Snippets of my review from my Space Wizards Book Club newsletter:I had high expectations for this novel after Gratton and Ireland’s incredible Phase 2 entry Path of Deceit. While I had a great time with Defy the Storm, it didn’t meet those expectations. Instead, it delivered enjoyable and enlightening character studies that I didn’t know I needed.For a young adult novel, Defy the Storm has a fairly large cast, with the main characters being the cover stars — Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh, teenage genius Avon Starros (Sunvale now), and frontier deputy Jordanna Sparkburn. We’ve met all of them before, but a lot has happened to them in the last year. As such, the book spends quite a bit of time catching up with major plot points of The High Republic through their eyes.All three young women have important reasons for trying to find a way to traverse the Stormwall, and the novel charts how their paths and goals converge into a nail-biting mission deep into dangerous enemy territory.While Vernestra seeks information about her lost Padawan and Jordanna wants to reach and help her family, Avon is out for revenge — against her mother and the Nihil scientist who stole and weaponized her research.Because of the book’s multi-POV nature and setup, Defy the Storm can at times feel disjointed. The young adult novels typically excel at presenting a solid plotline that connects all the characters and moves their stories forward. Even if they start off separate, the characters usually still come together at some point.In Defy the Storm, the characters are together at certain points, but their goals and stories remain fairly separate for much of the novel. What brings them together is their need to get across the Stormwall, but once they do, they go their separate ways to accomplish their missions before getting back together to go home.On the plus side, these characters all know each other and have history together — for better or worse, especially where Xylan Graf is concerned. It’s nice seeing them catch up.While the disjointedness is my main gripe with Defy the Storm, the novel allows more time to be spent in the heads of our main characters. Gratton and Ireland have created beautifully intimate character studies of Vernestra, Jordanna, and Avon in such a relatable way you can’t help but empathize with even their worst decisions.Through their stories, there are still big and ominous teases to where Phase 3 of The High Republic is going next. With the events of The Eye of Darkness, the Jedi are steps closer to reaching those trapped in Nihil space. But with what’s hinted at in Defy the Storm, the Jedi probably won’t like what other horrors they find in the Occlusion Zone.