This was another great installment to the young adult line in the High Republic. I particularly enjoyed the queer romance, which was integrated into the story in a satisfying way. This was a slow moving, contemplative book and some readers of Star Wars might find it lacking the fast pace and action of some of the other books, but for those who enjoy character development, relationships and contemplations about identity and finding one's place in the world, they will find much to enjoy here.

I do wonder about the decision to bring in Imri and Vernestra into a YA novel, as they were introduced in the middle grade novel, A Test of Courage, which was recently released during the last wave of the High Republic. This isn't a case of readers growing up with the books, and characters aging with them. These are subsequent publications. And to fully appreciate their character arcs in Out of the Shadows, I feel that you need to have read the children's novel (Which is excellent, to be fair). Will teens be willing to do that? I am not sure.

Overall, a solid entry into the High Republic, with great characters--new and returning.

The audiobook was not the same production value as other Star Wars books, lacking the musical score, sound effects, etc and repeat listeners are sure to notice. The narrator was overall fine, but at times lacking differentiation between characters. I would give the audiobook a rating of 3/5 and the story 4/5.

The High Republic series has been a joy to get lost in. This book is an excellent part of the Star Wars universe. Some of the pacing was a little jagged but it still held my attention.

I am really enjoying the High Republic stories so far, and this one was no exception. In Ireland's YA space war, Syl is a brave role model for all teens to look up to. Even though her luck seems to be running out (we never ask the odds) I remained calm and was thoroughly engaged by the fast paced, action filled scenes. This book had a great cast of familiar faces of the High Republic and is a must read for any Star Wars fan.

While this book did not have the recognizable Star Wars characters, the feel of the franchise was there in this outer space adventure. Very enjoyable!

Young Jedi Knight Vernestra is doing her best to teach and guide her Padawan, Imri, as they try to stop the Nihil in their path of death and destruction. Here they meet Syl, a hauler, who is determined to make the Republic see that the Nihil are taking over the shipping lanes, especially after her ship is knocked out of hyperspace. Action, adventure, and intrigue!

The characters and series storylines are starting to come together, while still introducing new characters and plot twists. Jedis Vernestra, Reath, Imri, and Cohmac work together with Syl and Jordana. Nan is back and higher up in the Nihil. Looking forward to the next one!

The narration was great. The pacing was just right.

I received an eARC of this title through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Since I listened to the audiobook version, I'll review this book in two parts.

Story: The story was actually pretty good and well developed. I felt all the characters were well developed and each character was unique. I loved that there was more representation in this Star Wars novel with LGBTQ+ characters. I think the Star Wars universe needs more diversity and inclusion in the characters created, and this novel does a good job of incorporating that into the story. Jordana is probably one of my favorite characters, and I hope there is more to her story or backstory that we can learn in future books. I think the best part about this book is you do not have to read any of the other Star Wars novels to understand what is happening. It doesn't give away any plot twists from past novels, but also describes the details needed to understand how it fits within the story.

Audio: I really liked the narrator. I thought she did a good job distinguishing the diverse cast of characters with her voice, especially since there were so many of them. I liked how the narrator had very specific voices for each character and you could fairly easily distinguish the characters from each other.

I would recommend this story to anyone who is a fan of Star Wars.

Fantastic audiobook yet again!

Disney always does and absolutely phenomenal job bringing the Star Wars stories to life with top-notch animation, great music and fun sound effects. This one kept me engaged start to finish and I would definitely listen to it again. As a matter of fact, I may need to. This one is absolutely full of important content!

My full review of the actual story is below:

Out of the Shadows, is an upcoming Young Adult novel set to be released on July 27th, as part of the new Disney Star Wars: The High Republic content. This novel is set approximately a year after the galaxy-wide event known as the Great Disaster.

This is the fourth installment of the High Republic materials that I have read and I enjoyed watching all the various storylines converge a bit in this one.

The larger, outlying picture is beginning to come more into focus. This novel follows a host of different perspectives including one of my favorite new characters, Jedi Vernestra Rowh, along with various other characters that I have come across in the earlier HR works.

As generally happens with Star Wars novels, there was quite a bit of action, but this additionally had a healthy dose of back-handed political maneuverings and finer details surrounding the Nihil raiders.

While the Young Reader installments, such as A Test of Courage and Race to Crashpoint Tower focus on a singular encounter with the Nihil, this was broader in scope. It clearly shows that the Nihil are much more resourceful a foe than the Jedi initially surmised.

Following shortly after the Nihil attack on Valo, many of the characters are still reeling from that trauma and are ill-prepared for what may be coming next.

I appreciated how Ireland kept that a part of the narrative. Allowing even Jedi to question their role and feelings regarding the current threats in the galaxy. Particularly conversations between Vernestra and her Padawan, Imri, I found to be quite touching.

I am genuinely excited to see what happens from here. Also, I still have a couple earlier HR books I still need to get to, so definitely plan to do that soon.

Like any Star Wars book, the HR books can be read in any order, as long as you are cognizant of where it falls in the timeline. With this being said, you do have some time until this one releases, so I would definitely recommend checking out some of the previously published HR books while you wait. To make things easier for you, I will list them below:

Light of the Jedi
Into the Dark
A Test of Courage
The Rising Storm
Star Wars The High Republic: Race to Crashpoint Tower

That's a lot of great content to sink your teeth into. Don't delay, start today!!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Disney LucasFilms Press, for providing me with an early copy of this to read and review. It has been my absolute pleasure to devour all these recent publications!!!

This is top-notch Canon content here and I'm living for it!