Kang, Lydia
About the Author:
As well as being an author, Lydia Kang is a doctor and practises internal medicine in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
4 out of 5
(1 book)
Star Wars: The High Republic - Cataclysm
Phase 2 Book 2, 382 BBY. After the Battle of Jedha the Forever War has been reignited. However, the Jedi have come to believe that the chaos breaking out across the Outer Rim is the doing of the mysterious and hostile cult the Path of the Open Hand. All paths seem to lead the to the planet Dalna, where the Path have formulated a plan to unleash conflict upon the galaxy and have acquired a weapon which can literally turn Jedi to ash on the spot.
This is a good climax to the second phase of the High Republic, with various storylines converging as the machinations of the Path are laid bare. Kang does a brilliant job of conveying the sense of desperation of the protagonists to avert disaster whilst also building a sense of grim inevitability to that disaster. This book definitely has the vibe of 'The Empire Strikes Back' about it.
I was particularly impressed with how the Battle of Dalna unfolds, with this story having the benefit that there are only really two characters (Yoda and Yaddle) who we know will definitely survive the conflict. The rest of it makes for very tense reading as the heroes plans go awry, events unfold in unexpected ways and any of the protagonists could genuinely be facing a grim death.
Unfortunately, what holds this book back from being great is exactly what has hindered a lot of other books in the High Republic publishing programme; specifically the fact that it IS part of the High Republic publishing programme. The most obvious element of this problem is that without reading/listening to the audio drama 'The Battle of Jedha' or the two YA novels of this Phase, none of which have been released in paperback as of writing (I no longer have the budget or the shelf space to buy these in hardback every time), there are huge gaps in the story. We never find out exactly what happened on Jedha, the villain of the piece, the Mother, just wanders out of this book never to be seen again, and there's never any explanation of why there are Jedi already fighting in the tunnels or what happens to them. It just feels like this book is full of holes at times. The other problem with it being part of the poorly-planned publishing programme is that this prequel has multiple Jedi encountering the Force-eating Nameless but all deciding not to mention it so that they can still come as a surprise to the Jedi of Phase 1, 150 years later. In fact, this book ends specifically with Yoda, of all people, saying that they should keep it quiet and not even put it in the Jedi Archives! Why? It's a ridiculous contrivance.
But, aside from the stupid decisions of those planning the High Republic as a whole, this is a very enjoyable Star Wars book.
4 out of 5
Collaborations & Anthologies:
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - From A Certain Point Of View (here)
Read more...
Star Wars (here)