Le tenia muchas ganas y al final se me ha atascado un poco la lectura.

El concepto de base me gusta y la introducción a todo el conflicto me enganchó lo suficiente, pero los diversos saltos en el punto de vista y un ritmo irregular han hecho que me cueste rematar el libro rápido. No he conseguido conectar demasiado con los personajes incluso siendo carismáticos, y el villano parece un don nadie hasta casi el final.

Me gusta el periodo que parece que introduce y todo lo que parece indicar que sucedera en la High Republic, pero esta novela ha sido un inicio agridulce. ( )

Project Luminous was the name given to the top-secret project at Disney/Star Wars that, for several years after J.J. Abrams’s “Episode VII: The Force Awakens” hit theaters, was only talked about in hushed whispers. It was going to be big.

In 2021, it was announced that Project Luminous was the code name for the next phase of the Star Wars franchise, after “Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker” officially concluded the nine-film arc started way back in 1977 by George Lucas.

Set hundreds of years before the original films, “The High Republic” imagined a pre-Empire galaxy when the Jedi Knights held the peace during a time of prosperity and exploration for the galaxy.

(For those, like me, who grew up in a pre-J.J. Abrams, pre-Disney-owned Star Wars world, there was a similar setting called the Old Republic, presumably set several hundred years prior to the High Republic. The Old Republic is considered “old canon” and is not talked about, despite the fact that to a lot of fans—-especially gamers—-the Old Republic was the best thing to ever happen to Star Wars. Sadly, though, like the misunderstood weird older brother in “Encanto”, we don’t talk about that Bruno.)

Charles Soule had the honor of writing the first published novel in the High Republic series, “Light of the Jedi”. Part of a huge publishing event that simultaneously saw the beginning of a series of young adult novels, middle reader chapter books, children’s books, and graphic novels, the High Republic series carried the hopes of many excited Disney executives.

Fans, not so much.

Not that it stopped them from going out to Target and buying them all up. I admit it: I did.

Granted, it took me this long to read them, but whatever.

“Light of the Jedi” starts out strong. A space freighter accident while in hyperspace results in the fragments of the ship popping out of hyperspace and becoming missile-like projectiles that lay waste to anything in its path. A large portion of these killer fragments pop up in the Hetzal system and on an extinction-level collision course toward Hetzal Prime, a large farming planet that produces a large percentage of crops for the entire galaxy. If it is destroyed, the consequences—both economically and in terms of food distribution—would be catastrophic.

Thankfully, Jedi Knights from the newly-created Starlight Beacon answer the distress calls. They rush to the Hetzal system to protect the planet and other inhabited moons and stations.

I admit: the first hundred pages of this book are pretty intense and action-packed. It reads like a classic Tom Clancy techno-thriller based in outer space. This is, hands down, Star Wars at its best.

The rest of the novel was, sadly, a bit of a let-down. The villains of the novel—a motley arrangement of multiple alien species devoted to piracy and bad life decisions called the Nihil—-don’t appear until the half-way mark. They are annoying and not that threatening. They remind me of the Pirates of Caribbean in space, minus any interesting characters like Captain Jack Sparrow to rally behind. They mostly want to wreak havoc and cause lots of death and destruction. That’s pretty much it for their motivation.

The other major problem with the novel is that there are way too many characters and none of them are given any time to develop into actual three-dimensional people. They are all just stock cardboard cut-out Jedi heroes. When several of them die throughout the course of the novel, I was left with a rather embarrassing feeling of utter indifference. Was I supposed to feel bad and shed a tear? All I knew was their name. Soule’s idea of character development is telling us what their favorite food is and that they like to listen to Star Wars-y rock music. Then they die.

What separates “Light of the Jedi” from the original Star Wars movies is characters that were, at the very least, interesting and, over time and several films later, lovable. But you can’t forcibly duplicate that. It has to happen organically.

Soule is info-bombing us with an entire cast of characters that we are suddenly supposed to give a shit about, but it doesn’t work that way.

I’m disappointed with “Light of the Jedi” but I can’t say I’m totally shocked. I have felt this kind of disappointment with a lot of the new canon stuff. The only new canon stuff that I have actually thought was great has been the comic books, including the High Republic comic book series.

Actually, “Light of the Jedi” has the feel of a story that was probably supposed to be in graphic novel form but then novelized. I’m sure if “Light of the Jedi” was adapted into graphic novel form (and I’m honestly surprised that it hasn’t yet, that I know of), it would probably work a lot better. ( )

This is the first in a series of books set in the Star Wars galaxy two centuries before the time period seen in the films. The Galactic Republic has ushered in an era of peace and prosperity and is expanding into the territories of the Outer Rim. The book begins with a bang as a freighter called the Legacy Run breaks apart in hyperspace with pieces emerging throughout the galaxy and threatening to destroy the Hetzal system. Several Jedi arrive to not only attempt to stop the annihilation of planets but save passengers still trapped in the fragmented compartments of the ship.

The crisis leads to the closing of hyperspace lanes which are necessary to connecting the various far flung planetary systems threatens the stability of the Republic. A group of marauders known as the Nihil take advantage of the crisis. Marchion Ro, known as the Eye of the Nihil, has found a unique way to navigate paths through hyperspace, allowing the raiders to continue their attacks. But Ro has even bigger plans to consolidate his power that the leaders of the Nihil are unaware of, including facing off with the Jedi.

It's refreshing to have a piece of Star Wars media that is completely unconnected from the Skywalker Saga (although Yoda is mentioned). That being said, there are a lot of new characters in this book and I don't think I ever got a handle on the significant characteristics of each one. I do like that the Jedi seem more independent from the Republic than they were in the prequel movies, and also a bit more mysterious. My favorite character is Burryaga Agaburry, a sensitive Wookiee padawan. ( )

"Peace without justice is flawed, hollow at its core. It is the peace provided by tyranny."

You know that scene in Ratatouille where Remi eats the cheese, and then the strawberry, and then the strawberry with the cheese, and then he closes his eyes and there's a bunch of fireworks?
That was me reading this book.

I've read Star Wars books I loved before, but Light of the Jedi went, narratively, where I never imagined it could.
It's ruthless. It kills characters. It gives them depth.

With so many switching povs is impressive how much it builds, because in the end you don't spend that much time with each character. And yet you feel the weight of every decision, of every fear, every bond. You feel the hardship of a wookie who can't be understood, the pain of a Jedi feeling a partner disappear, the machinations of a truly unpredictable antagonist.

I will say that, with so many new characters, I was quite lost and had to keep an infographic with illustrations to remind myself who exactly everyone was and what they were supposed to look like, but that's mostly part of the overall Star Wars experience.

This is an incredible introduction to this era of galactic history and I can't wait to read the rest of it! ( )

Pros: interesting new ways of hyperspace travel. A mystery near the end involving the bad guy so you want to read more to know what's that.
Cons: way too many characters and most are forgettable. Boring story, it took me ages to finish this. ( )