Beth Revis Rises to the Occasion with ‘Rebel Rising’ (Spoiler Free Review)
I’ll be the first to admit I was skeptical about Rebel Rising for a number of reasons. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed Rogue One, and the famous Darth Vader hallway scene is probably my favorite scene in the series as a whole. That being said, it didn’t quite satisfy my thirst for Star Wars and to me, something felt like it was missing. On top of that when I heard it was YA novel I wrongly placed the stigma that those books usually have. I thought it was going to be Twilight-esque story in the Star Wars universe. Heck, when I went to get the book at my local Barnes and Noble they pointed me to the kids section and they hadn’t even put it out yet. They had to go in the back just so I could buy this and Guardians of the Whills. So, easy to say I was quite skeptical, but I’m very happy to report that all of my fears were all for not because Rebel Rising is truly a great piece of canon, in the same category as my favorite novel by James Luceno, Catalyst.
The story fills in the gap that we see in Rogue One from the moment Jyn is found by Saw Gerrera and when we find her in the the Imperial Labor camp on Wobani and provides details as to exactly why she’s in the camp to begin with. Beth Revis does a fantastic job of interweaving the story she’s trying to tell while simultaneously giving us flash forwards to her life in the labor camp to see just how much she has changed over time.
Revis should be applauded for her attention to detail, making the transition from what I call ‘rising’ Jyn – where she is being trained by Saw and his partisans – to ‘falling’ Jyn – where she is working in the labor camp and is losing sight of who she is. These falling chapters start with a dossier with all of the charges that are against Jyn who is masquerading as Lianna Halek and is a nice companion to her interrogation scene in the film.
So what works? Let’s start with the relationship between Jyn and Saw. The movie briefly hinted at the type of dynamic between the two and their meeting in the film was the only time where we see Saw as close to happy as he can be. This is fully realized in Rebel Rising and I was surprised just how compelling and loving the relationship between the two is.
Saw really does act very fatherly towards Jyn and truly does care a great deal about her. I love just how far Saw will go to protect her from his partisans who could easily turn her in and hold her for ransom. Saw does all he can to keep her identity a secret, even going as far as saying that she’s his daughter, calling her Jyn Gerrera. It’s a whole other side that we didn’t see from Saw in Rogue One.
Speaking of Saw, we get to see some of the actions that lead most in the Rebellion to view him as a terrorist. We saw a small glimpse of that reputation in Rebels last season but this dives deep into the psyche of the extremist and some of the best and scariest parts of the book stem from arguments between idealistic rebels and Saw.
His thought process is absolutely terrifying as he is willing to do just about anything as long as it stops the Empire. He doesn’t even see the Rebellion as the good guys at first, just half measures who can’t help him win, but he eventually tries it out for a time, before he leaves the Alliance. Seeing his tactics and why exactly he is becoming more and more paranoid provide some really interesting insight to who he is as well as how brutal he can truly be.
Onto Jyn…this is her story after all! We see her grow up before our very eyes and it feels like a natural progression of her character while also playing on things that I hadn’t really thought of. There’s a particular scene at the beginning of the book that deals with whether or not Galen Erso has truly joined the Empire. From the intelligence that Saw gathers, that appears to be the case and Jyn is in complete denial about it. She’s less than a decade old, and the realization that her father is working for the enemy, the people who murdered her mother, is heartbreaking. It’s little moments like this riddled throughout the book that really make Rebel Rising impressive. Most impressive.
On top of all that, we get to witness her training at the hands of Saw and how she grows from when she is first taken in to where we see her in Rogue One and how she excels at fighting and slicing into computer networks. This is actually what makes her so valuable and what causes Saw to decide to begin taking her on missions in the first place. These missions are a lot of fun to read and become instrumental in Jyn’s growth.
The book does a fantastic job of showing just how hopeless Jyn was while she was in the prison. Hope may be a crucial component for the rebellion, but while she’s in the prison, the Empire controls everything, and she has virtually lost all hope. I think seeing how the Empire deals with its prisoners and how they scarp any semblance of working together or revolt shows just how cruel they are. There’s a real sense that Jyn has just given up and that all the training that she went through and the fighting she did was all for nothing. Just an all around great feel for just how abrasive and cunning the Empire is.
Just a few thoughts to wrap things up… Rebel Rising absolutely deserves it’s place in the upper echelon of canon reads, and in the same way Catalyst provided so much insight and background to Galen, Lyra, and Krennic, Rising does the same with Jyn and Saw. Both of these books together have really made the movie more enjoyable in my opinion because of the added context that they both provided to a couple of the key the characters in the film. This is exactly what all canon material should do. The movie is still great and fun to watch without the books, but if you’ve read these stories, they become a lot more fun and you care a lot more.
All in all, if you’re a fan of Rogue One, or just a fan of Star Wars in general, I would read this book. Yes, there is that YA tag on it, but Lost Stars was a YA novel too, and that is one of the best stories thus far. It is well worth the read and once again, I cannot give more praise to Beth Revis. She did an amazing job and I can’t wait to read more from her!
4.25/5
May the Force be with you!
Yeah, I really loved this book, too. It doesn’t have one central story (it’s just a chronicle of Jyn’s adventures from the prologue of Rogue One to the rescue scene) but it’s still a very compelling read! It ties surprisingly well into Catalyst and other unexpected canon materials (there’s a TCW easter egg in there) and explains a lot of jyn’s moodiness and her “indifference” towards the Rebellion. 8/10
I will get this book as soon as it gets localized here in Brazil!!! The plot is very atractive to me, and is canon, so, must read!!