The Light of the Jedi is the first book I’ve read in the High Republic era of Star Wars. I’m a Star Wars fan. I have strong opinions on the universe and lore of it. I am going to be diving in between my fan feelings and reader feelings so stay with me.
As a book it does well helping people that may not be so familiar with Star Wars to understand what they are getting into. Now, having knowledge of Star Wars helps immensely, but one could say that about any established universe. While I would recommend at least watching the original movies first, it isn’t required. The book explains what someone needs to know for this particular story. I’m not saying the execution is flawless, but if you are used to these types of books then you should be fine.
The writing is pretty good. Anytime an author is dealing with someone else’s universe and writing a story for a company it doesn’t always seem to flow naturally, to me anyway. However, the writing is still executed well. I think my biggest annoyance was jumping around to different people so much. It was hard to really get to know the characters because we were dealing with so many. There is no central figure to focus on. There are ones who stood out to me of course. I’m not going to name them because I think it may be different for everyone based on your personality preferences. There are varying people on different sides that you will get to know. While you get the viewpoints of each side of the conflict in this story, I don’t think the villain side was executed well. I never really hated them or felt bad for them. They had their reasons and lived how they thought best. The one who ends up standing out seems to be based on some issue of revenge. Its fine, their perspective just kind of bored me at times.
The Republic/Jedi side was far more interesting to see how the universe is during this time. How the republic runs at its height is cool. How the Jedi are during this time period is the most fascinating part of the book. As a Star Wars geek, I of course soaked it up. I think even if this universe isn’t that well known to you, it is still fascinating having space wizards and a republic government that seems to have its shit together working to solve problems. The Light side is strong in the universe at this time and it really feels like a peripheral character in the story. This makes sense with how the force works. At this time, its technically way out of balance towards the Light side so those force users will be more powerful at this point in history.
The writing of the universe felt like the Star Wars space opera with a balance of science and mysticism being mixed throughout in order to make the story unfold. The Jedi needed to use the force and the Republic aided in the science to achieve their goals to help the Galaxy (especially the Outer Rim). This makes sense as the force isn’t a get out of jail free card. There are limits to what Jedi can do and they still need space tech to survive in the universe. The main issue with the High Republic I felt could happen did show itself though.
This is the height of the Jedi without the Sith in the timeline. While at times things felt perilous early on, it was because they were dealing with a monumental calamity. The Jedi though are very connected and are many. Their ability to wield the force seems much more capable than during the Old Republic or Clone Wars. If you aren’t familiar with Star Wars, let’s just say….the Jedi during the High Republic are quite powerful and focused as a society compared to other times of mainly individual powerful Jedi. The problem with this is that its hard to feel a sense of drama. This is why I enjoyed the cosmic calamity instead of the actual villains of the story. I didn’t feel threatened by the villains. What happened in the first chapter causing huge ramifications for the galaxy and lots of destruction. The Jedi and Republic have to battle physics of Star Wars, time, and saving lives. The first third of the book was the page turner for me. Now I think by the end there is certainly potential that in the next book things could get ramped up against the Jedi, but we will see.
Now this is more of me as a fan. If Star Wars lore isn’t big for you then you can skip this. The manipulation of Hyperspace since Disney took over is not really something I like and that is what much of the threat is based on. I didn’t like it in the sequel movies and am not a fan of it here. Manipulating established Lore of a property is tricky. Its hard for me to believe the new lore based on past lore I knew so my mind struggles to accept it even though it’s a fantasy/Sci-Fi universe. The writer did a fine job at this, but my mind isn’t quite buying it yet. I’m still open to this direction of Hyperspace and what this new villain knows; unlike how Hyperspace was used by Admiral Holdo.
Overall, the Light of the Jedi is a fine addition to the Star Wars universe. While its nothing special, if you want to learn more about the Jedi during this time, it has an interesting feel to it. If you mainly enjoy Sith and/or Sith vs Jedi then you will probably be bored with this. I enjoyed it for the addition of Lore and understanding about the Jedi more than anything. The early calamity is also tense. It will take more to make me care about the villains in this story arc though.