It's still
Star Wars' week and it is almost new year and I still haven't finished my reading goal and it is only like 6 books left. So in star wars book canon, sadly disney decided to 'throw' all the books that have been
more than 30 years i guess and they decided that those EU (expanded universe)
are no longer canon. They decided that because to clear everything before the
new movie comes out (which has already out yeay). So this is my second star
wars canon book after the force awakens novelization. I have seen this book a
couple times but I'm not sure I should buy it or not because I am not really
into sci-fi book no matter what the tittle is, I prefer sci-fi movies over
sci-fi book because I thought it was just too hard to imagine it but I love
fantasy book so much so I think why don't give it try and since I know the
author, Claudia Gray from Firebird trilogy that makes me want to read it.
Synopsis
"The reign of the Galactic Empire has reached the Outer
Rim of Jelucan, where aristocratic Thane Kyrell and rural villager Ciena Ree
bond over their love of flying. Enrolling at the Imperial Academy is nothing
less than a dream come true for both of them. But Thane sours on the dream when
he sees firsthand the horrific tactics the Empire uses to maintain its ironclad
rule.
Bitter and disillusioned, he joins the fledging Rebellion--putting
Ciena in an unbearable position between her loyalty to the Empire and her love
for the man she's known since childhood.
Now
on opposite sides of the war, will these friends turned foes ever find a way to
be together, or will duty tear them--and the galaxy--apart?"
Stories
Okay so
this book occur before, co-currently and just after the original trilogy from A
New Hope - The Empire Strikes Back and then Return of The Jedi and the most
important part is this contain a little spoiler about what happened in Episode
VII movie. As you may see that in TFA trailer, in Jakku there is one huge super
star destroyer and this book tells you how that ship ended up in Jakku. Such an
interesting part. This book happened eight years after the fall of the Old Republic, The
Galactic Empire now reigns over the known galaxy. Resistance to
the Empire has been all but silenced. Only a few courageous leaders
such as Bail Organa of Alderaan still dare to openly oppose Emperor
Palpatine. After years of defiance, the many worlds at the edge of the Outer
Rim have surrendered. With each planet's conquest, the Empire's might grow
even stronger. The latest to fall under the Emperor's control is the
isolated mountain planet Jelucan, whose citizens hope for a more prosperous
future even as the Imperial Starfleet gathers overhead...
The characters in here is the Jelucan people in
Outer Rim, we meet them when they were 8 years old, Thane and Ciena. After the
Empire has invade the planet Jelucan, these two friends met by accidentally,
both Thane and Ciena know that they want to go to Imperial Academy when they
are old enough and their dream is to become a pilot. Partner in piloting too.
We got to meet a lot of cameos from originals for example Grand Moff Tarkin ,
yup that guy behind Death Star, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian and other
similar faces that we already knew from originals. As they grew up, become
older and older and after the destruction of planet Aldeeran and death star,
both of them was really shocked and suprised because that is the first time
they having doubt about the Empire but not to Ciena who is an idealist person
and appreciate the honor VERY MUCH. For her honor is very important also with
the loyalty because she already took an oath to service the Empire no matter
what the condition is. But not with Thane who is a cynical person and he
started doubting the Empire. This is where the fun begins. Thane decided to
desert his post in Kerev Doi because his doubting to Empire gets bigger and
bigger after he witnessed a slavery in that area. He thoughts Empire is keeping faith to the people in galaxy but in
reality the Empire didn't care at all. So the book is actually like
romeo-juliet but in galaxy far far away and eventhough this is about love story
i personally think it's not just about that it also involves around friendship,
family, and of course character itself. Sadly the have to be separated for a
long time when Thane decided to deserted his post as an imperial officer and he
just can't be one of them anymore while Ciena still doing her duty no matter
what happened. They met for several time under complicated situation, like when
Rebels Alliance (which Thane is one of them) trying to be an intel which leads
to Ciena who got task from her commander that at least she has to free one
X-Wing rebels ship and she did it, she met Thane and Thane knew that Ciena will
always be there for him and save him and so did Thane. It's like they were
separated just because of war, one side on Rebel Alliance and one side is on Empire
and both of them have different opinion to their side and they did realize they cannot force each other to join back or
to join another so they let each other go. (It's so sad I know)
The ending scene in here tells you a bit what
happened in Jakku, those super star destroyer you saw in trailer the force
awakens remember? Okay here:
Remember those ship? So on this book that ship is
actually Ciena's Inflictor Stardestroyer.
She was the captain and her mission is to go to
Jakku (well not actually crash on Jakku but landed on Jakku) because there is a
battle in Jakku just right one year after the Emperor and Darth Vader died and
if I am not mistaken the Empire are going to do the election of the new emperor
and this battle of Jakku is to show that Empire is still strong not like as
what the New Republic thinks. But the rebels are trying to take the Inflictor
and the ship is actually going on
self-destruct and Ciena as a captain choose to be on the ship alone to crash
the ship while all the crews have been sent with the escape pod. In here, Ciena
knew that Empire is corrupted and she knew that Empire is on the evil side but
she still keep her oath to Empire so she decided to die with honour while
knowing that she has finished her duty and this is the only way to being good
while Empire is not good at all. Fortunately, yes Thane was one of the rebels
who got the task to take this ship without knowing Ciena is still alive but
when he realized she is still in the ship, he helped her with some fighting
going on because Ciena did not want to leave the ship at all and Thane decided
to shoot her (not kill shoot) but just to weakened her (thank goodness, I was
so mad at her like 'why you still keep thinking an oath while you're going to
die and here is your first love trying to save you and you don't want to?'
So that was it, the brief story and trust me this
book is a hella adventure, it’s a star wars book and I love it so much! Now I
opened my eyes to more sci-fi books.
Characters:
Thane
He is a cynical person who more like critical,
doesn’t really trust that much on human nature. It’s weird how I can relate to
Thane so much like he is more like me. The destruction of Alderaan had the
opposite effect on Thane, who was already more cynical than Ciena, as he saw it
for what it was – the murder of countless innocents by the Empire makes he
doubts more about the Empire whether he is in the right place to work or is he
on the wrong side. He eventually chooses to defect, which hinders his newly
romantic relationship with his best friend, Ciena, who chooses to remain loyal
and honor her commitment to the Empire. He decided to join the rebellion
because he know what his fighting for and he knows it will be worth it to
fighting for something not like the Empire, who just want to show off that ‘Hey
I got power in here, I have death star so you all better be careful with the
Empire’
Ciena
She is an idealist person. She loves by her
family (while Thane, his family didn’t really care about him at all and even
his father always beat him up back then), she holds loyalty, honor and oaths ABOVE
EVERYTHING like everything. To be honest, I don’t really like Ciena maybe
because her idealism, how she still keeps her oath and something like that and
I realized the reason I don’t like her that much maybe because I am not like
her and there is that moment when Ciena is too oblivious about what Empire have
done or when she is in denial that Empire is evil I was just like “Hey make up
your mind please open your eyes, forget oath okay see right there what Empire
have done to the galaxies”. Anyway, the destruction of Alderaan was a key event
in the story that began to shake Ciena’s loyalty to the Empire, despite her
reservations about the tragedy. She rationalized that it was necessary to put
an end to the war, and was further sure of her place in the Empire after the
Rebel “terrorists” destroyed the Death Star (and many of her friends on board).
She believed on that until it was too late when she realized she serves for
Empire for nothing. Her acts on crashing the Inflictor was actually her way to keep her honor and at the same time to get rid of herself from the Empire;
The thing is about this book you get a different
point of view how the originals trilogy movie being told, and makes you wonder “Is
everyone in the Empire evil or are they just following orders?”. The ending was
kinda open-minded which leads to a big questions what will happened to Ciena
after she is being captured by Republic (because Thane did save Ciena but the
rebels are the one who found him so yeah she was in prison) and another
question is so Empire is not died at all actually? I mean I know First Order
were rose from the ashes of the Empire but who the hell is the one controlling
them if Sidious and Vader are already dead? Snoke? Which leads to a question,
who is Snoke? I guess it will be answer in next movie yes? Two years more
waiting. I can wait. I can.
So what else? If you interested in Sci-fi novel
and bonus if you love Star Wars this might be your perfect reading and guide
book too to all new star wars cannon! Oh and bonus, here is the unofficial book soundtrack inspired by this book because when you read Star Wars book, it is just not enough without the great music by John Williams (and of course that only happened in movie but luckily a fan of the book and star wars made this score and it is so beautiful like I can feel this score tells stories about Thane and Ciena's journey. See you on the next post!
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