Book Review | Star Wars: The High Republic – Edge of Balance Part Three
Share the Force:
Max Nocerino 
Max takes a little detour into a galaxy far, far away to meet up with Jedi Master Arkoff in the third part of the Star Wars: The High Republic – Edge of Balance series.
Nihil, Space Panda, and Wood zombies, oh my! The Star Wars: The High Republic – Edge of Balance series returns for a third entry, giving us another taste of the charming feudal Japanese Jedi temple on Banchii. The uptight and serious Jedi Knight, Lily Tora-Asi, leads the Temple. Making an original Star Wars story in a manga medium seemed like it would not go well. But I am pleasantly surprised that it came into its own and is a fun and exciting story that doesn’t pull any punches.
Edge of Balance progresses alongside the events of The High Republic novels, and part three catches up to the Nihil cutting off a part of the galaxy for themselves with the insidious Stormwall. Yet, this manga’s greatest strength is that it is not what I consider low-stakes writing. What happens in this story matters, and it introduces many dynamic components.
JEDI LILI TOR-ANA
I found Jedi Lily Tor-Ana somewhat of an upstart and hypocritical, but her interactions with the unconventional Jedi Master Sav made me reconsider my initial criticism. She encourages Lily to be more flexible and flow like water. I’m happy to say that she is finally starting to take that advice. This manga gives us a bunch of inner dialogue from Lily, allowing us to get in her head and see how much she mourns the loss of her padawan Keerin. Before, Lily sought to squash her feelings, but now she acknowledges that they exist and moves forward. It is the best thing a Jedi can do to center themselves, and I am happy to see that Lily has become less rigid.
The art in this manga is simply beautiful and pays respect to the Japanese storytelling style: manga- with the Jedi Temple on Banchii looking like a Japanese temple. I also think the dialogue has improved. The conversations between the “English” speaking characters and the Wookiee Jedi Arkoff’s Shryiwook are pretty smooth, and there is no annoying repeating of the foreign language by the humans. It can be an unpleasant experience to have the characters speak like they are consciously translating for the audience, making the story all the more immersive and real.
HIGH STAKES FOR THE HIGH REPUBLIC
I mentioned the story wasn’t small potatoes in terms of its reach, and I meant it. The humans of Banchii, who were petrified into wood, have risen from the grave and given us this unique and unheard-of wood zombie. I haven’t seen it in any other story (much less Star Wars). Oddly, Yoda travels to Banchii with the somehow still-alive human former Jedi Azlin Rell to investigate. Azlin was driven mad by the Nameless a century prior and his former comrades have utilized his experience as invaluable for dealing with the war with the Nihil.
Azlin was also Arkoff’s former pupil, which is interesting considering the extended lifespan that Wookiees are fortunate to have, as opposed to humans. Arkoff has likely outlived several padawans by some strange twist of fate, but Azlin is still alive. Humans don’t usually live over 100 years in Star Wars, but Azell is a spry 150, and it’s pretty odd.
JEDI MASTER YODA
As always, I feel Yoda was underused; this is my only complaint about this story. Disney is afraid to put Yoda in sticky situations. We are teased with but then denied a chance to see Yoda fight the Nameless. The Nameless are grotesque creatures that can turn a Force-sensitive (no matter the strength or affiliation in the Force) to that of a dusty husk. Yet, there are ways a Force-user can fight them, and Azlin tries to levitate one with the Force. I want to see Yoda play a more significant role in the conclusion of this High Republic initiative. I hope Disney gets over their Yoda-shyness in order to “preserve” the character and give the guy something to do.
VERDICT
The B story with Sav is somewhat interesting as well. She journeys to a moon, slowly being drawn into the range of the Stormwall. Along the way, she meets a very peculiar 3-eyed panda-like creature, a Force user. Huh? First, wood zombies, and now pandas. I LOVE it when Star Wars gets weird, and this manga was not short in terms of creativity. This was a fun, fast read, and I highly recommend it.
Star Wars: The High Republic – Edge of Balance Vol. 3 is available to order now.
FORCE FACTS
Get ready for an adventure through Force Facts, where we uncover all the fun facts, juicy trivia, and hidden Easter eggs. Buckle up, and let’s see how many of these incredible nuggets of information you spotted!
-
We see a plain gravestone with Aurebesh lettering on it. My Aurebesh is quite bad, so I can’t read the name. Still, I love the juxtaposition between something as inane and innocuous as a gravestone but with otherworldly space language writing.
-
The moon of Astenban is due to drift into the territory of the Stormwall after it completes a rotation. This is fascinating and seems to imply that something with sufficient mass can pass through the Stormwall unaided. A moon is MUCH more significant than any ship available to the characters in this period, but theoretically, a planet with a hyperdrive (Zonama Sekot) could potentially travel through it.
-
Banchiians are tiny bird-like people whose language seems to consist of a single sound, Chee. They are very similar to the Ewoks in their fighting strategies and cultures, and I wouldn’t mind seeing them in another story. They are quite cute!
Did you find all the Easter eggs? Did you spot any that we missed? Leave a comment and let us know!
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!
