The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition: Star Wars

Rae Carson’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” adapts “Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker” by J.J. Abrams, Chris Terrio, Derek Connolly, and Colin Trevorrow. The story picks up approximately a year after the events of “The Rise of Skywalker,” with the Resistance in tatters doing its best to assemble allies and strategically strike at the First Order, whose grasp extends throughout the galaxy. A message purporting to be from Emperor Sheev Palpatine, though dead after the Battle of Endor, incites Kylo Ren to seek out the Sith Lord. Rey, meanwhile, has continued her Jedi training under General Leia Solo, while Poe Dameron, Finn, and Chewbacca bring information from a spy within the First Order that Ren has access to a new fleet on Exegol, a world controlled by the Sith.Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and BB-8 follow a clue from Luke’s notes to Pasaana, where they hope to find a Sith wayfinder to guide them to Exegol. Kylo Ren, having met with the cloned Palpatine and summed the Knights of Ren, searches for Rey who he believes is destined to rule the galaxy alongside him. Rey and company find a dagger on Pasanna with a Sith inscription that purports to lead them to the wayfinder, but C-3PO is forbidden from translating the language of the Sith. When Ren arrives, he captures the dagger and Chewbacca. Rey, Finn, and Poe take C-3PO to Kijimi to get the assistance of Babu Frik, who can reprogram Threepio to translate Sith. With his help, they learn that the wayfinder is on Endor in the wreckage of the second Death Star. There, Rey confronts her own darkness as well as Kylo Ren, who reveals to her that she is the Emperor’s granddaughter. She nearly kills Ben, but they both feel Leia’s passing through the Force. Rey heals him and flees to Ahch-To. There, the spirit of Luke Skywalker assures her that she may choose her destiny, giving her his X-Wing as she travels to Exegol.Rey broadcasts the path to Exegol in order that Finn, Poe, and Rose Tico may follow with the Resistance fleet. Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca go to recruit help, building on contacts that Leia had nurtured following the disaster on Crait. On the moon of Endor, Ben Solo imagines an encounter with Han Solo, mirroring their final meeting from “The Force Awakens.” Ben chooses the light this time and sets off to help Rey on Exegol, where she faces Palpatine while the Resistance fleet combats the Sith Star Destroyers in the planet’s atmosphere. Together, they defeat the Emperor, Ben sacrificing his life in order to save Rey’s, while the Resistance fleet and their allies defeat the Sith Star Destroyers. After celebrating with her friends, Rey visits the ruins of the Lars homestead, taking the name Skywalker in honor of Luke and Leia and to continue their legacy.Rae Carson’s “expanded edition” novel adds scenes that did not appear in the film, adding more to Leia’s inner thoughts in a way that J.J. Abrams could not due to limitations in using previously-filmed footage. The novel also explains how Mustafar transformed from “Revenge of the Sith” to “The Rise of Skywalker” (pgs. 19-21). Carson helps to explain how Palpatine survived his death in “Return of the Jedi” through the use of a clone body, now disintegrating (pgs. 26-27, 220). In this, she recalls Tom Veitch’s “Dark Empire” trilogy from 1991-1995. She explains that Rey’s father was a failed clone of Palpatine, without powers, but that Palpatine kept him alive in the hope of continuing his lineage (pg. 220). Carson also spends more time examining the nature of identity in the novel than the film did. As Leia muses, “If Vader could become Anakin again, Kylo Ren could become Ben… She was Leia Skywalker Organa Solo. As she caressed Han’s medal, she fully embraced all those inheritances. And she would pass them all to the next generation. Her Skywalker legacy would go to Rey, Organa to Poe, and she would try one last time to pass her Solo legacy to her son” (pg. 172). Carson likewise uses Lando’s musing on the members of the Resistance in order to tie this story in with the novels bridging the Original and Sequel Trilogy. He thinks about Snap Wexley as “Wedge’s stepkid,” a reference to Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Resistance Reborn” (pg. 195), though here as in the film I would have liked to see Wedge react to Snap’s death based on this relationship (pgs. 223, 225). The final battle directly identifies the Ghost from “Star Wars Rebels,” Phantom Squadron from Chuck Wendig’s “Aftermath” trilogy, Alphabet Squadron from Alexander Freed’s novel of the same name, and Zay Versio of Inferno Squad, daughter of Del Meeko and Iden Versio, from “Battlefront II” (pgs. 224-225). Carson even works in a pun at the moment of Allegiant General Pryde’s death aboard a Star Destroyer, writing, “Pryde fell” (pg. 233).Carson’s previous “Star Wars” credits include the short story “The Red One” in the 40th anniversary anthology “From a Certain Point of View,” the story “Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing” in the “Last Jedi” tie-in anthology “Canto Bight,” and “Most Wanted,” a YA tie-in novel for “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” One thing that is somewhat distressing is how short this novel is for the film’s runtime. As the “expanded edition,” I thought it would be longer than 247 pages for a 144-minute film. For comparison, the novelization of “A New Hope” is 260 pages (121 minutes), “The Empire Strikes Back” is 216 (124 minutes), “Return of the Jedi” is 229 pages (131 minutes), “The Phantom Menace” was 324 pages (136 minutes), “Attack of the Clones” is 353 (142 minutes), “Revenge of the Sith” is 418 pages long (140 minutes), “The Force Awakens” is 260 pages (138 minutes), “Rogue One” is 319 (133 minutes), “The Last Jedi” is 312 (152 minutes), and “Solo” is 282 pages long (135 minutes). That said, it does answer many of the questions J.J. Abrams left unanswered in his film and includes some nice callbacks to the new canon of novels that began in 2015.

*Spoilers Ahead-If you've already seen the move, feel free to read on.*I never really cared before about the Star Wars universe until The Force Awakens introduced me to the character of Kylo Ren. Some out there hate him because he's too "emo", but I think that's exactly what makes him so incredibly interesting. He's not the stereotypical Big Baddie sitting on a throne, twirling his mustache and laughing maniacally, being evil just for the sake of being evil (there are already many characters like that). No, he's a real person who feels inner conflict about the things he does, and you feel for him because of that struggle.The whole reason I read all three novels is that I wanted to dive more into his head, but I was disappointed that the first two novels only give rare snippets of insight into Kylo's inner workings and mostly take insight from Rey's perspective. However, this book is fantastic in that while Kylo is questing and engaging with other characters, it gives his inner dialogue, so you can now know his true motivations and thought process throughout. It also does the same for Rey and a bit for the secondary characters as well.Fans will also be glad to know that the novel explains how Palpatine is still alive, how he was able to have a "son", how Kylo survives falling into that crevice, how Kylo is able to get off Kef Bir when Rey steals his TIE, more details about Zorii Bliss, and other things I'm forgetting. There are also added or extended scenes that help flesh out the fast paced movie. Of course, as a Kylo Ren fan, I was incensed watching the movie when Ben Solo found the light and gave up his life force for Rey, only to have Rey look sad for two seconds as he fades into the Force, and then goes on with her life as if he never existed. In the book, it gives a more satisfying conclusion to the scene where Ben loses his life and shows that Rey does acknowledge the pain of his loss, the importance of his life and his place as her other half (dyad). So, if you enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker movie and are looking for more inner dialogue from characters and a few more detailed scenes, this is the book for you! It was my favorite of the three sequel novelizations; my only complaint is at 247 pages, it was too short!

Luke has an adventure.

Thank you Rae Carson. Than you for making the book feel like Star Wars. I have no doubt if Rae was given free reign she would have written a 5 star book the would have corrected all the mistakes in the movie. I was expecting a salvage job from this book but it is a lot better than I expected.Unlike a certain director who said he did not care about Star Wars lore when he made the movie, Rae has done her research, adding in bit of information for the other Star Wars book in the Disney era. Including what could/should have been a great bridging book to the movie.The book manages the fix many of the inconsistencies of the movie, goes into more detail of the characters. Though having to follow the screen play there are many things that could not be fixed or many characters who could not be given a lot more of a larger role.I enjoyed this book a lot more that I was expecting to. This book is supposed to be the end of the Disney saga, but with so many thing left loose I would not be surprised to see more prequels definitely and possible a sequel. I just hope they are written by real Star Wars fans that respect continuity of whichever era.

Good read. Answers some of the questions that were never answered in the film. I didn't enjoy the film in cinemas but got the book to see if it would change my mind and also to find answers to the questions from the film.Reason I didn't like the film was that I believed that the story could of gone in a different direction and certain decisions were poor but the book gives more details and helps the film out and I believe certain scenes from the book should of been included in the film like Darth Vaders castle for example.I also found that the book helped me pass time during the lockdown due to the corona virus here in the UK.Stay home stay safe and give this book a read.

I found the novelisation just as fun and exciting as the movie. Rae Carson does an excellent job of adapting the screenplay while fleshing out the story and adding some really interesting expanded elements.I read the ebook version, which syncs up nicely with the Audible version, the first time I've done this, and found it a really enjoyable and immersive experience. I'd highly recommend doing the same if you're willing to spend a little extra to get the audio version too.I don't want to spoil the additional bits added to the film, but I can say that it really does help to fill in some of the holes and answers quite a few questions I had after watching the movie in the cinema. One in particular - how Palpatine survived!It's a fantastic read, I devoured it in a couple of days, which is really quick for me, and if you enjoyed the movie then I highly recommend reading the novel to accompany it.

This novel was adequately written and composed. It covered the main points of the movie. There wasn't additional material to expand on the elements of the movie. I felt that the latest saga (Star Wars 7 to Star Wars 9) was safe in its storyline. It used elements over an over again from Star Wars 1 to Star Wars 6 in respect to introducing new characters and themes. It was not wholly groundbreaking, innovative or original in that respect and it seemed to be a rehash of Star Wars 4 to Star Wars 6 for this latest saga (Star Wars 7 to Star Wars 9). It wasn't something new to contribute to the Star Wars mythos and was disappointing in that area. It was not the grand epic I was expecting but was an adequate Sci Fi story.

Unlike a lot of star wars fans, I actually enjoyed the movie. It did feel like there was a fair bit missing though. I had hoped that the DVD would have an extended cut, but it didn't ☹️. Thankfully, this book is the extended cut. It builds on characters, includes extras scenes, goes into more depth of how the force feels. How a certain someone is back. Etc etc. It really is a great novelisation.