Review: The New Rebellion

Perhaps it was because the story was contained within a single book or that the book was well done, but The New Rebellion was an enjoyable read. As I push myself into reading more novels, I am starting to look forward to ending my day by lying in bed next to my wife, both of us reading a book. Just the other day I spent two hours reading The New Rebellion, something I have never done before. I was having such a good time reading that I did not want to put it down. It does have its weak points, but they are few and far between.

The book started off a little weak, including the bombing of the Senate that nearly killed Leia, and it left met thinking that I would dread reading it as I had with Children of the Jedi. As the plot began to unravel, however, the book much more interesting. Two former students of the Jedi Academy were behind a sudden massive loss of life on a distant planet, followed by a bombing inside of the Senate hall as Leia was making an address. Luke discovers this and leaves to search, while Han and Chewie head to Smuggler’s Run to follow an apparent link between the bombing and something an old smuggler friend told him minutes before. On Coruscant, Leia was dealing with an influx of former Imperials now being the majority in the Senate as a result of the attack. This setup much uncertainty in the New Republic as the book’s villain plans to become the new Emperor. Most of the plot in the book were enjoyable, but when Han became the prime suspect in the bombings, while nearly simultaneously, a vote of no confidence was being mulled against Leia, I started to become dissatisfied.

An independent investigation found two coded messages from the now dead smuggler that spoke with Han. The first message alluded to the bombing itself, while the second specifically mentioned Han being “in”. This, coupled with the fact that Han left the planet not long after the bombings occurred, convinced the former Imperial Senators that he was behind the attack. They deflected the possibility that he was being setup, but rather were totally convinced he had done it, regardless of his history and dedication to the New Republic. The evidence was circumstantial and was not nearly as concrete as the characters in the book portrayed it, yet it gave way to the no confidence vote. It was later discovered that the bombs were inside of droids, as well as every new X-wing. Each bomb had the Imperial insignia, which Leia brought to the attention of those accusing her husband of treason. While brushing off the possibility that Han was being setup, they produced a conspiracy theory that involve Leia being personally responsible for planting evidence against the former Imperials. This was one of my least favorite parts of the book.

When the New Republic was on the brink of war with the Yevetha, Han’s transport was captured. It was believed that because Leia was too close to the issue to be impartial or objective, the New Republic would go to war to save the President’s husband and for no other legitimate reason. Because of this, Leia was facing a vote of no confidence. Fast forward to no more than a year later, and another no confidence vote arises. This is the second time it was used as a dramatic story element, and while I may be mistaken, it was possibly done one other time. Can we not come up with something else? A majority of former Imperials in the Senate is enough to provide friction, but not a rehash. To avoid the vote, Leia resigned and replaced herself with Mon Mothma, who swore she was done with politics after nearly dying from being poisoned. I did not like how this played out at all, and it was there to progress the plot so that Leia and Luke were in the same place at the same time at the book’s end.

Brakiss, one of the former students, was a very powerful Force adept that could not face the darkness in him, so he quit the Jedi Academy. He was responsible for planting the bombs in droids and being part of the conspiracy to blame Han. Near the end of the story, this powerful Force adept was overrun by dozens or hundreds of astromech droids. Imagine Luke Skywalker being forced to run away from a fight because of a bunch of droids. I know, it seems very silly, and yet that is what happened. It was a very weak and unsatisfying moment. Even without proper training, this agent of the dark side should not have been so easily defeated.

Another odd item, which was not so much of a sore spot, was Kueller’s mask. Kueller, formerly Dolph, wore a Hendanyn death mask, which stored the memories of the wearer before they died. Kueller liked to use it as a means of instilling fear in those that looked at it. The book described it as skeletal, but a lot of attention was given to that mask anytime Kueller was involved, such as him feeling it slip out of place, how a bead of sweat ran down his past his chin, or how it was haunting Leia and her son Anakin. I went to Wookieepedia to see if there was any artwork, as I like to visual what these characters look like that exist only in the expanded Star Wars universe. The conclusion was Kueller’s mask looked goofy, not the kind of mask that would strike fear or haunt someone, and I am not the only one to take note.

With those issues out of the way, everything else in the book was entertaining to read. It had a great pace in advancing the story, and even though the all powerful Jedi Master Luke Skywalker could not avoid being injured to near uselessness yet again, he did not end up being a too easy to manipulate clueless buffoon that he was in The Black Fleet Crisis. I give The New Rebellion a solid 7.5 out of 10. Which reminds me, that 7 I gave to The Black Fleet Crisis was too generous.