Romeo and Juliet for the Star Wars universe. The book isn’t
quite as tragic, but it has elements of star crossed lovers. Above all else
this book feels like Star Wars. It captures what is the essence of the Star
Wars universe. Author Claudia Gray weaves a magical masterpiece through the
events of the original trilogy. She is able to give a fresh and different
perspective on what happens during this time. I can’t help but marvel at how
she introduced two new characters into the Star Wars universe and placed them
effortlessly into all of the major aspects of the original movies.
The story starts with two kids on an outer rim world who
come from vastly different backgrounds. Ciena comes from a lower income segment
of society on the world Jelucan whose traditions are steeped with honor and
loyalty. She dreams of making her family proud by becoming a pilot in the
Empire. Thane on the other hand comes from the upper crust of Jelucan society.
All he dreams about is escaping from his abusive parents and getting as far
away from them as possible. The Imperial Academy offers both of them this
opportunity. They befriend each other at a young age and work together to get
off the planet and become Imperial Officers.
The story takes them through their time at the Imperial
academy, The Battle of Yavin, Hoth, Endor and one new battle. What’s fantastic
about the story is how Gray is able to switch the perspective to the Imperial
point of view. Ciena has nothing but praise for the Empire. They gave her
Mother a higher paying job and afforded her the opportunity to make something
of herself. She pledged an oath to the Empire and has to keep it. The Rebels
through her eyes are nothing but terrorists. Ciena has friends on the Death
Star when the Rebels destroy it, which cements her hatred for the Rebellion.
She is blinded to the Empires evils for a long time not wanting to believe the
stories, or just simply not knowing about them. She even finds ways to justify
the destruction of Alderaan. They aren’t great justifications and she sees the
evilness behind the Death Star and “thinks” the Empire will have learned its
lesson after the first was destroyed.
Thane on the other hand is more of a cynic. He sees the
corruption of the Empire at every turn. He just accepts that all forms of government
are going to be corrupt. He would rather serve and do something that he loves
than worry about the overall politics of what he is doing. Gray presents and
excellent character study about the people who serve a totalitarian regime. Not
everyone living under or serving for that regime would be evil. Not everyone
who served in the German army was a Nazi, but I’m sure many saw things they did
not agree with and still did not act. Is this right? No, but it can at least be
understood. Thane sees enough of the
Empire to know he can’t serve with a clean conscious and leaves the Empire. He
eventually finds his way to the Rebellion and our two heroes must fight against
each other.
This is where the star crossed lover aspect of the story
comes into play. Both Thane and Ciera have been attached to each other since
they were children. They were close friends which blossomed into a passionate
romance. They love one another and have a strong connection because of their
deep friendship. I don’t mind a love story when it’s done well (Empire’s
Strikes back good: Clone Wars very very bad). This love story is excellent and
very believable. We care about each of these characters and want to see them
together. Gray paints a picture were both characters are justified in their
decisions they make because of who they are. They want to be together, but have
opposite ideals about what each is fighting for. She did a fantastic job of
fitting this story into the current framework of the galaxy far far away.
The only extremely small nitpick I have of the book is the
way Thane reacts to Luke Skywalker. Thane acts jealous of the hero of Yavin.
This is the only aspect were I think Thane acts out of character. I don’t think
Thane would act jealous, I think Thane would be Luke’s friend. He would want to
pick his brain. I understand Thane lost friends on the Death Star, but he also
understood the necessity in destroying it. Maybe he still couldn’t get over
Luke being the instrument who destroyed the Death Star. I just found the jealous aspect out of
character. I’m guessing Gray might not have been allowed to use Luke in her
story, and had to find a way to mention him without any direct interaction with
Thane. This would make more since than how Thane acts in the book anytime he
hears Luke’s name.
Noting else negatively sticks out in the book for me. We get
some great tidbits about things we have already seen in Force Awakens footage,
and a great story to go along with it. I did not hate Aftermath as much as
others, but I still didn’t love it. The first half of that book was hard to get
through. This is not the case with Lost Stars. It was engrossing from the first
few pages. Claudia Gray wrote an excellent addition to the New Cannon and it is
my favorite of anything published to date. Lords of the Sith was great, this
was just a bit better. If you have not picked this book up and you are a Star
Wars fan this is a must read. If you are picking and choosing sparingly from
the new cannon this is a must. Personally three things have been essential
reading from the new cannon. Lost Stars, Shattered Empire (comic book) and
Lords of the Sith. Other things have been great, but these are the gold
standard for now.
Let me know what you think if you have finished Lost Stars.
Do you think my list of essintal new cannon reading material is right? What did
I miss? Comment, like, share, and all
that other fun jazz. Thanks for reading.
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