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melsage1823's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A good and fun novel that excels in expanding on the world of Battu and the theme park lore but fails in expanding on and developing its supporting characters.
This took me ages but in the end was so worth it. There's a lot to get out of this story including the world of Battu and the ending without spoilers perfectly sets up the storyline in the theme parks. Despite not having read or listened to Phasma I was relatively able to follow the story of Vi and Archex but would still recommend going in having gotten the necessary backstory from Phasma. As well as expanding on the world of Battu it really nailed the themes of resistance and standing up for what's right. It's a book that really shuts down "The First Order/Empire were right" crowd.
That being said there were a lot of flaws that let this book down and I recommend going in with low expectations as let's say if you don't your not gonna be in for a good time. There's still much to enjoy but enjoyment aside you can tell that it's sole purpose is to get to readers interested in banking out a holiday to Galaxy's Edge. A book should never put World building over character but this does heavily.
So that being said I need to talk about the way this book was advertised and released. You think your in for a sequel to A Crash Of Fate when it's more a sequel to Phasma (Written By The Same Author) than anything else. Sure both stories have the same purpose and location more than anything else but that's all they have in common. This is heavily misleading for the reader and also makes things accessible. Other readers shouldn't have to warn you to not read this standalone it's the job of the publisher. It also doesn't help that a lot of the emotional beats of this book from Vi and Archexs carried over Arc into this novel. Another thing is that we have to have a lot of exposition and backstory building for the people that missed out on Phasma. If anything I now want to listen or pick up Phasma in order to understand and feel the weight of Vi and Archex's actions throughout this novel.
Secondly, the side characters. This full point will link to my final point but we get no time to grow or care about anybody other than Vi, Archex and Pook. Yelena, Savi, Dollin, Kriki, Zade and even Oga to an extent were all great new additions to the cast with backstories that had tons of development potential but they were barley touched and shamefully wasted. There's so many plot points from all these characters that were very interesting but had to be sacrificed in order for Vi and Archexs character development which should never be the case. I would have killed for at least fifty more pages about the scrap yard or Yelena and Dollins slow romance at least. It gave huge show don't tell energy because Dawson didn't have the pages needed. There's just a lot of wasted potential even from the main villian which just breaks my heart.
Finally the pacing and length. I heard the paperback has 500+ pages with extended short stories but this main story needed at least 200 or 300 more pages in order to get room to breathe and flesh things out. I thought that's what was going to happen at the beginning of the story but it immediately fell away and kept it's rushed fast paced. I often like faced paced and action packed novels but this is one that absolutely would have benefited from being a much slower pace. It also would have greatly helped if each chapter had a consistent length especially towards the end. I felt like a lot of the chapters could have easily been squashed together and didn't need to be separate at all. It also doesn't help the genuine reader who might want to only read a certain number of chapters a day. The chapter style works in other Star Wars novels but it fails miserably in this one.
With that out of the way we can finally get to talking about the best parts of this novel. First I have to praise like I said the world building and development of Battu. I heard a lot of fans complain that Battu being the focus felt very frustrating and annoying but after visiting myself and reading this book, I highly disagree. Dawson manages to write this Planet in such a vibrant and colourful way that it immediately get's you immersed. Battu itself is it's own character with lots of personality and stakes involved. It also gives a lot of context and background about the locations in the park and how it functions. Thanks to the way Dawson expands on the culture and livelihood hood of the planet it makes you as the reader believe in Vi's cause and the importance of keeping the planet peaceful. The story makes you see the importance and understand the beauty of Battu as a planet overall.
Secondly the themes. As much as the side characters didn't do it for me, the themes and emotional krux of this novel certainly did. Star Wars has always been about Resistance and standing up to bullies but Black Spire takes it to a whole other level. You can tell how much Dawson understands the meaning of the Rebellion, George Lucas set up in the Orginal Trilogy. Dawson gets the morals in Star Wars perfectly and sometimes that's all you need. From the beginning to the very end we get the full importance of finding hope and being able to take resistance even if the most bleak and despairing situations. Its all consistent and the same throughout and teaches its reader in a very good way. The resistance/rebel alliance are occasionally mis characterised by fans but Black Spire gets them right and perfectly understand that it isn't a complex thing and that there is truly only one right side even if it may not seem like it. It gave me absolute goosebumps especially when it came to the conflict Vi had recruiting people.
Finally the character of Pook. If there's one thing that Star Wars gets right no matter the quality of the story it's the droids. Droids that appear in the books seem to especially be iconic and memorable and Pook is no exception. He's not only the highlight of this novel but is indeed one of the best parts. His sassy and dramatic tendencies managed to break the high tension of the story at just the right moment. He's highly entertaining and shows to perfection why the best droids are the ones with loads of personality and flavour. Truly one of the best droids to appear out of all the Star Wars books I have read. Its also great that he's not just there for comic relief, he's generally helpful to the group and brings a lot to the team. As much as I hate the lack of development for our side characters Pook easily makes up for it.
So there you have it. This was a really good novel with great, immersive world building but poor side characters and pacing. For what it is though I really appreciate it and kind of wish it was sold in the parks or at Disney Springs. If you have read/listened to Phasma or been to Galaxy's Edge I'd definitely recommend giving this a go and see what you think. Despite its flaws there's still a lot of fascinating lore to get out of it.
This took me ages but in the end was so worth it. There's a lot to get out of this story including the world of Battu and the ending without spoilers perfectly sets up the storyline in the theme parks. Despite not having read or listened to Phasma I was relatively able to follow the story of Vi and Archex but would still recommend going in having gotten the necessary backstory from Phasma. As well as expanding on the world of Battu it really nailed the themes of resistance and standing up for what's right. It's a book that really shuts down "The First Order/Empire were right" crowd.
That being said there were a lot of flaws that let this book down and I recommend going in with low expectations as let's say if you don't your not gonna be in for a good time. There's still much to enjoy but enjoyment aside you can tell that it's sole purpose is to get to readers interested in banking out a holiday to Galaxy's Edge. A book should never put World building over character but this does heavily.
So that being said I need to talk about the way this book was advertised and released. You think your in for a sequel to A Crash Of Fate when it's more a sequel to Phasma (Written By The Same Author) than anything else. Sure both stories have the same purpose and location more than anything else but that's all they have in common. This is heavily misleading for the reader and also makes things accessible. Other readers shouldn't have to warn you to not read this standalone it's the job of the publisher. It also doesn't help that a lot of the emotional beats of this book from Vi and Archexs carried over Arc into this novel. Another thing is that we have to have a lot of exposition and backstory building for the people that missed out on Phasma. If anything I now want to listen or pick up Phasma in order to understand and feel the weight of Vi and Archex's actions throughout this novel.
Secondly, the side characters. This full point will link to my final point but we get no time to grow or care about anybody other than Vi, Archex and Pook. Yelena, Savi, Dollin, Kriki, Zade and even Oga to an extent were all great new additions to the cast with backstories that had tons of development potential but they were barley touched and shamefully wasted. There's so many plot points from all these characters that were very interesting but had to be sacrificed in order for Vi and Archexs character development which should never be the case. I would have killed for at least fifty more pages about the scrap yard or Yelena and Dollins slow romance at least. It gave huge show don't tell energy because Dawson didn't have the pages needed. There's just a lot of wasted potential even from the main villian which just breaks my heart.
Finally the pacing and length. I heard the paperback has 500+ pages with extended short stories but this main story needed at least 200 or 300 more pages in order to get room to breathe and flesh things out. I thought that's what was going to happen at the beginning of the story but it immediately fell away and kept it's rushed fast paced. I often like faced paced and action packed novels but this is one that absolutely would have benefited from being a much slower pace. It also would have greatly helped if each chapter had a consistent length especially towards the end. I felt like a lot of the chapters could have easily been squashed together and didn't need to be separate at all. It also doesn't help the genuine reader who might want to only read a certain number of chapters a day. The chapter style works in other Star Wars novels but it fails miserably in this one.
With that out of the way we can finally get to talking about the best parts of this novel. First I have to praise like I said the world building and development of Battu. I heard a lot of fans complain that Battu being the focus felt very frustrating and annoying but after visiting myself and reading this book, I highly disagree. Dawson manages to write this Planet in such a vibrant and colourful way that it immediately get's you immersed. Battu itself is it's own character with lots of personality and stakes involved. It also gives a lot of context and background about the locations in the park and how it functions. Thanks to the way Dawson expands on the culture and livelihood hood of the planet it makes you as the reader believe in Vi's cause and the importance of keeping the planet peaceful. The story makes you see the importance and understand the beauty of Battu as a planet overall.
Secondly the themes. As much as the side characters didn't do it for me, the themes and emotional krux of this novel certainly did. Star Wars has always been about Resistance and standing up to bullies but Black Spire takes it to a whole other level. You can tell how much Dawson understands the meaning of the Rebellion, George Lucas set up in the Orginal Trilogy. Dawson gets the morals in Star Wars perfectly and sometimes that's all you need. From the beginning to the very end we get the full importance of finding hope and being able to take resistance even if the most bleak and despairing situations. Its all consistent and the same throughout and teaches its reader in a very good way. The resistance/rebel alliance are occasionally mis characterised by fans but Black Spire gets them right and perfectly understand that it isn't a complex thing and that there is truly only one right side even if it may not seem like it. It gave me absolute goosebumps especially when it came to the conflict Vi had recruiting people.
Finally the character of Pook. If there's one thing that Star Wars gets right no matter the quality of the story it's the droids. Droids that appear in the books seem to especially be iconic and memorable and Pook is no exception. He's not only the highlight of this novel but is indeed one of the best parts. His sassy and dramatic tendencies managed to break the high tension of the story at just the right moment. He's highly entertaining and shows to perfection why the best droids are the ones with loads of personality and flavour. Truly one of the best droids to appear out of all the Star Wars books I have read. Its also great that he's not just there for comic relief, he's generally helpful to the group and brings a lot to the team. As much as I hate the lack of development for our side characters Pook easily makes up for it.
So there you have it. This was a really good novel with great, immersive world building but poor side characters and pacing. For what it is though I really appreciate it and kind of wish it was sold in the parks or at Disney Springs. If you have read/listened to Phasma or been to Galaxy's Edge I'd definitely recommend giving this a go and see what you think. Despite its flaws there's still a lot of fascinating lore to get out of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, War, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Kidnapping, and Death
Minor: Grief, Bullying, and Panic attacks/disorders
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