First and foremost, I must say that you shouldn't read this book unless you've watched
The Clone Wars (meaning the animated series, and not to be confused with
Episode II: Attack of the Clones). It's in that series that Ahsoka's character is introduced, and unless you have at least an overview of some of her experiences, her character conflict won't mean so much to you if you read this book. So, watch that first, maybe even
Episode III, and then come back to this book.
With all of that in mind, if you haven't watched the series yet, there may be spoiler down below. If you don't want to watch all those seasons of animated
Star Wars glory, here's what you need to know before reading the book. Again, SPOILER WARNING!
Ahsoka Tano was the padawan learner of Anakin Skywalker. She played a big role in The Clone Wars, fighting alongside many well known Jedi (and even some clones that may have been special enough to have their name mentioned in the movies). She even led some of the troops from time to time. But when she is betrayed by one of her fellow padawans, framed for crimes she didn't commit, she finds her faith in the Jedi order shaken. (It doesn't help the majority of the Jedi council did not believe her innocence.) Even when the real culprit is captured and Ahsoka's good name is restored, Ahsoka can't bring herself to accept the council's offer to return to her training. She leaves the Jedi temple and...that's when the TV show was cancelled!
But fear not! Ahsoka survives the events of Order 66. This book fills in the gap of her story from that moment until the events in
Star Wars: Rebels.
Title: Star Wars: Ahsoka
Rating: 4/5
Author: E. K. Johnston
Pages: 355
Genre: Science Fiction
Synopsis:
This story occurs after the events of the animated series
Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well as
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
Ahsoka Tano has survived the great purge that was Order 66, but is now forced to live under the radar. The moment she attracts too much attention or the Imperials make too much of a presence, she runs away before she or anyone associated with her can be hurt.
Now, a year after the rise of the Empire, Ahsoka must comes to terms with the past while at the same time trying to find her place in this new order. She thought she was done fighting in wars, but perhaps the war is only just beginning.
My Reaction:
I will admit that part of the reason this book merits a 4/5 is simply for the fact that I think Ahsoka is awesome! Reading this book was like watching another story arc of
The Clone Wars. It fit in very well with the feel of the series.
There are little snippets from other
Star Wars characters such as Senator Organa, which were fun to read. There's plenty of action and good tie ins for filling in those gaps between
The Clone Wars and
Rebels. We get to meet an inquisitor, for example. Basically, this is a good book for Ahsoka/
Clone Wars fans. You'll enjoy the story and learning more about what happened to Ahsoka (like how she suddenly has white lightsabers when it comes to
Rebels).
Reader Guidance:
Assuming you're somewhat familiar withe
Star Wars franchise, the level of violence is consistent with what you would see in some of the movies/shows. There is an instance of torture, but it's more alluded to than anything. There's not an actual torture scene. A character has a badly broken arm. One of the bad guys kills a whole group of those resisting the Empire. This is mostly done by deflected their blaster shots, but one guy is cut in half with a lightsaber, and it mentions how there's not a ton of blood. That was probably as graphic as it got. There's also a character who has something blow up in his face. None of these are overly graphic.
Similar Books:
There are other books out there based on some of the other characters in the animated series. In particular there is
Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. He also has another book coming out this year called
Star Wars: Alliances. If you don't know who Thrawn is, watch
Star Wars: Rebels.
Next Book:
Next up is another book recommended to me by my mother, and it's a sort of book we haven't look at before here in the
Book Club of Destiny. It's called
Life is so Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman. It fits in the autobiography genre (some of which are wonderful, by the way, although admittedly I've only read a few). It seems that it will contain some good inspiration perfect for the beginning of a new year.
The first book character that came to mind comes from our beloved Harry Potter series. Any guesses? It's not Volde--or should I say--He-who-must-not-be-named. It's none other than Dolores Umbridge. I mean, seriously, I'm pretty sure she's actually more evil than all the other evil characters COMBINED! Maybe she's equal with Voldemort. I don't know. I dislike her more than Bellatrix! And that's saying something because Bellatrix made me cry! (*sob* Poor Sirius...) Even so, there's just something about how Rowling crafted Umbridge's character that just makes you want to hate her. There's the torture, the refusal to see reason, the fact that she denies Voldemort's existence and then totally does things that helps his cause, taking over Hogwarts, or maybe the fact that she has no problems using a dead guy's eye to spy out of her office... She's just evil. Kudos to J.K. She can make one nasty villain. More than one actually.
