Reviews

Spark of the Resistance by Justina Ireland

bibliofilth's review against another edition

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3.0

Rounded up to 3 stars for GR review, but honestly this is closer to 2.5 stars on enjoyment. A pretty standard junior Star Wars novel - writing is very simple, it's very tell-not-show and the plot is pretty generic. The only standout things were some nice interactions between Rose and Rey (f in the chat for those Rose/Rey scenes that never made it into TROS) and this author's understandable thirst for Poe Dameron that slips into some of the descriptions. At one point he's even described as "that irritatingly good-looking pilot" by the villain.

sirthomasmalory's review against another edition

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3.0

A very slight story in the grand scheme of things, one of the Star Wars novelizations most clearly hampered by what is the sort of "comic book problem" of Lucasfilm's unified canon approach to Star Wars - like major comic book events, everything of relevance to this world has to occur in the cinematic films. "Lesser" media formats are left to tread water in terms of impact, even characterization can't get too far or else you would alienate people who don't read these things.

Within those confines, it does an admirable enough job. The trio at the heart of this (Rey, Rose, and Poe) are three characters we haven't seen interact, and they have a fun rapport (Rey and Poe are jealous about each other's piloting ego, Rose names all the Porgs, and so on). I was initially annoyed by the flipping POVs, especially to the First Order POV (every Star Wars novel seems to have this problem), but it eventually smoothed itself out.

timartin's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

kreadsbooks's review against another edition

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3.0

an alright sw middle grade read, nothing too splashy, the art inside was cool. our friends saved a the zixon, a rabbit-like creature and made some new allies, all in a good days work for the resistance!

fictionalhearts's review against another edition

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4.0

A fun and fast-paced story on a magnificent planet. It's nothing new or shocking but fulfils its purpose of hinting at what the Resistance has been up to. I wasn't surprised by any twists and turns but Spark of the Resistance has an appealing antagonist (and one very boring one) and beautiful illustrations by Phil Noto, which makes it perfect for the intended target audience of young readers.

For my full review in German, click here: https://jedi-bibliothek.de/2019/11/rezension-spark-of-the-resistance-justina-ireland/