age. Intrepid hyperspace scouts expand the reach of the Republic to the furthest stars, worlds flourish under the benevolent leadership of the Senate, and peace reigns, enforced by the wisdom and strength of the renowned order of Force users known as the Jedi. With the Jedi at the height of their power, the free citizens of the galaxy are confident in their ability to weather any storm But the even brightest light can cast a shadow, and some storms defy any preparation.

When a shocking catastrophe in hyperspace tears a ship to pieces, the flurry of shrapnel emerging from the disaster threatens an entire system. No sooner does the call for help go out than the Jedi race to the scene. The scope of the emergence, however, is enough to push even Jedi to their limit. As the sky breaks open and destruction rains down upon the peaceful alliance they helped to build, the Jedi must trust in the Force to see them through a day in which a single mistake could cost billions of lives.

Even as the Jedi battle valiantly against calamity, something truly deadly grows beyond the boundary of the Republic. The hyperspace disaster is far more sinister than the Jedi could ever suspect. A threat hides in the darkness, far from the light of the age, and harbors a secret that could strike fear into even a Jedi’s heart.

©2020 Charles Soule (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Sharply written and intensely enjoyable." (/Film)

"The action is breathtaking, and the power on display is remarkable. Soule fulfils his promise to redefine the Force." (Screen Rant)

Slow and Boring

First the narration for this book is bad so that for sure didn't help but I am writing this review understand that it is a set up book which tends to be more slow and boring. With that said though this is incredibly boring. I don't think this author was really a fan of Star Wars or know the smaller details of this era because there is a ton of interesting stuff to play with even if you want new characters, settings, and locations but it feels as though this author only know about the tip of the iceberg. I also found some of the new characters annoying but that's preference so ill let that go.

I do have hopes for this series because it wasn't terrible but it wasn't a strong start.

Felt like a mess

My biggest gripe with this book is the pacing - it's slow and plodding, and when it finally gets to the point where things are happening - in one strand of the story there is a chase that should occur over a span of, say, an hour at most, while in another strand of the story there are activities that would be taking place over days, if not weeks - imagine having a board meeting to decide if your going to intervene in a high speed car chase, with the travel time to and from the meeting.. There is phrase often repeated in the book - to the point it's beyond annoying. "We are All the Republic". It feels like someone at Lucas Film saw how much fans were repeating "This is the way" after the Mando came out and said "Hey we need to have a catch phrase!" to the writer, and the writer responded with "I'll show them" and jammed the catch phrase in every chance he got. What it ended up feeling like, is like The Republic engaging in some social engineering. You know.. just think back in history about regimes that had catch phrases that maybe started off innocent enough and ended up being more like a loyalty test that could end up getting you put up against a wall if you didn't use it. Maybe that's what they are going for - if so - kudos. I really doubt thats what they were going for though, as one of the other major flaws in the book is just the repeated heavy handed saccharine attempts to beat into your head how glorious THIS Republic is, how Amazing and Awe Inspiring THIS version of the Jedi order is.

It also felt at one point during one of the historical expositions by the writer that the Star Wars Galaxy's history is being seriously condensed (Time Line wise) over what we had with legends, in the sense that the there may not be much more in the way of historical eras to play around in in future Star Wars works. I may be wrong on that, I didn't enjoy the book enough to go back and revisit that part to see if maybe I misinterpreted it.

Then there is the over the top vocal performance - some of it's pretty good - would swear I heard a dead on George Takai imitation in there at one point, but some of it's really bad - like highly emotional inflection from a Jedi Master. I feel like I have heard Marc Thompson do a lot better in other works.

If this is the 'best foot forward' for this new period in Star Wars, then I have zero interest right now in seeing what the second step is. This for me - is not the way.

The Force is NOT strong with this one

I was so excited for this new series, but after 14 chapters, I'm not invested in the story or characters at all. I feel like that has to do a lot with how many characters they're trying to introduce and how the story keeps bouncing from group to group. It really hurts to leave a bad review on this when I was so excited for it, maybe I just had my hopes too high.

Snail pace story

This book is going sooo slow... that I lost interest after 6 hours... nothing really interested happening..

Its an era the Jedi is in control of the republic.. so the point of the book is too create a new deadly enemy that the Jedi can fight.
I guess its a building block for future 'The High Replublic' era books

Marc Thompson is great but overall its was a wast of me time and money... there are alot of better SW books out there. I wont be lisenting too this one again.

Feel as if the author didn’t know much about star

I was really excited about this book just to be let down. The plot builds up to a very underwhelming ending

Rambling ADD Monologue

I have no idea what’s going on, this book is all over the place full of rambling ADD ridden monologues. As soon as you have any sense of what might be going on the book goes somewhere else, starting another over descriptive arc. Right in the middle of story progression an inner monologue meant to help you identify with a character starts and drags on and contradicts itself to the point you have no idea what’s going on then back to the story and you are lost again. Absolutely confusing, hard to follow and feel drawn in.

Very slow and does not grasp the source material

I had high hopes for this series going forward but fell flat as soon as it began. The characters are all one note perfect beings with no real struggles or flaws to truly humanize them. The author shows a lack of understanding of the jedi order from the first scene with a jedi where the master uses the force to tie up her hair. Overall a berry slow and boring story with next to no real conflict or struggle and zero character growth. I wish I had more good to say but the only thing was the production value was good.

great voices and narration. that's it

It seems every cosmic apocalypse can be saved by a few jedi tricks. I just dont think I cant actually finish this one to it's end.

Trash... Just plain weak...

If this hadn't of been Star Wars it would have been ripped a lot harder. Weak story. Bad guys are one note. Character development is beyond minimal. No world building. This is 1000 years before Star Wars. Technology should have been much different. Soule is hit or miss when it comes to comics. With this its a huge miss. I'm so disappointed. I quit with 4 hours left. I couldn't take it anymore.

Marc Thompson was annoying this time. Too cartoony with his voices. Once you put a Trump voice in - it's just ruined.

A breath of fresh air for Star Wars

If your expecting Skywalker style SW this isn’t it, but this book is a breath of fresh air for the SWU. It’s an introduction to the overall story but even so, you can see that the overall story will be good. In highly recommend going into this book with an open mind and enjoy. And the antagonist, this guy is the type of bad guy you like.