Resistance Reborn

Rebecca Roanhorse’s Star Wars: Resistance Reborn picks up shortly after the events of The Last Jedi, with the surviving members of the Resistance working to locate their missing allies while building new alliances and inroads against the First Order. They temporarily set up a base on Ryloth, where an old ally of Leia’s offers shelter and equipment. Snap Wexley seeks out his mother, Nora, and his step-father, Wedge Antilles, bringing them back into the fight. The remaining Resistance fighters then plan three missions to get new ships, supplies, and a list of potential allies that the First Order rounded up so that they can rebuild and spread their message.

Following a First Order functionary on Coreillia, Roanhorse discusses the way show more fascist regimes acquire power if not actively resisted. She writes, “Winshur had never been political. Since he had come of age after the Galactic Civil War, he hadn’t really seen the alleged horrors of the Empire at its height, and the presence of Imperial troops in Bel Vistal had been limited… When the First Order came, people had grumbled. Some had protested and a few politicians had openly opposed the occupation, but they had quickly been voted out. People had been scared at first, but life had gone on. A few more checkpoints, a curfew, restrictions on public gatherings and some kinds of speech, but generally people had adjusted. Even when their most outspoken neighbors had been arrested and taken away. Even when their rights were slowly eroded” (pg. 68). In this single paragraph, Roanhorse captures the core warning of Star Wars against fascism, a message in both the original trilogy and the prequels, now articulated for the sequel films.

Roanhorse draws upon a great deal of the new Del Ray Star Wars canon in exploring the Resistance’s efforts to regroup and rebuild. For example, she references Inferno Squad, the same group from Star Wars: Battlefront II: Inferno Squad, that Iden Versio commanded to hunt Saw Gerrera’s Partisans and that later defected to the New Republic during Operation: Cinder, with Iden and Del Meeko’s daughter Zay Versio making an appearance in this era (pgs. 9, 152). She further incorporates elements from Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy, specifically Phantom Squadron (pg. 114). The events of Claudia Gray’s Star Wars: Bloodline play a large role as well, with Roanhorse drawing upon Gray’s novel for parts of Leia’s narrative (pg. 76-66) and with the reappearance of Ransolm Casterflow (pgs. 129-130, 165). Roanhorse’s description of Ryloth draws extensively upon events from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Finally, Roanhorse also includes a reference to Star Wars: Rebels, in which Sabine Wren helped Wedge Antilles defect to the Rebellion (pg. 181).

Roanhorse’s novel helps to explain how the Resistance will rebuild and be capable of taking on the First Order in The Rise of Skywalker, laying the groundwork for future novels that will similarly fill in the gaps. Fans of the new canon in particular will enjoy how she incorporates subtle references and callbacks into her narrative. show less

Resistance Reborn did a great job connecting TLJ with TROS and showing some of the events that occurred between movies. I found Roanhorse's writing style to be accessible and engaging, and I had no trouble being pulled into the book immediately. The main POVs come from Poe, Leia, Wedge, and a First Order officer whose name I have already erased from my memory—not because he wasn’t well written, it’s because I hate his guts. One of the most exciting things about this novel was the way that it connected the movies with the Extended Universe. I admit, my main motivation for starting this novel is because I heard that Ransolm Casterfo made an appearance and it was nice to finally get closure even though I needed more. Although I show more wasn’t familiar with most of the other EU characters who made an appearance, it makes me want to continue to explore the EU.

This is a dark time for the rebellion and Leia’s chapters are emotional, but I loved seeing from her perspective and watching her relationship with Rey develop. I don’t think Roanhorse managed to capture Rey’s character, but there was nothing that annoyed me about the portrayal either, so I didn’t mind. Poe’s character lacked the humor that I’m used to, but that mainly results from his character arc and him trying to find his place in leadership after the events of TLJ. Wedge’s POV was my favorite to read and I loved learning more about him and seeing his personality.

Resistance Reborn did a great job capturing the time right after TLJ and I really think there is potential to explore more of the rebellion during this time. I’d love to see more books like this one in the EU in the future as well as more Star Wars books by this author. show less

Good warm up to coming attractions (i.e. Episode 9). As always, Marc Thompson does an excellent job bringing the story to life, vocally giving the known characters voices and creating distinct characterizations for the new people.

Roanhorse does a great job drawing on current canon (film, TV, novels and more) to show the struggles of the resistance in finding allies and resources for their fight against the First Order.

Just a really fun Star Wars book! Poe's characterization was spot on, and the story of rebuilding was really compelling and interesting. I feel like the book FLEW by, with interesting things happening all the time, but not in an overwhelming sense. Just really enjoyed this quite a bit, had a really fun time with it and it left me wanting to read more!

7 stars: Good
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From the back cover: The Resistance is in ruins. In the wake of their harrowing escape from Crait, what was once an army has been reduced to a handful of wounded heroes. Finn, Poe, Rey, Rose, Chewbacca, Leia Organa - their names are famous among the oppressed worlds they fight to liberate. But names can only get you so far, and Leia's desperate call for aid has gone unanswered.

From the jungles of Ryloth to the shipyards of Corellia, the shadow of the First Order looms large, and those with the bravery to face the darkness are scattered and isolated. If hope is to survive, the Resistance must journey throughout the galaxy, seeking out more leaders - including those who, in days gone by, helped a nascent rebellion show more topple an empire. Battles will be fought, alliances will be forged, and the Resistance will be reborn.

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This book covers the year between The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker. It generally focuses on Poe and his quest to recruit more rebels, as well as his guilt for his actions that led to so many deaths in The Last Jedi.

I enjoyed this book, and it was good prep to see the movie, which came out about the time I read this.

A few quotes I liked:

"Hope is good" Leia said, "Hope is important, and sometimes it is all we have. But what does hope have to do with being rational?"

"He hurt, inside and out, but the pain was fading. Betrayal. That's all he could feel now. Not by Monti, or even Yama. It was violence that had lied to him. It had made him promises of power, but in the end, it had not saved him. It had damned him." show less

Li correndo para estar por dentro da história (e no clima) do filme que verei amanhã.
É uma boa aventura, tem bons momentos, reunindo personagens dos games, dos livros anteriores e personagens novos e clássicos.
Basicamente tem o foco narrativo em Poe Daemeron e na general Leia. Rey quase não aparece na história. Finn tem uma participação discreta. Não tem nenhum grande spoiler, nada que entregue alguma coisa importante. Bem, só explica como a Tantive IV surgiu (aquela do trailer). É bem escrito, foi uma boa leitura, um dos livros bacanas que li desse novo universo expandido.

It took me forever to get into this. I wanted to read it quicker and faster, but the first 60 some pages is just so blank that its.... eh. And problem is also characters. I've never been drawn to Norra or Snap, or new Wedge (where the old canon I loved Wedge), Poe is also a miss for me for the most part since TLJ basically just set him in reloop from TFA. (At least in RoS he changes.)

So I powerhoused the last 130 some pages to try and finish it before RoS. Spoiler - I didn't, I ended up like 20 pages shy and finished it this morning sadly.

This book falls prey to Disney syndrome. The only reason this book exists, is because of how bad TLJ was and how little it set up for RoS, and we all saw the trailers for RoS and we see a massive show more fleet at the end of it, so we know the Resistance has to go from 12 people to literally thousands basically overnight.

The plot to this is pretty straight forward. Team X goes to Bracca to get ships. Team Y goes to Corellia to rescue Casterfo. Team Z goes to underworld contact for the list. The stakes should seem high in universe, but sadly, because we know how RoS is going to play out, and we know how limited usage the new book characters get.... this whole book seems so superflous and pointless.

Overall this isn't a bad book, but its just a disappointing book, all the moreso because of how we know Disney's new canon is, and how the new state of Star Wars is. I'm left with little care for the characters, or the universe, or plots that involve said characters. Sadly this is why the Sequel Trilogy has been horrible for Star Wars. show less