Justina Ireland adds another center to her novel streak! Set a couple of months after the events of the other second-wave The High Republic novels, it explores the consequences of an entire year of catastrophes.

The slower pace is perfect to give the readers the first answers to the so many questions we had. We, the readers, are the ones that come out of the shadows of ignorance, while the "light of the jedi" reveals the first truth.

Politics is one of the main protagonist of the novel, with new factions adding up to the whole galatic situation. Vernestra, Imri and the other Jedi are well characterized and their character development is well managed from one book to the other. The new protagonist, however, Sylvetri Yarrow is too much of a caricature, although she is central for the plot.

Star Wars: The High Republic: Out of the Shadows is a young adult novel written by Justina Ireland and published by Disney-Lucasfilm Press. Taking place within the same timeframe as The Rising Storm and Race to Crashpoint Tower, the novel follows the points of view of multiple characters as they intersect in the Nihil’s latest plot. Sylvestri “Syl” Yarrow is a simple cargo pilot attempting to make ends meet after her mother Chauncey was killed by the Nihil. A Nihil invasion leads Syl to the planet Coruscant, where she is drawn into the web of the wealthy Xylan Graf. Meanwhile, newly minted Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwhoh and her Padawan Imri Cantaros investigate a Nihil attack that leads to Vernestra discovering a mysterious object that the Nihil are pursuing—and which is instrumental to their plans. Together with Jedi Master Cohmac Vitus and his Padawan Reath Silas, Vernestra, Imri, and Syl battle the Nihil while coming to terms with long-hidden secrets.



Ireland had previously written for the High Republic era before with the junior novel A Test of Courage, which first introduced Vernestra and Imri. In Out of the Shadows, she continues to build upon the duo’s Jedi abilities and their bond as Master and Padawan. Vernestra’s Force visions, which take her past the bonds of hyperspace, prove to be integral to the novel’s plot, and Imri’s abilities to sense emotion are a test for Vernestra as Jedi are encouraged not to form attachments. Vernestra also struggles with proving herself, as she is the youngest being to become a Jedi Knight. Something that is refreshing about The High Republic era is that Jedi are actually allowed to feel emotions; it’s hard to connect with characters if we don’t know what they’re going through. Vernestra is shown to be struggling with frustration and doubt, which are the same feelings that plagued Jedi such as Luke Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano. It helps humanize her and forges a connection between audience and character.

Ireland picks up on the events of another book as well, as Reath and Cohmac made their first appearance in the High Republic novel Into The Dark. Reath is still the same Jedi who’d rather spend time in the Jedi Temple’s archives than battling, and he still holds resentment and hurt over the betrayal he suffered from Nan, the Nihil spy who tricked him. I love that Ireland is able to reference events from the previous novels without making new readers feel lost. Writing in a shared universe is a tricky task and she navigates it with ease.

However, the true standout character of the novel is Syl. Not only does Syl have a connection to both the events of the novel and interactions with nearly every major character, but she also has some of the biggest emotional moments in the narrative. Part of that is due to the grief she still carries from her mother’s death, which leads her to question the effectiveness of the Jedi. But she also broke up with her girlfriend Jordanna to go spacefaring, and those feelings still surge strong-especially when Jordanna is brought back into her life by Vernestra and Imri. Syl is not the first LGBTQI+ character to be introduced into the new Star Wars universe, but the push and pull between her and Jordanna is immensely well-crafted and hits quite a few emotional notes. None is bigger than their first interaction on Courascant after years apart, which is just as awkward as you’d imagine two exes meeting up to be.

Finally, the Nihil’s machinations come to light. Previous High Republic material had shown them to be an extremely deadly force, but Out of the Shadows deepens their menace. Even though the Nihil revel in violence and conquest, it’s been shown that they aren’t afraid to stab each other in the back, and that could affect their reign of terror on the galaxy.


Star Wars: The High Republic: Out of the Shadows serves as an emotionally engaging entry into the second wave of High Republic novels, featuring plenty of Star Wars action and a cast of characters readers will grow to love. The High Republic continues to serve as one of the most engaging elements of the new Star Wars universe, and I hope future installments keep up this energy.

Star Wars: The High Republic-Out of the Shadows will be available on July 27, 2021 wherever books are sold.

It has been a few months since the Nihil attacked the Republic Fair on Valo, causing countless deaths, and the combined forces of the Jedi and the Republic have amped up their brutal counterattacks against the feared Outer Rim pirates. 

Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh is still working through a complex awry of feelings in the wake of the attack on Valo, though they’re not quite as complex as the feelings that Padawan Reath Silas is having about one particular Nihil he met during the events of Into the Dark. 

Between the three High Republic novels, Justina Ireland’s Out of the Shadows is the most character-rich story. While there is no driving central plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat, like with The Rising Storm or Race to Crashpoint Tower, Ireland’s novel delves deep into its four central protagonists, developing their personalities and personal quests. Of course, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a plot in the novel, but Out of the Shadows feels like it’s building out a much bigger web of stories that will be picked up in the next phase of novels. 

Sylvestri “Syl” Yarrow has a chip off her shoulder and for good reason. Her mother upped and abandoned her on the planet Tiikae, her girlfriend left her to become a deputy, and most recently she lost her beloved ship Switchback to the Nihil. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, for Syl the events of Out of the Shadows cause her to cross paths with not only her ex Jordanna, but her mother too. 

If you have been waiting to see how The High Republic would utilize the San Tekka legacy, look no further than Out of the Shadows. So many of the questions we had following the first wave of The High Republic find their answers in Justina Ireland’s novel and those answers build onto larger questions. 

Reath is still the sweet bookish boy that we all fell in love with while reading Into the Dark, but the events of that novel have had an effect on him. He’s a little braver, a little more certain of himself and his future, and a little hung up on the betrayal of the Nihil saboteur Nan. 

I anxiously await and hope for the day that we get a novel where the Nihil are the central points of view because I adored every single one of Nan’s chapters. It was so refreshing to see how she interacts with her fellow Nihil, as well as how she survives on her wit and skill. Nan ushered in so much added context about the Nihil, how they function, and even some humorous commentary on my favorite bad boy Marchion Ro. 

While Marchion Ro’s presence is woefully lacking in the novel, there are story elements and choices made that will have direct and intriguing ramifications on not only him but the Nihil at large. 

Justina Ireland is such a talented writer. It’s one of the reasons A Test of Courage was my favorite novel in the first wave of The High Republic. She has this way of effortlessly taking us on a journey that is equal parts of rollicking adventure and an emotional journey for the young protagonists. I read a lot of YA novels and I have yet to come across a writer as gifted as Justina is at making me care, deeply, about characters that are so much younger than myself. Each character is given a full roster of interests, desires, motivations, and flaws. Vernestra and Nan have both jumped up the list of favorite High Republic characters for me, ranking among Marchion Ro, Lula Talisola, Elzar Mann, and Farzala Tarabal. 

Out of the Shadows is a well-orchestrated symphony of character building, bookended with the unfurling of much larger and overarching plots that will, without a doubt, play a pivotal part in the future of The High Republic.

One thing that makes a truly good Young Adult novel stand out from the crowd is strong character work, and Out of the Shadows meets and exceeds this expectation in a big way.

Set a few months after the events of The Rising Storm and Race to Crashpoint Tower, this books follows a group of characters all dealing with the emotional and logistical fallout of the disaster at the Republic Fair. Some, like Sylvestri Yarrow, are characters we are meeting for the first time. But we also get to catch up with some of our favourites from the last wave of books, like Jedi Knight Vernestra, her padawan Imri, and fellow master/student combo Cohmac and Reath. The Nihil are building some mysterious weapon in a disputed corner of the galaxy.

With two families - the San Tekkas, and their rivals the Graf’s - believing they each have a claim to the space, they appeal to the government for assistance, only to find our crew of Jedi sent along as impartial witnesses to the dispute. Our protagonists are swept up in a mission at the intersection of Republic, Jedi and corporate interests, all revolving around the ever increasing threat of the Nihil.

The narrative points of view alternate between four characters: Sylvestri (who goes by Syl), Vernestra (who does not go by Vern), Reath, and Nan, who each offer a different perspective on events.

It was great to see teenage Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh make the jump from Middle Grade to YA. Not that A Test of Courage wasn’t fantastic, but in YA there is the additional space - not to mention the page count - to really dive into who Vernestra is as a person. When she first made her appearance, she was the oldest of the protagonists. But now that her story has taken her to the wider galaxy, and we see her interact with others, it really becomes clear just how young she is, and how much she’s in over her head with a Padawan who is almost the same age as her. Her own former Master, Stellan Gios is a frequent background presence in the novel, and what little we do see of their dynamic is fascinating. It’s clear there is a lot of mutual respect, but I’m interested to see how this develops as Vernestra gets older and gains the experience she didn’t have when she passed her trial for knighthood. There are some potential avenues for tension, and I hope they’re explored in later stories.

Syl is this novel’s “everyday citizen”, the one who adds the non-Jedi perspective to the mission, who is every bit as lost as her Jedi peers when it comes to finding her place in the world, but unlike them, Syl doesn’t have an entire Order to fall back on. Recently left on her own after losing her mother in a Nihil attack, Syl is looking for a way to get her ship back, reunite her crew, and find a way to heal her broken heart.

Speaking of broken hearts, we have sweet baby boy Reath Silas, there to provide a padawan’s point of view. As they become more and more entangled with the Nihil, Reath finds his thoughts drifting back to the last major crush he had - a Nihil girl named Nan that he met the year before on the Amaxine station in Claudia Gray’s YA predecessor Into the Dark.

The fourth point of view comes from Nan herself, now fully in the service of Eye of the Nihil himself, Marchion Ro. She’s also harbouring something of a crush on him, which honestly, I cannot blame her for in the slightest. Though we’ve had older Nihil - Tempest Runners, and Marchion Ro specifically as point of view characters before, this is the first time a “lesser” Nihil is given a full narrative arc, and I found myself wishing, if anything, that we could spend just a little more time with Nan, but I’m looking forward to seeing where her story goes.

Though on the surface the book is about larger than life conflict, it’s worth noting that Justina Ireland manages to thread in a clever commentary about colonization and capitalism that goes a long way to explaining why the characters behave in the way that they do. It’s hard to pick out a single instance of this - and I wouldn’t want to deprive you of the joy of discovery anyway - because it is so layered in every facet of the story, and the characters. Not a single character at any point believes that they’re in the wrong, as much as they might believe the others are wrong for acting as they do. It’s a rare novel that can make you root for everyone, but Out of the Shadows does exactly that.

If this review sounds vague, that’s because it is. I wouldn’t dare spoil the plot for you, and the narrative is so intricately woven that to explain part of it would be to give the whole game away. Out of the Shadows managed to do what all good mysteries do, which is get you comfortable in thinking you know where the story is going, only to pull the rug out again and again, in the best, most thrilling kind of way.

This wave as a whole has astounded me in the way it links so neatly to each book that has come before. There are points from every book in wave one that are touched on and addressed here, but as the creatives behind the initiative have stated, the book does a fine job of catching you up in context. You’re told all you need to know within the confines of the page, though naturally, reading everything provides added context.

As with the first High Republic YA book, Out of the Shadows latest entry in the High Republic era lays the groundwork for the future wave (or possibly future phase?) of High Republic storytelling. There are so many questions and mysteries presented in this book, and the majority of them have far larger implications than can be settled in just over 400 pages. Which just goes to show, yet again, that if you aren’t reading all these books, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.

Not to mention, this book is simply delightful. So why wouldn’t you pick it up anyway?

Book 2 of "The High Republic" Young Adult Books - See bottom of review for suggested High Republic Reading Timeline

Review for NetGalley ARC

"Out of the Shadows" written by Justina Ireland was written for teens and young adults, ages 13 and older, and it is set in the High Republic Era of the Star Wars Universe following the events of "The Great Disaster" around 200 years before the "The Phantom Menace." This book is preceeded by Claudia Gray's "Into the Dark." If the readers are avid Star Wars fans who must read everything in an order, it should follow "The Rising Storm" and "The High Republic: Race to Crashpoint Tower" respectively (see suggested reading order below).

This book follows the continuing adventures of Jedi Vernestra Rwoh, her Padawan Imri Cantaros (characters from "A Test of Courage"). Jedi Master Cohmac Vitus, and his Padawan Reath Silas (characters from "Into the Dark") as they are commissioned to return to Coruscant for a special assignment that eventually sends them to investigate unusual activity in the Berenge Sector.

Although Ireland's previous book in the series was geared towards middle readers, she does a good job introducing her characters to an older audience, but she once again fails to mature her main character, Vernestra Rwoh. Rwoh is continually toted as a prodigy among her peers, but she lacks the emotional maturity of a full Jedi Knight. She is self-shamed by those she deems as better than herself, and she wallows in self-doubt all while training a Padawan barely younger than she is. As a full knight, she is sent on missions that are on par with her rank and status, but she seems woefully unprepared. This leaves the reader wondering what in the world the Jedi Council was thinking not only raising her to the level of knight but also giving her a Padawan to train.

Although this book was much better than both "A Test of Courage" and "Into the Dark," it still lacks the character development and maturity of a well-developed story. It is an easy read full of intrigue, mystery, subterfuge, and even a nice twist at the end. For the avid Star Wars fan, it is a must read even if the book itself is just...decent, at best.

The High Republic Suggested Reading Timeline:
-"Starlight: Go Together, Part 1" by Charles Soule (SW Insider 199 Short Story)
-"Light of the Jedi" by Charles Soule
-"The High Republic" (Marvel) 1
-"Starlight: Go Together, Part 2" by Charles Soule (SW Insider 200 Short Story)
-"A Test of Courage" by Justina Ireland
-"Into the Dark" by Claudia Gray
-"The High Republic" (Marvel) 2-6
-"The High Republic Adventures" (IDW) 1-5
-"Starlight: First Duty," Parts 1 and 2 by Cavan Scott (SW Insider 201-202 Short Story)
-"Starlight: Hidden Danger" by Justina Ireland (SW Insider 203 Short Story)
-"The Rising Storm" by Cavan Scott
-"Race to Crashpoint Tower" by Daniel José Older
-"Out of the Shadows" by Justina Ireland