Rebel Rising by Beth Revis
A Tragic Life Story
My rating: 4/5
Pub Date: May 2, 2017
Legends/Canon: Canon
Timeline: 13 BBY - 0 BBY
Welcome back to the Star Wars Book Club! Today we’re discussing Rebel Rising by Beth Revis. This review will be as spoiler free as I can make it.
First and foremost, Rebel Rising is the tale of Jyn Erso’s life. We follow her from the time she’s adopted by Saw Guerra all the way to meeting Mon Mothma and joining the Rebellion. Throughout the pages of this book, Jyn grows up. And not a single part of it is easy.
That’s what hit me the hardest in this one. Jyn’s life is tragic, really. Spoilers, but she loses every single person she loves. Strange as it is to say, that aspect of deep loss and grief and some depression was written so well. When Jyn started turning apathetic, I felt that. When Jyn was angry, I felt that. When Jyn talks about how the rebels took just as much from her as the Empire, I felt that. She has every right to turn around and walk away from everything the Rebellion asks of her in the end. But she doesn’t. This quote helps explain why:
“Jyn spent so much of her life hoping she could be different from her father, sometimes she forgot how much she wished she could be half as brave as her mother.”
It’s the ghosts of her past that both hold her back and keep her going in the same breath. If that doesn’t describe life as a whole, I don’t know what does. Learning how to carry on because of and despite the trauma from the past is the core message of this book for me, and I think it’s something a lot of people relate to.
Jyn faces problem after problem and abandonment after abandonment, yet somehow keeps going. That’s the plot of the whole book. It reads almost like a short story collection, or like watching a mini series, where each section focuses on one time period of her life. When she’s training with Saw. A mission here and a mission there. Her time with some new friends. Her time alone. Her time in prison. We see her work through each new situation, and through all of them her personal issues persist, until she’s pretty much ready to give up. Cue the Rebellion.
After reading this book, I think I understand better why Jyn ultimately decided to help them. It’s her chance to do one big meaningful thing. To face the past that she’s been running from and come out on top, which I think she does. She gets to face Saw. Her father. The Rebellion. The Empire. And in the end she overcomes them all.
That right there makes her death in Rogue One perfect. Tragic, but perfect for her. That’s the thing about character deaths, you can’t just throw them around willy nilly. No. They have to mean something. And for Jyn her death marks the peace at the end of a very painful life. It takes me back to how the Rogue One novel ended:
“Soon all those things burned away, and Jyn Erso - finally at peace - became one with the Force.” ~Rogue One by Alexander Freed
Like I said: tragic but perfect.
My last thought for today is how interesting it feels to have read Jyn’s entire life. From her birth in Catalyst, to her teenage years in Rebel Rising, all the way through her death in Rogue One. We know her character very well, and I love that. It made this book hard to rate and hard to place in my Master Ranking List. I ultimately decided to put it right next to Rogue One because Rebel Rising is a Star Wars story, and a really good one at that. It’s a great read if you like Jyn, but not absolutely essential to the main story.
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