Rogue One by Alexander Freed

The First Ever Star Wars Story

My rating: 4/5

Pub Date: December 16, 2016

Legends/Canon: Canon

Timeline: 0 BBY (13 BBY prologue)

Welcome back to the Star Wars Book Club! Today we’re talking about Rogue One, a movie novelization written by Alexander Freed. Similar to my Revenge of the Sith review, this one will have full spoilers and be more of a comparison between the book and movie formats. So without further ado, here’s Rogue One.

First and foremost I have a confession. I’ve only seen the Rogue One movie twice. It’s not one that I reach for when I want to watch Star Wars. Still, I remembered the overall plot of finding the pilot on Jedha, who takes us to Eadu and Jyn’s father, who then prompts one big covert mission to Scarif to find the Death Star plans. Each of these planets and conversations felt familiar, and really made me want to rewatch the movie. I think I would enjoy it more on a rewatch now that I’ve read the book. This is mainly because I know the character’s names now.

Going into the book, I could only reliably tell you Jyn and Cassian’s names, and K-2SO of course. That’s one of the hardest things about Star Wars, understanding and remembering the names and places. And that’s where the book was better for me. I got to read the names of characters over and over again. I got a little more personal look at everyone, especially since this is a multiple point of view book. Most importantly, I got to feel a lot more annoyance at our lovely Imperial Officer, and brains behind the Death Star, Orson Krennic, whom I didn’t even remember from the movie at all, despite his insufferably big head.

The crew of Rogue One I did remember, at least to the extent that I could picture their movie counterparts in my head as I read. It was nice to see a little more of their thoughts and motivations and backgrounds. It made their ultimate sacrifices hit that much harder. Which reminds me, Alexander Freed writes a devastating death scene. Each character gets a last thought and said thoughts are so perfect for their characters. K-2SO’s for example:

“With one second left until total shutdown, K-2SO chose to mentally simulate an impossible scenario in which Cassian Andor escaped alive. The simulation pleased him.”

I’m not crying over a droid, you’re crying over a droid.

Anyway… About Jyn. Here’s a character who’s lived a hard life. Between parental trauma, being raised by a Rebellion extremist, and having to fight to survive for basically her whole life, Jyn is a walking tragedy. Yet, somehow, her spirit isn’t entirely broken. In fact, it draws people in. Cassian notices it almost immediately and is drawn toward it. Chirrut can feel it deeply through the Force. Everyone who agrees to follow her to Scarif must also sense something in her.

It’s that spirit that gives us this gem of a line: “She’d done better than most; it would take the Empire a whole battle station to end her.”

And speaking of her end, Jyn gets a perfect last thought send off: “Soon all those things burned away, and Jyn Erso - finally at peace - became one with the Force.”

Lastly, I read this book as preparation (and extra hype) for Andor’s release on Disney+. I think it worked. Cassian’s background in the Rebel Alliance was absolutely teased in this book. He’s got some history, and I’m excited to see it.

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Thanks for reading! What are your thoughts on Rogue One? Let me know in the comments.

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