#i sure hope the last two books finally get into the meat about Ro

[anoray]

I am now three books into the High Republic (Light of the Jedi, The Rising Storm, and The Fallen Star) and I'm feeling rather puzzled and annoyed. Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn't read anything yet.

I should preface this by saying I find some of the Jedi characters engaging and likeable, and the various authors' writing is fine overall, but I am increasingly frustrated with the Nihil scenario. Namely, I still know next to nothing about the supposed main villain, Marchion Ro, and what is going on with the "creatures" or whatever they are that basically suck the Force out of the Jedi. Everything about Ro's origins, how and why the old woman prisoner can create the paths in hyperspace, where and why the Force eating creatures came from...why Ro hates the Jedi in the first place...all the continued vagueness and non-revelation just goes on and on and on and it is getting very old. Ro so far is basically a sadistic SOB who leads a bunch of not very interesting marauders and I have no idea why he's driven to want to wipe out the Jedi because nothing in the story so far covers any of it. I want to pull my hair out.

The Jedi are a mixed bag. On one hand, they are capable of doing amazing things (most especially when they work as a unified hive mind), but, holy cow, on the other hand, they also come across as so incompetent at times. The Fallen Star in particular had me grinding my teeth over and over. And, yes, I know the Jedi were affected by the infuriatingly unexplained, non-described Force sucking "creatures", but the Jedi seemed to be doing some extremely obtuse things (like a total lack of basic security measures), as well as making boneheaded decisions about how to deal with the Nihil even before that happened. I mean, so far, the Nihil almost destroyed an entire solar system, they destroyed a huge galactic political event, and now an entire space station (killing millions along throughout these attacks) and yet somehow the Republic and the Jedi think the Nihil are almost beaten and not that big of a deal. Really?

Maybe a bunch of pertinent story development about the Jedi's resistance to the Nihil and information about Ro is covered in the many other side books? If that's the case, I don't understand the decision to scatter major plot and character development outside of the main series. Shouldn't the 5 books of this particular series tell a complete tale on their own? Right now, chunks seem to be missing and I'm having a problem with caring much about the trio of Avar, Stellan, and Elzar. As for Ro, so much of his history is off the page somewhere and sometimes he barely even appears in the books at all.

Bell and Burry have become my anchor characters because they come across as very relatable and empathetic, plus I've liked several of the Jedi and non-Jedi side characters (although some either got killed off or just dropped out of the story between books for whatever reason).

Bottom line is that I'll probably read the last two books in this particular series in the hopes that Burry is not dead, plus that they will finally reveal something about Ro that makes him a more compelling antagonist. Right now, he just grates on my nerves and I wish the Nihil as a whole were something more compelling than ruthless killers and thieves. To me, Ro and his horde have all the worst qualities of pirates but absolutely none of the charm.