After so
many of these Star Wars book exchanges, I have come to one that was just
not a good book. Cataclysm is an
adult novel in the second phase of The High Republic publishing
initiative and it is a prime example of how these initiatives can have multiple
writers not being on the same page: it finishes the storyline begun in Convergence,
mainly the fallout from The Battle of Jedha (an audio drama that was
fairly good even if a production style I am largely unfamiliar with) but it feels
like a completely different cast of characters and motivations outside of one
exception, the Mother of the Path of the Open Hand being the best thing about
the novel. It’s at least the one thing
that pushes forward and has a sense of foreboding as it becomes ever clearer
that the order is being radicalized into becoming the Nihil from the first
phase of this publishing initiative. The
Mother as manipulator in the face of a kindly, but stern old woman has been one
of the best aspects of this second phase of The High Republic and I
believe just a difficult character to do dirty since Star Wars villains
to be effective already have to have strong characterization in general.
At its
core, Cataclysm suffers because the author Lydia Kang is unable to
really engage the reader. While this is
promoted as a book for adults as opposed to young adults, Kang’s prose
throughout is incredibly basic, even more basic than some young adult novels I
have read. Basic prose isn’t necessarily
a bad thing, there are stories written in a basic way regarded as classics
because of the intentionality of the prose.
The intentionality isn’t really here in Cataclysm, only becoming
effective in the final chapters instead of any of the buildup to the big action
that ends the novel. The basic nature of
the prose means it becomes difficult to actually read what is happening because
it lacks any sense of flow from scene to scene, character to character. This creates a knock-on effect where Kang’s characters
feel particularly one-dimensional when they shouldn’t. The majority of this novel’s cast is also the
cast of Convergence and Kang while picking up the plot of the novel
doesn’t actually capture any of the depth of the relationships that Zoraida Cordova
put down.
This is
especially apparent in how Axel Greylark and Gella Nattai are portrayed, both
sanded down to their basest elements and any hint of past romance or romantic
chemistry is removed. Kang posits that
they could have been good friends, but Gella is a Jedi so there couldn’t be any
romantic feelings. A lot of the drama
and the internal conflict, especially for Axel, is just gone because of
this. Kang also doesn’t really write
Xiri and Phan-tu as well with their partnership of necessity leading to a kind
of romance, though not the most romantic kind.
The rest of the characters are equally as bland, Kang also deciding to
use Yoda as a character in a major capacity which while technically correct,
just feels like Kang reveling in the fact that she is writing a Star Wars book.
Overall, Cataclysm
was just a major disappointment. It’s a
novel that doesn’t read well from an author who feels like an outlier from what
the rest of The High Republic is doing, which is especially a shame
since it is meant to be a finale for one of the miniseries in this second
phase. 4/10.
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