Star Wars: Lost Stars

I have to admit, this was an impulse buy. I was looking around for a good book after finishing up another book that wound up leaving a rather sour taste in my mouth. This was the first book I stumbled across. I figured, I'm a fan of Star Wars. I can tolerate a good romance. Why not give it a shot? So I bought it. I have no regrets. This book isn't the next big masterpiece or anything. But it doesn't need to be. The writing is serviceable. It's a pretty easy read, but not in an insulting way. Definitely something that a teen can handle, but there's plenty here for an adult to enjoy as well. The author doesn't spend a ton of time in any one part; the book spans a number of years in the lives of Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell. You won't get the agonizing detail of every moment of their lives, or excruciating detail about everything ever. You'll get the important stuff that shapes and molds these characters. You'll hit the major battles of the original trilogy, plus a rather fantastic bit of backstory for a scene in the trailer for The Force Awakens. You'll also get a surprisingly honest and refreshing view of some pretty meaty topics, wrapped up in a comparatively small number of words. And yes, you'll get some romance. The characters of Ciena and Thane are likeable. Personally, I found it much easier to relate to Thane's path than Ciena's, but I very much sympathized with her as she struggled with her place in the galaxy. On that note, I really appreciated the character progression for both Ciena and Thane, how they contrast with each other, and how they relate to where they began... that's really vague, because I'm trying to keep this completely spoiler free, but the point is that you should take a moment to think about where they began, and where they end up... it's rather poetic. Next, the romance. It's definitely a significant part of the book. As someone who struggles with any romance that's even slightly subpar, I was a bit nervous heading into this book, wondering if I'd just wasted my money. This romance is very much the star-crossed lovers trope, but it's done well enough, and it doesn't diminish all other aspects of the book. It's a central piece of a much larger story, and it's all the better for it. My biggest problem? The ending. The story of Ciena and Thane isn't yet finished, and I want to know how it ends. I can already imagine what a hypothetical sequel would do, though I'm not overly fond of that idea... I just feel like I needed more time with these two at the end of the book to get a more satisfying conclusion. So, do I recommend it? You can probably guess that by now. Yes, I do. It's a very enjoyable, fast paced book that had me rushing to the bathroom at work constantly, just so I could read the next few pages. Now go read the book so that I have people to talk with about it.

This story has a wonderful depiction of its protagonists' frightful, tormented friendship and love. Your enjoyment mileage may vary depending on whether you're a fan of simple, everyman characters continually running into famous characters from the films -- I'm not a big fan, and my star rating has vacillated between three and four stars. Ultimately, I dumped it up to four because the cheesy fan service run-ins aren't really just filler between the core character development, and that's where this book excels. The relationship between Thane and Ciena is great. This is a wonderful, affectionate, frustrating friendship and romance that really shines. The novel does a good job bouncing between the two, and there are a few moments where there's a great echo between one section's/protagonist's ending and the other's pick-up from a new point of view. Individually, I also liked these characters. They have totally different reads on their worlds and what it means to do the right thing, and each is entirely sympathetic. Their overlaps on Jelucan in particular are great, wonderful segments. Similarly, there are some neat supporting characters. Thane's academy roommate sticks around until the final pages, and he's the first Alderaanian from Star Wars media I can think of who doubles down on loyalty to the Empire after his home world is destroyed. Ciena's father later in the book is in a pretty painful position, and his take on the family's circumstances is both poignant and a strong reinforcement for how Ciena herself reconciles her service with her skepticism. A few other roommates and squadronmates aren't as robust, but they are nevertheless distinct and offer nice texture. Stepping outside those core characters and their relationship, though, I found the connections to the greater Star Wars universe at times distracting. It was difficult to suspend my disbelief at these characters' various happenstance and coincidental run-ins with Moff Tarkin, Captain Piett, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, General Rieekan, Wedge Antilles, Dak Ralter, General Madine, and Mon Mothma. Similarly, their mutual or individual presence at/over Hoth, Cloud City, an Imperial fleet staging area, and Jakku all stretched credulity. A couple of these lead into realizations about the other e.g. being alive, and that pays off later ... but, the coincidental run-ins with beloved characters from the films coupled with coincidentally being near each other during the war seemed often like attempts at fan service. Unfortunately, that fan service didn't compute with me: the Star Wars universe is vast, and I much prefer a story that advances itself or its characters through something new. Thane's experience on the freighter Moa is a great example, and likewise Ciena's duties after the Battle of Endor. The book occasionally suggests that the pair so often being coincidentally proximate to each other is the will of the Force, but that doesn't explain unnecessary, distracting cameos by the likes of Moff Tarkin and Mon Mothma. And there are a few moments that simply pulled me out of the story because things didn't make sense. A hologram of Moff Tarkin makes a comment over Ciena's shoulder ... was it there a moment before? With whom was Tarkin speaking? The other officer there seems distracted, and not paying attention to the Moff. Or why does Ciena lament not going down to Cloud City in one paragraph, but six paragraphs later complain about being bumped into by an Ugnaught ... on Cloud City? Why would Mon Mothma refer to the pilots in a briefing room as "officers" when one is identified a few pages earlier as a private? (And why is a private flying an X-wing?) Why is it no big deal that Ciena decides she's just going to jump into a TIE fighter when a ship is sent to battlestations -- even if she's not on duty, she's going to have some other role to serve, and wouldn't some TIE fighter without a wingman or even a radio designation be kind of confusing to all the other pilots? And then there are just some oddball things, like Ciena apparently remembering some events in The Empire Strikes Back out of order (thinking Vader knew about the Falcon's flight to Bespin before the asteroid chase), Ciena being concerned about a crew of "hundreds of thousands" on a regular Star Destroyer (more accurately framed as "tens of thousands" by Thane just a couple of pages earlier), or Thane being worried about falling several kilometers in a service shaft on a starship that just isn't that big. I started this review clicking just two stars, and pretty shortly after bumped it up to three. And now I've happily written myself up to four because, despite my own preference for a broader, more nerdily accurate Star Wars world, this is still one of the best character stories I've ever read in Star Wars. The cameos and nitpicky "factual" details distracted me, but still I read through pretty much nonstop across just a couple of days. This is a worthy addition to the new Star Wars empire. I probably wouldn't read it again myself, but I could imagine recommending this to a friend or family member looking for some satisfying standalone Star Wars material.

After being very disappointed with the choppy mess that was Chuck Wendig's "Aftermath", I decided to give "Lost Stars" a read in hopes of filling the void left by the death of the old Expanded Universe. As many other reviews on Amazon will tell you, don't let the "young adult" category turn you away. While the novel contains many young adult themes (college, romance, etc.), it wasn't overpowering to the degree that you felt like you were no longer in the Star Wars universe. On the contrary, the book is written well enough that the story is far greater than the sum of its parts. What results is a character-driven storyline carefully woven into the backdrop of Episodes IV, V, and VI that actually has a natural-flowing progression. The primary draw to this novel is that it humanizes and portrays the primary Imperial characters as generally good people, not the bumbling idiots and evil caricatures as they are typically depicted in the films and pop culture. This is the story of how ordinary people signed up with the Empire's military in its early pre-Alderaan days and how things eventually fell apart. The novel does a wonderful job of portraying a variety of reactions by our Imperial characters to their increasingly oppressive leadership. Some are repulsed and some make excuses. All of the different reactions help develop the characters into people the audience can honestly identify with and care about. After all, in a galaxy as large as Star Wars, it makes logical sense to say that there were plenty of good, honest people in the Empire at its inception and to hear those stories told is very refreshing. Although some of the older Expanded Universe novels also humanized Imperial forces, this book was a more direct take on that topic and it really worked. For example, at early points in the novel, one finds themselves really hating the Rebel Alliance and believing the Death Star was the only key to galactic peace. Throughout the book, which spans the original trilogy, there are clever nods to memorable movie moments but none are forced. Some authors have a tendency to want to needlessly name-drop movie references and beat a dead horse with movie tie-ins, but Claudia Gray really doesn't do that in this book. I noticed there were several movie moments in which the main characters could have appeared "in the background", but the author wisely chose not to extend her characters' interactions that far. The end result is a really interesting new perspective on the same classic Star Wars plots we've all grown to know and love. My only complaint would be the last part of the book, whose plot points felt sort of rushed. Without revealing too much plot, the audience catches a small glimpse of the Battle of Jakku, which takes place a little over a year after the end of Return of the Jedi. Due to ultra-secrecy pressed by Disney relating to the forthcoming films (which prominently feature the remnants of the battle), I got the impression the author was probably given limited clearance on how to describe the Battle of Jakku and its buildup/fallout and just did the best she could. Of course, there is a good shot it will all be detailed in another future novel, anyway. Notwithstanding the somewhat-rushed feeling of the later stages of the plot, I would give "Lost Stars" a very high rating. It was a refreshing, different look at the same universe we've grown to know and as an old school fan of the Expanded Universe, I truly appreciated it. Give it a read!

That's right, I said it. This is the best Star Wars novel since the Thrawn trilogy!! I rarely give 5 stars in reviews, but Lost Stars certainly deserves it. Right from the very first page of this novel, the story sends you off an a journey like an X-wing jumping into hyperspace!! As a result, I had to fight to put the book down. At times I was wishing I didn't have a job or any other responsibilities so I could just read it non-stop, cover to cover. I was immediately intrigue and connected to the two main characters and ready to follow their lives as they wove their way through the galaxy we come to know and love. Every chapter seemed to have a new surprise or connection to relating to the movies or other novels, which only increased my fascination with the Star Wars universe as I mentally clicked various pieces of the Star Wars puzzle together. Not only did Claudia do a great job of including these surprises in fun and exciting ways, but she also wrote about the characters in a way that added more and more of their moralities, beliefs, physical traits, etc. to them through the entirety of the novel, which made it feel like a build your own adventure book. Personally, I like learning about a book's characters in that way. I don't want to know everything about them right at the beginning, I want to learn little tidbits as I read the entire book. I have so much more I want to write about in this review but I enjoyed Lost Stars so much that I don't want to ruin it for anyone else who has yet to read it. But what I will say (or admit to) is that it will pull on your heartstrings. The last book I read that induced as many tears as Lost Stars, was Marley and Me. I found myself weeping heavily on a number of occasions, which is a testament to Claudia's writing ability and how she chose to develop these characters. One last thing I want to speak about before ending this review is the negative rep that young adult novels seem to have. It's ridiculous to think that somehow these young adult books are inferior. Lost Stars is proof that they are not, and in some ways they are superior. The beauty of young adult novels is that it's written like it's spoken language, which in turns makes the characters so much more believable and endearing. The dialogue is natural and fluid which makes a reader feel like they could actually hear conversations like that in their real lives, thus drawing readers deeper into the novel's world/galaxy. As I read this novel, I felt like this galaxy was real and I could hop on a starship at anytime and go there. In addition, another outcome of this writing style is that it makes it very very easy to picture this book as a live-action movie (which would be an AMAZING!!)

Lost Stars has the had unfortunate luck in being published on the same day as Aftermath. As such, very little attention has been given to this book. To begin this review, it's necessary to clear up some basic points. First, this novel is labeled as young adult. Don't let that dissuade you from reading the novel, at some points it feels like a young adult novel (in the first few chapters), but as the story progresses it stops feeling like a young adult novel. Second, this novel spans about 16 years, so this review might contain "spoilers", but rest assured that they won't be important things, rather minor, insignificant points to illustrate the strong and weak points of the novel. Events from the Star Wars movies will be mentioned and are some of those 'spoilers'. This novel is fun. It follows Thane and Ciena, children from the Outer Rim who dream of joining the Imperial Academy when they're 8 (8 years after Revenge of the Sith) and continues until the Battle of Jakku (several months after Endor). From the back cover you'll know that one joins the Rebellion and the other stays in the Empire, something which you can basically figure out within the first few chapters. That is one of the novel's strongest and weakest points in my opinion. The plot is predictable at times, by the time they finished the Imperial Academy I already figured out how the novel was going to end (which turned out to be correct), but on the flip side the author is talented enough to take the plot and characters to their necessary points in a fashion that it doesn't feel forced. The character's decisions were made, not because the plot demanded it, but because that's what they would have done. Admittedly, these chapters were a bit boring for me but they did present the second strong point for the novel: you see and understand why people join the Empire. You get an understanding of how the Empire was presented, what it stood for, what people believed and how they justified their views. To my knowledge, no other Star Wars novel does this (I can be mistaken). As we all know, the Empire is evil and our characters see and live this. The characters are placed in the events of the Trilogy, from the Death Star to Hoth to Endor. The way the author does this is very good and doesn't feel forced. You can easily believe that they were in those battles, and the author knows how to build the tension in these moments. They both witness the greatness and horrors of the Empire and react, not how the plot needs them, but how they as characters have been presented and developed. The author quite cleverly took 'minor' points from the movies and placed the characters there in a way that doesn't affect the established cannon nor feel forced. To give an example of this: in A New Hope two imperial extras comment how an escape pod was launched but was empty. One of the characters in the novel is in that room and overhears this. Perhaps the best part of it all is how the characters (main and minor) justify their actions. They go from blind idealism, to rationalizing the events before their eyes. Some are disgusted with the Death Star, while others defend it. Slowly, through the years, they are forced to compromise their basic values because the Empire demands it. You see the slow process of how they fall out of love with the Empire, that moment when you realize that all that you have believed in and followed is evil and you are disgusted with yourself because of how blind you were. Others see the horrors of the Empire and rationalize it until the end, taking pride in what the Empire does no matter what. While others are so disgusted they just leave as soon as possible. This examination, which happens to several characters, is the biggest highlight of the novel and takes up a good portion of it as character development for them. The novel does have only three bad things to it. One of them contains a significant spoiler, so I won't include it in the review. Suffice it to say, that at the end, one of the character's beliefs/ thoughts about their future doesn't make sense with what was presented. You''ll have to read it to understand what I'm going on about, but it is possible that I missed something. The second thing is the predictability of the plot. With all seriousness, you can deduce the ending by reading the first chapters. It's spelled out before you in clear words. The third and final downside is that the last fifth of the novel ups the tempo and it seems as though the author was rushed. To put this into perspective: the Battle of Endor starts. Same page the '"it's a trap!" line. Two pages later the Death Star fires and they move to attack the Star Destroyers. Within five pages the Executor and Death Star are gone. The Battle of Endor comes down to basically one chapter, no more than twenty pages. After that there's a small time jump, but the final act of the novel feels a bit disjointed because of this. However, these three criticisms are minor. They didn't ruin the novel or make it bad. At the end of the novel you'll want to know more and want Caludia Gray to write a follow up or see how (if) these characters make it into the movies, even the minor ones. This novel should have been the flagship novel for the Journey to Episode VII, not Aftermath. TL;DR: this book is well written, fun, and worth your time and money. If nothing else, read the fourth paragraph in my review to see why the novel is great.

Love the book. I do feel it was a tad under and overhyped. I think that mostly game from fans who were disappointed with Aftermath. But I do agree, this book definitely crafts a better story than that one. Also the YA is a disservice. The slug lines made it sound like Twilight meets Star Wars. Also, Lost Stars had a much stronger theme, or at least, the pursuit a theme. It’s a story about honor and loyalty. Loyalty to country or a cause, to man or woman, and loyalty to yourself. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book with such strong themes, especially in Star Wars. It’s something you see in all the acquired reading in college, those classic books that have themes that can be discussed for days. This book asks a lot of compelling questions and it tells it through some strong characters. Essentially this book is Romeo and Juliet, in the sense that there are star-crossed lovers, pun intended. You have these two characters, Thane and Ciena, that grow up with each other but eventually splinter off. One joining the rebellion, the other staying with the Empire. Some very beautiful and touching scenes. There is one point where the two characters are talking through hologram and they are trying to touch each other through the hologram. Imagining that in my mind, it would be beautiful imagery. Two ghostly figures trying to reach each other. Pretty deep. Speaking of deep you get a deeper look into the Empire in the Rebel. We see how both factions recruit. We already had a good idea about Imperial academies but not much about Rebel recruitment. We get a more in-depth look at how Imperial Academies work, which we got a hint of in Rebels but now we get a full fledged version here. All the way up to graduation. Rebel recruiting was really interesting though. There was on sequence where our rebel protagonist talks about potentially being left behind because the fleet was moving so often. It’s discussed how difficult it would be to link back up with the Rebels if you are left behind. I felt the novel was a bit too convenient. The two protagonist are gonna meet up often, that’s just the nature of a romantic novel like this, but I felt the ways in which they met weren’t very natural aside from two particular scenes relating to their homeworld. Also, the juxtaposition of their lives felt a bit too perfect. But that’s more personal preference. I can see the beauty of that as well. Like George Lucas says, “It’s like poetry, it rhymes.” There is a case for that here in this novel. Ciena and Thane’s lives rhyming with each other, even in their contrasting environments. But man the ending of this novel is fantastic. It’s a complete culmination of the themes presented through the novel. It was great finally seeing a story that presented clear themes in the beginning and then manifesting them in a cathartic way in the ending. Very good. I also like the consequences both characters are faced with. It’s pretty heartbreaking without saying too much. SPOILERS: So now I’m going to discuss a few spoilers. In terms of timeline this story takes place before A New Hope and even a year after Return of the Jedi. I actually think the post-ROTJ material was handled very well, especially the mess that the Empire is in. I feel like they are definitely still a presence just waiting to strike again. There is even mention of Naboo being attacked three times sense the second Death Star destruction. We even saw one of these battles in Shattered Empire. Also, it seems after a year the Empire has finally accepted Palaptine’s death. And that brings us to the largest spoiler! You know that Star Destroyer that is crashed on Jakku? Well Ciena was the commander of that ship and she crash landed it herself. In fact the book cover shows this and we don’t even realize it until we’ve read it. But it’s awesome the detail we got of that battle. It’s described as the largest battle since Endor. It’s sort of the Empire’s last big push, which of course, ultimately fails. It’s great we get to see this from our protagonists’ perspective. We’ll also get the perspective from Battlefront as well which should be interesting. I also really liked how deep into the Empire we got. We really got to humanize them. I’ve always been under the impression that there were good people in the Empire. I mean, Luke was almost an Imperial himself had he gone to the academy. But this book highlights that. But Nashwinrider’s character didn’t make a lot of sense to me. He goes from being Thane’s best friend to his worse enemy in a second. What’s crazy about that is Nash is from Alderaan and he saw it being destroyed right before his eyes. I never fully understood that character, nor his motivations. I mean there was an attempt, its written that he too like Ciena and it could have been a plot of jealousy but I was never fully on board with that. But the destruction of the Death Star did take a whole new meaning. While it was a super weapon it did hold millions of innocent people on board and we even get to know some of the people stationed there. The cruelty of war and the ambiguity of war is really highlighted here. There was also an interesting point about war criminals. It’s very interesting how that works. IT really depends on who the winning side is. Mon Mothma could easily be prosecuted for war crimes just as much as any other Imperial leader. It all depends on the winning side though.

Let me just say that I've been a Star Wars fan since I was in diapers. After that, I've read between 30-40 of the old EU novels, and I've dabbled in various other Sci-Fi series since. Out of all of the Sci-Fi novels I've read, this one was the easiest to read. To sum it up first, it's Romeo and Juliet in a Star Wars setting. Further elaboration continues below: Firstly, I want to start with the setting. It is a coming of age story mixed into a Star Crossed Lovers tale. It is set not too long after the Republic fell, and there is some bickering among the characters to facilitate that fact. I fear anything could be considered a spoiler, so all I'll say is that this is a key moment in the Galactic Empire's history where their PR was on point, and their atrocities not yet presently known. The setting moves forward in time, and follows our characters from their childhood up until their early adulthood, which coincides with the events of A New Hope, Empire, and Revenge, plus leads into A Force Awakens. Which segways into the characters themselves. To be fair, their the perfect children. Almost everything about them is flawless, and astute. There are hiccups to the plot, but while they seem perfect, there are some glaring character flaws that end up surfacing for both of them. AKA the usual Coming of Age tale, along with the Star Crossed Lovers trope. However it's done in a way that is so fitting, and with characters that are genuinely hopeful that if s*** does go wrong, it's just as bad. Which is why I wasn't too bothered by the first half being "look how perfect I am at X" when almost halfway in you see the cost of perfection. Which leads into the plot, which again, a trope. And again, it's not bad in the context of this book because of the way it's played out behind the scenes. The main plot is simple: Get into the academy and become pilots. However the plot evolves over time, and eventually it ends up shaping the characters themselves to the point where their dreams and aspirations are fundamentally changed. It's a very interesting change, even if it's been done a hundred times before. Overall, my biggest reason for liking it is after reading hard science fiction (Honor Harrington), then Medium (The Expanse), this novel is a giant book devoted to developing background, and it does it well. It fills in many blanks left behind due to the EU being non-canon, and so it paints a nice "overall" for the plotholes so they're both answered, but open for interpretation. Namely Dantooine, and the Imperial side of the war. The characters are meant to move the plot forward, and to set up events for later, which do end up obvious, but since the books goal is to provide background, the obviousness can be overlooked solely because the way they're depicted is both heartaching, and intriguing. To end this I will say that the MAIN purpose of the book is to hype up A Force Awakens, and by god it did just that. I'd give it 4.5 stars, but alas that cannot be done.

Let me just start by saying it's been forever since I've read a Star Wars book, and that alone made this a fun book to read. I read a lot of the Young Jedi Knights books and other Kevin J. Anderson stuff back in the day, but I honestly can't remember how long it's been. I've gotten to where I don't mind a little romance in books - at least if it's handled well and isn't the focus of the plot - though I'll admit I'm still usually pretty leery about YA romance. I'm one of those people who thinks Hunger Games would be better without all the Team Peeta/Team Gale nonsense. At least in Lost Stars, I expected it. I'd read enough reviews that I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into, and I was willing to dive in anyway. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the romance aspect of the story was fairly low-key and handled really well, and I didn't think it took away from the plot. If anything, it gave us a deeper look at the characters. Those characters were also very well done. I can sometimes be leery about YA characters too because they're often so angsty and overly dramatic. That's not to say there wasn't any angst and drama in this book, but Ciena, Thane, and the supporting characters were intelligent, resourceful, and touch (which is still what I love most about Hunger Games). I really loved the way each of their backgrounds/upbringings influenced their decisions and actions throughout the story. Also, as a Mass Effect fan, I still can't get over Thane's name... I'll admit I pictured the characters being older than they were (maybe late 20's) because, at least in my experience, no actual 19-year-olds are this mature ;) Being YA, it was pretty fast/easy reading, but the story didn't suffer for it. I loved the glimpses we got of characters and events from the movies, and there was something about the dynamic I really loved. We had the girl sticking with the Empire and the guy joining the Rebel Alliance and trying to win her back, when I feel like it's often the other way around. Seeing each of their unique perspectives was interesting too, because - for the majority of the time, anyway - they both thought their side was trying to do the right thing. And the ending. Oh, the ending. Flawless. And very appropriate after everything that had happened. I liked how it tied in with the upcoming movie. This isn't the type of book I'd typically give 5 stars, but reading a Star Wars book was so refreshing after all these years and I can't remember the last time I was this relaxed while reading. When you're doing a read-for-review or beta reading, you have to pay close enough attention that you can't completely relax. This was clearly a young adult book, but I'd recommend it to Star Wars fans of any age.