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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Fun! Hera and Kanan definitely feel younger in this book than they do in Rebels, but that makes sense. They are younger. Besides that, they seem true to form. The other characters were also fleshed out and fun to read. Their relationships all felt very natural. I wish that Chopper was even mentioned, but that’s a minor wish.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I've never watched the Rebels tv series, so Kanan and Hera were totally unknown Star Wars characters to me. This takes place after Revenge of the Sith, when the Empire was new and expanding.
i love my space parents
as with any companion novel, i'll admit it's near impossible to imagine how this would have stood on its own. but as a fan i found it to be an admirable and entertaining tribute to some characters i really love, especially as i felt Rebels left more to be desired from the characters than Clone Wars did, though mysterious origins and open-ended arcs seems to be a trademark to all. considering this lends such a wide opportunity to expand upon content within this era, it really enhances the experience for me and i've really enjoyed it.
and as always with these Star Wars reads, the audiobook was excellent.
as with any companion novel, i'll admit it's near impossible to imagine how this would have stood on its own. but as a fan i found it to be an admirable and entertaining tribute to some characters i really love, especially as i felt Rebels left more to be desired from the characters than Clone Wars did, though mysterious origins and open-ended arcs seems to be a trademark to all. considering this lends such a wide opportunity to expand upon content within this era, it really enhances the experience for me and i've really enjoyed it.
and as always with these Star Wars reads, the audiobook was excellent.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Pretty solid. Reasonably entertaining, but not particularly compelling or memorable, with solid characters. Expected at least some lightsaber action based on the cover but nope, it stayed locked in a container the entire book and was only mentioned once or twice.
All told, A New Dawn didn't feel as Star Wars-y as I'd hoped, though maybe it's because it's based in a period I haven't read much into (between III and IV), where the Star Wars we know and love via space battles, different worlds, and saber duels is kind of in limbo.
Of course Marc Thompson was great, as was the audio production in general. Vidian sounded an awful lot like Thrawn, and I'm not sure whether it's a Thompson thing or an intentional thing.
All told, A New Dawn didn't feel as Star Wars-y as I'd hoped, though maybe it's because it's based in a period I haven't read much into (between III and IV), where the Star Wars we know and love via space battles, different worlds, and saber duels is kind of in limbo.
Of course Marc Thompson was great, as was the audio production in general. Vidian sounded an awful lot like Thrawn, and I'm not sure whether it's a Thompson thing or an intentional thing.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far away (January, 2021), kiddo and I started watching the Star Wars movies. Never one to shy away from a series, I dove into some of the Star Wars novels too! I’m trying to read them in some kind of chronological order, but none of that mattered when I realized that there was a book about how Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla first met!
I first met them both in the animated series Star Wars Rebels and A New Dawn is a prequel to the series. Kanan is roaming the galaxy, staying under the radar since all of his Jedi friends were killed by the Empire and he was forced into hiding. Hera Syndulla is a masterful pilot with a mission of her own. When their two paths cross and they discover a plot to destroy an entire planet, the two unlikely partners form one impressive team.
One of the delights of the Star Wars novels is the deeper perspective into the characters and history, and A New Dawn doesn’t disappoint. This novel also features intriguing side characters (evil villains, unlikely heroes) that round out the action. If you love Kanan and Hera, check this novel out!
I first met them both in the animated series Star Wars Rebels and A New Dawn is a prequel to the series. Kanan is roaming the galaxy, staying under the radar since all of his Jedi friends were killed by the Empire and he was forced into hiding. Hera Syndulla is a masterful pilot with a mission of her own. When their two paths cross and they discover a plot to destroy an entire planet, the two unlikely partners form one impressive team.
One of the delights of the Star Wars novels is the deeper perspective into the characters and history, and A New Dawn doesn’t disappoint. This novel also features intriguing side characters (evil villains, unlikely heroes) that round out the action. If you love Kanan and Hera, check this novel out!
Disney brings STAR WARS back onto the post-prequel(?) scene with a solidly-structured, character-driven debut novel from the Lucasfilm Story Group in STAR WARS: A NEW DAWN. It has Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla at its heart among a backdrop of supporting characters, but the conflict that offers the context for their first meeting is very reminiscent of the Empire vs. Rebels conflicts from the classic movies. John Jackson Miller handles this tone very well, and while the book's conclusion suffers from the same lack of closure inherent to most prequel stories, the handling of the Star Wars universe seems to be in good hands with Disney and the people with whom they've chosen to entrust the next generation of stories.
Kanan is all the roguish Jedi-in-flight we expected him to be, repressed in a way that only a survivor of Order-66 could be. He carries just the right amount of detachment, but what I thought Miller did so excellently was write him as a dynamic character--I got the genuine sense that the circumstance on the moon of Gorse and its Imperial implications--the words "Death Star" were not uttered once--was the right kind of circumstance by which a man-on-the-run like Jarrus might choose to wake up from his spiritual slumber. The threat at the heart of the matter is a villain playing both sides, with only those who have been manipulated into working for him standing to lose it all. While it's not a perfect analogue to what Order 66 must have looked like to a Padawan, it works thematically well enough to make this circumstance believable and rigorous enough to make a stubbornly detached character like Kanan change his colors and begin to believe in something.
Conversely, Hera is a pretty static character whose job is all insurrection--she doesn't really require a lot of development as she is the one on the quest, and her stake in the plot is the one with something to lose. She hates the Empire fundamentally, and while that decision is never clarified directly, it is sustained with her behavior as she does everything and anything to undercut the Empire's tyranny. She's skilled in battle and in flight, quick-witted and generally trusting. While Kanan has the whole "secret past" to overcome, Hera has only the future to strive for, and with two characters who find common ground in hating the Empire, each brings a unique and even polarized perspective to that cause. It is on that fundamental level that the book works, a solid introduction to the litany of new-Star Wars resources that are about to flood the imaginative marketplace.
Kanan is all the roguish Jedi-in-flight we expected him to be, repressed in a way that only a survivor of Order-66 could be. He carries just the right amount of detachment, but what I thought Miller did so excellently was write him as a dynamic character--I got the genuine sense that the circumstance on the moon of Gorse and its Imperial implications--the words "Death Star" were not uttered once--was the right kind of circumstance by which a man-on-the-run like Jarrus might choose to wake up from his spiritual slumber. The threat at the heart of the matter is a villain playing both sides, with only those who have been manipulated into working for him standing to lose it all. While it's not a perfect analogue to what Order 66 must have looked like to a Padawan, it works thematically well enough to make this circumstance believable and rigorous enough to make a stubbornly detached character like Kanan change his colors and begin to believe in something.
Conversely, Hera is a pretty static character whose job is all insurrection--she doesn't really require a lot of development as she is the one on the quest, and her stake in the plot is the one with something to lose. She hates the Empire fundamentally, and while that decision is never clarified directly, it is sustained with her behavior as she does everything and anything to undercut the Empire's tyranny. She's skilled in battle and in flight, quick-witted and generally trusting. While Kanan has the whole "secret past" to overcome, Hera has only the future to strive for, and with two characters who find common ground in hating the Empire, each brings a unique and even polarized perspective to that cause. It is on that fundamental level that the book works, a solid introduction to the litany of new-Star Wars resources that are about to flood the imaginative marketplace.