Star Wars: Out of the Shadows is a Star Wars: The High Republic novel written by Justina Ireland (A Test of Courage).
In the aftermath of the Nihil attack on the Republic Fair on Valo, the frontier remains a dangerous place as the pirates continue to plague remote planets and shipping lanes. Cargo pilot Sylvestri Yarrow learns this the hard way, first losing her mom and then her ship to the Nihil, who mysteriously pulled her out of hyperspace in a remote sector of the Outer Rim. Traveling to Coruscant to seek help and spread news of this new Nihil threat, Syl becomes entangled in a web of family rivalries, deceit, and mystery alongside the Jedi Vernestra Rwoh and Padawan Imri Cantaros, who have been recalled to Coruscant to settle a dispute over the ownership of that same sector, and her former girlfriend Jordanna Sparkburn, who is seeking help after Nihil attacks left her homeworld of Tiikae devastated. Together, they must uncover the secret behind the Nihil's newest weapon while facing betrayal at every turn.
It was released on July 27, 2021.
Tropes in this book include:
- Call-Forward: Chancey Yarrow is the first to theorize and develop a gravity well projector, which becomes a key piece of technology used by the Empire in their Interdictor-class Star Destroyers.
- The Cameo: Yaddle briefly appears at the Jedi Temple and has a short conversation with Vernestra.
- Expert Consultant: Professor Thaddeus Wolk is one of the galaxy's leading experts on hyperspace and is brought in by Senator Ghiraa Starros to figure out what exactly is causing the disturbances. He is assassinated halfway through the novel, due to correctly surmising that Chancey Yarrow was alive and building a device causing the disturbances.
- Family Rivalry: The conflict between the Graff and San Tekka families is key to the dispute over the Berenge Sector. The Starros family is allied with the San Tekkas and thus also has issues with the Grafs.
- Playing Both Sides: The Grafs are revealed to be doing this with the Republic and Nihil to advance their own interests.
- Put on a Bus: Syl's copilot Neeto and droid M-227 are both left on Haileap after the Switchback due to Syl only having enough money to buy passage to Coruscant for herself. She is on her way to pick them back up aboard her new ship at the end of the novel.
- Sequel Hook:
- Vernestra does not inform Stellan about the secret path that Mari San Tekka passed onto her, explaining to Imri that she feels as though the time is not yet right to use it and that she will know when it is.
- The Grafs believe the Nihil have someone in the senate feeding information to Marchion Ro and used that to feed him false information, but their identity is not revealed. Ghirra Starros is the only prominent senator in this story, and her status as a spy is confirmed in The Fallen Star.
- Space Station: Two of them are important to the story.
- The first is the Everbloom, a mobile space station that is the headquarters and family estate of the Graf family.
- The second is the Gravity's Heart, where Chancey and the Nihil are developing the gravity well projector. It is ultimately destroyed by the Jedi and Republic near the end of the novel. However, later stories revealed that the station's destruction did not stop all of its projects, as its research became the basis for the Stormwall.
- Simultaneous Arcs: Takes place at the same time as the start of Trail of Shadows, with Vernestra catching the end of the meeting between Stellan Giros and Emerick Caphtor that takes place in the first issue of that series.
- Stereotype Flip: Played with regarding Professor Thaddeus Wolk, who is a Gungan. Most Gungans are presumed to be a bunch of weirdos who talk in a pidgin form of Basic. Professor Wolk, however, is one of the galaxy's leading hyperspace experts and speaks clear, fluent Basic. However, Syl notes that a few offworld Gungans act like idiots to deceive others.
