Star Wars: Out of the Shadows was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Justina Ireland.
Justina Ireland did a pretty good job with her previous High Republic book, Test of Courage. However, with this one, I checked out early. I read the whole thing, but my care for anything going on was absent. There are parts of the story that are ok, but there are many parts that were just so boring.
I love that this book tied in with the other High Republic books and comics so well. Familiar and new characters have a lot going on. The events on Valo have many people throughout the galaxy scared. The Nihil are really making a name for themselves. The Jedi are getting really frustrated with the Nihil, but also with struggle they face by dipping too far into the affairs of Republic politics and war (sounds familiar).
This book had a lot of cringey material. I don’t know why the YA books have more adult themed subjects than the adult books. For example, alcohol consumption, sexual advances, and even prostitution. When a YA book has to mention every sexual orientation and every racial skin tone, it doesn’t read good. It feels like a a diversity training manual disguised as a Star Wars book.
I’m not kidding, just about every character that was brought in was described by the color of their skin, it’s poor character development, I can understand doing this occasionally… but all the time? Please stop. Our main character, Syl, is horn-dog, she’s so pervy.
RATING: I hate doing it, but I have to give this book an F. I spend my time reading books and I want to like them, I really do. The most important thing I MUST do, is be honest and give my opinion on the book. Some of you folks, will love this story.