Spark of the Resistance

Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

by Justina Ireland, Phil Noto (Illustrator)

When a distress plea goes up from the isolated planet Minfar, Resistance heroes Rey, Poe, and Rose hear the call! Together they will face down a First Order battalion, terrifying flying creatures, and a weapon that could change the course of the war!

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Audiobook, Young Adult

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2019

About the author

Justina Ireland is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books including Dread Nation and its sequel Deathless Divide, the middle-grade novel Ophie's Ghosts, which won the Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction, and a number of Star Wars books including Flight of the Falcon: Lando’s Luck, Spark of the Resistance, A Test of Courage, Out of the Shadows, and Mission to Disaster. She is a former editor in chief of FIYAH Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, for which she won a World Fantasy Award. She holds a BA in History from Georgia Southern and an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University.

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good medium sized story. This is definitely sumed at younger readers as all the Resistance heroes have their blasters set to stun and are capturing the First Order.

This is after the Last Jedi, the Restistance is cut to the bone in terms of personal and resources. However when a call for help is intercepted by Rey, Rose, Poe and BB8, they cannot ignore it. Figuring it would be better to ask forgiveness then permission they take the side mission to stop the First Order finding new weapons and enslaving a civilisation.

No more clues as to Rey's heritage but this is a decent to a good story for catch up before the movie or the next book.

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating is 2.5 stars.

This book takes place in a galaxy far, far away. It is after the movie The Last Jedi. In this one Poe, Rey, and Rose are on a mission when they receive a distress call from a planet. The First Order are there and the inhabitants of that planet are in distress.

I am going right down the middle of the road with my rating for this book because that is exactly this book. It is a middle of the road book. There is nothing that will make you fling the book across the room in disgust. There is also nothing in this book that will scream pick me up because you love this book. It is just there as mid. This book was written for kids so maybe that has something to do with my feelings for this book. This book is pretty much straight forward with its story. Inhabitants need help from the bad guys. The good guys come swooping in to save the day. Obviously they win with no problems. Like I said nothing special and not really contributing to the overall arc. Just a safe book within the confines of this universe.

This book works if you are looking for a quick read to kill some time. Do not expect to blown away by it. Don't expect to hate it either. Basically it is just there. I will say the intended audience will probably enjoy it more than I did. It would be fun for them.

[Nicis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a big problem with the Resistance: They are absolutely boring, have been since the beggining and Lf has done nothing to make them more interesting. This book doesn't help either.

How is it that the First Order has been described as this big bad organization but every time they show us part of it in the extra material the officers and generals are these completely useless and cartoonish villians? They bad guy in SotR literally use the phrase: "I don't like to read" and then speaks like a baddie from Scooby Doo. Of course the super nice Resistance (we-always-help-everyone-and-use-the-words-spark-and-hope-every-time-we-can) is going to win if that is the level we can expect from the First Order.

I will say I at least enjoyed the Rose w/Porgs and Rose w/Rey moments and interactions. BB is always a delight. Poe and everyone obssesed with his hair were kind of annoying but ok. The description of the creatures on the planet were not that good so the Phil Noto art was really appreciated to help visualize everything.

All in all, it was an ok-ish not that interesting story that showed how the Resistance is building their support so it doesn't seem like such a surprise in the movie. I really REALLY hope that Resistance Reborn is better. It needs to be if Lucasfilm wants me to actually care about the good guys winning as they are fated to do bc this is Star Wars.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this one so, so, so much. I love Rey. I loved Rose. I loved Finn. I loved Poe. Of course, being a middle-grade book, this story wasn't deeply complex, but it did feel more balanced character-wise than the adult release book from the same time. I just really, really loved it. Rose's heart. Rey's waffling. Poe's .... hair.

Including my live plurk below:


ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
ALL MY FAVORITE NEW BABIES MENTIONED IN THE FIRST PAGES.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
Oh, no. It's so cute so far. Rose has named all the Porgs. Poe really, really, really wants to fly the Falcon. Rey is still uncertain about the Force.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
Magical new race, that is very hospitable!

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
I love that there is so much Rose in this (especially given the drastic loud rumblings of the internet since Rose got removed from so much of the merchandise).

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
“How did you know it was Poe Dameron?”
“Who else has that hair?”

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
I love their name, and I love Rose feeling the thing following her/them, and no one else doing it. Just her and BB-8.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
I love Rey continually trying to figure out 'this Force thing.'

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
Totally listening to storm troopers scream as creatures carry them off today then for breakfast. I may collect them all in hardcover, but my first foray into each book may always be in audio, given they are all done radio play style. I like foe the sweeping music themes.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
SPY SPY SPY SPY

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ


ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
All the narration and thoughts about fanning the spark of rebellion/resistance into a flame the whole galaxy could see and rally behind.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
I’m laughing.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
The junior officers know its Poe because he’s got that hair. Main evil guy of the book even thinks Poe is irritatingly good looking.

[Lata · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light adventure tale with Rey, Rose, Poe and BB-8, leading up to the upcoming movie. On a resupply run for the Resistance, the gang intercept a distress call and make their way to Minfar. Unfortunately, the First Order is there, too, looking for a rumoured fearsome weapon and abandoned labs.
The gang makes friends with a race of never-before encountered aliens, and, of course, win this small engagement—this isn’t a spoiler as this is a kids’ book and they don’t usually end on a downer.
The pace is fast, and the only thing that detracted slightly from my enjoyment was a lack of nuance to the characters, which is expected in a kids' book.

[Logan Mendivil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was unfortunately not good. At times it felt like it was written as a draft for a series of junior readers novels (the ones with the pictures that are supposed to help strengthen reading skills). This caught me by surprise as I have read some of Justina Ireland's other works and I found them fantastic. I found the story unexciting, the dialogue very bland and I feel that this tale will be forgettable. Again, this doesn't reflect the author's skills as a whole. It makes me curious if they were just unenthusiastic about the project due to the sequel trilogy's horde of haters (I disliked much of them but I don't feel I would color myself as extreme as others. It's canon and I can't do anything about it).

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job in spite of the material. There were a couple of times where when they were reading the dialogue that some of the characters started to sound like a pouty child. I would give them a 4 out of 5.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun and cozy and it was cool having Rose, Rey, and Poe together (I miss Finn obviously).

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and fast-paced story on a magnificent planet. It's nothing new or shocking but fulfils its purpose of hinting at what the Resistance has been up to. I wasn't surprised by any twists and turns but Spark of the Resistance has an appealing antagonist (and one very boring one) and beautiful illustrations by Phil Noto, which makes it perfect for the intended target audience of young readers.

For my full review in German, click here: https://jedi-bibliothek.de/2019/11/re...

[Christian Wermeskerch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't entirely impressed with Ireland's Lando's Luck - while it had some great character moments between Lando and L3, and I liked the new characters, I thought the plot was way too basic. I feel similarly here, BUT unlike in Lando's Luck, I felt the positives outweighed the simple story. The moments between Rey, Rose, Poe, and BB-8 were really well done on quite a few layers. (One thing I appreciated was how Ireland talked a bit about the dynamics between Poe and Rose considering he led the mission which led to the loss of her sister.) Oh, and monsters and Star Wars-weirdness abound - thank the Maker!

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have next to no interest in the sequel trilogy era, but this book was a fun minor adventure with Rey, Poe, Rose, and BB-8. As usual, each of the main characters is assigned their one defining character trait, because this era of Star Wars doesn’t allow any character more than that. It’s just enough to get them through this short, one-off story, but it wouldn’t be sufficient to carry them much further (for example, through a trilogy of movies).

Also as usual, this story introduces a new First Order villain (because authors writing in this era are rarely allowed to use Kylo Ren or Hux). And if you’re going to create a new First Order doofus who won’t survive this story anyway, why not name him Commander Branwayne Spiftz?

This story hints at a number of intriguing directions and future plot points, none of which has any payoff in The Rise of Skywalker. Obviously Justina Ireland wasn’t given many specific details about the movie. But that’s really what the sequel trilogy era is, isn’t it—a jumble of potentially interesting but ultimately unconnected details that never add up to anything substantial?

The writing style is aimed at younger readers, and it is more successful than a lot of other SW books targeted to that audience. Everything is kept engaging but simple, and the good guys (usually) set their blasters on stun. Occasionally a sentence made me chuckle—this one, for example: “That provided an odd counterpoint to her white smock, which seemed odd compared with the uniforms of the First Order” (23–24). (So...pretty odd, I guess.)

[Books & Vodka Sodas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a super low rating and I was nervous to start it, but I gotta be honest-- this was one of my favorite adventure of the new canon. It dove in deeper to the new characters, and we are filling in the blanks and seeing how truly devious the first order is. One of the main take aways was it was darker-- for a middle grade book, it has some moments were you're kinda nervous. But it also adds a depth to the story telling. I also love this author! She writes some amazing books, so for her to be in the Star Wars universe is kinda amazing.

Still don't get the low ratings, I guess everyone is critical when it comes to Star Wars. This was also female heavy on the heroing so that could also be why. We know the white males of the Star Wars universe fandom tend to look negatively upon that.

[Tyler Sampson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was such a drag to get through, even though it was only 224 pages long. The story was boring and side-questy.

I have very little to say about this book. Though it might not be too fair to criticize as I am in no means the target audience. This is a young reader novel after all. But even still I think kids can deal with a better story than this.

[Heaven Ashlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not gonna lie, I read this for the cover. Strong Rey on the front paired with Phil Noto's gorgeous artwork was enough for me. It ended up being quite enjoyable and cute, traveling to a new planet with new alien beings, showing the bad guys getting beaten by the good, with the overlying message of hope and a happy ending. Everything Star Wars should be.

Just keep in mind that this is written for kids so it's got simple writing and the plot is easy to figure out if you're an adult reading it. But honestly it was a refreshingly cheerful and hopeful read that I devoured in 2 hours.

[Zahira⚡️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay this is an amazing audiobook! I didn't know that star wars books had special audio effects, it felt like i was listening to a movie! it was amazing to see more of Poe, Rose & Rey interacting! I loved the friendship between Rose & Rey... & TROS didn't show it at all. shame on this movie!

also, star wars is actually good, it's TROS that's trash :')

rating : 4 stars

[Lois Merritt · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have no idea how this connects, if at all to The Rise of Skywalker, but regardless, it's a nice little story of Rey, Rose and Poe helping these beings on this planet against the First Order from in between episodes 8 and 9. This is the first time with this narrator, and I really liked her!

[Eva B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid kid's book. If I wasn't so attached to the characters, I don't think I'd have enjoyed this one as much, and a bit of the dialogue seemed...off, especially for Rey. Still a cute story, and the Rose content watered my crops and cleared my skin. Also the aliens were adorable.

[Alyson Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, fast paced.

[victoria.p · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute.

The best part is that everyone in the First Order recognizes Poe because of his hair and how dreamy he is.

[Emily Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book said Rose and Rey friendship RIGHTS

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We just have to take it one step at a time. That's all you can do when things start to feel impossible."

Such a fun little adventure. This is written for a younger audience, and while that is noticeably it's not a bad thing, and doesn't detract from the story.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple little story between TLJ & TROS. This story was lighthearted and fun!

[DiscoSpacePanther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Wars: Spark of the Resistance is a children’s novel detailing a side-quest undertaken by some of the key characters from the Disney Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.

It is a simplistic story, probably age-appropriate (although I have some caveats about that), about hidden laboratories and secret weapons.

Early on in the story there is a trap lifted straight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:
“Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth.” If only the Falcon’s crew had been carrying Henry Jones’s diary, they would have been able to recognise an invisible bridge without having to rely on BB-8’s sensors. It’s an amusing reference to another Lucasfilm work.

The writing is fair, and again mostly age appropriate. There is some sloppy grammar—for example, “After they had drank and eaten their fill”. I expect better from a professionally edited novel for children, and perfect tenses should not be difficult for native speakers to get right.

At one point there is a tremendous case of tell instead of show—a principal character’s intentions are revealed in an authorial infodump instead of being demonstrated via action or dialogue. I’m not sure if this is a junior novel stylistic thing—i.e. revealing before time that a character is a potential ally of the heroes in order to make the story less stressful for younger readers—but it serves to puncture the drama somewhat.

Then, halfway through the book, the story becomes the Star Wars junior fiction version of Paul Verhoeven’s adaptation of Starship Troopers, with giant underground worm monsters and flying creatures carrying troopers off into the sky to devour them. So, in my mind’s eye this story is bloodier and gorier than any Star Wars fiction since Death Troopers or Red Harvest.

I do find the trivialisation of murder rather troubling in a children’s book, so when the heroic Poe Dameron’s thoughts are recounted as, “He’d started the day loading supplies and ended it meeting the Zixon. And in between had been a nice moment of blasting TIE Fighters and stormtroopers”, I’m a little taken aback. (Perhaps the stormtroopers were only stunned, but the TIE pilots definitely failed to survive)

And I’m sure the green-furred giant rabbit-eared creatures called Zixon are in no way inspired by the green-furred giant rabbit eared creature called Jaxxon from the 1970s Marvel Star Wars comics. Not at all.

The book ends on an offhand remark about introducing an invasive species into a new ecosystem, and then a joke about imprisonment being better than the kidnapped-and-brainwashed-from-childhood First Order stormtroopers deserve.

Quite.

Still, I rather enjoyed it—certainly it is fun in an unthreatening way, and I was glad to see Rose Tico used in a more fulfilling manner than JJ Abrams managed in The Rise of Skywalker.

Recommended only for young Star Wars fans.

[Bel Hernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

publicado originalmente en ig -- @bel.riddle

¡Hola lectores! ¿Cómo andan? ¿Disfrutando el clima? Sí, ya sé, asumo que o todxs lxs que me leen viven en Buenos Aires o que el clima es el mismo en todo el mundo, todo el tiempo :p
.
Hoy quería pasar a recomendar un librito que leí en febrero. “Rumbo a Star Wars: El ascenso de Skywalker. La chispa de la Resistencia” de Justina Ireland (SÍ, la autora de Dread Nation, libro que quiero leer hace MIL AÑOS)
En esta entrega, “los héroes de la Resistencia Rey, Poe y Rose acuden al aislado planeta Minfar para atender una llamada de socorro. Allí, se enfrentarán con un batallón de la Primera Orden, terribles criaturas aladas y ¡un arma que podría cambiar el curso de la guerra!”
Síp. Esto transcurre entre TLJ y TROS (TROS? I don’t know her) y si bien es una historia típica de misión, me entretuvo mucho más que otras novelas de Star Wars. En pocas páginas la autora nos da una misión interesante y peligrosa en un planeta interesante y misterioso, hay aliens copados, gente de la Primera Orden que no aburre (aunque tal vez sea hora de que lea algún libro en donde el objetivo del villano de turno sea otro, porque lo de “ascender” ya aburre – dame un nazi que crea en la causa :p), gente que trabaja para la Primera Orden pero no sabemos si son leales o no, tenemos ROSE FREAKING TICO (!) y ENCIMA:
Poe Dameron teniendo un pelo fantástico.
Poe Dameron siendo descrito como “insultantemente atractivo" P
Poe Dameron siendo el bisexual disaster que es.
Poe Dameron usando una corona de flores.
Poe Dameron, Rey y Rose siendo bff <3

En fin. Es una lectura rápida, que atrapa desde la página uno y viene GENIAL para quienes quieren empezar a leer novelas de Star Wars pero no saben por dónde empezar.
Ahora, LA pregunta del millón. ¿TROS sí o TROS no? ¡Les leo!

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this lovely junior book, Rey, Rose, Poe and BB-8, return from a mission aboard the Millennium Falcon when they pick up a distress call on a Resistance secret channel. When they arrive to the origin planet, they find a First Order warship and while avoiding TIE Fighters, their ship is damaged and they must land.

On the surface of the planet, they find a new rodent-like alien species, who have been fighting the First Order who are on the look for a powerful weapon kept on abandoned Imperial laboratories. This search is led by an inept First Order officer and an alien scientist.

The Resistance members and their new friends must work together, with some unexpected help, to defeat the First Order and prevent them from obtaining the dangerous weapon.

This is interesting and with some tidbits regarding the reconstruction of the Resistance. Besides it has excellent illustrations by Phil Noto.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the aftermath of their defeat at the hands of the First Order on Crait that has left them with enough crew to populate the Millennium Falcon and not much else, the Resistance is scrambling to re-group while simultaneously attempting to shore up their forces through recruitment. Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Spark of the Resistance highlights one such mission in which the crew of the Falcon receives a distress call from the planet Minfar. Despite orders to the contrary, they head out and are met by the Zixon, to whom they swear they will protect from the First Order who are also on the planet. Our heroes, however, must balance the importance of keeping their word and protecting the Zixon while also knowing that they are shirking direct orders.

Read more at https://geeksofdoom.com/2020/01/06/au...

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun middle grade novel that covers the rebuilding of the resistance before The Rise of Skywalker. It’s always exciting to learn about new planets and creatures in the Star Wars universe, especially because it makes you realize how important the fight against the First Order really is. Definitely a quick read, and while I don’t expect it to impact the story line of episode 9, it’s still fun to fill in the blanks between movies.

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fun read!

honorary five stars for the First Order simping over Poe:

'How do you know it was Poe Dameron?' Spitfz asked.
The stormtrooper shifted slightly. 'Who else has that hair?'
*
But first he had to find the Resistance. Especially that irritatingly good-looking pilot, Poe Dameron.

[Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s alright. I was way to harsh in my original review

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this was small, contained side mission that was fast paced. This is obviously more for kids seeing as the guns our heroes possess are set for stun. The big bad is a mustache twirling villain from Saturday morning cartoons. Only one baddie is actually killed and it's done indirectly by one of our heroes... yeeeah this is definitely for a younger audience but I did enjoy the story. The characters kind of feel like theirselves. Rose is great. BB-8 is adorable. Poe seems to be himself. Rey... Idk it's so weird how Rey from TFA seems like a different person than TLJ and she doesn't really acknowledge or think about the fight in the throne room(this book takes place after TLJ, but doesn't explicitly say how long after). Rey doesn't acknowledge the connection she has with Kylo, there is no ForceTime between the two. It felt so disjointed from the main story. Still a descent book/story and is great for young kids.

[Spencer · Rating 1 out of 5]

As I tend to read everything Star Wars related I inevitably picked this up, knowing that this is for younger fans I tried to keep an open mind but to be honest this was simply awful. Just because your intended audience is young doesn’t mean you should write like a child yourself.

The story, dialog and overall quality was completely lacking skill, it felt like no care was put into this at all so I don’t think that I would bother recommending this to anyone.