It took me a while to put together something coherent here. After I finished the book I spent about 40 minutes in euphoria and texted half my friends with something like "man you won't believe what just happened".

Breaking any writing rule, I have to start by saying: that ending gave me whiplash. It was abrupt and dramatic and I loved it! Very glad I don't have to wait months for the next release!

Even with so many povs, I still cared for many characters, Bell Zettifar in particular is quickly rising in the ranks to my favorites in the franchise! I really like how he interacts with everyone, and his moments thinking about Loden, being adivised by Stellan, and continuing his arch from the previous book were just really nice to see!

Elzar also continues the trend of the High Republic books to question and play with the rules of the Jedi, their morals, and how far they can or should go. Everything is always very nuanced and careful and I really enjoy how they are finally exploring this beyond just telling the audience.

I'm not, personally, a big fan of long action-packed scenes, it's usually confusing and tiring , but the choice (both here and in Light of the Jedi) to spend the bulk of the story in a single event, hundreds of pages encompassing a couple of hours in ever-changing points of view, worked really well for me. It feels intense, and you can really grasp the terror of the situation.

The drawback is that, more prominently now, there isn't that much of a story being told. There are, of course, the growing themes of grief, duty, and hubris, but no intricate plot itself. But that's okay for me.

Sure, all those battle scenes could've easily been about 50 pages long without all the minutiae, but sometimes you just have to watch Jedi being badasses and vrumm-vrumm lasersword, you know? That's also what Star Wars is about.