Star Wars: Cataclysm By Lydia Kang – Book Review & Plot Overview: Night Of Sorrow, Axel Greylark & The Path Of The Open Hand - The High Republic Phase 2, Wave 2

TENSIONS RAISE EVEN HIGHER WITH E’RONOH & EIRAM, WHILE AXEL GREYLARK IS IN PRISON! This ep is another High Republic review/overview and it’s the adult novel for Phase 2, Wave 2; Cataclysm by Lydia Kang. In this sequel to Convergence, the tensions between E’ronoh & Eiram worsen as The Path Of The Open Hand become more aggressive, all while Axel Greylark is imprisoned, leading to the devastating Night Of Sorrow!

In this episode, Mike gives his spoiler-free thoughts in the beginning, before reading the crawl and giving some minor plot details and thoughts on characters & themes. He then gives a minor spoiler warning and gives more detailed thoughts along with reading the blurb/publishers summary, before giving a final spoiler warning and providing his thoughts on the whole book - at the end he gives an overview of the whole book’s plot and what it means for the future of The High Republic!

Cataclysm is written by Lydia Kang, was released April 4th 2023 and takes place in Wave 2 of Phase 2 in The High Republic (approx. 150 years before Phase 1); 382 BBY, and is a sequel to Convergence.

Phase 2 book reviews were released; Path Of Deceit on 7th Jan, Quest For Hidden City on February 14th, Convergence on March 18th and The Battle Of Jedha on April 22nd, with the first volume/wave of phase 2 comics being tacked in episode 126 (out May 13th 2023).

Mike has tackled every piece of the content from Phase 1 of the High Republic in 2021-2022. The first was Light Of The Jedi on March 2021 and the last was
Midnight Horizon on November ’22. For Starlight Stories, check episode 113 - all episodes, including comic episodes, are in a YouTube playlist, found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcO1Ib_BGD8bsER_4sqfhNFfd5aoWT_YX

In episode 130, Mike delves into THE BLADE OF BARDOTTA’S ORIGIN STORY! This is the 4-part mini-series surrounding Porter Engle; an Ikkrukkian Jedi who lives throughout the High Republic (around 300 years old during Phase 1). In Phase 1, he is a talented cook with a dark past so in Phase 2, we get to delve into The Blade’s past and find out about the Barash Vow, while along the way meeting Porter’s sister and seeing more of the Republic during it’s more exploratory age!

More Content:

Mike spoke with High Republic author George Mann, watch the interview here: ⁠https://youtu.be/IWJBMb9OOT8⁠

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Outro read by BZ The Voice: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.bzthevoice.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Intro theme arranged by Mike Burton, backing music by Eric Matyas at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.soundimage.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:16 What To Expect

02:59 Timeline & Info

04:27 High Republic Author Interview

04:54 Recommended Reading

06:53 Spoiler-Free Thoughts

13:23 Crawl

14:13 More Thoughts On Characters, Minor Spoilers

29:56 Blurb/Publishers Summary

31:37 Spoilers: Plot Overview & Thoughts

47:30 The Night Of Sorrow

50:26 Final Thoughts

52:44 Support

54:28 Coming Up

56:43 Outro