Into the Dark (Star Wars Disney Canon Novel)

Star Wars: Into the Dark was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Claudia Gray. This is the first YA novel within for the High Republic Era.

SUMMARY: Jedi apprentice Reath Silas is to report to his master on the Starlight Beacon, to work out in the outer rim frontier. He has no interest in such a thing, he’d rather stay on Coruscant and work in the archives. As he and a few other Jedi hitch a ride on hired ship, the vessel, they have to pull out of hyperspace as a galactic emergency unfolds.

An old space station is nearby, the vessel makes its way to the space station, along with a few other ships in the area. They will have to stay there until hyperspace is once again safe to travel. While in the station, a darkness is discovered. The Jedi take it upon themselves to remove the darkness, but with a strange twist, the actions taken lead to a new disorderly Jedi, an odd discovery, and frustration.

CHARACTERS: I’m picking two random characters to talk about.

Cohmac Vitas – He’s a Jedi Master, long ago he went on a mission that didn’t go as plan. The mishaps of that mission have a long lasting effect on him. He also has a hard time with the rules of the Jedi Order. The training the Jedi receive to have a lack of emotion and attachment, make him angry.

Affie Hollow – She works for the Byne guild, on board the ship called, the vessel. She lost her parents a long time ago, but was taken in by the leader of the guild. So, some day, Affie would take control of the guild. She finds something unusual on the space station which leads to the discover of shady business going on within the guild.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: This book, was actually pretty disappointing. Every single time I open a Star Wars book, I have high hopes and expect excellent storytelling. I really want to enjoy the book I’m spending all my time on. Claudia Gray normally tells fantastic stories in Star Wars, sadly, this is the exception.

Reading Into the Dark was a chore! The magic of Grays storytelling was absent. The characters were bland, the villains were awful (as in unintentionally comical), and the story was absolutely boring. There was a secondary story being told in the book about a past mission by a few of the main characters. It was pointless and a waste of ink. Many parts of the story seem to just skip around details. Descriptions were lacking, but for the most part, dialogue wasn’t too bad.

The High Republic main villains are the Nihil. This book does have the Nihil, which come across as an afterthought without any sort of intimidation or disturbing factor. The other villains in the book, the Drengir, look creepy if you’ve seen the art. They are dumb in this story. If you’ve seen the film/musical of Little Shop of Horrors… you’ve seen the villains. (Yes, the plant villains speak basic.)

Many aspects of the story had potential had they been altered slightly. The twist that unfolds was disappointing and frustrating.

RATING: I give Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark an F. I did not expect this to happen with a Claudia Gray book… Im sad.

Do I recommend you pick up and read Star Wars: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray? To get the bigger picture on what’s taking place throughout the galaxy during the High Republic, yes. If it your just slightly interested in this era, no.

Was so excited for a fresh start in Star Wars. I am sure it could have been worse in some ways, but it for sure could not be worse in all ways. So sad to watch Star Wars die!

As someone who has thoroughly enjoyed each of Claudia Grays previous Star Wars titles, I was anticipating this book most in the new High Republic lineup. Unfortunately, while the premise had promise, I was disappointed by clumsy plotting and pacing.

Most of the new characters are fun, engaging, and oozing potential which is the sole reason for both stars. I especially enjoyed Geode, a stoic and stony navigator who made me smile with each appearance. The new Jedi are interesting as well but, unlike the fresh heroes of Charles Soules Light of the Jedi, these feel like they are set in the prequel era rather than centuries before. While Soule portrays the Jedi Order of the High Republic as more dynamic, following the spirit of their dogma rather than its letter, here the Jedi are already a bit too officious and fundamentalist at the highest levels, and so our rogue Jedi, even the very cool Wayseeker whose arc initially excited me greatly, dont feel as much like new archetypes as Soules heroes. While Claudia Gray so expertly crafted tales in the three distinct movie trilogy eras in her previous works, this book doesnt feel like its opening a new part of the timeline, but instead re-skinning the prequels.

For me, this core issue is exasperated by the fact that the plot plods along and is not nearly as poignant, intriguing, or adventurous as previous Gray titles. Most of the action takes place in a greenhouse space station and is centered around technical fiddling either with the various controls of the station itself or a nebulous Force binding emanating from some idols found in the station. Too much time is spent speculating about how these plot devices technically work and the characters ever-changing understandings compound the readers frequent inability to understand their motives as they inelegantly switch from self-preservation to saving others and back again a few times. A flashback that could have been told in one chapter but is needlessly belabored over the course of the whole novel further bogs down the proceedings.

While many of the elements that made me love Grays previous works are present, the alchemical mixture that makes a good book simply doesnt catalyze in the same way in this title. Im definitely willing to give her next book a try as the final chapter sets up future stories for these characters and they all retain their potential even though it feels largely unfulfilled for me in this first entry. Im sad to say that this has been the weakest entry of the High Republic rollout for me. I hope the sequel better captures the feeling of a new era and Claudia Gray returns to form with the resonant character development and interaction that made her other books work.

A very good book from the initial “The High Republic” launch. It starts a little before Light of the Jedi and ends at the same time frame, but in this case, a motley group of people, four Jedi on their way to Starlight Beacon and the three civilians who will give them a ride.

They get stranded in the middle of nowhere when the Great Disaster happens and must turn over for safety into an apparently abandoned station along with the crews of many other ships around…

Padawan Reath Silas must work with Dez Rydan, the former Padawan of her Master, Jora Malli, and Masters Cohmac Vitus and a new type of Jedi, Wayseeker Orla Jareni, to secure the station and mediate disputes between old enemies.

Of course everything gets worse when they find out some ancient statues and the Jedi experience visions from the Dark Side. Eventually, they will find themselves between two deadly groups of enemies and must take difficult decisions to try to save everyone.

While it reads different than other Claudia Gray books, there is still a lot to unpack here, great characters, connections, flashbacks and as usual, new viewpoints about the Force and the Jedi Order, that will leave you thinking in the future.

Another solid entry from The High Republic, which is totally recommended!

This is a great book. Claudia Grey and Rae Carson have been the gold standard of the new Star Wars authors for me. This book is a great companion to the Light of the Jedi book, but adds a great deal to the High Republic era.

The book focuses around 4 new Jedi characters and the crew of frontier “vessel”. The characterisation and character development is great. For continuity as well I really like how the event of this book fit together with other book in the series and the honorable mention of characters used in the other book.

I really like the conflict in the Jedi of finding their own paths in life and the force. I also find it interesting how the Jedi are more political, philosophical, and when need militaristic in this time. Depending on which route a Jedi decides to go though they are given combat training the vast majority of them have not and don’t expect to use it. Part of the is also explained very well in this book.

After reading this book I would really like to see what is next for everyone in this book and really hope turn up in other book. I already main characters of A Test of Courage will be returning I hope these so as well. This era has suddenly got a lot more interesting.

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