StarWars.com has given fans all types of goodies this week. The site released an excerpt of Cavan Scott’s new novel, Star Wars: The High Republic: The Rising Storm, the next book in the Star Wars: The High Republic series.
Available on July 6, 2021, Scott told the Star Wars community what it was like to take the Star Wars universe in a new direction. “Writing a Star Wars novel is always an honor, and this has been no different. It’s a responsibility I never take lightly, especially while opening up a new era in Star Wars storytelling such as the High Republic.”
Scott is now a part of the exclusive group of authors who have written Star Wars novels to include Charles Soule, Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, and Daniel José Older.
The prologue excerpts from Rising Storm unpack Elzar Mann’s terrifying visions of the end of the Jedi order. Here’s a snippet of the text:
The screams had never left Elzar Mann. Many months had passed since Starlight Beacon’s dedication ceremony, since he had stood alongside his fellow Jedi. Since he had stood alongside Avar Kriss.”
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The eyes of the galaxy had been upon them in their temple finery, that damned collar itching as he’d listened to the speeches and platitudes, first from Chancellor Lina Soh, leader of the Galactic Republic, and then from Avar.
His Avar. The Hero of Hetzal.
The Beacon was their promise to the galaxy, Avar had said. It was their covenant. He could still hear her words.
Whenever you feel alone . . . whenever darkness closes in . . . know that the Force is with you. Know that we are with you . . . For light and life.
For light and life.
But that hadn’t stopped the darkness from closing in later that day. A wave of pain and suffering, a vision of the future too terrible to comprehend.”
He had staggered, grabbing hold of a rail, blood gushing from his nose as the pressure in his head threatened to split his skull in two.
What he had seen had haunted him ever since. It had consumed him.
Jedi dying one by one, picked off by a twisting, unfathomable cloud. Stellan. Avar. Everyone he had ever known in the past and everyone he would meet in days to come. Faces both familiar and strange torn apart.
And the screams.
The screams were the worst.
He had made it through the rest of the evening in a daze, going through the motions, not quite present, the echo of what he had seen . . . what he had heard . . . burned onto his mind’s eye.
There had been mistakes, a few too many glasses of Kattadan rosé at the reception, Avar asking for that dance she’d mentioned, Elzar leaning in a little too eagerly, a little too publicly.
He could still feel her hand on his chest, pushing him back.
“El. What are you doing?”
They had argued privately, his head still spinning.
“We’re not Padawans anymore.”
To read the rest of the excerpt, travel to Starwars.com for more!
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