Star Wars The High Republic: Cataclysm Book Review

The High Republic continues to expand with Cataclysm, the last Adult Novel in Phase II of the High Republic. The events of Phase II happen 150 years before Phase I.

Cataclysm is written by Lydia Kang. It is available in audio, physical, and digital formats. It was officially released on April 4th, 2023.

This is not an illustrated novel so most of the images you’ll see are for illustrative purposes. Most of them are taken from High Republic books and comics but a few are from other Star Wars media.

This first section of the review is free of spoilers.

Things you need to know before reading Cataclysm

There are a few books prior to Cataclysm: Path of Deceit, Convergence, Quest for the Hidden City, and The Battle of Jedha. Cataclysm begins immediately after the events of The Battle of Jedha, there are no time skips of any sort so it’s necessary that you know what happens before or you’ll get lost with the immense number of characters that appear.

Most of the major characters were already introduced in previous books. Their motivations, origins, personalities, and essence are already defined. While there’s character development, this book is more about the inevitable confrontation with the treacherous Path of the Open Hand and the roles of the more than twenty characters that are a part of this story.

The context of the story is also very important, unlike Path of Deceit or Convergence, the events of Cataclysm are the consequences of previous books and this is why the story takes place in multiple locations.

Coruscant, Dalna, and Pipyyr are the most meaningful ones but Eiram, E’ronoh, the moon between them, and Jedha are also important and it’s crucial to understand why.

This is the final adult novel and second to last novel of Phase II of the High Republic so I really recommend reading at least Path of Deceit, Convergence, and The Battle of Jedha before Cataclysm to have a firm understanding of what’s happening and know everyone involved.

Everything leads to this

Cataclysm explores the consequences of everything that happened in “Path of Deceit“, “Convergence“, and “The Battle of Jedha“. What first looked like isolated stories have now been connected by key events that will likely change the course of galactic history, for better or worse.

Phase I of the High Republic was full of intense battles, big cliffhangers, and devastating losses. Phase II doesn’t have these elements in the same amount or intensity, which makes it feel slower and even lackluster compared to Phase I.

Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed “Path of Deceit”, “Convergence”, and “The Battle of Jedha” but the number of times I’ve been completely shocked or left heartbroken due to a character’s death can be counted on a single hand.

Cataclysm finally changes this! Since the first pages, the tension is palpable. Every faction is still processing what happened on Jedha but problems keep showing up in what seems to be the greatest misfortune that has happened in the last fifty years.

It’s no coincidence that many events of this nature happen in a short period of time and this is evident to wise leaders and experienced warriors. Jedi, prominent figures of the Republic, Eiram, E’ronoh, and obviously the Path of the Open Hand are all on the same planet. The interesting thing about it is how every group ignores the presence of the others until things explode.

I was so thrilled to see almost every major character from the previous books go to the same location. Creighton Sun, Aida Forte, Cha-Ryl-Roy, Enya Keen, Gella Nattai, Axel Greylark, The Mother, Xiri A’lbaran, and Phan-tu Zenn joined by new faces like Cippa Tarko, Orin Dargha, Binnot Ullo as well as two of the most recognizable characters in Star Wars, Jedi Master Yaddle and Grandmaster Yoda himself.

The slow pace has its benefits

So far, every Phase II adult novel or young adult novel had a slow beginning (sometimes too slow) and Cataclysm is no exception to this. I was caught off guard by this in the first books. It is essential to know the details and important characteristics of the physical locations but at that time it appeared to be a little too much.

I’m glad that despite the slow pace, I paid attention to every paragraph because knowing all that information enhanced my experience when reading Cataclysm. As I mentioned before, Cataclysm takes place on different planets and locations. It is so cool to be able to picture every scene with so many details regardless of where it takes place.

It doesn’t matter if it’s on a big battlefield with dozens of people fighting or in a small room where two people are having a conversation. I was able to imagine everything and that wouldn’t be possible without the authors being so focused on details like the texture of the terrain, the color of the dirt, the clothes that everyone wears, or the weather.

All of this came in extremely handy when tracking every character, their actions, and how these affected the course of the story. This was the first time that I didn’t need to re-read anything and it was all thanks to the slow pace of previous books.

Obviously giving a face to every character also helped a lot. Having so few visual references of the characters might not be pleasing at first but it allows us to truly use our imagination.

For example, I pictured Cippa Tarko as Omega from The Bad Batch, Binnot Ullo as a Gormak from Star Wars The Old Republic (even though he is a Klatoonian), and Xiri A’lbaran as Shae Vizla also from SWTOR. It sounds a little silly but it really helped me a lot to make the slower parts more enjoyable and get invested in the story and characters.

Technology development through different eras of Star Wars

Star Wars is so rich and has so many things and themes to explore that more often than not I forget about the technological development inside the Star Wars universe.

The original and sequel trilogies showed us how anyone could call another person on the other side of the galaxy without many issues. Even small fighters could send messages through great distances with the help of an astromech droid.

Technology development through different eras of Star Wars

Many of the things that happen (or not) in Cataclysm are a direct result of the sabotage or lack of long-range communications. Communication buoys are essential to keep the continuously expanding Republic in touch with its multiple systems, their Pathfinder teams and Jedi Knights deployed all over the galaxy.

The Path of the Open Hand exposes how vulnerable the Republic and its allies are when the communication buoys are sabotaged or destroyed. If it wasn’t for Chancellor Orlen Mollo things could have ended up in a massacre.

With everything that has been in motion since Path of Deceit, many probably ignore this but it’s cool to see how things like long-range communications or hyper lane routes are vital to the expansion of the known galaxy and the catastrophes that could happen if anyone manages to mess with them.

Chaos

The Path of the Open Hand has been scheming for quite some time. The Mother is a masterful planner and her ability to manipulate both allies and enemies makes her an extremely dangerous individual. She has managed to grow a small army of zealots that are more than willing to make any type of sacrifice for the cause.

Obviously, The Mother is just using them to serve as pawns in a game that she’s playing on her own. These loyal followers worship, love, and blindly follow the orders of their leader. Not only that but they have also become an extremist group that will attack and eliminate anyone that goes against their beliefs and ideas.

The High Republic - The Mother concept art (The Cataclysm book)

Eiram, E’ronoh, The Republic, and the Jedi Order reach the same conclusion. The events that have jeopardized peace and endangered millions of lives are no accident, someone is behind them and the few clues that exist lead to the mysterious Path of the Open Hand.

Multiple teams end up arriving at Dalna with the idea of their mission being a simple investigation, little did they know… Most of these teams ignore the presence of their allies and it’s until things get out of hand that they learn they’re not alone.

Their intentions were sincere and no one wanted to accuse the Path of the Open Hand without concrete evidence but The Mother used this “misunderstanding” as an excuse to send her small army to attack the Jedi and everyone that helps them.

Once the conflict explodes it becomes the most chaotic and tense moment of Phase II of the High Republic. Knowing that not a single character (excluding Yoda and Yaddle) is completely safe makes everything much more intense and nerve-wracking.

I’ve grown attached to most characters and the idea of losing some of them is always a little unsettling. But, the High Republic has grown a reputation for breaking the hearts of the fans by eliminating characters in unexpected and heartbreaking moments.

For the most part of Phase II, we’ve been safe from experiencing many of said moments but Cataclysm puts an end to this. So much evil and destruction can overwhelm even the bravest and strongest heroes, and this ultimately happens in Cataclysm.

I won’t spoil who doesn’t make it but it hurts more than I would have thought. My attachment to the High Republic is very low compared to other Star Wars media but learning that someone you’ve been getting to know for a few books still left a mix of sadness and hopelessness.

The Experience of listening to the Audiobook

Listening to the Audiobook version of Cataclysm helped me not only maintain my attention for hours but also get fully immersed in the story. The music and sound effects are great additions but the highlight is definitively the narration of Marc Thompson.

I’m amazed just by the number of different voices that he had to do for this format. All of them had to be unique, easy to identify, and believable. Even those that might be harder due to the tone of his voice meet the criteria that I just mentioned.

Having all these voices engraved in my brain is what allowed me to properly keep track of every character without having to re-read anything.

The audio version lasts a total of sixteen hours, it might sound like a lot if we compare it with the previous Phase II audiobooks but Marc Thompson makes it a lot more enjoyable, especially during the first half of the book which I consider to be slow.

Listening to the audio format while reading a physical or digital copy requires you to buy the book twice. It’s certainly not the cheapest thing to do but if you want the best experience, and your wallet can handle it then I really suggest trying it at least once.

The following segment of the review contains minor spoilers.

What’s next?

This book ends in an almost pleasing way. The conflict ends but after so much death and destruction it doesn’t feel like a victory. There is an emotive funeral for the character (or characters) that didn’t make it and a good speech from one of the main characters.

There’s political uncertainty and the future of the Republic is probably going to change forever but this is something that not even Master Yoda can foresee.

There is no trace of The Mother or The Herald but I’m sure that they’re both planning something, though it’s probably something against each other’s interests. I really would have liked to get a small teaser of what she is going to do next but sadly that didn’t happen.

Marda Ro has been absent from two books now but I’m sure there is a good reason for that. The Mother might not have control of as many things as she would like but one thing that is clear is that she is always planning one or two steps ahead.

The High Republic - Marda Ro concept art (The Cataclysm book)

Even if her schemes get shut down she still has a backup plan, and it’s certainly nothing good. With so many resources lost The Mother is now probably even more dangerous than before, she lost her anonymity and the element of surprise.

After the events of Cataclysm, she’s now a declared enemy of Eiram, E’ronoh, The Republic, and the Jedi Order. Her options and time are running out but this means that she has less to lose and a lot to gain.

The Mother will do as much damage as possible before going down and that is frightening, especially if we consider that she hasn’t fully unleashed her most powerful weapon, the Leveler.

This entire review as well as the summary in the review card below are all based on our own opinions as fans of the franchise. We would love it if you shared your thoughts.

Full Title:

Cataclysm