Star Wars: Rebel Rising

By: Beth Revis

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Beth Revis brings to life the early adventures and heartbreaks of the heroine of the smash hit movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

When Jyn Erso was five years old, her mother was murdered and her father taken from her to serve the Empire. But despite the loss of her parents, she is not completely alone - Saw Gerrera, a man willing to go to any extremes necessary in order to resist Imperial tyranny, takes her in as his own and gives her not only a home but all the abilities and resources she needs to become a rebel herself.

Jyn dedicates herself to the cause - and the man. But fighting alongside Saw and his people brings with it danger and the question of just how far Jyn is willing to go as one of Saw's soldiers. When she faces an unthinkable betrayal that shatters her world, Jyn will have to pull the pieces of herself back together and figure out what she truly believes in...and who she can really trust.

©2017 Beth Revis (P)2017 Listening Library

Disappointing

Going into this, I had high expectations. Catalyst and the Rogue One novelization were both excellent and enhanced the characters introduced in the film. I thought Rebel Rising would be similar in delving deeper into Jyn. Unfortunately, the Jyn of this novel is impossible to reconcile with the Jyn of Rogue One.

In the film and novelization, we were introduced to a fierce but damaged young woman who was raised as a child soldier by an extreemist. That’s not who we get here. This girl is not a child soldier. Though Saw raised her and trained her to fight, he kept her comparatively safe and distant from most of his missions. She never kills anyone not does she develop the moral ambiguity that made Rogue One great. Her contribution to the team is forgery. While that is essential, that shouldn’t have been her sole job on his team. This is a girl he referred to as his best soldier. This novel doesn’t show that.

Everything that happens after Saw leaves Jyn is dull and sloppy. Nothing happens that isn’t expected. The only surprise was the horrible way the book tried to overlap with Rogue One in the end. This ending contradicted everything from Jyn’s introduction in the film to her offer from the Rebel Alliance. That makes this book seem non-canon.

Given the quality of the previous canon novels, I’m surprised by how poorly done Rebel Rising is. Its as though no one edited it before publishing.

Good but not?

I really expected more after the movie. This was too simple, too easy. The story craved more action, more hate from Jyn. The performance was nothing special.

Amazing Story, That Fills in the Gaps

I absolutely loved Rogue One (Even more than The Force Awakens) and Jyn Erso was such a great, mysterious, strong character. She clearly had a lot of backstory, but the film never dug into it.

This book Released yesterday covers the years between Saw rescuing Jyn from the cave after her mother's death, and her father going With the Empire / to her rescue by K-2SO at the beginning of Rogue One. 

Saw watches over a Young Jyn and teaches her how to fight and enables her forgery skills. We learn how and why Saw and Jyn parted ways and what happened to her next. That was only alluded to in the movies, This 2nd part is where the story picks up as Jyn builds a new life away from the Empire and the start of the Rebellion. After her rather impersonal life with Saw,

I enjoyed the second half of the story where Jyn finds her humanity again as she starts to form opinions on the big galactic conflict.

Her early years with Saw are (by necessity) dreary and sterile and, well, lengthy, but the second half really does pick up the story

While we know the ultimate outcome of these characters this does not detract from the story at all.

Very very good book everyone should check it out, Highly Recommended.

Long & Somewhat Dull

I'm a huge fan of Star Wars books and have read quite a few, both legends and canon. This book was somewhat disappointing, which was a let down. I agree with several other reviews on certain topics. First, this book really should not have been a young adult book. Rogue One as a film was a bit darker in time and favorite of mine. Jyn's story would've been better served as an adult novel. While it has a darker tone that I didn't mind, it read too much like a youth book. The middle section dragged the entire book down and the constant reminders of what she'd been through and lost detracted from the story. The middle section read way too much as a young adult book. I've read several youth Star Wars books, most notably by Jude Watson that were far better and more exciting than this. The Rebels series, Servants of the Empire and Jedi Quest had more of a kick to them. I actually got bored through most of this book. I read this using immersion reading while listening to the audio book as well. The narrator Rebecca Soler had a pleasant voice that worked well for narration and Jyn's voice, though she kept varying on a British accent. Her male voices were awful. The production was excellent as usual. While parts of it are interesting, notably the first and last sections, you are better off reading Catalyst and the novelization of Rogue One. This book is not a must read.

Worst Star Wars book

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I've read all of the new Star Wars canon books, and this is by far the worst yet. The performance was good, but the material is horrible. I highly recommend avoiding this Star Wars book.

Made me care about Jyn

Rebel Rising made me care about Jyn as a character. She had so much hardship in her life, but she was still able to care enough to help save the galaxy despite everything, and she got nothing in return. It was a tragic story that this novel really fleshed out.

Unfortunately I had some issues with the narrator. Compared to someone like Mark Thompson, who is excellent at impressions of different Star Wars characters, Rebecca Solar seemed to have a hard time doing the different voices, especially men. Her Cassian for example, which only had a few lines near the end, was really bad. But I will give her credit for doing a decent voice for Jyn, and doing a good job describing the scenes.

A good novel, but one that has a few slow moments. If you half liked Jyn in Rogue One, give it a shot

Jyn's Rise to Rebellion

Where does Star Wars: Rebel Rising rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Rebel Rising was a wonderful book. I think that it is definitely in the top 10, as most of the Star Wars books that I have listened to are.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Star Wars: Rebel Rising?

I don't want to spoil the book for others, but I found Jyn's inner dialogue to be interesting in that she felt a certain way about people or situations and those definitely stay consistent until almost the end of the story, which leads perfectly into Rogue One.

Which character – as performed by Rebecca Soler – was your favorite?

Jyn, obviously. I think that Rebecca Soler did a wonderful job with all of the different characters, but she really brought emotion to Jyn and her reactions to everything that happened to her in her young life.

Any additional comments?

I think this book and Star Wars: Catalyst provide very interesting background into a key character that was pertinent to the early days of the rebellion. Regardless of what people thought about Rogue One the movie, these two books really give life to several characters and bringing a proper conclusion to a sort of trilogy of stories.

Great follow up to Catalyst!

Would you listen to Star Wars: Rebel Rising again? Why?

Yes, it was a great back-story for the Rogue One stories.

What other book might you compare Star Wars: Rebel Rising to and why?

I would listen to Catalyst, Rebel Rising, and Rogue One in that order.

Have you listened to any of Rebecca Soler’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

None so far.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Beginning mostly.......must listen to find out.

Any additional comments?

Great Star Wars audiobook!

boring, thin on plot, mediocre voice acting.

one if the few books I want my money back from. so boring it was unbearable.

not to standard of other sw audiobooks

thought the voice actor did horrible on male voices. the story did not advance enough of the time period for me.

Fill In

This is a mixed opinion book. It depends on how much you like Star Wars. It fills in the missing part of Jane Eso life before she becomes part of the rebellion.

A perfect extension of the Rogue One storyline

A great read for anyone who enjoyed Rogue One, following the life of Jyn from her childhood to the beginning of the film. Very well paced and introducing some memorable new characters, as well as doing a good job of expanding on characters found in the film.

Loved this prequel to Rogue 1

Rogue 1 is one of the best Starwars movies. This book adds to that legacy and expands the back story in a compelling way. Like Rogue 1 it deals with rebels, the Empire and the people caught up in it in a nuisances and complex way.

Great!

Very bleak, but overall a very well put together story that scratches the Rogue One itch while we wait for Andor. I have some gripes with how the conclusion fits into Rogue One, but the way each of the events tumbles into the next through the course of Jyn's tragic tale, gaining momentum and spiralling out ot control, was deftly done by the author and tremendously affecting.

The performance was mostly good, Jyn and the various aliens sounded great, but the narrator did also pull punches - when a character shouted it was read as a raspy whisper, and some of the characters sharing a scene ended up sounding the same due to a generic tough guy voice being overused.

Other than the small issues stated, I really enjoyed Rebel Rising and would definitely recommend it before your next rewatch of Rogue One!

proper star wars!!

Loved this story.... listened to it over two days....couldn't turn it off!
brilliant 'prequel' to Rogue one!

Interesting insight into Jyn's past

I liked it. Performance is solid, story is ok and gives details of Jyn's life after Saw picked her up and before she was rescued from the Empire at the beginning of the movie.
I enjoyed it. :)

But I also think Rogue One is one of the best, most emotional SW movies so...

Good story, frustrating narration

A strong and exciting story, with great background detail following Jyn Erso, leading directly into the Rogue One film, however was very disappointed by the narrator's English accent - which of course is vital with the main character having an English accent!

Decent story let down by weird recording

back story of Jin - good
weird audio transitions far too frequently - bad

Decent Star Wars book

Great book from start to finish. Good prequel to Star Wars Rogue One. Very well written, and I felt for Jyn whenever something bad or good happened to her.

We need more of these

Sure Thrawn is amazing, and the new Alphabet Squadron series look well, Aftermath even grew on me- but Rebel Rising, like Rogue One, is the refreshing "new generation" book with old Star Wars flavour. Really enjoyed it and gives a solid backstory to one of new Star Wars' better characters