Spark of the Resistance

Just finished Star Wars: Spark of the Resistance (Justina Ireland, 2019). This is a Young Adult novel and part of the Journey to The Rise of Skywalker build up.

I have liked many of these young person novels in the past. This one didn't really do it for me. The cast is small, Rey, Rose Tico, Poe Dameron, BB-8, and the Millennium Falcon. The story feels small as well. The crew is loading the last of some cargo the almost defunct Resistance needs aboard the Falcon. Then they get a cryptic distress call and decide to take a detour instead of delivering the critically needed supplies.

Blah blah blah, First Order, blah blah blah, new type of super weapon, blah blah blah, the end. 

There are some decent portions. A new alien species. An interesting remote planet. An abandoned secret Imperial lab. The story takes place just weeks after the sequel trilogy started. Somehow the reclusive, under-staffed, remnant of a remnant First Order has already dominated the galaxy. So much so that these three people and a droid represent most of the strength remaining. This book, itself, is not too bad.

It suffers most from being tied into the sequel trilogy in general. The following rant is not directed at this book in particular, but it sums up my issues with the new stuff.

I don't like it. As I have complained about before, the appearance of the fringe element First Order as more technologically advanced (by FAR, in some cases) than the Empire is straight up ridiculous. The speed with which they supposedly spread out and conquer the galaxy (and the numbers they must have, to make such an expansion possible) is ludicrous. All that firepower and manpower was simply lying in wait, just beyond the galactic horizon, getting ready to pounce and make the winners of the Original Trilogy back into the underdogs. Because they can't change the story. Why can't the New Republic be the good guys and the big guys for a change? 

Try writing something new. Try (like the good authors of the old Expanded Universe did) the role reversal plot line and explore the concept of the ill-equipped outsider former Rebel underdogs becoming "the man" and the government. What a change from the free-wheelin' days of hiding out, scraping it together, and living on a prayer. Same goes for the Imperials. They used to be able to spend lives and material at will. An inexhaustible supply of TIE fighters. More Stormtroopers to replace those lost. Star Destroyers and re-supply bases aplenty. Now they have to change. Adapt. Fight a retreat. Sue for peace. Hide.