Enter the Nihil's Rising Storm of Death and Destruction in the Latest High Republic Adult Novel

The Rising Storm sweeps you into its swirling storm of events right from the start and successfully builds anticipation for future releases. It’s been a year since the great disaster and the galaxy is still feeling the aftershocks of the tragedy while the Jedi have relentlessly been on the lookout for the Nihil who have been auspiciously absent, or so they think; and Chancellor Lina Soh has decided to host a Republic Fair on Valo to bring everyone together in celebration of unity and strength. Although, in the Nihil’s stead, the Drengir - first introduced in Claudia Gray’s Into the Dark and Marvel’s High Republic series - are actively unleashing terror wherever they go which is captivating the Republic’s attention. Meanwhile, the Nihil have been using this downtime to coordinate a devastating attack to further propagate ripples of chaos across the galaxy. However, tension rises within their ranks as raiders are anxious to re-emerge from the shadows, resulting the expansion of their rising storm of death and destruction to Valo. Scott provides a gripping story from beginning to end with exploration of the Force, among other things, and crafts a sinister tone that wraps everything together. The scope in The Rising Storm is the same as in Light of the Jedi; however, Scott’s prose delivers significantly smoother transitions between characters that heavily pays off during the grand showdown. Various familiar faces return to drive the story - including Bell Zettifar (and his charhound Ember, of course), Burryaga, Stellan Gios, and even characters we’ve seen at other points in the timeline make an appearance (a pleasant surprise) - as well as introductions to some new characters: former Jedi turned mercenary Ty Yorrick, a journalist named Rhil, and Sullustan Senator Tia Toon. Ty’s introduction wasn’t what I was hoping for, but it’s just enough to increase intrigue for the upcoming IDW comic miniseries, The Monster of Temple Peak, featuring Ty Yorrick set to release its first issue this August. I enjoyed what I saw of Ty so far, and I’m excited to see more of her in upcoming installments.

Politics are consistently present in The Rising Storm, and new character Tia Toon helps drive that along since he has dissenting opinions from the Chancellor. I’m not terribly into the politics side of things; although, I can appreciate its purpose in the novel. Circling back to the established characters, Scott focuses heavily on characterization and this is one of the aspects I loved about the book. Bell’s character development was my personal favorite, and the incorporation of little details in Light of the Jedi to develop his character was rewarding. Needless to say seeing more of Bell and his charhound, Ember, was a delight, and I’m loving their bond. Besides our protagonists, I feel like Scott effectively continues to define our villains, especially Marchion Ro, and let’s just say you’re in for an interesting read. Overall, now that there have been consistent High Republic releases since the launch of the first wave, there is a lot more material to work with when forming connections within the High Republic era itself, and Scott does a good job at reinforcing how interconnected these stories are without distracting from the story presented in this novel. You’ll find references to the Marvel and IDW comic series as well as insinuations to events in the young adult and middle grade installments, which are rewarding to spot if you’ve been keeping up with the material (not to mention the slew of references outside of the High Republic that make the book more satisfying). I thoroughly enjoyed The Rising Storm, and now that we’re settling into this era, I can’t see what else these stories have to offer!

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