Review: “Star Wars: The Supreme Republic: The Quest for the Hidden City”

A new novel from the High Republic in our review.

content (fuss)

Intrepid pilots chart new routes through hyperspace, while Scout units seek contact with frontier worlds in an attempt to convince them to join the Republic. When a Scout team’s communications robot is damaged and found floating in space with a coded message, Jedi Knight Silandra Sho and her apprentice Rooper Nitani are sent to locate the missing team members. Her investigations lead her to a ruined world where legendary beasts are said to lurk. Can the Jedi find the missing team and solve the mystery of the monsters? The answers await you in a city hidden beneath the surface of the planet…

criticism

After the first phase of the High Republic ended with the destruction of Starlight, you are now entering the second phase. So, here you are telling us how the Jedi fare against the Nihil and uh… oh don’t wait. We go back 150 years and tell stories before the events mentioned. Why? Well, we hope that will become clear as the new stages progress.

In any case, the novel “The Search for the Hidden City” is considered one of the first youth novels in this period, and therefore it is part of the second phase, the first phase, or rather the second phase, the first phase? Or phase two, phase one? Phase two, phase one? Who else is looking through there? Let’s just say we are now in stage 2.1 of the Upper Republic. And by the way, there is nothing in the book itself to indicate that we are now 150 years ago – except, of course, for the real reference to the mentioned phase two. So maybe another novel of Blanchalet is missing here, without which you can’t get past it, as it was at the beginning of Phase 1 (1.1)?

And what do you say in prehistoric times? The only interesting topic at this point may be the past and the emergence of the Nihil. After all, the Drangers had been in a deep sleep for thousands of years and not only were they awakened during Phase One, they were also promptly defeated (and if I’m being honest, it wasn’t a shame because they weren’t really “great” bad guys). But overall, the first stage made a fair impression, which no one could have expected at all.

Unfortunately, the story presented here falls under the category of “quickly forgotten”. Jedi Roper and Sylandra embark on a rescue mission to find the other missing Jedi. So far so good, and judging by the stages that have been made so far, the book is about introducing the characters. At least for the two Jedi Knights, it works to an extent, even if you don’t have to expect much innovation. Typical serious team.

Unfortunately, the other characters are a bit paler, being given a few sightings every now and then, but unlike the Jedi, you don’t get any background information about them. There are also robots that talk to “Beep-Bop-Wuu” (unfortunately a lot, so it’s almost annoying) and it’s not a particularly original story. There is a traitor among the Catechotes who engineered all this on the neighboring planet out of greed. Eventually, it will be taken out of circulation just as quickly as the planetary transport system collapses (but of course you still have enough time to escape). At least they didn’t let the villain jump over the cliff, because that’s what it looked like for a little while.

So the story is unfortunately a bit rippling, I’m used to something better than the guy. Well, it’s a story aimed at younger readers, but even they might find it challenging given the frequency of nondescript characters that appear here. In addition, the novel has not yet contributed significantly to the second phase. Let’s hope there is still a lot more to come.