Star Wars: Rebel Rising

*All posts in the Star Wars Canon series contain minor spoilers

 

22 weeks until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

“She looked out at the faces of the people around her. Expectant. She recognized something in their expressions that she had never expected to see again. Hope.” –Star Wars: Rebel Rising.

Star Wars: Rebel Rising tells Jyn Erso’s story as she is raised by Saw Gerrera after her mother is killed and her father is taken by the Empire.

Written by: Beth Revis (author of From A Certain Point of View short story)

Published: May 2, 2017

When does Rebel Rising take place?

During the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Or more specifically from 13 BBY to 0 BBY. Rebel Rising takes place in between the opening scene of Rogue One when Jyn is rescued on Lah’mu when she is 8 years old to when she reluctantly joins the Rebellion at age 21.

Synopsis:

After witnessing the death of her mother and the capture of her father, Jyn Erso is raised by resistance fighter Saw Gerrera on the planet Wrea where he establishes a base. Jyn is brought up learning how to fight and defend herself and she soon finds herself taking part in Saw’s missions. When she is 16, Saw abandons her after a mission drastically goes wrong. Jyn, now on her own, settles on the planet Skuhl with the Ponta family. After an attempt at being recruited for the forming Rebellion, Jyn escapes from the planet during an Imperial invasion only lose her new family. On her own once again, Jyn begins to lose her sense of hope and lives day to day just trying to survive.

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Rebel Rising is a very interesting look at the real and raw Jyn Erso. Beth Revis developed an impressive and fascinating character arc for Jyn. She starts out as a lost little girl who I just wanted to cheer on, but then as Jyn loses hope, I found I was having a hard time caring for the character—until I remembered that I did care for her greatly in Rogue One and I was amazed at how Beth Revis was able to bring me back to that in a full journey of emotions.

It’s also interesting to me that Jyn is one of very few Star Wars characters (or any movie or literary character actually) whose entire life is documented. Catalyst features Jyn from birth to age 8 and then between Rogue One and Rebel Rising, her entire life from age 8 until her (spoiler!) death is shown.

Rebel Rising is a YA novel and I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and especially of Jyn Erso. Make sure you have the movie ready to watch because you’ll want to continue Jyn’s story as soon as you’ve finished this book!

Have you read Rebel Rising? What do you think of Jyn’s character arc?

 

Next week: A New Dawn

Complete list of Star Wars Canon novels