Worst Star Wars narrator from the Disney era.

Every single Star Wars audio-book from the Disney era has been extremely high quality, some narrators better than others... but this is such a huge drop in quality... I understand it's supposed to be for kids but this is really rough... I also understand Todd Haberkorn is an anime voice actor, so he was probably hired to do the anime voice- but it is so jarringly bad. It almost feels like satire. That's not mentioning the quality of the voice recording which is abysmal... his microphone peaks on almost every single sentence... Did he record this on his laptop microphone? I honestly feel like that's the only possibility with how bad it sounds. His anime style of reading the book like a script is like nails on a chalkboard... he enunciates and emphasizes all the wrong words, I literally hate this and wish I could refund it. Todd Haberkorn if you ever read this, I want you to know I've enjoyed every single Star Wars audio book up until now and I've suffered through alot of horrible things in my life but nothing as bad as this reading you have done.

7 people found this helpful

A bare minimum production.

While the narrator and story were mostly fine, having listened to many canon Star Wars audiobooks recently, the absolute, complete lack of music and sound effects really drags this audiobook down into quite the disappointing experience. The one previously released earlier this year: A Test of Courage is leagues better in all aspects. Really hope this isn’t the standard going forward with the shorter ones considering how amazing and immersive the YA and Adult Star Wars audiobooks are.

2 people found this helpful

Decent all-ages story disappointingly perfomed.

Just looking at the story itself, it isn't bad for what it is; that being a side story aimed at a younger audience than The Rising Storm, which this story takes place alongside.

However, I was expecting more varied voice acting and sound effects, like the ones in other Star Wars audiobooks (like The Rising Storm, the Thrawn books, and Master and Apprentice) but those weren't included here.

1 person found this helpful

Another great HR entry!

I wish this audiobook had as much production as many of the other SW Audiobooks (sound effects and music were a bit more lacking than usual), but nonetheless I had a wonderful time! The narrator did a wonderful job as a storyteller, and Daniel Jose Older made me fall in love with new characters and ones I’d known from his HR Adventures comics and the previous HR middle grade book even more in such a short span of time. Excited to head on to the next adventure in The High Republic!

Fun Addition to the Series!!

This is the second of the Junior Reader stories in the High Republic Saga, but for those that are fans of the series, these books aimed at younger readers are still an absolute must as they are not only entertaining, they introduce some great characters that are continuing on into the other books in the series. They also tell some intriguing parts of the story that provide background to the events taking place in the ‘Adult’ edition of the books, surrounding the Nihil and the Jedi.
The first book, Test of Courage, introduced several characters, but most notably, Vernestra Rowh, and Imri Cantaros, Jedi who have gone on to appear in several more books now (including this one).
In this book, we get to meet another young Padawan, Ram Jomarram, who is very unique, and not your normal Padawan. Ram can be found most often in the workshop, fixing things, or working on a speeder a droid, or something mechanical, rather than some other form of Jedi training.
When the Republic Fair is about to start on Valo, all of the Jedi present, are meant to be in attendance, in their dress robes, but Ram instead, ends up on a small adventure, with his trusty droid V-18, and two of a race known as Bombraks that are exceptional mechanics. This adventure sees Ram heading to Crashpoint Tower, so named as it is a bit treacherous to get to, but when he does, he finds a Nihil ship and Nihil raiders attempting to sabotage the main comms relay, and tries to fend them off with the help of V-18.
Realising who they are, he desperately tries to warn someone, but unfortunately, only ends up being detained, due to his appearance, and the ignorance of the person he runs into.
This is an interesting part of the story, as it ties directly into a section of Rising Storm, and we meet Ty Yorrick, a mercenary with not only Force abilities, but a lightsaber to. Whilst she is only in this book for a short while, she does appear in Rising Storm more, and is a fascinating character. It is these crossovers between the characters in the series and books, that is making the High Republic series such a fantastic and fun series to read.
Without giving too much away, as the events of ‘Rising Storm’ unfold, and the attack on Valo takes place at the Republic Fair, Ram, aided by a few friends he has run into, including a Padawan called Lula Talisola and her friend, who is another Force Sensitive that is not a Jedi, but shows incredible potential, Zeen Mrala, have to head back to Crashpoint Tower and try to fix the communications equipment there, not only so they can call for help, but so they can coordinate efforts on the planet to fight the Nihil. The small contingent of Jedi on Valo are greatly outnumbered, so it is up to Ram and his friends to save the day.
This is a fantastic story, with some really great lessons about friendship, acceptance, empathy, and understanding who you are, and how to be the best person you can be. The character work is exceptional, young Ram is fantastic as this young Padawan, who feels out of place in the Galaxy at times, as everyone has their expectations, but he just loves and knows machines – he can not only understand them, but use the Force to better understand and manipulate them. He has an incredible ability with the Force to understand how all mechanical things work, and either stop it, adjust it, or damage it/kill it (or burn it out if it is a circuit). He makes for a really intriguing character. There are several other really great characters in this series (Not only the other Jedi, but Ram’s friends, especially V-18 who is just hilarious, as well as some other friends he has, little alien mechanics, Bombraks. Lula and Zeen are also fascinating characters, Lula as a young Padawan trying to understand her abilities, and Zeen, as a Force Sensitive, raised on a world that hates Jedi and Force Users, but having used the Force to save people during a Nihil attack.
This is a really great story for young readers, as well as those who are just fans of Star Wars, and wanting to get something extra out of the High Republic series. It is absolutely worth the read.
Todd Haberkorn is reasonably good as the Narrator, he is clear and concise and easy to understand for the most part. Haberkorn did a great job with his range of male and female voices, creating a clear set of male and female characters that you could easily distinguish, and tell apart as he narrated the story. Haberkorn also did a good job of providing the emotional state of these characters, so you could understand how the characters were feeling as the story was unfolding, and he did a really great job with the main character Ram, and his over exuberant nature, and letting us know that through his Narration, so we understood the type of person Ram is. He did this well with the other characters as well, such as Lula and Zeen (such as Zeen’s anxiety about her situation). Overall, this was a pretty good performance.

Great Supplement to High Republic!

Great short story to add mew characters to Star Wars High Republic. Fast mowing plot and great new characters. Ties in perfectly to the main story line from the novels.

Fun Tie in to The Rising Storm

Unlike Test of Courage, this short High Republic book didn’t have much of a story of its own, rather, it told a story of some padawans and what they did during the events of the book the Rising Storm. As such it doesn’t add much to the overall narrative and really just serves as the continuing adventures of some characters that either were introduced her or I assume in the IDW comics I don’t read due to the mentions of Yoda. The audiobook was short and sweet with a good narrator but disappointingly no music throughout like the other Star Wars books have.

A hard listen.

These recent high republic series have been really hard to listen to. Not much action and adventure

Good book, just wish it was longer

great book just wish there was more. love how this new Era is adding more main characters.

Lacking the production of other Star Wars audiobooks

Overall, the story was fine. It was fun kids book and served as a nice intro to Ram (and to Lula and Zeen if you haven’t read High Republic Adventures). However, the audiobook felt quite lacking compared to other Star Wars productions. There were no background noises, no music, etc. i understand that it’s likely because this is a middle grades book, but I do wish it had been given the same care as the other high republic novels.