Book Review: Star Wars: Hiding From The Dark is a Scary Good Time For Young Readers

Considering that Star Wars fills an entire galaxy, far, far away, it should be a franchise full of all kinds of stories, not just the science fantasy action adventure we’re used to seeing. We have seen some elements of the franchise branch off by telling stories set in significantly different time periods, like the High Republic novels and The Acolyte series on Disney+, but we rarely see Star Wars attempt unique genres.

This is part of what makes Star Wars: Hiding in the Dark by Kiersten White more than a little refreshing simply by existing. It’s a Star Wars horror story. What sets it apart even beyond that is that it’s designed not for fans who grew up with George Lucas’ original trilogy, or even the prequels, but for modern middle-grade readers who might be experiencing the story for the very first time.

Bia is a young girl living on Coruscant whose mother works in Imperial middle management. The girl’s life is little more than going to school and spending time with her mother, something that isn't strange to her until Mom doesn't come home from one of her business trips. Bia finds herself at home alone and dealing with nightmares.

Then the nightmares become reality when strange men arrive at Bia’s house looking for her mother. They claim she’s a smuggler, not the Imperial Officer she appeared to be. And then there’s the monster. A hulking black form, one who can strangle a man without touching him. The only warning of his approach is the ominous sound of breathing. It’s Bia’s nightmare come to life.

Most pop culture fans would likely agree that Darth Vader is one of the scariest villains in modern fiction, but rarely is he presented in just that way. Hiding From the Dark allows you to see Vader through the eyes of a literal child, and to a child, there may not be anything scarier. Darth Vader isn’t a man here. He’s a force of nature. He's the monsters from your nightmares that you try to run away from but can't. Bia must try to run. She's searching for her mother, yes, but she's also simply running away from the shadow that pursues her.

The name Darth Vader isn’t known throughout the galaxy here. In fact, the book itself never uses the name. Most of the characters who come up against Vader don’t know what he, or possibly it, is, so they never speak the name. This only makes the black-clad figure more terrifying, since it's equally possible the reader doesn't know what's chasing Bia either.

This is the neatest trick that Star Wars: Hiding From the Dark plays, as it does not give you a great deal of Star Wars canon information. Darth Vader is here, but his name is never said. The only thing giving you any sort of timeline placement for the story is the couple of times characters referenced the “rumor” that “a star exploded.” This would seem to be a reference to one of the worlds destroyed by the Death Star, but even which one this was is unclear. 

This is actually quite perfect considering that, as a book designed for pre-teens being released in 2026, Hiding From the Dark could actually be a young person’s first story in the Star Wars universe. If so, there are essentially no “spoilers” for the main film franchise. I imagine it might be quite fun to read this book and to only then be introduced to Darth Vader on film and learn his story.

Nothing is quite as scary as one’s own imagination, and that’s where the majority of Hiding from the Dark’s frights come from. Bia is a kid who is in over her head. The entire world that she thought she knew turns out to be a great deal more. The reader spends the story inside Bia’s head. The girl is clearly terrified, but she soldiers on in search of her mother, if for no other reason than she doesn’t know what else to do.

Kiersten White has experience writing young protagonists, and it shows here. Bia is a well-written and engaging POV character. She is neither entirely helpless nor is she a tiny adult. Bia’s life up to this point has clearly been sheltered. Her mother has done a solid job of protecting her child from the truth of her work. However, Bia is able to piece together the details she has to put together a reasonable plan, and she never ignores truths when they stare her in the face. 

Bia is ultimately, however, a kid, which means she makes kid decisions. And by “kid” I mean “frequently bad” decisions. She trusts some people she shouldn’t and doesn’t trust some that she should, but all in a way that makes sense given what she’s going through. Horror protagonists making bad choices is something of a trope, but it can be forgiven when the protagonist literally doesn't know any better.

While the majority of Hiding From the Dark’s horror is of the mental variety, the story also has its share of bad guys and scary monsters, which of those is worse will come down to the individual child when it comes to the question of whether or not Star Wars: Hiding From the Dark is right for them. There is violence, even death, though it’s nothing that the majority of the audience the book is aimed at can’t handle.

If your young reader can handle a bit of a scary story and is either curious about Star Wars or already a fan, Hiding From the Dark is the perfect book for reading under a blanket with a flashlight.

Star Wars: Hiding From the Dark is available now from Random House Children’s Books.

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