This High Republic book almost missed my notice, but I found it last week and quickly read it! It's currently only available in ebook form, but will be released as a physical book soon. Regardless of how you read it, it's definitely worth it. It was a great High Republic story with high stakes, and sheds some new light on the story. Plus, we get to see the returns of the characters from another High Republic book I love, A Test of Courage!
Spoilers ahead for Mission to Disaster by Justina Ireland!
I loved getting to see Avon Starros again! I really loved her character in A Test of Courage, and was thrilled to see her in such a central role once again. She gets captured by the Nihil, but uses her intelligence and technical knowledge to hatch a plan to rescue herself and the other captured children. She stays inspired by Vernestra even when she's not around, and has so much amazing growth in this book. I admired her ability to stay optimistic and never give up, even when things were really bleak.
I was really pulled in to the plot of the plot of this story. I thought Ireland put it together really well, and built really good tension while we hopped between Avon and her experiences being captured by the Nihil, and Vernestra's search for her as she got pulled into problems plaguing other Jedi and the problem of Dalna. I thought it was such a thrilling story, and one that I think fits perfectly after Out of the Shadows and builds on the exploration we had of some of these characters there. This was a great High Republic story that provides just a little bit of context to some major characters, as well as follow-up on characters we haven't seen much of for a little while, like Avon and Honesty. It is, in my opinion, definitely worth the read.