Dive Into the Latest Fast-Paced Adventure Set in the High Republic with Race to Crashpoint Tower

Race to Crashpoint Tower by Daniel Hosé Older is the next High Republic middle grade installment that will take young readers on a fast-paced adventure. We meet our heroes on the planet Valo during the Republic Fair and yet again experience events from the adult novel - The Rising Storm - from another perspective. Jedi Padawan Ram Jomaram is stationed on Valo when he notices the communications tower has been sabotaged by the Nihil, so he and his droid V-18 immediately race to find a solution. Meanwhile on Trymant IV, Lula Talisola tracks the Nihil and she eventually meets up with Vernestra Rwoh, then together they uncover the Nihil’s plan to attack the Republic Fair. From there, Lula and Zeen Mrala - Lula’s Force sensitive friend whose not a Jedi - end up meeting Ram on Valo to contribute to the Republic’s fight against the Nihil. Race to Crashpoint Tower was a surprisingly quick read and the pacing remained consistently fast throughout the whole book. Because of this, I feel like some opportunities to expand on certain key points mentioned in passing were missed where, if expanded upon, would have added more depth. Ram was the new character making his official debut besides briefly meeting him in The Rising Storm, and I feel like I didn’t get to know him as much as I would’ve liked. Lula and Zeen were the highlights of the book for me; I love to see comic characters venture to different storytelling mediums, but even with Lula and Zeen I think there were missed opportunities for deeper characterization due to the fast pacing. Although, considering the target age group, I think Race to Crashpoint Tower is suitable for its intended audience.

As we know, the High Republic initiative has emphasized its interconnectivity and Older does a good job at intertwining various threads of High Republic content together. There were times while reading where it really paid off having read other material so I could grasp everything - like filling in the gaps with Ram and Ty's interaction that was shown in The Rising Storm. Adult audiences will appreciate details like this; however, I’m not sure if the heavy interconnection with other material weaved in this book will cause issues for younger readers, especially those on the younger end of the target audience, who might not have read everything. Though Older tries to streamline the story by including plenty of background from previous works into his exposition, I found the result to be a bit overwhelming at times. Overall, I didn’t connect with Race to Crashpoint Tower as much as I would’ve liked; however, I think this book might be better received among its targeted age group because of its fast-paced nature. While Race to Crashpoint Tower isn’t a direct sequel to A Test of Courage and young readers could get by without reading other installments geared towards younger audiences, I still recommend introducing your youngling to the High Republic with A Test of Courage, and maybe encouraging the IDW series as well, in order to help them navigate this era before diving into Race to Crashpoint Tower.

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