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A review by neilrcoulter
Guardians of the Whills by Greg Rucka
3.0
The Rogue One/Rebels era is my favorite part of Star Wars. I find it fascinating--people in the galaxy still suffering the lingering trauma of the Clone Wars while being steadily crushed under the Empire; isolated groups of people fighting the Empire in various ways, gradually coming together into a Rebel Alliance; the struggle to remain hopeful in the time when the Empire seemed unstoppable, before the destruction of the first Death Star. That's a lot of interesting area to explore. And it helps that Rebels and Rogue One are so cool and perfect.
So I was eager to read the novels that fill out Rogue One's characters. Jyn's book, Rebel Rising, was okay, but not as good as I'd hoped. And now Guardians of the Whills tells more of the story of Baze and Chirrut on Jedha.
And it's also...okay. Greg Rucka is a decent Star Wars author--nothing fancy, but nothing Chuck Wendig, either. Rucka imagines Jedha beyond the borders shown in the film, and I like that. It's a distinctive location, having some aspects that seem like Tatooine, but not simply a direct copy of it (ahem: Jakku). He also broadens the understanding of what the Force is. It's no longer something that only the Jedi or Sith can use, but it's a spiritual presence available to many people in the galaxy. It's still somewhat ambiguous, potentially dangerous territory to get into, but at this point it still works for me, and it makes the galaxy more intriguing.
Rucka falls short in two important areas, however, The first is the story itself. That is, there isn't much story at all. If Saw Gerrera's group is going to be involved in a story, then it really needs to be more than an grade-school-level novel. It gets complex and disturbing quickly, but the confines of this book don't allow that. (Also, I don't recall from Rogue One any hints that Baze and Chirrut had a past with Saw. I'll have to pay attention to that the next time I watch it.)
The other disappointment in Guardians of the Whills is the dialogue. Rucka tries to make Baze and Chirrut's interactions terse and concise, to give the impression that they know each other so well that they don't need to talk much. Unfortunately, that limits their characterizations. We don't get much to go on, and it doesn't end up feeling like conversation between two old friends. It's stilted and awkward. That's a shame, since Baze especially is one of the least-developed of the Rogue One team members, and it would be nice to get to know him better.
It's not a bad book, but it feels limited. It can't answer a lot of questions we have--who are the guardians? what did they do in their heyday? what are the books that are quoted? what are the other Force-based religions that have a presence on Jedha? etc.--because it's set in the time of Imperial occupation, not in Jedha's prime. Of the proverbs and poetry quoted at the start of each chapter, the most interesting is a section from the Sith, which resonates with what Maul says to Ezra in Rebels: that the Sith use the Force to gain the power to release them from their chains.
I hope two mediocre Rogue One novels (but not forgetting the really good Catalyst) don't put a halt to more stories about this era and these characters.
So I was eager to read the novels that fill out Rogue One's characters. Jyn's book, Rebel Rising, was okay, but not as good as I'd hoped. And now Guardians of the Whills tells more of the story of Baze and Chirrut on Jedha.
And it's also...okay. Greg Rucka is a decent Star Wars author--nothing fancy, but nothing Chuck Wendig, either. Rucka imagines Jedha beyond the borders shown in the film, and I like that. It's a distinctive location, having some aspects that seem like Tatooine, but not simply a direct copy of it (ahem: Jakku). He also broadens the understanding of what the Force is. It's no longer something that only the Jedi or Sith can use, but it's a spiritual presence available to many people in the galaxy. It's still somewhat ambiguous, potentially dangerous territory to get into, but at this point it still works for me, and it makes the galaxy more intriguing.
Rucka falls short in two important areas, however, The first is the story itself. That is, there isn't much story at all. If Saw Gerrera's group is going to be involved in a story, then it really needs to be more than an grade-school-level novel. It gets complex and disturbing quickly, but the confines of this book don't allow that. (Also, I don't recall from Rogue One any hints that Baze and Chirrut had a past with Saw. I'll have to pay attention to that the next time I watch it.)
The other disappointment in Guardians of the Whills is the dialogue. Rucka tries to make Baze and Chirrut's interactions terse and concise, to give the impression that they know each other so well that they don't need to talk much. Unfortunately, that limits their characterizations. We don't get much to go on, and it doesn't end up feeling like conversation between two old friends. It's stilted and awkward. That's a shame, since Baze especially is one of the least-developed of the Rogue One team members, and it would be nice to get to know him better.
It's not a bad book, but it feels limited. It can't answer a lot of questions we have--who are the guardians? what did they do in their heyday? what are the books that are quoted? what are the other Force-based religions that have a presence on Jedha? etc.--because it's set in the time of Imperial occupation, not in Jedha's prime. Of the proverbs and poetry quoted at the start of each chapter, the most interesting is a section from the Sith, which resonates with what Maul says to Ezra in Rebels: that the Sith use the Force to gain the power to release them from their chains.
I hope two mediocre Rogue One novels (but not forgetting the really good Catalyst) don't put a halt to more stories about this era and these characters.