disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

LOVED THIS ENTRY INTO THE YA HIGH REPUBLIC NOVELS!!!! I'm participating in this challenge https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/b69cd1aa-46f4-4cff-8adb-a2bfc957cfd2 & I cannot wait to continue this series. I am having so much fun. The audiobooks are such a stellar experience btw. 

I had high hopes, but overall I was left quite disappointed.

I loved all the characters as individuals, and I liked how distinct they were from one another. I liked their internal conflicts and external conflicts with the Jedi. I liked learning more about the Jedi as a culture and a people. Affie was really the only character I couldn't care about, but everyone else was fine.

I think my issue was the setting. Not only could I not really understand how the Amaxine station worked, which made it difficult to understand where anyone was at any given point, but the Drengir didn't feel menacing to me. There was a lot of build up and a lot of hype for what amounted to Evil Plant People who couldn't really die (unless they're blasted out to space). I feel there could have been better execution for the concept of an abandoned space station, a deep evil that the good guys accidentally set free, and what it must be like to be trapped on said space station with something that is nearly impossible to kill. 

Besides that, I think my second-biggest gripe is with Affie. I often found her annoying, though not for any deep reasons. I think she was just boring. Her conflict with Scover and her foster mother essentially being the reason her bio parents are dead could have been given more attention, I think. That's quite heavy, but I feel like it was revealed and resolved too quickly for me. 

I have to say, this is the most disappointing High Republic book I’ve read yet. It’s quite surprising, considering I usually really like Claudia Gray’s take on Star Wars, but this just left me bored.

The characters were all right, but I didn’t latch on any of them. I know most from later books and could place them (Cohmac, Reath, Nan). This book gave some light to their characterization, but that’s about it. And some of them were truly lacking. Leox is a hippie and that has to be his only trait. I swear that’s all there is to him. And Geode… we’ll he’s a rock so hems literally a cardboard cutout of a character. We don’t ever see him moving or doing anything. He’s just… there, and the others humanize him by projecting feelings and thoughts onto him.

As for the group in itself, it took 60-something percent before I understood why they were all together. They never truly feel bound. It’s more like a ragtag group of people stuck together for a trip and we’re along for the ride. I didn’t feel any of the supposed closer relationship or chemistry between Reath and Dez or Cohmac and Orla.

And the plot was just all over the place. So much stuff pushed in there that it’s a little hard to keep track. The Nihil, the Drengir, the Byne Guild… It felt like three separate storylines that never completely meshed together.

Why do we have excerpts from events that I’m pretty sure happened in a previous book? Most of it felt like filling and didn’t really add to the story. I’d rather read one of the books from that HR period than have half the plot stuffed into an already over plotted book.

I’m happy for the aroace rep in Leox, that’s about it.

Fabulous, absolutely fabulous.
I am absolutely speechless with how amazing this book is. Into The Dark is a thrilling, tense, fast adventure about what it means to serve and help others as a Jedi. It allows explores the struggles of being a Jedi and the seeds of a jedi council that transforms to the council in the prequels. Into The Dark takes what made Light Of The Jedi good and makes it even better.

My only nitpick is that there was one character Dez Rydan who wasn't fleshed out enough in my opinion compared to the other characters but apart from that I really enjoyed the book. 

Gray, is slowly managing to become one of my most favourite Star Wars authors. You can tell that the story was written with care. Gray manages to tell three stories in one novel without making things too over crowded which is one of the many critiques I have seen of Light Of The Jedi. Not one plot line felt irrelevant to me and everything felt like it glued together nicely at the end of the novel.

I also loved the fast pace and stakes throughout the story. Without spoiling the book, I can say that every chapter had my heart pounding and I found it really hard to predict what would happen in the next chapter. Each time our characters found themselves in a dangerous situation, it was impossible to know what might happen. There wasn't one chapter to breath, until the very end of the novel. It felt like a fun intense thriller sci-fi novel which I adored.

Another thing I loved was how carefully the flashbacks connected to the main story. Unlike some other reviews I've read, to me the flashbacks felt necessary and didn't slow down the story at all. I especially thought the flashbacks were necessary and useful in developing the characters of Orla Jareni and Cohmac Vitus. Especially when it came to showing us why Cohmac would be a perfect Master for

Reath Silas.

 The flashbacks in my eye were also key in showing the flaws of the jedi order and what would lead to its eventual downful.

The best part of Into The Dark for me was the character interactions and dynamics fleshed out during the novel. It kept things very interesting and allowed for some humour despite the dark elements of this novel. Despite Dez not being fleshed out enough, I think the other main cast of Reath, Orla and Cohmac were developed perfectly as well as the crew of the vessel, Leox, Affie and Geode. Normally I wouldn't care for side stories like  Affies but with Grays amazing writing and ability to sprinkle it throughout the book, I was able to deeply connect with her. Because of the good development of every character it allowed every characters ending in this novel to feel deeply satisfying and I'm definitely excited to see more of them if they show up in the rest of the series.

Finally the horror elements. I really don't want to spoil anything major as its best to go into this book blind with no spoilers but this book will leave you with the same chills you get in your bones from watching horror movies. Apart from the Nihil, the new villians were absolutely terrifying and made everything really erie.

Overall, another fabulous entry into The High Republic series that will leave you thrilled. If you want a high stakes, fast paced, tense read that this book is definitely for you.

I had a lot of fun reading this one. Claudia Gray is always a hit with me, and I love the Affie-Geode-Leox crew. It slows down in the middle before picking up the plot again, but it's not miserable. 

Also, will I ever be free of Nan, the Worst Girl in the High Republic. 

Into the Dark expanded the High Republic story in really interesting ways. I loved the characters introduced here, particularly the Archives-loving Reath, and each felt distinct. The Jedi characters represented a fascinating variety of attitudes towards the Force and the Jedi Council. As someone who has repeatedly complained about the way the Jedi Code frames emotions I absolutely loved seeing characters express the same frustrations on page.

The story moved a bit slowly at the beginning but maintained a pretty steady pace after roughly the 20% mark. There was a good blend of action and character development, particularly with the teenaged characters, that made for an entertaining read. I really enjoyed the way Into the Dark grappled with some of the questions raised by Light of the Jedi while looking at new ways in which the Jedi's expansion into the frontier is going to impact the galaxy. 

I'm really curious to see where the rest of the High Republic content is going. Exploring this era of Star Wars has been an absolute delight so far.