The High Republic: Defy the Storm Review

ne of the best parts about creation is the idea of collaboration. While writing can oftentimes be a solitary pursuit, initiatives like The High Republic are wonderful in the way that they can bring authors together to create stories with multiple voices and points of view in order to build a larger narrative.

The third phase of The High Republic has exemplified this by featuring books that are entirely co-written with Escape From Valo from Daniel José Older and Alyssa Wong and Defy the Storm by Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton.

Valo excelled in its unity of voice, and in our review, we mentioned how seamlessly the authors presented the story in order to maintain coherence, pacing, and intrigue. Unfortunately, Defy the Storm doesn’t attain the same level of success. 

WIth a plot that seems over convoluted and authorial voices that appear incongruous between certain chapters, Defy the Storm succeeds in bringing back some fan favorite characters but doesn’t reach the heights that are usually expected for the next main chapter in a High Republic story.

The story of Defy the Storm centers around the idea of lost connection. As previously established in George Mann’s The Eye of Darkness, the galaxy has been split in half thanks to the Nihil’s devastating Stormwall. The inability to cross this divide without a Path engine has separated families, friends, and plenty of familiar characters from the previous phases of The High Republic.

Throughout the book, characters team up on various sides of the Stormwall in order to rescue those trapped elsewhere, but the plot unfortunately falters pretty significantly here, because it is rather difficult to keep track of which characters are on which sides of the Stormwall at which time and who is able to cross and who isn’t. Obviously, there’s a level of intrigue and pacing excitement that comes with a rapid shift of character perspectives, but perhaps beginning each chapter with a planetary location, a convention used quite often in previous High Republic books, could have alleviated this confusion.

Aside from the locational difficulties, Defy the Storm also suffers from a number of intricate, slightly overcomplicated plans that are executed by various teams of characters. Because there are so many missions being carried out at the same time depending on which group of characters is in focus, the goals and successes of each become distorted. This lack of cohesion also highlights one of the issues that may be attributed to co-writing.

While we do not know for certain how the labor of writing the novel was divided between Gratton and Ireland, the overcomplexity with the multiple teams could point to the artificial combination of two books being written simultaneously rather than the seamless creation of a single narrative.

That being said, there are a number of fascinating High Republic lore entries that get uncovered near the end of Defy the Storm that are legitimately exhilarating for fans of the initiative. While the journey to arrive at that destination may not be as clear as readers may be used to, the end result does deliver with revelations that are sure to drastically impact the rest of Phase 3.

Each creator in The High Republic clearly has a cast of characters towards whom they gravitate. A Charles Soule project is going to have Bell Zettifar, DJO is going to bring the kids to the forefront, and Claudia Gray needs that trademark Geode wit. However, Justina Ireland may be the most loyal to her particular crew as she has carried Vernestra Rwoh, Avon Starros, Deva Lompop, and the rest of this cast throughout her works with remarkable consistency.

If you’ve enjoyed these characters in their previous works like A Test of Courage and Out of the Shadows, you’ll naturally be overjoyed at their return in Defy the Storm. Their voices ring true as ever beneath the pen of Ireland and Gratton, and their interpersonal relationships get plenty of opportunity to further solidify during the adventures of this book.

What evolves slightly less noticeably though is each individual’s personal growth from beginning to end. Ireland’s previous works have emphasized the importance of learning about oneself and maturing in response to crisis which is a common theme in young adult literature, but by the time the final chapters of Defy the Storm arrive, the characters are found to be relatively the same as when they started.

There is nothing wrong with characters having trademark attitudes or recognizable features - especially in long form franchise storytelling. But certain behaviors like Avon’s stubbornness or Xylan Graff’s insufferable antics run their course rather early and instead of bearing fruit through opportunities for emotional advancement, the characters appear to be soundly stuck in their ways throughout.

A couple of characters, however, do escape this trap in rather unusual ways. Vernestra Rwoh no longer exemplifies the almost unattainable perfection that was expected of her in Phase 1 as she grapples with the trauma imposed by the losses at Starlight Beacon. Unfortunately, because of the time jump between Phases, we miss out on these changes occurring in real time and instead meet up with her again when she’s essentially ready to return to the fold.

It’s almost as though the most dramatic scenes have happened offscreen, and while it’s lovely to have Vern back, the most critical part of her journey can only be witnessed second hand.

Jordanna Sparkburn is another standout with her constant resourcefulness matched only by the intensity of her pining for her girlfriend, Sylvestri Yarrow. Her status as a San Tekka plays one of the more interesting roles in the book as her actual mission becomes clear near the final act, and her reactions to life-altering events carry the most weight out of any of the returning cast.

A number of new characters are also quite enjoyable to meet, but due to the multiple plotlines weaving in and out of each other, it’s difficult to really solidify these new relationships. Nonetheless, fans of the returning cast will undoubtedly be thrilled to spend more time with their old friends, and there are quite a few scenes that remind us why they were favorites in the first place - but it’s hard not to wish that they had grown up just a bit more in the interim.

The High Republic has been a wonderful exercise in creative collaboration. Since the beginning of the initiative, we have seen how effectively creators can work together to build a cohesive universe with interweaving storylines, and the results have created a vibrant community that eagerly looks ahead to every release.

Defy the Storm marks the second Young Adult High Republic release that features co-authors with Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton, and unfortunately, it’s hard not to notice the seams. Previously, we praised Escape from Valo for the way that Older and Wong’s authorial voices worked together to create a cohesive narrative, but there are quite a few times where Defy the Storm feels like it was distinctly written by two different people.

That is not to say that the characters are not consistent or anything of that nature, but as the chapters alternate between storylines and points of view, it almost feels as though the writers aren’t entirely aware of what is preceding or following their work. There are moments of unfortunately excessive recapping, and tonal inconsistencies feel less like handing the baton off to another group of characters than two stories that are constantly getting in each other’s way.

Obviously, the writers worked closely on the book, and it’s possible that these tonal differences were a matter of discussion and intentionality, but it’s difficult for Defy the Storm to create a sense of continual momentum when the back and forth between storylines almost demands a constant reset.

These issues with consistency aside, both writers clearly have a lot of passion for the characters that they write, and there are scenes - especially near the end - that show the massive amount of skill that is evident in their respective crafts. Both writers have also produced fantastic work for the initiative and surely will again down the road, but it’s hard not to wonder if their strengths lie more in their individual spheres.

Within Defy the Storm is an incredibly fun story. There are moments throughout the book that are exciting and full of stakes and heartache, and the final scenes and epilogue are practically guaranteed to give any fan of the High Republic full body chills.

The pure fun and enjoyment of that story just happens to be slightly obscured by the factors that don’t quite coalesce as smoothly as readers may hope. As opposed to some stories that are over a bit too quickly in the Star Wars universe, the entertainment value of Defy the Storm could have been significantly bolstered with a bit more streamlining of the main plot.

Despite those technical desires, there is undoubtedly fun to be had within these pages. There are witty back and forths, thrilling battles, and deep dives of lore that keep the story going and plant plenty of seeds for future adventures. When those stories come, it will be easy to look back on Defy the Storm as the vehicle for that success, but there was definitely potential for this vehicle to drive a bit smoother on its own journey to get there.