Star Wars: The High Republic - Quest for the Hidden City - Spoiler-Free Book Review
A spoiler-free Star Wars book review of Quest for the Hidden City, the latest High Republic book by George Mann.
It’s another! New! Star Wars book day! My favorite day of the month, basically. There’s only been one month in 2022 that we haven’t gotten a new Star Wars novel. Wild. That is not a complaint, to be clear.
Quest for the Hidden City by George Mann is the latest book – out today! – in Phase 2 of The High Republic. It’s the middle-grade addition in this wave of releases – Path of Deceit by Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton is the young adult book, and Convergence by Zoraida Cordova, out November 22, is the adult novel. I just finished that one by the way. Loved it. That is not a spoiler.
This book takes place around the same time as the other two books, just in a different place in the galaxy. It tells two intertwining stories: One of a group of Jedi in search of – you guessed it – a hidden city, and the other is about a father and son desperately trying to survive on a seemingly hostile planet. Miraculously, it does not end as tragically as you might expect.
The book is short, simple, and quick, but that’s not a bad thing. I like to call the middle-grade High Republic books “palette cleansers” because while they take place around the same time as the other books in each wave and reflect similar things, by nature they’re just not quite as dark. Sandwiched between a YA and an adult novel, they’re the perfect breather between, uh, a tragic story and a very very very tragic story. It’s fine. We’re all fine here. Maybe.
I adore these books overall because you can read them in a weekend (sometimes in a day), the characters are compelling even though you only get to spend a short amount of time with them, and surprisingly, they add a lot of depth and context to the other High Republic stories that take place around the same time they do.
The other point of excitement that had me diving into and devouring this book was its author. George Mann is a phenomenal writer, especially when he writes stories for slightly younger audiences. We’ll talk about his short story anthologies, especially Life Day Treasury, very soon on this show. He’s an extremely captivating storyteller, and to me, his characters remain some of the most memorable from The High Republic.
I really don’t love how harshly middle-grade Star Wars is judged, particularly by people who haven’t even given them a chance. Now, if you’ve tried Star Wars middle-grade and it’s not for you, that’s one thing – you don’t have to love every Star Wars book, in fact, if you don’t like some of them, it turns out that’s totally OK. But if you’re just knocking it because it’s written for 12-year-olds or whatever, that’s not cool. These stories still have real-world implications. There are things in these books you might actually be able to relate to. The writing isn’t less than or bad just because it’s catered to younger readers. And there’s also nothing wrong with loving these books as an adult, for the record.
As with all the other middle-grade High Republic books, Quest for the Hidden City is an important and worthwhile addition to the overarching story being told. If it’s not your thing, that’s OK. But especially if Phase 2 of The High Republic is your first deep dive into this storytelling era, I highly recommend giving it a try.
Quest for the Hidden City by George Mann is available now wherever you get your Star Wars books.