The reign of the Galactic Empire has reached the Outer Rim planet of Jelucan, where aristocratic Thane Kyrell and rural villager Ciena Ree bond over their love of flying. Enrolling at the Imperial Academy together to become fighter pilots for the glorious Empire is nothing less than a dream come true for the both of them. But Thane sours on the dream when he sees firsthand the horrific tactics the Empire uses to maintain its ironclad rule.
Bitter and disillusioned, Thane joins the fledgling Rebellion—putting Ciena in an unbearable position to choose between her loyalty to the Empire and her love for the man she’s known since childhood.
Now on opposite sides of the war, will these friends turned foes find a way to be together, or will duty tear them—and the galaxy—apart?
Opening at around eight years after the fall of The Old Republc, The Galactic Empire is exerting its power wider and wider into the Outer Rim, and specifically the planet of Jelucan. Home to our feature characters. The plot moves fast, and spans a number of years right through to the years post The Battle of Endor with all the major settings and events of the Original Trilogy making cameos to the tale.
Beware, mild spoilers ahead.
The Review
Thane Kyrell a child in a rich family, and Ciena Ree, a poor valley girl, are the two central characters of our narrative. Childhood friends, whom despite their differences fight to help each other reach the lauded Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant. From there they build carriers within the ranks of the Empire to varying degrees of success. Each exposed to the propaganda and its use in hiding the real evil of the Empire.
The tale is littered with fun name-dropping, and major events tying into the trials and tribulations of the core characters. From the offset they meet Grand Moff Tarkin and his assistant Piett. But these are not token throwaway appearances; there is quite inspired character building in these encounters both for our protagonists, but also those much loved movie characters. Tarkin appears in a few scenes in the book, and it provides a fantastic insight into the man. Tarkin has perhaps been the best-written character in the new canon, and I would love to see more works featuring him.
You can also expect to see such fan favorites such as Admiral Ozzel, General Rieekan, Mon Mothma, Princess Leia, and Vader himself pop into the story narrative. These are not forced cameos, and are in fact great little moments in Thane and Ciena’s tale. We also visit Yavin, Dantooine, Hoth, Bespin, Endor and there is even time for a mention of Lothal, throughout the novel, and it is intriguing to see the events from an angle we were not previously exposed too.
It was also fun to see characters such as Dak take a little bit of prominence on Hoth, and the return of a prequel favorite in Grand Vizer Mas Amedda reside in power following the Emperor’s death.
Whether it is a young Princess Leia appearing at their passing out parade at the Academy, or Ciena chasing her Tantive IV ship – each appearance has impact, and it is fun to see the opinions and attitudes of our characters, and their friends including one Nash Windrider from Alderaan whom in my opinion steals the book.
Ciena and Thane have somewhat of a bumbling love story throughout the novel, from not realizing their love, to fighting it, to having their duties on Vader’s Devastator and the Death Star divide them, then pull them back together. The fear of death finally delivers a first kiss, and when they reunite after Thane’s desertion a final moment of pure love.
Ciena and Thane’s tale was quite emotive and innovative as they split between Rebellion and Empire and the emotions that it brought. Claudia Gray weaves quite an impressive young persons novel, layered with intrigue, love for the characters, and depth to the tale. Little throwaway elements such as Ciena’s family honor comes back to play heartbreaking importance late in the novel – at times the writing here is just beautiful.
Climaxing with The Battle of Jakku, Ciena is the commanding officer that chooses to crash the destroyer into the planet, an “ethical” decision she learnt in the early days of her training at the beginning of the novel. But was the decision based on her having lost her love, Thane, and the unbearable life in the Empire being all she had left, or had the darkness of losing that love scarred and changed her… It was quite an emotional end, and left open enough for the reader to form their own opinion.
Perhaps the great writing of Gray is highlighted with the words “She stood before him at last. Their eyes met. And Ciena punched him in the gut, hard.” – I was literally blown away. So unexpected, yet so perfect for the character. Two star characters, with a love lost to war.
For Ciena, the only words that can describe her would echo from the grave of the first Imperial she met – Grand Moff Tarkin…
Loyal to the last…
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