Star Wars: Resistance Reborn is a 2019 media tie-in novel by Rebecca Roanhorse, released as a story bridge in the lead up to the film Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. Set in the immediate aftermath of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, the novel follows General Leia Organa, Commander Poe Dameron, and the other surviving heroes of the Resistance on the run, trying to find safe refuge from the First Order in order to regroup and enlist new members—especially leaders—to their cause. Things look grim, but it only takes a spark of hope to keep a movement alive, no matter the odds. Meanwhile, in the wake of the New Republic being destroyed alongside the Hosnian system, the First Order has begun to seize control of planets of influence in order to secure their power over the galaxy.

I must say, I regret having taken so long to read this book. Initially, I wanted to pick it up and read it before The Rise of Skywalker came out, but for some arbitrary reason or other I decided to let that pass me by. Now, nearly seven years later, it feels like an artifact of the media around Star Wars at that time. Though it’s a serviceable yet very skippable story bridging the two films, it’s also a culmination of a lot of the characters that had made appearances in other Star Wars tie-in media from the mid to late 2010s. This being the case and it having been quite a while since I read those other books, I regret that many of these characters returning didn’t quite have the impact it could have had.

Though many of the characters from the sequel trilogy make an appearance and play smalls roles, the only two of focus are Leia and Poe, with the likes of Rey, Finn, and Rose given small amounts of attention here and there and villains like Kylo Ren making no appearance at all. Though I do wish for more media about the rest of the newer-generation characters, I appreciated the more restrained approach. Leia has a lot on her plate holding things together and rekindling old connections, and Poe has a lot to prove to himself and others after his misguided mutiny in The Last Jedi. I thought they were handled very faithfully to their on-screen counterparts and made for good anchor points in an expansive cast of characters from across the franchise.

The returning characters come primarily from three major sources: other novels set after Return of the Jedi, the Poe Dameron comic book series, and characters from the campaign of the 2017 game Star Wars Battlefront II. This seemed to be a major draw for this book, but these appearances were rather hit and miss for me. I haven’t managed to read any of the Poe Dameron comics, so right off the bat I felt nothing for the other members of Black Squadron. Some characters returning from the books were fun, like Nora Wexley and her son Temmin, but I don’t feel especially attached to them either. Ransolm Casterfo from Bloodline (a favourite of mine) makes a return too, which was actually a pleasant surprise, but his role is sadly limited. Others I struggled to recall despite having appeared in more than one book I’ve read. More positively, Shriv and Zay return from Battlefront II, which was a nice touch considering it was a video game, and I actually found myself enjoying Shriv’s point of view in particular. With so many character’s tired and serious about the state of things, somebody a little wry and quick to gallows humour was welcome.

The novel tries to do a lot in only a single book and with stakes that have to be reined in, but I’d say Roanhorse did so with decent success. Where the characters seek refuge, the connections they try to make, and the people/assets they try to liberate from First Order clutches help paint a better picture of the state of the galaxy in this era, something that was unfortunately a little underdeveloped in the films.Many planets have become a lot more insular, leaving them vulnerable to First Order pressure, especially after an entire star system was so recently wiped out. Nobody is standing together, so on their own they fear destruction, or left alone thus far and comfortable having seen to themselves lately, they naively believe they can avoid scrutiny or subjugation.

A stand-out subplot was actually about a character who only appears in this book. Winshur Bratt works for the Corellian Engineering Corporation’s Records Department and was promoted to Executive Records Officer after the First Order took control of the company, the shipyards on Corellia being integral to their expansion. Through his eyes we get an intimate vignette into how poisonous totalitarian control can be over everyday people, even those who believe it will actually make the world a better place. It’s hardly groundbreaking in what it explores thematically, but it got a lot darker in its depiction of abuses than I was expecting from a Star Wars book, executed with deft care. It painted a good portrait of how everyday people were viewing developments, especially with how jarringly things changed, and was a good reminder of the malignant ideology behind forces like the First Order that runs deeper than its melodramatic and sorcerous villains.

I’d say the only real drawback is that the novel feels too spread out between a bunch of B and C plots, rather than having a substantial central plot to hang it all on with perhaps a stronger character as a focal point. I would have preferred if Poe was given more of a focus and a clearer arc to his character, for example, but anybody would have done if developed right. I do think Roanhorse did a good job of making it feel like the Resistance is slowly starting to rally, even if it is only in the early stages of rebirth, and multiple points of view and successful missions help to capture that. It just would have felt stronger overall if it was more solidly anchored rather than scattered, narratively speaking.

Final Thoughts

Star Wars: Resistance Reborn is an enjoyable tie-in novel adding to the events of the sequel trilogy, but you will get the most out of it if you read other books leading up to it. Still, it’s accessible enough if you’d rather not, and it captures the atmosphere of the galaxy in the midst of the Resistance–First Order War rather well, making up for some details that the films were somewhat lacking at times.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5