Join the Resistance: Attack on Starkiller Base by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker
Join the Resistance: Attack on Starkiller Base written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, illustrated by Annie Wu
This junior reader was so much fun!!! Unfortunately it felt quite short and more like a novella than a novel. I would've loved if the story had been even more complicated and lengthy. It clocked in at 198 pages compared to the last book's 327. But I was extremely thankful for what I did get. Plus there was a huge surprise in store in the first few pages that I did not see coming!
We start off with J-Squadron (Mattis, Dec, AG-90, Sari, and Lorica, happily joined by Cost and Ymmoss from the last book) chasing after Jo Jerjerrod (their leader) who was taken captive by Wanten, the prison warden from Join the Resistance: Escape from Vodran. Wanten thinks he can obtain a promotion by handing the boy off to his First Order loyalist parents. The two shuttles fly through a minefield of left over ships and vehicles both Rebel/Resistance and Empire/First Order--can't really tell which. I'm left wondering what exact battle resulted in all this debris! They even run into AT-ATs floating in the middle of space. The meat of the story is about J-Squadron's daring rescue of Jo from the clutches of his parents and the First Order. The humor is impeccable and the action never stops. I love these characters and their development continues deeply as the story moves along. We even get some wonderful backstory on Jo's younger years during which he was best friends with a Gungan named Najeema. Their relationship is too cute for words!
What made this particular book in the series truly special is how it coincided with the events of Force Awakens:
--J-Squadron in space above Starkiller Base sees the planet release its laser beam on Hosnian Prime:
"'We need to report to the Resistance,' Lorica said. 'I'm sure everyone in the galaxy saw that beam and is wondering where it came from. We need to tell them about this laser planet, about Jo.'"
There are now several points of view throughout canon of seeing/feeling the laser beam directed at Hosnian Prime--love that the story group is doing this. One great example is in Cobalt Squadron--a book that details the Resistance adventures of Rose and Paige before the destruction of Starkiller Base.
--After J-Squadron enters the atmosphere of Starkiller Base and is flying close to the ground, the following incident happens:
"'Look at that.' Mattis pointed at a dingy, flat wreck of a vessel parked on a cliff.
He thought it looked like a robot's skull, if robots had skulls.
'I wonder why a Corellian freighter came here to die,' AG said as he steered past it toward the forest below.
Mattis perked right up and saw Sari do the same. They spoke excitedly back and forth about how they knew a Corellian freighter from the stories they'd heard growing up, but neither had ever seen one before. They tried to discern if this one might be the one they'd heard about, but there was no way to tell as they soared past it."
The Millennium Falcon!!! And wait a second...I just realized something. How in the world were they able to get through the shield blocking the whole planet? Han had to come in atmosphere at lightspeed to get past it. They just flew in...plot hole sadly.
--Then as half of J-Squadron is scaling the walls of the Starkiller Base interior:
"A strange thing happened about five hundred meters up. A human person was climbing down. She couldn't have been much older than any of them.
AG thought they'd been caught, but only for a second. He realized that this human was sneaking around just like they were. There was no way the First Order would bother with a freelance undercover security climber, though it appeared that they ought to have invested in one. Starkiller Base was practically crawling with people crawling its walls.
AG nodded to her as anyone would nod as they passed a stranger sharing the same patch of unlikely space. Keep it quiet and go on your way. She nodded back. Polite. Quiet. Quiet was the key."
They come across Rey as she's escaping imprisonment!! She even acknowledges their presence. So cool.
--And lastly, we get the actual attack on Starkiller Base with TIE fighters and X-wings exploding and then the whole planet beginning to disintegrate beneath J-Squadron's feet. All of the parallels between this book and the first film of the sequel trilogy are truly magical...you know me and connections.
In a strange turn of events, Life Day is made canon again--haha! Sari says, "Dec wears his emotions like a Life Day sweater." I wonder if this will pop up anywhere else...
All-in-all a fantastic read!! I absolutely recommend this one for its humor, canon connections, and wonderfully inventive characters. Of course, it's probably best to start with Join the Resistance (the first in the series) if you haven't read that one yet. A joyful addition to canon.
We start off with J-Squadron (Mattis, Dec, AG-90, Sari, and Lorica, happily joined by Cost and Ymmoss from the last book) chasing after Jo Jerjerrod (their leader) who was taken captive by Wanten, the prison warden from Join the Resistance: Escape from Vodran. Wanten thinks he can obtain a promotion by handing the boy off to his First Order loyalist parents. The two shuttles fly through a minefield of left over ships and vehicles both Rebel/Resistance and Empire/First Order--can't really tell which. I'm left wondering what exact battle resulted in all this debris! They even run into AT-ATs floating in the middle of space. The meat of the story is about J-Squadron's daring rescue of Jo from the clutches of his parents and the First Order. The humor is impeccable and the action never stops. I love these characters and their development continues deeply as the story moves along. We even get some wonderful backstory on Jo's younger years during which he was best friends with a Gungan named Najeema. Their relationship is too cute for words!
What made this particular book in the series truly special is how it coincided with the events of Force Awakens:
--J-Squadron in space above Starkiller Base sees the planet release its laser beam on Hosnian Prime:
"'We need to report to the Resistance,' Lorica said. 'I'm sure everyone in the galaxy saw that beam and is wondering where it came from. We need to tell them about this laser planet, about Jo.'"
There are now several points of view throughout canon of seeing/feeling the laser beam directed at Hosnian Prime--love that the story group is doing this. One great example is in Cobalt Squadron--a book that details the Resistance adventures of Rose and Paige before the destruction of Starkiller Base.
--After J-Squadron enters the atmosphere of Starkiller Base and is flying close to the ground, the following incident happens:
"'Look at that.' Mattis pointed at a dingy, flat wreck of a vessel parked on a cliff.
He thought it looked like a robot's skull, if robots had skulls.
'I wonder why a Corellian freighter came here to die,' AG said as he steered past it toward the forest below.
Mattis perked right up and saw Sari do the same. They spoke excitedly back and forth about how they knew a Corellian freighter from the stories they'd heard growing up, but neither had ever seen one before. They tried to discern if this one might be the one they'd heard about, but there was no way to tell as they soared past it."
The Millennium Falcon!!! And wait a second...I just realized something. How in the world were they able to get through the shield blocking the whole planet? Han had to come in atmosphere at lightspeed to get past it. They just flew in...plot hole sadly.
--Then as half of J-Squadron is scaling the walls of the Starkiller Base interior:
"A strange thing happened about five hundred meters up. A human person was climbing down. She couldn't have been much older than any of them.
AG thought they'd been caught, but only for a second. He realized that this human was sneaking around just like they were. There was no way the First Order would bother with a freelance undercover security climber, though it appeared that they ought to have invested in one. Starkiller Base was practically crawling with people crawling its walls.
AG nodded to her as anyone would nod as they passed a stranger sharing the same patch of unlikely space. Keep it quiet and go on your way. She nodded back. Polite. Quiet. Quiet was the key."
They come across Rey as she's escaping imprisonment!! She even acknowledges their presence. So cool.
--And lastly, we get the actual attack on Starkiller Base with TIE fighters and X-wings exploding and then the whole planet beginning to disintegrate beneath J-Squadron's feet. All of the parallels between this book and the first film of the sequel trilogy are truly magical...you know me and connections.
In a strange turn of events, Life Day is made canon again--haha! Sari says, "Dec wears his emotions like a Life Day sweater." I wonder if this will pop up anywhere else...
All-in-all a fantastic read!! I absolutely recommend this one for its humor, canon connections, and wonderfully inventive characters. Of course, it's probably best to start with Join the Resistance (the first in the series) if you haven't read that one yet. A joyful addition to canon.
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