Book Review: "Race to Crashpoint Tower" is a fast-paced thrill ride
After launching back in January to much acclaim, and sweeping the New York Times bestseller lists in the process, the Star Wars High Republic publishing initiative returns this summer with the latest wave of stories set during the golden age of the Republic.
Star Wars is a lot of things. It’s full of action. It’s got big emotions and a lot of heart. It has characters that are relatable and that stand the test of time. Race to Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older has all of these things, but it also has something most Star Wars just doesn’t: it is laugh-out-loud funny.
I’m serious. I’m not the type to laugh at something if I’m reading it or watching it by myself. And yet, by the time I got to the end of this book, I had actual tears in my eyes - the good kind, thankfully. I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Daniel José Older has brought his characteristic kind of funny to the GFFA before, with 2018’s Last Shot and the more recent (and relevant) Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures comic series for IDW.
Race to Crashpoint Tower pulls off the remarkable feat of being inextricably linked to both the IDW High Republic Adventures series, and to The Rising Storm and yet somehow functions perfectly as a standalone novel for younger readers - and older readers too. See again: me with tears in my eyes.
The novel is set during the events of The Rising Storm, operating in such flawless parallel that the story overlaps in places, even though the main arcs are quite different. The novel follows Ram Jamaram, a Jedi Padawan from Valo with an interest in machinery and mechanics. When he receives word that Crashpoint Tower, the central comms tower for Lonisa City, has gone down, with no one else around to help, he takes it upon himself to fix it. Far from a simple mechanical issue, the tower is actually a key component of the Nihil’s plan to raid the Republic Fair and cause chaos, and Ram’s efforts to fix it have instead gotten him swept up in the larger adventure.
Our other point of view character is Lula Talisola, a Jedi Padawan straight out of the IDW comics who ends up on Valo along with her new close friend Zeen Mrala, a Force user who isn’t a formal Padawan. An investigation into the status of Zeen’s homeworld, destroyed in the fallout of the Great Disaster, leads the two of them along with the Jedi Master accompanying them, to Valo as well, to help wherever they are able.
The wonderful thing about Race to Crashpoint Tower, as well as the first middle grade High Republic novel, Justina Ireland’s A Test of Courage, is that the books are primarily about characters of an age, or slightly older than the intended reader. They are not adventures about adults being told to children, as the other Star Wars middle grade books are. These are books for kids, about kids, and that only makes them stronger.
Race to Crashpoint Tower is told from two points of view: Ram’s and Lula’s. Indirectly, we also get Zeen’s point of view. Three young Force users that are all about the same age, but each so different and distinct, that every reader will find a different one to gravitate towards and relate to.
This, like everything else about the book, is not limited to younger readers either. As a former gifted kid, there’s something that hits very close to home about Lula striving to be the best of the best, exceptional at a young age, only for her to step out in the world and realize just how many people strive for the same. I see a lot of myself in her, as she starts down the path of knowing that being good at what you do, and being “special” is not a one-and-only kind of deal. As cliche as it sounds, everyone is special in their own way, there’s nothing wrong with that, and a lot of kids (and yes, adults) need to hear that too.
But what is a good adventure story without antagonists, and this story has all kinds. Or two kinds anyway. We have the Nihil, of course, who are the instigators for the catastrophe at the Republic Fair. But then there are the Drengir. The sentient plants who make very memorable appearances in Claudia Gray’s Into the Dark and in the Marvel comics run. But where in those they are sinister, mysterious and terrifying, here they have been given the kind of lighter treatment that I think they need to make them age-appropriate. They still pose a threat, but not in a way that’s likely to give younger readers nightmares. And because it’s Daniel José Older writing, this is right about the time the tears of mirth started rolling down my face.
Also important and worth mentioning before wrapping this up is Daniel José Older’s continued striving for inclusion in the most subtle and incidental of ways. Lula and Zeen are accompanied on their mission by Kantam Sy, a nonbinary Jedi Master. Lula sleeps with her hair wrapped in silk. It’s details like this that make a far away galaxy feel that much closer to home in all the right ways.
I’ve said it in my other reviews and I’ll say it again now. If you are an adult on the fence about reading a book ostensibly aimed at 12 year olds, you need to get over yourself and read this. If nothing else I’ve said will convince you, then consider this. We’re already seeing how interconnected these stories are, and I will be very surprised if certain plot nuggets that Daniel José Older snuck into this story don’t pay off down the line in a big way.
Star Wars The High Republic: Race to Crashpoint Tower is out June 29, 2021, and is available for pre-order now!
Special thank you to Lucasfilm and Disney Publishing for an advance copy of this book for review purposes.
