New Excerpt From ‘The High Republic: Midnight Horizon’ Arrives Ahead of Next Week’s Release
There is a new young-adult novel from The High Republic coming out soon, Daniel José Older’s Midnight Horizon, and CBR recently released a brand-new excerpt from the book featuring Zeen and Lula. The new adventure takes place before the events of Claudia Gray’s The Fallen Star (check out our review here), and follows Jedi Masters Cohmac Vitus and Kantam Sy, with Padawans Reath Silas and Ram Jomaram, as they investigate a possible attack from the Nihil on Corellia.
Older described the new novel as an “emotional rollercoaster” which features the “most intense battle scene I’ve ever written”:
“Midnight Horizon is truly a wild, rambunctious, and heartfelt ride through the galaxy. It’s an emotional rollercoaster and action-packed like Star Wars should be. Plus there are tons of weird creatures, Corellian politics and lore, new characters, and the coolest, most intense battle scene I’ve ever written.”
About Zeen’s journey in the book, he said:
“Zeen is really coming to understand her own role in the galaxy as a whole and how to step up and use her abilities for good. She’s recognizing herself as part of something important, and trying to juggle what that means when war seems to be breaking out all around. Ultimately, she has to figure out how to help her friends and stay alive in the process. Sometimes that means going undercover at lavish Corellian cocktail parties, and sometimes it means fighting for your life against impossible odds…”
Older then introduced the new excerpt with:
“Zeen grew up with people who don’t believe anyone should use the Force, and being Force-sensitive herself meant she had to suppress those abilities. So when she fell in with Lula and the other Padawans of Starlight Beacon — the very people she’d been told to hate — it felt like finally finding a home she hadn’t even known she’d lost. Her and Lula quickly became inseparable and after months of having adventures and hunting the Nihil together, they’re finally closing in on Zeen’s former best friend, Krix Kamarat, and simultaneously realizing how strong their bond is.”
Now, here is a portion of the new excerpt, but head over to CBR for its entirety:
Zeen Mrala and Lula Talisola sat across from each other in meditation position, like they had so many times before.
Zeen wasn’t sure when they’d stopped sitting side by side during these sessions and started sitting face to face. She just knew that it felt more intimate this way, more right.
As always, an infinite skyscape seemed to open up between them, like the whole wild galaxy came to life in their connected minds, from its giant spinning planets to the tiniest drops of dew on each trembling leaf.
“Do you feel me?” Lula asked, and Zeen knew she was smiling. They both were.
“Always,” she said. It was true. Even those rare times when they were far away from each other — like during the Republic Fair, when all hell was breaking loose and thousands of people cried out in fear and pain — Lula’s presence still felt like a beacon amid the chaos. It wasn’t that Zeen knew exactly where her friend was, just that she could feel her, her warmth, and it had calmed her, guided her through the carnage until their physical bodies actually found each other.
But Zeen felt something else, too — it had been growing inside her for months, and she had no idea what to do with it, even what to name it.
Fear maybe. Or perhaps love.
Whatever it was, she was pretty sure it was about to explode. She was about to explode.
Lula had been put in charge of the task force. For a Padawan, that was an incredible honor. It meant she’d probably be knighted soon. She didn’t look happy about it, though. Lula was the most ambitious person Zeen had ever met, but it didn’t seem to come from ego — she wasn’t trying to get ahead of everyone else; she just loved learning, loved challenging herself, loved the thrill of forward motion. Zeen knew Lula had been trying to slow down, let each step of the journey be what it had to be, but this kind of honor would’ve lit her up a few weeks ago.
The High Republic: Midnight Horizon will be released on February 1st, and is already available to pre-order at Amazon here.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
