Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Phase III--Echoes of Fear

Star Wars: The High Republic

by George Mann, Vincenzo Federici (Illustrator), Vincenzo Riccardi (Illustrator)

A pair of Jedi investigate the strange and powerful Echo Stones in the hopes of defeating the Nameless. What they discover is a legendary story that spans the galaxy’s history!

When Jedi Knight Reath Silas and Jedi Padawan Amadeo Azzazzo are charged with delving into the Jedi Archives to learn more about the mysterious Echo Stones, they’re not expecting to find themselves starting out on a dangerous quest that will eventually see them going after one of the stones themselves, in the form of the mystical Rod of Ages.

But first, they must learn everything they can about the origin of these strange stones and their Force-amplifying ability, leading them to uncover three epic tales from the annals of galactic history.

Collects Star Wars: High Republic Adventures Phase III--Echoes of Fear #1–#4.

Genres: Star Wars, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Space Opera

120 pages, Paperback

Published April 22, 2025

About the author

George Mann is an author and editor, primarily in genre fiction. He was born in Darlington, County Durham in 1978.
A former editor of Outland, Mann is the author of The Human Abstract, and more recently The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual in his Newbury and Hobbes detective series, set in an alternate Britain, and Ghosts of Manhattan, set in the same universe some decades later.
He wrote the Time Hunter novella "The Severed Man", and co-wrote the series finale, Child of Time.
He has also written numerous short stories, plus Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes audiobooks for Big Finish Productions. He has edited a number of anthologies including The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, The Solaris Book of New Fantasy and a retrospective collection of Sexton Blake stories, Sexton Blake, Detective, with an introduction by Michael Moorcock.

Reviews

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love when Star Wars is Indiana Jones! Fun mission to find a lost artifact that can help end the war with the Nihil. The end is in sight and I’m very excited to see how they close out this era. I like the characters here, Reath is one I’ve been fond of since his first appearance in the High Republic and he’s come so far from then. We got a new canon Sith from this story as well so I’ll always appreciate that. Disney has been real afraid to explore the Sith outside of the Skywalker Saga.

[Jesús De la Jara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó esta historia ya que es muy entretenida y termina muy bien. El ya caballero jedi Reath Silas y el padawan Amadeo Azzazzo están en la búsqueda de pistas sobre las piedras Eco que son la base de la llamada Vara de las Edades, un instrumento que puede ayudar a controlar a los Sin Nombre. Los números del cómic son episódicos. Los primeros tres te cuentan tres historias diferentes hallados de alguna manera en la Biblioteca Jedi de Coruscant y todos tienen que ver con estas piedras.
En la primera te habla Joria Skarl, una antigua exploradora. Ella consiguió conocer la historia de Darth Ravi el atrevido quien fue presa del poder de la piedra. Esto es contado a manera de leyenda pero te ilustra sobre el deseo que puede carcomer por el ansia de poder. En la segunda el jedi Barnabas Vim dejó un mensane a su padawan Vix Fonnick. Él fue a buscar a Tar'ak Borran quien se conocía usaba esta piedra hace un tiempo, pero al parecer estaba corrompido. Y la última historia habla cuando el maestro Atticus Cale y su padawan Jadia Brink quienes eran pathfinders fueron a buscar al perdido Barnabas. Van al planeta Varovian donde encuentran algunos vestigios.
Luego de estas tres historias el maestro Cohmac Vitus se une a los dos jóvenes y van en busca de la tan ansiada piedra. El final me gustó mucho. Reath destaca como siempre con su buena suerte y decisión en todo lo que hace.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic novel is a direct follow-up to the book Tears of the Nameless, and it's great that George Mann gets to continue with the story he wrote so well in that earlier book. Like that book, Echoes of Fear also tells an excellent story of investigation and archaeology. It follows typical Star Wars themes of a character discovering their path, struggling to know what power they have to choose, or whether destiny (the Force) controls all. I wish more of the High Republic had been like these books by Mann.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat anthology and great implications for the overarching story!

[Yanik · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I’ve said before, I have had my issues with some of the last entries in the High Republic project. Namely Tears of the Nameless and Into the Light.
The prior feeling incomplete, rushed and cliché, the latter too inconsistent, unconnected and irrelevant to itself or the overall plot.
I regret not finding time in my reading schedule to squeeze in the two Middle Grade Starlight audiodramas and this comic mini run, Echoes of Fear.
But the experience of those books being dependent on major plot points explored in these niche media entries in the project feels like a bad decision.
That said, I see why this format was chosen for Echoes of Fear, it works incredibly well in its episodic and visual narrative style and I enjoyed it a lot.

The first issue kicks off things on an amazingly high note with some of the best art I have seen in Star Wars comics and an intriguing ancient Sith story.
The first three issues follow this sort of framed narrative, short story format with Reath, Amadeo and Cohmac going through old holocrons in the Jedi Temple Archives. It supplies one of the most humorous opening crawls in the franchise with just two nerds geeking out over old books in the library, and I love it.

Story wise this is the single most important comic entry to the overall High Republic story.
It both progresses that plot in a major way as well as provide background on a hand-wavey plot point of Tear of the Nameless. As said, these are big issues I have with these novel entries. I feel like Phase 1 and 2 were more refined in their converging and interweaving of the plot threads, I hardly ever felt like I was missing parts of the story logic.
But on its own merits, Echoes of Fear is a fantastic read.

I am glad I read this before diving into Trials of the Jedi later today, I wish I had earlier and I am definitley going to get a physical copy.
I feel as prepared as I am going to get to dive into the final entry of this humongous undertaking of a storytelling initiative.

[Zettifar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible 5 stars

High stakes with huge implications and connections to the main and young adult high republic books. This is another great example of as a high republic reader if you put the time in to read additional content outside of the main books then you can get so much more out of this era.

Reath and Amadeo continue to shine in this Phase and George mann does a great job with them continuing their investigation into the location of the rod of ages but also the origins of all 3 rods. Again star wars publication continues to feed my hunger for more lore on ancient sith and i loved every moment of it

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"All we can do is trust in the force and hope that when the time comes, the future will judge our actions kindly."

[Ally M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Tyson]

welcome back silandra sho

[Declan O'Keeffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series takes some of the outlying storytelling of the high republic so far, ties it into a nice bow with some of the beloved characters of the project and sets up the next and final adventure brilliantly.

edit: reread before into the light.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

228 BBY.
Jedi Knight Reath Silas and Padawan Amadeo Azzazzo scour the Jedi Archives for information about the artifacts that could help the Jedi defeat the Nameless; the Rod of Ages and the Echo Stones. After uncovering vital information, they and Master Cohmac Vitus set off to recover the Rod.

George Mann has written several in-universe books about the myths and legends of the Star Wars galaxy and he uses that experience to good effect here, with Reath and Amadeo uncovering various legends about the Echo Stones.
The highpoint of this for me is where we learn the legend of Sith Lord Darth Ravi, since the High Republic has tried all too hard to never mention the Sith and I feel like that's been to its detriment. On top of that, we also get a couple of flashback tales set amid the timeframe of the High Republic's Phase II, as well, and I was particularly glad to see the return of the Pathfinders.

Unfortunately, this book somewhat fails to stick the landing. Reath, Amadeo and Cohmac's mission to Varovia plays out very predictably and, honestly, felt like something of a let down after the intrigue and moral ambiguity of the flashback stories featured here.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Caitlin Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read entry set after Tears of the Nameless and before Into the Light. As is anything he's written for the High Republic series, George Mann knocks it out of the park with this entry.

Reath, Cohmac, and Amadeo return in this entry to learn more about the echo stones and how they can help stop the Nameless and the Nihil. With the impending conclusion of Trials of the Jedi and the High Republic, this comic makes the strides to get the Jedi ready to finally stop Marchion Ro.

The section about Darth Ravi was such a treat. The artwork was so gorgeous.

Also referenced is the comic Quest of the Jedi released with Phase 2.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, by far, one of the best High Republic comics I’ve read. It’s super interesting, it’s a story that actually is better told through visual than only word story format, and the art for this one (especially the background story about the Sith Lord) is excellent. I rarely finish a comic thinking I would reread it, but this one I totally would.

The one thing that really frustrated me is that this story is essential knowledge, in which case we really should be told “read this before xx novel” so that we aren’t left with a plot gap, wondering what on earth happened, because what’s told here was never really covered in the books.

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun story, and honestly one of my favorite (if not my favorite) series to come out of the Adventures line. The artwork is awesome, especially in the first issue. The anthological-like structure of each issue was cool, with the stories of Barnabas Vim and the pathfinders sticking out to me as fun tales to spur Reath's knowledge about the Echo Stones.

I think that any followers of the High Republic will like this series, even if you don't read any of the other comic lines. Fans of Reath will also enjoy the series. He is one of my favorite HR characters, so I am glad he got a comic to be the spotlight in.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was OK. It's about these Echo Stones that can amplify a Jedi's abilities but also uses their life force. I really hate how piece meal this high republic era of storytelling is with no road map on proper reading orders and across multiple reading levels and media. It's a real shoddy way to put this all together and leads to needless confusion to the point of not even making me want to bother. Just number the damn books so I can easily figure out what I need to read.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this was not bad at all, it is very good. It is a fun collection of stories that tell the story of the Echo Stones, like a big long myth (reminded me of the tales akin to The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life) telling stories across time, but we have three main characters learning about them. It is an interlude for the story and I fear it will be rendered irrelevant when I read Into the Light.

It is a fun and interesting read for the big/larger Star Wars mythos!

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gets a bonus point because a character name hit WAY too close to home.

Otherwise, it's an interesting story combining a couple loose threads into a scavenger hunt to unlock the Rod of Ages. For something that feels like it's relatively consequential for the High Republic storyline to take place in a comic like this is surprising. But the story is well told, with some interesting turns along the way.

[Bryce Rankins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each book being a vignette really works well for this story, but I would have loved this to have been a novel with more short stories of the echo stones.

I think having each book feel a little self contained aided in the overall pacing, and if you read the Quest of the Jedi One-Shot by Claudia Grey first it really works well as an overall story.

The art is incredible. I especially loved the art for the story of Darth Ravi.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I'm glad I now know how the Jedi got their hands on the Rod of Ages. This should be read before the final adult novel in the High Republic project. However, it's a discovery of great magnitude, which means it should have been in the main storyline instead of farmed out to comics (that can't even be bought digitally in my country... not that I'm bitter about that... c'mon, Dark Horse...). It's a great story though, much as it pains me to admit it!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very excited to get a continuation of Reath, Cohmac and Amadeo searching for the Exho Stones/Rod of Ages. The art is sometimes stunning (especially in the first issue), but the faces are very inconsistent.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better stories that I've read in a long time. Full of ancient lore, puzzle planets, powerful artifacts, indomitable foes and a persistent search. It also had a great 3D map of an underground labyrinth.

[Stronglysalty · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75

[Ziyad Baksh · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fun trip

its a small mission in the larger struggle of the high republic against the Nihil.

a fun but quick read.

[Jazmin Castro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Cohmac, Reath and Amadeo together. THEY FINALLY HAVE THE ROD OMG
I WANT MORE OF VIX PLEASE

[Gaspar Machado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flashbacks to flashbacks in Naruto

[Jonny Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insane visuals, I’m starting to LOVE Reath. Great little story which i imagine will be very important to the larger story.

[Kamiab Ghorbanpour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stuff.

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely fills some gaps between parts of the story I remember and love.

[Bane Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

[Nunya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't wait for Barnabus Vim to appear like Red Skull when the Jedi finally find Planet X.
I just hope he doesn't force them to fridge any women who could have otherwise had more interesting stories.