A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller, Star Wars Rebels #1For a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights brought peace and order to the Galactic Republic, aided by their connection to the mystical energy field known as the Force. But they were betrayed—and the entire galaxy has paid the price. It is the Age of the Empire.
Now Emperor Palpatine, once Chancellor of the Republic and secretly a Sith follower of the dark side of the Force, has brought his own peace and order to the galaxy. Peace through brutal repression, and order through increasing control of his subjects’ lives.
But even as the Emperor tightens his iron grip, others have begun to question his means and motives. And still others, whose lives were destroyed by Palpatine’s machinations, lay scattered about the galaxy like unexploded bombs, waiting to go off. . . .
I have been immensely enjoying the Star Wars Extended Universe books very much, so far I read mostly books based on the original series. I also haven't read one story yet of John Jackson Miller, who is one of the most established Star Wars writers out there. If you look at the cover of the book one thing readily falls to note is that A New Dawn doesn't quite fit into the existing movies, instead this book focuses on and lays the ground for the recently started new animated Star Wars series, Star Wars Rebels, featuring the characters of that new series. But it does take place within the original series, more precisely in between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope. Now I haven't seen this series yet, but A New Dawn has definitely gotten me eager to start watching it!
As I mentioned above the story of A New Dawn takes place in between Episode III and Episode IV. In the end of Episode III the Empire prevailed and Emperor Palatine reigns supreme. The surviving Jedi Knights are in hiding constantly on the run for Darth Vader and his stormtroopers, the times of being a Jedi knight and standing up against the Sith are over. And so does this count for the main protagonist of the story, Kanan Jarrus, he was a Jedi in training when the Empire took over, he managed to survive and now keeps his lightsaber safely locked away and instead picked up his blaster and took quite another route in life. Kanan is the captain of a mining vessel on Cynda a moon of the planet of Gorse. Having lost it all, his heritage, he went into the direction of the bottle and now favor his alcohol in abundance. Cynda provides a most valuable compound for the Empire's Star Destroyers, an ore known as thorilide. Everything seems to be going the right way or at least sort of, but it all changes when a "delegation" in the form of Count Vidian is send to increase production and efficiency for the thorilide mining, so that the Empire can build even more Star Destroyers. And you know precisely what will happen when all of a sudden a new person takes the lead, and not in a gentle way, something just have to give. Certain people, like Kanan, can not let this happen. Something has to give.
I really enjoyed the story of A New Dawn, in the other EU books I have gotten to know many of the established characters in a better way, but focusing on a completely new set of characters (I haven't seen the show yet), offers a great many new insights from a different perspective, thereby nicely expanding (which is the sole intention of this book) the Star Wars Universe once again. It is always nice to read about what authors can come up with that fits precisely within two of the Episodes or things that happened prior to the original series. The cover of A New Dawn does give the pretense that it is more of an children's books but don't let that mislead you the setting is actually a bit grimmer and darker than I had expected to read about, but you can still give this book safely to your kids.
When you pick up an Star Wars book you will undoubtedly hope to see song z-zzing of lightsabers: Jedi's battling it out with the Sith. Well you won't see that A New Dawn as the book centers around one of the most troubled times of Star Wars a time where all the Jedi's have disappeared, however don't think that action is absent. Rather than being absent, you will find action a plenty in fist fights and blaster shootouts. As the evil new presence, in the form of Count Vidian, has started a rebellion. John Jackson Miller does let the action speak for itself, there are quite heated fights involving many different characters but he does a good job in showing both the bigger picture but also focusing on the individuals involved giving a very clear picture. The action in the book doesn't come only in the form of fighting, their is also much going on the space itself and on the planets, you will see the appearance of TIE fighters in space and some high speed chases. Very cool.
The characters that feature in are very enjoyable to read about. The main protagonist Kanan Jarran won't escape you attention at all. Kanan is a Jedi that put away his lightsaber to avoid drawing attention of the Empire to himself, he has picked a new venture in the mining occupation. When it comes down to Kanan character he has a specific rogueish attitude that actually, if I hadn't know he was a Jedi, I wouldn't have placed him among the Jedi. It isn't that he goes 180 degrees into the rules of the Jedi, no he does uphold them, but his rogueish attitude makes him definitely act more free and unrestrained as what I have seen with the other Jedi's. By this he also became for me, even though we are talking fiction here, more approachable. This also makes Kanan stand out amongst many of the other Star Wars protagonist and will make him a suitable character to be molded into one that can go on for a long time. Other characters that stand out in the book are the Twi'lek Hera Syndulla, she also makes a first appearance in this book. Hera is just "cruising" along taking careful notes on the actions of the Empire and trying to recruit new people in to her rebellious faction against the Empire. Her plans are severely altered when she travels to the planet of Gorse. Amongst other, there she meets up with Kanan.
Now next to the good guys of the book, Kanan and Hera and their friends you have a nice focus on the part of the Empire and this is precisely what I want to see in a Star Wars book, in any other good guy bad guy kind of story I don't care, it is a plus don't get me wrong but a Star Wars book just wouldn't be the same without it. John Jackson Miller focuses a lot of effort and time in showing the actions of Count Denetrius Vidian and Captain Rae Sloane. I like a good bad guy in a story and Denetrius Vidian, for me, lived up to this expectation. He is a nasty piece of work, but also has a long history and is by far not wholly human anymore... He caught a disease and choose to come back with new strength, fully augmented. His body is riddled with cybernetic augmentations, he is basically a cyborg, what more do you need to have in an evil genius? Well yes a nasty attitude, well this is also something where you don't have to search long for. Denetrius Vidian has a attitude of: obey me or you will disappear. period. Rae Sloane adds a interesting voice in the mix, she is the human commanding officer of the Star Detroyer Ultimatum and we haven't seen a lot of women in the ranks of the Empire, and probably because of the reason I will explain now. Rae Sloane has a heart. When push comes to shove she will make decisions in lesser time than you can blink your eye, but it does not mean that she fully stand by her decisions. This makes her character just as many others of the book, break through some stereotypes that we heretofore seen in the Star Wars Universe. John Jackson Miller did a great job in showing the characters in many different spotlights.
A New Dawn is a great kick off for the animated Star Wars: Rebels series that will readily get you in the mood for watching the show. But if the notification of this new series has escaped your attention you can also read this book as a stand alone, and there it also offers an action packed story. You do not need to have read any books prior to this series, so it also offers a nice stepping stone for those who are just starting in the Star Wars Extended Universe books. Since I hadn't saw the show yet prior to picking up A New Dawn everything was new for me, the characters and the setting. I have to say that John Jackson Miller did a very nice job in showing the different characters of the story. If you take for example the main protagonist Kanan I really like the idea behind his character and how his personality was brought forward some don't make a reappearance in the animated series, I just watched the first episode and I have to say that the character or the background of what I read in the book was just spot on. The Jacket cover might not make you believe that this is a classic Star Wars story but it really has everything you will looking for and much more. Disney's take over and restart of several Extended Universe products is really paying off, looking forward to reading more of these books that feature completely on new characters.
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