Story was ok, narration was difficult.

The narrator has a strange cadence that I found difficult to listen to. Not the best talent choice for a books with various characters where the narrator pretty much has one voices for males and one for females. Also, if you’re reading a Star Wars book, shouldn’t you know how to pronounce Kyber? I couldn’t listen after she said “kiber”. Sorry, but come on.

I rated the story well, though to be honest the dull monotone narration meant I didn’t follow the story as closely and I’d be hard pressed now to recall many points of the story line. I may have to read this book, the audiobook was really lacking.

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Compelling addition to Jr. High Republic Series

A damaged droid is discovered floating through space, having been sent back to a Jedi outpost, flagging that one of the Jedi Pathfinder teams, those small teams of a Master, Padawan, and possibly a Republic Pilot and Medic, is in trouble, something has gone wrong with their mission on Aubadas.
Before the story evolves too far, we are also introduced to a second storyline, a father and son, Spence and Dass, who have are on a strange planet, alone, and trying to survive against what appears to be something hostile that comes out at night. They are trying to put together a comms device from parts they can find, in hopes of reaching someone to help them. Spence is injured, and it is up to his teenage son, Dass, to forage for food each day, as well as stay one step ahead of whatever is hunting them.
A second Pathfinder team, led by Master Silandro Sho, with his Padawan Rooper Nitani head to the Aubadas system to try and locate the missing Jedi. Sho and Rooper know the missing team, Sho knows Master Rok, and Rooper knows his Padawan Maliq, so they are both keen to find answers.
When the arrive, they find an unusual bat lit species known as the Katikoot. The Katikoot had initially called the Jedi for help with a problem they were having. The Katikoot society is in desperate trouble, and they need the help of the Republic before their entire civilisation collapses. Initially however, they have a problem that requires a resolution on the nearby moon of Gloam. The Jedi left to go and find some about the issues on Gloam, but they have not been seen since. A single survivor returned from the initial mission, talking of monsters and lives lost.
Master and Padawan are about to go on a very interesting, at times fascinating, and at others, terrifying adventure, as they try and find out what is going on. They have a lot of questions, but no answers, and the leader of the Katikoot, although initially reluctant for their help, soon decides she is happy to have them there.
Whilst this is a Junior Reader Star Wars story, and for the most part, I would say that the story, the characters, dialogue etc used fits into that category, this is also a much darker story than we are used to seeing. Not that this is a bad thing, the story has some grim elements (and I should advise for parents that there are deaths of characters involved), but it is inline with the story, and done well. It has quite an eerie feel to it in the later stages.
The characters are really well done, young Rooper’s story as he is faced with the challenges of this mission is exceptionally well done. Likewise, as we follow Dass’s story, we learn what a brilliant character he is.
This is another really great addition to the High Republic Story Arc – set 150yrs before the first set of stories that took place in Phase I of the series. These stories are setting some background story for the events that take place later.
A must read for fans!
Subhadra Newton is a great Narrator with a clear and concise voice that is easy to understand, and a fantastic range of, both male and female voices that are clearly identifiable, so that there is a full range of different characters during the story. Newton also provides the emotional state of each character so you can understand how each of the characters are feeling as the story unfolds, whether that be angry, sad, happy, excited etc. This adds an additional layer, immersing you fully in the characters and their stories. This is an audiobook that is absolutely worth listening to as opposed to the option of reading, as the audiobook adds so much more to the story, brilliant job!!

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Boring narration and very slow paced story

I simply don't know who is talking because the narrator's voices all sound exactly the same. So many missed opportunities to make Alien's voices more interesting. The story could have been interesting, only to know more about other planets and their history but it is way too slow to keep my interest and sadly I don't think I will remember anything from that book.

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Decent

I've felt the last few HR books have been real letdowns. This one had a solid storyline without any of the forced ideas rampant in the previous few YA books. This one actually felt believable.

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Slow

The pace is painstakingly slow. I fail to see the relevance of the plot is to the bigger picture. It may serve as an introduction to its characters. If so, it wasn’t needed. The saving merit is some world building that shows the vastness of a galaxy far far away and the crazy things/creatures that inhabit it. As well as a different weapon held by one of the Jedis. I would skip this one.

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A good story

It’s a good story and maybe an introduction to some new characters but not as interesting as the rest.

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Might be good to the young adult, but this was a three page story at best

Not sure why this was not just a short story. Hard to keep my attention to it. Could’ve been a smaller story within a bigger one. Felt like they are trying too hard to extend things and grab cash. Instead they need to build a B enter storyline with a faster pace…boring, and frankly kind of silly. Minerals as blood..meh.

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Better than some High Republic books

Good narration.

The story is hot and then cold, slow then quick. I hope the High Republic gets better.

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Story ok, narration subpar

Mispronouncing Selandra’s name all throughout the book is unforgivable especially when there are other audiobooks where they pronounce it correctly.

Furthermore the tone was so ineffectual and detached that I had to speed it up to 1.7 to make it bearable. First time I was glad an audiobook was short. Please use more inflection in future recordings Miss Subhadra Newton - this is not a recipe or a judicial protocol.

The story is very basic to the point of boring but it is a middle grade novel so I guess that’s the standard there.

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Such a fun story.

This was by far my favorite of the youth books in that high republic era so far.

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