The Rise of the Empire

Disclaimer: I did not actually read "A New Dawn". I intended to do so, mainly because I knew it featured Rae Sloane, whom I liked as a character from reading "Aftermath". I started reading New Dawn after I read all the other stories in the book and I just could not get into it. It's probably an unfair thing to say, because this is her first appearance and Miller created her, but the voice of the character felt wrong to me. It wasn't the Sloane I grew to like from Aftermath and Levers of Power. I'm also not a fan of Rebels and I did not find the Count Vidian character all that interesting, so the incentive to read it was just too low. Anyhow, I shelfed the story for "maybe someday".

Reviewing this in the order I read the stories.

The Levers of Power
Short and sweet. Sloane was one of my favourite characters from Aftermath and this was a nice little prelude to her appearance there.

Mercy Mission
Not bad, but it did nothing for me. (It might be more interesting to you if you watch Star Wars Rebels and know about the characters)

Tarkin
I could have done without so many prolonged jumps into the past, but aside from that I really liked the story. I felt Luceno did a good job with the character's voices, the plot was interesting and the build up to the finale nicely done.

Bottleneck
After reading Tarkin, I didn't feel Miller got him quite right in this short story. Otherwise it was ok. Something about the Vidian character always made me feel that he doesn't quite fit into the Star Wars universe. Maybe just a personal preference thing.


The Rise of the Empire: Star Wars: Featuring the novels Star Wars: Tarkin, Star Wars: A New Dawn, and 3 all-new short stories by James Luceno, John Jackson Miller  Melissa Scott and Jason Fry
My goodreads-rating: 3 of 5 stars