Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Star Wars: The High Republic - Trail of Shadows by Daniel José Older

3 reviews

jenny_librarian's review

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dark informative mysterious fast-paced

3.75

I don’t know how to feel about this series. On one hand, it’s a must read to better understand what the Jedi are against in Phase 3. The film noir vibe of the first issue was also pretty cool. And I stand by my idea (brought up from reading the Jedi Path) that it would be great for Disney to do a detective series with a Jedi investigator, set in the High Republic era.

But on the other hand, the issues felt a bit disjointed, like I was missing information when moving on to the next issue. And was that a romance they tried to establish between Emerick and Sian? That didn’t land at all. They could’ve just been friendly. There’s no need for amatonormativity. Emerick’s casual mention of Avar and Stellan having once been a “thing” (or 2/3 of one) was plenty enough, and a much better inclusion of romance.
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e_flah's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Star Wars: The High Republic - Trail of Shadows was an excellent noir mystery that kept me hooked from beginning to end. David Wachter's illustrations are incredibly evocative; they gave this one-shot a unique tone that both clearly fits into the High Republic while standing out from the other runs. The story also fills out a bit more of
the Leveler, which one of the biggest parts of phase 1 I still wanted more about
.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable one-shot that I'd recommend to any High Republic fans.
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billyjepma's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

The High Republic has been a mixed bag for me in the comics realm, but this is the most solid entry I've seen. It's still inconsistent, especially in the second half, where Older has to quickly wrap up the central mystery while also tieing it into the events of the Fallen Star novel and setting up the next phase of THR that's coming in the Fall. So, yeah, it's a crowded series when it probably should've been the opposite of that, but I enjoyed myself.

The noir-adjacent vibes of the first couple of issues are excellent and make me wish the whole miniseries had maintained that style. Still, the latter half has its fair share of moments, and even though it loses the mystery angle it marketed itself with, it does crossover with the broader THR landscape in some satisfying ways. I really dug the almost-horror elements, too, and would love to see Older continue in this vein. He's got a knack for character dynamics that lends itself well to this genre of mystery, and it's a nice change of pace from the YA/Middle-Grade stuff he usually does (which I also tend to enjoy, for the most part).

I wasn't blown away by the artwork, which shouldn't be surprising, considering how in line with the rest of Marvel's Star Wars series have been. They need to do something about that because as serviceable as the artwork is, it's unremarkable with only the occasional exception. There are moments in Trail of Shadows that outrank many of the other Star Wars comics, but again, they're the exception, not the norm, and those memorable moments primarily come about as a result of what's in the script.

Despite all that, this still lands somewhere in the 3-4-star range. My Star Wars blinders certainly play a part in that, but there is some genuinely good stuff in here that I'd argue is pretty essential to the broader story The High Republic is telling.
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