Midnight Horizon by Daniel José Older is the book about two cinnamon roll boys, two queer disaster girls, and two Jedi masters just doing their best you did not know you needed in your life until now. Out today, the latest installment in the High Republic is guaranteed to give you feelings by the final page. And did we mention the cinnamon rolls?
Kicking off slightly before the events of The Fallen Star, the Jedi stationed on Corellia have been drawn away to handle a problem off world and so when there’s a suspected Nihil attack, four Jedi are sent from Starlight Beacon to investigate. Once on planet, Kantam, Cohmac, Reath, and Ram meet the one and only Crash, head of a Corellian bodyguard organization, who’s found herself in the middle of this latest Nihil mess. Meanwhile, Zeen and the padawans continue their taskforce’s mission to find Krix… and they just might have a lead.
Once again, the young adult novel in the wave benefits from being slightly removed from the headline event. While this one has clearer ties to the story going on in the Del Rey novel than the prior two have, it still mostly stands by itself, accessible to those who are mostly interested in the more contained tales in this era. (It’s worth mentioning that Midnight Horizon, like other Star Wars reviewers have generally noted about this wave, isn’t as easy to pick up without prior knowledge of the stories in other mediums that some characters have appeared in. This is a broader High Republic issue though and not specific to this novel.) This is a story with planetary ramifications but still small enough to feel intimate and this is where the High Republic’s sweet spot really is.
Having Reath and Ram at the heart of this story is a true delight. Star Wars has always had good soft boys but to see two of them centered here who help and support each other as they try and figure things out is golden. Crash, who happens to be named for Star Wars comics writer Alyssa Wong, is a great addition to the pantheon of non-Jedi characters we’ve been introduced to in the High Republic and hopefully she appears again whenever the project returns to this timeline. She’s young and in charge of her own business and I particularly appreciated how one of her driving motivations in this book is to find out who murdered her friend because he was so important to her. And we haven’t even talked about Zeen yet and everything between her and Lula which is one of the purest loves we’ve ever seen in Star Wars.
Mostly importantly, Midnight Horizon explores what being a Jedi is and their relationship with the Order itself. The High Republic is about the Jedi at the height of their power so seeing the Jedi wrestle with what’s the right thing for them when it comes to the Force and the Jedi Order is nothing less than refreshing. Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself and for the people you care about is to let them go. To go too far into this would dive into the realm of spoilers but it’s beautifully done and I dare you to read the final few chapters and not feel some feelings that will linger with you for a while.
Midnight Horizon is a book filled with delightful characters who will connect with many readers on a deep emotional level while still being an exciting mystery that keeps you guessing. And the sweet cinnamon roll boys. The sweet cinnamon roll boys cannot be mentioned enough.
Thank you to Disney Lucasfilm Press for providing a copy of the book for review purposes.
