Excellent taster hope the books become available for review soon, an exciting first dip into uncharted territory of Star Wars

Set 200 years prior to ‘The Phantom Menace’, ‘The High Republic’ Publishing Initiative finally kicks off after COVID delays.

We have been lucky enough to get some samples from the books. Charles Soule released the first 8 chapters from his book ‘Light of the Jedi’ online recently, and this sampler of the other two books that start the series, ‘Test of Courage’, the middle grade novel from Justina Ireland and ‘Into the Dark’ a Young Adult novel by Star Wars literary MVP Claudia Grey both help establish the quality of both upcoming books as well as giving us a taste of the stories.

As someone who has been excited for this series since it was announced in 2019, to finally get to read the first three chapters of these two books was amazing, they are written for their targeted age groups but as a Star Wats fan it’s about the story for me and what I read got me excited.

Whilst I don’t want to go into story details, what I will say is that the sampler has whet my appetite even more. It’s a great way for fans to get a look at what’s to come and also anyone on the fence about the series to test the waters.

I think I can speak for a lot of people when I say that the hype for The High Republic is high. Ever since they announced the mysterious “project luminous,” we have all been wondering and theorizing over what kinds of stories these books will hold. I’ve got to say after reading these two samples I’m definitely hooked! I loved meeting all of the characters and am very interested in where both stories are going. I'm a big fan of both Justina Ireland and Claudia Gray both in and outside of Star Wars and I can't wait to see what else they have instore for us!

These samplers by Justina and Claudia are a great way to dip your toes into the new world that is the High Republic era. I didn't know what to expect from this new phase of the Star Wars franchise, but I'm even more excited than I was before. What stood out the most to me is these aren't your ordinary cookie-cutter Jedi Knights, but, rather, they are very morally conflicted characters trying to find their way in the world despite the "peaceful" times they're living in. It's very evident that the doomed "Great Disaster" (the pinnacle event which launches us into this new era of storytelling) is a cataclysmic event that will test our heroes and force them to make choices they had never thought, and that excites me to no end.

For more of my thoughts on the High Republic books by Justina Ireland and Claudia Gray, check out our coverage on the Friends of the Force podcast after the January 5th launch.

I received this sampler from NetGalley. There were two books in this sampler - I will review each sampler in turn.

The sample from the middle-grade book "A Test of Courage" was very brief. It briefly introduced Vernestra, a gift Jedi Knight who is accompanying a senator's daughter to the Starlight Beacon. This hub of Jedi activity and space station that will serve the Outer Rim. It seems that the Starlight Beacon will be an important location in the High Republic novels. Avon is a troublemaker, but mostly just wants to invent and create. She is going to Starlight Beacon to join her mother and become playmate to an ambassador's son. There wasn't much more plot development in the sample, but lure of the High Republic is strong and I am definitely interested in learning more about Vernestra and her fellow Knights.

The second sample is from "Into the Dark". This story follows Reath, a Jedi apprentice who is leaving Coruscant to meet his Jedi Master on Starlight Beacon. He'd rather sit in the Jedi Archives on Coruscant than leave for an adventure in the wilds of the Outer Rim. But he must go where his master is assigned. He finds that there are several renowned Jedi joining him in the transport. They meet trouble on their way - and it's up to the Jedi to figure out what is at hand. You meet several interesting characters and learn more about different Jedi personalities and assignments. This sample definitely made me want to continue this story and learn more about the time of the High Republic.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read these chapter samplers in exchange for an honest review.

The first sampler included was "A Test of Courage" by Justina Ireland. This follows a young Jedi who is escorting a Senator's daughter to a new space station: Starlight Beacon.
This story didn't click with me at first because I wasn't aware this was a Middle-Grade novel. I've only read a few Star Wars universe books so far, but all of them were aimed at adults, so the tone and language had me baffled the first few pages, even though the story itself was engaging. However, in hindsight, I think it will be a delight to young fans of Star Wars, as the tone is light-hearted and the character's personalities really shone through even in these first few chapters.

Next sampler was "Into the Dark" by Claudia Gray. The main character, Padawan Reath Silas, who would rather spend his days researching Jedi lore, but is tasked instead to join the Jedi delegation that is going to the new space station, Starlight Beacon. We are soon introduced to a mysterious event, "The Great Disaster", causing starships from all across the galaxy to exit hyperspace, leaving Reath and his companions stranded.
I was very impressed with how "Into the Dark" introduced in only three chapters a very interesting cast of characters. Though Reath is the main character, we spent some POV with a few others, and each narrative felt strong and layered, making it easy to track who was who. The cast all feel unique and the backstories that were hinted at made me want more of this story. I'll definitely be reading this book once it releases!

Star Wars The High Republic Chapter Sampler contains a few chapters for both A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland, and Into the Dark by Claudia Gray. If I'm being totally honest, it's the latter that made me REALLY want to read this (I adore anything Claudia Gray writes for Star Wars).

Honestly, I'm fairly impressed by what I read in these pages, and I can promise you that I will be seeking out both books to complete as soon as possible. I love that more YA novels are being written for Star Wars, and I really (really x10) hope that we'll be seeing one of these eventually evolve into something for Disney+. That would be my dream.

First off, thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to peruse these first few chapters of Star Wars: The High Republic lit. It is a tad hard to describe my fandom with Star Wars other than omnivorish. Over the last few decades, I have consumed any and all Star Wars novels, junior adaptations, comic books, etc., and I have been very excited to see how Disney Books was going to be approaching the new “High Republic” timeline.

First up was a few chapters from Justina Ireland’s A Test of Courage. This junior-aimed novel, set a couple of centuries before the events of The Phantom Menace, follows the young Mirialan Jedi Vernestra Rwoh (don’t call her Vern) as she escorts Senatorial daughter Avon Starros (a precocious inventor) to the unveiling of a new space station: the Starlight Beacon.

Being a junior novel, the fare is pretty lighthearted, but quite engaging just from the small sample that I was able to read. You definitely get a grasp of the primary characters’ personalities quite quickly, and I’m quite excited for the full release.

Next in the sampler was Into the Dark by Claudia Gray. Ms. Gray is no stranger to the Star Wars Universe having written such great story bridges as Bloodline, Lost Stars, and Master & Apprentice.

The start of Into the Dark is no different. The Reader definitely gets a feel for the tone right off the bat with the introduction of the primary character: Padawan Learner Reath Silas.

Reath is being sent off to the Starlight Beacon a part of a Jedi delegation for the unveiling of the space station. Tagging along are Jedi Orla Jareni and Jedi Cohmac Vitus who have previous experience in the area where Starlight Beacon is being built. At least a portion of the sample provided jumps into a flashback of them on a mission there twenty-five years before the current adventure takes place.

By far my favorite characters introduced in this short excerpt are the transport pilot, Leox Gyasi, and his apprentice/copilot Affie Hollow: both from the Outer Rim-situated Byrne Guild. Both of these characters, along with their navigator Geode, bring some fantastic levity and opportunity for some real mirth.

I think the true underlying “star” of the entire run of The High Republic releases is going to be the mysterious “Great Disaster.” There is some hinting to it in what we had to read from Into the Dark, but, like a good sampler, the reader is just left wanting more.

I, for one, cannot wait.

A TEST OF COURAGE:
I was delighted to stumble across the NetGalley High Republic Sample. "A Test of Courage" was the first book featured. I wasn't totally blown away by it - probably because I'm not the target audience Ireland is writing to - but it nevertheless offered plenty to keep older fans reading. Vernestra seems a bit young for a full-blown Jedi Knight, but it's done believably enough and wasn't overwhelmingly annoying. I was especially delighted by Avon Starros' early appearance and...unique...presence. As an avid Star Wars comics reader, it was the icing on the cake to see Sana Starros' kin in a very different societal position than Sana finds herself in several hundred years later. I can only speak for the first three chapters, which were solid and made me eager to continue.

INTO THE DARK:
I had the privilege of getting to read the first few chapters of Into the Dark through NetGalley and it was excellent. Having Claudia Gray writing Star Wars YA again is one of the things I've been looking forward to about this first slate of High Republic books, and she doesn't disappoint. The story begins with a Jedi journey to Starlight Beacon, much as the other High Republic books have.
The characters are excellent. The protagonist Reath Silas is a padawan who's less gifted in the Force than most other Jedi, and who'd rather stay on Coruscant in the temple libraries than journey to wild space. The rest of the Jedi manage to all be unique, and adding in the chaotic pilots' crew is the icing on the cake.
I was delightfully surprised by the many nuggets of information are dropped in just the first few pages. It's made clear that this isn't the exact same Star Wars galaxy we know and love, but a nuanced past filled with events that shaped the stories of the movies.
I don't want to spoil too much. I'm giving this one a cautious 5* for now - subject to change when I actually read the full book. Based on the first three chapters, I'd definitely recommend especially to fans of Star Wars YA.

As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I'm very excited to see where the next phase of Star Wars leads. The sampler chapters in these two books was a great preview into what we might get in 2021. I loved meeting the new Jedis, and I'm excited to see how this might tie into the rest of the universe. Also, based on these chapters, Claudia Gray has written a phenomenal book, as always. I can't wait to read the rest!

I want to thank Net Galley and Lucas Film Press for giving us access to the first few chapters in two of the most exciting Star Wars books in years. I have been a Star Wars fan for most of my life and when Legends ended I felt like I had lost a dear friend but with the High Republic I feel like that friend has come back. ATOC and Into The Dark introduces us to a variety of new Jedi and interesting new locations. The books are both well written and have merely wetted my appetite for the full High Republic release in 2021. I am counting the days.

This review is on the three sample chapters of “Into the Dark” (freely available in NetGalley) the new Claudia Gray YA novel that takes place during the High Republic.

Out main character is Reath Silas, a Padawan living in the Jedi Temple in Coruscant. When we first meet him he is a on a farewell party, before he embarks on his latest Jedi mission: He is going to meet his master Jora Malli in the new space station “Starlight Beacon”, situated in a lost moon between the twin planets Eiram and E’ronoh. When he gets on the ship we quickly meet the rest of the travelling crew: Orla Jareni, a Jedi who recently declare herself as a Wayseeker, Dez Rydan, former Padawan of Jora Malli, and Master Cohmac Vitus. The rest of the cast is comprised of the crew of the Vessel, the spaceship that will take them to Starlight Beacon: Leox Gyasi, captain of the ship who seems to be permanently on spice, Affie Hollow the seventeen year old copilot, and Geode, the navigator, who might or might not be a sentient rock.

During the trip we get POV from all the characters (except Geode) sending hints on why they want to take this trip. We learn that both Orla and Cohmac have been at that corner of space before, and might have some unfinished business there.

The adventure starts when the hyperspace lane is full of debris, probably from some big spaceship being destroyed, forcing the Vessel to go back to realspace. After further inquiring they discover that all hyperspace lanes in the inner core are useless at the moment…

After reading these sample chapters I am very excited about reading the rest of the book, here are some of the reasons:
Reath is described as a more bookish and less adventurous Jedi, How will that play out with the dangers he will encounter that far out of space?
Orla is a Wayseeker, a term I’ve never heard of before (and doesn’t exist in the wookiepedia), what does this exactly mean and what prompted her to make this decision?
What happened to Orla and Cohmac in Eiram/E’ronoh and how did it shaped their current Jedi paths?
Reath claims to have a weaker connection to the force than other Jedis, I would like to see the consequences of this played out.
Is Geode really sentient or is this a very elaborated prank by the crew?
Will the Vessel eventually make it to Starlight Beacon?

I’m looking forward to read the rest of this book when it comes out in February!

Without spoiling anything, this chapter sampler blew me away. Both authors have captured the Star Wars universe perfectly, and made me hungry for more of the era. Story, characters and setting all seem to be going in the direction that Star Wars needs right now.

I’m really looking forward to seeing where the story goes next, and reviewing the novels in their entirety.

I have been extremely excited about all of the upcoming High Republic books since the announcement in February. As more and more information, art, and excerpts have been released I have followed along with great interest. This preview has the first few chapters of "A Test of Courage" by Justina Ireland and "Into the Dark" by Claudia Gray. Already the writing in both has grabbed me. The characters in "A Test of Courage" are already interesting and play off of each other well. Vern the fresh young padawan eager but hesitant, and Avon with her boundless curiosity, intelligence, and mischievousness. "Into the Dark" introduces padawan Reath Silas who would rather be researching Jedi lore in an archive than on a mission which is a wonderful fresh new take on the more common over-eager and ready to prove themselves padawans we have met before. I can't wait to read both of these books and see where these characters go and learn more about their place and this rich new time in Star Wars lore!

The High Republic is set to launch an entirely new era of Star Wars. Set centuries before The Phantom Menace, the first round of these books will change the way we see the Jedi, the Republic, and the galaxy far, far away as a whole.

As if we weren't already hyped enough, the first several chapters of two of the books in this publishing initiative, by Justina Ireland and Claudia Gray, released a little early.

It's a good thing, too -- because it's clear these books, and the many more set to follow, are going to change Star Wars forever. For the better.

For years, fans have been begging for Star Wars to do something entirely unexpected and new. That's what you get in these sample chapters. It looks like Star Wars. It sounds and feels like Star Wars. But these new characters, living in a time we've never had access to before, add a layer of novelty to the text we've all been craving.

As usual, Ireland and Gray waste no time coaxing us into falling in love with every character we meet. So much so that we root for and fear for them all, especially as they're thrust into danger.

If these first few chapters of each book are any indication, this is going to be some of the best storytelling we've seen in book form in this universe in a long time. And it can only get better from here.

With the High Republic being a new initiative from the Publishing side of Star Wars, I didn't know exactly what to expect. But there is no reason to have trepidations about this new project, the sample chapters for both books were excellent. What immediately strikes me in reading these selections back to back is the cohesion of vision and understanding of the space and time we are in. This was part of what was advertised when the project was announced, and it already is paying off, just in these few chapters.

In A Test of Courage, I am most looking forward to the political elements in Vernestra's mission and how that weaves into the mystical Jedi storyline.
In Into the Dark, I already absolutely love Reath, who is a bookworm and a historian and a lover of the library. I am very much looking forward to seeing how his personal interests clash with his mission and how he uses his nontraditional strengths as he goes on his mission.

These sample chapters have shown me that every book within this initiative is going to be essential, and something that I'm going to want to have on my shelves as soon as they come out!

I read the chapter sampler for A Test of Courage and Into the Dark, and both were fantastic.

Although the chapter sampler mostly consisted of character introductions, Into the Dark quickly got into some interesting moments, and thus was slightly more enjoyable in my opinion.

I'm excited to continue reading both of these, along with the other upcoming Star Wars novels.

Thanks to NetGalley and Disney Lucasfilm Press for allowing me to read these chapter samplers in exchange for an honest review.

My first impression on both three chapter samplers are that they do feel very much like Star Wars, but also very fresh. That's been my problem with other Star Wars books in the Skywalker Saga thus far, they do keep fairly close to the story without offering a lot more new information, which is understandable because they do want people to prioritize the movies over the books. I feel like both of these stories which seem to center on the Starlight Beacon make me excited to read about the Star Wars universe again.

A Test of Courage feels like the other middle grade stories that I've read, but felt a little more mature for the age range. It was still fairly simple but it wasn't holding your hand as much as other middle grade stories would.

I am very interested in "Into the Dark" by Claudia Gray, it gave me major Firefly vibes, the group of Jedi Knights going to the "frontier" on a transport ship mixing with a young quirky cast that doesn't know much about the ways of the Jedi. I can't wait to see what comes of the story.

As an avid fan of Star Wars, I was so excited to see these sample chapters pop up on Netgalley, and they did not disappoint! I'm looking forward to Claudia Gray's Into the Dark, but Justina Ireland's A Test of Courage looks promising, too. The writing was exceptional, the characters are fleshed out (as much as they can be for a three-chapter sample of each book) and the stories seem very compelling. I cannot wait until January and Febuary when these books are published in their entirety!

An excerpt from the book by Justina Ireland seemed very childish and so far the book has not aroused much interest. But I look forward to Claudia Gray's book with great interest, the except turned out to be exciting and funny. It seems Geode will become one of my favorite Star Wars characters!