{"id":9192,"date":"2015-12-31T19:44:08","date_gmt":"2015-12-31T19:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scarlet-rhapsody.com\/?p=9192"},"modified":"2017-05-02T19:58:28","modified_gmt":"2017-05-02T19:58:28","slug":"lost-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scarlet-rhapsody.com\/?p=9192","title":{"rendered":"[Space Capes] Lost Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lost Stars by Claudia Gray<\/p>\n

On paper, the concept of a young adult Star Wars book seems like a great idea. \u00a0Following young people in the middle of the war between the Empire and Rebellion has great potential, sadly when this story was actually put on paper it does not work out as well as one would hope. \u00a0This is due to the tissue thin characters, a sluggish plot, and an utter lack of relatable emotional moments.<\/p>\n

The story follows two kids (Thane and Ciena) as they go from living on a planet in the outer rim to becoming imperial cadets and eventually fighting on different sides of the Empire\/Rebellion war. \u00a0The first act of the book focuses on the kids becoming close as they train to go to the academy. \u00a0This part develops their homeworld, Jelucan, and gives the basic structure of their \u2018personalities\u2019. \u00a0Thane dislikes authority and control while Ciena believes in honor. \u00a0The second act has them both attending the same prestigious academy where we get introduced to what passes for side characters in this book. At the academy they start to have feelings for each other, but get in a fight and don\u2019t make up until they graduate (at the top of their class no less) because that\u2019s what happens when you get in a fight with a good friend. \u00a0The third act has them acting as background characters in A New Hope and Thane leaving to join the rebellion, but they do have sex before Thane quits because clich\u00e9 demands it. \u00a0Act four has them continuing to have no real impact in the galaxy during Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. \u00a0The final act explains how the star destroyer crashed on the planet of Jakku and provides a very unsatisfying ending that will liekly leave every reader disappointed.<\/p>\n

The story is filled with tired clich\u00e9s and is incredibly predictable, but that would be fine if the characters were worth following. \u00a0Thane comes from a somewhat privileged background, but has an abusive family which is only there to make him hate authority and strong arm tactics. \u00a0He is the top of his class and becomes an ace pilot. He spends most of his time moping about how he doesn\u2019t like the Empire, but his girlfriend does. \u00a0He has no character development and shows little emotion about the deaths of his friends. \u00a0He only shows some emotion when it comes to Ciena, but his relationship with her is incredibly shallow. \u00a0Thane isn\u2019t relatable and not very likeable he is just another Mary Sue young adult novel character. \u00a0Ciena, sadly, is just as bad. \u00a0She grew up poor, but with a strong sense of honor and loyalty. \u00a0She\u2019s the best at everything and gets promoted very quickly even becoming a Captain of a ship before the age of 25 because that happens all the time. \u00a0She spends most of her time moping about Thane and justifying her loyalty to the Empire. She does feel bad when her friend dies and shows some disgust toward the Empire as the story goes on. \u00a0While she does have some growth, most of her behavior is due to her feelings for Thane rather than coming from her experiences. Both of these characters are very shallow and fall into the Mary Sue category, which makes them unrealistic and very annoying for anyone hoping for strong and entertaining lead characters.<\/p>\n

Lost Stars doesn\u2019t have side characters as much as it has a pile of stock cardboard standees that function as a reminder to the reader that the main duo is awesome. \u00a0The first \u2018real\u2019 side characters come at the academy and don\u2019t really need names since they are: energetic girl, nerdy girl, laid back guy, and jerk guy. \u00a0These are the kind of stock characters you would see in just about any teen drama or horror movie, but nothing is done with them to make them memorable or interesting. \u00a0When Thane joins the rebels he gets some squadron mates, but they just exist for him to have someone to talk to during his chapters. \u00a0The worst part of this are the few movie characters that show up just to stroke the egos of the two leads. \u00a0Granted it isn\u2019t any of the main three, but it is still unrealistic that an Admiral or Rebel Leader would waste time with a lower ranking soldier whose name they don\u2019t even know.<\/p>\n

The biggest tragedy in this \u2018tragic love story\u2019 is that the love story is even more \u00a0empty and clich\u00e9 than the characters. \u00a0Thane and Ciena begin as friends, but start to recognize that they are attractive once they hit their teen years. \u00a0They have the physical attraction down, but all other forms of attraction are weak. The only thing they have in common is that they are the best at everything and love to fly. \u00a0There isn\u2019t a real build up to them wanting to be with each other, it\u2019s more like one day they realize \u2018we\u2019re hot, we should totally bang\u2019 and they do, twice. \u00a0For two characters who claim to fully understand each other they often get into fights where they decide to not speak with each other for years at a time. More than that, they have a physical altercation later in the book as the result of yet another argument. \u00a0These aren\u2019t signs of a healthy relationship nor one that is interesting to follow. \u00a0The only good part to this aspect of the story is that it doesn\u2019t fall into any love triangle tropes mainly because that would have added drama and made things more interesting. \u00a0The most pathetic part of this is that the love story could have been completely removed or replaced with a sibling relationship and it would have had no major impact on anything.<\/p>\n

Every chance to have drama in the story is wasted and it makes this a very dry book. \u00a0As mentioned before, the love story could easily be pulled out because it does nothing to build drama other than Thane\u2019s squadron getting a little annoyed with him for dating an Imperial officer before quickly forgiving him. \u00a0There is no real character body count so you can\u2019t build pathos due to the tragic loss of good people. \u00a0This is a war and yet any characters who do die are forgettable and unimportant to the story of Thane and Ciena. \u00a0There are no real romantic rivals or other relationships to build tension either. \u00a0It\u2019s just having two characters pine over each other for years, which is massively boring. \u00a0The only drama that does happen are the occasional arguments over political views, which even the characters get sick of by the end of the book. \u00a0This book has a war, romance, and clashing views yet there isn\u2019t a single drop of worthwhile drama just some very bad melodrama where it isn\u2019t needed and \u2018difficult choices\u2019 with no real consequence.<\/p>\n

Bad Star Wars books are not a new thing, but Lost Stars is one of the worst books I\u2019ve read in a long time (and I have read \u2018Children of the Jedi\u2019). \u00a0It was a huge waste of time that I will never get back and it makes me long for the fun but empty \u2018Heir to the Jedi\u2019 and aggravating but engaging \u2018Aftermath\u2019. This book is easily the worst of the new continuity and has set a new low bar for bad Star Wars books. Thankfully, this book adds nothing to the overall continuity (other than the origin of the crashed Jakku ship) so it can be skipped. \u00a0The bottom line is that you can have a much better time reading entertaining new canon titles like \u2018A New Dawn\u2019, \u2018Lords of the Sith\u2019, and the surprisingly enjoyable junior reader novels. \u00a0Let Lost Stars remain lost and read a book that isn\u2019t filled with boring Mary Sue heroes and cookie cutter clich\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Written by Jared The Greek | Twitter: @JaredtheGreek | IG: @JaredTheGreek<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lost Stars by Claudia Gray On paper, the concept of a young adult Star Wars book seems like a great idea. \u00a0Following young people in the middle of the war between the Empire and Rebellion has great potential, sadly when…
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