Originally published on Set The Tape
The first major story arc in the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures series comes to a close with this issue, and sets our characters out on firm paths going forward into the next exciting chapter.
The book opens where the last one left off, with the Jedi and Nihil locked in fierce combat, whilst Zeen heads to the junk moon of Quantxi in order to find her friend, Krix Kamerat, who has fallen in with the Nihil. Thankfully, the Jedi padawans, Lula Talisola, Qort, and Farzala, have gone after Zeen, though they might struggle to get to her in time to stop the confrontation that’s sure to happen when she and Krix come face to face once again.
This issue is packed full of action, with some large scale battles as the Jedi and Nihil come into conflict, and the Trash Mavens of Quantxi summon a huge monster to come and fight for them against the invaders; but the book also manages to pack in a good deal of plot, and we see some interesting things happen over the course of the issue.
Not only do we get to see Zeen and Krix finally decide what sides of the conflict they want to be on (setting things up nicely for future stories), but we also discover that the Nihil aren’t just randomly attacking planets or simply sowing chaos for the sake of it. Whilst we don’t know the full details yet, it’s revealed that the Nihil are looking for some kind of ancient artefacts, and have already found some. This mysterious revelation sets Yoda out on his own to try and find answers, answers that the audience will hopefully get soon.
This new mystery definitely adds a lot to the series, and makes it feel like there’s a lot more going on than we thought up to this point. The series hasn’t been bad up to now, but it has felt a little like there wasn’t a ‘bigger picture’, that it was simply living in the moment, telling stories of the Jedi and Nihil clashing whenever they came across each other; albeit with the personal story of Zeen and Krix thrown in.
Now, however, we know that there’s some big secret at the heart of things, that the Nihil have a plan, and that’s definitely a lot more intriguing. It makes the story feel bigger, like it could have larger stakes and a bigger impact upon The High Republic series and franchise as a whole. Who knows, with them being after some kind of ancient artefact this could start to touch upon The Old Republic, which would be extremely exciting.
The issue brings this introductory chapter to this new era to a close in a decent way, and establishes some new plot threads well, allowing Daniel Jose Older to start focusing on other things now that we’ve got a firm footing in this new time frame. While I am hoping we will learn more about this bigger mystery, I’m also interested in seeing him focus on some of the characters that haven’t really had a chance to shine yet; something which we might be getting very soon if the cover for issue six is anything to go by.
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