There has been a lot of hype around Star Wars: Lost Stars since its release on September 4, despite the mediocre promotion it seems to have received and boasting a 4.39/5 rating on Goodreads. So when I heard all this hype, and because Star Wars: The Force Awakens has just released, I knew I had to get my hands on it, and see for myself if it really was as good as people claimed. All I can say is, this novel did not disappoint.
Written by the esteemed YA (Young Adult) author Claudia Gray, Star Wars: Lost Stars takes readers on an epic sci-fi adventure spanning the rise of the Rebellion to the fall of the Empire. All captured and relived through the eyes of two brand-new characters within the Star Wars universe, childhood friends Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell. The two initially bond over their love of spacecrafts at a young age, and eventually are lured by all that the great Empire offers. Circumstances change and they soon find themselves on opposite sides of a war they may not survive.
This book really does succeed at viewing the Empire vs. Rebels conflict as more than just a black and white situation. Both sides have their bad eggs, but both sides have good people that really believe they are doing good things as well. Right from the beginning there are parallels to Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies, where the Empire use propaganda and public displays to show their strength and lure hopeful recruits. Not to mention the scenes where they fly the Death Star and Star Destroyers low over planets as a means of instilling fear into planets in the hopes of quenching rebellion there. So historical parallels are definitely used effectively, and ground the novel a lot more in a believable reality.
Another point that’s important to mention before we get into the more spoilery bits of this review is how seamlessly the book ties together various occurrences from the movies as well as a tie-in that connects directly to The Force Awakens trailer that made me flail a little when I realised.
[Spoilers ahead from here on out, so if you haven’t yet read Star Wars: Lost Stars, bookmark this page, buy it, and then come right back here when you’re done!]
As I’ve said above, this story starts off with the meeting of two children that become childhood friends on the outer rim world of Jelucan. Thane Kyrell is born into an aristocratic family, who he really does not get on with, with tensions evident right from the start between his brother and him. Cienna Ree is from a poorer area and is a rural villager with an upbringing that was more loving and nurturing than privileged. We see their parallel experiences unfurl in the dual perspective narrative of the novel.
From their initial meeting, the two quickly bond over their love of flying and form an unlikely pair, flying regularly together as they grow up and eventually enrol in the Imperial Academy together. While there, they make many friends and excel, constantly competing to be top of the class rankings. However, when the Academy interfere in an attempt to break their close bond, things begin to unravel for Thane and we see him come to realise how manipulative the Empire can be.
As they graduate and get assigned to various ships and missions and find themselves separated from each other, we continue with the dual perspective narrative and also gain further insights into their friends’ lives, two in particular that are of note being Nash, one of Thane’s bunk mates in the academy, who watches as the Death Star completely destroys his home planet of Alderaan. It is a moment that is so well written, as he stands to attention, unable to react out of fear as any reaction would be seen as him being sympathetic with the rebels. Jude, another incredible character, who is a computer whiz, is nothing but sweet and helpful any time she makes an appearance. She is positioned to work on board the death star, which of course we know the rebels destroy. Which really does show how this novel really tries to show that the Empire did not consist of completely evil people, but good people mislead into believing they were making a difference and making the galaxy a better place. A fact which at times can become painful as, throughout the novel, Cienna has an incredibly irritating habit of justifying all the Empire’s wrong doings.
We definitely can’t discuss Lost Stars and not talk about the various cameos in this book. We get to see Leia, Han, Luke and Darth Vader throughout as the story ties into the various movie events, and we see things from a completely different perspective. The main characters, however, are minor in the universe. They are merely soldiers of war, and their deaths would have zero impact on the war at large, as opposed to the deaths of Vader or Palpatine for example. So by that fact alone, while reading the novel, you know that one of them can die at any moment, and it adds to the suspense and thrill of the read. The tie-in to The Force Awakens is also so perfect; on the cover of the novel there is a burning ship plummeting to the ground, which is an occurrence at some point in the novel. This ship shows up in the Force Awakens Trailer half buried in sand, and it appears Rae is exploring the inside of it.
I have to say, I have very little negatives to say about Lost Stars. If anything, one of the only things that annoyed me was how naive Cienna was throughout. This is more of a great character trait than a reflection of poor writing, as it really demonstrated how much of a brainwashing affect the Empire had. Yet once we see her realise how manipulative the Empire has been, we see her torn by her obligations to fulfil her oath to the Empire and her longing to do the right thing. Cienna’s transformation is perhaps the biggest from the beginning, and the hollow shell of a character we see towards the end is almost unrecognisable.
As a whole, I thought this novel was incredibly well-written, well-paced and well-developed. The tie-ins are incredible, and looking back at the movies after reading this, your experience will be more enriching knowing that one of them plotted a ship that appears taking down a walker, or one of them was in the crowd as Palpatine enters the death star. Subtle instances that occur will now be much more fulfilling, as these two new characters leave their mark on Star Wars canon for a long time to come. Lost Stars definitely has sequel potential written all over it (not literally).
A stirring read and introduction to the Star Wars expanded universe.
Star Wars: Lost Stars is available now on Book Depository.
