Seeds of Starlight is an Essential High Republic Tale
A review of George Mann's Seeds of Starlight from Audible.
Over the past few months, Disney has hit us with a few surprise Audible Original productions set in the Star Wars universe. Seeds of Starlight, the latest edition to this seemingly new endeavor, released this past Thursday. And I thought I’d spend an episode talking about it.
This quick and exciting High Republic story is 4 hours and 29 minutes long and takes place during Phase 3 of The High Republic, about a year following the fall of Starlight Beacon. Written by George Mann, it features a set of High Republic characters familiar and new. New to the story is Cam, a Padawan embarking on a mission with fellow Padawans Kildo and Tep Tep from previous middle-grade High Republic books.
The premise of the story is simple: Something mysterious is happening on the planet Eiram, and it’s up to the Jedi to investigate. But trust in the Jedi is faltering, which isn’t going to make this mission an easy one.
George Mann is one of the few High Republic writers who has been consistently extraordinary across the various stories he has told throughout the series. And he’s had the daunting pleasure of having written stories for young readers, middle-grade, young adult, and adult readers across the era, which makes his consistency in quality even more impressive.
This story fits so well into the larger High Republic story, especially if you compare it to other stories written for younger readers in mind. It’s a story about forgiveness, about facing your fears, about believing in yourself and about trusting those you love to take care of you no matter what. It also features some of my favorite … antagonists from the era. I won’t say anything more about that.
The good news is, if you liked this story, this is only part one of two, with the second part coming in 2025. This first part is a complete story, so you won’t reach the end feeling like you’re being deprived of something. But there is more to come, and that’s very exciting if you do end up liking these characters and the author’s writing style.
I know audio isn’t the best way to absorb stories for everyone, but I do encourage you to give it a try. If audio isn’t possible for you, there’s no guarantee that we’ll get script books for these the way we have for previous Star Wars audio dramas. But I do hope you do find a way to enjoy this and similar stories in some way very soon.
This was a bit of a short review, but it’s a short book — even harder not to spoil than usual! I sincerely hope you enjoy it, and as always, thanks for reading!
Star Wars The High Republic: Seeds of Starlight by George Mann is available now only on Audible. Head to this link to listen for free!
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