Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm – A Disney Nerds Book Club Review

It’s time for this month’s Disney Nerds Book Club Review and we are back in the world of Star Wars. This month we read “Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm” by Cavan Scott. This book is the second book of the adult-level reading series but the fifth book of The High Republic cannon.

Spoilers Ahead

In the book, we are still in the Wake of the “Great Disaster” that we read in previous books. The Republic is trying to work towards unifying and Chancellor Lina Soh has planned The Republic Fair. Her hope is to bring the spirit of unity to the galaxy with this fair. In fact, the theme of the fair is “Spirit of Unity.” The Jedi are there at the fair as ambassadors which means familiar faces are in this story. Stellan Gios, Bell Zettifar, Elzar Mann, and other Jedi we’ve read about in previous books are there to help with the fair. But there are some that don’t think there should be a fair with the threat of The Nihil still around. We actually meet up with the Nihil leader, Marchion Ro, who is still bent on destroying The Republic. Marchion is still a little bit of a mystery, but we are slowly learning more about his motives. The Republic Fair begins but it doesn’t take long before the Nihil storms arrive and wreak havoc on the fair. They bomb and attack the fair and the attendants which means the Jedi spring into action to protect the people and the Republic. We follow along as each member of the Jedi has their own path through this fight to try and save people and maybe even themselves.

I found this book action-packed, and you can see why.

Most of this book is during the attack on the fair. What I enjoyed was the deeper dive into the characters. The book jumps through several characters’ storylines during the attack. We follow them as they work to stop the Nihil, to save people, and we even learn more about their thoughts and what drives them. The more I read into The High Republic timeline, the more I’m pulled into what is going to happen to these characters. I want to know who will win in the end. Will the Jedi and the Republic win over the Nihil or will the Nihil damage the Republic so badly that it takes years or decades to recover. This book was a major chapter of The High Republic saga, I feel like this is a turning point for the story. Before the Republic and the Jedi seems a little lost on how to deal with the Nihil but the attack on the fair makes one thing clear for them, the Nihil must be stopped as soon as possible before more lives are lost.

If you are a fan of Star Wars, reading The High Republic series is a must in my opinion. I can’t wait to get to the next installment.