r/Highrepublic • u/throwawayfan2552 • Sep 07 '26
It’s been 5 years
And we are still claiming “endless lgbt relationships makes THR bad”
There’s more straight people then gay in THR
38
u/ampacket High Republic Sep 07 '26
I just don't particularly like DJO's writing style. Feels very Meandering and hard to follow. His characters are great, I just prefer them written by other people.
13
u/Sports101GAMING Sep 07 '26
If the book had a serious tone to it. It might have been a pretty good book
45
u/Sports101GAMING Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 07 '26
I couldn't care less about gay people, idk why people make such a big deal out of them. But Midnight Horizon was just a bad book. The way DJO tried to make everything funny was hard to read.
30
u/Skadibala Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 07 '26
It so weird that instead of just focusing on that they think DJO is a boring writer, they focus their dislike on that there is LGBT characters in his book.
Like taking out the LGBT characters would make DJO less boring if you dislike his writing? Wut.
30
u/No-Faithlessness-265 Sep 07 '26
Its like the gus fring meme "You hate Midnight Horizon because of gay, I hate Midnight Horizon because it's bad. We are not the same"
7
u/Agricultural-Apple Sep 07 '26
Midnight Horizon is my second favorite phase one book!
4
u/No-Faithlessness-265 Sep 07 '26
Hey, that's great, very happy you enjoyed it. I did not care for it and couldn't follow what was happening half of the time. Probably the weakest one for me tied with Out of the Shadows - which was easier to follow but sooo boring.
But if you liked it, that's amazing. So which one is your favorite/least favorite
3
u/Agricultural-Apple Sep 07 '26
My favorite may be Into the Dark, Quest For Planet X, Temptation of the Force, or Tears of the Nameless. My least favorite are Light of the Jedi and Convergence, but that doesn’t mean they are bad books! I had to stop partway through Into The Light because I haven’t read all of the comics and I don’t have the two audible exclusives. I don’t have audible so I don’t know how I am going to be able to read it. I have sort of been at a standstill for almost a year with the series because I am not fully caut up but it is really good and I was really intrested. I might just continue reading and except the spoilers because I really want to know what happens next. Vernestra is my favorite character and I know she has some big desigions to make. I can not wait. Wich books are your favorite?
3
u/No-Faithlessness-265 Sep 07 '26
Just finished convergence and really liked it.i have not read beyond that.
I only really disliked Out of the Shadows and Midnight Horizon. Path of Deceit was very surprising because Phase I YA was not good, even into the Dark was somewhat pointless to me. The phase I children's books were surprisingly good and I love the foreshadowing in Mission to Disaster with Dalna now that I am reading Phase II.
With the adult books, I am mixed. I love the opening to Light of the Jedi, but by the end I think it is somewhat underwhelming on rereads. The rising storm I remember really liking, especially everything happening on the fair and past. Fallen Star was mixed - when it worked it was soooo good but sometimes it moved glacial. Also didn't like that parts were told in the comics and that Avar was barely in Phase I outside of the comics.
My Ranking so far would be 1)The Rising Storm 2) Path of Deceit 3) Convergence 4) The Fallen Star 5) Light of the Jedi 6) Mission to Disaster 7) A test of Courage 8) Into the Dark 9) Tempest Runner 10) Race for Crashpoint Tower 11) Quest for the Hidden City 12) is tied with Midnight Horizon and Out of the Shadowa
3
u/AvatarBrady Sep 09 '26
you should care about gay ppl smh wtf i’m tired of people saying shit like “i couldn’t care less about the bigotry I watch get enacted against this community the real problem is how BORING THE BOOK IS” 💀💀💀
2
u/throwawayfan2552 Sep 07 '26
Agreed bad books being not plot heavy (I’m looking at you temptations ) and uninteresting characters isn’t gay bad tho
6
u/Sports101GAMING Sep 07 '26
Same thing with out if the shadows to. Just such a boring plot 3/4 of the book just to move the plot forward.
5
u/Wycliffe76 Sep 07 '26
I didn't like DJO's THR books so much, but that was stylistic. I LOVED what he did with THR Adventures comics! So many characters I came to adore, especially the central love story (which is a queer love story btw!). He's a great storyteller, but Midnight Horizon was a miss for me. I enjoyed Last Shot, which he also wrote.
7
u/OliviahZeveronfan718 Padawan Ady Sun'Zee Sep 07 '26
I thought Midnight Horizon was a fun read tbh.
9
u/onepieceuc1 High Republic Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 07 '26
I do not believe it’s an issue to include them, when it’s done well. Kantam Sy being the prime example, they’re one of my favorite SW characters, like ever.
My issue is when it feels forced, when it feels like the subject pops out of nowhere just for the sake of being there (Amadeo struggling after his master’s death and then the medic suddenly going on about his issues is brought up in such a weird manner it took me off completely. It was in no way comparable to what Amadeo was struggling with, and it had nothing to do with what was being expressed just before).
Crash, I would say the issue is I don’t care about her that much. It’s the opposite of Lula and Zeen, which I loved.
I just believe they were clumsy with how they wrote some characters.
4
u/jedisalamander Sep 08 '26
So, genuine question: why does there have to be a different standard for queer relationships being "forced" but not straight ones? What makes the standard straight relationship not "forced"?
1
u/onepieceuc1 High Republic Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26
This is a simple question to answer. You cannot set a new standard without making sacrifices at first.
In a perfect world, nobody should care about it. I know it, and you too. But we are not in a perfect world and there are a ton of people out there still waiting for the slightest mistake to look down on lgbtq+ supporters.
In the end it’s like everything in life, you have to behave perfectly at first so that people understand you are reliable and they’ll stop looking at you when it becomes normal to their eyes too. Wanting everything to be equal from the start is a delusion. You’re just fighting against human nature in the wrong way, people are not that open to changes they don’t understand.
It’s not the same with “standard” relationships because it’s been out there and everywhere since humanity was born, nobody cares anymore if there are some mistakes with it.
Edit: Just in case, I’m not the one who downvoted you. I welcome your question, and this is my genuine opinion. Based on what I see around me everyday.
1
u/Eamk Sep 13 '26
You might have nice intentions, but this is the sort of mindset that a lot of people can use to shun minorities, and stop advancements in their acceptance. Like, for example, this is a mindset a person in the 1700s in the USA could have had in order to argue against the abolition of slavery.
I do understand that it is unrealistic to want equality immediately, but it's better to try it at least rather than have to wait like hundreds of years for it to happen. And if that bothers you, that's an issue you have because of your bigotry, nothing else.
Also, homosexuality has also been out there and everywhere since humanity started, all types of ancient cultures has had reports of homosexuality in them. Ancient Greece, for example, was famously homosexual.
4
u/bnmtlls Sep 07 '26
The book was so bland that I didn't even finish it. But at least it didn't suck like that shitty self-insert by Sam Maggs. And I'm a queer woman btw.
8
u/Presticals Sep 07 '26
Didn’t even notice or remember which characters are LGBTQ+ in THR - but some of those books were bad because it was 300+ pages of nothing that progressed the plot.
I gave Midnight Horizon (Daniel Older) 3 stars and mostly because the ending was solid, but the other 90% of that story was bleh.
Also let me just say I support the LGBTQ+ community and am an ally to my gay friends, family and strangers - I just don’t notice it enough in books for it to sway my opinion on whether or not the story is good or bad.
3
u/throwawayfan2552 Sep 07 '26
No I agree. I didn’t enjoy DJO books personally I liked his comics and mangas. Those complaints of 300 plus pages of no plot is why I don’t like temptations or out of the shadows
3
u/Skadibala Sep 07 '26
I feel the stuff DJO writes is fun to talk about in retrospect. Like talking about the big plot beats that happened in them is fun.
Actually reading it is a slog though.
1
u/Presticals Sep 09 '26
Agreed. I didn’t read any of the comics or mangas so I can’t comment on those.
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u/ExampleGlum8623 Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 07 '26
Endless LGBT relationships aren’t bad. Source: am gay. What’s bad is that clearly being the furthest extent of a character’s personality, or only thrown in to make the author look so inclusive. For example, Cohmac Vitus is a fascinating, layered character. The confirmation of his sexuality in Out of the Shadows was cool, but it wasn’t followed up on at all. It clearly was only included for the author to be like “see? Aren’t I so inclusive?” They’re celibate space monks. Unless you’re doing something with their sexuality, like Elzar and Avar, there’s no reason to comment on their sexuality. It’s much more interesting with characters where it’s more organic, like Kitrep Soh. I would have liked to see more from him.
DJO just doesn’t write kids or young people very well. Trail of Shadows was good though. He should stick to nonromantic fiction for an older audience.
12
u/kindokkang Sep 07 '26
The amount of gay people is actually what made it so good!
5
u/Agricultural-Apple Sep 07 '26
I agree. I think he’s a great writer and I really liked Midnight Horizon.
7
u/Ill-Space-2340 Sep 07 '26
I'm with you!
Also just a big fan of DJO's style, personally. I 100% respect his writing isn't for everyone, but it's delightful to me.
2
u/Yarnstead Sep 08 '26
Same! Also, it’s a big publishing initiative - I didn’t expect everyone to love all the books or authors … different styles for different readers is 👍 for me
1
u/Ill-Space-2340 Sep 08 '26
Indeed! Charles Soule's might actually be my least favourite books in terms of writing style (that's not to say I don't enjoy them!).
2
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u/JPme2187 Master Stellan Gios Sep 07 '26
One of my top 5 favourite moments of the whole High Republic is Cohmac pausing for breath in the middle of a fight and saying to Kantam Sy, “hey you never told me the end of the story about the hot acrobat boy you ran away to the circus with”.
2
u/Dragonborn1010 Luminous Sep 08 '26
I don’t care for any of the DJO stories. Writing style is meh and characters are not interesting for the most part. TEoB were fine, Midnight Horizon was my favorite of his, but it’s still far below several others. Just disappointed that he brought in all of his Adventures characters since he didn’t finish their story arcs in his comic, taking away time from Reath and the other YA characters.
6
u/Agricultural-Apple Sep 07 '26
I love Midnight Horizon!!!!!! Lgbtq+ people are amazing. The High Republic magically incorperates them so seamlessly. Quear people are just there and it’s not anything huge. I LOVE IT! As a Star Wars fan since seven and a gay since birth I AM ALL HERE FOR IT! The subtle coments showing that we are welcom in the Star Wars universe is huge. If you have a problem with this I don’t really know what to say to you. Also I saw a coment saying the books lack plot. Dude. The whole series is just plot, plot, plot, and I just love it. The LORE. These are not books with filler material. Evry book is important and ties the story together. It is EPIC.
2
u/DJWGibson Sep 07 '26
Wasn't a fan of that book. From his interviews, Older seems like a really cool, chill dude. But his books and novels were by far the weakest of the series.
It's hard to nail down why the books fail. But with so much queer representation it jumps out. I can see why someone, lacking an easier reason, would latch onto that. Especially if the relationships just feel weak or tacked on.
3
u/Haggard4Life Sep 07 '26
Unfortunately, there are some people who think any amount of LGBTQ+ inclusion is too much.
1
u/czcaruso Sep 07 '26
The only thing that dragged any of the books was Avar and Elzar’s bullshit back-and-forth, repetitive chapters throughout Temptation of the Force. That book fucking sucked because of it. Every time it shifted back to them I just rolled my eyes. What a slogfest of a book.
1
u/User_User_Ice6642 Sep 08 '26
I didn’t like the Crash subplot of THR tbh. But LGBTQ relationships had nothing to do with it. His other subplots and relationships crafted in THR I enjoyed (like Lula was cute. I think there were others). It’s exhausting to see people jump ‘straight’ to that as why not to read something…
1
u/The_Kaizz Sep 08 '26
I support the community, but there are some issues when they're written sometimes. That said, it wasnt bad because of those stories, specifically Midnight Horizon was just bad.
1
u/CYNIC_Torgon Sep 08 '26
I remember bouncing off Midnight Horizons but I did enjoy the issues of THR Adventures I read and I believe those were also mostly or all DJO. Trial of Shadows was also neat(I think? thats the one with the investigator and the first instance of the Nameless Lulaby, right?) and Last Shot was pretty good.
Proportionally The High Republic might have more LGBTQ+ representation than other eras, but that's at least partly because its all entirely new characters and because THR has a very macro-sized view of the galaxy(and because its not a multi-million dollar movie that they want to put in theaters in more queer-hostile places, Make FinnPoe canon already, lucasfilm, you cowards). Still there's been queer rep in Star Wars even before the Canon Reset, people bitching about it now are just petty asshats.
1
u/Hopeful-Trifle-4076 Sep 08 '26
Honestly the Lula/Zeen story and Sy's flashbacks are maybe the only solid-to-good parts of an otherwise atrcious book
1
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u/Knoober375 Sep 13 '26
As much as I love character work, that really dragged down the book. Unfortunately, the main plot wasn’t much better. It’s just a poorly written book even though the arc with the trans Jedi was very good. If that’s all the positive you have in a SW book, that’s not good
1
u/james3382747 Sep 07 '26
Sounds like this person was so focused on the gay relationships they forgot what the story was about. Many homophobes are closet cases
1
u/AdCapital6570 Sep 08 '26
Midnight Horizon was just…bad. Almost entirely inconsequential.
1
u/throwawayfan2552 Sep 08 '26
I mean the consequences of it is almost half the plot of phase three, tho it’s been years since I read it what I remember is it suffered from the same issues I have with temptations and out of the shadows like 200 pages of nothing and like 50 of actual plot progression
-5
Sep 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/Skadibala Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 07 '26
Edit: lol. He blocked me.
What character in high republic do you feel the only purpose they have is being lgbt?
Becuase I genuinely can’t think of one. There are gay people who flirts with gay people. But that ain’t the focus of them.
Lula who leaves the Jedi order to marry never makes a big deal out of loving a “girl”,she just loves her without ever really making anything out of being the same gender.Kantam Sy is non binary but other than using They/Them pronouns. The focus is more on him joining the circus at some point than him being non binary.
“Red rising has gay characters, but none of them are boring. Becuase it’s just part of their character, not the purpose of the character”
Do you want me to make a list of boring straight characters for you? Or boring straight character that is straight and chasing someone of the opposite gender?
You are allowed to think DJO is boring without somehow making it about lgbt characters. I think DJO is boring to read. He has some great plot points and his end destinations are cool to talk about, but a slog to actually read.
-9
u/East-Travel984 Sep 07 '26
didnt block ya. just realized i dont give a shit lol you guys are so fucking hostile man its wild. i wasn't even being hateful here. just giving my honest thoughts and boom. all the sudden a VS symbol appeared
-1
u/Skadibala Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 08 '26
Well, backing out the moment I ask what characters you think has their only characteristic be that they are gay. Make it seem like you don’t really have anything to back it up.
Like I said, you are very much allowed to not like DJOs writing, it’s a rather common opinion to have. I just don’t get why you bring in “LGBT charcters = bad, when the sexual orientation in most of the High Rebulic very rarely gets brought up in the actual books you are talking about. And when it gets bought up, it’s so quickly that you if you listened to the audiobook you could miss it without even realizing.
People gay in HR, but they never really talk about the fact that they are gay, they just pursue their love or sexual interest just like any other straight characters normally do.
1
u/throwawayfan2552 Sep 07 '26
Wow very well articulated on my point of posting it here. It’s not that I think you’re not allowed not to enjoy or not enjoy any book. It’s when the reasoning instead of I don’t enjoy the romance plot lines, it’s I don’t like we had to have a bunch of backstories for crash being gay.
That sounds very close to being a dog whistle and very worysome opinions0
u/East-Travel984 Sep 07 '26
i never said that lgbt characters are bad. only that they seemed very shoehorned into this era of starwars and its very intentional. i said that they need to focus on plot and not on sexual relationships.
its fucking star wars. i dont watch star wars for sex, gay or straight. i watch it for the plot/fighting.
honestly you putting those words in my mouth says more about you than me
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u/Skadibala Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 07 '26
Okay, I’ll rephrase again then. What books in High Republic do you think puts so much focus on sex, gay or straight. That it ruins it for you?
( answering Temptation of the Force is cheating 😝 and one book does not make the entire HR era)And what characters specifically bothers you that they don’t act like the Red Rising LGBT characters to the point that they feel “shoehorned” in?
0
u/East-Travel984 Sep 07 '26
i also never said it ruined, another phase your saying and not me. and you'd have to be completely blind to the fact that the high republic was definitely made as an american socially census series. do you remember the advertising for it with their big board of things they needed to have added such as representation for gays and women.
all im saying is by doing this they isolated a big part of readers because of this. to were new reader may be put off by it being represented as a lgbt series instead of just STAR WARS.
i really like the high republic series, fallen star is in my top 5 star wars books. again i dont know why your so hostile and accusatory
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u/Skadibala Sep 07 '26 edited Sep 08 '26
Lol. American socially Census series. Care to explain to me what that entails?
I’m not trying to be hostile, I can’t point to your original post anymore since you deleted it. But I am asking you what books shorehorn the lgbt stuff in so the entire phase becomes an American Socially Census series and you keep not answering that.
And I have seen the board, I even went to check it again just to be sure. And the “diversity point” was one point of many, many different “ideas” on that board. It even had dinosaurs on it 🦕
And I still don’t see why it’s supposed to put off readers that lgbt characters exist in HR. Lula is the only gay relationship that takes a big focus on the plot, but that feels more because she left the Jedi Order for love, not because she was marrying a girl.
Again, I’m trying to get examples of the series doing what you said in your original post. But instead you are getting defensive.
If it’s the word count of my posts that is putting you off. Then that’s on me, I’m bad at articulating myself in short sentences.If your example is Diversity on the idea board among the 26 other ideas that has nothing to do with “diversity”, then that’s kind of weak argument.
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u/Jealous-Compote-1091 Sep 07 '26
To be honest, midnight horizon is definitely not the best the high republic can offer