Roqoo Depot

Book Review: ‘Race to Crashpoint Tower’ by Daniel José Older

Race to Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older is the second middle grade novel in The High Republic series, released by the Disney-Lucasfilm Press in June 2021. 

If you’ve read my review of A Test of Courage, you know that I don’t particularly love middle grade novels, especially in Star Wars. The whole purpose of tie-in novels is to connect the universe together, and to tell a story that children will understand and appreciate. Most of the Star Wars middle grade books are able to tell stories for kids, but they rarely add much to the greater understanding of the universe. However, Race to Crashpoint Tower is much different from its counterparts because it tells a great story while tying in well with The Rising Storm, which is the adult novel from Del Rey which occurs at the same time. 

This story focuses on two main characters: Ram Jomaram and Lula Talisola. Older is able to tell a fairly complex story for middle grade by having the two stories be completely separate, and then weave together towards the end. This sets it apart from books like A Test of Courage which had basically one thread that occasionally branched but mostly stayed together.