Review: Cataclysm

By Alberto Calderón

Spoilers!

After the battle on Jedha, the Jedi prepare to confront the Path of the Open Hand on Dalna and their leader, The Mother. While the Republic’s chancellors are still celebrating the ceasefire between Eiram and E’ronoh, the Path prepares to land a blow that will end the peace talks once and for all.

Cataclysm is a book about relationships. From the maco-level, between the Republic and the Outer-Rim, The Jedi and the Path of the Open Hand, to the micro-level and the personal relationships between Jedi Masters and their apprentices, Xiri A’lbaran and Phan-tu Zeen, and of coure between Jedi Gella Nattai and Coruscant Prince, Axel Greylark.

Story: 4.5 Probe Droids out of 5

Lydia Kang, author of Cataclysm, has the difficult task of bringing together the main conflicts from previous The High Republic Phase 2 books, mainly Convergence (Zoraida Córdova) and The Battle of Jedha (George Mann) and she does an amazing job. My main (and possibly only criticism) of Phase 2 was that the stories dind’t seem to connect to one another like they did in Phase 1, but they were all building into Cataclysm. Guess I should have learned from Yoda and learn about patience.

Lydia Kang

I loved that the start of the book feels almost like Light of the Jedi (Charles Soule) in that we are building up to something happening. We as the readers know what happened in Battle of Jedha and the failure of the peace summit, but not all of the characters know about it yet. Having the chancellors, Orllen Mollo and Kyong Greylark learn about the riots on the moon while Queen Adrialla of Eiram, and Monarch A’lbaran of E’ronoh blame each other while a mysterious poisonous chemical is found on a stranded ship on the moon that circles their planets, helps build the tension right from the beginning.

Sometimes war was infinetly more comfortable than peace.

Master Creighton Sun and his Padawan Aida Forte go straight from Jedha, and having survived that battle, to Dalna to confront The Path of the Open Hand and get some answers from The Mother as they try to make sense of what is happening. At the same time, Master Char-Ryl-Roy and Padawan Enya Keen head to Eiram and E’ronoh to help soothe over the breaking relationship between the planets now that the war had started anew.

Fan favorite Gella Nattai is forced to put a pause on her Wayseeking pilgrimage to Jedha and seek answers from a prisoner. No other than living chaos, Axel Greylark who had been imprisoned for his actions in Convergence. She is joined by Jedi Master Orin Darhga, who tries to make light of every situation while delivering some ill-timed jokes.

Relationships are harder to repair after even the smallest of slights.

Master Char-Ryl-Roy

But all hyperspace lanes lead to Dalna (sorry for the pun). Axel Greylark escapes custody with help from Path member Binnot Ullo, who earlier had been found to be responsible for the poisonous Klytobacter brought to the Eiram and E’ronoh system. Gella and Orin follow them all the way to Dalna, where Creighton and Aida have infiltrated the Path’s compound, and after some brief talks on the warring planets, Master Roy and Jedi Keen, with the help of Xiri also head to Dalna.

Oh, and due to some bad communication beacons and poor reception, Jedi Master Yaddle, along with youngling Cippa Tarko, head to the same planet.

…the Republic is not a means of winning wars. It’s a means of keeping peace.

Chancellor Mollo to Monarch A’lbaran

What follows is an all-out-war between the forces of The Path of the Open Hand, or should I say, Close Fist, the Jedi and eventually the people of Dalna and Eiram and E’ronoh forces. The Path had amass countless weapons, from battle droids to surface to air missiles and with the battle raging on well into the following day, the death count was high for all sides.

But The Mother has a weapon that not even the Jedi can prepare against. It wouldn’t be a High Republic book if we didn’t have to mourn the death of several Jedi. Unfortunately, Master Char-Ryl-Roy meets his end thanks to the Leveler, while Orin Darhga and Aida Forte are casualties of the battle.

Ease of Reading: 3.75 out of 5

There is a lot going on in Cataclysm and it could have easily turn into a complicated read, but Kang’s decision to have us follow different relationship pairs throughout the main story line as well as the minor ones, was a great idea that pays off for the readers. Even during the main battle, that spans well over 100 pages, we follow small groups of characters and their actions through the Path compound, either underground or above it, and we know exactly where we are and what is happening around them.

Most chapters are around the 10-page line but some do go over making some of them a bit more of a challenge if you are short on time and just want to read a chapter or two.

Characters: 4 out of 5 Probe Droids

As mentioned earlier, we are reunited with characters from previous Phase 2 books as well as a couple of newcomers. We see Xiri and Phan-tu having to deal with “newlywed communication and trust issues” in addition to the extra weight of being heirs from two planets caught in a forever war.

We continue the character arcs of Chancellor Greylark and how she prefers to lead from Coruscant and not get her hands “dirty” with the expansion on the Outer Rim and Chancellor Mollo who thrives outside the city-planet but detests the rigidity of corteous negotiating with monarchs and how they have to reverse rolls to save the peace and the ones they love.

He’s on the cover so let’s talk about Axel Greylark. Love him or hate him, Axel is one of those characters in Star Wars that has different layers to him and could also easily become a one-note-don’t-trust-him kind of character, but thanks to Lydia Kang’s writing, we never know which choices he is going to make. Good or bad ones we are all waiting to see what he does. And if we talk about Axel we need to talk about Gella Nattai. She is all of us when it comes to Axel. Doesn’t trust him but is still letting her emotions about him take over her decision making.

It’s about existing outside of constructs like disappointment and perfection and imperfection. It’s about trusting in the Force.

Gella Nattai

The biggest compliment I can give Lydia is making me a Yaddle fan. Sorry, I know I’m in the minority but I’ve never been a Yaddle stan but that changed after Cataclysm. The Jedi Master is effortless. From her knowledge of the Force, to fighting acumen, and her babysitting prowess, Yaddle is a force.

I really enjoyed the time we got with Orin and am sad he is dead. He was a great balance for Gella and someone she needed to keep her grounded when she was close to Axel.

Canon Connection: 5 out of 5

Cataclysm brings together the previous High Republic stories from Phase 2. We finally have the Jedi and the Republic acknowledge the threat pose by The Path of the Open Hand, continue the growing story of Xiri and Phan-tu along with their parents and the difficulty of cementing long-lasting peace between Eiram and E’ronoh.

Having most of the story be told from characters we met in both Convergence and The Battle of Jedha was a great way to bridge all of these stories together while at the same time bringing in Yoda and have him and Creighton Sun decide to not let others know about the Leveler being a creature that directly affects the Jedi’s connection to the Force and the repercussions that had on the stories of Phase 1 and most likely the new Phase 3 stories brings all of this together.

Expand Star Wars: 3 out of 5 Probe Droids

We learn more about the Kyber Arch and how fallen Jedi kyber crystals are added to it. I loved seeing how Gella’s lightsabers kyber crystals “talked and sang” to each other when they were close was a nice touch.

There is no losing, until there is nothing worth saving. And there is much to save, Master Sun.

Jedi Master Yaddle

Overall: 4.25 out of 5 Probe Droids

Cataclysm is the closest we’ve gotten to the feel of a Phase 1 book from The High Republic and it is a feeling I was missing. Previous stories came together, great action scenes but it never loses the familiarity of having those character moments we come to expect and loved and from the other Phase 2 books.

It starts to set up why the Jedi were so ill-equipped to handle the threat of the Leveler and the Nihil when they pop-up 150 years from now.