Tears of the Nameless Hauntingly Sets Up the Final High Republic Wave (Review)
A spoiler-free Tears of the Nameless book review.
As the story of The High Republic has expanded, various mysteries have continued to unfold book after book. But not for much longer. The series’ third and final phase has reached the end of its second act of three — and if you thought George Mann was going to outdo himself after last year’s novel, you’d be absolutely correct.
Reath Silas has almost figured it out … but not quite. The devastating blight overtaking random worlds across the galaxy doesn’t make sense. The Nameless are one thing — but a plague turning everything around it to dust? Impossible. Except it isn’t.
Unfortunately, the survival of the Republic and any chance it has to defeat the Nihil depend on figuring out how the blight and the Nameless are connected — and if there is any way to stop them from destroying more worlds.
It’s going to take the help of Jedi and non-Jedi alike to get closer to solving the mystery. Yes, I’m talking about Geode. No, I will not apologize. His role in this book may be small, but he will always be the main character to me. Sorry. Back to the book.
As with many High Republic books, Tears of the Nameless features characters familiar and new. The series is doing its best to keep things as coherent as possible between books, so if you’ve read previous installments, you’ll be able to follow along pretty well. I do highly recommend that you read both Temptation of the Force and Beware the Nameless before this one, however — it does take place after those two.
One thing I noticed with this book in particular is how grateful I am that I’ve been keeping up with the High Republic comics. They’re obviously not essential to enjoy the book. But I am finding that the added context of the comics actually does make me enjoy the book even more because it ties little details together, gives more background to some of the characters and places, and really just makes the story feel bigger and more intriguing.
We’re also at the point in The High Republic now where all the pieces are perfectly coming together in a very exciting way. (This is me trying to emphasize all the cool things that are in this book without spoiling them.) There is a very Jedi-like solution to one of the Order’s greatest current threats, and to see it carried out successfully is going to make me cheer out loud while I’m minding my own business reading alone, I promise.
There’s still a lot we don’t know, and there are only a handful of stories left to wrap up the whole story. But they’ve had all this planned out for so long that I have zero concerns about them being able to tie everything together neatly and elegantly. This book really proved that for me.
What I love most about Tears of the Nameless is that it really doesn’t hold back when it comes to challenging its characters. Let’s use Reath as an example here. This poor Jedi just wants to find answers to all his questions. And at points he goes about this in the wrong way. Then he’s reunited with someone from his past and immediately rejects them out of grief and anger — someone he can’t complete his mission without. So he has to, momentarily, get over it. But that’s such a hard thing to do, especially for a kid. Okay, he’s like a teenager, but still.
That’s the kind of character building you’d think couldn’t happen this late in a series. Yet here we are. George Mann hasn’t contributed a lot to these stories in terms of volume, but he knows these characters incredibly well. When it’s his turn with them, he absolutely crushes it every time. I cannot wait for him to write more Star Wars — if that’s something he wants to keep doing, of course.
We’re getting so much closer to the end. I’m not ready. But at the same time, I am. This all started nearly four years ago now. That’s how long we’ve been with these characters and how long we’ve been invested in this ongoing story. But all good things must end, and I’m sure the end will be worth the wait.
I say this a lot, but I’m going to say it again. Don’t skip this one because it’s YA. There’s going to be a very long wait between now and Trials of the Jedi. Let yourself be entertained. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Star Wars The High Republic: Tears of the Nameless by George Mann is available now wherever you get your Star Wars books.
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