Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens Lost Stars by Claudia Gray

Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens Lost Stars (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

by Claudia Gray

"The reign of the Galactic Empire has reached the Outer Rim planet of Jelucan, where aristocratic Thane Kyrell and rural villager Ciena Ree bond over their love of flying. Enrolling at the Imperial Academy together to become fighter pilots for the glorious Empire is nothing less than a dream come true for the both of them. But Thane sours on the dream when he sees firsthand the horrific tactics the Empire uses to maintain its ironclad rule. Bitter and disillusioned, Thane joins the fledgling Rebellion--putting Ciena in an unbearable position to choose between her loyalty to the Empire and her love for the man she's known since childhood. Now on opposite sides of the war, will these friends turned foes find a way to be together, or will duty tear them--and the galaxy--apart?" --

Reviewed by cornerfolds on

4 of 5 stars

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Despite my love of the Star Wars films, Lost Stars is actually my first adventure into this literary galaxy. There were quite a few books I could've chosen from. Obviously, there's the original trilogy and literally hundreds of canon and "Legends" books that have been released over the years. Lucasfilm has also begun releasing children and adult books in their Journey to "The Force Awakens" series. But when I saw a YA Star Wars book written by an author I knew, I jumped at the chance to read it!

The first thing I will say about Lost Stars is that this.book.is.long. It's really, really long. Okay, so it's only a little over 500 pages (or 12 hours of reading). I think it's actually the content that made it seem to go on forever. I feel like a normal YA book spans maybe a few years. Maybe. But this one spans 20 years! We see Ciena and Thane as small children when the Empire is brand new, as students, as officers fresh out of the academy, all the way up to the rise of the New Republic. And perhaps because of that it seems to drag in a lot of places. On the flip side, this also gave me a chance to really get to know the characters, which may or may not have been a good thing.

I had a really hard time identifying with Ciena and understanding her motives. I feel like Claudia Gray tried really hard to explain Ciena's backstory and the customs on her home world, but I found myself being really over her constant talk of honor fairly quickly. I love some Darth Vader, so I can understand a little devotion to the Empire, but her choices just did not make sense at all. Thane, on the other hand, seemed to have a solid head on his shoulders. His motives made total sense and I think he was the far more sympathetic character. If I had been Thayne, I would have given up on Ciena long, long ago.

One thing I really enjoyed was getting to experience all of the classic battles and characters from a new angle. I appreciated the fact that this wasn't a strict retelling and the main characters of this story weren't overshadowed by more well-known faces. I did love Thayne's snide comments about Luke Skywalker (I was never his biggest fan)!

I really did enjoy this book a lot, just because it allowed me to explore the Star Wars universe in a new way! I think I would probably be easily bored with the "adult" Star Wars books, so this was a great fit for me. There were some downfalls, but overall it was a good read. I'd definitely recommend this to any fan who wants to get a little extra reading in before Episode 7!

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 10 October, 2015: Finished reading
  • 10 October, 2015: Reviewed