The High Republic: Into the Light is Brilliantly, Beautifully, Devastating
A spoiler-free review of Claudia Gray's Star Wars The High Republic: Into the Light.
A little over four years ago, the third book in the then new but already widely popular High Republic series arrived on our doorsteps. Into the Dark was Claudia Gray’s first entry into the series, introducing audiences to key characters like Reath Silas, and creatures like the infamous Drengir. (This was also the first time one of my book reviews was quoted on the back of a Star Wars book, but you don’t care about that.)
This was the first time it became clear that every single story throughout The High Republic was going to matter. Not just the adult novels, or the mainline comic series, but all of it. The young adult and middle-grade books too. The young reader stories. The audio dramas. Everything.
Now, four years later, Gray brings her original High Republic story full circle with Into the Light. It’s the return of the Vessel crew, a mad scientist’s grand plan, Aslin Rell’s greatest test, Reath Silas’s biggest mission yet. It’s Nan’s coming-of-age journey, Avon Starros on the verge of discovery. It’s a return to a planet we all thought we knew, but are about to know more than any non-Wookiee ever has. It’s the blight at its most dangerous, and somehow, its most mysterious.
This is, whether we want to believe it or not (I do not), the final young adult book in The High Republic. It exists to both tie up loose ends and pave the way for Charles Soule’s final act of literary emotional terror. It is possibly one of the most important High Republic stories since the books of the initiative’s very first wave. And it executes each of its many daunting tasks almost perfectly.
Gray is, among many other things, a master of character work at an extremely large, high-stakes scale. Into the Light brings together characters from a handful of other young adult books across the initiative, forces them to mingle, and begs them to coordinate constructively. In every chapter, someone is wrestling with something. Asking another team member for guidance. Trying to solve a mystery. Wondering what everyone else is thinking at any given moment.
Up to this point, I have been hesitant to claim that any Star Wars book, particularly in The High Republic series, is essential reading. It’s too late in this game to hold back now. If you do not read this book before Trials of the Jedi, I, at the time of writing this review, strongly believe you will not be able to appreciate the Endgame-level finale we are all desperately trying and likely failing to prepare ourselves for. It directly and deliberately sets up the story Soule is tasked with telling, particularly when it comes to Marchion Ro’s current state of mind and, possibly, the threats he isn’t even aware he should be watching out for.
But excluding that — as difficult as it may be to do — Into the Light is a significant entry into the series not just because of what will come after, but also because of all that has already come before. This story takes its already highly developed, well-rounded characters and pushes every single one of them to their limit (or past it). It challenges interpersonal perceptions and asks each of its main players to put the fate of the galaxy over their feelings about one another — in more ways than one.
Most of all, though, this book serves as a reminder that what will eventually triumph at the end of all this is hope. Star Wars itself is built on the idea that hope, above all else, will win every conflict. No matter how devastating the outcome, no matter how bleak the moment, light will always prevail. It might even be, eventually, all that remains.
Claudia Gray’s storytelling capabilities are unmatched. This has not changed from the moment her stories in this universe began. I have encountered few other Star Wars writers who can leave me both in awe and in mourning this intensely. How a book can be so beautifully crafted and yet simultaneously so powerfully heartbreaking is a phenomenon I will continue to study in her work long after The High Republic ends.
If you plan on reading this book — and I genuinely hope that you do — know going into it that it is unlike any High Republic book you have yet experienced. It somehow reaches a depth we haven’t had the privilege of witnessing until now. It is a story meant to move you, a narrative built to leave you questioning much and yearning for more. It may not be the end of this era, but it is the end of something extraordinary.
It is, I am not hesitant to say, a book that has raised the bar for what the best of The High Republic can be. Gray began her High Republic journey with a spark, and here, at the end of her quest, she has ignited a legacy.
Star Wars The High Republic: Into the Light by Claudia Gray is available now wherever you get your Star Wars books.
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