Rebel Rising

Star Wars Disney Canon Novel

by Beth Revis, Gema Bonnín (Translator)

A los ocho años, Jyn Erso ve cómo matan a su madre y cómo le arrebatan a su padre para que trabaje para el Imperio. Pero pese a la pérdida de sus padres, no está completamente sola. Saw Gerrera, un hombre dispuesto a todo con tal de resistir a la tiranía imperial, la acoge como a su propia hija y le ofrece no solo un hogar sino la posibilidad de adquirir las habilidades y los recursos necesarios para convertirse en una rebelde. Jyn dedica su vida a la causa… y a ese hombre.

Pero luchar junto a Saw y su gente trae consigo peligro y la pregunta de cuán lejos está dispuesta a llegar con tal de convertirse en uno de los soldados de Saw. Tras enfrentarse a una terrible traición que hace pedazos su mundo, Jyn tendrá que recomponerse y descubrir en qué cree realmente… y en quién puede confiar.

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy, Space Opera

344 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2017

About the author

Beth Revis writes books. She also eats too much chocolate, wishes she could travel more, and prefers puppies to people. Beth lives in rural NC with her boys: one husband, one son, two very large puppies.

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did like this book, and I think Beth Revis did a great job describing Jyn Erso's emotional and tragic state. I don't think it would be a spoiler for anyone to know this is a tragic story. The only downside of the story for me was that it was a bit too slow.

The book takes place in two time periods. The first is a few months before Jyn is taken to meet the Rebellion, the other is from the point where 8 year old Jyn has just seen her mother killed and is in the hiding cave.

We do learn more about Saw as well. We learn that a younger Saw was in the Clone Wars Season 5. Something that I think was done very well is the difference between the Rebellion and a terrorist. In Rogue One, we learned the Rebels dismissed Saw for being "too extreme", in the book, I saw the lengths he was willing to go to. We also see the events that built and broke Jyn down to the point where she was more of a sceptic than a rebel at the beginning of Rogue One.

This is a great filler in between Catalyst and Rogue One. The emotion and character development is great, but I do wish there was more action in the book as a change of pace.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s always great to return to the world of Star Wars … and Beth Revis does an amazing job with Jyn’s story! A slower start leads up to lots of action and adventure. This book is a must for all fans! 🌌

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Farewell, Stardust...(Art Credit: DavidDeb on Deviantart)

This was probably my favourite Star Wars book since reading Lost Stars. I'll likely have more to say on the subject later...



OK, it's later.

This book takes the reader from the moment Saw Gerrera arrives to rescue Jyn Erso from her panic room after she witnesses Krennic kill her mother and take her father away, and follows her journey through being his ward to becoming a trained operative (with an extremely useful knack for code breaking) to being left behind after a job gone south and having to find her own way in an indifferent Galaxy, with a breath or two of hope along the way only to see those hopes heartbreakingly crushed time and again.



Check any "Oh, it's YA..." prejudices at the door with this one as even more so than the beloved Lost Stars by Claudia Gray this one deals with some very mature themes including but not limited to terrorism, incarceration, torture, slavery, suicide and perhaps even a hint of the threat of sexual violence toward young women.

There is a very YA love romance subplot at one point but I found it to be restrained and plausible, and since this is a lead in to where we find Jyn at the outset of Rogue One (imprisoned on Wobani) it naturally ends badly.

Finishing this book was hard for me not because I wasn't enjoying it but because I knew that when I turned the last page I would be saying goodbye to this character forever. Still, I am so glad I finally circled back to this book and in a way it has made me even more excited to see what the upcoming Cassian Andor series will bring to the rich tapestry of the Rebellion era storytelling.

[Neil Hepworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Wars meh.

The beginning and end of the novel showed a lot of promise - dealing with both Jyn's early years with Saw, and with her subsequent capture by the Empire. Both were dark, gritty, and well plotted, even in their YA context. I just wish these moments in Jyn's life could have been explored by a non-YA novel. However, the middle of the book just reeks of the worst of YA tropes and character design. The love interest and his mother are very shallow, especially compared to how genuine the love story was in Lost Stars, another, better YA Star Wars novel. Rebel Rising is not a bad book at all - it's just very forgettable.

On a side note - why did Disney decide to create Jyn's story in the YA realm? I mean, Ahsoka worked as a YA novel because the character came from a cartoon targeted at the YA audience. But Jyn's character comes from the most mature Star Wars to date, so...IDK. Seems odd to me.

Also, I'm ready for the Star Wars novels to move on to something other than "Here's a Story about a Character", i.e. Tarkin, Ahsoka, Thrawn, Rebel Rising, Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel, etc. Time to start thinking bigger. Maybe now that the Aftermath trilogy is done, they will. Please.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook version of this with my kids and it was a great pick for us. As expected, there wasn't much happiness in this story. That said, the sad progression of Jyn's childhood with Saw and her teen and early adulthood spent alone and ultimately ending in prison all make the redemption of hope she experiences in Rogue One that much sweeter.

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 stars. When Jyn is sitting in prison at the beginning of Rogue One, and throughout the story, she's not very emotive. There are hints in Rogue One of her tough years before, and this story fills in the details, from her time hiding from stormtroopers after her mother's death, to Cassian breaking her out of prison.
Unlike Rogue One, this story acknowledges that Jyn had a mother who was far more canny than Galen, and who had a positive influence on her daughter. This story also fills in details of how Saw Guerrera raised Jyn, teaching her to fight and be self reliant. Jyn also taught herself to be a very competent forger and slicer, skills that she used repeatedly from her early teens up to the time she ends up in prison.
I thought the author did a good job at capturing Jyn's growing despair and depression as she used all her skills to fend for herself while encountering a variety of unsavoury individuals and situations. Jyn's darkness felt palpable. I thought Jyn's progression from scared eight-year old to hopeless prisoner in her 20s was credible.

[Stephen Richter · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are one of those people that loved the film Rogue One and wished for more Jen, you are in luck. Beth Revis has filled in the backstory . Now if you want the whole experience of the Rogue One story you can do the following. First read Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel which gives you the Galen backstory. Then start the film of Rogue One, stop as Jen sits in the hiding place. Read this book, Rebel Rising as you follow the young Jen from Saw to prison. Then restart Rogue One followed quickly by New Hope. For those who still think Disney has destroyed Star Wars, this is proof you are crazy.

[Bria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solidly enjoyable book that's unrelenting with its portrayal of how rough Jyn's life was after her mother died. Also Revis made me like Saw.

Full review on Tosche Station: http://tosche-station.net/review-rebe...

[Katie_Living_in_Bookland · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 out of 5 stars.

When Jyn Erso was five years old, her mother was murdered and her father taken from her to serve the Empire. But despite the loss of her parents she is not completely alone—Saw Gerrera, a man willing to go to any extremes necessary in order to resist Imperial tyranny, takes her in as his own, and gives her not only a home but all the abilities and resources she needs to become a rebel herself.

I first saw Rogue One about a month ago and I loved it. I thought it was just a beautiful story about regaining hope and finding family. All the characters brought me so much heartache because they seemed so tortured, but they really believed in the rebellion and held on so tightly to that hope of bringing a better future. I felt so connected to them and by the end I was in tears by how beautiful the movie was. That being said, there were still characters I wanted to know more about and I really wanted to know what happened during the time Jyn was with Saw. When I learned about this book I knew I had to have it and I was really surprised by how good it was and how well the author did on exploring that period of time with Saw and the characters.

The book starts out with Jyn being put in prison, most likely the prison we see her in at the beginning of the movie and then jumps to the past when Saw found her hiding. From there on out we get to see their relationship and her training to get into the rebellion and how she got out of it.

I love, love, loved Jyn and Saw's relationship throughout the whole book. It was one of those really great father-daughter relationships and I thought the author did a wonderful job showing their strengths and weaknesses in this area. They were both so damaged and Saw really just wanted to focus on the rebellion and taking down the Empire, but then there was this little girl he needed to take care of and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't take his emotions out of the situation. In Rogue One we kind of get a hint at this fatherly love Saw has for Jyn, but we don't go much farther than that and I was so pleased in this book to see that relationship grow and to see how they really relied on each other.

Jyn was such a complicated character in Rogue One and she was so trouble and especially at the beginning we see how little hope she has, but we don't know all the reasons for this. In Rebel Rising not only did we get to see her thoughts when she was in that little hiding spot waiting for Saw, but we also see how she reacts to some really horrible things that are revealed to her and how they affect her emotionally. It broke my heart reading this book and seeing how this sweet little girl got so broken up and all the things that kept being thrown at her to take her innocence away. I was completely blown away by how the author delved into Jyn's past and added so much to her character. By the end I really felt like I knew Jyn in a whole different light and how much deeper she seems to me now.

There were also new characters we didn't get to meet in the movie that I thought added so much to Jyn's story and to the whole Star Wars realm. It was really cool to see how she interacted with these characters and how they added to her story and what she learned from them.

The author did an awesome job on sticking with the feeling of the Star Wars world. It was much darker than what we get to see in the movies, but it really fit, especially with how it leads into Rogue One, which is a much darker film than the other movies. I was pleased that she was able to stick to the tone and how she tied it into the movie. I would definitely suggest this book if you've seen the movie and want a deeper look into Jyn's past and want to know some of the characters a little better.

I would rate this for 13-14+. Like I said, it is a little darker and pretty sad just because of where Jyn comes from and there are several times when she's just ready to give up and doesn't know what to do with the rest of her life. So, in that way it's really, really sad and a little depressing to see how lost and hopeless she is for some of the book. There are also some pretty intense action scenes and some of them get quite bloody. There is a scene where they talk about people being brutally killed and it gets pretty bloody and upsetting. And there is one suicide that I thought it was a little descriptive, but you kind of see it coming and it's pretty easy to skip over if that kind of thing upsets you.
There is a bit of a romance in here and one scene where it's implied the characters had sex.

[Sol · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a full review of Rebel Rising, and contains spoilers.

I was so, so excited to start this book. Ever since seeing & falling in love with Rogue One, I was always curious to know more about Jyn and Saw's relationship, and the long gap of time stretched between Lyra's death and Jyn's time at Wobani. However, I found this book to be colossally disappointing and underwhelming in the scheme of Jyn's canon life, for a number of reasons.

This book betrayed me into thinking it was interesting by starting with a well-built, deeply interestingly portrayed relationship between Jyn and Saw. Sometimes it felt a bit one-sided if only because of the narrator's everpresent stance behind Jyn, but generally, their relationship was endearing and well-crafted as we learned of all the things he taught Jyn in her youth. However, the day Saw abandoned her felt like a complete, rather out of character curveball, and the book went downhill from there. We still have no idea what Saw's motivations for doing such a thing were, and, as an audience, are still blind to his thoughts, feelings, and activities between abandoning Jyn and when he meets her again in Rogue One. I think the book could have really benefitted from some dual perspective, but that would also require Jyn sharing a spotlight with Saw in terms of main perspective, yet still... I wouldn't complain.

I found Jyn's whopping two years spent with Akshaya and Hadder to be extremely poorly written, tedious, and wrought with missed opportunities. Jyn's place in the Punta household was, essentially, as a replacement for Akshaya's dead daughter/Hadder's dead sister -- yet the book forced an embarrassingly-YA-cliche romance between Hadder and Jyn anyways. Their love life was utterly baseless, and, just like Saw's abandonment, came out of the clear blue sky. I found it to be horrifyingly out of character for Jyn to feel those types of feelings in return for Hadder, if only because in the scheme of the book she had seemed so utterly uncomfortable and standoffish in response to any kind of physical affection of praise. Not to mention, it seems like Jyn had never had any friends her age, but had grown up with Galen, Lyra, and Saw's group of adult partisans. I'm not sure where her finesse with romance (and, as implied, sex) came from, but I found it to be cringeworthy and out of place. If Hadder had been set up as a brother figure rather than a boyfriend, it would have made his eventual (and, might I add, extremely vague and underwhelming) death much more impactful on Jyn, who has deep ties to familial relationships. But that's just my two cents on the matter.

I didn't hate Jyn's time spent on the city planets. I liked the way the setting was described, and I liked feeling secondhand stress about how this young girl was all alone in this huge planet with just the shirt on her back, her weapons, and her limited amount of credits. I thought it was set up well.
I also minorly enjoyed the Imperial officer who had a gambling problem. I thought it was interesting to view an Imperial who wasn't absolutely-downright-evil, like most of the other Imperial offiers we're forced to see in the scheme of the Star Wars universe.

However, I thought a lot of the events that came after Hadder and Akshaya all felt very... forced and convenient. I didn't feel as though any of the events had a natural flow, if that makes sense. I always felt as though Jyn was more stepping willingly into the next plot point that would advance her story rather than her walking through the journey realistically, as poorly phrased as that criticism is.

Oh, need money? Here's an Imperial officer who will pay you handsomely to help her. In trouble with gangsters? How lucky it is that you know how to forge documents for them. On a ship full of slavers? Good thing you know how to fight and knock all of them out. None of these events were all that enjoyable to read about, and in fact, kind of planted a distaste for Jyn and her mindset that I didn't previously have watching Rogue One.

Her actions and perspective are understandable, but the way the book constantly reminded me of her ill-founded hatred for the Rebellion and odd leaning-towards the Empire and general apathy towards injustice irritated me significantly. It left me wishing I hadn't read the book, if only to preserve my favor for Jyn.

The book did have some strong moments -- I thought her time on Wobani was much more well-written than the rest of the book, honestly -- but generally, it isn't worth it for the practically 250-page drag that this book has.

I'd probably give it 1.5/5 stars without much wiggle room, and wouldn't recommend it to people interested in Jyn Erso's backstory. Instead, I'd just say, "Imagine your own backstory for her, however you like. It'd probably be more interesting than Rebel Rising."

[Cambear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half stars

I loved Rogue One and Jyn Erso was such a great, but mysterious character. She clearly had a lot of backstory, but the film never dug into it. Presto, we have Rebel Rising to give us more
Jyn!

This book basically covers the years between Saw rescuing Jyn from the cave to her rescue at the beginning of Rogue One. Saw watches over young Jyn and teaches her how to fight and enables her forgery skills. We learn how and why Saw and Jyn parted ways and what happened to her next.

This next part is where the story comes alive as Jyn builds a new life away from the Empire and the start of the Rebellion. After her rather impersonal life with Saw, it's good to see her have a "normal" life, even if it can't last forever.

I enjoyed the second half of the story where Jyn finds her humanity again. Part of this may be because I want good things for her and she starts to form opinions on the big galactic conflict. Her early years with Saw are (by necessity) dreary and sterile and, well, lengthy, but the second part really does pick up.

Thanks to Disney-Hyperion for providing a copy of the book for review.

[ᒪᗴᗩᕼ · Rating 3 out of 5]

MY RATING⇢ 3.5 ✰STARS✰


BOOK TAGS⇣

⤏ JYN ERSO'S STORY ⤏ FROM THE TIME HER MOTHER DIES AND FATHER DISAPPEARS ⤏ TOLD IN ALTERNATING TIMELINES ⤏ NOT NEARLY ENOUGH DROIDS IN THIS ONE ⤏ SPLASH OF ROMANCE

MY THOUGHTS⇣

This is my third book in Star Wars Disney Canon Novels and despite really liking Rogue One (the movie), I didn't like this as much as Solo or Most Wanted. It was okay, but it didn't grab me like those books did. Maybe, it was the lack of droids or the narration or the timing of when I read it. It could even possibly be the constant back in forth of timelines; that I couldn't follow, or maybe it was the writing. Not to say that I don't like Beth Revis' writing, just that possibly since Rae Carson's Most Wanted was the first Star Wars book I listened too, maybe I like her writing best because she was what I cut my teeth on, so to speak.

It's not as if it's lacking action, because there is plenty of that and it also has heartfelt moments too...and it was interesting to get a backstory for Jyn...one that fit with her character in Rogue One. Overall, I think it was a little of each of those reasons above that made it less than spectacular for me.

BOOK DETAILS⇣

AUDIO PERFORMED BY⇢ REBECCA SOLAR
NARRATION RATING⇢ 3.5/5 --I DON'T THINK SHE WAS GOOD FIT...
BOOK COVER⇢ IT WORKS
SETTING⇢ STAR WARS UNIVERSE
SOURCE⇢ LIBBY AUDIOBOOK (LIBRARY)
AUDIOBOOK LENGTH⇢ 9 HOURS, 53 MINUTES

BREAKDOWN⇣
Plot⇢ 3.7/5
Characters⇢ 4/5
The Feels⇢ 3.5/5
Pacing⇢ 3.5/5
Addictiveness⇢ 3.5/5
Theme or Tone⇢ 4/5
Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 3/5
World-Building⇢ 4/5
Ending⇢ 3.5/5

[fatima · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love how some of the most important start wars characters are daughters of the rebellion with complicated relationships with their fathers

[Paz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

You know I'm going to give a little bit of context here. I have this book since 2017, the year it came out. And ever since 2019 I have avoided any SW content. I was so done with the franchise so I thought I'd never pick this book.
But finally I decided to watch Andor and my love for, at least the Rogue One part of the franchise, was reignited. So I re-watched the movie and picked up this book and what a wonderful surprise this novel was.

The book starts with the same opening scene from the movie. We follow an 8 year old Jyn who sees her mother murdered in front of her, but she also sees her father join the people who hurt her. She's soon rescued by Saw Guerrera. What a character. He's Jyn's father figure for years, yet he's also the one who leaves her behind and cuts her off the only life she's known since she lost both her parents.

This book is grim. It's dark, and sad, and for the most part is so so hopeless. Jyn is a resilient character, but she can only take so much before she loses her will.
And yes, this book is YA, but don't be fooled, Beth Revis doesn't hold any punches.

I'd say the first two thirds of this book are the strongest part of the story. Seeing Jyn Erso grow up under Saw's eyes and training. Working with rebels, extremists, freedom fighters. Hiding from the same people she lives with, because if anyone realises that she's Galen Erso's daughter, the traitor who is helping the empire with some kind of weapon, she'd be in so much danger.

This story is so focused on Jyn as a character, and yet it feels so Star Wars. It was really a great balance of tone and genre.

You really get a great feel of who Jyn is and why she acts like she does in Rogue One. With indifference and distrust, and yet hopeful and loyal til her very end.
The personal losses and betrayals she lives through this book, they are all so tragic. Jyn loses any shred of hope very young, but she finds some at the end, and knowing her fate in Rogue One, it just makes this book even more tragic.

Like I said, I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I thought the YA aspect would take away from Jyn's tragedy, but Revis does a great job finding the tone of this book and focusing on Jyn's personal demons regarding her family and abandandonment issues.

[Brooke Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

When 5 year-old Jyn Erso’s parents were murdered, she’s taken in and cared for by Saw Gerrera, a radical rebel willing to do anything to defeat the tyranny of the Empire. Desperate to prove herself, Jyn dedicates her time and energy to becoming the best rebel she can be. But when the truth of Jyn’s father brings danger to the group, Jyn will have to use everything she’s learned to survive.

I’ve read my very first Star Wars book! I was a little apprehensive about it to be honest, having not read many sci-fi books. And I also really didn’t want to dislike my first SW book, especially having grown up watching and loving the movies. But it did not disappoint! Although I’ve grown up with the movies, I’m not a die-hard fan like some; I’m not extremely knowledgeable about the SW universe, so I probably didn’t notice any discrepancies there might have been in the storyline/characters.

Probably the biggest downside to reading this book is not actually a fault of the book itself. I’ve only seen Rogue One once, and it was back when it was released in 2016. And my memory being the crappy thing it is, there were a lot of details I didn’t remember, so I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the book. But on the upside, now I desperately want to re-watch Rogue One; I feel like I know Jyn so much better and I connect more with her character knowing the things she’s been through and experienced.

I LOVED Jyn and Saw’s unique relationship. Both Jyn and Saw were so complicated, and written as well as they possibly could be considering their complex, difficult, and demanding life. It was very interesting to look “behind-the-scenes” of the rebel group Saw housed at his outpost and to learn some of the inner workings of their movement, especially through the eyes of young Jyn.

There were a couple parts where the book struggled to keep my attention, but other than that, it was nonstop excitement filled with explosions, spaceship chases, betrayals, friendships, rebel missions, and death. I’m so glad I finally read a SW book, and now I need more!

[Kels · Rating 5 out of 5]

jyn erso has always been an interesting character to me but now i absolutely adore her and truly believe she deserves all that is good in the universe

[Giorgos Konomis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit, I was a little bummed-out to learn that Luceno would not return to write Rebel Rising (He penned Catalyst) but my, oh, my was I wrong! I hadn't read anything from Beth Revis before (since I only read Star Wars) but I'm now glad that she got to work on a Star Wars project & more than glad that I got to read it.

Rebel Rising fills the huge gap between Catalyst & Rogue One, a task it does so brilliantly. The book doesn't cling onto a specific story or linger onto a certain point in Jyn's life but rather closely follows Jyn throughout her life's journey. It's a chronicling of Jyn's experiences that shaped her to the tragic hero we watch in Rogue One. The 2 extraordinary aspects of this book which I have to point out are its characters & its structure.

The structure is exactly how I like to see it in a book, tidy & orderly. Even at the rare occasions that you don't realize the story jumping from one point in time to another, the novel finds a way to cleverly point it out soon enough. That way readers never find themselves disoriented or forcefully dragged out from the fantasy.

The supporting characters who follow Jyn in her adventures are all so colourful, vivid & yet so different in their ideologies from one another. Revis paints the galaxy as a whole, with different-minded people inhabiting it. She also does an exemplary job at multi-layering her characters, thus giving them life & making readers care for them more than they normally would. Every character has an opinion to express, a point to make & an impact to have on Jyn. A mark, an imprint, another layer to place upon Jyn's character... thus forging her to become a starbird.

"One fighter with a sharp stick and nothing left to lose can take the day. You just have to make sure that fighter believes." - Saw Gerrera

Ease Of Reading: 5 out of 5 Holocrons
Structure: 5 out of 5 Holocrons
Story & Plot: 5 out of 5 Holocrons

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una regla en mi vida es: no importa cuantas veces vea Rogue One, todas y cada una de esas veces voy a llorar

Rogue One no es mi película favorita de la saga El imperio Contraataca, pero definitivamente si es una de las que más emociones me causa.

El trabajo que realiza Beth Revis para darnos una precuela de la película y básicamente un trasfondo completo al personaje es muy bueno. Incluso hace varios guiños a la película, ojala a la autora se le hubiera ocurrido un cameo para Han Solo, habría sido alucinante.

En fin, aquí se nos cuenta como fue la vida de Jyn Erso desde que Saw Gerrera la rescata en Lah'mu, hasta donde comienza Rogue One con Jyn como prisionera del imperio.

Creo que lo que más me gustó del libro es que Jyn no es necesariamente una rebelde, de hecho tiene conflicto de intereses con Saw Gerrera en alguna ocasión. Me gustó mucho su desarrollo de una niña asustada a una mujer entrenada quien sabe perfectamente que El Imperio es malo pero constantemente se cuestiona la posición de la alianza rebelde que muchas veces sus acciones no benefician a la galaxia.

En conclusión es un complemento excelente para este universo.

[Kati · Rating 2 out of 5]

The audio was fine. The narrator wasn't annoying and the sound effects weren't overpowering on this one.

That being said, I found myself not that interested in Jyn as a character prior to the events of Rogue One. I think it's hard to get invested in a character when you already know their outcome and this story didn't really have any surprises. It meandered along (kinda the same way Jyn did), and there wasn't really a sense of desperation. The side characters were two dimensional and I just listened until it was over.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent backstory on Jyn Erso, a quick and enjoyable read. Two alternate timelines provide insight into Jyn's life and her motivations, helping to truly flesh-out her characterization in Rogue One. I love the straightforward prose Revis uses and the heart that is given to a outwardly cold character. I absolutely loved Rogue One (hot take: i think it's my fav???) and this book only serves to solidify that opinion.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 🌟

Nice to see how Jyn met Saw and her time with Saw's cell of rebels. Sad that lots of people died in the book. Glad that Jyn joined the Rebellion. Wish she could have seen the Rebellion win the war. RIP Jyn and the rest of Rogue One.

May the Fourth be with you all!!!

[Lance Shadow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well... I can finally make a top 5 worst SW canon novels list... yaaaaaaaaaay.
Ok, there's more to it than that. While my initial plan was to read Rae Carson's The Rise of Skywalker as my next audibook listen through the Libby app, that novel wasn't available and I had to put it on hold. So I decided to check out this Rogue-One-Tie-In-Bridge novel instead while I wait for it to become available.

Folks, I have NEVER come across a Star Wars novel as frustrating as this one. Now let me be clear- I've read a good number of SW books and comics that were worse overall. But those other ones at least were consistently bad. Heir to the Jedi may have been stupid and cheesy, while Jedi Eclipse (Agents of Chaos, #2) left me bored stiff from start to finish. But once the endurance test of reading them and the initial aftershock from the experience was over, I was able to move on.
Rebel Rising, on the other hand, is a book that particularly upsets me because the bad taste continuously lingered well after I completed it- and still does. This book wasn't consistently bad throughout the entire thing, but is so much more FRUSTRATING than other bad Star Wars material that I have watched, read, or played. It started out fairly strong, particularly considering that this is a YA novel. But then, there's a very clear point halfway through where all of a sudden I felt like I was reading a completely different novel, and a really bad one at that. I never watched Game of Thrones outside of two episodes (the pilot and the Red Wedding episode, where I just happened to be with friends at the time who wanted to watch), but now that I read this novel I can relate to the feelings of anger and disappointment people had over the final season. The second half of this book was so bad, such a departure from the first half, that I can't even look back fondly on the good stuff that was established before it.

THE STORY: Rebel Rising is a bridge story that takes place between the opening of Rogue One with Jyn Erso as a little girl and the scene where adult Jyn is imprisoned on Wobani and rescued by Cassian Andor and his team of Rebel Alliance operatives. The book shows how Jyn went from the terrified child in the bunker to the hardened and jaded woman we see for most of the movie.

I'm going to take the opposite approach to this review from my usual format: I usually prefer to start with "THE BAD" and finish on a more positive note by following it up with "THE GOOD", but in the case of Rebel Rising, 95% of the good stuff was exclusively in the first half of the book, while 99% of everything I hated was largely confined to the second half. So for Rebel Rising, we are going to switch things up by talking about the good stuff first.

THE FIRST HALF: The main reason why I'm so bitter with how Rebel Rising turned out is because this book actually kicks off to a really strong start. I've mentioned before in my other reviews that I think Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is an overrated movie- and most of my problems with the film come down to protagonist Jyn Erso. The way I see the film, it tried to make Jyn Erso a dark, tragic character while integrating elements of a more traditional Star Wars protagonist with more likeable and sympathetic qualities- and I think the movie failed to reconcile those two conflicting archetypes. I cannot buy for a second that someone who spent most of the movie not caring about the rebels' fight for freedom could so quickly change her mind and decide to lead the rebel charge on Scarif, just because her father died- in particular, because it was the Rebels that killed her father in the first place. So with that in mind, I already went into this book not being a big fan of Jyn Erso as a character.
However, the first half of this novel does a very good job showing more insight into Jyn's childhood and how she grew up to become the broken, jaded woman we see for much of the film. Beth Revis did a fairly good job showing how Jyn Erso started off as a promising kid with loving parents who could have grown up to lead a successful and fulfilling life despite being raised on a rustic homestead on a remote planet. The little pieces and insights Revis gives us while inside Jyn's head show a tragic portrait that hints at a much happier outcome for her if Orson Krennic didn't show up on that fateful day to kill her mother and take her father away. And then, we see how Saw Guerrera's "rescue" only makes matters worse, culminating in the scene at the end of the first half of the book referencing the exchange between Jyn and Saw in the film where they talk about how Saw left her with a blaster in a ditch when she was only 16. Had this been the climax of the entire book and Revis ended the story here, I would have not just been fine, but satisfied. The events that play out beforehand and the way Jyn and Saw's relationship develops are quite compelling.
Revis also does a great job with Saw Guerrera himself in the first half of the novel. In the movie, the relationship between Jyn and Saw feels rushed and underdeveloped. But the first half of this book really fleshed out Saw not just through his own expanded motivations and philosophy on war and the conflict with the empire, but through some really solid tie ins to his first appearance in Season 5 of The Clone Wars. Revis does a nice job unifying Saw Guerrera's portrayals between his roots in animation and Forrest Whitaker's performance in the movie (and his voice performance in Rebels). Most importantly, Revis did a great job expanding the depth of the relationship between Jyn Erso and Saw Guerrera. She shows that Saw was more than just a mentor- he truly loves Jyn like a daughter, even though he's bad at being a parent.
Additionally, I was impressed with Revis's writing here. Despite being a YA novel, the first half of Rebel Rising is very dark, surprisingly intense, and thematically rich. Revis managed to talk about the horrors of war, the villainy of both sides in a conflict, and the pains of growing up with impressive depth.
Don't get me wrong, the first half of the book isn't perfect. I could throw criticisms at how the other characters outside of Jyn and Saw are not very interesting, and there's some filler scenes that could have been cut to make way for more scenes where Jyn and Saw could directly work alongside one another. But looking back, these criticisms are minimal compared to what's in store. So let's pivot into the second half of Rebel Rising and how all of the good stuff I just talked about is completely unraveled and undone.

THE SECOND HALF: I'm still completely flabbergasted as to how the kriff Rebel Rising started off so promising in the first half only to devolve into an utter disaster in the second half.
Revis all of a sudden takes the story in a new direction that became so unbearably awful that even as I am writing this review, I already don't understand how I was just able to praise the first half as much as I did.
The second half of Rebel Rising replaces the unrelenting but compelling story that pulled no punches before with a standard YA story, stereotypical in all the worst ways. It started out boring, then made me cringe to the point of gagging, followed by a cycle of repetition so ridiculous that I yelled at my own earbud, only to end on a recreation of a scene from the film that completely missed the point of said scene in order to warp it into an overly saccharine retelling, right on brand with a stereotypical YA novel. It honestly felt like fanfiction, almost as if Beth Revis was passionate about Jyn Erso but felt too depressed with her story in the movie because she thinks everything should turn out well in the end for every Star Wars protagonist.
The second half of the novel completely removes Saw Guerrera and the developing relationship between him and Jyn in favor of a side adventure that feels 100% tonally disjointed with the book that we were given up until this point. We know where Jyn Erso ends up at the end, so it is impossible to get invested in this part of the story- this part of the book is too light and happy compared to the nature of Jyn's overall character arc, so we know it must end badly. The first half of the book played perfectly within the confines of what was already established about Jyn in the film. The second half goes for the exact tonal opposite, complete with a romance that was so stereotypically YA, so out-of-place, and so cringeworthy, that I couldn't help but think that this is what readers were predicting that Lost Stars was going to be before it came out and actually blew everyone away. Additionally, after Saw's harsh conditioning that was a recurring plot device in the first half, Jyn ignores all of that makes a stupid, out-of-character mistake right away; and after the rough living conditions that were described in the first half, the reasoning provided is not good enough to justify it.
I almost would have forgiven this boring-to-horrible segment if the book ended shortly after with another flash-forward to Wobani (yes those are placed throughout the book. they were insightful in the first half but were so tonally disconnected from everything in the second half that they only made things worse) that tied up everything between the actually worthwhile first half and the garbage romance that the second half built up to. But then, salt had to be rubbed in the wound and it had to be made even worse than it already was. The overly happy part of the book that came off as fanficiton takes place between the ~50-75% stretch. the ~75-99% stretch is taken up by a sequence of events that LITERALLY REPEATS ITSELF 3 TIMES. Don't believe me? Jyn is caught by the officer on the space station where she lives in an act of forgery. The officer is corrupt, so she asks Jyn to use her forgery skills to help her get out of trouble with a gambling den. The owner of the gambling den catches Jyn, but is impressed by her skills so he asks her to help forge some documents for an illegal delivery. The imperials catch her, but the imperial officer involved agrees to let Jyn go if she uses her skills to infiltrate some rebels. He betrays and arrests her, and this is how she ends up on Wobani. SHEESH! . And if ALL OF THAT WASN'T ALREADY BAD ENOUGH, here's how Revis drops the ball one final time. the book ends by replaying the scene from Rogue One where Jyn is in the conference room with Mon Mothma, Cassian, etc. and they give her the mission to seek out her father. In the movie it is portrayed as Jyn not interested, but the rebels threaten to put her back in prison if she refuses. It's not supposed to be a happy scene. But Revis takes an inappropriately revisionist approach by stating that this is where Jyn finally gained a renewed sense of hope. This is complete nonsense- both in the context of the film and this book. Saw Guerrera manipulated Jyn into hating her father so she could be molded into the extremist fighter that he wanted her to be. And NOTHING in the second half is built up leading to this contrived and overly hopeful conclusion. .

THE AUDIO: Oh yeah, I almost forgot I listened to the audiobook because I got so caught up in how angry this book made me. Rebecca Soler did the narration, she was fine. Her voice for Jyn Erso was perfect and sounded just like Felicity Jones, so I can forgive how silly her voice for Saw Guerrera often was. Because she did a decent job with everything else. Yeah her narration made me shudder at times in the second half, but I 100% blame this on Revis's horrible writing- Soler could only do so much with what she was hired to read. And of course the use of Star Wars sound effects and music was on point throughout the production, but come on, do you really expect anything less than top notch in this regard by now? Every single Star Wars audiobook since at least 2012 (when Darth Plagueis came out) is given the full treatment of Star Warsy lasers and lightsabers and John Williams themes. These productions always have a ton of effort put into them to maximize the immersion. This is no exception.

THE CONCLUSION: If I had to give a set final rating like I do my other reviews, it would be 2 stars.

However, it would be more accurate for me to rate the first half of Rebel rising 3.5 stars rounded up, while the second half would receive a rating of 0 stars.
The first half was fairly well put together, and I thought I was going to grow to appreciate Jyn Erso and the first act of Rogue One on a bigger level. While it wouldn't have solved all of my problems with Jyn in the movie, I almost left this book appreciating that part of Jyn's story on a significantly higher level as part of the overall canon.
But so much of my good will towards Jyn Erso was yanked away by what followed that it completely negated the positive feelings I had for the character in the first half- and I will probably even like Jyn Erso in Rogue One even less than I already did if I watch the movie again. I already believed that Cassian Andor should have been the protagonist of Rogue One instead of Jyn Erso, but the second half of this book left such a bad taste in my mouth that those feelings are only more pronounced now. While there were a couple of moments in the second half that were good on their own and fit with what was established in the first half, these few instances were so tonally disjointed from everything else going on that it only made the overall experience even more anger-inducing.
Rebel Rising EASILY earns a place among my least favorite books in the Star Wars canon line, and if I were to make a bottom 10 list for both canon and legends it would definitely be in there. It's such a shame because of how strong the first half was, but everything goes so far off the rails at such a swift rate that I can't forgive it. That is how bad the second half of Rebel Rising was. I can't say its worse than Heir to the Jedi or Phasma- those two books were more consistently bad from start to finish. But I am almost inclined to dislike Rebel Rising more because the extent of its derailment made me more upset.
If you liked Rogue One, and Jyn Erso in particular, I could still recommend the first half of this novel. That part delivers the more fleshed out Jyn Erso, the more fleshed out Saw Guerrera, and the expanded depth to their relationship that you probably wanted out of this book. Everything that people praise in this book is strictly in the first half. Once you get to the part when [ Saw abandons Jyn on Tamsye Prime ], I highly suggest you stop there. The second half of Rebel Rising is irredeemably atrocious, and I can't reiterate enough how completely my experience of reading this book was ruined by it.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raise your hand if you sobbed like a big ol' baby at the end of Rogue One? 🙋🙋🙋 I so wanted more of Jyn and REBEL RISING is absolutely perfect for that! Of course, it wouldn't be right reading this book and talking about it without ultimate Star Wars fangirl, Kelly (@BookCrushin). So we are here today with a co-review!


Fans wanna know…How much of a Star Wars fan are you? Show off your personal Star Wars fandom.

CJ: I am a casual Star Wars fan. I've seen all the movies (in theaters since I've been alive) but I do not have the whole history memorized or anywhere near that level. I hate JarJar Binks, though...Does that make me a true fan? Here's my small collection of SW Pops!


(See the full post on the blog for the photos!)


K: Well I would have to say that if any one fandom could be associated with me & my partner, it would be Star Wars. Our kitchen has more SW in it than anything else, Darth Vader toaster, R2D2 timer, R2D2 Tea Pot, R2D2 lunch bag, 5 Large character mugs - Vader, Stormtrooper, and Boba Fett, the other 2 are FunkoHome, C3PO and Jabba; 5 other coffee mugs that we actually use, 15 pint glasses & yes I broke the Kylo Ren one and I am devistated! We have no less than 10 pairs of SW socks, 3 pairs of pajamas bottoms, and over 30 tshirts - I stopped counting! We currently have 4 throw blankets, and 6 posters. We also have 8 books and about 10 comic books. The biggest collection by far is the Funko Pops! We have over 90 and there are more than that we don't even own! We also have 8 of the full size Whacky Wobblers these were released by Funko before there were Pops! And we also have all sorts of other SW stuff...like stickers, decks of cards, luggage tags, keychains, enamel and metal pins, etc., etc., etc.. I mean it could be out of control, but I have seen way bigger collections. We of course own 3 video games, 9 different VHS tapes, all the DVDs, the Blu-ray special edition collection, as well as the digital editions of The Force Awakens and Rogue One. No big deal. Plus I am sure there are tons of things I have left out...like every time there is a holiday we buy our nieces & nephews all the SW toys we can!

What makes Rebel Rising accessible to hardcore Star Wars fans and those who are new to the franchise?

CJ: Because Rogue One and Rebel Rising are somewhat self contained, they're a great entry point for new fans. Long term fans will love seeing familiar worlds and characters, wrapped within the spirit of rebellion.

K: Well to start off, Rebel Rising was a prequel book to the prequel movie Rogue One. There is nothing you need to know about the story to understand what is going on in Rebel Rising. Now if you do know your lore it does make some of the references way more appealing, but even some went over my head while I listened. Rebel Rising is also quite suitable for the teen generation, nothing explicit other than death & violence. There was a little bit of kissing at one point in the book and it was cute as hell! I highly recommend reading this book if you liked Jyn Erso's story and Rogue One. I felt it really gave us some character insight into her life and upbringing.

Rebel Rising is Jyn’s prequel to the prequel. How does Beth Revis capture her compared to her movie counterpart?

CJ: I loved how Beth Revis captured young Jyn. It felt seamless to me.

K: I feel like we get great insight into Jyn's hard exterior. She has had some rough times growing up and we wouldn't know much of this from just Rogue One, but Rebel Rising shows us all of her heartache and vulnerableness. She loses her mother at 5yo, her father is taken away by the Empire. She is left alone on a pretty deserted planet and is rescued by a rebel friend of her mother's, Saw Gerrera. Saw sheltered her and taught her about the rough world around them. He didn't know squat about raising a child, but he just knew he had to protect her identity and to trust no one. I loved this part of the book, even though it was a large chunk of the story. The book actually made me like Saw, who was a very unlikable character from the movie. Actually, I had way more feelings for almost all of the rebels, as well as Saw and Jyn, in the book than in the movie.

The audiobook is ridiculously amazing for Rebel Rising. What makes it awesome?

CJ: O M G the audio was the best part of this book. It has a full set of sound effects and is narrated by ultimate narrator, Rebecca Solar. My husband kept asking me about it as I was listening to it (often in the shower haha).

K: Well for starters it is produced spectacularly, with sound effects and all! At the beginning it was kind of hard to get used to the constant background noises, but once I was in it - I was so into it! I have now told every person I know to listen to it & I don't know if I can read another SW universe book, I think I will listen to all them!

What would you recommend for someone who wants a quick dive into the franchise?

CJ: I didn't fully connect with the franchise until Rogue One, so I would say start there. Honestly, anywhere you dive in is a good place to dive in!

K: Well if we are talking canon books, than I would say Rebel Rising was spectacular insight into the prequel. I absolutely loved Bloodline by Claudia Gray as a Leia centered bridge book from the end of The Return of the Jedi (VI) to The Force Awakens (VII). For a non main character centered story I also highly recommend Lost Stars by Claudia Gray! Lost Stars is a YA romance novel set in the SW universe as an outer rim planet is about to conquered by the Empire. As for movies, if you never seen any of them...watch them all, but know that Episodes 1-3 aren't meant for the adult fan, but any kid I know that has watched them, absolutely brought them into the fandom, any adult who was already in it...those were a hard sell.

[Holly (The GrimDragon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars~

[Raevenclaw_Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Jyn was already one of my favorite Star Wars characters but to see in greater detail all she has been through and lost really gives her more depth and perspective. Right when she was ready to give up hope she remembers what’s worth fighting for. Easily a favorite Star Wars read!

[Alexander Páez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy entretenida. Oscura, adulta, con reflexiones sobre temas muy de ciencia ficción (opresión, terrorismo vs statu quo, democracia, pueblo vs gobierno, imperialismo...). Me sorprende que se catalogue como novela juvenil, cuando el libro no cumple ningún tropo del género excepto que la protagonista es joven. Recomendadísimo, en mi top de novelas de star wars.

[Mila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great insight into the upbringing of Jyn Erso, it really helps to better understand her decisions and motives in Rogue One. However, the plot itself didn't hold up as well after Jyn left Saw Gerrera and his rebels so the middle part of the book was kind of boring. I'm still very glad that I read it, I love Jyn in part because she's such a complicated and conflicted character, and this novel only made me more sympathetic towards her.

[Jamie (Books and Ladders) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review to come at a later time! This one was alright if you divorce it from the Star Wars canon and read it as just a story, but I never felt like anything was developed enough for me to really enjoy.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come on Nerd HQ!

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

JYN ERSO DESERVES THE WORLD !!!!! beth revis killed it with this book. it ties into the movie very well and i’m excited to hunt for any parallels with cassian’s story once we see andor in the fall !!