Older, Daniel Jose
About the Author:
Daniel Jose Older had a decade-long career as a paramedic in New York City.
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3.1 out of 5
(7 books)
TOP PICK:
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures - Battle Of Jedha
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures - Padawan... Or Pirate!
(Art by Toni Bruno)
Phase 2 Book 1, 382 BBY. On Takodana the reckless Padawan Sav Malagan sneaks into the fortress of the Pirate Queen Maz Kanata, intent on experiencing the adventurous life of a pirate for herself. Joining Maz's crew, Sav soon finds herself confronting the dark side cultists of the Dank Grak pirates.
Here we get to see the early adventures of the renowned Jedi who appears later in the timeline fighting against the Nihil and they're pretty fun, generally speaking. I liked the idea of a Jedi teenager wistfully dreaming of the adventurous life of a pirate, being a subversion of the usual story of a young person dreaming of being a Jedi Knight. I also liked that the pirate crew consists of several familiar faces, such as Maz (Episode VII), Dexter Jettster (Episode II) and Therm Scissorpunch (Solo).
Unfortunately, as with much of the Star Wars material released under the 'Adventures' umbrella, the fact that this is aimed at 'all ages' (so, children really) works against it. It comes to something when even the murderous pirate crew of dark side cultists is more or less played for laughs. It's a shame because if this book could take itself seriously for five minutes, it'd be much better.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures - Battle of Jedha
(Art by Harvey Tolibao and Toni Bruno)
Phase 2 Book 2, 382 BBY. Padawan Sav Malagan has gone undercover with the Dank Grak pirates amid the Battle of Jedha in an attempt to rescue Maz Kanata. Meanwhile, the rest of Maz's crew are in hot pursuit but are similarly caught up in the conflict on Jedha.
This book was a definite improvement over Book 1, not least by actually managing to take itself a bit seriously at times. There are moments of genuine emotional weight and the antagonists actually feel much more like they're a genuine existential threat. By the end of the book you really do feel like you've seen Sav grow as a person and as a Jedi, something which wasn't part of the the preceding book.
The other reason I quite enjoyed this book was due to comparison with Cavan Scott's 'Battle For The Force', set concurrently, which I read immediately before this. That book totally failed to given any sense of scale or danger to Battle of Jedha but thankfully this one does. Here, although we only focus on a handful of characters caught up in it, we get a real sense that there is a much larger and more significant battle going on around them, of which they're a small part.
Finally, I liked that the story returned to Takodana for the finale, being a proper conclusion to this story rather than feeling like just another cog in the machine of the interconnectedness of the High Republic stories.
4 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures - Volume 1
(Art by Harvey Tolibao, Nick Brokenshire, Pow Rodrix and Manuel Bracchi)
232 BBY. Amid the Great Disaster, a group of Jedi Padawans under the stewardship of Master Yoda have to protect the inhabitants of Trymant IV. Among the people of the planet, however, are two friends who will follow vastly different paths as Zeen reveals her Force-sensitivity to the Jedi and Krix sides with the Jedi-hating Nihil raiders.
This is IDW Comics' addition to the High Republic multimedia story era and, whilst aimed at younger readers than the main Marvel Comics stories, thankfully isn't as shallow and juvenile as some of IDW's other Star Wars comics. The High Republic line focuses heavily on the Jedi and whilst this book also does that, it was nice to also see a couple of new central characters who aren't Jedi. Seeing the way that Zeen and Krix are bound together by their friendship but pulled apart by their rapidly-conflicting loyalties was a nice emotional core to this story.
All that said, however, this book is just okay. It's not outstanding in its field (like a scarecrow) but at the same time its not just a loosely held-together bag of rags (also like a scarecrow). Nice to actually see Yoda in action, however. I was convinced the High Republic would just trot him out for cameos, but here he's central to the story and gets mixed up in all the action.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures - Volume 3
(Art by Toni Bruno, Harvey Tolibano and Pow Rodrix)
231 BBY. The conclusion of the first phase of The High Republic Adventures, this book sees Lula, Farzala and Qort on the cusp of Jedi Knighthood. However, they each face unique challenges, with Lula's growing attachment to Zeen being the most problematic. Amid their coming-of-age, the young Jedi confront the Nihil on Takodana and finally hunt down their long-time antagonist Krix.
There were two parts of this book I particularly enjoyed, with the first being the exploration of the previously enigmatic Qort. Here we learn his history and connection to the pirate queen Maz Kanata, as well as getting some more details about his people and culture. I was particularly pleased to have the mystery of why his mask resembles that of Darth Krayt from the ('Legends') Legacy comics revealed. It's a nice and, honestly, surprising callback to the Expanded Universe canon that I found disproportionately satisfying.
The other element here I particularly enjoyed was how the book explores the feelings between Lula and Zeen. Quite aside from the fact that it's a nice bit of LGBTQ+ representation, it's really nicely handled, with each of them unsure of the other's feelings and troubled by what those feelings mean for the future. Despite their reservations, however, there's something really wholesome about their love, when Jedi being in love is usually handled as being a terrible thing that leads to expulsion or the dark side (at least it is in the new canon, the EU had some great Jedi romances - Luke and Mara, for example). I'm not sure when Star Wars adopted the ethos that 'falling in love will ruin everything', but I can't say it's a viewpoint I particularly appreciate (and before you say anything; being in love didn't send Anakin to the dark side, him being a tool did).
Beyond Qort and the Lula/Zeen romance, the rest of the book is just fine. There's nothing groundbreaking on offer but also nothing so awful that it should put you off reading altogether.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic - Midnight Horizon
The third YA novel of Phase I of the High Republic, set concurrently with 'The Fallen Star' by Claudia Gray, 230 BBY. The Jedi are disturbed to learn of rumours that the Nihil have begun operating on the important Core World of Corellia. Masters Cohmac Vitus and Kantam Sy, along with Padawans Reath Silas and Ram Jomaram, are despatched to investigate, allying themselves with the Corellian security expert Crash Ongwa.
This book was really hard going for me for about the first two thirds. Older's prose is a bit too awkwardly modern to fit properly into the Star Wars feel I would've liked and it felt jarringly weird to read about Jedi Masters 'getting their ass kicked' and the like. On top of that is how weirdly horny everyone in this book seems to be. I would've been happy exploring the interesting and tentative relationship between Zeen Mrala and Padawan Lula Talisola, but almost every single character in this book is hot for one or more of the others. In fact, there's a whole weird flashback subplot in which Master Kantam regales Master Cohmac with the story of how he took a break from being a Jedi in order to have sex with an acrobat. It's like Older thought "I'm writing a novel aimed at teens... what do I know about teens?" and all he could come up with is that they're horny.
Far worse than the awkward prose and even more awkward horniness, however, is the god-awful banter. For most of the book not a single conversation happens without some really, really terrible bantering going on. It's not funny, it's not clever and it absolutely stops the drama dead in its tracks. I'm not joking when I say that, to begin with, I actively hated reading this book.
All that said, however, Older does manage to pull the fat out of the fire in the final third. As the Nihil make their big move, both on Corellia and against Starlight Beacon, the tone of the book changes dramatically and becomes much darker, more intense and, frankly, much more engaging. Seeing how the ripples in the Force of the fall of Starlight affect the Jedi is genuinely upsetting and the fighting on Corellia is filled with an urgent need to prevent the Nihil's victory from being a complete one. There's also a real sense that none of the main characters are safe and that, even if they survive, they'll be forever changed by these events.
So, the front end of this book is garbage and the back end is brilliant.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic - Race To Crashpoint Tower
231 BBY. Set within the events of Cavan Scott's 'The Rising Storm', this younger-reader book follows two Jedi Padawans, Lula Talisola and Ram Jomaram, as they pursue separate investigations which bring them together amid the Nihil's brutal attack against the Republic Fair on Valo. United, they then have to fight their way through the battle to reach Crashpoint Tower and repair the Republic's communications.
This is the second of this run of so-called Middle Grade books (I don't know what that means, age-wise because it's not a term we use here in the UK) but don't be fooled into thinking that it's a sequel to Justina Ireland's 'A Test of Courage', like I was. This is a standalone story set amid the larger events of the High Republic narrative.
Unfortunately, I felt that the fact that this doesn't tie-in to the earlier book was a bit of a shame because I really would've like to spend more time with Vernestra Rwoh and Imri Cantaros, who only appear here very briefly. Instead we're given Lula and Ram who are, it has to be said, fairly bland protagonists. The author doesn't really give us any reason to be particularly invested in them or, for that matter, be terribly interested in them either. The supporting characters are just as poorly realised, with the comedy-sidekick droid V-18, who could easily have been a scene stealer like 'Rogue One's K-2SO being a particularly disappointing one.
Honestly the majority of this book was so bland and tame that it felt like Older felt he couldn't writing anything too exciting in a kids book and deliberately avoided doing so. Things do improve noticeably when the characters get embroiled in the attack on Valo and I found the story of their little slice of the battle much more engaging than I had anything up to that point, enough so that it elevated the book a little overall.
3 out of 5
Star Wars: The High Republic - Trail Of Shadows
(Art by Dave Wachter)
231 BBY. Set between the novels 'The Rising Storm' by Cavan Scott and 'The Fallen Star' by Claudia Gray, this graphic novel follows Jedi investigator Emerick Caphtor and private eye Sian Holt as they follow the trail of a mysterious Jedi-killing weapon used by the Nihil.
I very much enjoyed the premise of this book, pairing two experienced investigators, one Jedi and one not, as they explore one of the more mysterious elements of the High Republic narrative, the so-called Eaters of the Force. It also explores the divisions within the villains of the series, the Nihil, and shows the backstabbing and internal conflict of the violent raiders. All in all it's a story idea that I really liked and which felt like something the rest of the High Republic publishing project was missing.
The problem, however, is specifically how the High Republic stories have been planned. Because they were created by a handful of primary authors, Older among them, there has been a tendency to treat High Republic books as if they're all one narrative. That means to get the full story of any one book, you have to have also read the other novels, graphic novels, YA books etcetera. This book in particular suffers from this because it's reliant on you having read 'The Rising Storm' for set-up but then also doesn't actually resolve the main mystery itself, ending in a sort-of 'To be continued elsewhere...' moment. It's very frustrating, not least because this was a miniseries which could easily have had its own closed narrative whilst still tying-in to the larger one.
I definitely would've rated this book higher if the core mystery had actually been properly resolved. The fact that it wasn't feels like a huge mistake in what is ostensibly supposed to be a detective story and it's pretty frustrating. Imagine if Poirot never actually revealed whodunnit...
3 out of 5
Collaborations & Anthologies:
Star Wars Adventures: The Light And The Dark (here)
Star Wars: From A Certain Point Of View (here)
Star Wars: Scoundrels, Rebels And The Empire (here)
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - From A Certain Point Of View (here)
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures - Volume 2 (here)
Star Wars: The High Republic - The Edge Of Balance: Precedent (here)
Star Wars: The High Republic - The Edge Of Balance: Volume 2 (here)
Star Wars: War Of The Bounty Hunters Companion (here)
Read more...
Star Wars (here)