#Alexander Freed really made Rogue One even more devastating

[starrysyndulla]

I just finished the Rogue One novelization and excuse me what the fuck

[gffa]

One of the reasons I haven’t read as much fic lately as I would like is because some of the STAR WARS novels have been absolutely killing it with how enjoyable and satisfying they are! While my fic recs are always and forever recs(rather than reviews), I wanted to do some book reviews. They can function much like recs, though, and I would love to encourage more people to read them along with me, they have some incredible moments, whether adorable or heartbreaking or hilarious or just plain awesome. If you need a fix of something to read or just want a place to start, maybe this can help start you on the path! STAR WARS NOVELS: ✦ Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston, ahsoka & ocs, 400 pages ✦ Wild Space by Karen Miller, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & bail & cast, 354 pages ✦ Thrawn by Timothy Zahn, thrawn & governor pryce & ocs & yularen & cast, 448 pages ✦ Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray, leia & bail/breha & cast, 416 pages ✦ Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson, phasma & brendol hux & cast, 400 pages ✦ Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno, galen/lyra & jyn & krennic & tarkin, 352 pages ✦ Bloodline by Claudia Grey, leia & ocs, 352 pages ✦ Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry, leia & ocs, 240 pages ✦ The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure by Jason Fry, luke & ocs, 192 pages ✦ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by Alexander Freed, jyn & cassian & bodhi & baze & chirrut & k2so & galen & krennic & cast, 336 pages ✦ Lone Wolf by Abel G. Peña, obi-wan & luke, 76 pages ✦ The Hive by Steven Barnes, obi-wan & ocs, [short story] ✦ Guardian of the Whills by Greg Rucka, chirrut & baze & ocs, 240 pages ✦ Secrets of the Jedi by Jude Watson, obi-wan/siri & anakin/padme & qui-gon & adi gallia & cast, 208 pages ✦ The Force Awakens: Rey’s Story by Elizabeth Schaefer, rey & cast, 128 pages full recs under the cut!

STAR WARS NOVELS: ✦ Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston, ahsoka & ocs, 400 pages    Following her experiences with the Jedi and the devastation of Order 66, Ahsoka is unsure she can be part of a larger whole ever again. But her desire to fight the evils of the Empire and protect those who need it will lead her right to Bail Organa, and the Rebel Alliance.    About the only criticism of this book that I’ve ever seen that held any water with me is: NEEDS TO BE A DOZEN BOOKS LONG. It can’t possibly cover everything of Ahsoka’s story, not even just the time focused on her finding her way again back to a purpose in the galaxy at large, to how she finds her desire to fight again after she left the Jedi, but I thought it did a really good job of covering as much ground as it could about that time in her life. My other caveat is that I don’t think the “bleeding” crystals was done as well as it could have been, it took me a long time to come around on that through other material, but rereads don’t bother me as much. That’s it, that’s all I can think to nitpick about this book, because it’s absolutely in my top ten favorites and does such justice to this character I love so much. The mentions of Obi-Wan and Anakin were spot on, both hilarious and so true that it made my fannish heart ache–there’s a reason I’ve quoted this book a few dozen times! It nailed those two and the way Ahsoka saw them! But it’s also a book that has to do a lot of worldbuilding without losing sight of the story it’s telling, the character journey Ahsoka goes on, and how she finds her way again.    And, oh, I enjoyed that part of the story so much. I enjoyed that she connected with people, that she maybe had feelings for a girl (who definitely had feelings for her), I enjoyed that she didn’t immediately know what she wanted to do or where to go, but when the Empire came, she couldn’t walk away, she couldn’t do nothing, because this was where she was supposed to be. Ahsoka may not be a Jedi anymore, but in some ways she’s a Jedi more than ever, she’s in touch with the Force and her path more than ever. The grief she’s slammed with when she feels the lights go out in the galaxy as the Jedi are murdered, the sadness at how lost and alone she is are beautifully done. All of it was a solid, engaging, feelings-laden read, with moments of absolute greatness that really shone. It’s a book that I think I could reread someday (I’m not a big rereader of things) and absolutely on my list of recommended Star Wars books in general, and a must-read for fans of Ahsoka’s character. ✦ Wild Space by Karen Miller, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & bail & cast, 354 pages    When Senator Bail Organa reveals explosive intelligence that could turn the tide of war in the Republic’s favor, the Jedi Master agrees to accompany him to an obscure planet on the Outer Rim to verify the facts.    I had a hard time figuring out what to ultimately say about this book, because I loved it a lot… but not precisely in the way I expected to. I think the best way to put it is: It’s not a very strong story, but it’s an incredible collection of character moments. If you’re looking for something to quote or just to spend some time with the characters, then this book is going to be a lot of fun!   It took me awhile to put my finger on my biggest problems with the book, but I think my #1 frustration was: The first half of the book was absolutely amazing, it was catching us up to speed on the moments around the Clone War starting on Geonosis, it dealt with the aftermath of Anakin losing his arm, of the rift that had grown between him and Obi-Wan, how they work on trying to bridge it back, how Anakin deals with the first days of Ahsoka being his Padawan and her observations on the Obi-Wan/Anakin relationship, and Obi-Wan discovering yet another plot that needs taking care of. There’s some great h/c where Anakin just about loses his mind when Obi-Wan is injured, there’s some great banter, there’s some really fascinating parallels between Obikin and Anidala (and several Obianidala hints, if you want to see them that way), and so much more nuance about the PT Jedi’s role in the war than I’m used to seeing!    All of that was great. It takes up about the first half of the book, then the war separates Obi-Wan and Anakin, they go off in different directions, and the plot shifts to focus on Obi-Wan and Bail Organa working together to uncover a Sith plot. And that’s where things just sort of fizzle for me–because it starts promisingly! So much debate between Obi-Wan and Bail! So much nuance and so many quotes I’m going to pull from it! Awesome! And their storyline builds up really nicely, culminating in them crashing on a Sith planet and having this arduous trek to get help. Still awesome! Obi-Wan is a goddamned tank in this part of the book, he’s under constant physical and mental assault and he still keeps going, the amount of damage he can take and still keep fighting was awe-inspiring! I am all for this!    But then it just kind of… ended. The entire second half of the book (which felt like a separate book from the first half) was a three day walk across some deserted planet. It was a long, grueling slog of a walk and the writing does justice to that, but… that’s it. They get to the Sith shrine and it’s over in a handful of pages. There’s plenty of cool character moments on this walk, but I never felt like Obi-Wan and Bail actually earned their new friendship, they hardly talked about anything other than “We have to rest.” “No, we have to keep going.” And there was hardly any actual action, the plot was just sort of thinly there to provide long sections of whump writing. Which made me feel that… as a story, it wasn’t put together that well, it was the strength of the author’s take on Obi-Wan’s character and the relationships he has that really made the book an interesting read for me.    That said, it’s absolutely and totally worth it for every moment between Obi-Wan and Anakin, while it started out with me making some unsure faces (because I don’t buy for once second that Obi-Wan would have been fooled about Anakin and Padme ending their relationship), by the end I was entirely onboard with these moments, the depth the author added to their relationship, the moments of insight that felt spot on, the subtle undercurrents or the things that smacked me in the face (like the realization that Obi-Wan didn’t know the content of Anakin’s dreams, that they were dangerous, rather than regular dreams) or just gave me a lot of feelings about how co-dependent they could be with each other. It’s a great book for getting a better understanding of Obi-Wan’s point of view while still keeping him distant from those around him, it does a great job with showing the weight of his thoughts and feelings while keeping his iron will intact. And it really is entirely, entirely worth the read for the Old Married Couple banter between Obi-Wan and Anakin! ✦ Thrawn by Timothy Zahn, thrawn & governor pryce & ocs & yularen & cast, 448 pages    “I study the art of war. Work to perfect it.” —Grand Admiral Thrawn    Reintroducing a character like Thrawn to the current canon of Star Wars can be tricky, especially after the character was already introduced via season three of Rebels, now Zahn had to write backstory for him. But this book was everything I could have asked for from it–it was an engaging story all on its own, but also that it balanced having little nods and winks to old EU canon with keeping firmly in the now, that this is still a character who needs establishing in this version of continuity. This book also does a really good job of showing Thrawn’s point of view, which isn’t easy with a character like this, one who is always supposed to be at least three steps ahead of everyone else, but I enjoyed every moment of it and I found the character to be incredibly engaging and charismatic, in that sense of how I always wanted to be reading more about him. I read through this book fairly quickly and while it was perfectly paced for what it was, I also found myself thinking that I would very easily read another five in a series of books about this character from this author and that I hope there really is a sequel in the works!    A good chunk of the book is also dedicated to Governor Arihnda Pryce, we get to see her go from being reasonably morally decent to where she is in Rebels and she’s fascinating for it! While I still was more interested in Thrawn, by the end of the book, I saw what she brought to the table of this story and how everything was solidly woven together and so I don’t begrudge her being there at all! (Plus, it’s hard to begrudge a female character getting in on the titular character’s action, when I’ve seen so many male characters do the same to female central characters.) The use of the OCs was also nicely done and I came to care about Eli Vanto by the end, I enjoyed his character and seeing Thrawn through his eyes as well! But, yes, ultimately this was Thrawn’s backstory and the tale of his rise through the ranks to Grand Admiral of the Imperial Navy and it very much hit all the notes I wanted it to hit.    By the end of the story, it had caught my imagination (I spent a few minutes wondering what it would have been like had Thrawn been on the other side), I found that I liked the explanation for his character, why he joined and worked so hard for the Empire, the way he dealt with people, that he could have such honor and morals, while still doing terrible things, while still absolutely being a villain. For all that he’s very thoughtful and engaging, for all that Thrawn values lives, I don’t think the book ever forgot that he was ruthless and would not hesitate when it came to what needed to be done, that combination endeared the character to me and now I would genuinely like an entire series about him or for him to have the same prominence post-ROTJ that he did before, even if I know that may be impossible with Disney’s new canon. This book won’t quite unseat Ahsoka as my favorite of the new canon, but it sure as heck is on my top five list now. ✦ Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray, leia & bail/breha & cast, 416 pages    Sixteen-year-old Princess Leia Organa faces the most challenging task of her life so far: proving herself in the areas of body, mind, and heart to be formally named heir to the throne of Alderaan.    I really, really loved this book a lot, I thought it achieved everything it set out to do, and was just a really good look at a young Leia, where she came from, and how some of the pieces of her life started sliding into place. I love it because there are a lot of little moments that work well for me, the ways Leia unknowingly touches the Force were some of the best, that they made sense in the moments they were used and weren’t too heavy-handed to make you wonder why she herself didn’t notice–that’s not an easy balance to strike! But it’s also that this makes so much sense as a young Leia story, where she’s struggling with wanting to do more for the galaxy around her, but not having the maturity to understand some of the more long-term plans that are out of her reach, to understand why her parents haven’t told her about them. And this story is about her struggle to grow up into someone they can trust with that, her struggle to become that person as much as it about the struggle of trying to decide how much to risk Alderaan in this Rebellion, to risk the one safe place the galaxy has. And that dilemma felt much more organic and meaningful than the dilemma she faced in Bloodline, I felt.    I enjoyed the new characters, for all that they were fairly predictable that didn’t take away from that I liked reading about them and that their story had meaning to help support Leia’s–and I’m looking very much forward to seeing some of them show up in The Last Jedi! The familiar characters (like Tarkin and Mon Mothma) were well-used, they’re important figures that we know Leia knew, but they weren’t overdone–a lot of the references to things we know about canon or the use of various bits of trivia (like when we briefly see Eriadu from Rogue One) were all well done! I enjoyed that this is a character who is very much her bio-father’s daughter, but is also even more Bail Organa and Breha Organa’s daughter, that the pieces we see of Alderaan, the bits of worldbuilding that we get are really lovely. And, oh, Bail and Breha are used very well here, they may not be main characters, but they certainly feel human and weighty in the narrative. Basically, this book is all I could have asked for from it and I would enjoy seeing Claudia Gray write more of her! ✦ Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson, phasma & brendol hux & cast, 400 pages    One of the most cunning and merciless officers of the First Order, Captain Phasma commands the favor of her superiors, the respect of her peers, and the terror of her enemies. But for all her renown, Phasma remains as virtually unknown as the impassive expression on her gleaming chrome helmet. Now, an adversary is bent on unearthing her mysterious origins—and exposing a secret she guards as zealously and ruthlessly as she serves her masters.    This book is not at all what I expected it to be. When I picked it up, I thought it would be a book that would try to get into Phasma’s head–an odd proposition for a character we know very little about at the moment. But instead it’s a book that looks at her story from several outsiders’ views of her, it’s a story about her, not from her. And that’s also something I wouldn’t have thought I would enjoy, but yet I did. It balances how weird Star Wars can be with an unwinding story about showing who Phasma is at her core, that she’s mysterious and difficult to parse, but the more you see of her, the more you start to slowly catch glimpses of her. And by the end I felt like, yes, this is a Phasma I could see and understand and she made sense to me.    The book does have a lot of trivia pulled into it, but it’s all stuff I enjoyed and nothing I thought would stop a person from understanding it through context! And I really came to enjoy the new characters, I adore Vi Moradi like you wouldn’t believe, I thought the First Order was shown as reasonably understandable how they don’t recognize what they’re in the middle of, yet it’s unquestionably a horrible, poisonous organization. I wound up enjoying the structure of the story about Phasma rather than from her, I found the adventures the characters all got into to be engaging, I found the world ultimately made sense to me (despite my early misgivings about how I wasn’t sure things worked like that), and it was just one of those books that maybe I don’t have a ton to say about, but I felt served the character and the franchise really well. It’s just engaging, I could pick it up and read for an hour no problem, and it was an entertaining ride. Honestly, that made it one that I absolutely would recommend it for! ✦ Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno, galen/lyra & jyn & krennic & tarkin, 352 pages    For years the Republic and the Separatists have battled across the stars, each building more and more deadly technology in an attempt to win the war. As a member of Chancellor Palpatine’s top secret Death Star project, Orson Krennic is determined to develop a superweapon before their enemies can. And an old friend of Krennic’s, the brilliant scientist Galen Erso, could be the key.    I read this novel before I saw the movie (as there are no real spoilers for it, only backstory) and it’s one of the best decisions I could have made, because what this novel does is draw many more connections to the greater Star Wars galaxy than the movie does. I think even reading it after you’ve seen the movie will do the same, it will explain a lot of how the characters got to where they are, especially Lyra, Galen, and Krennic, because it does a really good job of bridging the gap between the Clone Wars and the state of the Empire ~20 years later–well, as much as any one novel can. It draws in planets like Coruscant and Geonosis, it creates new ones that still feel like Star Wars planets, it touches on the use of kyber crystals, it’s about the building of the new Empire, it’s about trying to draw Galen Erso in to work for them and how exactly that happened, when he’s not someone who would have knowingly done so, but he was manipulated and lured in and felt that he had to work on the Death Star, otherwise they’d complete it without him much sooner, especially since they had his notes on kyber crystals from before.    The book isn’t really so much a story in and of itself, it’s more of a backstory and filling in the gaps, connecting the dots, kind of story, but I loved it for that, given that I felt Rogue One (for all its cameos and being centered on the Death Star plans) felt like it was very detached from the larger galaxy that I knew and loved. It does a great job with the three characters it centers on, it breathes some life into Lyra, it explains Galen better, and it writes an absolutely hilariousKrennic (his cat fights with Tarkin are amazing), as well as has the single greatest premise: That Galen Erso used so much ineffecient bureaucracy to make the higher-ups so sick of looking at reports that they just went Okay, fine already! and let them keep the tiny flaw in the plans. It’s a book that’s very much meant to go along with the movie, but I think it’s one that achieved exactly that goal and made the whole experience stronger! Luceno is one of my favorite authors and this book definitely did not disappoint me. ✦ Bloodline by Claudia Grey, leia & ocs, 352 pages    As the daughter of Darth Vader, Leia faces with distrust the prospect of any one person holding such a powerful position—even when supporters suggest Leia herself for the job. But a new enemy may make this path Leia’s only option. For at the edges of the galaxy, a mysterious threat is growing….    I definitely could not put this book down and I think Claudia Gray has a great grasp on Leia’s character, so reading this book as a Leia story was absolutely a worthwhile time! It especially understood her complicated relationships with both her fathers, both Bail and Anakin, and her difficult to untangle feelings there. It doesn’t shy away from that Leia is the goddamned boss, that she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty by digging into the hard work, even ~thirty years later. The only complaints I have about this book are in the political and structural stuff–one of which isn’t the author’s fault, as this book was published not long after The Force Awakens, so it couldn’t really contain anything with Luke or Ben, it had to dance around actually dealing with those things, when it clearly would have been important to do so. It does what it can with the Han/Leia relationship, but it’s still chained to what the movie put down, so I don’t blame it for that.    However, the politics of the book were terrible and made zero sense–the idea was that, because Palpatine had abused his power via the Empire, there should be no central government anymore and that’s just bullshit. By that logic, there shouldn’t be any planetary government, either. Or any country-level government. Or city-level government. All government is open to potential abuse, if you vote the wrong person in, that doesn’t mean you scrap the whole idea. Especially not when Leia then leaves the Senate and founds the Resistance, which I’m pretty sure has a heirarchy that’s open to potential abuse if the wrong person gets in. It also contained references to how apparently the New Republic allows “indentured servitude” and Leia witnesses this and barely thinks much of it. It also relies heavily on characters acting for the plot sometimes, rather than acting how a reasonable person would. And I wish the balance between the plot of uncovering the First Order (which can only do so much, since we know where this has to go) versus the moments of just pure Leia had been better.    Okay, I’m being pretty harsh on this book and I don’t mean to be, because I absolutely think it’s worth reading for the Leia moments, where she’s so solidly herself, where she has all this passion and anger, but she’s so thoroughly goodthat even the galaxy being unfair to her cannot shake her core foundations. It was a book I couldn’t put down and it felt like Star Wars (which is a hugely important thing to me!), especially in that there were lots of aliens, some that I recognized and some that I didn’t, that there were tons of planets and different cultures that truly felt like a space opera. And for all that I criticize the political philosophy here, that the politics were important to the story, just as much as the action was, was very well done!    It’s a bit of a slow start, but by chapter 5 or 6 I had trouble putting it down and I had that experience of feeling, “Ahhhh! I need to talk to people about my feelings about this book!” in a good way, which is something I also treasure. It’s a book that balances Leia’s incredibly caring nature, her huge heart, and her deep wells of anger. It’s a book that had engaging new characters that I cared about while I was reading about them. I wish there’d been more introspection on Leia’s feelings about Anakin as her bio-dad, but it’s also a story that captures how she’s such an iconic character, and it’s an incredibly engaging read. I absolutely recommend it, no question. ✦ Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry, leia & ocs, 240 pages    Set between Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi, the story follows the warrior princess as she leads a ragtag group of rebels on a dangerous mission against the evil Galactic Empire.    I enjoyed this book! It’s not particularly game-changing in any way, it doesn’t involve a lot of introsepction and it’s almost entirely action, but it’s a fun filler type of story where Leia has to run a mission for the Rebellion to distract the Empire while they work on something else. It has some fun moments and it was easy to pick up and put down, it had moments of solid characterization–and that’s really what this is. A very solid read, especially if you like Leia as a character and want to see her leading a team on an adventure. It has a solid cast of supporting characters (including some recognizable and some new alien species!) and it does a solid job of adventuring around the galaxy, really feeling like Star Wars, as is always important to me. It’s just all the way around a solid, solid story that I easily read through in just a couple of days because it was engaging enough that I sailed right along. ✦ The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure by Jason Fry, luke & ocs, 192 pages    Set between Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the story finds Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and R2-D2 stranded on a mysterious planet, and explores a dangerous duel between Luke and a strange new villain.    My feelings on this book are pretty much identical to how I felt about Moving Target, in that it’s a very solid story that is a fun filler piece (and that’s not a slam, because filler pieces often make a world feel richer and more fleshed out) with some adventure and some solid characterization moments. It’s a story that I read when I was incredibly hungry for anything Star Wars related and so I inhaled it in just a couple of days, because it was engaging and easy to read, it’s solid and worth the time, if you’re a fan of Luke Skywalker’s character. ✦ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by Alexander Freed, jyn & cassian & bodhi & baze & chirrut & k2so & galen & krennic & cast, 336 pages    The Rebellion has learned of a sinister Imperial plot to bring entire worlds to their knees. Deep in Empire-dominated space, a machine of unimaginable destructive power is nearing completion. A weapon too terrifying to contemplate … and a threat that may be too great to overcome.    I enjoyed Rogue One as a movie, but the characters never really spoke to me until I read this novelization. It’s the kind of book that does exactly what I want from novelizations–where it adds all these little, tiny moments to the story and it allows for a better understanding of the characters because it gets into their heads, while still sticking to the story that I saw on the screen. This novel especially did incredible things for Jyn’s character for me, she is so messy and complicated and jaded and cynical and hurt and damaged here, shown through her pov in a way that helped me to understand why she behaved the way she did in the movie, why she was so cold on the surface and seemed so flat, all while there’s such a great character that appealed to me under the surface.    Jyn alone is what I would have enjoyed this novelization for! But it really did a lovely job with the Cassian and Bodhi scenes as well, there were a couple of devastating lines about Baze and Chirrut as well, even K2-SO wasn’t immune from breaking my fannish heart in this book. The highlight of this one is how it added depth to the story that was already there, especially with Jyn’s character (I wanted to quote so many lines!) but it’s pretty much everything a novelization should be–it was interesting and engaging even while telling a story I already knew the details of. ✦ Lone Wolf by Abel G. Peña, obi-wan & luke, 76 pages    A narrative of Obi-Wan facing the realities of a Jedi outcast at the twilight of the Clone Wars.    I have very complicated feelings about this short story–on the one hand, I wrote like half a dozen blogging posts about it because there were moments in it that absolutely sent me over the moon! There were some great details that I will cherish forever! But the tone of the story was incredibly grimdark in a way that was trying too hard even just post-ROTS would warrant, it was a little too over the top trying to be serious and edgy, as well as there are a lot of descriptions of how gross and yucko the women in this story are. As a fan of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the grief he was working through at this point in time, I don’t regret reading this book, there were some goddamned stellar quotes from it! But it comes with a whole lot of caveats and side-eyeing of certain elements and… well. I have a reaction post from it, if you don’t mind spoilers! There was potential here and I would be happy to see this author take another crack at SW stuff, but this one didn’t hit the mark for me–and that may be a personal thing! (Aside from the way the women in this story were described.) But, well, this is a list of reviews for like-minded fans, so I can’t say I really recommend it for my crowd personally. ✦ The Hive by Steven Barnes, obi-wan & ocs, [short story]    Dispatched as a Republic envoy to the Outer Rim planet Ord Cestus — in a bid to halt the sale of potentially deadly “bio-droids” to the Confederacy — Obi-Wan Kenobi finds himself enlisted in a mission more desperate, and dangerous, than diplomatic.    This is a short story that was a companion piece to the Cestus Deception, I believe, and it’s one of those that’s solid for what it is, but I wish there had been a bigger scope to it. It’s a fairly routine (for this character, anyway) mission where Obi-Wan is on a planet trying to help a race of insect-like people regain their royal eggs, and the world-building and culture and original characters are all well done! I was never bored by anything that was here! My only caveat is that I wish there’d been more, more to the aspects I already knew and cared about, like Obi-Wan thinking more about Anakin or the Jedi or having others show up. If you’re going in for a look at an alien society in the Star Wars universe, this book is really great! And I do like what’s here of Obi-Wan’s character! And I saw a review once that likened it to a lost episode of The Clone Wars and I felt like that was a good description of it, that I wanted more, but for the focus of this short story being what it was, it was solidly done. ✦ Guardian of the Whills by Greg Rucka, chirrut & baze & ocs, 240 pages    On the desert world of Jedha, in the Holy City, friends Baze and Chirrut used to be Guardians of the hills, who looked after the Kyber Temple and the devoted pilgrims who worshiped there. Then the Empire came and took over the planet.    This is a middle-grade novel and I think a lot of the enjoyment of it depends on what you’re looking to get out of it. I had been hoping for something that delved into Baze and Chirrut’s background a little more, to get something of their history as Guardians of the Whills, to develop that aspect of the SW universe again, but instead this novel is set a handful of months before the Rogue One movie, so it’s dealing with the Empire taking over their city and what leads them to the fight against it. That said, it’s a solid story and has some great lines between the characters, the old married couple dynamic (while I wish they’d been made canon, I felt like there was at least a very, very easy time to read into them that way here) is a highlight and a joy, and it’s a solid story with engaging characters. While I wish there had been more depth to the characters and their history, Rucka does a great job at showing them in the moment, that they felt very much like the characters I saw on the screen, and felt very true to how I imagine they would have been drawn into the fight against the Empire on Jedha. If you like these characters, I would say that this is absolutely worth the read! ✦ Secrets of the Jedi by Jude Watson, obi-wan/siri & anakin/padme & qui-gon & adi gallia & cast, 208 pages    To be a Jedi is to safeguard peace in the galaxy. To be a Jedi is to defend justice against tyranny. To be a Jedi is to rely on the Force. To be a Jedi is to not love or live as normal people do … at whatever the price.    I have such a complicated relationship with Jude Watson’s writing–it’s very much written at 13 year olds and I think the pacing and worldbuilding often suffer for it, that little has much room to breathe or let the impact be felt, that the logic of the Jedi doesn’t hold up on a worldbuilding level/doesn’t fit with the higher level canon, and the characters aren’t always how I see them. But, at the same time, when she nails a moment, she absolutely nails it, her writing can be incredible quotable and I really do love the characters that inhabit these novels (I especially love Siri and Bant!) and the underlying story is often one that has a lot of potential, if you want to explore it more, it’s often practically made for character-exploring fic pieces, practically! It is a book that is centered on romance–that each of the stories being told here (about Qui-Gon, about Obi-Wan, about Anakin) is about romance at the heart of it, which can be frustrating when there are so many other important relationships, but the book did well with the comparisons and contrasts between them.    I’m kind of hard on the book, but I’m reading it as an adult and I’m not really the target audience for this story anymore (even as I think kids’ books can appeal to adults in the right author’s hands) and that’s not to say that I don’t see the appeal of it to a lot of people. I actually enjoy reading other people’s enjoyment of this book, even if I often feel like I think these books work better if you read them when you were younger, rather than looking at them through the eyes of current canon, especially since the book came out in 2005. Would I recommend it? Depends on the person and how much you’re invested in various characters–Obi-Wan fans will enjoy the book more than Qui-Gon or Anakin fans, I suspect. It’s not one that I consider to be particularly true to Star Wars, but the handful of moments that were worth reading for are incredibly worth reading for! ✦ The Force Awakens: Rey’s Story by Elizabeth Schaefer, rey & cast, 128 pages    Rey never thought she would leave the desert planet of Jakku, but her life is turned upside down when she meets BB-8, a small droid with a big secret. Like it or not, Rey is about to be caught up in something much larger than herself: a galactic war between the evil First Order and the fledgling Resistance.    While this book is almost entirely going over the events of The Force Awakens–well, her parts of the story, that is–I suspect it would go over best with those who really enjoy her character already! But I found that it was worth the read because I really do love Rey a ton and there were bits and pieces that were new (like a bit more of what she filled her time with while on Jakku), as well as moments where she connected to the Force or her feelings for Finn or little touches that could mean more, were nicely present. It’s a short book, a light read that’s mostly just going over something we’re familiar with already, but it was a very sweet one for that.