Max is intrigued by Tessa Graton’s newest installment of The High Republic series, Star Wars: The High Republic—Temptation of the Force. Read his review.
The High Republic is rounding the final lap, and “Temptation of the Force” gives us a stratified story with tremendous and not-so-great points.
“Temptation of the Force” by Tessa Graton had a lot to live up to, following in the footsteps of “The Eye of Darkness” by George Mann, a novel that I consider one of the finest in the New Canon. While this title is subject to change, I feel like “Eye of Darkness” is on the level of the old Legends, “Shadows of the Empire” novel, mainly because it was good enough to become a movie. Yes, Star Wars is perhaps the only franchise where the movie is better than the book.
TESSA GRATON
Anyway, putting that all aside, let us delve into this piece. Tessa is undoubtedly an excellent writer, and I have enjoyed her other The High Republic entries thus far. I can’t complain too much about this novel. “Temptation” picks up where “The Eye of Darkness” left off. Avar Kriss has made it out of the Stormwall, a hyperspace barrier that the evil Nihil had erected to cut off parts of the galaxy from the Republic and establish a fief for themselves. Also, much like the threat of a landlord raising your rent, the evil leader of the Nihil can expand the Stormwall whenever he wishes. There isn’t anything the Republic can do to stop him.
Marchion Ro is an Evereni pirate with a heart as cold as ice. I feel he is more evil than even someone like Palpatine, as Palpatine had a method to his madness. He wanted to eradicate the Jedi and rule over the galaxy. Ro doesn’t care about order. He kills for the sheer pleasure of it and only attacks the Republic because he likes to be amused. I’m NOT saying Palpatine is a good guy, but Marchion is so unpredictable and nihilistic that you can hardly ever predict his intentions.
MARCHION RO
He just wants to kill as many beings as he can. He also has somewhat of a scientific mind, losing himself in his study of the Blight. The Blight infects planets across the galaxy, and Marchion is intrigued by it as he feels it can easily be weaponized. Eventually, he goes off the radar a bit to experiment with it. The Blight kills all that it touches, similar to the effect the Nameless (another horrific weapon of Ro’s) has on Force-sensitives. It reduces them to an ashy husk, and there is no way to stop them.
The novel also focuses heavily on the relationship between Jedi Knights Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann. These two humans grew up together and are grappling with the death of their third friend, Stellan Gios. Stellan tragically loses his life, going down with the ship (so to speak), and Elzar blames himself, as his unintentional actions are what led to his death. Stellan struggles with the dark side, and once the Stormwall goes up, trapping Avar behind it, the one other person who truly understood him is gone.
AVAR KRISS & ELZAR MANN
Elzar and Avar are obviously in love with each other. However, being good Jedi, they have spent years suppressing this love, as attachments among the Jedi Order are strictly forbidden. Tessa did a superb job writing the internal struggles of these two star-crossed lovers as they try to resist their urges and find solace in their friendship, even though the Nihil threat is engulfing the entire galaxy. Elzar and Avar both have essential roles to play, as more of a first responder, guiding other beings out of the Stormwall. Elzar takes on the more clerical and strategic political role of trying to eliminate the Stormwall.
Because of his hard work, the Jedi elders want to appoint him to the Jedi Council, and unlike Anakin centuries later, Elzly does not wish to accept this honor. He feels he doesn’t deserve it after giving in to the dark side and killing Chancey Yarrow on Starlight. In a unique “human” moment, Elzar blurts out a confession in front of the Council and accepts responsibility for his mistake. This does not deter the Council and lets Elzar know that even Jedi make mistakes. Thus, it doesn’t disqualify his nomination. I love this moment, as the Council is showing some true wisdom this time, and I believe that Elzar owning up shows that he is a true Jedi.
MASTER YODA
I was slightly disappointed by how Yoda has been underused in The High Republic. Sure, he is a prominent Council member, dispenses wisdom, and is revered as such. However, I feel that most of that is just shoehorned in out of respect for how integral a character he is. I hope he plays a more “natural” role as The High Republic project closes.
I am also very disappointed by two other things outside of the Marchion, Avar/Elzar, and Bell/Buryagga storylines. Marchion’s cold, calculating evil, Avar and Elzar’s captivating emotions, and Bell and Buryagga’s Jedi friendship are all written well. BUT General Viess and Porter Engle’s feud was incredibly disappointing and fizzled out so anticlimactic. In “The Eye of Darkness,” they had an epic duel, and the ancient and powerful Jedi, Porter Engle, was presumed dead. Yet, like most characters – he did not remain dead.
I’m not complaining that he survived. I’m complaining about him going after Viess repeatedly, and it feels like beating a dead bantha. He dueled her three times in this book, accomplishing no key plot points. And then Viess invited him to an isolated moon to settle the score once and for all. But he ran off with the weird revelation that Porter’s sister, Mly, was still alive. Viess killed Porter’s sister decades prior, and that was the impetus for their continued feud. However, nothing is accomplished in this novel; everything feels rushed and poorly written. I was expecting something quite mind-blowing; Gratton was spinning her wheels instead.
XYLAN GRAF & CAIR SAN TEKKA
I also want to address the married couple, Xylan Graf and Cair San Tekka. These men are both scions from two of the most powerful families in the galaxy (think Romeo and Juliet). While I have absolutely NO problem with LGBTQ+ characters, I feel The High Republic has crassly depicted them as stereotypical gay men. Especially Xylan. Xylan is a fashionista who likes the finer things in life, only cares about himself (and bringing Cair to bed), runs at the site of trouble, is petty and condescending, loves his dog, and so many other negative traits associated with open effeminately gay men.
Cair is a little better but also obsessed with the finer things. While he is far from selfish, he has an air about him that screams WASP (or Space-Wasp?). I find them to be insufferable characters. It’s great that Disney is so open about same-sex relationships, but I would prefer that they be depicted more realistically.
VERDICT
“Temptation of the Force” had so many gold nuggets to enjoy. Unfortunately, it was buried in a lot of mud. You had to sift to find the parts pushing The High Republic initiative. As I said earlier, it was stratified story-wise. However, not all hope is lost. The events of the novel’s end tease an unimaginably incredible finale as Marchion Ro plots something insidious under the guise of diplomacy with the Republic.
I have a few theories about his actions but cannot definitively pick one. I like being surprised, though. Overall, I’ve enjoyed The High Republic project and will be sorry to see it end.
Star Wars: The High Republic: Temptation of the Force will be released on June 11, 2024. You can order your copy here.
FORCE FACTS
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Cair put Porter Engle in stasis for a while after he recovered him, near-dead, from General Viess’s ship, as his injuries were quite severe. Cair doesn’t go into details about this process, but it is fascinating from a medical point of view. Apparently, cryostasis is a very common medical solution in the galaxy with only a nascent bacta economy.
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Marchion Ro reveals what we have seen throughout the High Republic. His species can apparently see the ghosts of their ancestors. Ro is constantly visited by his great-great-grandmother who started the Nihil, Marda, and it leads me to wonder if he is truly seeing her spirit or that the Evereni have a species-wide psychosis problem. Star Wars was always very coy about the afterlife and non-Force users coming back as ghosts, so I wonder if the latter is more likely. Maybe the Evereni are genetically predetermined to be psychotic or schizophrenic.
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The Forest world of Oanne is introduced along with its inhabitants, the Elia-An. The Elia-An are a new species and have a very curious reproduction method. They reproduce through their nativity trees, and as a Ho’Din scientist put it, the beings are “seeds” that the trees cross-pollinate. This is a bizarre alien feature, and I like seeing such a biodiverse species since I always felt New Canon wasn’t weird or spacey enough with new aliens. Having every alien be so “basic” can get boring, and I like to see that the galaxy is a peculiar place.
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One of the most notable differences between Star Wars tech and our tech is that Star Wars doesn’t have apps or websites. Instead of using Google Maps-type technology, Elzar Mann needs his droid to plug into a panel in the Senate building so he can bring up a map for him to follow. He has a datapad (which is similar to an Earth iPad), but he can’t just look up a map on the Holonet or some other equivalent feature. Also, his communication device (the comlink), doesn’t tell who is calling and he must pre-program in a “ringtone” to indicate when his emergency contact is trying to reach him. For a civilization that has anti-gravity and FTL, it always struck me as odd that they didn’t have basic computer connectivity. Maybe it has something to do with how everything is so easily hackable.
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I like being confused when reading sci-fi. One of the foodstuffs mentioned is a gaseous straw, which I have no idea what that is, and plasma stations are all over the city on Coruscant. Plasma stations? Like for disinfecting your hands? Hmmm.
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Big Spoiler. The Nihil invade Naboo as it fell into the new boundaries of the expanded Stormwall. It’s eerie how closely the Nihil occupation resembles what will happen centuries later when the Trade Federation invades Naboo in the Phantom Menace. General Viess knocked out all power and then began to occupy the capital city. The Gungans are mentioned as being initially unaffected, safe in their underwater cities and the Nabooian queen was able to get offworld with a group of her security. Just like Phantom Menace! It makes me wonder if, retroactively, the Naboo historians remember the Nihil occupation when they were once again invaded by the Trade Federation. Perhaps retroactively, Queen Amidala referenced this event “off-screen” and mimicked what her government did almost 200 years earlier. Food for thought.
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Viess’s sword is made of beskar, which is how she is able to duel Porter Engle. Beskar is immune to lightsaber strikes and, along with cortosis, is the best bet for a non-Jedi or Sith to stand up to a lightsaber-wielding Force user.
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Being a future tech nerd, I was able to identify that one of the things scientists were working on in c. 228 BBY was harnessing power from the ambient vacuum energy of the cosmos. Here on Earth, zero-point energy is thought to be impossible to utilize, yet Star Wars is more advanced (in some ways) and may be able to make some headway into this research. Perhaps this is what will come of the methods Starkiller Base uses to power its solar-system busting weapon.
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As an observation, it would seem that a lot of tech “innovations” in the Canon Star Wars galaxy do not come from pure technological breakthroughs. Oftentimes, specific things in nature are known to produce desirable effects on their own, and the Republic takes advantage of them and will export them off planets. Fungus on Oanne is a naturally efficient (and untraceable) electroconductor and that’s why the Republic knows about the Elia-An in the first place. Also, there is apparently a type of alcohol the Republic uses for deglazing engines!?
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When planets are described, the book mentions a lot about whether or not they have been exported. It would appear that in Canon, most planets in the galaxy are known about and utilized. Yet, there is also a contingency of random remote worlds you could go to to hide or pursue nefarious activities. This goes against what we saw in Legends, that most of the galaxy is unexplored and I honestly can’t decide which narrative I like better. Although, with super-fast FTL, it makes sense that most of the galaxy has been surveyed already. They’ve had hyperdrives for 25 centuries! Yet, I still love the mystique and wonder of an untamed galaxy. Yes, I know that the Unknown Regions and Wild Space exist in the new canon, but I sometimes get frustrated by how accessible most planets are.
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Seeding planets with Drengir is most likely the reason why the Blight shows up in the first place. I admire this story choice, as in science, oftentimes, one action will have an effect on another system. We thought using fossil fuels would be the key to unlocking our civilization-and it was!- however, we found it also had negative side effects (global warming), and may be the end of our lives as we know it. Of course, Marchion Ro meant ill will from the start…..
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Buryagga also may have discovered the secret to resisting the horrifying power of the Nameless. Feelings of empathy through the Force? Hmmm. There existed a power in Legends called Force Empathy, and in canon, certain Jedi are more attuned than others to emotions, but is this really the Nameless kryptonite? We will have to read the next novel to find out for sure.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
