A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland
A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland
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My only gripe is the disconnect between how the Nihil's structure is described in this book and how the Nihil's structure is described in Light of the Jedi. Here, Strikes and Storms are groups under a Tempest Runner individual (no mention of Clouds). For example, one of them says, "I will not let our Strike carry the shame of this failure."--referencing a group instead of a person... In the adult novel, Strikes were individuals under a Cloud who were under an individual Storm who was then under a Tempest Runner individual. I absolutely hate being the bad guy here and complaining about the lack of continuity, but this looks bad. I mean it's a completely different system and if the Nihil are going to be making as big an impact on future High Republic stories as I think they are, I feel like I need to know, as an avid reader, which story is the baseline for fact-checking. Which story is the gold standard, in other words. I'd assume Light of the Jedi because it's the first adult novel, but goodness why is this even a question?? If these authors all sat around together and brainstormed as a team, why are there so many differences (check out my review on The Great Jedi Rescue as well) between these 1st 3 High Republic entries?? *sigh* Luckily there is some connectivity in that the underlings in this story are in Kassav's Tempest (Tempests are correctly identified as groups here)--a major part of Light of the Jedi.
Our Nihil baddies are actually a super minor part of the overall story. They open up the book in the Prologue and then reappear about 65% or so in. That felt a little odd, but honestly, I loved the good guy main characters so much that it's not that big a deal. Klinith Da is a human female with magenta hair and many many piercings, including a silver wire that she threads around and through holes in her bottom lip! She also has "Strike markings" or tattoos "that told other Nihil about her crew and her career as a pirate." Her partner is an Aqualish named Gwishi who had "a nasty scar on the right side of his face where he'd taken a blaster bolt to one of his eyes." He'd added ink to the "still healing wound to show that even though he'd taken a grievous injury, the person responsible was no longer around to repeat the mistake." These two are just Strikes, but man do they talk a big game!
The inciting event for the plot is that the luxury liner, the Steady Wing (headed to Starlight Beacon for the dedication ceremony and carrying the Dalnan Ambassador and his entourage--the goal being to try and convince the Dalnan delegation to join the Republic), is chosen by the Nihil for utter destruction, leaving no survivors, and Klinith and Gwishi are in charge of the mission...which goes pretty spectacularly in their favor...for the most part. In their haste and overestimation of their abilities, Gwishi says, "The last thing we want is survivors. This should be a disaster that will make the Legacy Run look like a day at the fair." The Legacy Run disaster was horrendous!! I don't know what these two upstarts expected to honestly be able to accomplish in comparison...
The good guys and main characters of the story, get away from the destruction of the luxury liner and must find a way to survive and get help. They end up landing on an uninhabited moon called Wevo and struggle to stay alive...the moon seemingly acting against them. And then the dark side of the Force rears its ugly head, leading one of our heroes to have an existential battle over his emotions--what Ireland was able to do with such a small cast in regards to overall development of character was magical.
Some of the discussion into the dark side involves the fact that balance and equilibrium must always exist in the Force. "[Imri] found the dark side unsettling. Not terrifying--because it was required to maintain the balance, and like any Padawan he knew the importance of equilibrium in keeping the galaxy moving as it should--but definitely a thing to be wary of." I love this!! And its how I've always seen it as well--a balancing act with both dark and light being important.
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The small cast includes:
-Vernestra Rwoh: Youngest Jedi Knight ever, having passed her trials on the first try at fifteen! Stellan Gios had been her Master. A Mirialan with "the markings of her family, six tiny black diamonds stacked in two rows of three on the outside corner of each eye." Has a purple lightsaber that she can flip a switch on and it becomes a lightwhip. She's in the boarding party of the Steady Wing to watch over Avon Starros...making sure the girl doesn't get in too much trouble... Overall, Vern, as they call her despite her hating the nickname, is a very kind person and while she's proud of herself for accomplishing as much as she has in her short life, she feels a bit awkward being a Jedi Knight around a Padawan who's not much younger than her. According to Honesty, "She was a bit bossy, but there was something warm and approachable about her. She smiled all the time." Her home temple is on Hynestia...which is a bit confusing because Avon makes it sound like Vernestra's been on Haileap for awhile and didn't just arrive on planet to board the Steady Wing... Perhaps it's that she was stationed at Hynestia as a Padawan, but now as a Knight she's assigned to Haileap?? (See her in action below.)
-Avon Starros: "A small, dark-skinned human girl" whose "hair framed her face in a halo of riotous curls." We first see this twelve year old riding a scoot speeder that she had built from various odds and ends she'd found unattended around the port while holding a power crystal she had "borrowed"--as hinted at above, she's always getting into trouble. But part of that is because she's a genius and creates inventions (her latest being antigravity shoe inserts) and formulates theories fairly constantly. She's endlessly tinkering and testing out scientific or engineering-based ideas. According to Honesty, "she was smart and self-assured" but also reckless. "She didn't think about rules the way everyone else did." Her mother is Senator Ghirra Starros (we're never told senator of which planet) and she originally sent her to Haileap to work with Professor Glenna Kip, "but when Avon had arrived, Professor Kip had gone off on a search for some artifact, so Avon was left to her own devices, Douglas happily adding her to the lessons he gave Imri."
-J-6: "A pinkish-gold droid as tall as Vernestra [...] Avon's protocol droid was half warden, half nanny, all attitude." ...but she's actually a bodyguard droid!! Avon had even "uploaded a slow-acting code [into her droid] along with the lexicon of [Aqualish] swears [...] that would gradually strip away the factory programming and let J-6 in essence reprogram herself." And boy does the droid do so!!
-Honesty Weft: Son of the Ambassador of Dalna. Twelve years old. His mother was from Corellia. "A brown-haired boy with pale freckled skin." Wants to join the Dalnan military, so his Metamorphosis trials will involve hand-to-hand combat. And he's trained fairly extensively in survival skills which comes in very handy on this particular adventure! "The one thing Honesty loved was guidelines. There was an order to things, and Honesty was overjoyed once he learned where those limits lay. There was comfort in order, and like most Dalnans he hated chaos."
-Imri Cantaros: His Master was Douglas Sunvale. He has a blue lightsaber. Human boy originally from Genetia (but this makes no sense because the quote below says his homeworld is Hynestia...). "Tall and broad-shouldered, and his hefty frame was a perfect match for his master's. He had pale skin, a mop of golden hair, kind brown eyes, and an uncanny knack for perceiving the feelings and thoughts of those around him." "He was the funny boy who towered over the other younglings and Padawans and spoke Basic with a strange accent. Imri's home planet Hynestia was far from the center of the galaxy, and there was something in his mannerisms that made all the other younglings pity and avoid him." Also able to wayfind by searching for life forces around him!
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Characters that make a brief appearance include:
-Jedi Master Douglas Sunvale: Imri was his Padawan and Douglas was always super supportive of him, especially when Imri felt like there was no way he could become a true Jedi Knight one day. Marshall of the outpost on Haileap. "A tall human, stocky and effusive. He was chatty and relaxed in his demeanor. [...] Douglas's dark beard grew thick and unkempt across his pale face, and his robes were rarely worn; instead he preferred to wear the simple tunic and trousers of the Outer Rim settlers of planets like Dalna."
-Ambassador Weft of Dalna: Honesty's father. "His hair was fiery red and his skin tanned."
-Ambassador Janex of Dalna: A Pantoran female.
-Ambassador Starstriker of Dalna
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Port Haileap, where the Steady Wing departs from, "was regularly visited by some of the best tour lines--Galaxy Tours, ThrillSpace Travels, and Chandrila Star Lines--in addition to the pleasure yachts flown by ambassadors visiting outlying planets and adventurers set on discovering new planets in the uncharted regions." Climate wise, the planet has Wet Days during which it rains for entire weeks.
Wevo, the uninhabited dangerous moon they land on, orbits a double gas giant--Nixus and Neralus. Our heroes land in a field of "gently waving yellow grass that was nearly waist-high. But just a little ways beyond the field was a dense jungle. Vines as thick as Honesty's arms wrapped through the canopy of trees, which were strange with their wide leaves and smooth white trunks. Small creatures flew in between the trees, their fur jewel-hued and vibrant. The sky was a faint lavender hue, and a giant brown-and-orange-striped planet hung there, looming over it all." Unfortunately, as part of the natural cycle of the moon, every evening it rains a caustic substance that burns through any and everything, except the trees and animals--even the underbrush and vines get completely decimated in the rain. BUT!! "The rain had stopped, and as [Honesty] watched, the green undergrowth, which had been fried by the rainstorm the night before, grew rapidly. [...] vines twirled up and around the trunks of the trees."
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Trivia:
-Rykestra is a popular dice game. Klinith enjoys this game of chance.
-"The Dalnans were not ones for frivolity, not even the usually ostentatious Pantorans who had made a home on the planet known for its agriculture." Dalnan youngsters (at around the age of twelve) go through a Metamorphosis whereby they undergo job skills training for the field they most desire to be a part of. Dalnans consist of humans, Pantorans, Trandoshans, Aqualish, and Weequay. "There had been a war on Dalna a century or so before, and the population had responded by becoming a formidable culture that trained constantly for battle."
-Gnostra bushes are a supremely useful resource on Dalna.
-Apparently, using the Force for an extended period of time to a great degree can lead not only Grogu sized/aged beings to get weary, "[Vern's] body hummed in the way it always did after using the Force heavily. She wasn't exhausted, but there was still a hollowness in her body that was partly hunger and partly the aftereffects of using the Force."
-Mon Calamari find it offensive to sneeze loudly...interesting.
-"Caden Starros, Avon's great-grandfather, had followed an enemy all the way to Orondia to get his revenge after the man had stolen his ship and left him stranded on a minor moon."
-The philosopher Grat Resa has a treatise on mourning that involves acknowledging the passing of a loved one and getting lots of rest.
-Avon scavenges a scout droid called SD-7 from the maintenance shuttle they commandeered in their get away. "The ball unfolded, revealing a small flying droid with four clawlike appendages and two large sensors that looked like eyes. It flew up into the air, hovering next to Avon and beeping a series of high and low tones."
-Imri takes issue with Vern's lightwhip because as he notes, the Nightsisters use them. But Vern retorts with Jedi having also used them during the Sith Wars. The testimonies of Cervil the Uncanny state "that the whip was sometimes used to defend against the Sith Lords who used the Forbidden Forms."
-The Guardians of Javin were a cult "who found something of value in the chaotic, destructive side of the Force" along with the Nightsisters.
-Leric Schmireland was an explorer who wrote an almanac about various planets.
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And there you have it! A truly enjoyable novel with a fantastically fun cast of characters. And lots of worldbuilding enhanced the story even more!! I am disappointed by all the discrepancies between the different books though, hopefully that will all get worked out by the next round of High Republic titles. Check out my review this Friday of "High Republic #1" the first in the HR comic series!!
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