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| Courage under fire for our sequel heroes, as Resistance Reborn arrives in UK hardback. |
Having been initiated successfully with the second prequel movie, the idea of publishing an all-new lead-in adventure to every Star Wars cinematic tale before its release has continued with both the sequel trilogy and the one-off movies, but to only varying degrees of success. The latest tie-in, Resistance Reborn, from newcomer author to the saga Rebecca Roanhorse (published in the UK by Century), is importantly charged with detailing the critical events that happened in the start of the year's gap between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, as the battle-weary General Leia Organa and her few surviving rag-tag heroes aboard the Millennium Falcon begin the long and dangerous road back to recruiting new leaders and fighters in their continuing conflict against the more universally dominant, thoroughly evil First Order. With help from old friends, including the iconic Rogue Squadron pilot Wedge Antilles, the heroes must liberate a group of captured influential names (one an important figure from Leia's pre-EPISODE VII senatorial past), secure a list of wanted suspects from the underworld on the legendary industry realms of Corellia, and steal as many decommissioned ships as possible from a far-off planet. All this whilst Leia is trying to set up a new secret base with the people of Ryloth, a deservedly bitter and suspecting race who are no strangers to fighting military threats since the days of The Clone Wars.
Though already an experienced speculative fiction author, Miss Roanhose's love of Star Wars is more important than ever in such a novel so eagerly-awaited by fans. And that love shines through in Resistance Reborn- clearly knowing how to write for the existing characters, giving Poe Dameron in particular more to do as the successor to a busy but physically withering Leia Organa. Sadly, new Jedi-to-be Rey and the dedicated-to-the-cause Finn, though also present in the story, ultimately feel sidelined from doing anything truly worthwhile, their destinies locked in 'hover mode' before J.J. Abrams gives them their final cinematic bow. Fans of the Expanded Universe post 2014, however, will be pleased with certain characters and referencing carefully included in this galaxy-spanning tale (mostly linked to Chuck Wendig's Aftermath trilogy and Claudia Gray's Bloodline), and there's some fair use of the aforementioned Antilles (Denis Lawson's character supposedly making a cameo for IX, too).
As for the overall story? Well, its plot reads great in the advance blurb but ultimately didn't win my full enthusiasm as a page-turner, lacking the kind of bold imagination and stirring action I thought was needed in this special case movie lead-in, to a film of such saga-ending significance as IX. It all felt to me that there was too much of a similar ilk done already in various storytelling media.
Ultimately, Resistance Reborn is perfectly readable stuff, and a solid effort. Yet, despite the author's commendably unabashed enthusiasm, it's certainly not the essential SW book collection purchase that it should have been, and deserved to be.
AFICIONADO RATING: 3 out of 5
Get it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Resistance-Rebecca-Roanhorse/dp/1780899920/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=resistance+reborn&qid=1575630195&sr=8-1
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