SWNN Review: Star Wars: Before The Awakening by Greg Rucka
Immediately after watching The Force Awakens last Thursday night, I was itching to know more about the new characters from the film, so I was delighted when my pre-ordered digital copy of Greg Rucka’s Star Wars: Before the Awakening hit my library on Friday. Read on for the full review.
Before the Awakening is a junior novel and a companion piece to the other Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens character novels released back in September (The Weapon of a Jedi, Smuggler’s Run, and Moving Target). Don’t be fooled by the term “junior novel”. Much like the others in the series, this book is a fun read that can be enjoyed by all ages; it just happens to be written with that age group (9-12) in mind, and at 126 pages, is about half the length of a standard adult novel.
Unlike the other three junior novels in this series which focus on Luke, Han, and Leia in the original trilogy era, this book – although about the same length as the others – focuses on three new heroes from Star Wars: The Force Awakens just months, weeks, and days before the events of the film. The book is divided into three chapters with each one devoted to a specific character’s story.
The first chapter is all about Finn (FN-2187), the second is about Rey, and the final chapter follows Poe Dameron right up to the time of the film itself. I have included in this review some spoilerific summaries of the three stories, but you can skip ahead to the conclusion at the bottom to read my final thoughts on the book if you wish to remain unspoiled.
Finn
Finn’s story begins a short time before The Force Awakens and details the rigorous training and routine of the life of a First Order stormtrooper. From the film you learn that the stormtroopers are basically raised by the First Order, given a designated number instead of a traditional name, and are indoctrinated in combat from early childhood. I enjoyed how the book gave me an even deeper look at the life of a stormtrooper. I also loved how it added to Finn’s motivation to flee at the beginning of the film and why he had such a hard time following his orders during the village raid.
At the beginning of the story, Finn is a cadet, not yet a full-fledged stormtrooper. We follow him as he progresses through his training and end with him preparing to go on his first official mission as a stormtrooper. We quickly discover that Finn, or FN-2187 (as he is called in the book) is an exceptional combatant and leader. Part of a four-man fireteam, he has naturally assumed the position of leadership on the squad. His team look up to him, and follow his orders, although they tend to distance themselves from him on a personal level.
“FN-2187 has the potential to be one of the finest stormtroopers I have ever seen.”
– Captain Phasma to General Hux
Much like the clone troopers of old, the First Order troopers have nicknames to ease communications during combat. Some of them, like FN-2199 (“Nines”) and FN-2000 (“Zeroes”) have nicknames that were naturally derived to shorten their designations. Others, like FN-2003 (“Slip”), who was clumsier than most of the others, had actual nicknames that were associated with their character.
FN-2187, although sometimes called “87” to shorten his designation, was usually just called by his full number, and didn’t really have a nickname. FN-2187 was one of the best stormtroopers anyone had ever seen, always scoring in the top 1% no matter the test. He was brave, smart, loyal and on his way to becoming the ideal First Order stormtrooper, even taking the notice of Captain Phasma who oversaw his training and was his commanding officer.
Initally showing such great promise, it eventually becomes clear that although FN-2187 is a near perfect soldier, he has one major flaw that proves problematic for his future as a soldier for the First Order – his compassion. On multiple occassions, Finn shows his compassion for his teammates, especially with Slip who tends to fall behind the others. Phasma confronts him about it, urging him to let him fail and focus on the task at hand. This goes against Finn’s conscience and we begin to see the seeds of doubt grow in Finn throughout his training.
“You have great potential, 2187. You are officer corps material. Your duty is to the First Order above everything. Nothing else comes before that. FN-2003 must stand or fall on his own. If he stands, the Order is strengthened. If he falls, the Order is spared his weakness. Am I understood?
– Phasma to FN-2187 (Finn)
One of my favorite parts of this story was the hand-to-hand combat training where we see the cadets make use of a number of different melee weapons in a sparring exercise. Finn, as in all other exercises, excels in this arena and takes down challenger after challenger. It’s not until Slip – dazzled from a previous bout – comes into the ring with him, that Finn begins to draw displeasure from his superiors.
It becomes obvious very quickly that Slip is in no shape to fight, and Finn goes easy on him, which once again draws unwanted attention from Phasma and Hux. Captain Phasma, originally one of Finn’s biggest supporters, begins to lose hope that he will be able to lay aside his convictions for the sake of the order, but decides to give him another chance. She assigns FN-2187 on his first real mission to aid Kylo Ren in a village raid on Jakku, giving the trooper one last chance to decide his fate.
Rey
Rey’s chapter is a little less back story and a little more about showing the reader just how hard of a life Rey lived on Jakku. The film does a great job of underscoring this point, but in this book, we dig a little deeper into her day to day life and how she operates as a scavenger. What little she possesses has been scrounged from wreckage across the desert landscape and with very little left untouched, sometimes she goes days without finding anything of value, and even then, it’s just enough to buy her a meal or two and a bottle of water.
It’s still not clear from the book what her relationship was as a child with Unkar, but we see that as a young woman, she strictly has a working relationship with the gruff alien businessman. She brings the parts; he gives her food. He’s all about the bottom line and what he can get out of what she can bring in, and he never really shows an ounce of compassion, much like what we see from him in the film itself.
“Give you three portions, one for each of them.”
“The Z-70 is worth three alone, Unkar.”
“I’m offering you three, Rey. Take it or leave it.”
– Rey and Unkar
What I liked about Rey’s story, was that although we get virtually no backstory on her parentage or why she was left behind on the desert wasteland, it did answer some of the questions that were raised by the film. When not scavenging or trading with Unkar at the Niima outpost, Rey spends virtually all of her free time building things and mastering her skills in flight simulations that she has restored from crashed ships scattered across Jakku’s landscape, which helps to explain how she knows so much about flying in the film and how she is able to single-handedly pilot the Falcon with such skill.
The skills she displays in this book add greatly to what we see on screen, and further bring out the similarities between her character and Anakin and Luke before her. We’ll have to wait till Episode VIII or IX to find out more about her family history, but she is without a doubt following the familiar Skywalker narrative that we have seen before. At this point, I will be greatly surprised if she is not a Skywalker.
The plot of this chapter is driven by the fact that a storm has just affected the landscape which may have uncovered some new treasures to be discovered by those willing to brave the wasteland. On her search for these new treasures, Rey finds the discovery of her life – a small light freighter that was for the most part in one piece. Knowing that if she could restore this vessel, Unkar would pay a pretty price which would allow her meals for a long time, Rey begins to spend every second that she’s not just trying to survive on restoring the ship.
She encounters some trouble along the way and has to defend what’s hers as others want to make a grab for it. She eventually draws the attention of some other scavengers, a human girl about her age named Devi and her partner Strunk, a human male, who offer to help her restore the ship in exchange for a cut.
“Sure, yeah, perfect! We help you fix it up, we do shares of the sale, split whatever Unkar’s willing to pay. That’s what I’m thinking. That’s fair, right? Each of us gets, like, a third?”
“It’s my ship.”
“Right, that’s fair, too, your ship, you found it. So you get half, and Strunk and I split the rest. That’s gonna be five thousand shares for you, at least. Unkar’ll fall all over himself for this, you know he will.”
– Rey and Devi
Initially, Rey doesn’t trust the two of them, but they begin to prove themselves as useful and show genuine interest in getting the ship up and running while being a friend to Rey, something she has never had before. The general rule on Jakku seems to be “you don’t bother me, I won’t bother you”, but as Rey begins to let her guard down she begins to build a relationship with the two scavengers and very soon, the vessel is in working order.
After a test run, they make their way to Niima to make the deal with Unkar. As Rey is heading to make the deal, and just as she begins her conversation with Unkar, she hears the heartbreaking sound of the engine igniting and turns to see the ship fly off into the distance. Following her betrayal, Rey heads back home resigning herself to carry on as usual as she waits for her parents to return.
Poe
Poe’s story was my favorite of the three. It gave us a little background on his character and some great details on the political climate in the galaxy which had little explanation in the film itself. Basically, one side of the galaxy is under Republic control with the other being controlled by the First Order and some neutral systems in between which act as a boundary between the two.
Poe Dameron is the son of pilot Shara Bey and ground-pounder Kes Dameron, who both served the Rebellion in the final days of the Galactic Civil War. Kes was on the ground on Endor as part of Han Solo’s strike team and Shara was in the space battle to destroy the second Death Star. Their story is told in the Shattered Empire comic miniseries, which was also written by Rucka.
We discover that Poe’s parents settled in a colony on Yavin 4 after the war, and he was raised in their home on the small moon. His mother would often take him up in her A-Wing, a gift she was allowed to keep for her years of service to the Rebellion, and he developed a love for flying. His mother never really talked about the war with him, only that life under the Empire was oppressive and fearful. His father opened up more to him about his actions in the war, especially after the death of his mother. We aren’t told how she died, but that Poe was eight years old when she passed.
“So you were never scared?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m saying that what I was afraid of then isn’t what scares me now.”
“What’re you afraid of now?”
“That it was all for nothing.”
– 9-year-old Poe and his Father
Poe learned to fly in his mother’s A-Wing and became a hot shot pilot in the Republic Navy. He is now the leader of Rapier Squadron and is very well respected by his peers. The story begins with his squadron on a routine patrol where they are basically policing Republic space looking for pirates and anyone else who would threaten the well-being of Republic citizens. On their patrol, they get a distress call from another ship and after arriving at its location, discover the First Order is attempting to take the ship.
Unable to stop them and outnumbered, Rapier Squadron returns home one fighter short and Poe urges his superiors to start taking the First Order seriously as a threat to the Republic. Unwilling to make a move against the First Order and content to remain pacifists, Poe’s superiors deny him the request to look in to the matter further, a denial that doesn’t sit well with Poe.
Poe deliberately disobeys his orders while on his next patrol and goes on a solo recon mission following the possible trajectory of the captured ship. He ends up running into a First Order staging area, but manages to stay alive long enough for BB-8 to gather some intel and make the jump to hyperspace. Upon arriving back to base, it seems he has been found out. Awaiting his assured court martial, he is surprised to meet General Leia Organa instead.
His rash actions have been noticed by the Resistance, a militant group that has splintered from the Republic military. While the Republic is content to sit on their collective behinds, those of the Resistance actually recognize the threat posed by the First Order and are doing something about it. Leia offers Poe a position in the Resistance and he graciously accepts.
“You remind me of my brother. Fly like him, too, apparently.”
– General Leia Organa to Poe Dameron
Poe’s final mission in the story, this time working for the Resistance, is far from official. Leia is convinced that a Republic senator is a traitor and is selling secrets to the First Order, however they have been unable to catch him in the act as the records of his excursions are always purged from his ship’s memory before the Resistance spies are able to ascertain the truth of his dealings. Poe’s mission is to capture his yacht and download the information that they need. The problem is that they have a small window to do it in, and if caught, the Resistance must deny all involvement. In other words, Poe and his team would be on their own.
In the end, the mission is a success and discovered along with the wealth of information obtained from the senator’s ship, is the piece of a puzzle that General Leia has been trying to solve for some time. Unfortunately, the First Order appears to be trying to solve the same puzzle. Apparently, a man named Lor San Tekka knows information vital to finding Luke Skywalker and it’s of the utmost importance that the Resistance find him first. This leads us right into where we find Poe in the film’s opening sequence on Jakku.
Conclusion
Before the Awakening reads more like a collection of short stories than a novel, but it was an enjoyable read and gives some good background on the new heroes of the franchise. I wouldn’t say that these details were needed as the film did such a great job setting these characters up, but it is certainly appreciated and definitely adds to my understanding of some of the events of the film and the motivations behind the characters’ actions.
I can’t really think of anything I didn’t particularly like about the book, other than the fact that a whole book devoted to each of these heroes might have better served the characters and their stories, but for what it is, the book does a great job. I’m not sure how much of this story is his original creation and how much is what he was asked by the story group to write, but regardless, between this, Smuggler’s Run, and Shattered Empire, Rucka is well on his way to becoming one of my favorite Star Wars authors.
If you are an absolute Star Wars nut like me, I suggest you pick this up and give it a read. I wouldn’t call the stories within this book groundbreaking by any means, but they are well-written and provide some interesting information. The book is available now where books are sold whether you want a hardcover printed copy or a digital download. Share your thoughts and comments below, and as always, may the Force be with you.
Jordan Pate is Co-Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net, of which he is also a member of the book and comic review team. He loves all things Star Wars, but when he's not spending time in the galaxy far far away, he might be found in our own galaxy hanging out in Gotham City or at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, NY.
See TFA didn’t exactly set up the climate of the galaxy so well. It’s annoying that you have to buy a book to actually get a true scope of the story. The books are suppose to be little tid bits of additional information, not mandatory reading. If they would have included a little more world building and less tentacle creatures out of Guardians of the Galaxy I would definitely have liked the movie more. Not saying that I didn’t really enjoy the film, I like most would have liked more answers than what we got.
I think they were afraid to do too much political stuff due to the failures of the PT in that area in the eyes of many fans. However, I think the film would have benefited from at least one or two scenes with people sitting around talking to each other to get an idea of the political climate. I haven’t read the novelization of the film yet, but from what i’ve heard, it seems that the final edit dropped a lot of this type content, and the novel does a little bit better job explaining the state of the galaxy in TFA. I absolutely adored this movie, and I don’t think you HAVE to read the books to get it, but this is one area where book readers are at a serious advantage. Most everything else book related is small easter egg-type stuff, but this is a pretty big chunk of background that should have been in the film in some way IMO. Ultimately, I just didn’t care about the Republic planets destroyed in the film. I didn’t know anything about them. Korr Sella, you were a pretty face and you will be missed…but that’s about the extent of it. That moment in the film was more like watching a really cool firework show on screen than the tragic simultaneous loss of billions and billions of lives. The books I have read so far still don’t make me care about these people per se, but at least I know who it was that got blown up.
Couldn’t you say the same thing about Alderaan? We as the audience just saw the planet get blown up. Sure, we knew in the OT that Leia grew up there, and after the PT, we now knew that her adoptive father and mother live there and were tragically killed when the Death Star blew up, but still, as an audience, we still weren’t meant to care much about Alderaan being blown up when taking into consideration that millions of lives probably perished in that scenario.
As for politics in the PT, it’s not so much that the politics themselves were failures but more so that some fans didn’t really want to see that type of stuff in Star Wars movies because that’s not something that we saw in the OT so people weren’t used to seeing that (used to seeing mostly action). Furthermore, the politics stuff in the PT, which there really wasn’t much time spent on it when you really think about it (note how long those senate scenes really were and you’ll see what I mean), had reason to be shown story-wise as it served the respective stories and drove the plot (but this is another discussion for another time in another place).
I think overall, they were trying to keep it safe with TFA, Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed TFA, but I can tell that 1) there were similar plot points in it that emulated ANH’s plot points (person in a desert world, Starkiller base, info stored in a droid, etc) and 2) there were objects shown to conjure up nostalgia. All this combines makes for a movie that didn’t really take a lot of risks and felt like originality and creativity was lacking a bit. Hopefully VIII and IX do take risks and take the saga films into a whole new direction because otherwise, this “keeping it safe” behavior will catch on (more than it already has).
Totally agree re: tentacle creatures. What was the point of that whole scene? What a waste of valuable, precious screen time that could have been used to flesh more important things out to move the story forward.
I didn’t particularly like that scene either, but I would have used that time to expand the story of Finn and Poe’s escape/rescue, which I thought was way too rushed. The political background is interesting, but not at all necessary to understand the events of TFA.
Totally agree. Yeah if there was only a way to give exposition at the beginning of the movie in a text form that let the audience know the climate of the film. If only….
I’d have to agree too… the whole sequence on board Han’s freighter was pretty redundant other than reintroducing the smuggler and Chewie (along with the lame Falcon was stolen by X from Y, who stole it from Z, who stole it from Han).
The two ‘we want our money back’ factions were rubbish – with the Kanji Klub guys being particularly wasted when you know it’s the backflipping, a$$-kicking guys from The Raid… and they get to do nothing but run from some pretty weak CG recreations of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors!
Weren’t the Stormtroopers in the OT given numbers too? Remember TK421?
They were, but they were recruited people with actual given names.
this is more like the clones the in the PT(including having nicknames).
If FN-2817 was such a promising soldier, why was he part of the maintenence crew, and generally got his ass kicked throughout the movie?
Finns story in Rucka’s book actually states they all got various rotations in addition to their combat training–kitchen patrol, maintenance, janitor duty, etc. but he was definitely outstanding at combat.
This however is in direct contrast to Alan Dean Fosters novelization of the movie in which Phasma and Hux were surprised at Finn’s actions because he seemed ordinary in every way.
I think in the film itself, Finn also told Han he had sanitation duties on Starkiller base or something like that.
I haven’t read the novelization yet, hoping to check that out later this week.
So, is he ordinary or is he special ? It looks they don’t have a clear definition of Finn’s future path in the trilogy and want to keep their options wide open.
I think the inconsistency is just an oversight, lack of continuity. I believe Rucka’s account. Finn is a very special individual 🙂
He was the most promising “cadet” not the most experienced and bad-A stormtrooper. Plus, every stormtrooper has duties outside of their combat duties. They all pull their weight in various menial tasks when not training or in combat. Give me a choice between the top med student and the brain surgeon that’s been operating for the last 20 years. Which one do you think I’m letting cut my head open? 🙂
Excellent review. This particular book really did add to the overall experience and I hope we get more like them.
I’m dying for some Kylo Ren backstory.
It is interesting that the description of Finn as top of his class or top 1 %, which keeps appearing in the novels, doesn’t really match the film, where he is shown in a much different way. Why is that ?
Yeah, that doesn’t make sense.
I think it’s more to demonstrate his potential which he will more than than likely start to reach in VIII and VIX. Also He was more concerned about escaping the First order than fighting them
His actions were pretty extraordinary to me. He was even able to wound Kylo Ren.
I don’t know, Finn got taken down pretty quick.
The book says Finn always won in all sparring exercises with melee weapons in the stormtrooper basic training. How come was he so easily taken by the stormtrooper in the movie then ? He fared better against Kylo,, which might indicate a learning curve.
BTW, although Kylo was injured, it should be noted that Finn was also injured when he hit Kylo in the shoulder (or arm, i don’t remember exactly). That was actually after Kylo had burned Finn with the cross-guard if I recall it correctly.
“one half of the galaxy is ruled by the republic and the other by the first order.”
its that kind of stuff i wish they put out before the film, it would have given the bigger picture stuff alot more depth.
If Finn always won all fights iwith melee weapons in his sparring exercises, how come he was so bad against the stormtrooper on Takodana ? The problem is that the book shows Finn as brave, a natural Leader and a model soldier, whereas in the movie he is nothing of that kind.
You would think they’re first mandate with the spinoffs would be to tell the story between Ep6-7, considering the massive plot gaps.
totally agree, but i think that gap is solely book and comic territory.
This so-called “plot gaps” are the same that existed in Episode IV, where we knew almost nothing about Vader’s, Obi-Wan’s, Luke’s, Leia’s,, Han’s and the Emperor’s past, nor how the Empire and the Rebellion came into existence. I don’t see why some people are insisting on this point now.
Same goes for spinoffs about stealing Deathstar plans or a backstory about Han Solo, then.
Disappointed that the new big three never really got any scenes together, Especially considering that Poe/Finn had such great chemistry together. They were my favorite team in the film.
to be fair, how much was the original trinity on screen together in ANH? a couple minutes at best? same thing in empire.
True but it still happened. Only way I see a reunion ever happening now is through a Forceback where they de-age everyone like Micheal Douglass in Antman. I really loved that scene so I hope they go with it seeing as how Disney also made it.
And about 25 in ROTJ.
I feel ripped off from the lack of Rey’s background information.
Everything the audience need to know about her is in the movie – mostly delivered with visual storytelling (and that’s also true for both Finn and Poe).
I think you’ll come to appreciate their approach. If she is actually a skywalker its important that you come to care about her character for her character traits, not just because she’s a skywalker
there is nothing in fins film character that suggests that he could in anyway ever have been considered a leader of men. ….
as to lack of background for everyone , what did anyone know or need to know about kenobi . vader or anyone in a new hope ….. nothing , we were dropped in the middle of something and left to work it out , thats what was good about it …. the background didnt matter then and it doesnt matter now with this film.
I agree that the idea that Finn was a natural leader that the other cadets would follow doesn’t match the way he is portrayed in the assault of the Jakku village.
For reasons that I don’t fully understand it, the directior seems to have decided to tone Finn down in the actual movie.
“The best part of the story is the middle” -George Lucas
A topic that has been widely discussed in the Cantina forums is the scene immediately before the destruction of the Hosnian system where Finn is shown with people screaming in the background. To me, it looked like just an audio effect to enhance the scene. However, a minority of posters were suggesting in the forums that Finn may have had some kind of force premonition about the imminent destruction of the planets. I find that interpretation far-fetched, but I wonder what you guys think.
Much as I liked Finn, His role was largely comedic which was a stark contrast to how he was marketed. I also got the impresion we were getting a hardened (though inexperienced) Stormtrooper who had done bad things in his life and wanted to be redeemed. Instead we got a shiny who cleaned latrines. I think Disney probably tampered with this character the most.
I agree. Although Finn is young, I never imagined him prior to the movie as a novice that would basically panic in his first real mission after a fellow trooper is killed.
After seeing the movie again though, I can say his role is not just comedic. In addition to him being a hero in the end, it looked to me that they were setting up some kind of future romance with Rey, but that may change in future episodes.
The casting of a love interest for him in the next one seems to negate that unless they are setting up another love triangle.
Regardless, I like his sense of humor and hope he retains it like Han but I hope they show him more mature after getting injured in the next one like Luke throughout the OT.
I was actually thinking yesterday about that supposed “love interest” who was cast for Episode VIII. I imagine that Finn and Rey might be apart for most of Episode VIII (for sure, Rey will be initially with Luke and Finn waking up from his comma). The new cast member may be someone who will interact with Finn when he is not with Rey, hence the need for “chemistry tests” with Boyega in the casting process.
I’m just saying that, in Episode VII, it looked obvious to me at least that Rey and Finn had something. At this point, you might call it more like brother and sister kind of love, but I suppose it is natural that there could be a romantic progression if that is where the writers want to go (as I said, maybe they don’t want to go that way).
Would be a good use of plausible deniability. Luke and Leia looked that way throughout the OT too but they probably did leave it vague intentionally like that.
“You must unlearn what you have learned.”
I think the witty hero was covered well enough with Poe’s one liners that they could have made Finn a bit more serious in this one. Hopefully he has a believable transistion into a full fledged soldier and leader like Luke did throught the OT.
Great review Hard Case!! I can’t wait to read this. I’ll probably start on the Poe one.
I think Rey and Poe should have had a scene together looking upon the injured Finn at the Resistance Base. Just something brief to kickstart the relationship between the two. It just would have felt right I think.
Nice