We're going to build on hope. And last time I did my ranking her book Into the Dark, which is basically a prequel but first in a series with Into the Dark and Into the Life which is the new one. But Into the Dark was, it's right now my favorite Star Wars book. So I was very excited when it was another, she was doing a follow up to it called Into the Life, which was going to be the second to last Star Wars novel for the High Republic.
And here we are the last young adult novel for the High Republic, the last book before the finale, Shot Saw the Jedi by Shot Saw. So where we connect previous High Republic stories, of course, if you've been reading for all these years, you just connect a lot of those stories. It was almost like a direct sequel to Into the Dark. A lot of the same characters that we got introduced into the Dark are back.
Some of these storylines also continue, which is something that Star Wars has done with the High Republic books connecting with previous stories. A lot of Thesek Ratos will connect to the one she's written before, sorry, Justina Arlen, which we will talk about her in a couple of minutes. But I know the shadows was a follow-up to a test of courage, and then that one kind of got followed up by other stories, so Into the Dark, I mean, Into the like is a good follow-up to Into the Dark. So if you haven't, you don't have to have read all the High Republic novels to enjoy this one.
If you have at least have read Into the Dark, you have an idea of the characters that were now there. So basically, we've seen Reed's silence, his growth from an academic that didn't want to leave Coruscant just wanted to be in the temple, in the archives just reading and acquiring knowledge, to now being this trusted Jedi Knight that is given missions out there in the galaxy to find the connections between the Blight and the Nameless and everything that's happening in the Republic with Mark and Row and Anil. He's gone from one edge of the spectrum, I guess to the other, being out there in the field, doing what he didn't want to do before, but again, just putting to practice all his knowledge and everything that he loves, which is studying and then applying that to the field. So it's great to see how he's gone this far, grown this much.
Sorry, so yeah, so what's the story? So we start with a resumission. So after a resumission, the planet of Inad, it's moon in Atcomer, they find the Blight in this moon. And the moon is crumbling, it's gonna fall down on the planet basically, and they have to evacuate all the people that are there.
So a read-style that is there with a bunch of other Jedi. And throughout the story, we find out that Mark Young-Roe and his now-scientist, Dr. Mkampa, they have been putting Blight's force in different planets to study how they interact and to try to find a cure for it, a solution, which is what Mark Young-Roe said he was going to do. I'm your only hope, and the one that can control the Blight, I can cure it.
He doesn't have a cure for it. So they're trying to find a cure, but spreading it throughout the galaxy in all these different planets. And Inad, Comer's this moon where the last one was gonna spread. So after reading all the Jedi come back to Coruscant, they find that a Blight has been spotted on Kashik, the Wookiee home planet, very important planet in the Republic, a lot of great Wookiee Jedi around this point, of course, to back us on planet.
So we don't want anything to happen to Kashik. But at the same time, the rumors start spreading the Mark Young-Roe. It's still in the occlusion zone, but not really in now space. He's, let me say hi, it's our friend, Bach, just dropping to say hi.
Having read this book, I'd much love to you all, much love to you, but thank you for coming. Yeah, read those books, then come back and let us know what you think about those. But yeah, thank you, Bach. It's a nice weekend out there.
Hope you enjoy the long one. So there's rumors that Mark Young-Roe is in the Trasse system, sure I'm butchering it, but Trasse system, which is a system that's known for smugglers, slave trade, bounty hunters, not really what they now do. And it's a little bit away from, still in the occlusion zone, but away from his area. He controls, so the Jedi are kind of thinking, hey, we need to go check what he's doing out there.
And if he's really out there, it's not waiting for us, then maybe we have the over hand. It's so fake. He's not there, this was all the rules. It was just like, well, good chase to get the Jedi to try to find him when he's not there.
But this really doesn't have any bearings on the story that we're tolling into the light. This might come in a comic series or something. It really has nothing to do with the story. It just kind of separates the Jedi that are available to go to Kashyyyk.
And then the ones are gonna go search for Mark Young-Roe. So basically a group will go to Kashyyy to try to stop the light. And if they can't then evacuate the home planet, as they'll do the light, see they can find out why it's spreading. And if neither then evacuate the planet and then the other group will go to try to find Mark Young-Roe and see what's happened.
But again, that has no bearing on the story. So don't worry about that part. I always love when I'm reading Star Wars books, especially in different time periods. Excuse me.
What's the state of the galaxy? What's happening in the galaxy at large? Not just a little story that we're being told. So obviously we're at the end of the high republic.
So there's a lot going on in the galaxy. But we're at a point in this war that a lot of the planets are starting to lose faith in the republic, lose faith in Linna-Sou, in Chancellor Linna-Sou, I should say. A lot of promise is with no solution. So they're starting to think maybe, unfortunately, we'll have to go with Mark Young-Roe, go with the Nile.
Maybe they can protect us. Maybe if we join them, they'll be a crew for the blight. We won't keep getting attacked. So they're getting tired of anti-promises, basically.
Planets have low population. I also don't have a lot of resources or taking in refugees from the occlusion zone, the ones that the Jedi and the republic are saving from outside the occlusion zone and bringing them out. They're being received by these planets have low population. To then increase the population and please arrive in and try to have some sort of a life.
So we're kind of a real state for the republic and Linna. So we're not everyone is behind them. But at the same time, the state of the Nile is very interesting because it's basically not so Mark Young-Roe. He thinks he's still king of the hill over there.
He's starting to also lose his influence than now, his influence already now is suffering. Even from the lower level clouds and storms, they're starting to feel like Mark Young-Roe doesn't really care about the Nile anymore. He just cares about killing a couple of Jedi people and they're not what they're now supposed to be free. We kill what we want, we take what we want, and we go on our way.
That's not really happening anymore. Mark Young-Roe with his test on the blight has been spreading it on planets inside the occlusion zone. So then when the Nile go to raid those planets, there's nothing there because they have to basically get the hell out before they get consumed. So they're starting to not trust Mark Young-Roe and that's just on the lower levels.
Then on the top levels, there are people like Gira Staras and again, go to Campa, that they know that Mark Young-Roe doesn't really have a plan for the galaxy, doesn't have a plan for taking over the republic as a governing system, and doesn't have a plan or a solution for the blight. So they know they kind of, and Campa is gone. She's like, I'm here, but I'm really not a Nile anymore. Even though it's not official, she's doing stuff just for her own benefit.
And Gira Staras is a little bit harder for her to get away from the graph of Mark Young-Roe for a couple of reasons, but she knows that his idea of taking over of governing the republic and Nile space is not going to work. There's not a set government basically. So she's also trying to find a way to get away from what's happening. So we're in that weird space that people inside the republic are losing faith in Linna So and the government, I mean the republic in itself and the Jedi.
And then inside the Nile, the Nile are losing, not faith but patience I guess with Mark Young-Roe. So we're in that weird balance that the top two powerhouses are losing faith from inside the institutions. And that's really cool to see that happening at the same time. So basically we have the group that's going to go to Kashik, a lot of our favorites, a lot of my favorites.
So we have Reed, Reed Silas, Comak Veros, Aslyn Rael, Buriaga, Kelnaika, again, tying with the high republic, Amadeo Azazzo. That's right. And the return of this right. I'm gonna be talking about him in a little bit.
I just love that we got this right and back. I've been missing him since we lost him and into the dark to the Baurash Vao. So we're gonna be talking about that in a little bit. Avon Staras, which is a great scientist.
He's back Nan, this Nell's five. And the vessel crew, Afihalo, Leo, GIC, and of course, Geod, Claudia Gray. You want me to almost cry? What is it to Geod?
We'll see. So we have that group going to Kashik. While at the same time, we have Kanpa also going to Kashik and the drink here. So those three groups are heading to Kashik at the same time.
So when I say that this book is basically a follow up to into the dark. So we have Reed, Comak, Desh, Rael, Avon. I don't think Avon was about Nan and the crew of the vessel all dirt and the drink here, all way into the dark. And now we're following the stories and the connections between into the dark and now into the light.
Oops, I'm sorry, there's some water there. All right, so let's talk about this right and the return of this right on his back from the Balrash Val. One of my favorite parts of why I say that into the dark was my favorite or is my favorite story or book at the moment is the way that Claudia Gray described what it meant to either follow the Jedi or their or follow the living force and the cosmic force. What it meant to have a connection with your masters and your father wants to have you can lose one and more of them or not really more of them because that's connection or attachments.
How that work, we got that description of the way secret Jedi which blew my mind and how again, just choosing the path and the way of the living force and not following what the Jedi or they say if they are in not in unison, you always go with what the force says and all the Jedi, which is a way to kind of balance that or the Jedi kind of falling behind. I wanna say falling behind the times about what it ends up with once we are through the pre-cultural of the right. So anyway, I love the introduction of the way secret Jedi is and the way Claudia talks about the force and how Jedi connects to it. And now here she spends a lot of time talking about Rael, I know that she didn't invent the brush vow.
And obviously I can't remember what came first if her mentions the brush vow into the dark or in the child's soul comic book when there's this Jedi, I forgot his name, that's also taking the brush vow that later confronts which it was a great comic run. But anyway, here at the end of Into the Dark, Death's Rylan has been infected by the dream gear, it's been taken over by the Dark Side, it's only after he comes back, Death's Ritza herself, so bringing him back, he needs to go and take the brush vow which basically is disconnect yourself from the Jedi or the disconnect yourself from being a Jedi and then connect directly to the force as a person. And that's what Death's Rylan did for all this time that he's been out that we haven't seen him in any stories. So he had the vow allowed him to escape the grip that the darkness had over him at the end of Into the Dark from the Amaxing Station.
So again, it was great to see and it connects a little bit to the last Jedi when Luke says, if the Jedi are gone, that doesn't mean that if you think that if the Jedi are gone then the light is gone, that's vanity again, that's who is this, that's not what happens because the Jedi don't have control over it, I will just borrow it. So here he has a great description when he says that it is, I wrote it down. Alla Somjil, it was impossible, they had a, sorry, the Barash Vow had allowed this to understand that it was impossible for anyone to wield the force without running the Ritza confusing the wisdom of the force for their own. And I think this was a great way from Claudia Grey to putting to the mind of the reader that the Jedi are fallible, that they make mistakes, they might confuse what the force is telling them without going the extra step as some other people have done that I don't appreciate too much when it's just blaming the Jedi for everything, saying that Jedi are the villains or the Jedi were wrong.
It's putting the mind of the reader that sometimes we have all this connection to the force, you run the risk of confusing the will of the force with your own will or the wisdom of the force with your own wisdom and then that leads to whom grace, he'll reason that leads to thinking if the Jedi are gone and the light is gone, which of course is not going to happen. So I love that way that she talks about how the Barash Vow allowed this right and to understand this. It also, and like I said, it was just giving yourself entirely as a person to the force and not as a Jedi. So you can really understand what the force means out there.
And then with a great discussion, the main thing in the Harry Potter, not the main thing, but one of them is the nameless and how they separate the Jedi from the connection to the force and taking that away from them and leaving them basically empty. That might be one of the worst things that can happen to a Jedi. This right then, haven't been consumed by the Dark at one point. I've seen Aslan Rail, which is this fallen Jedi, also consumed by the darkness because of the nameless.
He believes that falling through the dark side is worse that losing your connection to the force because the only way, once you fall to the dark side, the only way to keep that connection was to basically feel miserable your whole life every moment of every day. The only way to feel that life was to be consumed by giving it into your pain, your resentment, your fear, and your hate and all that was worse that losing your connection to the force. I don't know where I fall in terms of what's worse, not other than feels like a good choice, but it's great about that conversation, other way we talk about Star Wars, we talk about the force, it's not just the light side and the dark side yet, that's the, not the easy way to look at it, but there's different things inside those that makes you question which side is best or worse and how you can stay on one path. So again, love the return of this ride and love the way that Zelda Great talks out about that as well, how it makes you see the force and your connection to a force in a different way.
And then I can figure it out if losing your connection to the force as a Jedi is worse than falling to the dark side and the only way to make it through the day is to give into your hate, your anger, your fear, what's worse. I'm not sure. I don't wanna find out if I was a Jedi. All right, so again, Dr.
Pampa has been experimented with the light trying to figure out how to control it and how to eradicate it, has been experimented with the Dren gear and found that Sith Hollow Crown. And this is drop on our lap, I think on chapter two, he's like, yeah, she has a Sith Hollow Crown, let's go deal with that. Which now I'm like, okay, here I just see connects to the dark when there were those Sith statues holding back the Dren gears, that comes back a little bit. But again, I love how Claudia Great drops this little nogassir of light side dark side and how she works those around it.
So the Sith Hollow Crown gave her information about an ancient dark side power that's hidden on Kashik, hidden on the Wookie Planet. And at the same time, that Dren gear is being called by some mysterious force and mysterious core into Kashik also. So we have all these three factions all trying to figure out what's going on in Kashik. The Jedi is trying to study and stop the light in campus looking for some dark side forces.
And then the Dren gear show up on the planet being called me seriously over it, hungry as ever. So what's gonna happen? A lot of it happens, a lot of action. And one of my favorite things of the whole book is the expansion of Kashik.
For myself, at least I know about Kashik, of course, that's where Chewaka comes from, we saw it in Revenge of the Sith. And it's been a couple of books here and there, if you've played the, ha, I really forgot the name, the first on this book, the first on this game, of course, Red the Novels is a big important thing that happens on Kashik. We've gone to it in the Clone Wars, but at least for myself, I hadn't read a book that took a lot of the story in Kashik. Basically, half of this book, if not more, is on Kashik.
Once they go to Kashik, the whole story is there. So the expansion of the world building for that planet was an unexpected surprise and a big aspect of this book. And one of the best aspect also. We know that Wookie's have a strong connection to the planet, to the fauna, to the forest.
And they have a great bond with their families. And I learned that since the lifespan is so long, the ones that are selected to be jellies, they were not entirely cut off from the families who are going back to Kashik. They know who the parents were, they will come back. Because of that long lifespan, they were like 30 years old before they, like Wookie children can be 30 years old.
Plus, since they had that connection to the planet, to the trees and to the family, it wasn't the best we just freed them from it. So yeah, they'll become jellies, or they still could come back visit their family, visit their tribe and relationship with them without forming those attachments. Is there something that all the people could do? I don't know, that's a discussion from now in time for people that don't like the jellies too much.
If you save one Wookie, you have the gratitude of all Wookie's forever. I want that. I mean, I don't want to see a Wookie in pain or need it saving. But if I can't take gratitude of all Wookie's for all time, I'll take it.
I think Reed has saved, they've always saved some, a young Wookie about two years ago. And now the whole tribe basically brings him in. It's not part of the family. They have his gratitude.
He has their gratitude. Apart from the Wookie's, there are killer plants that can follow you, there's vines that follow you, latch onto you, drain your nutrients. They're venomous, venomous, golden, millipedes, flame beetles, giant spiders. Like the sheik is, this is rather basically, or Florida if you live on this coast.
So yeah, don't go to Kashik if you go, get a Wookie guide to help you. Like in this expansion of Kashik, it's great to see. It's one of those things again, expand store wars. We know about, we know about Kashik, but gives us more about that planet, that tribe, the different groups that they are, I think it's called planting day where they grab some of the seeds from the trees and plant them somewhere else so they can grow.
There's a lot of it that we keep learning. It's not just life day, there's a lot more insight. I just really love seeing these expanded inside this bull by Claudia Gray. But mainly for us and these stories, that white rose tree.
So the rose tree are those big trees that they have on Kashik. There's some special ones, they're white. They're central to the Wookie religion. That's where their connection to the forest and to the life of the planet comes in.
So for this story, there's not a lot of them left. There's this mangrove, little island in the middle of a river or a little stream, part of the core of the great forest. And that's where that work is feel closest to the living forest. Like all the Star Wars, there's powerful light, there's powerful darkness and the white trees were the protection against something.
I covered under the trees, which of course is what, and Campa was trying to figure out where it was, what the sea turtle had told her was, there is this thorns seed. I'm gonna go over it in a minute, there's this thorns seed on Kashik, which is a star inside influence something. That's there, she doesn't know where it is and that's where she needs the J-landy drink here to help. She can see that the drain gear, she's been controlling them, maybe I'm jumping up in my notes.
She's been controlling the drain gear. She's cool to see that they are also like all plants that attracted to the sun. Mainly to the sun of the home planet. So, Campa had been able to figure out the frequency of their sun and then use that to control them a little bit and it cannot guide where she wanted them to go.
But yeah, so under the white brochure trees, there is called the Well of Night. It's this legend, the legend of the Well of Night, which is regarding the arrival of the darkness on the planet and the white trees that guarded against it. If the remaining trees are consumed by the blight, then nothing will hold the darkness at bay and then the darkness in itself will return and all hell will be very close, right? We don't need most of out there for a brave Jedi, our Republic Warriors.
But again, a story that we might think is gonna be more about just finding out the blight or finding the Nile and the drain gear is a lot about the forest, like Saturn, Dark Side. We have Aslin, rail, and now I'm jumping on my notes here, but Aslin, rail, we had fallen to a Dark Side. He's using C-th lightning basically to kill the drain gear. Like, I don't remember he's shooting lightning through his fingers like Palpatine, but they do say that lightning is basically covering lightning as he's attacking the drain gear and ripping them from inside out.
But at the same time, when he was a padawan, he had been brought to Kashig by Alco for what's his Jedi master. And being back on the planet brought back those memories of him as a child and the fun that he had, he was slowly being pulled to the light. Again, we have this great pull to the lights on the dark side inside the book, which is supposed to not really be about the Sith, which is not, but it's about the lights on the dark side. So that's what we don't want.
We don't want the white-roshy trees to be consumed by the blight, be destroyed and then this darkness come back. So that's the, the well of night is discovered under the trees that's holding this darkness. And what's inside the cavern and the well of night is the thorns seed, which is a giant crystal carved inside the well of night. It was a Sith artifact infused with their darkness.
So similarly to the four statues that they have on the amaxing station infused with dark side energy to keep the drain gear at bay and to control the drain gear from coming back, then this crystal was infused with Sith darkness to be used then to infect plants and seeds and all stuff, to be personals. And then they would use that to take over the planet or whatever. So right now the white-roshy trees is holding back the darkness from the thorns seed. So the whole story kind of, the combination is trying to protect the white trees while at the same time and fighting and fighting the drain gear, trying to figure out a way to destroy the thorns seed.
But also we find that the thorns seed is connected to the drain gear because it's made from drain gear set. So all this is connected and maybe if they can study that, which is connected to the darkness and to the drain gear, they might help them to figure out what's going on with the blight. And this is then when Avon's research, where I say geosacrifies comes into play. So Avon had confirmed that the blight and the nameless were related, something that Comac and Reed had, basically figure out in a previous book, Pius of the Nameless, that's a big part of that book, is figuring out that the blight and the nameless are related, and maybe we need to bring them together.
And she also finds out that the blight doesn't behave like anything born of the natural world, like it doesn't behave like a parasite or a virus. So there was ultimately no way to cure it or no way to stop it, which of course we don't want to hear. Or she's still storing it, like then if she takes a period of the thorns seed with her to then hopefully so in her next story. But we're at that point that, yeah, there's no cure for the blight right now.
I don't know what we're going to do. I don't know what's going to happen to Kashik because there's no way to do it. Enter Geold, Geold, I'm putting one for you. You're the best Geold.
So Geold, as always, we love so much. She served as a confident inside, secret of Wookiee meetings because they trusted him. He put himself in front of venomous, drinkier spikes to protect Afi, I think Amadeo or someone else. And then he did the ultimate sacrifice.
How could I agree? Ultimate sacrifice or giving his life up to save everyone from the darkness emanating from the thorns seed. So the thorns seed basically is about to explode. It's gonna take everyone with them.
It's gonna destroy their white trees, probably expand the blight. He took in all that energy into himself, which made him explode. So basically to go in all the energy, all the darkness. And just when Caput, he exploded.
And I was very angry with Claudia Gray. Well, then she turned it around with a little doctor who and gave us the Venetian, Vintian, sorry, which is Geold species, something called a hot stone, which showed them rematerialized or remineralized after injury. Again, he exploded into a million pieces. Or maybe it was not possible.
But it's kind of that doctor who that, yeah, he can regenerate and come back. And by the end, there's a little, I guess like Groot, where he dies and then this baby Groot, there's a little, we find a little speck. So they kept a little hot stone. It's growing a little bit.
So looks like he'll be back. I don't think we'll see him again, especially now that the Harry public is about to end. But it gives us that little bit of hope that he's not really gone. Yes, Alan, Geold, our navigator forever.
They'll, they'll ride the dark side. It's a pathway to many abilities. It's not so much to be un-natural. Again, I've always said, I'll say it again.
I think L do another show and we got the acolyte and that touches a lot into what's going on with the seat or with the dark side and the jet at that point. But if they want to do a show, I'm going to focus on the force itself and the different meanings behind it. How can we use by different factions? And get glad that great to ride a treatment or be a consultant or something.
I think she has such a grasp on that part of Star Wars and just storytelling in general, all the themes in Star Wars. Sometimes I read books that even if I love, I'm like, okay, when does this chapter of Incos, I need to break it either to dance or maybe the story's not hidden here or there. I just flow just reading this book. It's not going to be my favorite Star Wars book, but just sitting down and reading.
You don't want to stop because it's stories and girls in that way everything connects to Star Wars themes flows perfectly, which again, clever gray, even if her stories are not people's favorite, the way she writes, anyone can grab a book and just read it. You don't need to, I don't know what's going on. So, all right, so after Gio takes in the energy from the phone seat and explodes, then free from protecting from the darkness, protecting against the phone seat that the white tree's third power in the force is fully revealed. There's an explosion of light, basically, that emanates from the trees, eradicates the black on Kashik, but unfortunately, this cure, quote unquote, can be replicated.
You can take the trees somewhere else and replicate that explosion of light because it came after not having to use half of its power to hold 90 darkness. And it was after, I believe it was Kaelnaka and Buriaia commune with the trees, tell them what was going on for them to have this explosion of light to eradicate the black from Kashik. Again, it's not a cure that can be applied to everywhere else. So still we have this issue that should not cure for the black.
And also this explosion of light hit that drain gear, the great progenitor, which is the main drain gear was also there. And it made them realize how much more there is. So this dark side foliage, it said, understood that change that united all life as sacred. And it turned the drain gear basically to light side beans.
They connected to the soil and became, they rooted into the floor, the ground into the soil, their blossom flowers, and became creatures of light. So basically, that drain gear issue is resolved, which is the only issue right now that's been resolved. But I think it was a great way to give that drain gear a cool send off, connecting them to the thorn seeds, saying that the thorn seal was made from a drain gear set, learning more of why they were connected to the sunlight from their sun, and then giving them a good send off, we're not killing them all, we're just giving them more understanding of what life means and making them part of Kashik. Great send off for them.
All right, so overall, I'm campfire's defeated, Nan basically wants to kill her for everything as she's done to her and to the people that she loved, but doesn't. Drain gear and other men are anymore, and Kashik is safe. So great story, great action, great interpretation of the force, the barrage valve, what it means to be not just a good Jedi, where I could first unconnect into the force, dark side weirdness with the drink with the thorn seed and the well of night, and great force interpretation with the white washer three centimeters in order. So my only concern, I'm going into transfer the Jedi, which again, I've been fortunate enough to receive an advance copy.
I can thank you to Random House. Worlds for it, I'm almost halfway through it, so I won't go into it about finishing reading into the dark. My biggest concern is that we're not, we're no longer closer to solving the main problems with our marking row, defeating the marking row, defeating the now, defeating the nameless and finding out a solution to the blight. So those basically have been going on since the start of phase three, we are one book away from finishing the high republic, and we're nowhere closer to figuring that out.
So it's putting a lot of pressure in transfer the Jedi to give us a good, satisfying conclusion to four years of storytelling, close those four big men as a elder for the Jedi and the Republic. My hope was that at least one or two of those who have been dealt with by now, so we can really focus on one story going into the title of the Jedi, but no. So we'll see, again, this book comes out in about a month from now or three weeks from now, June 17th. I trust Charles Saul, he did a great job with a lot of the Jedi, starting off the high republic, and obviously going to taste the one that's gonna have to bring it all home.
So I trust what he's gonna give us, just a little bit concerned that we're at that point, one final book, and then a lot of stories to kind of cover. So we'll see. I think I gave this book four out of five prop droids. So I should show this one.
Four out of five prop droids. So I really, really enjoyed it, especially everything I have to do with the Barrage World if I don't see it, and the Light and the Oxide connection of it. All right, so let me see some comments before we jump to the next one. So Dale is on doing the Jedi already, and so Donald the Jedi will be a great place to go join Microbiotic, Dive, and all that stuff.
Yeah, I mean, Donald the Jedi movie, you can do anything that you want. You can connect whatever, or create whatever you want, and bring in the falls from it's inception, from this Microbiotic Dive that George wanted to do, maybe his sequel trilogy. Give more information about Midichlorians and all that. It's a perfect way to introduce it.
Alan is adding Harry Pollock, Vision, Stimpedest, and the Vessel Crew. Don't give me Vision, so the Harry Public. They come on, I mean, the Vessel Crew, they're great. We got some of it with them here.
They didn't have a lot. They're pretty good when they show up. And Alan is finishing up, but I picked with my pre-order bonus from Charles before Charles, before Charles, the Jedi. Can't believe that it's gonna end so soon in a few weeks.
Yeah, that's cool, man. What Charles is doing this little signature and little sentence that he's gonna be sending out. When you get to your salon, we'll love to see it. I'm sure you'll post it, so we'll get to see it.
Anyone else is out there. All right, so if you've read Into the Light and you're ready for it, also the Jedi, just let me know down in the comments and we'll come and check ourselves. All right, so let's go now to our other book review. Against Pollock, this is The Accolite Wayseeker by Justina Ireland.
This book came out a couple of weeks ago. This came out before Into the Light. It came out in a weird spot because it has characters from the Harry Republic, the stories after the Harry Republic, Harry Republic hasn't ended. All these spoilers, all the way out there was a big couple of days online of people thinking, I'm not gonna read this book right now because I shouldn't be spoilers.
I don't wanna know this, I don't wanna know that. I think people made a bigger deal than it really was. I think there's one character that we didn't know the faith of that now we do. I'm gonna mention that character in a middle one we do as I'm doing my review.
I didn't have one inclination or one thought of saying, oh no, this means for me now, the end of the Harry Republic is not gonna work for me. I love the characters, one of my favorite characters since their introduction. I'm fine knowing that this character survived, so I don't think it was that big of a deal. Basically, Justina Arland with the way Seeker connects the end of the Harry Republic with the Aqua TV series of course bringing in Dara and all that stuff.
And Bernadette's Arland which is in both. It's said about 80 years from the end of the conflict with Danayo and 20 years before the Aqua TV series. We're in that time period. We know by the time of the Harry Republic of the Aqua Light of Bernadette's Arland, about 100 years old, maybe a little bit older.
Here she's not that one, she still has hair. We do have that scene where she saves off her hair when she returns to the other council. We have very gone in Dara again, 20 years before that great Jedi Master will find in the TV series. What was very cool and interesting was that the chapters are from Bernadette's point of view, all told from her first person, in first person for so she's narrating this as it's happening.
And then the other we started from in Dara some other characters I just, as you would just read right now. Oh, sorry, I don't breath. So what's it, sorry, so we have Jedi Master. At this point she's a Jedi Master.
By the time of the Harry polish she's still a Jedi Knight. So Jedi Master, Bernadette's a rope, sorry, I gotta, take a drink, excuse me. So Bernadette's right now, she's way sickened. She's way sickened through the galaxy.
She's become a way seeker. She's been doing this for the past 20, 10 years. She's been way sickened for 10 years. I was currently on the planet, Sarah Faisis, helping the population fight off a pirate gang that had been stealing supply shipments that were meant for the needy of the planet.
She finds out, of course, in the council that they have over there, there's some corruption. One of the heads has been telling the gang where the shipments are coming so they can do whatever. They do over there as a couple of people always do. She figures this out and of course has to put a stop to it.
In the meantime, in Dara, he's a display on an archivist on the Jedi Temple. Since they were re-thru loved to be. So she's been there for the past year, two years. And she's sent by the Jedi Council to find Bernadette.
Bring her back to Coruscant because they want her to, there's a problem with something that connects to the Harry public. So to face one, the Harry public, so there's that cool connection. I should say as we go along before I start, this is the type of book that I want to get once the Harry public is over. Telling stories inside that time period that are not directly related to the main now conflict.
There'll still be some connections. We'll get some of the characters that we know, but it's a different story. This is what I hope they keep doing. Even if the Harry public storyline that means sagas over, we can still get these type of stories inside the Harry public era.
So I hope we keep getting more of this. So what's this problem that connects to our face one of the Harry public is these nullifiers, which are items that can deactivate and render light sabers useless. So they can turn off the light sabers and they were being created, possibly installing the black market and the technology got out to the criminals. They know I would feel the Jedi and chaos will go rampant in the galaxy.
We've seen nullifiers before. Might have similar to Coruscans' years. They all, but it doesn't have to be, it's basically, it's not called Tosis, it's a device. They say like I watch, I think they, it's not a reason why they say, well basically a device that they'll just press the button sends that away from turns off the light sabers.
It takes a while for them to come back. So it's a little worse than called Tosis, at least with called Tosis. You gotta hear it a couple of times before it shuts off. They'll just turn it off and then blast it with a bunch of blasters.
So this technology, I think I have it later. I'll talk about it later when we've seen it before. So basically they call Vernstra, they send in Dara together, and they bring her back, tell her about the nullifiers out during the galaxy. And they need to go out and find who's producing them, who's creating them, and put a start to it.
Now with Justina, Ireland, her books are great in characters and their relationships. Sometimes, so let's talk about that. And it's, Vanessa and Dara had a very tense relationship to start. Vernstra feels that the council's selling Dara to basically be a babysitter that was sent to keep taps on her because she's been waiting for 10 years.
And she didn't see in Dara's, I don't say a real Jedi, but that she didn't know the actual state of the galaxy, the real world. She just came from fighting in a war, she was 16 to now 80, 90 years old, almost 100, if we were 80 years from it. So she's been out there in conflict and seeing how that Jedi have dealt with stuff out there. Now that the galaxy is a little bit more under control, and that Jedi know out there as Wario, she doesn't think that Indara knows the real world.
So three-circs are kind of like indifferent. And then for, in Dara, she didn't like that with Vanessa, treated her the looks that she gave her. She wanted to prove that Jedi master wrong. In Dara, we find out later that she, her relationship with her previous master wasn't the best, it was always doubting her decision making, but a little bit more on that later on.
So behind all this production of the nullifiers is this person which is the main villain called Nielsen Sumak, which is this entitled son of a monarch who uses all his fortune and his influence to start his own weapon dealings black market empire. So he had hired a scientist called Florinda Jakart, and she was creating the energy source for the nullifiers. She was mass producing them in hopes of selling them to the highest bidder. And then of course, that's where the black market weapons and all that comes from.
So it's almost like a detective story in that Vanessa and Dara are trying to find that different people on the different levels that connect to the nullifiers. They're trying to find the sanitary sanitary guard that's connected to Nielsen, but they need to figure out who's developing the power source for the nullifier. So that's when a scientist from the Jakart comes in. So everyone's trying to find her.
She went Florinda Jakart kind of went to hide. They tried to kill her, wanting to confess. So now it's this kind of mouse chain trying to find her first. So it's basically Vanessa and Dara and Valcona, planet helping adventure, as I like to say.
In search of Florinda, in search of the nullifiers, in search of the sanitary sanitary guard who's connected to Nielsen, because the sanitary had called the Jedi Council and said, hey, I have information about you need to bring me in and give me protection because I'm gonna be looking for me. So all that is going on. So let's talk about Nasser a little bit. Like I said, I think where this book shines is in characters themselves.
It's a cool story. It's not that big as, either the nullifiers pose a big threat to the Jedi. You know, it's not really gonna happen. So there's not a lot of big threats out there.
But it's a very cool story. It was mostly what the characters are going through, especially by Nasser and Dara who are main characters. We have some cool supporting characters, some known characters, some known faces that come back. But for Nasser, we've seen her journey.
I'm so glad that Justina has been able to ride this character from beginning now to where we see her right before the Aqualite TV series. So we've seen her journey as the youngest Jedi and I've ever to now this full fled Jedi master that's become a way seeker. It's standing up against the Jedi High Council, against Order from the High Council, focusing her drive on what she believes was the purpose of being a Jedi. But still knowing she didn't leave the Jedi, or she would never leave the Jedi, or even if she had issues with the Council itself and the way the Jedi Order was behaving, she thought the best way to fix it and to deal with it was to stay behind those walls and find a way to work around it and do what was best for the Order of the Republic and everyone else.
I love that this character that has, it's each with the Jedi, but it's still willing to stay and find a way forward. So for Bereness, Jedi should be out in the galaxy helping people, taking action, not lock behind Temple walls or the Temple doors focusing on diplomacy and studies, we find out that the Jedi Order had begun to focus more on the planets closer to the core, to members of the Republic. They were leaving the outpost and the temples from the altar ring behind, closing them. Then if you've read The Living Force by John Jackson Miller, my favorite book of last year, that's basically the main point of the book is that the Jedi and what Qui-Gon tells them is you're too focused on the future and on prophets, and all that, that you've forgotten what Jedi is supposed to do, that it's helping the people of the galaxy.
That's what we're supposed to be doing. And they've been closing all these temples and Jedi posts out there. And that's what prompts the book and the story. Here's kind of like the beginning of it.
Bereness has seen that this is happening, she believes that the Jedi going the wrong way, staying too close in and not helping people out there. So she starts to know this also that the Republic is trying to defend more in Jedi business, destroy her, destroy Bereness, and it's part of what made her become a way seeker. That decision, it says what cemented a decade earlier after failing a former padawan, which I wonder if that's the stranger that we make in the act like she failed that padawan, he becomes a stranger, of course. Unfortunately, we haven't got in that story because no second season, I'm sorry, hopefully we get to see that story later on.
So those different ideas or those different, no ideas, those different issues, that's not the word I want, but those different things are the one that pushed her to be a way seeker. I love that Bereness keeps holograms of stan and geos to help steady herself when she feels that she's lost her way. She needs stan and to still guide her. So at least we got a little bit more stan and others.
She also have holograms of Inlet Cantaros of Avon Staros, Keith Trainis, all those Jedi, she still keeps those holograms when she needs someone to talk to her and pump her back up when she's failing down. She can go back to those. A lot of hyperspace visions is learned, not to control them, but learn how to interpret it a little bit better. And that's how there's a lot of things of her talking to stan and geos through those cyberspace visions, those were very cool to go through.
For Indera, like I mentioned before, her previous master didn't give her enough praise. I was quick to create this site and undermine. So now every time that Bereness told her that she did a good job, she wouldn't, she thought it was coming out of pity and that she needed to keep proving herself. She didn't take that compliment.
It was very difficult for her to feel that adulation. I thought everything was out of pity. So like I said, when we meet her, she's been secluded in the Jedi archives and that was the result of something that's called a Farlingan collapse. And that happened in the minds of this planet called Sessuena, which is where Indera and Farada were stationed helping protect some miners from what was going on that planet.
They were complaining about working conditions and then they basically caved in on them. She got pinned under some falling rocks. She was the only one to survive. The other three Jedi died.
So she doesn't feel that she can go back out into the world and to mission. So that's why she's been an archivist in the Jedi archives. So then she gets this job to go find Berenessra and that's why it takes so long for that relationship between the two of them to start working out. But when it does, it's a cool way that it finally gets to that point.
So familiar faces, like I mentioned, this is what I think was the big spoiler for the high-reporter that people didn't want to know. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there was something else I can remember. It's Tiyori. So Tiyori survived.
She's in this book. She's in this hover chair helping them out. So I think that was the big spoiler because we know she's in that cover for the South of the Jedi. So maybe that's what people didn't want to know that she had made it out alive.
I love that she made it out alive because I love Tiyori. We'll see what happens in that book. But she's there. She's in five, six, seven chapters, maybe.
She does help. She did walk away from the Jedi at this point when she had walk away already by the time of the High Republic, we know that she walked away from the Jedi, even though she still helps out. But her and so Vanessa and Tiyori had a fallout decades earlier because Tiyori believed that the Republic and the other were drifting further into becoming the same thing. So as you said, the Republic and the Order, they were starting to become the same thing.
This is not the way that things should go. That the only way to be autonomous and still do good was to be out on your own without the oversight of the Jedi Order. And for Bernessa, this was something that she couldn't believe at that point. But unfortunately, now with something I see it lean closer to believing.
So but they have a very, even more tense relationship with the Bernessa and Dada had. Tiyori, Bernessa, have a very tense relationship. A lot of laws trust in one another, mind it from Ty. Because she had told the Republic and the Jedi getting too close together.
That's not the way it should be. And Bernessa was coming to that point, but not to that point that she would leave the Order. So they're very similar in their mindset at this stage. But just that Tiyori decided to leave the Jedi Order while in Dada, I mean, Bernessa decided to stay.
Even though she would go and be away sick for 10 years, she would return to the Jedi Order when needed. Another one from the Harry Potter that comes back. And I think we've seen her in comics are not really Harry Potter, Harry Potter. I don't think this was a Swellys Deva Lompop, the great bounty hunter out there.
Also has some relationship with Avon Staros, of course, and with Bernessa. I think she was only there for two chapters, or parts of two chapters. She doesn't have a big role to play. Just seemed like they needed a bounty hunter.
And then yeah, just for Deva Lompop in there. Couldn't be anyone, but I never took this court to get out of there. But yeah, so I'm glad that she's always a cool character, but they didn't add a lot to the story. Just someone that Bernessa needed to go to get some information.
But all right, so connecting to Canon and expanding on Canon, Bernessa and the Senate, like I said, she has that mindset that the Republican and the Senate were starting to get too close together. So as we inch closer to the events of that pre-ulturally, we're starting to see the cracks in the Jedi as the republic becomes more involved in quote unquote Jedi business. So Bernessa sees these, she saw that the more the Jedi work in service of the Senate, the more trouble they would be in, that they should distance themselves away from the Senate, from politics and from the republic in general, in turn of being their own separate thing, very similar to what Tyore had been telling her before, but she didn't believe. But then by the end of this book, she believed that being on the inside was a very short, I keep in touch at both institutions.
And she would, Bernessa would be this link between the Senate and the Jedi order. And we see this in the Aqualite, right? In the TV series, we see her working with the Senate, we see her in the meetings. So that was a very cool connection, because one of my main complaints over next when the Aqualite is that she didn't feel like the character we've known from the books.
And here in Wayseeker, we see that transition from the character we knew before, to the one who was in the Aqualite, why she's working inside the Jedi order, being this go between, between the order and the Republic and the Senate, why she has so much, I don't say this name, but didn't get along with the other Jedi, we start to see, I didn't feel that before, now with this book, we have that connection between. So it makes more sense when you go back and watch the Aqualite. So the Nullifier, there's mentioned that it was created by Clearing Cekat, who's Nielsen Summa's grandmother. And then here's the connection with Tyorek, that Tyorek was Clearing Cekat's bodyguard during the events of the Rising Storm.
When her prototype of the Nullifier saved Elsor's men's life, when Tyorek was gonna step into a chest with her lightsaber, only gotten with the three spikes, but the lightsaber returned off at the exact moment, because that big box that she had for the Nullifier was activated. So that's all the way from the Rising Storm, that was introduced, that all the way I could nullify the effects of the Light Saber, all the way to now we see it in action, it's a great way to connect everything from Phase 1 now to this story. We learn about the Jedi annexation act, which is what they said they wanted to do to claim ownership over the Jedi by declaring them an official branch of the Republic. This is something that Senator Gaur was advocating for.
And I think this is something we might get in most stories, it was keep getting novel for books time between this time period and the prequel trilogy. I think this Jedi annexation is gonna come into play. Then Avon Starros, who has been with us also from Phase 1 of the High Republic, she's not here because this one she's passed, she's dead. But she has changed her name to Sunvale, Sunvale, her surname in honor of the Delimaster Dogelas Sunvale, which we attest of courage.
So again, this book has some connection to attest of courage. So she has already what's called the Collective, which was this group of scientists that had fled most on the popular sports of the galaxy and settled on this planet called Engay. And these were scientists that had worked for and against the Nile that were there. So just scientists working together, allowed to pursue their experiments and research which someone wanted to profit from them.
And it was now run by her son, Maestro Fedek Sunvale. So it's great to see Avon's legacy live on through Felix Sunvale. And that there's this community of scientists who are working for the Greater Good. We'll see with that word that, yo.
So this was the Collective, I believe it's there, where it was called. So overall, again, it's a perfect story for fans of the Acolyte who might have not been familiar or too familiar with what happened in the High Republic, but with fans of Indira, with fans of Vanessa from the Disney Plus series, really in all the events that I get mentioned from the past, might pick their interest into picking some High Republic books here or there. Engaging story is pretty entertaining. There's a lot of cool action set pieces.
There's one where Indira gets thrown into a fighting pit against two weird creatures, kind of centipedes. I think they had six legs or kind of cat leg, this fur that changed color, kind of rainbow, just back and forth that hypnotized their opponents. So you had to look away, basically turn your back on them. If you turn your body, basically eat you.
So Indira had to fall into her Jedi powers, but she had been poisoned before. So that's a great action scene, some great character work. And that's where Denver Nester and Ty Yorick also come into place. Some great nice callbacks to the High Republic, but again, mostly a story on Vernet's relationship with the Jedi Order and says that the character, for that version, will meet in the Acolyte TV series, shows the growth of Indira from the Jedi archivists that didn't want to go back into the field into the Jedi Master will find in the Acolyte.
Her level noodles, rivals, Enricantaros, is always hungry and always looking for noodle cards. And again, my only thing would be one twist too many towards the end of the book to try to get you. Oh, now this is happening, I think it was one too many. Could have ended a little bit early without one or two of those tweets.
I don't think that's sorry, it was a pretty solid story. And then let me switch this year, switch that there. I don't think it worked, at least for me. It could have ended a little bit early.
All in all, a good book, I think I gave this about three and a half to 3.75 probe droids out of five. So yeah, if you like Indira, if you like the Acolyte TV series and you like very nice. Especially if you like stories written by Justina Arlen, you'll probably enjoy this book a lot. If you've been kind of on the fence with her stories before, it's not similar in the way that I structured, so just buy a be aware.
All in all, it's a very cool story, engaging, cool characters, cool fighting scenes, and explores what it means to be a Jedi this time period for someone that's been in the fight since he was 16 to an arc closing in on 100. So yeah, that is it. I recommend both of these books into the light by Julia Gray and then Acolyte Wayseeker, by Justina Arlen. I recommend both of those books.
So yeah, that is it for today's show. Go watch Dr. Who's new episode. That's great.
We've got the back of us. We've got the back of us. We've got the back of us. The Who's finale will be last week of us.
Today's episode was a cool set up for the finale. So yeah, to go watch that out, and most importantly, go read Star Wars books. If you're missing Star Wars, if you're missing Handor, pick up a Star Wars book. They're full-text, politics, Jedi, Sith, cool people out there.
You'll find them. The old that tells you to go pick up a book. We'll maybe be back next week. I'll talk to Otis, see what he wants to do.
Maybe talk about, tell us on the underworld. We haven't covered yet. If not, we'll take one week off. We'll see what happens.
Thanks again to everyone that was here. Dale, Alan and Buck for joining us today. We'll see you next time. Stay safe.
Be safe. May the Force be with you. See ya.