This is a middle grade Star Wars novel, with a target audience of 8 to 12 years, so I'll judge it bearing that in mind.

The story is quite short, and that means that it moves fast. It is an adventure story, as expected of Star Wars, but it is surprisingly character-focused. That is a good thing in my book, since making the characters distinct individuals makes it easier for the reader to care about what happens to them. One problem is that when you write a book and you want to make it an adventure story, and a character-focused story and also very short, something's got to give. So, the adventure part was quite light. There just wasn't much to it, and the villains did not seem formidable at all. The character work was more interesting, although once again the short length means that it felt a bit rushed. All the stuff going on with Imri, for example, I felt that it could have been handled better, maybe foreshadowing it in a more subtle way, because as it was introduced it seemed to come out of nowhere.

The story combines some heavy stuff, real loss and trauma, with a light middle-grade storytelling tone, and that didn't always work. It's probably part of it being so short, there was just no room to explore the issues more deeply. Nevertheless, I appreciated that there was more emotional depth than I would have expected of a quick middle-grade adventure.

I'm not a fan of the idea of a 15-year-old Jedi Knight. It seems to ignore how much formation becoming a Jedi requires, not just academic and in physical skills, but also in terms of maturity, leadership and spiritual skills.

For those worried about the author's politics being included in the story, they are not, other than the fact that of the four main characters the two white male ones display negative character traits while the two female non-white ones display admirable character traits. The sample size is too small to know if it's systematic or coincidence.

Despite the misgivings I have mentioned, I think it was a competent story, and Star Wars fans who are in the target audience or who are open to middle-grade fiction will enjoy it. It doesn't take the extra step to raise it above so many other competent middle-grade stories, but it did not feel like a writer for hire phoning it in to get the paycheck. ( )

More of a 3.5. This was a good intro to the High Republic for kids. It felt very get from point a to point b and throw a little bit of lore in the mix. I with that we had gotten to know a little more about the High Republic, it felt like this story could have been set at basically any time and it wouldn't have changed much. ( )

3.5★
"If you judge someone by your expectations instead of their actions, you will always be disappointed"

It's rare to see middle grade stories that focus so much more on character development and struggles instead of an extremely dynamic and attention-grabbing plot, but this is exactly what A Test of Courage does.

I really appreciate how all three books of the first wave deal with very similar themes of grief and insecurities, but each of them adapted to their specific audiences, toning up or down nuance and complexity accordingly. And while I'm very far off the intended target for this one (regardless of still reading within the genre here and there), all characters managed to reach me in their pains.

It confuses me though, because while the charactererization would indicate to me an older range for middle grade, the plot is oftentimes too simplistic for that level of reading. I understand that the usual fast paced storyline was traded for deeper characters, but the 70% middle chunk of the book is not all that interesting. The beginning and very end do bring some originality, but overall I felt that I kept waiting for something exciting to happen.

But he baggage and development of each of these four kids is what makes this story, and it paints a very nice picture of overcoming fears and loss, of feeling accepted and sufficient. It's a story about growth. ( )

I would say, this was dark for a middle grade book, but after my previous middle grade read, this is not the case. The medium paced story kept me on my toes from beginning to end. The tempo was right on with this type of story. I enjoyed this little side story and am glad I picked it up. This story coincides with part two of Light of the Jedi, but you do not have to read it in order to understand this story. Like Light of the Jedi, this story takes place during the High Republic era, a new era for Star Wars.

Vernestra (Vern) Rwoh was, not too long ago, promoted from Jedi Padawan to Jedi Knight, passing her trials at first try at age fifteen. At sixteen, she not only was one of the youngest Jedi, but considered a prodigy. Vern is a well thought out and written character. What I liked was you see her flaws throughout the novel. She felt she had the responsibilities of the galaxy over her shoulder, but throughout the novel, she doubts herself. Vern takes it upon herself to be the leader of the group, helping each of them while doubting herself along the way.

Avon and J-6 are quite the pair. Avon is a girl who wants to grow up and become an inventor. J-6 is a bodyguard droid who becomes a nanny for Avon. Avon always asks questions and tries to get her hands on anything and everything to see how it ticks. She thinks of ways to either improve or refurbish items or droids into something better. Her goal, during this story, is getting her hands on Vern’s or Imri’s lightsaber.

J-6 has been through multiple tinkers from Avon. Because of these tinkers, J-6 has taken upon a strong humanistic personality. The personality is so strong; it frightens Honesty and concerns Avon to where she makes a mental note to fix it later when she can. She has attitude, a typical trait you find in most republic droids. J-6 reminds me of L3-37 from the movie Solo. Avon and J-6 are probably my favorite characters in this book.

Honesty and Imri are different, but experience the same issues. Avon and Vern in their own way try to help, but in the end they made their own path. These two were not the strongest characters starting out, but I think they had the best arcs compared to the girls. Both are questioning themselves on what they should and could have done. They are going through things alone, even though they are among strangers and not sure how to talk about their issues. They try their best to move their problems behind them and help with what they could, but the feelings creep back.

A moon is the primary setting of this book. The atmosphere is a forest with no water in sight. The vegetation is green, and weird monkey like creatures are around, which tells the group food and water must be around and possibly scarce. As far as they could tell, they are the only people around. The weather is not typical. It is sunny and then turns to rain and the rain is acid. This adds on top of the many issues this group faces in this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fun, adventure, life learning, and Star Wars books. ( )