Star Wars: The Mask of Fear (Reign of the Empire)

De: Alexander Freed

Narrado por: January LaVoy

Before the Rebellion, the Empire reigns, in book one of a trilogy told through the eyes of Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Saw Gerrera—for fans of Andor.

“In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire! For a safe and secure society!”

With one speech and thunderous applause, Chancellor Palpatine brought the era of the Republic crashing down. In its place rose the Galactic Empire. Across the galaxy, people rejoiced and celebrated the end of war—and the promises of tomorrow. But that tomorrow was a lie. Instead, the galaxy became twisted by the cruelty and fear of the Emperor’s rule.

During that terrifying first year of tyranny, Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera, and Bail Organa face the encroaching darkness. One day, they will be three architects of the Rebel Alliance. But first, each must find purpose and direction in a changing galaxy, while harboring their own secrets, fears, and hopes for a future that may never come unless they act.

©2025 Random House Worlds (P)2025 Random House Audio

Fantastic political thriller

Great characters portrayals examining how deeply embedded they are in their politics and how desperate is their fight against the looming darkness… unnerving to see in the face of what our own world faces today. Great sound effects like with most Star Wars productions, and excellent narrator. Recommended.

STOP USING SAW

Great book, But he don’t need to be in every single piece of Star Wars. He died in rogue one. All he does is kill our favorite teams like Tech from the Bad batch. Yall gotta stop with him.

great spy and non jedi novel

January logs a solid performance. the universe has familiar scenes but bring a different and new i tricacies to the SW universe.

POLITICS!

Cool mix of action and politics. Awesome to have a story centered around the fall the republic into the first years of the empire!

The beginning of the Alliance

This book did an excellent job of bringing the Republic era characters to the starting point they needed to be at to start the Rebellion.

Good, but really slow

Not a bad book—just a slow read for me. If you're looking for something to read (aka listen) just because, this might not be the one for you.

But if you're interested in the backstory and want something that lays a strong foundation, this is your book.

Great premise for a grown up Star Wars story

A great idea and an ok book; more political thriller than space fantasy, which is what drew me to giving this book a whirl. The cerebral nature and maturity of the plot was something I really enjoyed. I appreciated the fragmented narrative focus - different points of view illuminating the story - but there wasn't much chemistry between the characters. I will revisit the book in the future; maybe I just wasn't in the right headspace to gel with the story. This book is marketed to fans of Andor, it lacks the emotional gravity and the character relationships to ground the drama that makes Andor so compelling.

Should Have Been a James Luceno Book

I had looked forward to this new series, a political one. A story about Mon Monthma, Bail Organa and Saw Guerra after the Empire had come to power. Canon has had a tendency to dumb down certain characters, notably Bail Organa. Bail was always a shrewd politician and privy to great secret of the new hope for the Jedi. I had to suspend belief that Bail was as naive as he appears in this book. Protesting about what happened to the Jedi, unaware of Imperial surveillance. He's not a stupid man, but this book makes him one. Mon Mothma is handled better and this is really her book. Saw is Saw. There are a number of extra characters, and plots about terrorists and protestors. They focus on one augmented terrorist. We also visit a Confederacy syndicate Moth tries to make allies with. The only Imperial senior official we see is Mas Ameda. This book decides to forget a major influence that determined Imperial focus. Most notably the Tarkin Initiative. Admiral and later Grand Moff Tarkin would have had major influence and frequently had interacted with senators and Vader was missing. It is interesting to note that the book claimed unlimited funds to create Imperial camps when the Death Star construction was where the majority of funds were supposedly going.

I have read the Rogue One adaptation and Freed's Battlefront Twilight Company which was one of my least favorite books. This was a political thriller that wasn't that thrilling. Timothy Zahn, James Luceno and Michael Stackpole could write politics and an exciting story that keeps you interested. All three are sorely needed. January LaVoy did a fantastic job on narration for the audio book. I don't have high hopes for the rest of this series and will go back to legends.

Good first steps!

Good start to a new trilogy. Like most trilogies, the first book is most set up and character development, very little action. However by the end I was definitely invested in all characters and their situations moving forward. Great companion book to the Andor series.

Wasted Opportunity

This had potential, but the book tried to delve too deeply into the minds of too many people. Alexander Freed took a similar approach to the Alphabet Squadron Trilogy, but at least in that series there was more happening. Diving into the psyche of people, trying to use their inner thoughts to drive the drama in the book left the book feeling long winded and slow moving at various points. When there was drama and action, where the characters seemed to be risking it all and driving towards a purpose, Freed decided to render all of that meaningless with his ending. This left the drama feeling pointless and wasted, leaving nothing much changed other than maybe the characters committing to slightly different paths then when the book started. What was interesting was that we only see the perspective of the future rebel leaders, and never get a glimpse of how Palpatine and his loyalists were staying steps ahead. Also, Freed focused in on worlds that he worked with in Alphabet Squadron, but would have been better off exploring more readily recognizable worlds to show how they were reacting to the new Empire. Ultimately, this was a good idea to explore the happenings in another part of the galaxy occurring simultaneously with the Bad Batch season 1, but didn’t do a good job really making it compelling.