The New Rebellion Part 2

[colls]

Welcome to our second of four check-in and discussion posts for our Book of the Month.

This month’s book is Star Wars The New Rebellion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Chapters 15-28

The New Rebellion

1. On the political side of the action, will the actions of the former Imperials result in a divided Senate as Leia has suggested? Or will they be tossed out somehow?

2. Droids are treated very differently by the apparent majority of the populace - most notably with a supposed affinity for memory wipes. Why do the main characters (in this case, Luke - but often other protagonists in Star Wars have this same trait) seem to dislike the process?

3. How does this Lando compare with the Lando in other books we've read in this comm or with the version portrayed by Donald Glover in Solo?

4. What references to other materials have you noticed and how well do you think they slotted into this story? (can be any material from other novels to comics to the original movies)

5. There are a lot of things going on in this book. What else has caught your attention?



FYI - There's no need to answer all (or any) of the questions above - they're just talking points to get us started. Informal chatter is more than welcome! In-person book clubs often veer off-topic, it's okay if we do as well. :)
All I ask is that you try to avoid spoilers for things past Part II of the book.

Comments

[barbiejedi]

1. I honestly don't know at this point. I assume like all good sitcoms the end of the book will have things returning to the status quo because a stand-alone novel isn't going to make major changes, and I feel kind of like "one of the Big Three loses their status/position" happened a LOT in the old EU, so Leia might lose the vote of no confidence, or tank the vote intentionally so Kueller can't threaten her, or she'll pass it but the fact that a vote happens at all means Meido's goal of causing chaos is accomplished anyway. I expect things will be put to rights before the end, but I have no idea what kind of shenanigans will go on in the meantime. I feel like Leia isn't firing on all cylinders, politically, and that's disappointing.

4. I feel like the author is leaning more than I'd like on references to KJA's Jedi Academy Trilogy and Barbra Hambley's Children of the Jedi, with a side of Courtship of Princess Leia (and maybe Black Fleet Crisis?). It's been so long since I've read any of them that it's kind of confusing, to be honest. I'm having a hard time figuring out which references are fun little easter egg-type connections to things that happened in another book or bits of information or characterization I should be keeping track of because they're important for the mystery in this one. But the author seems also to be choosing not to use established characters from Leia's political life in that particular plot, so... I don't know.

5. I'm still waiting to see how all these pieces connect to each other. I enjoy a mystery that looks like two or three cases that turns out to only be one case after all, but at this stage I'm having a hard time predicting how it's all going to tie together. Like, who is Davis? Why does Nandreeson know about Almania?
I know it's just a space fantasy book but I keep screaming at the political sideplot about how none of their evidence is going to hold up in court because the chain of custody is so messy and where are literally any of the investigators (I know the point from Meido's side is not court justice but distrust and chaos) and I feel like so many people are acting juuuuuuust smart enough that I can't satisfyingly yell about anyone holding the Idiot Ball but man I really want to.

[brokenmnemonic]

1. My suspicion is that it'll be revealed that Kueller is actually the one responsible for the bombing, in an attempt to sow discord that he can capitalise on. Although, I may be saying that because Artoo finding evidence that droids may have been involved in the explosions in the Senate, and Kueller's weirdly-wired droids, and the idea that the Empire would go around slapping their logo on tech used to try and sabotage things being way too obvious even for a moustache-twirling Imperial Moff all make me think that this is actually nothing to do with the ex-Imperial senators.

2. I think this is mostly a reflection of the way we were shown Droids as being sentient beings with personality from the first movie onwards, so the core characters have to continue doing that, and in so doing each time we see them treating the droids as having significance and value it reaffirms them in our minds as being the good guys in comparison to others.

3. I've not actually read many books where Lando is a viewpoint character, and to be honest, I think I got distracted by the damage being done to his wardrobe. It's one thing to threaten Lando, but who could be so cruel as to willingly damage such stylishly fashionable attire? They must surely be a monster.

4. I don't know if this is something from other media or not, but I noticed references to Chewie's bowcaster shooting bolts at people or leaving bolts in his target, which seems odd because I thought his bowcaster was an energy weapon? I'm up to about 5 ABY in the comics at the moment, and I've not really seen anything yet that feels like it links directly to the comics I've read so far.

5. I'm finding the characterisation of Leia to be a bit odd in this book. It may be because I've not read enough other books from this era, but Leia feels much more reactionary in this than she has in other portrayals, which seems odd given that she's now in her thirties and practising Jedi techniques. I don't know if I'm meant to handwave that because her family are being directly threatened, but it feels like her depiction's drawing almost on paranoia when it comes to dealing with the ex-Imperial senators and their actions, whereas I've been expecting her to consistently outmanoeuvre them politically.

Also, I really do keep wondering why if the Imperials are trying to sabotage the New Republic's X-wing fleet they stuck whacking great Imperial symbols on a key component. I mean, why? Surely there must be an intelligence officer out there somewhere who could point out that it's surely better to increase the chances of actually getting away with sabotage rather than gloating by logo?

[barbiejedi]

5. Her characterization is bugging me too, and I wasn't able to put a finger on it until you mentioned the paranoia-- that whole plotline feels paranoid and bordering on gaslighty, almost? Like we can sympathize with Leia from a reader's perspective because ex-Imperials are often narratively up to something because they're a shorthand for The Evil Bad Guy, but in-universe she's coming off as incredibly biased and unreasonable, which her colleagues aren't wrong to point out. I too would have expected her to be better at dealing with the maneuvering.

if the Imperials are trying to sabotage the New Republic's X-wing
I don't think they are-- as you point out, the symbol is a big dumb move, and I think it's more a tactic to sow chaos, muddy the waters, and get people pointing fingers than it is for any one particular group to claim credit. Sure wish Wedge had given literally any more information about the origins of the X-Wing upgrade in the scenes where it's being revealed.