Review: The Eye of Darkness Feels Like Returning Home
The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness is a comfort read that will also terrify you -- but it works.
This week, The High Republic books are back with The Eye of Darkness by George Mann. Phase III kicks off a year after the galaxy-changing fall of Starlight Beacon, when the Nihil have managed to take over countless worlds and lock them behind a nearly impenetrable Occlusion Zone.
Behind the Stormwall, there are Jedi fighting their hardest to get messages back to the Republic. It’s dangerous among the Nihil, and lost heroes such as Avar Kriss will stop at nothing to weaken the Nihil’s hold on the galaxy world by world.
In this book, Marchion Ro is dizzy with power and desperately seeking more. The chancellor is trying to keep the Republic’s spirits up while worrying about her lost son. Elzar Mann is grieving the loss of his best friend — and hoping he doesn’t lose Avar, too.
Even with fewer characters to bounce between (I suppose that’s one benefit to so many of them crumbling to dust in Phase I), this book truly feels like The High Republic is the best it’s ever been. The tension and twists actually made my heart race. There is no guarantee at any point that the character you’re reading about is going to survive the next page. Almost nothing is off-limits (except for Ember, of course). Anything could happen.
The surprises are genuine, the emotional moments as deep as they come. I’m rooting for the characters I should be rooting for and wishing the worst for the ones who deserve it. It’s been helpful to stay caught up with the latest High Republic comics too, because even though you don’t need to read them to understand and appreciate this book, the comics have added context to what I’m reading that has made me enjoy it even more than I think I would have without them.
The Eye of Darkness makes you believe the Jedi could lose to the Nihil any moment, again. That makes it an instant page-turner. The Nihil continue to push boundaries (literally?) and do things the Jedi won’t expect, and that’s frustrating in the best way possible because it forces you to wonder how the Jedi are going to get out of every situation differently than we’ve seen them do so before.
And once again, the book is specifically written so that you could read it as your first entry into The High Republic and you would be able to pick up on what you needed to know. I love that about these books. The barrier to entry is low on purpose, inviting more readers into the celebration.
You will love this book if you’re looking for a story that makes you hold your breath, fear for loveable characters’ lives, and leaves you wanting more without ending in an unsatisfying way. It sets up what’s to come next, but it’s a self-contained story that will make you glad you gave it a chance.
What surprised me most about this book is how comforting it was to be back with characters we got to know in Phase I. I love The High Republic, but I struggled to feel attached to many Phase I characters back when this was all new and coming at us pretty fast and heavy. Pointing to Elzar and Avar’s relationship specifically, I was never really into it before. I’m not entirely sure why yet — I’m still processing — but I stan hard for these two now.
So you can probably gather that I’m more excited than I have ever been for the next books in the series (it’s going to be a long wait until January). The Eye of Darkness proves that whatever the Luminous Team has planned for the rest of these stories, it’s going to be some of the best Star Wars we’ve ever seen. Read. Listened to. Whatever.
Phase III has begun — and it’s far, far from over.
Star Wars The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness by George Mann is available now wherever you get your Star Wars books.
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