The Battle for Starlight

Star Wars: The High Republic

by George Mann

Two hundred years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, in the era of the glorious High Republic, the Jedi are the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy!

Another exciting storybook adventure featuring heroic Jedi and their Padawans as they fight the nefarious villains the Nihil! Includes full-color stickers!

The New York Times best-selling series continues....

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Fantasy, Space

24 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2022

About the author

George Mann is an author and editor, primarily in genre fiction. He was born in Darlington, County Durham in 1978.
A former editor of Outland, Mann is the author of The Human Abstract, and more recently The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual in his Newbury and Hobbes detective series, set in an alternate Britain, and Ghosts of Manhattan, set in the same universe some decades later.
He wrote the Time Hunter novella "The Severed Man", and co-wrote the series finale, Child of Time.
He has also written numerous short stories, plus Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes audiobooks for Big Finish Productions. He has edited a number of anthologies including The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, The Solaris Book of New Fantasy and a retrospective collection of Sexton Blake stories, Sexton Blake, Detective, with an introduction by Michael Moorcock.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

so we’re just gonna gloss over [REDACTED] at the end for the kids i guess

[Brett Wyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watered down retelling of The Fallen Star for kids. You might ask, how did they managed to make a kid's book about a story where Jedi die left and right and there's a crazy beast running around? Well, they skip over all the horror elements and tell the story in cute illustrations. 5 stars.

[katie :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

THATS SO DARK!

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

and they all lived happily ever after

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just finished "The Fallen Star", I was curious as to how they would try to cover the events of this sad and tragic novel. First, they do not cover any of the deaths, which is good. Second, they don't talk about the beast that floods them all with dread and blocks them from the Force. They do however have a few benefits to reading these (as an adult fan) that I'd like to point out here.
1) Starlight Beacon is towed to Eiram by a bunch of ships assisting the Galactic Starcruiser Halcyon. Halcyon is the new 'cruise ship' experience that Disney is advertising. While I'm not sure exactly how I feel about all the recent connections they are establishing with it, I do like that they are trying to make it a known ship.
2) A change was made from "The Fallen Star". They had the two halves of Starlight fall at the same time, which makes sense for a kids book, adding to the simplicity, and also focusing the tragedy on having people on the planet not get hurt.
3) I do like that they show that Burryaga is missing at the end. If you are telling kids that he's "missing" and not "gone", then there is a good chance he's still alive. (Which I was worried about.)
4) The illustrations in this book are wonderful, and I would encourage adult reading of these books simply to further cement the look of these characters in your mind.

All the High Republic books should be read. They have done really well with their linking and synergy. Recommend.

NOTE: Did I write more words in this review then the book had in it? LOL

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still cute. Still has stickers. But uh... this was a little dark for a kids book and it's a bit weird to have a cliffhanger for this age group. Who is the actual audience of this book??

[Killian Majere · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Battle for Starlight is a child friendly version of the fate of Starlight Beacon in The Fallen Star. Great illustrations, an easy but doesn't sit right as a stand alone book as what is depicted in it may cause confusion for a kid. I'll be honest and say I unfortunately got my turn from the library with this and still haven't had my turn with The Fallen Star (yay poorness!) So I got to learn about this in a kids book 😣 Really looking forward to finally getting my hands on The Fallen Star to get the full tale.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Idk why I thought reading this in picture book form would make it hurt any less…but the art was really cute. Bell and Burry are adorable in animated form 😭

[Traynor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely bonkers to try to turn this into a kids’ book.

[Weston Graves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last year I read “A Fallen Star” which took a month. This book was a 30 minute audio book with pretty cool art visuals and summed up the entirety of A Fallen Star.

[Paul Stanis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusingly, this picture book uses some good old-fashioned narrative obfuscation to elide the darkest elements of the novel it’s adapting. Literally between pages, let’s just glide over a brutal murder by one of the heroes!

[Alex G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Battle for Starlight is the Children's book for wave 3 of Phase I. George Mann, the writer of the previous children's book for wave 2, is back in the writer's chair for this book.

For reader's who have not captured the gist of these children books for each wave, it basically turns the adult novel into a more kid friendly version. I truly admire the task that each of these writers are forced to tackle, due to the countless amount of deaths that occur in a normal adult body.

I feel like a poor reviewer for a book like this. This book to me is good, not great, but then again, I am not sure if I am ever going to be able to call a kid's book like this great, especially when I have read the adult novel's truer version of events. The writing by George Mann is pretty good. For most the book, we follow Burryaga, as continues the trend of previous children books for each wave, and also Bell Zettifar which was nice for a change. Adult readers will wonder how the kids version of events deal with the ominous future of Burryaga, and it deals with it in the only way a kid's book can, with hope. It is a lot more hopeful tone than the one gotten in the adult novel obviously.

Now, as can be expect with a book like this, the art is absolutely gorgeous, as continues the trend with previous books. Starlight is illuminated in the bright colors, and the characters are truly well drawn. Small pet peeve, but I would like to know why Elzar Mann is in his temple robes and Stellan Gios(dare I say Marshall Stellan Gios) in his more casual robes. All kidding aside, I loved how we actually got some Elzar art, who got snubbed in the previous two children books.

Again though, I am not the target audience here, so I am probably a poor reviewer for such a book. With that being said, I enjoyed this book, even for just the art and the way it was able to handle such horrific events. I'm excited to see George fully join the team for phase II, and most excited to see what he shall create.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Battle for Starlight, the evil Nihil have the audacity to sneak onto the Starlight Beacon Space Station to cause havoc. Padawans Burryaga the Wookiee and Bell Zettifer are on board the Starlight, observing the towing of the Starlight through hyperspace. They notice strange things happening on board and a huge explosion means all the Jedi on board have to find a way to evacuate the passengers.

The Battle for Starlight is the first Star Wars High Republic that shows that the Nihil are successful in their plot against the Jedi with the destruction of the Starlight. Ultimately this and Burryaga’s disappearance up the ante for the next book!

These Star Wars High Republic children’s picture books work as stand alone books that quickly explain the Jedi characters and what mission they have to protect the residents of various planets. The books are a simplified version of the High Republic adult novels so expect lots of action but almost no death. The Battle for Starlight puts several Jedi characters in peril and fits nicely within the entire High Republic universe.

Join the Books + Bliss Book community for reviews and GIVEAWAYS here: https://www.facebook.com/Bliss-Books-...

[Les Simpson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another beautifully illustrated outing into the High Republic era of Star Wars, this time dealing with the destruction of the Jedi’s Starlight Beacon outpost.

My youngling liked the story but wondered why the Jedi weren’t using their powers to save themselves and everyone onboard. Having read the adult novel, Falling Star, I was able to tell him about the Force-canceling creatures that were on the station as well but weirdly omitted from this telling of the story. So, definitely not a book that can stand on its own without a six-year-old finding contextual plot holes.

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abbreviated Version of the Fallen Star

This was a junior book briefly covering the Battle for Starlight Beacon. The heavily abbreviated version is listed in this book. The full story was told in the YA book, The Fallen Star. Having read the Fallen Star, I knew the story, though this book left out the fact that it was Master Stellan Gios who gave his life to save Starlight from crashing into the planet. The artwork is beautiful.

[Alacritous13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a companion art book to The Fallen Star, this is amazing. As a standalone children's book, this does not work. The story is much to jumpy to be understood on its own, and it introduces characters concepts and events that make a single appearance.

I loved the art, it definitely gave TFS that extra oomph, but this book will only confuse young children.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It will never not be funny to me how the THR picture books can essentially tell the same story as a full adult novel. Just focus on one or two character storylines, cut some of the more horrifying stuff, and brush past the massive amounts of death, and voila! (I feel like this might sound sarcastic or judgmental, but honestly it’s not meant to be.)

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burryaga has been at the center of every one of these books retelling the events of the three major adult novels. This one tells all the pertinent facts without the intensity of some of the scenes in the novels. I also really loved all the stickers in this and the previous books.

[Shaun "AceFireFox" · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has made me look forward to The Fallen Star, of which I'm waiting for the paperback that comes out in September. It tells the story simply enough without spoiling too much or going into the obvious deeper machinations going on in the background.

[Kurt Lorenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that there are read-along versions on Hoopla, that made these a lot more fun.

[Andrew Farmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a children’s book, it’s pretty good.

[Ronja · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. Way less traumatizing then Fallen Star. And FINALLY some good Elzar Mann art. I loved every second of this.

[[boredom.is.overrated] · Rating 4 out of 5]

The changes made to the source material (the adult book, The Fallen Star) seemed unnecessary to me.

One another note, it is really nice to have a few images to go with the masterpiece.

[Andrew Kline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who are these books for?! Are there really that many adults out there so enthralled with the High Republic that they feel the need to introduce their young children to the story? It just seems weird.

[Jorge Pinto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great illustrations, very Disney like.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why'd they make elzar ugly

[devyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is so funny with how it just ignores stellan dying LMAOO

[Jason Medina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story feels a bit rushed to me, after reading it in a different format previously. It is also implied that one character is merely missing, when he was in fact killed in the disaster.

[Apriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last of the High Republic books for kids that covers the story told in The Fallen Star.

[Topher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven’t read The Fallen Star but I know all these Jedi die so it’s interesting to make a kids book about it