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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
This book gets a solid 3 stars. Picked up an arc from sdcc and zoomed through it. I was also at the rebels premier screening so this is coming from the perspective of having seen the first episode of rebels before reading this.
The Good:
- It made me care more about Kanan, and he seemed in character with the cartoon. He definitely has the lovable rogue thing going on, more good natured than han solo but similar in ways. He likes the ladies which felt a bit annoying and objectifying at times. Hopefully he will mature out of that. You only got stuff like that when you were in his pov.
- Female stormtroopers
- A lot of female characters in general, a great effort was clearly made, which pleases me greatly. Random imperials were just as often female as they were male, and there were a number of nonimperial female characters. The ground supervisor of the particular mining operation was a female besalisk. Of course we have Hera. There is a female sullustan from a surveillance outfit. The core group of heroes in this is comprised of Kanan, Hera, this sullustan woman (Zaluna), and a human guy named Skelly, so it's 50:50 male female which is nice. The captain of the star destroyer is a human woman of color and plays a large role.
- No romantic subplot. Kanan does like Hera but she gently keeps him at arms length.
- Hera is a strong character, strong in morals and the leader. She definitely came off as the leader in the cartoon. The rebels are HER crew, carefully chosen by her because of their integrity. The rebellion is her first love and anyone who doesn't measure up isn't worth her time.
The Bad:
- Super stereotypical villain with zero grey and zero likeable qualities.
- Takes a long time to pass the bechdel test despite there being a lot of female characters. I think like a solid 80 pages. But once things get rolling it does constantly, so there's that.
- The first half of the book teases with Hera moments. She should have been front and center much more quickly. This book is definitely more about Kanan than it is about Hera. It's not really even.
- Way too much POV flipping. Should have stuck to Kanan and Hera. I have a pet peeve about writers thinking readers are interested in the pov of every minor character. Ugh! I especially hate villain povs because they are always these long laborious internal monologues and spoil all the plot points before they happen.
- Seriously, WAY TOO MUCH TIME IN THE VILLAIN'S HEAD. He is not a complex character but we are treated to pages and pages and paaaaages of his thoughts and it's so unnecessary. We got the type of person he was from like. The first two pages with him. Considering he's a one-off for this book, I don't really get why the author thought it was important for us to know him through and through, especially when there wasn't that much to know.
- The actual plot could have been a lot more relevant and interesting.
- Hera's beauty was remarked upon too often and it was annoying. Females aren't mythical creatures. Geesh!
My overall opinions:
-The plot of this book is very meh and 'big deal!'. Basically its just the empire flaunting some power over some mining planet, with this one particular guy flaunting even more power than the empire is aware of, and our heroes attempt to save the planet and its few (??) inhabitants from destruction at the hands of this corporate tyrant. They are basically flung together to accomplish this, they save the day, Kanan and Hera leave together... but really who cares? I would have much preferred this prequel have more weight on the characters, inform more of who they are, have more relevance to the show rather than just being "this is where Kanan and Hera meet"...I would rather it not just be like an episodic adventure with no real long term implications on the characters. Maybe it would have been too much of a spoiler, but a prequel that actually got into Hera and/or Kanan's being wronged by the empire in the first place would have been much more interesting. We do learn a little about Kanan's past, but it just made me wish the book had been about that instead of this random thing.
Final thoughts:
Check it out of you want, but you aren't missing much by passing it up. You certainly don't need to read it before watching rebels, I don't think it really enhances it much. It's just a random adventure.
The Good:
- It made me care more about Kanan, and he seemed in character with the cartoon. He definitely has the lovable rogue thing going on, more good natured than han solo but similar in ways. He likes the ladies which felt a bit annoying and objectifying at times. Hopefully he will mature out of that. You only got stuff like that when you were in his pov.
- Female stormtroopers
- A lot of female characters in general, a great effort was clearly made, which pleases me greatly. Random imperials were just as often female as they were male, and there were a number of nonimperial female characters. The ground supervisor of the particular mining operation was a female besalisk. Of course we have Hera. There is a female sullustan from a surveillance outfit. The core group of heroes in this is comprised of Kanan, Hera, this sullustan woman (Zaluna), and a human guy named Skelly, so it's 50:50 male female which is nice. The captain of the star destroyer is a human woman of color and plays a large role.
- No romantic subplot. Kanan does like Hera but she gently keeps him at arms length.
- Hera is a strong character, strong in morals and the leader. She definitely came off as the leader in the cartoon. The rebels are HER crew, carefully chosen by her because of their integrity. The rebellion is her first love and anyone who doesn't measure up isn't worth her time.
The Bad:
- Super stereotypical villain with zero grey and zero likeable qualities.
- Takes a long time to pass the bechdel test despite there being a lot of female characters. I think like a solid 80 pages. But once things get rolling it does constantly, so there's that.
- The first half of the book teases with Hera moments. She should have been front and center much more quickly. This book is definitely more about Kanan than it is about Hera. It's not really even.
- Way too much POV flipping. Should have stuck to Kanan and Hera. I have a pet peeve about writers thinking readers are interested in the pov of every minor character. Ugh! I especially hate villain povs because they are always these long laborious internal monologues and spoil all the plot points before they happen.
- Seriously, WAY TOO MUCH TIME IN THE VILLAIN'S HEAD. He is not a complex character but we are treated to pages and pages and paaaaages of his thoughts and it's so unnecessary. We got the type of person he was from like. The first two pages with him. Considering he's a one-off for this book, I don't really get why the author thought it was important for us to know him through and through, especially when there wasn't that much to know.
- The actual plot could have been a lot more relevant and interesting.
- Hera's beauty was remarked upon too often and it was annoying. Females aren't mythical creatures. Geesh!
My overall opinions:
-The plot of this book is very meh and 'big deal!'. Basically its just the empire flaunting some power over some mining planet, with this one particular guy flaunting even more power than the empire is aware of, and our heroes attempt to save the planet and its few (??) inhabitants from destruction at the hands of this corporate tyrant. They are basically flung together to accomplish this, they save the day, Kanan and Hera leave together... but really who cares? I would have much preferred this prequel have more weight on the characters, inform more of who they are, have more relevance to the show rather than just being "this is where Kanan and Hera meet"...I would rather it not just be like an episodic adventure with no real long term implications on the characters. Maybe it would have been too much of a spoiler, but a prequel that actually got into Hera and/or Kanan's being wronged by the empire in the first place would have been much more interesting. We do learn a little about Kanan's past, but it just made me wish the book had been about that instead of this random thing.
Final thoughts:
Check it out of you want, but you aren't missing much by passing it up. You certainly don't need to read it before watching rebels, I don't think it really enhances it much. It's just a random adventure.
LIKE OKAY.
BUT SERIOUSLY.
THEY SHOULD HAVE CALLED THIS WHEN HERA MET KANAN.
I don't know why they aren't mashing their faces together, but I could read about young Hera and young Kanan and the fringes of the universe that isn't touched on by the movies, ALL THE DANG DAY.
BUT SERIOUSLY.
THEY SHOULD HAVE CALLED THIS WHEN HERA MET KANAN.
I don't know why they aren't mashing their faces together, but I could read about young Hera and young Kanan and the fringes of the universe that isn't touched on by the movies, ALL THE DANG DAY.
I enjoyed learning the backstory of Kanan and Herra. Since I love the Star Wars Rebels animated series, this book was a good read!It was a little slow at first but then it picked up and finished well.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5 - 4 stars
Hera and Kanan are my favorite characters from the TV show "Star Wars Rebels," so I was happy to get to find out how they met and get a little inside their heads. It was a fun story and the characters rang true. However, I would really like to hear more about their adventures after they team up but before "Rebels" begins! This book is a must-read for any fan of the show, although I recommend watching at least Season 1 first.
Hera and Kanan are my favorite characters from the TV show "Star Wars Rebels," so I was happy to get to find out how they met and get a little inside their heads. It was a fun story and the characters rang true. However, I would really like to hear more about their adventures after they team up but before "Rebels" begins! This book is a must-read for any fan of the show, although I recommend watching at least Season 1 first.
Where to start? This was INCREDIBLY boring. It took me forever to get through this before I said fuck it and just put on the audiobook to play while I did other things, like cook and do the dishes. And honestly, I missed none of the story, even when I tuned out. This is so bogged down in a boring, bland plot. Kanan and Hera have none of the personality they have in the show. Kanan is reduced to a bumbling idiot that focuses on the attractiveness of women 80% of the time and comes across as a complete creep. At one point, he's weighing Hera's usefulness against her appearance??? I hated this. Completely unnecessary introduction to these characters that was not needed. Rebels does a much better job at exploring their relationship and developing their characters.
A solid book. I wish we'd gotten to know more about Hera as well as Kanan, but I guess that's a mystery for another book.
adventurous
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 liked the story but kept getting copies from the library I was allergic too 😔