Action & Adventure
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Star Wars: The Fallen Star (The High Republic) (Star Wars: The High Republic)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this gripping sequel to Star Wars: The Rising Storm, the light of the Jedi faces its darkest hour.
Time and again, the vicious raiders known as the Nihil have sought to bring the golden age of the High Republic to a fiery end. Time and again, the High Republic has emerged battered and weary but victorious thanks to its Jedi protectors-and there is no monument to their cause grander than the Starlight Beacon.
Hanging like a jewel in the Outer Rim, the Beacon embodies the High Republic at the apex of its aspirations: a hub of culture and knowledge, a bright torch against the darkness of the unknown, and an extended hand of welcome to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As survivors and refugees flee the Nihil's attacks, the Beacon and its crew stand ready to shelter and heal.
The grateful Knights and Padawans of the Jedi Order stationed there finally have a chance to recover-from the pain of their injuries and the grief of their losses. But the storm they thought had passed still rages; they are simply caught in its eye. Marchion Ro, the true mastermind of the Nihil, is preparing his most daring attack yet-one designed to snuff out the light of the Jedi.
Time and again, the vicious raiders known as the Nihil have sought to bring the golden age of the High Republic to a fiery end. Time and again, the High Republic has emerged battered and weary but victorious thanks to its Jedi protectors-and there is no monument to their cause grander than the Starlight Beacon.
Hanging like a jewel in the Outer Rim, the Beacon embodies the High Republic at the apex of its aspirations: a hub of culture and knowledge, a bright torch against the darkness of the unknown, and an extended hand of welcome to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As survivors and refugees flee the Nihil's attacks, the Beacon and its crew stand ready to shelter and heal.
The grateful Knights and Padawans of the Jedi Order stationed there finally have a chance to recover-from the pain of their injuries and the grief of their losses. But the storm they thought had passed still rages; they are simply caught in its eye. Marchion Ro, the true mastermind of the Nihil, is preparing his most daring attack yet-one designed to snuff out the light of the Jedi.
Readers Top Reviews
Francis Gutierrez
Another great one by Carla, the only reason I don’t give it 5 stars is because I missed some of the brilliant character development she has showcased in other books like my all time fav Bloodline
C J TurnerSSL Sch
The constantly shifting point of views is just so hard to keep track off, combined with the modern penchant to kill off absolutely every and anyone just makes it thoroughly unenjoyable. I just didn't want to care/like any character. Basically bad guys get everything right, and do simple things. Good guys seem to pretty much fall over their own feet the entire time, whilst acting like toddlers/grumpy teenagers. Just feels like the modern trend to make the 'good' side more grey, whilst bad guys can continue on being 'bad'. Whilst done right and in small doses I get this can be usefull, it just feels like a broad brush has been applied making it thoroughly over the top. I read it through quickly, but I think after chapter 3 that was more to get it over and done with - If this was a film I'd compare it to a horror movie vs an action one (which maybe right up some people's street, but aint my cuppa tea).
LeiaSoloC J Turne
This book is a very good book in the series so far. I can't wait to read the last 2 in the series.
Michael DelaneyLe
This is the final book of phase 1 in the High Republic series. While this was good and I did enjoy it, it just didn’t live up to its predecessors for me. For most of the book it just felt like there was a lot going on with nothing actually going on. I know that sounds a bit confusing, but it just seemed like there was a lot happening but the story barely progressed. There were times where it was trying to be intense but it came off a bit boring with several anticlimactic deaths. My biggest problem is that the 2 biggest antagonists of the series, Marchion Ro and Lorna Dee took a massive backseat to be no more than side characters. “This is what hope is. It isn’t pretending that nothing will go wrong if only we try hard enough. It’s looking squarely at all the obstacles in the way knowing the limits of our own power, and the possibility of failure and moving ahead anyway. That is how we must proceed. With hope.” Now let’s talk about some of the good. Despite saying it felt like nothing happened, the book finished off pretty strong and emotional. Claudia Gray introduced several new characters, and one of those will end up being a big favorite as he does remind me a bit of Han Solo, plus Marc Thompson’s narration also made him even cooler by basing Leox’s voice and mannerisms from Matthew McConaughey. This also included an “alright, alright, alright” which literally made me jump out of my seat with excitement! Also, I can’t believe it took me 3 books to realize that he made Stellan Gios sound like Chris Hemsworth. “Each individual was a small spark of the one great consciousness, the universe beholding itself; if you’d do something to save your own life, he figured you ought to be willing to do it to save another’s.” The action really didn’t pick up until around the 70% mark, which was far too long of a wait. I would 100% suggest doing the audio, or like I did, kindle whispersync. The audio does wonders and definitely helps out in the parts that I described above that felt boring. If I was to grade the book alone it would be 2.5-3 stars, and the audio 5 easily. I really hope phase 2 picks back up with how books 1 and 2 went.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter 1
Stellan Gios was among those Jedi who perceived the Force as the entire firmament of stars in the sky. Points of brilliant heat and energy, seemingly distanced from one another by infinite absence and cold-but actually profoundly connected. Families, friends, tribes, organizations: Each formed a different constellation, carving shape and meaning from the sky. (Were not he, Avar Kriss, and Elzar Mann such a constellation? Stellan had always thought so, even in childhood.) The Force shone forth from them all, illuminating the vast dark; if Stellan but had the ability to perceive every living being, it would have the same effect as being able to see every star in the universe at once: total, pure, all-encompassing light.
Rarely had he felt so close to that ideal moment as he did on this day.
Colorful banners streamed in the sunshine, fluttering over a throng of thousands who were laughing, eating food from tents and carts, and enjoying the beautiful day and-at last-a sense of true safety and belonging. Or so Stellan liked to think.
Finally, he thought, we've regained the joy the Nihil stole from us for so long. At last we can celebrate our unity the way we should've been able to from the beginning.
Stellan stood at the head of the Starlight delegation upon a dais that overlooked the celebration. In the eyes of most of the galaxy, Eiram was an insignificant place, a tiny dot on a star chart too obscure to bother with. But this had been one of the worlds that had led the campaign for this part of space to finally join the Republic, which made their recent mission here all the more symbolic.
Eiram had recently suffered a storm-the kind of vicious cyclone only a handful of planets could muster, one that had at its apex covered almost an entire hemisphere. Terrible winds had badly damaged the desalination structures that supplied the planet's only fresh water. This was a crisis that would devastate an independent planet, leading to a mass exodus or even starvation.
But planets in the Republic had a reason to hope.
"And so, instead of returning to its place in the heavens, Starlight Beacon was transported here, to Eiram!" The storyteller gestured at the holo that showed Starlight being towed through outer space, for only the second time ever, following a lifesaving mission to the planet Dalna. Ringed around the storyteller, dozens of children oohed and aahed in wonder. The shimmer of the holo was reflected in their bright eyes. "The Republic and the Jedi came to save us all, by bringing us water, supplies, and most of all . . . hope."
Stellan felt a faint twinge of regret that he hadn't been here to personally oversee the station's moving and the beginning of the repairs. He'd still been on Coruscant then, so he'd tasked Master Estala Maru with supervising every step-not because he doubted the specialists, but because it was so important for this to be absolutely right. Nobody in the galaxy paid more attention to detail than Maru.
Upon Stellan's return two days prior, the repairs for the desalination plant weren't entirely complete. All they had to do now, however, was attach the sluice gates-something that would be accomplished as soon as the tow craft were available, a week or two at most. The people of Eiram might still have water rationing in place, but the rations were generous, and after several weeks of hardship the planet was ready to celebrate.
Stellan said as much to Maru, who replied, "Right. It's the perfect time for everybody. But it doesn't hurt that this is when the chancellor happened to be free."
"Such is the state of politics," Stellan said.
In truth, it was good of Chancellor Soh to have made the time to attend, even holographically. The flickering images next to him on the dais saw her sitting comfortably in an informal chair, her enormous targons lying on either side of her, dozing in the contentment of beasts. Stellan's eyes met Lina Soh's, briefly-each sharply conscious of the memories of the Republic Fair. The image of Stellan lifting her unconscious body from the rubble had already become iconic: both of the evil of the Nihil, and of the resilience of the Republic. Thus the two of them were in a strange way bound together in the public eye; in the same way, Stellan had become the Jedi, the symbol of the Order.
"If we're a constellation," Elzar Mann had said, before leaving for his retreat, "the Council has made you the polestar." Stellan would've liked to disagree, but he couldn't.
Stellan wasn't sure how he felt about that. So he was guiltily relieved that the chancellor hadn't attended in person. Otherwise there would've been pressure to come up with some new iconic image, somehow.
...
Stellan Gios was among those Jedi who perceived the Force as the entire firmament of stars in the sky. Points of brilliant heat and energy, seemingly distanced from one another by infinite absence and cold-but actually profoundly connected. Families, friends, tribes, organizations: Each formed a different constellation, carving shape and meaning from the sky. (Were not he, Avar Kriss, and Elzar Mann such a constellation? Stellan had always thought so, even in childhood.) The Force shone forth from them all, illuminating the vast dark; if Stellan but had the ability to perceive every living being, it would have the same effect as being able to see every star in the universe at once: total, pure, all-encompassing light.
Rarely had he felt so close to that ideal moment as he did on this day.
Colorful banners streamed in the sunshine, fluttering over a throng of thousands who were laughing, eating food from tents and carts, and enjoying the beautiful day and-at last-a sense of true safety and belonging. Or so Stellan liked to think.
Finally, he thought, we've regained the joy the Nihil stole from us for so long. At last we can celebrate our unity the way we should've been able to from the beginning.
Stellan stood at the head of the Starlight delegation upon a dais that overlooked the celebration. In the eyes of most of the galaxy, Eiram was an insignificant place, a tiny dot on a star chart too obscure to bother with. But this had been one of the worlds that had led the campaign for this part of space to finally join the Republic, which made their recent mission here all the more symbolic.
Eiram had recently suffered a storm-the kind of vicious cyclone only a handful of planets could muster, one that had at its apex covered almost an entire hemisphere. Terrible winds had badly damaged the desalination structures that supplied the planet's only fresh water. This was a crisis that would devastate an independent planet, leading to a mass exodus or even starvation.
But planets in the Republic had a reason to hope.
"And so, instead of returning to its place in the heavens, Starlight Beacon was transported here, to Eiram!" The storyteller gestured at the holo that showed Starlight being towed through outer space, for only the second time ever, following a lifesaving mission to the planet Dalna. Ringed around the storyteller, dozens of children oohed and aahed in wonder. The shimmer of the holo was reflected in their bright eyes. "The Republic and the Jedi came to save us all, by bringing us water, supplies, and most of all . . . hope."
Stellan felt a faint twinge of regret that he hadn't been here to personally oversee the station's moving and the beginning of the repairs. He'd still been on Coruscant then, so he'd tasked Master Estala Maru with supervising every step-not because he doubted the specialists, but because it was so important for this to be absolutely right. Nobody in the galaxy paid more attention to detail than Maru.
Upon Stellan's return two days prior, the repairs for the desalination plant weren't entirely complete. All they had to do now, however, was attach the sluice gates-something that would be accomplished as soon as the tow craft were available, a week or two at most. The people of Eiram might still have water rationing in place, but the rations were generous, and after several weeks of hardship the planet was ready to celebrate.
Stellan said as much to Maru, who replied, "Right. It's the perfect time for everybody. But it doesn't hurt that this is when the chancellor happened to be free."
"Such is the state of politics," Stellan said.
In truth, it was good of Chancellor Soh to have made the time to attend, even holographically. The flickering images next to him on the dais saw her sitting comfortably in an informal chair, her enormous targons lying on either side of her, dozing in the contentment of beasts. Stellan's eyes met Lina Soh's, briefly-each sharply conscious of the memories of the Republic Fair. The image of Stellan lifting her unconscious body from the rubble had already become iconic: both of the evil of the Nihil, and of the resilience of the Republic. Thus the two of them were in a strange way bound together in the public eye; in the same way, Stellan had become the Jedi, the symbol of the Order.
"If we're a constellation," Elzar Mann had said, before leaving for his retreat, "the Council has made you the polestar." Stellan would've liked to disagree, but he couldn't.
Stellan wasn't sure how he felt about that. So he was guiltily relieved that the chancellor hadn't attended in person. Otherwise there would've been pressure to come up with some new iconic image, somehow.
...
