Books The High Republic: Beware the Nameless by Zoraida Córdova

Middle grade book coming on August 27.

Spoiler: Synopsis

About Star Wars: The High Republic: Beware the Nameless
The High Republic continues in this fast-paced adventure that picks up from Escape from Valo, perfect for fans of sci-fi action. Think Sailor Moon meets Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting by way of Star Wars . . . with a dash of Last Kids on Earth!

This next installment in the New York Times best-selling series is written by award-winning author Zoraida Córdova and features six full-color pages of art!

It is a dark and dangerous time for the galaxy, and the Jedi of the High Republic must face their greatest trials yet. Over a year has passed since the destruction of the Starlight Beacon space station, and hopeful Jedi-in-training—including Tep Tep and Kildo from Escape from Valo—must work with Ram Jamoram and a few new friends to overcome their fears . . . and stop the monsters that threaten the very existence of the Jedi. Even the most reluctant readers won’t be able to put this down!

 

Oh I hope someone gets a magic girl transformation scene! (better be the Hutt haha)

Also interesting more talk of fear.

 

Spoiler: Preview

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/star-wars-the-high-republic-beware-the-nameless

Good to have a new Hutt POV. Seems like they are going to play an important role at the end of Phase 3.

 

Spoiler

Agreed. Also love seeing breaks from species stereotypes, particularly the hutts, and I am especially fond of nerdy characters, so this hutt is definitely interesting to me and I look forward to seeing more of him, potentially in non-high republic stuff as well given hutt lifespans, even if his name does make me hungry.

 

My copy's on its way!

 

Finished this book today - have to say it's very, very good. Probably my second favourrite middle grade HR novel behind Mission to Disaster. The new characters are wonderful - Churro steals the show, he is fabulous and certainly many young readers would relate to, despite being a large slug!

Without spoiling it, it get's quite dark for a middel grade with two notable moments involving the Nameless and what could be quite pivotal Nameless lore and chemistry that the Jedi now have. I assume it ties directly into Tears of the Nameless (indeed it says the info acquired will be passed to Reath), so there could be a summary in that book.

Obviously for a near 40 year old this was a quick read but would be a decent read for the intended target. Having read all the middle grades, I am very impressed with the general level of consistency with them. They have all been of good standard in my view.

 

Churro is the man, I agree. Considering the lifespan of the Hutts, it will be a sackable offense not to include him in every SW media from now on, ranging from the HR to the post TRoS era.

 

There was a little too much "adults do not believe that kids can handle it" at the beginning, but the rest of the book is great, with some of the action being not that far from Alien: Romulus in terms of gruesomeness. Focus on non-Force users POV in confrontations with Nameless benefited the narrative, since those can actively fight the monsters.

Spoiler

Although Nameless themselves now act less like xenomorphs and more like raptors from Jurassic Park, including a clear parallel with the third film.

Churo is one of the best characters in this phase, great that he will return rather soon in the next HRA Annual. Him mentioning Evona as a deity was a cool reference.

Surprisingly no direct mention of Axel, wonder how much his descendants know about the dark pages of his life.

Haze's backstory reminded me that having multiple local wars in the Outer Rim, ignored by the Republic, could've been a good explanation for both the Path and the Nihil having so much radicalized members, via recruiting both refugees and veterans from this conficts. It is not a completely missed opportunity, especially in Phase 2, but instead of one Forever War there could've been a lot more of them, and local Force sects could've participated in them, giving the Path more arguments in defense of its philosophy.

 

Spoiler

This scene?

 

Sadly, no.

 

So I finished the (audio)book, it was fine, a decent kids story.
I like the Hutt he is a lot of fun and I hope he shows up later, even post HR.

Spoiler

The stuff with the nameless is interesting, but the kids stories also did something interesting with the Drengir and that got ignored so I don't have high hopes, but maybe it will lead somewhere.