'It is the era of the High Republic and interstellar expansion is at its height. As trusted guardians of peace, the renowned Jedi protect the Republic and shine their light on those exploring the darkest reaches of the galaxy.
'Jedi Knight Lily Tora-Asi learns the Drengir attack on Banchii was not an isolated event but part of a coordinated attack orchestrated by the Nihil. Master Arkoff is on orders from the Jedi Council to help Master Stellan Gios’s investigation, leaving Lily in charge of rebuilding Banchii and restoring hope to the community. Lily vows the temple will not be put in danger again, not under her watch! When a disruptive unannounced visitor appears, Lily must maintain her focus as she seeks the best way to protect Banchii, Keerin, and the Younglings from the growing Nihil threat.'
After several months of waiting the second volume of Star Wars The High Republic: Edge of Balance has arrived, and picks up with Lilu Tora-Asi, and the other inhabitants of Banchii, following their encounter with the monstrous Drengir.
With Jedi Master Arkoff having left Banchii to help Master Stellan Gios, Lily has been left as the most senior Jedi on the planet. Unfortunately, several members of the young colony seem disinterested in listening to Lily's advice and leadership in the absence of Master Arkoff. Whilst the farmers want to rebuild their homes and their farms following the attack, Lily believes it best to build bunkers so that the colonists have a place to hide if the Nihil launch an attack. As tensions begin to mount between Lily and the farmers she begins to take her frustrations out on the temple younglings.
Its at this time the strange and mysterious Jedi Sav Malagán arrives on Banchii, having just come from the Nihil attack on Takodana. Sav tries to help Lily, and even provides some weapons for the inhabitants to use for protection in the event of a Nihil attack. When the Jedi discover that their communications are down it's decided that Lily and the younglings will travel to the Starlight Beacon to tell Master Arkoff about some discovered sabotage. But whilst they're away, the Nihil put their plans for Banchii into motion.
One of the things that I disliked about the first volume of The Edge of Balance was how isolated it felt. The Drengir and the Nihil were part of the story, but it still felt like the events of the book were taking place in their own little corner, completely on their own. In comparison, this volume has so many appearances of other characters, plot points from other parts of the project, and name drops, that it feels like it's become a connected part of the whole finally.
As someone who's not completely up to date with the novels, but has read all of the comics, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I was able to keep up with all of the developments and characters that appeared here. And I think a big part of that is down to the involvement of Daniel José Older, who wrote the Star Wars The High Republic Adventures comics; which I absolutely adored. Fans of those comics will find a lot to like here. There's the inclusion of Sav Malagán, one of the coolest Jedi around. We get to see the Great Jedi Rumble Race. Buckets of Blood, Lula Talisola, Zeen Mrala, Krix Kamerat, Marchion Ro, and Farzala Tarabal all make appearances, ranging from single panels to small scenes. And I'm sure there are other characters that fans will recognise too.
A small portion of the book is given over to Lily and the kids travelling to Starlight Beacon, which is where much of the crossovers and character appearances happen, and as such we don't get as much time on Banchii in this book as the previous one. However, the time we do spend there is used well, and we have some big developments for the characters. The Nihil attack the planet, and it becomes clear by the end of this book that whatever comes next in this series is going to be very different; because things are not going to be the same again. Especially as not everyone gets out of this volume alive.
I'm not going to say which character dies, or how, but it was a well done moment, and the fallout from it was believable, and quite sad too. It took me by surprise how invested in this I was by how genuinely sad it made me when we lost this character. I'll certainly be interested in seeing how this loss will effect the survivors going forward.
Mizuki Sakakibara provides the art for the book, as they did with the first volume, and the book looks great. All of the characters look nice, the environments are pretty and detailed, and the action scenes have a lot of flair and dynamic moments in them. Possibly my only complaint with the art, which I've seen others make, is that most of the adults look quite young, and around the same age, and it's not always easy to know how old some characters are supposed to be. But other than that, the art is wonderful. It's great to see familiar faces appear, drawn in this new style, and certain characters really do work best in this type of art. There's also a character design gallery in the back of the book, which has some great drawings of a few of the characters, ships, and lightsabers.
I had a good time with this volume of Star Wars The High Republic: Edge of Balance. It felt like the story was finally a part of the bigger whole, and that this was taking place amongst the other story threads in the High Republic. There were some fun moments, some depressing moments, and the end sets up for a much more interesting volume three. Hopefully we won't be waiting long for it.
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