Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing Into the Light by Claudia Gray, the final YA installment of the Star Wars: The High Republic publishing initiative. Was this a fitting conclusion to the YA storyline? Read on to find out!

The New York Times best-selling series is coming to an epic conclusion—witness the beginning of the end!

Written by one of the original High Republic story architects and the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark, Star Wars: Lost Stars, and the upcoming original X-Files novel, Perihelion. This sci-fi mystery is, at its heart, about the importance of found families and overcoming great odds.

As several crises all hurtle toward their thrilling and shocking conclusions, fan-favorite Jedi Knights and Padawans must band together to save the galaxy from the Nihil, the Nameless, and perhaps worst of all, a mysterious blight that turns everything in its path to dust and is seemingly impossible to stop.

I struggled to rate Into the Light because there were so many things I loved about it and so many others that I found bafflingly bad. Most of my problems with the book boiled down to two things: a lack of focus and a disconnect from the characters. So, let’s start there.

Into the Light tried to do so many things with so many characters. Unfortunately, very little of it actually stuck the landing. The story was all over the place with the focus split between the Drengir, the blight, Dr. Mkampa, Nan’s schemes, the Starros/Marchion family drama, and even the ancient Sith. Those were just the main antagonists, too. Each of the Jedi also had their own arcs to be resolved. It was just a lot, and the breadth of the story made it hard for any one piece to have depth. Gray did manage to tie up a bunch of loose ends in ways that made sense, but the story suffered for it.

In order to juggle everything, Into the Light was told from a sort of omniscient narrator that bounced around between characters much too often. This caused a disconnect between the characters and the reader. The relationships between the characters often felt flat as a result, and I just wasn’t as invested in their inner worlds as I wanted to be. For example, I was so happy that both Amadeo and Reath would be in this book. They forged such a great friendship in Tears of the Nameless. Unfortunately, Amadeo was wasted in this book, and their friendship was practically non-existent. Reath’s relationship with Cohmac also felt like a shell of itself compared to their emotional reconnection in Tears of the Nameless. I was just super disappointed in the character work in this book, with the exception of Azlin Rell.

One thing I loved about Into the Light was its use of Kashyyyk as the primary setting. It is one of my favorite planets in the Star Wars universe. I had such a great time getting to explore the forests and wildlife. The Wookie customs were also really cool, and I enjoyed getting to spend time in their village. I do wish it had all been explored a bit more, though, maybe by spending more time in a Wookie POV. The Wookie Jedi felt criminally underutilized in the story considering it was taking place on their home planet.

I also really appreciated how Into the Light mirrored the first YA book in this series, Gray’s Into the Dark. It had so many of my favorite characters from The High Republic and answered some questions while wrapping up the storylines well, all things considered. I just wish the story had been more character-focused and less rushed. Therefore, I rate this book 3.75 out of 5 stars.

There you have it! My thoughts on the final YA book of The High Republic, Into the Light by Claudia Gray. Have you been keeping up with this publishing initiative? If so, let me know your thoughts on this installment down in the comments!