Suvudu Universe

Star Wars: A New Dawn is the first new adult novel released since the announcement of the changes of how tie-in fiction would be treated by Lucasfilm. The former Expanded Universe is now deemed “Legends” and no longer considered part of the larger Star Wars continuity. In this new reality, the formerly tie-in media subservient to the films and television projects that George Lucas was involved in has now been elevated to a level of parity in terms of canonical status. A New Dawn is the first book that is part of this new canon that will also include, comics, books, video games, television and movies.

Author John Jackson Miller has had an expanding presence in the Star Wars galaxy in recent years, he has written comic book series such as Knights of the Old Republic and Knight Errant, novellas such as Lost Tribe of the Sith, and novels such as Knight Errant and Kenobi.

Kenobi was one of the best Star Wars novels to be released in recent years and is a tough act for any author to follow-up. The excitement regarding the upcoming release of the Star Wars Rebels television series, which this novel ties into is also a cause for a heightening of expectations for this novel.

It is with that backdrop that I began reading A New Dawn. The novel begins with a framing preface by Dave Filoni, something that it would have been easy seeing George Lucas writing in days past. While Kathleen Kennedy is the President of Lucasfilm, in many ways Filoni is now the spiritual leader of Star Wars storytelling.

The preface is followed up by a prologue set during the Clone Wars years before the novel proper. This section of the book may be one of my favorite bit of Star Wars prose in a long time. I love everything about these scenes set at the Jedi Temple and the implications that they have for Kanan’s back-story.

The book is broken into sections, Phase One: Ignition, Phase Two: Reaction, Phase Three: Detonation, and Final Phase: Damage Assessment. Miller also uses a epigraphs in a way similar to Karen Traviss, in this case beginning some chapters with excerpts of news reports to give us a suggestion of themes and how the events would appear to the casual observer across the galaxy through the lens of Imperial propaganda.

The plot centers around the mining of thorilide on the moon Cynda which orbits the planet of Gorse. The Imperial war machine is demanding more and more thorilide for its various projects. Imperial efficiency expert Count Vidian has come to Gorse to improve operations there and boost production of thorilide, he has co-opted Captain Sloane to help him in his tasks. Vidian is faced with a number of obstacles, Imperial court scheming from rival Baron Danthe and the actions of Hera, Kanan and the unlikely associates Skelly and Zaluna.

In many ways the excitement for this book followed by how terrific the book starts set my expectations to an unfair level. A New Dawn is a solid book, which introduces some interesting original characters, deals with realistic and important themes during the rise of the Empire and provides a nice mixture of action and adventure.

The characters of A New Dawn are some of the stronger points of the novel, Kanan and Hera are the characters that Miller borrows from Rebels but the rest of the cast are his own original creations. The main cast of characters includes Imperials Count Vidian, Captain Sloane and Baron Danthe and the other heroic characters Skelly and Zaluna.

Vidian is casual brutality possesses a physical look and sound that is symbolic of the loss of his humanity. It is interesting that Vidian has a reputation as being a corporate efficiency expert but what we see in the book is largely heavy-handed and force over finesse strategies from him. The fact that he admits himself he is not cunning when it comes to the politics of the Imperial court somehow makes him seem a little less competent and threatening of  a villain.

Skelly was arguably my favorite character in the book, the psychologically and emotionally damaged veteran of the Clone Wars is full of conspiracy theories and has burned bridges with many in the mining industry on Gorse. At the same time he is very good at what he does (blowing things up) and one of his crack-pot theories is central to the story. I really like that Miller didn’t take Skelly and make him a superhero. His character stays grounded and does not keep up with Kanan in a way that would be unbelievable.

Hera may share equal space on the cover with Kanan, but her role in the novel is much more of a supporting character to Kanan, she is a catalyst for him and an individual for his character to play off.

Kanan is very well done in this novel, he is very much a Jedi who has attempted to shed every vestige of his past. He is arrogant, boastful and a hard-drinking and hard living sort. We find Kanan in a place that it would be easy to see a Han Solo being if he didn’t have Chewie to help orient his moral compass. The character arc of Kanan is a familiar one in storytelling, it is the gunslinger who attempts to retire and is forced back into action. It is a similar to the choice facing Obi-Wan in the novel Kenobi, because these Jedi find it very hard to not help those in need when they are confronted with injustice. By the end of Kenobi, Obi-Wan attempts to recuse himself from society in order to avoid intervening and drawing Imperial attention because of his greater mission to protect Luke. In this book Kanan faces a similar choice but makes a different decision.

A New Dawn is a solid addition to the tradition of Star Wars novels. I wanted to love A New Dawn, but I can’t get past like with it. Perhaps on a reread…

Author’s Note: A review copy of the novel was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review. 

For more on A New Dawn visit Random House. It will be available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook formats on Tuesday September 2, 2014.