hase II of The High Republic is upon us! And along with all the new content, we are also getting some new High Republic faces behind that content. Don’t worry if you’re still feeling a lot of love and respect for the original Phase I authors because they’re all back, too!
If it’s been a while since you read Phase I of The High Republic, then you might want to get a refresher. That’s what Youtini is here for. Feel free to browse around our High Republic HQ for our book reviews, High Republic timeline, reading order, and so much more.
Phase I kicked off this new era in January 2021 with five awesome authors that we all know and love now. But they weren’t all previously established Star Wars writers, and that mixed-bag plan was followed once again with the authors of Phase II. With nine Phase II authors overall—five returning and four new—there are a lot of Star Wars publishing credits to go around.
But these authors are now tasked with introducing us to a whole new High Republic Era, as Phase II is set 150 years before the events of Phase I. That means we’ll be seeing a new cast of characters taking on all new missions and going on fun new adventures, which is a daunting task for any writer. And that is exactly why these nine authors were selected to bring us on this journey—let’s meet our guides!
Returning Authors
Claudia Gray
If you’ve been reading much from the Star Wars Canon timeline, then the chances are pretty high that you’ve come across Claudia Gray. She is rightfully hailed as the Queen of Canon, and the reason for that becomes very obvious when you read her work. Claudia kicked off her Star Wars novel writing with Lost Stars in September 2015, and she hasn’t looked back since. She has now written six Star Wars novels and several short stories.
Before entering the Star Wars publishing world, Claudia Gray wrote two young adult fantasy series and followed those with two more young adult fantasy trilogies over the course of her Star Wars books. She also released the first book of her Murder of Mr. Wickham series—her first dive into historical mystery—in May 2022.
In Phase I, Claudia kicked off the young adult trilogy with Into the Dark and finished out the adult trilogy with The Fallen Star. In Phase II, she is the author of a one-shot comic that promises to deliver some interesting ancient Force lore called The High Republic: Quest of the Jedi. So, even though we know Claudia won’t be writing any novels in Phase II, it is obvious that she’s still a massive part of the project and of cementing The High Republic Era in the hearts of Star Wars readers.
Charles Soule
Charles Soule is another name that comes up often in Star Wars publishing, though he’s typically more aligned with the comics side of things. That all changed with Phase I of The High Republic, however, when he made his Star Wars novel writing debut with Light of the Jedi. Soule also closed out Phase I with a miniseries comic called The High Republic: Eye of the Storm.
So even though his first novel was published about eight years after the Disney acquisition, Soule has been a major player in Star Wars publishing for close to a decade. In 2015, he wrote the miniseries comic Star Wars: Lando alongside artist Alex Maleev. Since then, Charles Soule’s name has appeared in countless Star Wars comics—most notably, Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, a 25-issue series that ran from 2017 to 2018.
Along with his Star Wars writing, Soule has also written multiple other comics for both Marvel and DC, and he has two science fiction novels, with his first thriller to be published in 2023. In Phase II, we won’t be getting another novel from Soule, but we will get a miniseries comic called The High Republic: The Blade, which will follow Jedi Master Porter Engle. Charles is also co-writing a children’s book with his daughter Rosemary—Yoda and the Younglings—which is bound to be filled with Grogu-level cuteness.
Cavan Scott
Author Cavan Scott has a long list of publishing credits to fall back on, both in the Star Wars universe and outside of it. He started his Star Wars writing career with a junior reader series called Star Wars: Adventures in Wild Space, which was released in 2016. By that time, Scott had already written several of his own novels, including two contributions to the Doctor Who Big Finish series.
Cavan played a major role in Phase I of The High Republic, writing the adult novel Rising Storm, the audio drama Tempest Runner, and the comic series The High Republic (2021). Outside of The High Republic, he has contributed to multiple comics series, including Star Wars Adventures (2017), Star Wars Adventures (2020), and the Vader’s Castle series—a ghostly tale of a Rebel leader and her crew who crashland on Mustafar.
In Phase II, Cavan Scott is writing the young adult novel Path of Vengeance and continuing the mainline comic series The High Republic (2022) alongside his Phase I collaborator, Ario Anindito. In other words, we’ll be seeing a lot of Cavan’s work throughout this Phase, and we couldn’t be more excited about that!
Justina Ireland
If you have any Star Wars junior novel readers in your life—or you happen to be one yourself—then you’ve probably come across Justina Ireland before. She was a major player in Phase I of The High Republic, but she’s also written a few other Star Wars junior novels in her career spanning all across the Canon timeline. She’s even contributed her skills to some Star Wars comics, including War of the Bounty Hunters and Life Day.
Outside of her work in Star Wars, Justina has written multiple series and standalone novels. She is probably most well known for her young adult fantasy duology, Dread Nation, but her bibliography spans much further than that.
In Phase I, Justina wrote two junior novels and one young adult novel. In Phase II, she has one young adult novel—Path of Deceit—which is also co-written by Tessa Gratton. The cool thing about this book, though, is that it is our opening to the new Phase. Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton are introducing us to yet another new era, but if Phase I shows us anything, it’s that these authors know how to do exactly that.
Daniel José Older
Now, onto the last of our returning Phase II authors! Daniel José Older has been a Star Wars writer since 2017, with his first Star Wars novel, Last Shot, released in 2018. Not only did Daniel write that novel—but he also co-narrated its audiobook version! Along with that, he’s also written several short stories and comics.
In Phase I, Daniel José Older wrote Midnight Horizon, Race to Crashpoint Tower, and The High Republic Adventures (2021). Outside of his work in the Star Wars universe, Daniel has written multiple series and standalone novels, mostly within the urban fantasy subgenre and other similar subgenres. His bibliography definitely proves that he is comfortable writing with all age levels in mind and in many different mediums.
Like the other returning authors in this list, Daniel José Older is taking a step back during Phase II compared to his contributions in Phase I, but we still get to enjoy his continuing comic series with artist Toni Bruno, The High Republic Adventures (2022), which, like its Phase I counterpart, will release continually throughout the months of Phase II.
New Authors
George Mann
George Mann is a name that may sound familiar to you if you’re a Star Wars comics fan because he has written many over the course of his career. Three of his most popular contributions are the short story collections Myths & Fables, Dark Legends, and Life Day Treasury. These books are cool because they don’t clearly fall under the designation of Canon or Legends, so they are most often thought of as centuries-old tales passed down from generation to generation throughout the galaxy—truly the myths, fables, and legends of the Star Wars universe.
Outside of Star Wars, George Mann has an extensive bibliography mostly filled with science fiction. He even has several publications with the Doctor Who franchise, much like his High Republic counterpart, Cavan Scott.
In Phase II, we’ll be seeing a lot of George Mann’s work. He is writing the first junior novel to be released in this Phase entitled Quest for the Hidden City. He’s also the main writer for the comic miniseries The High Republic Adventures: The Nameless Terror, which will be published by Dark Horse Comics. But the thing that we are most stoked for from George in this Phase is his audio drama, The Battle of Jedha, which might give us some new kyber crystal lore!
Tessa Gratton
There aren’t any Phase II authors who are entirely new to the Star Wars Canon, but Tessa Gratton is one of two who don’t have any previous Star Wars novels. However, Tessa does have a short story contribution to the collection Stories of Jedi and Sith titled “Masters,” which was released at Star Wars Celebration 2022. And after Phase II, she will have two Star Wars novels under her belt!
When it comes to her other writing, Tessa Gratton has several young adult fantasy series and stand-alone novels, and she is working on another young adult fantasy series called Chaos and Flame with her fellow High Republic co-writer, Justina Ireland.
Tessa Gratton has two novels in Phase II—one junior novel and one young adult. Her young adult book, Path of Deceit, which she co-wrote with Justina Ireland, is the opening to this Phase, as we talked about earlier. Her junior novel, Quest for Planet X, will follow George Mann’s Quest for the Hidden City—both taking us on Padawan adventures to save the Republic!
Zoraida Córdova
Zoraida Córdova made her Star Wars debut in 2017 with her From a Certain Point of View short story “You Owe Me a Ride.” Two years later, she published her first Star Wars book, a young adult novel called A Crash of Fate, which was part of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge publishing initiative centered around the opening of the park in Disney World. And now, Zoraida is taking her first step into The High Republic Era in Phase II.
Zoraida Córdova’s novelist career began in 2012 with her first young adult fantasy trilogy, which is a genre that she has remained in for ten years—with some romance novels sprinkled in throughout. She has even ventured into children’s fiction with her 2022 junior novel Valentina Salazar Is Not a Monster Hunter.
In Phase II, Zoraida is opening up the adult duology with her novel Convergence, which is set on two closely orbiting planets that will sound very familiar to the readers of Phase I—Eiram and E’ronoh. The two hate-fueled populations must find a way to work together or risk escalating their conflict into war.
Lydia Kang
And our last High Republic Phase II author is Lydia Kang, a name you might recognize if you’ve read the short story collection From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back. Her short story “Right-Hand Man” was featured in the collection, marking her debut in the Star Wars universe. Like her fellow writer, Tessa Gratton, Lydia’s only previous in-universe publication is a single short story, but that doesn’t make us any less excited to see her work in Phase II!
As with her fellow Phase II authors, Lydia Kang has a large bibliography of different genres, though she mostly sticks with young adult fantasy and science fiction—seemingly the perfect combination for a Star Wars writer. Unlike most of her High Republic teammates, however, Lydia prefers to write stand-alone novels rather than longer series and has been doing so quite consistently since 2017.
Lydia’s contribution to Phase II of The High Republic is the second novel in the adult duology, Cataclysm. With a cover that almost perfectly mirrors its counterpart, Convergence, we can’t help but speculate that this novel will also center around the conflict between Eiram and E’ronoh and what the Jedi and Republic can do to solve it.
Conclusion
These nine authors are carrying us, readers, into the next Phase of The High Republic and introducing us to the earlier days of the era. The returning authors have already proven their skills in Phase I, and we’re excited to see the new authors do the same thing in Phase II. If you’d like more High Republic content from Youtini, check out our High Republic HQ and our High Republic Reading Order to learn more!
