‘The Acolyte: Wayseeker' Book Review

Star Wars

May 5

The other half of a joint release with the middle-grade High Republic book A Valiant Vow, The Acolyte: Wayseeker, is a novel that explores the background of Jedi Masters Indara and Vernestra Rwoh from The Acolyte. The novel is written by Justina Ireland, who originated Vernestra’s character in The High Republic, and who will be retiring from Star Wars storytelling this year with Wayseeker as one of her final releases. The novel is a compelling examination of Vernestra Rwoh and Indara, while also celebrating everything Ireland has created under the Star Wars umbrella over the past several years.

While the exact date of when Wayseeker takes place in relation to The Acolyte is not stated, it is at least over a decade before the show, if this reviewer had to guess. Vernestra Rwoh, decades on from the Nihil conflict, is serving as a Wayseeker and has been dodging the Jedi Council’s efforts to bring her back to Coruscant. To this end, they dispatch a Jedi Knight named Indara to track Vernestra down once and for all due to an important matter that requires the Mirialan’s attention. Indara suffered a deep tragedy a few years ago, which has left her sheltered and pursuing the role of an archivist on Coruscant, so this assignment is a firm push back into the galaxy. The Force has brought these characters together, though, as a hidden enemy to the Jedi Order stirs, and makes use of something from the past to threaten the Jedi’s future.

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When The Acolyte was released, there was a vocal group who disliked the way Vernestra Rwoh was presented in the show. They felt she was too different from her characterization in the books, and that the choices she made or appeared to have made were wrong with the character those fans knew and loved. As Ireland originated Vernestra, she has put in the work to show us how Vernestra has changed over those decades since the stories at the heart of The High Republic. She’s older, less willing to put up with niceties with strangers or those she dislikes, and is driven to protect lives as well as the Order from those who would do it harm. While she isn’t perhaps fully in the mindset she has by the time of The Acolyte, this is a sturdy stepping stone that should help bridge the gap some people saw.

Indara, meanwhile, gets a great deal more fleshed out about her character. She had limited screen time in The Acolyte, but Ireland pushes ahead with plenty of personal information and observations of her character by Vernestra (the same is also true of Indara observing Vernestra). The two characters ultimately strike up an understanding, if not a friendship, throughout their mission, which partly explains why Vernestra would become so involved in the investigation we see in The Acolyte. They make a good pairing, one very worldly with plenty of lived experience, and the other more book-savvy but not lacking her own areas of lived experience.

We’ll lastly praise the sheer amount of references, call-backs, and world-building Ireland does while going out the door. Much of it refers to her work, from planets, Jedi, and galactic citizens she helped create over the years, but some of it is new and seamlessly ties together with the plot at the core of the novel. It isn’t self-indulgent or gratuitous, but a greatest hits of everything she’s done for Star Wars as she bids the franchise farewell. There are also some nice links to A Valiant Vow, making the two stories strong companion pieces to each other that we recommend fans consider reading today.

We should note two important things regarding spoilers or major reveals. Yes, there are some small spoilers for The High Republic’s finale in Wayseeker, with one notable character and a few secondary characters revealed to have survived the events of the upcoming Trials of the Jedi. And yes, there are some hints at the truth of events only briefly spoken of in The Acolyte regarding Vernestra and Qimir. But, in both cases, they are fleeting, giving us bits of information but never a full picture. If you want to go into Trials completely blind, then this novel will have to be read later this summer, though this reviewer firmly believes it will not ruin the experience of reading Trials when it comes out in June.

Wayseeker Book Cover — Image Source: Wookieepedia

A love letter to Star Wars storytelling with a great perspective on its two main characters, The Acolyte: Wayseeker is a must-read for any fans of The Acolyte and fans of The High Republic. At the same time, it remains accessible to newcomers by starting slow but gathering speed as its characters race through a planet-hopping quest for answers about mysteries old and new. We look forward to the next Acolyte tie-in novel, The Crystal Crown, written by Ireland’s friend Tessa Gratton, given the high quality of Wayseeker.

Rating: 9/10

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