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I debated whether or not to write a full review for TALES OF LIGHT AND LIFE for a few reasons, largely due to feeling somewhat underwhelmed by some of these stories. But the more I read, I realized there’s some unmissable gems in this collection & I wanted to get some thoughts down about them. The High Republic has become such a huge part of my Star Wars fandom & some of these stories hit really hard, filled in some gaps, or in one instance, introduced a new character that became an instant favorite.

The introduction of the book is by Michael Siglain, the Creative Director for Lucasfilm Publishing, and I just…can’t really agree with something he wrote. I get that publishing is a business, and the goal of all businesses is to make money. But in the introduction, he suggests that this collection of short stories would be a great starting point for someone who hasn’t read any of The High Republic novels or comics, and dang…I just really cannot fathom it. There are some incredibly specific reasons I could give that would veer way to close to spoiler territory, but some of the stories in this collection directly pay off on huge mysteries/cliffhangers from some of the other High Republic stories. I’m always looking for good entry points into reading Star Wars, because it’s a question I get asked periodically. As much as I ultimately did love some of the stories in TALES OF LIGHT AND LIFE, I would really only recommend it if you are mostly (if not all the way) caught up on The High Republic! That’s just my personal take, YMMV.

It was fun getting to spend some time with a younger Axel Greylark in Zoraida Córdova’s “The Queen’s Bloom.” He’s such an enigmatic character, and this little glimpse into his life as a student at university was pretty elightening. Plus, this story kind of ties Phase One & Phase Two of The High Republic together in a pretty unexpected way!

Charles Soule’s “All Jedi Walk Their Own Path” is the story that had me really scratching my head at the thing I mentioned from the introduction. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath since reading Claudia Gray’s THE FALLEN STAR, and wondering about the fate of Burryaga, the beloved Wookiee Jedi. And this is the story of Bell Zettifar’s desperate quest to find out what happened to his friend. I just can’t imagine coming into this story without having at least read the three adult novels from Phase One. Oof…this was such an emotional story. In addition to the Burryaga aspect of the story, we also get a lot of great flashbacks to Bell’s time with his Jedi Master, Loden Greatstorm. This one was fucking gorgeous, definitely one of my favs from the collection!

Cavan Scott’s “Light in the Darkness” features Keeve Trennis, my favorite Jedi from the Phase One comics! But we are kind of seeing her through the eyes of a pair of Enami (a furry/non-human Star Wars species that I believe is making its debut here) siblings in the aftermath of the Nihil attacks. It’s a really exciting & hopeful story, and it was so great to see Keeve!

The fact that Daniel José Older created the character Alys Ongwa (aka Crash) as a tribute to Alyssa Wong, and here (or at least, in the Barnes & Noble edition of this book, which comes with an exclusive extra story), Wong continues Crash’s story is *chef’s kiss.* Crash wasn’t necessarily a favorite character of mine, but in “Rogue Element,” Wong introduces a brand new character that is so instantly charismatic & fascinating, and I am hoping with all my heart we will see more of him in Phase Three. His name is Ruu…I don’t really want to give too much of Ruu’s story away, but this is character equipped with a lightsaber, a Nihil mask, and a metric shit-ton of rage and grief. I fucking loved Ruu with every ounce of my soul, and would really encourage anyone thinking of picking up this book to try & seek out the B&N exclusive just so you can meet this incredible character! And again, I am DYING to know whether we will be seeing more of Ruu in Phase Three of The High Republic! Ruu was also confirmed to be trans by Alyssa Wong in a Twitter post, which is awesome! The High Republic is definitely the most diverse & inclusive segment of the Star Wars universe, and Ruu is such a great addition to an already-great cast of characters!

I think my biggest complaint about this book is really tied into how much I adored CATACLYSM, Lydia Kang’s novel. It was the second adult novel of Phase Two, and I was so taken with how Kang wrote Yaddle into the story. Additionally, two other younger Jedi really captured my heart in that book: Cippa Tarko (whom Yaddle is training) and Enya Keen (who kind of became the emotional center of the book, at least from my perspective), and I had just really hoped that one or two (or all three) of those amazing characters might pop up in this collection, and well…they didn’t. So that was a bummer for me, for sure!

In my mind, this would be a quick little write-up, and fucking yikes, that’s not how it turned out! At the end of the day, The High Republic will always be one of my favorite corners of the Star Wars universe. While this collection didn’t 100% blow me away, I still loved it!

Happy Life Day!! And may the Force be with you!!