Phase III of the High Republic finally arrived with “The Eye of Darkness”, reuniting us with the cast of the original Phase of the era after a series of prequel books that, to be fair, I did enjoy a lot more than I thought I would. Still though, I was waiting to reunite with these characters and see what’s happening with the Nihil and Marchion Ro and I’m happy to report that for a book whose objective it was to set the scene for the big finale it did it very well indeed. Let’s take a look!
The story picks up one year after the fall of Starlight Beacon and the galaxy (far, far away!) is in turmoil as the Nihil have managed to put up a “Stormwall” across a good chunk of space that destroys any ship that tries to enter it, through normal means or hyperspace, unless they have a Nihil path engine installed with their secret pathways mapped. This has created an “Occlusion Zone” that is entirely under their control and cut off completely from the Republic and the Jedi, with the exception of the few Jedi who happened to be on that side of the wall when it went up. It’s yet another blackeye for the Republic and it once again makes the Jedi feel inadequate and unable to do their advertised job of keeping everyone safe. The core protagonists of the novel really come down to two people: Elzar Mann, who is still coming to terms with nearly giving in to the Darkside during the Starlight Beacon’s fall, being pretty much entirely responsible for his good friend Stellan Gios’ death and for pushing away his other closest friend Avar Kriss, who is our second POV character as she ended up on the wrong side of the Occlusion Zone after her and Elza’s previously mentioned momentary freaking each other out caused her to travel away to get some distance. We also catch up with Bell Zettifar, who is now a Jedi Knight and alongside his fellow Jedi Burryaga is commanding a ship that travels the border of the Stormwall to try and stop the infrequent raids happening by the Nihil. Sadly that’s pretty much all they do, apart from a good scene where Bell nearly gives in to vengeance over the safety of his crew he and Burry don’t do much beyond just patrolling and one ship-on-ship battle scene.
A full look at the frankly awesome cover art for the book.
That being said there are also frequent chapters set at Nihil HQ as well, where we see a few changes have been made in the past year, namely Marchion Ro has allowed former politician Ghirra Starros to reorganise the rabble into a more politically structured system as they “govern” the people of Nihil Space, though really they just wreck places until they receive regular tribute. Ro however is constantly in a state of being mildly annoyed by everyone around him, his plan went without a hitch and now he rules a good chunk of the galaxy but he’s not happy, he and Nihil aren’t ones to play politics like the Republic so just sitting and ruling isn’t really his thing. He does have another plan, but I’ll get to that in the spoiler section! A lot of Elzar’s plot revolves around him trying to convince his fellow Jedi to mount an attack on the Stormwall, despite their top scientists telling him that it instantly repairs itself so there’s no point. As time passes it’s obvious Elzar feels guilty about Avar and not knowing her fate is what’s really driving him, and it’s due to that that he cements a strong relationship with Republic Chancellor Lina Soh, whose son is stuck behind the Stormwall also. After a Nihil broadcast sees the public execution of Jedi Master Pra-Tre Veter by way of Nameless we get an equally creepy sequence where Mann fails to convince the Jedi Council to act in response to this execution only to see that Yoda has brought Azlin Rell of all people into the equation to help with the Nameless, which was good fun (and unexpected due to most of his development coming in the Manga story of Phase II!). Rell has apparently tapped into the Darkside to try and find a way to destroy the creatures and due to that has found a way to keep himself alive all this time until he finds the answers. More on him in the comics, it seems…
Eventually Ghirra Starros convinces Ro that she should attend the Republic senate and ask for Nihil Space to be officially recognised as its own independent Empire, so to speak, but while the thought of peace through politics is briefly appealing to the Republic it’s obvious to everyone that this resolution just isn’t what Marchion Ro is about and they smell a rat. She’s sent back home without incident in order to not give Ro any more P.R. ammunition. Finally Elzar sees a glimmer of hope when their scientists find a single “Stormseed” that isn’t quite functioning correctly but doesn’t seem to being fixed by the rest of the Stormwall tech, so they might have an opening to attack…
Avar Kriss with her special cloak to hide her Jedi attire… well, I say special cloak, I mean just “cloak” really…
Meanwhile in the Occlusion Zone Avar Kriss is going from planet to planet helping people as best she can while trying to hide her Jedi-ness from Nihil operatives. The fact that the people she helps don’t seem to stay, well, helped for long due to the ever-present Nihil she is beginning to lose hope, so in case you haven’t realised it this book is very much about “over-coming hardship and self-doubt to find the resolve to fight back” as Elzar, Bell and Avar go on similar but distinct personal journeys to reach the same conclusion. She manages to find a new ally in Ugnaught pilot Belin, who acts as a grumpy sarcastic foil for her during most of the book, and eventually she finds a chance to escape the Occlusion Zone when captured TV reporter Rhil Dairo contacts her with a Nihil who wished to escape to freedom and is willing to take Jedi with them. At this point I’ll mention the other Jedi in the Occlusion Zone who we follow and that’s the Blade himself: Porter Engle, who has spent most of the year trying to reassemble an old droid that uses tech that might not be detected by the Stormwall’s sensors, all while fighting off General Viess, the merc leader from Engle’s own Phase II comic series who is not only still alive but now a top member of the Nihil. He fights off some Nihil thugs and sends the droid but unbeknownst to him its captured before it can make its journey. Shortly after he also hears Rhil’s plea over the radio and heads to the same location, eventually dropping in on Avar and Dairo just as their Nihil ride had been killed and all hope seemed lost. Rhil and her Nihil contact had saved the droid Porter had sent so they could give it another go, all they needed to do was smuggle themselves onto a Nihil ship…
It’s a really good story, very well written with quick and punchy chapters that not only put some extra focus on Avar and Elzar, two of the better, flawed characters in the High Republic, but also gave yet more shine to Marchion Ro, which will make his eventual downfall all the greater when it finally happens…
Overall Thoughts:
Porter Engle in his “Occlusion Zone Attire”.
“The Eye of Darkness” continues the mostly hit-after-hit nature of the High Republic releases with another strong entry, focusing on the emotional journeys of Elzar Mann and Avar Kriss as the two deal with issues either side of the Nihil’s Stormwall. As always, it’s left me wanting more!
Elzar commands a fleet to attack the defective Stormseed and break their way through the wall but it turns out to be a trap, the first few ships that tried to break through are destroyed and Ro soon makes a broadcast claiming that after the Republic turned away their attempts at peace talks they tried to attack their innocent nation without provocation. Ha! Great stuff. Much to the Republic and Jedi’s horror shortly after this Ro increases the Stormwall across several more systems, expanding their empire and once again making the Republic and the Jedi look useless. On the upside though during this Avar and Porter sneak on board a ship and captures its pilot but they’re soon confronted by Viess and her armada. Engle decides to settle old scores and takes a drill ship to her flagship and duels his old enemy, seemingly sacrificing his life but in reality he was injured and fell, but we never see him die, so I’m doubting such a key character has gone out in such a non-definite way.
Finally, another epic shot of Marchion Ro. Hooray!
Avar makes the jump through the Stormwall and is confronted by Bell and Burryaga, who are expecting to fight but are instead delighted by hearing Avar’s voice over the radio. We get a final scene of Avar’s debrief at the Jedi Council chamber where all the Jedi are relieved by the rare bit of good news in Avar’s survival and her information on how to breach the wall, with Avar and Elzar clearly now more connected emotionally than ever after both having declared that they love each other and can’t function without the other nearby. Meanwhile Marcion Ro is annoyed by Avar’s escape but makes it clear to Starros that it means little in the grand scheme and she should watch how far he pushes her political agender, much to her distress…
Hogan Reviews 