Starlight Stories is a collection of short stories that originally ran in SW Insider Magazine. While I can't say that these are necessary reading for phase one of The High Republic, they are still very enjoyable looks at the goings-on aboard the Starlight Beacon. Only a few of the characters in these stories appear outside in the larger HR narrative, but the stories offer a look at the day-to-day operations for some aboard the station.

Cavan Scott, Justina Ireland and Charles Soule contributed to these stories that, in their own way, help to flesh out the larger mood, tenor, politics and everyman perspective of the events of phase one.

If you're a completionist, as I am, this collection is made for you. Otherwise, while enjoyable in their own right, Starlight Stories felt largely inconsequential in relation to the High Republic novels.

Arguably, the stories here aren’t exactly required reading. Nothing in them will upend anyone’s understanding of what’s going on in The High Republic. Nevertheless, they’re still entertaining and well-written, and each of them contributes to fleshing out this previously unexplored part of the Star Wars timeline through the perspective of background characters from the novels and comics. Each story is presented just as it ran, in two parts, so a busy person could read it bit by bit – or you could read it all at once in just a few hours.

In addition to the short stories, the book also includes six different interviews from the magazine – a group conversation and one-on-one interviews with each of the five original HIgh Republic authors. The High Republic is a unique and ambitious publishing project, and the interviews give us a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how it all came together. They’re also about as close to a visit to Skywalker Ranch as most of us will ever get.

To be sure, there’s nothing new here. But, if you’ve been following The High Republic era and don’t subscribe to the magazine (or if, like me, you’ve got a backlog of past issues to work through), it’s a nice way to enjoy the stories. Everything is reproduced in full size, including the original art. In fact, even if I HAD read all the stories and interviews when they initially ran, I’d still enjoy having them collected in one attractive volume. I hope Titan plans to release a similar collection of Phase 2’s short stories.

Definitely recommended for fans of The High Republic! And if you’re unsure if the era is right for you, it’s an easy way to get a feel for the storytelling without committing yourself to a full-length novel.

Review copy courtesy of Netgalley.

I LOVE the high republic and this short story collection adds to my love for this era. Not all of them were my favorite, but that is to be expected with collections. The entire era is enjoyable with how it just plays with star wars and makes its own isolated plot far from the rest of the saga, the short stories lean even further. They all focus on events happening on the starlight beacon that happen around the rest of the plot. I see why they were initially published in the star wars magazine because they connect only loosely to the plot and just give you a taste of what the high republic is like. I do hope later we get more of these characters and get to find out what happens to them in the later books.
Thanks to the authors and publisher for providing a free ARC copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Star Wars, did you know my husband and I started dating BECAUSE of star wars? no? well now you do.

That being said I am loving the exciting new content we are getting from The High Republic era and this collection of short stories was no different and very enjoyable! These types of stories are my favorite, they provide more world building and side stories but don't further the plot. They're the types of stories that exist to enrich a world,. not just further the plot. For this reason, I absolutely recommend it. The stories are well written from some already stand out authors and the content they provide are compelling.

I’m still making my way, slowly, through Phase one of the High Republic, so these stories gave me a little more background into happenings on Starlight Beacon.

Charles Soule’s “Go Together” tells us of two married engineers, Pikka and Joss, who are just finishing up their stint on the station near the end of its commissioning, and who discover a technical glitch. After fixing it, they end up joining the ships dealing with the perpetrators of the Great Disaster in hyperspace. It’s a fun story, especially as it concerns non-Jedi doing amazing things and help keep the peace.
4 stars.

Cavan Scott’s “First Duty” gave me some insight into the types of tensions that could easily occur when so many different people, some actually warring, would be situated in the same wards for medical treatment after where so many injured were taken after the Great Disaster. New administrator Velco Jahen must play detective after a near fatal assassination attempt on an injured diplomat. That the mystery isn’t hard to figure out is immaterial; it was more interesting seeing the slight friction between the Republic-appointed chief administrator and the Jedi liaison, and meet Velco.
3.5 stars.

Justina Ireland brings back Avon Starros in “Hidden Danger” as Velco rushes around Starlight Beacon, dealing with the myriad details and arguments arising from the influx of many for the Galactic Agriculture Alliance conference. Avon manages to set of part of the problem affecting everyone on board, especially as she has a plant with her that reminds Velco of the Drengir and their recent infestation of the station. Velco is an interesting character—a former soldier and now administrator, she is one of those competent people who gets things done and I had no idea I’d enjoy reading about her so much.
4 stars.

“Past Mistakes” by Cavan Scott reunites Velco with a former soldier/lover Vane. He appears on Starlight ready to hawk cheap souvenirs commemmorating Jedi and the station. Velco knows something is off, but it’s not till she throws him in prison that she begins to get closer to the reason for him being on the station. It’s no surprise Sskeer is not impressed with he mercenary when he first meets Vane…Velco continues to intrigue me.
4 stars.

“Shadows Remain” by Justina Ireland makes Ghal Tarpfen, the Mon Cala head of Security for Starlight, a surprisingly sympathetic protagonist of this short. Velco and she have been working together on Starlight since Charles Soule’s short in this collection. Ghal has been having nightmares. Between the increasing numbers of Nihil prisoners and their background and identity checks, and the daily concerns on the station, Ghal’s and Velcro’s workload is becoming exhausting. Then Ghal disappears, and it looks like she's complicit in the attack on a Senator. The story has a melancholic feel to it, and left me worrying about what next, bad thing was going to happen on Starlight.
4 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Titan Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

A mixed bag of short stories it’s hard to give this collection five stars.
The High Republic has been fantastic and a reader of the books who didn’t pick up the magazine issues these were originally printed in may want to check this book out. It is certainly nice to spend more time on Starlight Beacon and following side/ancillary characters is a good change of pace, helping to fill out the population of the station, but in the end and by design, these stories are quite skippable and don’t add too much in the way of plot to the series as a whole.
The book still deserves its four stars though as the characters and stories we do get are well written and engaging, not everything needs grand scale stakes.

Star Wars The High Republic: Starlight Stories is a beautifully-arranged, collector-quality collection of short-stories and behind-the-scenes content for true Star Wars fans.

The short-stories come from veteran Star Wars writers, Charles Soule, Justina Ireland and Caven Scott. All are set on the Starlight Beacon, the incredible satellite station that plays a heavy role in the High Republic era. I liked the stories a lot. They weren't high stakes, but it was nice to see what life was like on Starlight Beacon and to see some recurring characters from the era.

Starlight Beacon is mentioned frequently in the books that I have read from this era, yet the stories don't actually took place there. It was fun for me to see how the station was functioning and what a typical day would look like there.

The highlight of this, for me, though was actually the interviews with the contributing authors, which in addition to the authors listed above include, Claudia Gray and Daniel Jose Older. I have wondered since it was announced how they actually went about creating this all-new era. It seems crazy complicated if multiple people are involved, but obviously it's way too much for one person to do alone.

I really loved hearing how they all got involved in the project and the steps that went into creating it. The brainstorming sessions at Skywalker Ranch would be an absolute dream come true for me. Can you even imagine!?

I would definitely recommend this to serious fans, particularly anyone who has been enjoying the High Republic materials as much as I have. In my opinion though, this is not a great place to start if you are interested in getting into either the High Republic era, or Star Wars in general. This is definitely more for longtime fans of this world.

Thank you to the publisher, Titan Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this. The artwork was stunning, the stories fun and I love the insight I was given regarding the creation of this highly-entertaining new era.

Star Wars The High Republic: Starlight Stories collects three short stories, an article, and some author interviews that were previously published in the Star Wars Insider magazine. The pieces span a broad timeline of Phase 1 from before Light of the Jedi was published to shortly before the release of The Fallen Star.

I really enjoyed getting to see more of Starlight Beacon through the short stories. The majority of the short stories followed a new character, Administrator Velko Jahen, through her time station on Starlight. Through Velko, we get to see more of how operations on Starlight work and see how the broader events of Phase 1 impacted ordinary people on Starlight. I loved getting to know Velko, who is trying to navigate politics between the Republic officials and the Jedi while also learning her new role. There are also appearances from characters I loved in other media like Master Maru and Pikka and Joss Adren.

The big thing about this collection that did not work for me was the formatting. While I understand the stories were originally published in a magazine, reading them in the small print and three-column layout they were originally published in was a pain. Starlight Stories also kept the part breaks between story installments, which seemed a bit unnecessary. I would've preferred the stories in a traditional book format without a bunch of filler pages between parts one and two.

As a completionist, I'm glad I got the chance to read Starlight Stories and see a bit more of Starlight. For those who don't need to consume every bit of content in Phase 1, you could safely skip this one.

Thank you to Titan Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Star Wars Insider: The High Republic: Starlight Stories is out and is a must grab for fans of The High Republic. It tells the story of the crew of Starlight Beacon during Phase 1 and has an interconnectedness to Wave 3 that I think is important to events. I love that Titan has been republishing their short stories more often into collections. I will say that I think the short stories that were split over two issues of the Star Wars Insider magazine should've been reprinted into a single story rather than keeping them as two-parters. Another benefit to this collection is also having the interviews of Phase 1 authors for The High Republic in the second-half of the book. I also have more in-depth reviews of the individual short stories along with my friend, Seth, on episodes of Escape Reality Star Wars Talk which can be found on YouTube. So go check it out. Star Wars Insider: The High Republic: Starlight Stories is in stores now.

It was lovely to read the narrations of these authors I’ve grown to love. I loved the little snippets of the world I’ve grown fond of plus all the new bonus information. It’s not a need for the franchise but it is a nice little extra!

I will forever love the expansion of the SW universe! I think the High Republic is such an interesting and unique time. It was cool getting to read little stories from all over and by such well known authors. I will say the formatting of this was a little weird. Love the illustrations.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Starlight Stories is the serial binding of a series of short stories centred around Pikka and Joss Adren as well as a few other background characters from Starlight Beacon. I somehow managed to miss these short stories while they were releasing so it was definitely handy to have a copy of them all in one place. The stories are short and sweet slices of action that take place after The Rising Storm but before The Fallen Star. A few fan favourite characters do pop up here and there, but unfortunately they have little part in the actual stories being told. I personally would have loved to see more of them! I would say that this book is a pleasant read for those of us (like me) who are missing phase one, but definitely not a necessity.