New Star Wars: Convergence excerpt introduces us The High Republic chancellor’s swaggering son

Less than a month away from a new adult High Republic book, we’ve finally got another excerpt for Star Wars: Convergence by Zoraida Córdova. And this one introduces an intriguing new character who becomes part of an unlikely and uneasy pair of investigators — Axel Greylark, the swaggering and freewheeling son of one of the Republic chancellors.

The excerpt, shared exclusively by IGN, takes us to a gambling hall in the underbelly of Coruscant. Axel has been playing for 10 hours and finally wins, though he still has no interest in leaving the seedy, sticky tables.

But even in the gambling dens, people still know who he is and call him “Coruscant’s little prince.” And they know about his scandals, the most recent one being a very public breakup with an heiress to a Chandrillen spirits company.

"“In-stead of making the decision to settle down, start to get serious, he’d taken his favorite speeder and a stack of credits, and wound up at whatever gambling den, club, or cantina would give him entry. He didn’t need to explain himself. Why bother? The HoloNet, his “friends,” and his family had already made up their minds. The only place to hide from another one of his family’s interventions was at Raik’s.”"

For Axel, the underbelly of Coruscant is a reprieve from the elegant, high-society life he normally leads. It’s “a place that smelled like acrid sewers and musty, recycled air,” but one where he could also have fun and forget about his troubles for a few — or 10 — hours.

"“A place of shadows where he didn’t have to be Axel Greylark, son of the most important woman in the galaxy. He could just be his wretched self.”"

The excerpt also gives a glimpse of Axel’s disdain for the Jedi, remarking it would be an insult to assume he was one. In Convergence, Axel must team up with a Jedi named Gella Nattai to help investigate an assassination attempt that’s keeping the warring planets Eiram and E’ronah from peace.

In the publisher’s summary for the book, Gella sees Axel as a “puffed-up, privileged party boy” and he sees the Jedi as a “self-serious, relentless do-gooder.” It sounds like it’s going to be an excellent read.

Convergence takes readers into the messy, too-long war between the two planets, which is full of political tensions and conspiracy on all sides. All-out war is on the brink of breaking out again if Gella and Axel can’t uncover the person behind the assassination attempt.

The book is the first adult offering in the second phase of The High Republic initiative, taking us 150 years before the events of phase one. This era of Star Wars history is more than 300 years before the Skywalker saga — the golden age of the Jedi and of the Republic. But even that golden age is still filled with mysterious villains and unseen horrors that threaten to tear the Republic’s peace apart.

Star Wars: The High Republic: Convergence by Zoraida Córdova releases on Nov. 22.