Audiobook Review: 'Seeds Of Starlight'
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Unlike the prior Audible Original produced for Star Wars, Padawan’s Pride, listeners knew ahead of time that Audible was dropping Seeds of Starlight thanks to the detective work of enterprising fans. Set in Phase 3 of The High Republic, seemingly as one of the final releases of Wave 2, Seeds of Starlight has the familiar Jedi Younglings Kildo and Tep Tep journeying to the ocean-covered world of Eiram to investigate reported disappearances. Joining them is the new character of Padawan Cam Lindon and the recently introduced Jedi Master Eve Byre from Tears of the Nameless. CultureSlate has its review for this latest piece of Star Wars High Republic goodness!
WARNING: The following review contains LIGHT spoilers about Star Wars Adventures: Seeds of Starlight.
Seeds of Starlight begins with a gripping prologue that immediately reveals the story's villains before changing the pace and focus to the Younglings, Padawan, and Jedi Master aboard the high-tech research ship rescued from Valo, the Innovator. The events of this audiobook take place several weeks after Tears of the Nameless, probably closer to a few months, and quickly move to put our Jedi quartet into action. Having received a distress call from a Jedi Master and his Padawan from the Jedi outpost on Eiram, this team of Jedi and the Innovator are diverted from a task involving the growing threat of the blight to try and help. Upon their arrival, they find that opinions about the Jedi have soured, and the disappearances are getting blamed on a creature from local folklore and a criminal gang. It is up to Cam Lindon, Tep Tep, Kildo, and Eve Byre to discover more information about the disappearances while facing various obstacles to their investigation.
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Seeds of Starlight focuses on the younger cast members, with the point of view for the story passing back and forth between Cam and Tep Tep. As mentioned before, Cam is an entirely new character, having the unique trait of needing to use a vocoder on his neck to talk after an accident on Coruscant almost destroyed his ability to speak. Due to this trait, Cam struggles to express himself because of the constant monotone of the machine that emits his words and because he has withdrawn due to the accident. This audio drama sees him slowly breaking out of that shell and finding ways to ensure his words express his feelings and desires to non-Jedi since the Jedi around him can sense his emotions, decreasing part of that barrier.
The other main character in the story is Tep Tep, first introduced in Escape from Valo and recently part of the book Beware the Nameless. Unfortunately, while Cam is realized quite well, as a new character probably created exclusively for this audiobook and its sequel sometime in 2025, Tep Tep comes across as an alternative perspective required by the story’s division of the Jedi into teams. Tep Tep’s love of creatures, a trait that appeared extensively in both middle-grade books, is not used much here, which is a shame given Eiram’s status as an ocean world that could have a lot of unique sea creatures. They are the heart of the story, a very loving and kind young Jedi, but, too often, their point of view lacks traits to connect this depiction to those found in other books.
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Meanwhile, Kildo and Master Byre lack POV sections. While this makes sense for the Jedi Master due to story reasons, Kildo’s lack of interiority is strange, given he also didn’t receive any such chapters in either Escape or Beware. This may be because he is set to get the focus soon, but in an audiobook over four hours in length, it also feels like a missed opportunity.
There is more good in the story of Seeds of Starlight than bad, though, and while much of it is wrapped up in topics that would spoil the story, we can say that there is a lot to like about the details of Eiram. Exploring the world is a welcome experience given how little it appeared in Phases 1 and 2, and examining the repercussions of Starlight Beacon falling into the ocean is also important after most of Waves 1 and 2 in Phase 3 had not mentioned the aftereffects much. This is ultimately another story that deals with loose ends as we near the end of The High Republic, yet also introduces new content alongside these elements. Turning to another positive, the production value of the audiobook is excellent. The sound effects fit quite well, and Todd Haberkorn was a fine choice to read this George Mann work. In the end, despite some smaller flaws, Seeds of Starlight is a must-listen for fans of The High Republic. Part two of this story will be released sometime in 2025, and we can’t wait to hear the conclusion to the events begun in this audiobook!
Review: 8.5/10
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