I’m dnf-ing this one. The lightwhip was cool, but I really only skimmed to get to that part. The writing was just not engaging to me, and I get it’s a middle grade book, but I’ve read MG books before that could hold my interest, this just wasn’t one of them. I will checkout Claudia Gray’s novel to see if I like it (also that one is supposed to feature the carnivorous planet things which seem really cool to me), but I don’t think I’ll pick up everything from the High Republic after all.

If the first novel in the new “High Republic” initiative, “Light of the Jedi,” was a rousing tee-off to the new era of “Star Wars,” one that managed to work as both a singular story unto itself and as an exciting tie-in to the broader pre-prequel-film universe being established, then the second novel, Justina Ireland’s “A Test of Courage,” is…well, not that. It’s not that “A Test of Courage” is BAD or poorly written, so much as it’s just distinctly unmemorable – few of the characters stand out a...

dnf at 24%It felt like a chore instead of genuine enjoyment when it came to listening to the audiobook, so I decided to pull the plug on this one and move on.

I’ve read most of the High Republic books, and I haven’t been very impressed. I have found them to be cluttered, convoluted, and bland. A Test of Courage, by Justina Ireland, was the last book on my list, and my hopes were low. What a surprise, then, to find that Ireland’s story, aimed at kids, contains more wisdom and maturity than any of the books for grown-ups!Here are three examples of unexpectedly insightful moments in the book. First, Ireland begins to address one of my criticisms of a lot...

Don’t let the kiddie cover art fool you. This is some quality Star Wars content right here.The Goodreads description does not do this story justice. Disney LucasFilm Press will need to update it and give it the life it deserves.Right off the bat, this book is way better than Light of the Jedi for multiple reasons.1) The characters are actual people and not emotionless figureheads.2) The pacing is way way more fluid.3) The worldbuilding doesn’t feel like padding (e.g. describing the properties o...

A Test of Courage is a super-solid Junior Star Wars novel set in the era of the High Republic; the golden age of the Jedi. The recently released High Republic books all take place concurrently in the year 232-BBY. As determined by these novels, this is the year of the Great Disaster, a catastrophic event that caused numerous ships galaxy-wide to be suddenly, and violently, launched out of hyperspace. It also destroyed moons, created a great amounts of debris, and caused many problems for ships a...

According to the author I should not read this book. Had high expectations of The High Republic. Already crashing and burning when an author of one of the books tells you it is not for you. Keep up the BRILLIANT work Justina!

3.5 stars “To be a Jedi is to always trust that the Force works in mysterious ways, Imri. We accept and we try our best, but we do not forget that in the end all is as the Force wills it.” After having finished and completely adores Light of the Jedi I was more than eager to get much more from the High Republic era and see what else we could learn of this time. I was not disappointed in how much we could learn of this distressing and very important time in the galaxy. A Test of Cour

I realise that I'm not exactly the target audience, but I still found this book to be enjoyable. Had I been younger I'm sure that this would've been a new favourite of mine. It's Star Wars, after all.

Maybe more of a 3.5 but Hey! Star Wars, so the rounding will always go UP.This was a fun adventure story featuring mostly young people, and an opinionated Nanny droid, trying to survive a deadly encounter with some members of the Nihil.It was short and sweet, featuring some interesting new locales and an intriguing new Jedi hero in Force-wielding prodigy Vernestra Rwoh as well as the incurably curious young girl scientist/tinkerer Avon Starros.I felt some of the other characters, namely the vill...

I actually really enjoyed this Middle-Grade novel. It drops some family names fans will know from Legends and current Canon. It had a nice set-up for the next book and I'd really like to see some of these characters as they grow through their next adventures.

This book is much more than I was expecting. I though this would be a quick read, but the story is much deeper than that.I have one complaint of this book. It's pace, the book is a bit too slow for me I wist it would have been a bit fast then thus would have been an easy 5 stars. I do understand there was a lot of unresolved grief to process in this book. So I could understand a slower book but it was a bit too slow for me.Vernesta is a prodigy even among the Jedi. She is the youngest Padawan to...

What Was The Point?!So I came into this series with an open mind. I wanted this to be good. On the heels of the success of the Mandalorian, and the call from fans for a more old school take on Star Wars, and adjustments prior to release reported by the media it seemed as if we would get a better effort in this new undertaking. However this work is a lockstep example of the Kathleen Kennedy agenda and, in hearing the author's dismissive response to fan criticism, exactly what we feared. Like this...

This is part of The High Republic series but can be read as a stand alone. It is aimed at the middle school children crowd. In this one, several Jedi are on a ship with delegates from several planets as they are opening a new hyperspace lane. This ship is destroyed and a group of young children are the only survivors. In this group is a new Jedi Knight with a padawan and two children of delegates.I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this novella. I wasn't expecting much and it easily exceeded m...

My excitement for the high republic continues as I blasted through the next novel in the High Republic publishing project, Justina Ireland's A Test of Courage! *I also decided to edit this review a little bit after listening to the audiobook a second time*While Charles Soule's Light of the Jedi won't go down among my favorite star wars novels even when just accounting for Canon, I immediately fell in love with the High Republic era, it quickly got me invested in this interconnected multimedia st...

A wonderfully enjoyable middle-grade entry in the High Republic publishing program, A Test of Courage chronicles the misadventure of prodigy 16-year-old Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh alongside the mischievous Senator’s daughter Avon Starros as their lives are turned upside down by a Nihl attack. We see how grief tempts Jedi Padawan Imri to give into his desire for revenge in a totally believable way, lending the book emotional depth. Plus it develops some cool lightsaber lore with Vernestra’s light...

I am left quite surprised by this book! At first, I didn’t think this would come remotely close to Light of the Jedi in terms of piquing my interest, but I was totally wrong! I read this book in a couple of days, mostly because of how invested I was in the story but also slightly because of the easy-to-read plot, which is expected since it is a middle grade novel. However, the designation of middle grade should not deter anyone from picking up this story, especially if you prefer more focused st...

As a partisan for the prequel Jedi, I'm interested to see what the High Republic era has to say for itself. This was a pretty good introduction.The idea of a sixteen-year-old full Jedi knight is a little bit odd, but it's Star Wars. We believe in giving teenage girls a scary amount of power. Other than that, this was a good, solid kids' adventure. It had enough philosophy, enough action, and enough emotions to make it all-around enjoyable.

I really wanted to like this book. I loved the author’s Civil War era zombie books and was really looking forward to reading her take on Star Wars. Unfortunately, I was mostly bored with this one. I know it’s a middle grade novel but I’ve read really good middle grade novels and this one just doesn’t hold up. There were some fun parts in the book, like the escape in the beginning chapters, but the rest of the book was just kids sulking, a bit of talk about the force, a predictable brush with the...

First of all, I didn't expect art in this book, and it was super cute!Second...wow. I went into this expecting it to be a cute story but ultimately nothing special, and I was wrong. This was my first High Republic book (save for the picture book) and while some things threw me for a loop because of that (namely the references to Emergences; I could use the context to guess what they were but I don't remember if they were ever explicitly explained in text), this was accessible for both child and