Hogan Reviews

Now I don’t normally read the YA novels of the High Republic, not because of some snobby turning my nose up at them thing (have you seen some of the other stuff I cover on this site?) just a lack of time thing, but given the large gap between the core adult novels and hearing that “Tears of the Nameless” has some key connections to the overall High Republic storyline I decided to dive in to the admittedly long-as-hell novel, and although there were some parts that I felt could’ve been trimmed it was overall a really good read and full of yet more enjoyable High Republic storylines new and old. Let’s take a look!

Like with pretty much all YA novels the story and prose are just as “adult” as anything else it’s the just the central POV characters happen to be young adults, and this is the case for the majority of “Tears of the Nameless” as your main protagonist is Reath Silas, a young Jedi who has not only lost his first Master to Jora Malli in Phase I but also his second as Cohmac Vitus left the order in the wake of the fall of Starlight Beacon. He’s also something of a scientist and loves diving into history and archaeology, something he had in common with Cohmac, and so is far more inclined to stay in the Jedi Temple of Coruscant. The secondary protagonist is Padawan Amadeo Azzazzo, who unlike Reath has only ever had the one master in Mirro Lox and has been out on adventures rather than in a lab, but he does share interest in the sciences. We also have chapters from the POV of young Vernestra Rwoh, so lots of younger minds to dive into, plus a few chapters from Cohmac’s perspective and a few from the viewpoint of a new villain called Sicarus, but more on that later.

The Book’s cover, depicting something that didn’t actually happen, but hey. Looks exciting, doesn’t it?

The first half of the story is focused on Reath managing to finally connect the Blight that spreading around the galaxy turning planets to stone and the Nameless, creatures who kill their enemies by sucking the Force out of them via fear and leaving them stone husks… not a major shock they’re related, but nice to have some characters confirm it in-universe! He comes to this conclusion thanks to the help of a curious Amadeo, the two striking up a quick friendship. Reath, now masterless once again, has been popping down to see Azlin Rell, who is now locked up underneath the temple on Coruscant after his Darkside-using self got a whole bunch of innocents killed in order to further his plan to stop the Nameless. This has led many to worry that Reath might be influenced by him, but during their conversations (which are really fun as Azlin is such an interesting character, a Darkside user not actually fallen to the Darkside itself) Reath makes it clear he seems him as a useful resource due to his countless years researching the Nameless that frightened him so many years ago rather than any kind of new mentor.

During all this talking on Coruscant we have a couple of side stories that will eventually converge as evil scientist Boolan sets one of his “children” (augmented Force sensitives) in Sicarus to hunt Jedi with his special Nameless pack and after capturing Jedi Master Eve Byre and husking her Padawan he eventually finds Cohmac, who in his retirement has been looking into long-lost civilizations that might have clues about the Nameless. After a few close calls Cohmac manages to escape off-world and head back to Coruscant with the coordinates to the home planet of the Tolemites, a people whose legends mention capturing creatures from other worlds, being a Force sensitive people and a great disease that rendered their planet inhospitable but that they managed to stop it before it took them out entirely, in other words potentially everything they need. As he makes his way back Reath has some visions about the old Sith temple underneath the Jedi one so manages to persuade Vernestra to check it out with him, Rwoh having just recovered from her encounter with Marchion Ro at the end of “Temptation of the Force”. There they find the Blight has begin to infect the temple, so finding a way to stop it suddenly becomes even more urgent.

Concept art for Reath, one of the more plain looking Jedi of the High Republic. Hey, they have to exist as well!

After an emergency meeting is held two different missions are decided: Amadeo and Mirro will accompany a group of soldiers and mercenaries to a discovered Nihil stronghold and try to capture a Nameless alive and bring it to Coruscant for study (in a facility way away from the Jedi, obviously), while Reath, Cohmac and the returning crew of The Vessel will head to the Tolemite world to see if they left any clues behind. There are plenty of scenes of Reath trying to come to terms with Cohmac’s return yet refusal to rejoin the order and what it means to be a Jedi really, plus his latest conversation with Azlin leaves him somewhat worried as the Darksider came to many of same conclusions as he did and seems to be treating him like his pupil. Eventually the two missions launch and first Amadeo and Mirro hold off a whole bunch of Nihil soldiers but they hear over the radio that a Nameless has gotten lose and sure enough the duo feel its presence and are soon overwhelmed by fear, Amadeo being dragged to safety by friendly medic-for-hire Dorian Innes. When he comes round he heads back into the battle to see the Nameless dead and his Master stood in front of it, but when he Mirro Lox turns his head around its already half stone, and as Lox gives him a knowing smile Amadeo watches his master crumble to dust. Amadeo collapses again and by the time he wakes the soldiers have captured another Nameless and are bringing it back but Dorian and two mercs in Ashton Vol and her droid pal L-77 (they’re a fun odd-couple pair, for the record) are still in orbit with the young Jedi, and they have some news…

Mirro Lox! … I guess I won’t need to post this picture again…

Meanwhile on the Tolemite homeworld Amadeo sees a special type of rock that is resisting the Blight so he asks Affie, Leox and Geode to harvest some stone while they head to what remains of the only Tolemite settlement they can see. The Vessel crew are still one of my favourite trios, even if Leox is just Han Solo lite his banter with Affie and Geode’s general weird existence of a block of stone that people somehow know the feelings of is still great stuff. Reath and Cohmac don’t find much to start with, beyond a mountain range that turns out to be several colossally large Force sensitive creatures with their backs poking out of the waves, but eventually they sense a hidden library under the waves and manage to bring it to the surface with the Force and head on inside, but at the same time Sicarus arrives after having been given their location by a mole within the Jedi temple, something Vernestra starts to investigate…

It’s a really good read, though I’ll admit some early chapters were quite slow as these longer books tend to suffer from, and sometimes there was a little too much focus on the emotions characters were feeling at all times. Oh and pretty much all the chapters with Sicarus as the POV was just plain annoying as he had Golem-style “yes my precious” type speech pattern and kept thinking about how great husking people with the Nameless is. I do like that he’s had his blood transfused with Nameless blood allowing him to wield the Force and command the creatures without fear of being attacked himself, but I could’ve done without the POV prose…

Overall Thoughts:

I wonder how they came up with the surname “Azzazzo” … Even for Star Wars that just sounds annoying!

“Tears of the Nameless” was as long, if not longer than the “adult” books in the series, which I wasn’t expecting, but while it was slow to get going and some of the villain POV chapters were pants I really loved the second half of the book, especially all the scenes on the Tolemite world. The book really has set a lot of stuff up too, most of it was easy to see coming as a reader and more about getting the Jedi up to speed with what we already knew, but hey… it had to happen sooner or later and the way it was handled here was fun to read.

After the Doctor Dorian reveals he’s a trans male and how hard it was to come out to his father (in the only part of the book that felt very YA-y, though if that helps any young adult struggling with similar issues then I’m all for it) Amadeo finds out that one of Boolan’s Children of the Storm is heading towards his new bestie Reath he decides PTSD be damned they should head there as backup. We then get a good few scenes of Reath and Cohmac searching the Tolemite temple/library/lab and solving some fun Indiana Jones-style puzzles until Reath touches a frozen Tolemite and sees a vision telling him of some special “echo stones” that were put into three equally special rods that have the power to control the Nameless, all things we who have been following the High Republic story know but its news to the Jedi and the Republic itself, so it was made out to be a big deal. Sadly one of Sicarus’ Nameless arrives and although the two manage to escape the ruins temporarily things are looking bleak, especially when Sicarus’ auto-guns shoot down the Vessel.

A Jedi-robe-less Cohmac… not that I was familiar with the character as a Jedi due to skipping the Phase I YA novels, but hey… The book did a good job of catching me up with everything!

Thankfully though Amadeo and co. soon arrive, shoot Sicarus’ ship to pieces and land near to Reath and Cohmac and a battle then begins as Ashton and L-77 take on some Nameless while Reath (who now has Silandra’s shield from Phase II!), Cohmac and Amadeo take on Sicarus, but struggle. Eventually though Sicarus is devoured by one of his own Nameless thanks to his transfused blood “running out” for a lack of a better term while the two mercs take out two of the three Nameless, though both suffering as a result. Everyone heads to the equally out of action merc ship to regroup, knowing that the Nameless from the temple was still outside and thanks to Ashton and L-77 being out of action things were looking bad… um, again. Meanwhile on the Vessel Affie heads to Sicarus’ ship and rescues Eve, though she is barely able to function any more thanks to being kept in a cage in the same room as the Nameless for God knows how long, and they get the call from Amadeo and co about getting out of there. The Vessel is good to go beyond one specific part, but wouldn’t know it? That part is working fine on the ship they’re on so Reath comes up with a plan and wakes one of the mountain-sized Force sensitive creatures which naturally attracts the Nameless and holds its attention while everyone rushes across the beaches and the ruins and makes it to the Vessel.

Despite everything both missions were a success, and back on Coruscant (where Vernestra found a guard relaying news to Boolan via a radio, but it’s unclear whether Azlin was behind it or not…) everyone is hopeful about both the special stone holding back the Blight in the temple and that the captured Nameless might be able to give them an edge, but most importantly that they now have a goal: find the one of the two Rods that Ro doesn’t have…