Spring of the High Republic: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule

Talk about a banger of an opening!

Light of the Jedi is what I call GOOD STAR WARS. After hearing people praise the first entry to the High Republic books, I was anxious to understand what about it riled up folks so much. I get it now. 

There was a time when Star Wars novels took liberties and felt as though they had a bit more creative freedom. Don’t get me wrong, the newer books set in the Disney-canon are great but they mostly adhere to characters and events the audience is familiar with. Back in the “Legends” days, it was the wild west of Star Wars with inventive storylines and sifting through Jedi/Sith history. The Old Republic books and lore will always be my favorite for these reasons - it went to a time before the Skywalkers and the Empire, freeing itself narratively. With that said, plenty of the Legends books deal with the Skywalkers and familiar events but they didn’t feel so guided or manipulated. I love the new Star Wars books but Legends books will always be special to me. 

Reading Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule reignited the sense of Star Wars-wonder in me. Set 200 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, we are thrown into the peak ruling of the Jedi throughout the Galaxy. Their latest creation, the Starlight Beacon is about to go live. The Beacon is a Jedi space station that would serve as a base of operations in the Outer Rim for the Republic. Things are looking great for the Jedi controlled galaxy until a series of fragments begin to erupt from hyperspace and barrel towards planets and space stations. 

The first chunk of the book is watching the Jedi and Republic scramble to deal with these “emergences” that are wreaking havoc in the Outer Rim. We are introduced to new Jedi who get plenty of screen time and we watch as each deals with the catastrophic event.

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New characters of note: 

Avar Kriss - human female Jedi who is the “star of the show.” She is wise, nobel and efficiently badass. She works with her cohort Elzar Mann. 

Elzar Mann - human male Jedi who is Force bonded with Kriss. Mann has a unique use of the force with a technique called “mind touch.”  

Loden Greatstorm - Twi’lek male Jedi who is an experienced Jedi and known for his teachings and mentoring of Padawans. 

There are other characters who I believe will become more of a focal point as the books go on but these are the ones worth pointing out now. 

Also, due to the relatively recent nature of these books, I’m going to avoid discussing the plot heavily or the actions/outcomes of characters as I move through this series. 

But for me, and I think most everyone, the real winner of this book is Marchion Ro, the antagonist of the book. Ro is a Evereni male and the leader of the marauder group known as the Nihil. Ro is an accomplished and feared criminal with a fleet of murderers at his command. He manipulates them for his goals to the point of letting them die, if need be. The success of Marchion and formally his father Asgar, is due to their imprisonment of an aged force sensitive human female by the name of Mari San Tekka. Mari is over a century old and hooked up to medical machines and the ship’s navigation. She is able to see the hyperspace lanes and give the Nihil a leg up in transportation that no other entity has in The Outer Rim. Tekka is dying and Ro’s reign could be coming to an end but he has a plan.

Ro also famously wears a mask with an “eye” at the center symbolizing his station in the Nihil. 

Unlike a lot of villains in Star Wars canon, Ro is not a sith or in any way connected to the force which is refreshing. Canonically it makes sense as the sith had been wiped out by the point and the Jedi had full control over the galaxy. Ro runs off his ego and his desire for power but not in the cosmic sense - he’s just a great criminal who has a leg up with his control of the hyperspace lanes. 

I have seen complaints that Ro motives aren’t as captivating as some of his crew members or the Jedi but the writing that takes place Ro on page is magnetic. I was reading it and in my head I kept thinking “what is the dude UP to?” 

The reader is on a timeline of impending doom for a good portion so the pacing keeps you moving while introducing new characters. It can be overwhelming if you don’t slow down but it’s great groundwork introducing characters in a stressful situation and seeing how they react to it. We see both sides bungle their efforts - it’s authentic.

Star Wars is always going to be exciting for me but after reading this book I was back to feeling like a kid who was exploring the SW universe for the first time. This also come off the heels of The Living Force which I planned on writing up but didn’t feel moved by it. It was a fine book that revisited cozy themes of the prequel-era but it also made it a tad forgettable (though I love me some Yaddle-tme). Reading Light of the Jedi just pumped me back up on Star Wars again and I have already started The Rising Storm which takes place a year after the events of this book.

I hope you’ll join me on this adventure!