The Rising Storm by Cavan Scott is part of The High Republic multi-media project and sequel to Light of the Jedi.
With the unabridged audio version of this novel clocking in at an impressive fourteen hours, it’s no surprise that Rising Storm does an excellent job expanding the beloved Star Wars universe in ways that are truly impressive.
The Rising Storm references events from Light of the Jedi so I recommend reading that one first. That said, Scott does a great job incorporating enough information that newcomers have a solid footing in the story and its characters.
Rising Storm is a little bit Game of Thrones, a little bit Poseidon, and a little bit Day of the Triffids. It’s to Scott’s skill as a writer that he is able to make it all come together in a satisfying whole. Numerous viewpoints are used to tell the story, which starts shortly where Light of the Jedi ended. The Republic is planning a grand celebration, a Fair. Various politicians fear that putting so many resources towards the Fair is unwise because of the Nihil threat and dangerous flesh eating plants encroaching on various regions. Of course, the Fair is attacked by the Nihil, who end up sinking the Innovator, a science vessel described as a technological marvel. After the attack, the Jedi trick a captured Nihil prisoner to lead them to their base, which they attempt to destroy.
The main attraction of Rising Storm is not the fairly straightforward plot, but the intricate characters. Ty Yorrick, a newcomer to Rising Storm, quickly became a favorite of mine as the tired mercenary with a heart of gold. Not only is she clearly not straight, but her past as a former padawan asks so many questions begging for answers.
Bell Zettifar, still aching from the loss of his master, is another character who shines brightly in the series as he navigates his emotions and his beliefs as a Jedi.
The reader is able to glimpse even more about how Jedi view the Force from characters such as Elzar Mann, who mirrors Anakin Skywalker in more ways than one. Stellan, new to the Jedi Council, allows himself to break down in grief after the battle. They grapple with emotions, with how they are seen by the Republic and by others, and with the idea of justice.
Rising Storm’s main thematic component revolves around ideas of community. It delves deeper as multiple characters realize they cannot be their best selves when they are alone. One of Bell’s most intense moments of character growth comes when he realizes he has cut himself from the Force because he fears he will not sense his old master, but even with that knowledge, even with that fear, he is not alone. When Elzar Mann uses the Dark Side of the Force, he resolves he will no longer do it alone, and he goes to one of his oldest friends for help.
Rising Storm completes the circle which earlier Star Wars canon only points towards. Luke stands tall–a Jedi like his father before him, but the only Jedi until he attempts to rebuild the order. Din Djarin embodies the western trope of the lone gunman, but in the second season, he learns over and over there is more than one way to be a Mandalorian. Star Wars, with its last Jedis and chosen ones, has always looked towards the truth that you are not alone, but not with so much clarity, not with so much joy, as The Rising Storm. The characters in Rising Storm assure their counterparts in the Original and Prequel trilogies that they aren’t alone either: like Anakin, Elzar compares the Nihil to animals as he strikes them down with the Dark Side; Bell cuts himself off from the Force out of grief like Luke after him; Ty connects to her past in the same way Han connects to the future of what he could be.
It’s in stark contrast to the Nihil who don’t seem to believe in anything. Annihilation seems to be their only objective. Treachery is their constant companion. Lourna Dee can promise with a kiss that she will join a fellow commander yet leave him to die alone and betrayed. She can blow the limbs off a trusted officer for making a mistake. Yet, even so, it’s the Nihil and their motivations that remain the weakest point of the novel. At one point, the Nihil say they will “write their name across the Republic’s frontier,” but Scott does not allow the narrative to delve into what that really means. The phrase is only used to rile up the Nihil in preparation for their attack.
Even in a galaxy far, far away, the “frontier” is inescapable from its history of western expansion and colonization in the United States. In the same way the use of “frontier” is not examined in the novel, so is the desire for the Togruta to join the Republic not examined either. The Nihil fight against the “light” of the Jedi and the Republic both, but without any thoughtful reason. It reads like pro-Republic propaganda and ignores the real historical context of the “frontier.” Ultimately, the colonization state of mind is not questioned: why is it so important for the Togrutas to join the Republic, and why are the Nihil fighting so hard against the Republic and the Jedi?
This is not surprising from Star Wars, but I do hope for more from the novels as they have more leeway and flexibility than their on screen counterparts. For example, I was over the moon when there were three queer characters in Rising Storm. Unfortunately, gay representation gets undercut when the entire conflict of the novel falls so easily into a colonial framework where the colonizers are the good guys because is that really and truly queer? It can’t be.
This concept of the Republic and the frontier becomes even more pointed when themes of punishment and second chances enter the scene. Concepts of abolition–freedom from incarceration, prison, shame–tie these concepts together.
About midway through the novel, a character muses that the Jedi were taught to see good in the darkest of hearts, even though they lived in a universe that didn’t believe the same way. These values are the Jedi’s greatest strength, yet also their greatest weakness.
Star Wars clearly believes this in some fashion: it is Luke’s resolute faith in his father’s goodness that remains the triumph of the Original Trilogy. Even though the Jedi fell in the Prequel Trilogy, it wasn’t because they had become too kind: it was because they fell to the Dark Side by joining a war. Essentially, they forgot to be kind. They forgot the goodness in people’s hearts.
But in Rising Storm, the sentiment rings false because there doesn’t seem to be any goodness in the Nihil, even when there are swaths of chapters from their perspective. Ironically, there is one stray comment from Lourna about how many of the Nihil had once been incarcerated, but it’s never explicitly stated by whom, and it never becomes anything more than an aside. When the Jedi find the Nihil’s hidden base, they are told to take prisoners to question, and to leave the fate of the leaders to the Force. If there are prisoners, there must be jails. Where is the second chance in that? Where is the goodness in everyone’s heart in that?
At one point, Ro asks if he will have a fair trial, but it’s never actually stated what a fair trial is or how that might look like. In the same way, the Republic Chancellor asks Stellan to pursue justice after the attack on the fair — but at no point is “justice” defined, nor even acknowledged that justice will be different person to person, culture to culture.
It shocked me to hear a character ask why the Force was punishing him when he had a violent vision, but this idea of punishment is actually encapsulated most with Ty, who feels shame about her current life, who thinks back to when she was good, as if she is not “good” now. It’s no surprise she finds herself in a jail cell when the Nihil attack the fair, and even comments being jailed has happened multiple times before. It’s no surprise the prisoners are left to their fate, such as it would be, saved only because Ty was able to manipulate the Nihil who came to kill them.
A key aspect of abolition and transformative justice is to ask, who has harmed and who is harmed? Yet, this question is never asked of the Republic. The narrative spends a lot of time talking about the harm done by the Nihil, but remains silent about the harm done by the Republic, though it is comprised of many individuals and cultures. It’s telling that the most explicit act of harm done by the Republic, the incarceration of Ty, is not even framed as an act of harm.
So the Republic courts the Togruta because the Togruta joining the Republic would be a shining achievement, a great legacy, without asking what the Togruta would lose if they joined, or even what they would gain, or even why they don’t want to join the Republic. So the Nihil fight against the Republic because they are violent, because they murder in stark contrast to the Jedi or Republic who only do so in the name of justice.
Yet where is the justice in that?
Even though I’m disappointed with Scott for falling into these colonial and incarceral tropes, I truly enjoyed this novel, and I look forward to reading the next in this series.
I listened to the audio version which seemed to have received additional funds in the production stage because wow. There were a lot of sound effects (sometimes to its detriment). The music, especially, was wonderful, dipping beyond the traditional motifs that are so recognizable from the Prequel and Original series. Marc Thompson, of course, did his usual stellar voicework.
Star Wars: The Rising Storm (High Republic) is on sale June 29th, 2021.