I recently finished “Light of the Jedi”. Its a good introduction to the High Republic era. Despite the ton of new characters the story was fun and easy to follow, only the events leading up to the climax were a bit confusing due to a fair share of jumping around between subplots. Its clearly not a rehash of the typical Star Wars premise, with no rival empire nor Sith/dark siders at all (at least for the moment), and that’s a welcome change. I had worried the timeframe of the High Republic wouldn’t be that interesting because it was a time of peace, but thankfully the worldbuilding is solid and there is a lot of room for intrigue and mystery to keep the High Republic project afloat.
Many of the characters come and go, being phased out or killed off without much fuss, but there are quite a few that are pretty memorable. My favorite is the laidback and charming yet badass Loden Greatstorm and I also found his padawan, Bell Zettifar, very relatable. Elzar Mann also caught my attention because of his unorthodox thoughts and feelings.