SPOILER Light of the Jedi discussion

I’ve got this book on preorder and will begin reading and posting my thoughts (maybe chapter by chapter since I have nothing better to do in this pandemic,) when I receive my copy.

I recently posted on a different thread my thoughts and fears of what this book/era might entail. So I’m hoping all my positive wishes come true with “Light of the Jedi.”

 

I just put a copy on pre-order today. I’m really excited to get it. The excerpts I’ve read are fantastic.

I’m excited to see what more is in store, and how this explores the Jedi and their philosophy of the time.

 

The Light of the Jedi audiobook is absolutely fantastic. The writing itself is great, but the music and narration elevate it dramatically.

 

Have completed 22 chapters so far, and I am loving it.
Wasted absolutely no time getting into the action, and the way the Jedi act feels different - and much more noble, if that’s the right word - to what I’m used to consuming.

 

An hour into the audiobook, really good so far. Quite gloomy too, didn't expect that!

 

Damn, the bodycount in the book is unbelievable. I'm only through Part 1 (a third of the book) and it feels like there are already more fatalities than Alderaan and both Death Stars added together

Without spoilers, I'm not sure how I feel about the new villain(s). Seems a bit underwhelming at this moment, but then I still have two thirds to go through!

 

Really? They felt like a fresh breath of air to me, and their entrance was rather unique.

 

I agree! And given it’s our introduction to this time period, it feels (to me) the right level of bad guy.

 

Just finished the audiobook and I have many thoughts, but overall I loved it and can’t wait to read/listen to more!

Seeing as the villains are mentioned, I have to say I was thinking they were a slight disappointment earlier in the book (not their entrance, which I agree was cool, more some of the characterisation), but by the end I was really enjoying where they took it and how the way they were at the start was instrumental in that. (Are we doing spoilers here?! I’ll keep it spoiler-free for safety).

Generally, I really liked the imagination on show - the ideas of ways to use the Force, Hyperspace, Jedi, the Nihil (the villains). It all felt very Star Wars, yet also fresh and different too. Which is what I wanted from it really.

There were a few things that felt a little too on-the-nose, unless it leads to certain connections later on as it might, and one name-related thing near the end that the book itself pokes fun at which was quite funny to me but I can see maybe annoying people who hated how Han got his surname in Solo: A Star Wars Story, but it’s a minor thing.

Loved many of the new characters, though as I listened my spelling of their names may not be all there yet! Burryaga the wookiee is wonderful... there’s this one scene with him that I found incredibly touching and lovely... if you’ve read it you will probably know what I mean.

I enjoyed a few references which I’m sure many of you will pick up on. There’s a certain family name that crops up for a few characters which I think was very interesting indeed! And more than one Jedi name you may be aware of. It’s long enough ago most characters aren’t around yet of course, but there’s at least a few... and I already have suspicions about one or two others, but we’ll see...

I very much recommend the audiobook, it’s a really good one - the amount of accents and voices was very impressive, and the usual mix of music and sound effects/sound beds is very well done.

Seeing as Disney haven’t made A Test of Courage available in the UK yet I’ll probably do a re-listen next week, no doubt I missed plenty first time round. I also checked out the first issue of the comic (digitally), which is a great little ‘dessert’ to this main course.

Good times!

 

I finished it last night - really enjoyed it too, especially as the first instalment of a new story.
Can’t say there’s anything I don’t like yet - the body count was huge, the extra Jedi stuff is interesting and exciting, and there’s the right level of intrigue.
One thing I do love about the villains is how fresh they are. There’s so much room to move and grow as this series expands.
milk have to give the audiobook a whirl!

 

first of all yay they reintroduced force meld also i like the dog and burryaga should be alive by the phantom menace so they should kill him off

 

Soule did a fine job with what he was given, but I'm not loving the premise thus far. LOTJ is a good book in it's own right but to be honest I think it is to be expected from Charles Soule.

I don't have high hopes for the era as a whole, to me It feels very much agenda-driven and created by people who want to shoehorn and force their own sociopolitical views rather than create an interesting new part/era of the Star Wars universe, which is a shame, but I'll give it time to develop before getting too critical and negative.

 

I couldn't resist looking in despite not being finished yet (I think nearing the end of part 2), but kind of relieved there aren't as many spoilers.

I've been enjoying my time in the book, but I can kind of see why some people may feel the characters aren't being fleshed out enough. It feels very much like following a sweeping epic to me, with a lot of characters and needing to juggle each of them. I have yet to delve into A Test of Courage, but I hope it, Into the Dark, and other entries can have some more character focused moments (and I believe that is the intent of Test of Courage and Into the Dark). Part of it is also that Soule..feels like he kind of had the weight of setting up the feel of the era and some of the main situations we're dealing with. Before this, the majority of the canon books were in eras or with characters we were already familiar with, but this has to set up something entirely new.

I think the main criticism I question is the agenda. Maybe it's just me but...I don't see where people are coming from with this. What am I missing that others are seeing that makes them say that?

 

It's pure nonsense that all started with the first High Republic video. The writer's table got together to discuss what they each wanted from Star Wars and wrote it up on a whiteboard. Because points like "diverse cast" was up on the board, idiots are now saying it's SJW and leftist propaganda, and combing the stories to find an inkling of 'evidence' to support their ridiculous claims.

 

I thought the villains were pretty interesting, more than I can say for most of the new Jedi characters (looking at you Avar Kriss) though I suppose a lot of Jedi are quite dull by default, so this extends to many other Jedi throughout Star Wars.

 

Might be a bit easier to make a little core group of villains than a bunch of Jedi that might be focused on in different stories, but I'm not a writer, so idk. Looking at other entries we're getting this phase, it feels like Avar Kriss may be meant to ultimately take a more background role, so to some it may feel like just getting her to that point. Though she may come more into focus in later books or phases. Cavan's "The Rising Storm", which will be the follow-up Del Rey novel, focuses more on Stellan Gios, I believe, after Avar becomes Marshall.

Maybe me, but even in Light of the Jedi, she doesn't really feel like a main to me. We get a lot from her perspective, but it feels after Hetzal, at least in part 2, more emphasis is put on Elzar's characterization than hers, and then obviously Loden and Bell. But I think I may also be the opposite when it comes to the Jedi anyway, as they are what I find the most fascinating in Star Wars, so seeing all the different Jedi, how they think, seeing the Council debate is quite satisfying to me.

 

Found this on Twitter, might be helpful to others like me who has trouble keeping up with all those new characters in the High Republic...



Link to the source tweet:

 

****SPOILERS******

Well, due to unforeseen personal delays, I FINALLY finished “Light of the Jedi” (almost a week later than anticipated).

Without further ado, here is the consensus on the book I’ve been thinking about every day for the past year:
It’s a good start for the new era. Lots of potential to grow, even if this novel did not “grow out” the characters, settings, and situations like I had hoped.
The plot, pacing, and dialogue was far more interesting than the laughable “A New Dawn” that kicked off the Disney-mandated novels. I felt this could potentially be a movie. The stakes were high, the characters seemed motivated, and there was a resolution of sorts (but naturally teasing worse things to come.) On a 5 star rating, I would give this 3 out of 5 stars. It was a decent start. Not the best Star Wars book I’ve read, but definitely not the worst. I can tell Charles Soule (and whoever assisted him) was definitely holding back crucial information.

My main problem with the book was the new villains, the Nihils, in which I had 3 big concerns:

1) I just did not buy into them as original creations, plain and simple. Even though they hide in hyperspace lanes. Even though they “hyperspace skip” during battle making it impossible to track. Even though they are ruthless and brutal, etc. If you did not read the book, picture in your mind’s eye a three-way mash-up of Star Trek’s Klingons, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the EU’s Yozong Vong.
2) It is super far-fetched for Marchion Ro (the leader of the Nihiles, called the “Eye”) to use, basically, an imprisoned, old, sick lady as the key navigation system for the hidden hyperspace lanes. (This old lady was a distant relative of Lor San Tekka, btw). I was left a little confused as to how one woman had the insight and premonitions with 100% accuracy on where the lanes began/ended. I could not find myself believing that bit of “magic.”
3) Apart from the typical pirate-like behavior, the ONLY interesting stuff about the Nihils came at the end once Loden Greatstorm was captured. What exactly WAS that magical stone/metal pole with deathly inscriptions all over it that seemed to frighten the Jedi master? It was in the last 20 pages of the book, but THAT was the ONLY time a Jedi expressed fear towards the Nihil. What was that weapon? How did Marchion Ro acquire it? And how did he learn to become so mentally-equipped to resist a Jedi mind tricks? This book asks more questions than it answers.. and unfortunately, it only started asking these questions too late in the book.

Apart from the flawed villains, I loved the portrayal of the Jedi order and the High Republic itself. Honestly, we got a far better look at the government and Jedi order than I thought we were going to get. The book wasn’t set entirely on Wild West planets, (thank goodness) and select chapters took us back to Coruscant, the heart of the High Republic. Chapter 19 is my favorite chapter in the book, and is about Chancellor Linda Soh’s inner musings, alongside her two alien-lion pets called targons. The jedi were competent, trustworthy, brave, and possessed all the good qualities without being “boring.” My personal favorites were Avar Kriss, as her spiritual connection to the Force and metaphorical music symbiosis was right on parr with what I expect a Jedi should be at this time. I also enjoyed Loden Greatstorm (who ends the book kidnapped and imprisoned on the Nihil ship). That guy just comes out as brave and heroic, period. In short, the Jedi are regarded as demigods, heroes, they put a smile on people’s faces when they ignite their lightsabers (and other tools unmentioned in the movies!) I loved that.

I will soon be posting a long list of notes compiled from my observations. This list will contain surprises, neat tie-ins to the Prequel/OT/Sequel era, and things that I thought were “neat.” Hopefully, for those who do not wish to read an entire 350+ novel, I hope this list will be found useful. I will provide exact page references on where to find these observations of mine.

 

So, just finished. That was quite the ride in moments. I’ll stand by that this was definitely a setting-building book, with a pretty solid plot to go with that and give us a fair amount of starting detail. The Republic/Jedi felt solid and believable to me, even if they didn’t have as much depth due to the cast size. Hopefully The Rising Storm will be a bit more focused without as much set-up needed.

The Jedi were great to me, and I loved seeing the differing views of how some of them view what it means to get involved in these bigger conflicts, and was nice when the Prequels didn’t have space for them to debate that as much as they probably should’ve. At the same time, Jora Malli has quite the view of the Jedi and the will of the Force.

Marchion Ro, for me, on the thread scale went from low at the start to “Inhave a bad feeling about this” as the pieces start falling into place. And that rod sounds...Sithy. Wonder what it is. The Nihil were disturbing and felt kind of trope-ish, I guess? Yet I oddly enjoyed it. Their chaotic and unpredictability to me made a nice break from how the Sith operate, and will be interesting to see how they deal with the Jedi in the events to come.

curious about what exactly happened to Mari to make her mind snap as it did. Feels akin to the Chiss’s Skywalkers, but different at the same time.

overall, I personally felt it did well for it’s job as *the* start-up book. Earlier questions were answered, new questions posed as a set up for the rest of the series. And that epilogue..mm. That nice additional foreboding sense.