{"id":51260,"date":"2016-12-08T17:29:39","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T01:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/?p=51260"},"modified":"2019-03-05T17:17:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T01:17:06","slug":"book-review-star-wars-catalyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/book-review-star-wars-catalyst\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: &#8220;Normalcy Has Taken Leave of the Galaxy&#8221; Star Wars: Catalyst"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s no sugarcoating it: <em>Catalyst<\/em>, James Luceno\u2019s prequel novel for the upcoming <a href=\"http:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com\/starwars.asp?utm_source=ee-blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=product\"><em>Rogue One: A Star Wars Story<\/em> movie<\/a>, isn\u2019t much fun.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I don\u2019t mean it\u2019s a bad book, because it isn\u2019t. Luceno spins three interconnected and interesting stories. Each one helps set the stage for December\u2019s big screen adventure.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Catalyst<\/em><\/strong><strong>\u2019s Cast of Characters<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Galen Erso is a brilliant scientist who has spent his career searching for a source of safe, sustainable energy to improve everyone\u2019s life. But his single-minded dedication to this noble goal blinds him to the cultural and political changes that threaten to cage him, his archaeologist wife, Lyra, and their infant daughter, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/2016\/10\/04\/rebel-alongside-new-jyn-erso-mini-bust\/\">Jyn<\/a> (who will grow up to become <em>Rogue One<\/em>\u2019s protagonist).<\/p>\n<p>Galen and Lyra\u2019s relationship is <em>Catalyst<\/em>\u2019s emotional heart. Luceno beautifully breathes life into the couple, creating a completely believable portrait of love that endures physical hardship, fear, and the pain of broken dreams.<\/p>\n<p>Galen\u2019s friend and former classmate Orson Krennic is a mid-level Imperial naval officer with aspirations of greater authority, perhaps even a seat of power in Emperor Palpatine\u2019s inner circle. Krennic is <em>Catalyst<\/em>\u2019s most compelling character. If Ben Mendelsohn brings to the screen even half of the calculated charisma, dogged persistence, and ruthless ambition that Krennic displays in these pages, then the <em>Star Wars<\/em> mythos will have gained another memorable villain &#8211; a sinister mover and shaker to rival Grand Moff Tarkin (who is Krennic\u2019s actual rival throughout the book).<\/p>\n<p>Has Obitt is a Dressellian smuggler who, in the time-honored Han Solo tradition, finds himself drawn into the service of a larger and higher cause. Has seems the least developed major character in <em>Catalyst<\/em>. That\u2019s too bad, since he is instrumental in connecting and resolving the novel\u2019s several plot strands.<\/p>\n<p>But we do get to know Has well enough to see that he must make, and try to recover from, compromises that allow him to survive under Imperial rule. Though an alien character, he \u201chumanizes\u201d the universal struggle to maintain personal integrity in trying circumstances.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Dark Book About Dark Times<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Students of <em>Star Wars<\/em> lore will find a lot to enjoy in <em>Catalyst<\/em>, from revelations about attitudes toward childbirth on Coruscant, to insights into the way some non-Jedi relate to and revere the Force, to detailed information about the first Death Star\u2019s construction &#8211; a topic likely at the forefront of many readers\u2019 minds, given <em>Rogue One<\/em>\u2019s premise. (As if to reinforce that focus, nifty technical schematics of the battle station\u2019s massive weapon face each chapter\u2019s first page.)<\/p>\n<p>But nothing lifts the shadow of despondency and dread looming over <em>Catalyst<\/em>. It\u2019s testament to Luceno\u2019s skill that he so effectively confronts readers with a Republic that is, from the book\u2019s beginning, already the Empire in all but name. He makes us feel in our gut, along with Galen, that \u201cnormalcy has taken leave of the galaxy.\u201d He makes clear that the Clone Wars didn\u2019t so much end as pause, only to resume as the Rebellion\u2019s conflict with the Empire. Real peace is as elusive in the Galaxy Far, Far Away as it is in our own.<\/p>\n<p>So, no &#8211;\u00a0<em>Catalyst<\/em>, while a well-written book, isn\u2019t much fun.<\/p>\n<p>Despite an ending that could fairly be called \u201chappy,\u201d and despite the knowledge that Luke Skywalker will come along in <em>A New Hope<\/em> with the Force and a couple of proton torpedoes to blow the Death Star to bits, <em>Catalyst<\/em> is somber and sobering stuff\u2014a case study in how dark \u201cdark times\u201d can really get, and in how hard it can sometimes be to see, let alone fight for, the light.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Entertainment Earth, Inc. its owners, officers, employees, affiliates, subsidiaries, partners, vendors, customers or licensors.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s no sugarcoating it: Catalyst, James Luceno\u2019s prequel novel for the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie, isn\u2019t much fun. Now, I don\u2019t mean it\u2019s a bad book, because it isn\u2019t. Luceno spins three interconnected and interesting stories. Each one helps set the stage for December\u2019s big screen adventure. Catalyst\u2019s Cast of Characters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,3792,3794,390,389],"tags":[3316,4726,3145,112,3648,2315,4055,419,4615,4793],"yst_prominent_words":[8639,6277,31852,37719,6240,6708,5798,6299,7452,19625,7483,6281,37720,37721,7447,6594,6116,5780,5779,5781],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51260"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64076,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51260\/revisions\/64076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51260"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entertainmentearth.com/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=51260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}