A New Dawn Book Review

Earlier this month we had the release of John Jackson Miller's novel, A New Dawn. It was an historic moment in that this was the first novel released under the approval of the Lucasfilm Story Group. In the past there was much uncertainty as to how all of the works outside of the films, called the Expanded Universe (EU), officially fit in the timeline. George Lucas himself said he considered the films were officially canon whereas all the supplemental books, graphic novels, video games, and so forth were their own separate thing. After the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, it was announced that all material would be reviewed and approved by the Story Group. This means that everything from this point onward is all part of one official canon. A New Dawn is the first novel in this new canon.

Considering all this, I was a little surprised how much this book was like the previous EU books. I suppose I should not have been though. I imagine the Story Group is more focused on the characters and locations while giving some free reign to the authors to flesh out the details and pacing of the story. Yes, there is even a mention of "caf"!

I really enjoy John Jackson Miller's writing style. I particularly liked the very short chapter lengths. Most of them are only a few pages long. It is an up-tempo storytelling approach and very helpful for me since the times I have available to read are erratic and short. This book tells the story of how two of the main protagonists of the Star Wars Rebels animated series, Kanan and Hera, meet.

We get a pretty good view of Kanan's back story while Hera's character is left slightly more mysterious. The principal villain, Count Vidian, is a strong character - think Darth Vader mixed with Gordon Gecko. I won't rehash the story since you can find that kind of thing elsewhere. What I will say is if this is worth your time.

I have read many EU books over the years but I am not a big EU fan. There are some books that are excellent, but also many that are "eye-rollingly" bad. If you are new to reading Star Wars books, this is a great one to get started with. Miller's writing does not expect you to have much Star Wars knowledge heading into this book. I would also recommend this book to EU readers as well. It is a great opening salvo for the new Star Wars canon.

Now we wait for Tarkin by James Luceno!

- - - 9/18/2015 UPDATE- - -

Now that is has been almost six months since the first New Canon book was released, and with so much new content about to this market, I thought it would be good to have some formal structure to my reviews of these new Story Board-approved works. I am going to try to keep up with all this expanded universe stuff as best I can, so I hope this will be a good reference to you:

PREREQUISITES?
None. It is a good gateway novel.

WHO SHOULD READ IT?
Those who are interested in the rise of the Rebellion and particularly Star Wars Rebels.

WHEN DOES THIS TAKE PLACE?
Aside from a short look during the time of Episode II / The Clone Wars, the story takes place between Episode III and IV and is a prelude to the Star Wars Rebels television show.

GFFA IMPACT?
Minimal, so far as I know at this point. The novel is pretty self-contained and provides more of a character development and background of Kanan and, to a lesser extent, Hera.